Finding Local SEO Talent: 4 Best Practices
Never has there been a more worn-out and often less understood term than Search Engine Optimization, or SEO. Plenty (I am not joking) of freelancers are in front of their PCs across the planet with the sign out that says “SEO Professional”. And you know what? Some of them are genuine. If you’re a business owner with a site on the Internet, unless this is your game, SEO experts are likely better than you at enhancing your site. But how do you find somebody who will make a difference for your business?
The Uber-Goal of SEO
First, let’s define Search Engine Optimization as all the on site things you can do for your website to increase its Page Rank (PR) on the big search engines, Google being the biggest with upwards of 65 % of all worldwide searches. Your work should be designed at getting you to page 1, and ideally, in return results 1-5 which tend to show up above the fold, or before the user has to scroll down. It is cautiously estimated that less than 5 % of online searchers ever get further than page 1 when finding a reference. That means if you’re not coming up on page 1 for your keywords, you are a tree falling in the woods with no one around to hear it pal. If your business being “located” on the net via search engines is important to your lead development plan, you simply can not afford to ignore top tier SEO approaches.
3 Characteristics of the Best SEO Experts
Here is what the aces bring to the table for premium SEO:
1. Good Copy– Readable, inviting, conversion-producing, with just the right mix of keywords on the web page that gets high rankings without getting the dreaded Google slap.
2. Local Search engine optimization– Make their web assets the biggest player in the local game, optimizing for local SEO and knowing that even for intangibles like SEO services and information technology, people seek those nearest to them. They take advantage of tools that supplement your website like the millions of unclaimed local websites that exist now for companies from Google Places (see this Google Places video for more).
3. Staying Current– Google comes up with new updates that change the way the game is played seemingly every other day (Panda anyone?); are you current? If not, then your best SEO plans may work against you and handicap your site PR.
If you have the talents to be labeled an expert, then you can easily optimize your own web pages provided you have the time. If not, it makes sense to vet Search Engine Optimization businesses to see who works for you.
4 Questions to Ask SEO Consultants
Charlatans reign supreme on the web when it comes to buzzwords about marketing your products on the Internet. Any kid with a laptop and dorm room power supply can profess the handle SEO Authority, and some may be. The same goes for Search Engine Marketing (SEM) expert and the latest “anybody can be one”, Social Media Marketing (SMM) consultant.
Here’s what to look for when seeking an SEO firm:
1. Visible Portfolio– Don’t be someone’s lab rat; make sure suppliers show you other sites they have worked on, AND test the sites against the keywords they were optimized on by searching on Google, Bing and Yahoo. Are the samples sites coming up on page 1? If not, keep searching.
2. Start Local– It’s much simpler to verify if a firm is authentic or not by looking for expertise in your own town. If you live in San Diego, search San Diego SEO. You get the picture.
3. Detailed Plan– Make sure the SEO firm provides a detailed plan of exactly what they will be doing to enhance your website for local SEO or any SEM not on page tactics they are using to drive traffic. The best SEO consultants will lay out the strategy in detail pertaining to keywords per page, methods, submissions, etc. without being asked, but request anyway. Stay away from anyone who essentially says, “Trust me.”
4. Check Endorsements– Testimonials need to be from authentic people that you can call if you feel the need to. If you see a quote from Bob K, San Francisco, RUN, don’t walk, to another selection.
So if you’re in business and you want an online existence, do it correctly. Don’t have one of the hundreds of millions of internet sites online that get no traffic and wonder why the bottom line is down. Bone up on SEO techniques or use a pro using the steps I outlined here, and become web relevant in your area and more.
About the Author: Is your site on Google Page 1? Local SEO from a top tier partner can help. Karl Walinskas is the CEO of Smart Company Growth, a business development firm that helps small to mid-size professional service firms build competitive advantage in an online world of sameness. His Smart Blog covers leadership, business communication, sales & service, public speaking and virtual business, and was recently named by Buyerzone as one of the Top 20 Business Blogs of 2011. He is the author of Getting Connected Through Exceptional Leadership, available in the SmartShop and Amazon.com, and has been a featured expert for Inc.com with articles published in Site Pro New, Selling Power, and America Online to name a few.
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Is Your Marketing Department Faced With Reality?
According to a recent study from MarketTools, nearly one-fourth (23 percent) of companies provide customer service and assistance to clients via Facebook, while 12 percent turn to Twitter for such activities.
The study goes on to note that while 34 percent of the executives polled reported they were aware of customers utilizing social media to discuss their business and its products and services, fewer than 25 percent of these executives claimed that their businesses “always” get back to these customers.
According to a spokesperson for the company, “Companies are increasingly embracing social media as a way to interact with their customers, though they are missing an opportunity to incorporate this feedback into a voice of the customer program. Organizations that use enterprise feedback management solutions are able to analyze feedback gathered through social media channels, along with feedback gathered through more traditional channels, to uncover insights to help improve business processes that lead to higher overall customer satisfaction.”
Some other numbers from the study note:
- Thirty-three percent of executives report that their businesses have a better focus on utilizing social media as a channel to obtain customer feedback when compared to the same time a year ago;
- As for what parts of their company are using social media, 44 percent cited public relations, 42 percent noted corporate marketing, while 34 percent stated product marketing and customer service/support;
- For the nearly 70 percent of companies sporting an active presence through social media, 48 percent are active on Facebook, 24 percent on Twitter, and 17 percent through their own business blog;
- Twenty-two percent reported that their company’s CEO oftentimes participates in social media on behalf of the business. Facebook is the social media channel of choice, used by 68 percent of the CEO’s, followed by 44 percent that participate through the company blog, and 35 percent who are active via Twitter.
If your company has been slow to the switch when it comes to using social media through your marketing efforts to interact with customers, keep a few things in mind:
- Active usage of social media allows you to interact with customers and potential customers in real-time. Whether it is a product/service question, a concern, or even a complaint, there is no replacing the immediacy by which social media venues provide;
- More and more consumers are using social media to obtain information on products and services, purchase items online and talk about their experiences. It only makes sense to have a social media presence so that your business can stay one step ahead of the competition;
- While some business leaders feel that social media is a fad, all signs point to it being around for the foreseeable future. To disregard SM now is only allowing your company the opportunity to fall further behind the competition, competition that in many cases are using social media on a daily basis to reach out for more business.
Whether it is to promote products and/or services online, respond to questions and concerns about your business or just follow the industry tides to see where you need to be, using social media in your company’s marketing efforts is more important than ever.
Are you a social or anti-social marketer?
About the Author: Dave Thomas, who covers among other subjects’ background checks, writes extensively for Business.com, an online resource destination for businesses of all sizes to research, find, and compare the products and services they need to run their businesses.
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Google’s Social Media For Business Draws Ever Closer But What Will it Look Like?
Facebook has been an important part of many business’ SEO and client outreach for a couple of years now.
Anyone ‘on the inside’ knows that there’s an industry expectation that your business has a Facebook profile, indeed, many TV advertising and marketing campaigns use “visit us on Facebook” rather than using their own website as the platform is ubiquitous, user friendly and the API divulges a great deal of information about the consumer which wouldn’t necessarily be available if they went directly to the web1 address. Read more
Four Big Mistakes Social Media Marketers Make
In a post from a couple days ago I was lamenting about how email marketing was missing the mark with me, and today was thinking the same thing about social media marketing.
For all the effort it seems many social media marketers go through, many of their messages just don’t resonate with me. There are four areas I see where they are getting it all wrong.
What do Others Think of Social Media Marketing?
Wanting to know what others thought, I put out the following tweet this morning to see what the Twitterverse had to say on the subject:
As I thought, people had an opinion, and were happy to chime in. The general theme of the responses were right on with what I had been feeling about most social media marketing I’ve been seeing in recent months.
Four Big Mistakes Social Media Marketers Make
From the list of responses above, I see four main areas where social media marketers are coming up short.
1) Self Promotion
Many social media marketers focus on promoting themselves, and that is counter to the real power of social media. A one way conversation about yourself isn’t very social and is one of the main reasons these marketers are falling flat with their “target markets”. My take on this is self promotion becomes their only differentiator, and the USP becomes how well they can promote themselves.
2) Lack of Engagement/Communication
Goes hand in hand with point number one, but cannot be underestimated. The importance of communicating with the target market, engaging them in what your message is, can often be the make or break between success and failure of a social media campaign.
3) Operating with a “Push” Mentality
Much of the social media marketing I see is focused on pushing information to a target. The idea being you get your message out to enough people and the law of large numbers will play in your favor.
The error in that thinking is that it is much more efficient, and will convert at a higher rate, if you pull what your target market is looking for into your messaging. Figure out what they want, what’s important to them, and build a strategy from there…which leads me to my last point.
4) Rich with Tools – Poor With a Strategy
These marketers are very good technically with the social media tools available to them. But many lack an overall strategy (or at least the strategy isn’t obvious) for what they want to accomplish with their campaigns. Again falling back on pushing information, and a lot of it.
Summary
These are the areas where I see social media marketing leaving a lot on the table. I’m obviously not alone in that thinking, and within a few minutes got great feedback, validating my thoughts. This says to me that there are plenty of you out there who feel the same way, yet some marketers haven’t gotten the message yet or are unwilling to put in the effort to change.
What I believe they are misunderstanding is that the very nature of social media will make it difficult for them to continue down the same path with any success. The culture of social media will force them to evolve, and that is a good thing for all of us.
Your Turn
Much like the teacher who spends 90% of their time on 10% of the class who’s acting up, I think the poor marketers are getting a disproportionate amount of attention – I am SURE there are plenty of social media marketers out there doing everything right.
If you, or somebody you know is demonstrating some best practices when it comes to social media marketing let me know in the comments below or drop me an email – I’d like to do a follow up to this post on “The Four Areas Social Media Marketers are Getting It Right” and feature some of these great people.
A special thanks to all of you who responded via Twitter!
Photo Credit: respres
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A Day in the Life of a Social Media Marketer
Ever wonder what a full time social media marketer might spend their day doing? Well I did, so I was intrigued by this presentation, put together by a full time social media marketer about how she spends her day.
What the Heck Does She Do?
- Research
- Strategize
- Content Production
- Social Networking
- SEO
- Customer Service
Notice how much listening and responding plays into her day.
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