This video was done with the Portland Oregon ~ Vancouver Washington area in mind. There are websites for any large metropolitan area – you will just need to do a search for local directories in your area to apply this strategy.

Local Search for Traditional Businesses

Pay Per Click Copy Writing can be tricky

Pay Per Click Roulette

The biggest complaint I get about Google Pay Per Click (PPC) advertising is the quality of the clicks. A campaign that gets a great deal of clicks but does not convert those clicks to sales is simply quite expensive. Small businesses are less likely to take a chance on PPC simply because they have no faith in the click converting into a sale.

Online Sales Cycle

If you think of PPC as a sales cycle, and learn to grab the shopper at the right moment during their product/services research then PPC can be very rewarding.

Let’s analyze how people usually become buyers of online products and services. One of my potential customers is starting their online research for purchasing a website. They probably do not know what to ask a web designer, or even what they are searching for. They may type something like “Web Design” They will get several of the huge nation-wide companies that market to large businesses. By reading the sites they learn that they want a local web designer that they can meet in person. Or they may decide they need a website that is smaller in scale than what they are reading about. So they now search for “Web Design Vancouver Wa” This is a key phrase that will get them a list of designers local to them (assuming they live in Vancouver WA). This could be web designers that are all over the board in what they actually do. They are now reading sites by the larger design firms all the way down to the college student that creates sites on the side for extra cash. After spending some time researching Web Design they have a better idea of what they are looking for in a website and in a designer. While conducting this research they have been clicking on PPC advertising – but not actually buying. They have not been in the buying mode but in the research mode – this means that all the sites they have visited had PPC campaigns that is costing them money but not converting sales. Now they have a better idea of what they want they type in “Small business website design in Vancouver WA” or “E- commerce website designer in Vancouver WA” or even “5 page informational website Vancouver WA”. All of these are considered buying keyword phrases, and if you were a website designer in Vancouver Wa and had PPC campaigns with these buying keyword phrases then you would likely have a new customer (assuming you are a good web designer with a website that will convert sales)

This process works for any product – the more generic the keywords the more virtual tire kickers you will attract. The more specific your keywords are to the product or service you offer then the more qualified that click traffic will be.

Of course if you do not have a quality website that clearly states what you do and what your product/service will do for someone then a quality PPC campaign just wont matter. If your site is state of the art and full of benefit oriented information then you are ready to embark into the world of PPC armed with the knowledge of choosing buying keyword phrases that your potential customers will be searching with at the end of the cycle – when they are ready to make the purchase.

For more information on Online Marketing Strategies click here.

Small Businesses Move Online

More and more business owners are moving away from the expensive local directories like all the various yellow pages,  simply because of cost vs effectiveness.  When was the last time you used the physical phone book to search out information?  I personally recycle mine as soon as I get them.

More and more people are looking for information Online ~ researching products, services, and companies ~ then choosing to buy local.  With statistics like:

• 97% of Internet users in the U.S. gather shopping information online, and of those consumers 51% explicitly characterize their behavior as “Shop Online, Purchase Offline” (NPD Group)
• New Research by The Kelsey Group and ConStat Indicates 70% of U.S. Households Now Use the Internet When Shopping Locally for Products and Services.
  Findings also suggest the Internet is poised to surpass newspapers as a local shopping information resource.
• 60% of activity online is one way or another “related to local content” (Google 5/03)- For every one dollar U.S. consumers spend online, another five or six are going to offline purchases that are influenced by online research
  (MIT Technology Review, April 2005, “E-Commerce Gets Smarter“)

Do you want your business to gain from Local Search?

Ways to capitalize on the Local Search Trend for your business

There are basically 2 ways to get your company listed locally ~ pay to have a company do it for you or do it yourself.  For the DIY business owners out there ~ here are a few ideas and strategies that can help you get your business listed locally and start to gain more local clients and sales.
1) Do a search for your main keyword followed by your city and state.  Make sure your business is listed in any online directories that come up in the search.
2) Get a Google Local account, Local Bing account, and Local Yahoo account.  Make sure your site is listed in local versions of all search engines.
3) Participate in local directories that offer consumer ratings or reviews.  Ask good clients to give a positive review at the different Online review sites.  A few examples are:

• Yelp.com
• MerchantCircle.com
• CitySearch.com
• InsiderPages.com
• YahooLocal
• Google Local

Online review sites are becoming very popular and users are checking up on businesses before deciding who to buy from.  This is a must for a local business that is wanting to pull in more Online business.
4) Local events ~ if your business hosts local events then get them listed online at sites for local events in your area.
These are a starting point for getting your business recognized online locally.  As all search engine efforts – this is an ongoing process that needs ongoing attention.  Some effort each month will build to quite a large Online presence over time.

For more strategies for marketing your business online visit: Internet Marketing Strategies for Small Businesses

What To Avoid When Choosing An SEO Company

Here Comes A Sucker!

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a growing business industry. Website owners are realizing that they need help to get their websites ranked well for buying keyword phrases. But what do they look for in a search engine optimization company? They are getting emails promising #1 ranking in Google. Every website owner wants the coveted #1 spot – but not all can have it. In fact there is only one company that will get the #1 spot – that is the facts not a guarantee.

Watch Out For the #1 Spot in Google Promise

Any company that will promise you the #1 spot in Google should not be considered as a contender for your SEO business. Google controls the process for ranking sites – not your SEO company. Even if you make it to the first page of the search results, Google can change how they are ranking sites tomorrow and your site could suddenly be buried several pages into the results. Another problem with this promise is the quality of the keywords that you are ranking for. You can be in the number 1 spot of Google but if no one is looking for that keyword phrase – who cares? You will not be getting any clicks from traffic that does not exist. If you are approached with a #1 ranking in Google – RUN!

A legitimate SEO company will sit down with you and plan out an online strategy with realistic goals and expectations. They will perform keyword research to discover what the buying keyword phrases for your industry are and give you a realistic expectation of how you will be ranking for these keywords. Often times you will discover that ranking really high for a less popular keyword phrase will give you better qualified traffic that is ready to buy – not looky-loos.

There is no magic SEO formula

– if you are told there is then the company is not legitimate. The world of Search Engine Optimization is always changing. As more information on how people search becomes available to the search engines like Google they then change how they rank sites. The ultimate goal of a search engine is to deliver the most accurate and closest result for the user. The happier the searcher the better the search engine has achieved its goal. As the website owner it is your job to make your website relevant to what your customers are looking for. All of these things are changing and flexing – SEO is never static and it has no magic bullet.
Quality SEO companies will evaluate your website, do keyword research, give you a realistic plan and strategy, and help you follow through with the plan. They will also provide progress reports and make adjustments to the plan as needed. SEO is a long term strategy not a short term fix.

What Do People See When They Google Your Name?

Positively Rank Your Name

As a small business owner it is essential that people trust you online – if you ever plan to actually sell online. People buy from people they trust ~ any “negative press” can kill the deal ~ even if the press is not actually about you, but about someone else with your name! It is hard to tell when researching online if you are reading something about the right person. Have you ever researched someone and read something bad about that person just to find out that it was the wrong person ~ with the same name? Something like that can absolutely kill the sell if it happens when someone is researching YOU!

The goal is to get anything bad associated with your name to be somewhere beyond the 2nd or 3rd page of the search results.  Everything on the first 2 or 3 pages of the search results needs to be positive, items you have published, and positive feedback from customers.

Strategies That Work

Let me share what I have done to dominate the search engines for my name ~ feel free to use these tactics to help with your name as well.

• Get a BizNik account ~ BizNik is a highly optimized and trusted site. BizNik profiles get ranked in Google ~ my BizNik profile is the first listing for my name. BizNik is only for traditional businesses – if you are in network marketing do not do this strategy.
• Get a Facebook account and have your profile URL be your name ~ mine is facebook.com/dotty.scott
• Make a video and get a YouTube account in your name.  Be sure the description of the video includes your name. These can be educational videos, video testimonials, or something entertaining. YouTube ranks well in Google (it is owned by Google).
• Be a guest blogger for someone else’s blog, and sign your name that links to your blog/website.
• Create a LinkedIn profile and fill it out completely.
• Create a MySpace profile
• Post articles on BetterNetworker ~ even if you are not in Network Marketing. This site gets ranked in Search Engines.
• Fill out your Google Profile completely so that it will be displayed on Google when someone searches for your name.
• If you provide trainings, seminars, or any online event have it posted Online at several different sites.
• Set up profiles at places like Naymz.com, fastpitch.com, Ning.com sites, Plaxo.com and any other social media site.
• Put your videos out on other video sharing sites like yahoo, vidler, howcast ect. I use TubeMogul.com to upload videos to more than one video site simultaneously.
• Create testimonials for other people with websites, and link your name to your website.
• Make sure your name in on your website as text, not in an image.
• Post articles at article repositories like amazines.com, ezine.com, and others.
• Twitter reTweets with your name in them will get ranked in the search engines.
• Get a written interview posted online – this can be a transcript of an audio ~ my example: http://renegadeproactive.com/
• Your videos and other content can be picked up by other blogs – very common for video interviews.
• Comment at different places and be sure to include your name.
• Forum posts can get ranked by search engines.

This is a list of strategies I am using to control my name. The last thing I want is for someone looking for a Web Designer to find my site then research my name and find anything negative. I don’t care if it is something talking about a different Dotty ~ people will think it as me and go elsewhere for their business ~ something I just can’t afford.

If you have more ideas for people feel free to add them in the comments section!

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)  Basics

Business owners know a few things about Search Engine Optimization ~ it  is expensive, difficult, and needs to be outsourced. I am here to tell  you a secret – are you ready?  Are you listening? SEO is not hard, not complicated, and not beyond your reach.  It is actually easy, just time consuming.  The most basic concept is this – use keyword phrases that you want search engines to index for your company. That is it – the whole concept.  Now for the strategy ~ where do you use these keywords? Here is a rundown of several  places where keywords need to be utilized:

• Website Title
• Page Titles (each page needs to be different)
• Article Titles – These titles need to be Header1 or H1 tags
• Articles need to use subtitles – Header 2 – Header 6 – like an outline
• Anchor text (the link that is actually clicked is the anchor)
• Near the beginning of each page’s first paragraph
• Bold keywords have more weight
• The last phrase on the page
• Picture alt and title tags
• Meta tags

Let’s  explain a few of these.

Website Title

This is generally the title of your home page.  It is what shows at the top of your browser as the title of your website.  There are so many websites out there that use the title Home – that word does nobody any good for SEO.  Make sure the title has your best keyword phrase, and if possible give it more than one.  This is what tells search engines what your website is about – do not overlook this simple fix.

Page Titles

Every page has a title tag that will show in the browser title bar.  Each page needs to be unique.  If you are using the same title for all pages then you will be considered a search engine spammer – if each page was truly the same then you only need a one page site.  Carefully consider your titles.  Don’t use Contact Me – instead use something like Web Design Vancouver Wa: Contact Dotty at Premium Websites.  This title gets the message across that it is a contact page, but it also conveys it is a contact page for a web designer in Vancouver WA and the business is Premium Websites and the designer is Dotty.

Article Titles

If you are running a Blog then make sure all Articles or Posts are using the H1 tag for the Title, and that your keywords are in the title – preferably at the beginning of the title.  This is why you will often see something like this – Search Engine Optimization: Basics for Business Owners. By using the colon tactic it makes sense to have the main keyword phrase at the beginning with a short explanation to follow.  Remember how you title your articles should also be how the link to the article appears.  Having your link include keywords is very important to rankings.

Articles need to use sub headers

Sub headers need to be H2-H6 tags and they need to be organized like an outline.  Not only does this make the article easy to follow, easy to skim, and easy to read – it also allows for keyword phrases to be used in the headers.  Search engines give more weight to keywords in H1 tags than keywords in H2 tags all the way down to the H6 tags.  The top of the articles has the most weight for keyword usage.

Keywords in Anchor Text

Search engines place very high value on other websites that link to your website.  It is like a vote of confidence for your website.  The text used in the incoming link is also very important and is called anchor text.  It must contain some of your keywords in order to get the full SEO value from this strategy.  “Click here” won’t cut it.  By using your keywords and linking to your site with the same keywords it gives the search engines a clear understanding of what your site is about, and how to rank it.

Keywords near the beginning of paragraphs

A keyword used at the beginning of a paragraph has more weight than keywords used at the end.  Also keywords used in the first paragraph has more weight than subsequent paragraphs.  Keep this in mind when writing the content of your website.  Also keywords that are either bold or italicized are give more weight than normal words.  This does not mean to bold everything – that is considered spamming and will be penalized.

Picture alt and title tags

All images used need to be labeled with the alt tags.  This makes the website compliant for people that use screen readers.  It also gives you another instance of using a keyword phrase.  The alt tag is what comes up if for some reason the image does not load, and the title tag is what shows when the image is hovered over by your mouse.  Both should be used and the words used need to be both relevant to the image and using keywords.  This is one area that is usually overlooked.

Meta tags

Meta tags are not used as much as they used to be.  It used to be that search engines went from the meta tags to get a description and keywords for ranking the site.  Now search engines usually use the actual content of the site for their listings.  This does not mean that they are not important.  They are often overlooked, but should still be used.  Also the keywords should reflect the actual page, not be generalized for the whole site.

As you can see, none of these tasks are hard, technical, or impossible.  Some take thought, but the implementation is easy.  It can be time consuming but it should not be beyond the ability for any business owner to accomplish if their website is created in a content management system of some kind.  No html knowledge is needed.

Easy Branding Tip

Learn how to get your own Gravatar for spreading your brand around the Internet.

Mike Klingler of Renegade University interviewed me at the Marketing Merge offices in Portland Oregon.  My focus has always been helping brick and motor businesses figure out how to gain clients and sales form the Internet.  Enjoy the interview – It is my hope you will gain a few nuggets that you will find useful in your business.

Spread Your Logo/Brand Across the Internet – For Free!

There is a very easy way to get your logo/brand recognized in your niche, and the method takes about 5 min and zero dollars.  Want to know what it is?

Gravatars! – Globally recognized avatars.  Simply go to the Gravatar.com website and register your email and upload a photo.  Most blogs in use today will recognize the Gravatar when commenting.  This is how your image/logo/brand can show every time you make a comment on other peoples blogs.  It is important to use the same image that you have used on your website, blog, and social media sites.  People will start to connect you with your brand as it gets spread across all the sites that you are actively involved in commenting and adding value.

Very simple – will you actually go and get yours set up?

Show me your Gravatar in the comments for this post.

For more Internet Marketing Strategies check out this article.

Business owners who have a storefront and want to promote their products want online websites and shopping carts.

Businesses can reach people independent of their location and allowing them to shop at their own convenience 24 hours a day.  It gives other benefits such as customer service, expands the company’s customer base, and takes away the limitation of the walk-up customer coming in the store during daylight hours and maximizes profits.

Particular products the business owner is passionate about can be promoted with an exciting website and Blog that reflects the individual business.  The owners can be creative Internet Marketers.

But one of the biggest tips is to sell what 95% of people searching the internet actually want to buy.

How Do Internet Marketers Create an E-Commerce Storefront?

E-Commerce websites should these basic components:

• Clean and easy to navigate website
• Express the company’s identity and mission
• Detailed and easy to use product pages (catalog)that will improve conversion rates
• Shopping cart
• Shipping and handling options
• Online payment processing

To put these components together, small and business owners look for knowledge and technology to set up an E-Commerce website.  There are Internet hosting companies that offer E-Commerce packages and put together parts of the storefront.

What Other Online Marketing Skills are Needed for an E-Commerce Website?

Knowing other computer skills and understanding trends in online marketing are helpful.  There are ways to get internet marketing training for cost-effective solutions.

• Online social networks such as Facebook, Myspace, and Twitter continue to grow and are necessary for your E-Commerce communication.
• Targeted email campaigns are crucial for achieving strong lead generation.
• Creating an online presence with a Blog connected with your Store.
• Understanding SEO and search engine marketing campaigns can help internet website positioning.
• Social shopping sites such as StyleHive and Kaboodle are increasingly gaining more exposure. Kaboodle is a an example of the new approach to online social shopping community where people discover, recommend and share products in a fun and engaging community of people who love to shop. Studying them will give insight into the latest trends in E-Commerce shopping.
• Another example of a website E-Commerce is with a relevant trend eco-friendly and sleep technology is GoodChangesNow
• NicheBluePrint is an E-Commerce program with a website and storefront.

To learn complete, cost-effective solutions to set up your online E-Commerce website and storefront, connect with Kathy for a consultation.