The client is a pain relief center that has semi-recently added the highly competitive weight loss service to their list of services. I had the opportunity to head down to Atlanta to visit their facility, speak with the owners and staff, and see how everything worked. I must say that I was extremely impressed with their service offering, the professional nature of the staff, and just how well they were able to conduct their business – needless to say I was excited to get started on their work.

Keywords Targeted

The client’s facility is located about 20 minutes south of Atlanta in the town of Jonesboro, GA – surprisingly they not only have a lot of competition in Atlanta but in Jonesboro as well. After doing some research behind their competition and of how people would search for their services the following is a list of keywords that I felt we should target in order to help them compete.

• Weight Loss
• Pain Relief
• Jonesboro, GA
• All of Their Pain Relief & Weight Loss Services Offered

The goal of our work was to not only completely revamp the website with an appealing and easily navigable site – but to dominate the local competition for all of their major services. We accomplished just that.

Slideshow of Rankings

Here is a slideshow showing our clients rankings for their terms. I cleared the cache of my browser and all browser history as to start with a fresh Google Browser.

How We Targeted the Terms

To target these terms we used a lot of the standard SEO practices. Title optimization, keyword rich url, keyword rich descriptions, as well as critical linking structure.

• Main Keyword Terms : (Weight Loss, Pain Relief, Jonesboro, GA) For these terms we expanded the company name from “Trinity Pain Relief Center” to include the Weight loss term on the main page, “Trinity Pain Relief & Weight Loss Center. Additionally in the page description we continued this trend by making sure that we kept the flow of our description as informative and keyword rich as possible. Additionally, on the home page we added strong keyword rich content to many of the sites inner service pages that were relevant to the weight loss service and pain relief services. Finally targeting the term Jonesboro, GA in all of the main titles allowed us to make sure that we were properly optimized for the company’s location. Having strong, informative, keyword rich, and easy to read content on the homepage allowed us to rank well for many key terms.




• Key Terms for Service Pages : Having a strong number of relevant links pointing to the weight loss & pain relief services page was key to ranking quickly for the sites key terms. If you check the companies home page you’ll notice that we made the main weight loss services page a focal point in much of our content and linking strategies. We even linked to a specific service within the weight loss services section of the website directly from the home page (see Food Sensitivity Testing). Paramount to the success of these inner pages ranking is a strong url structure. The most optimized structure for a URL is “www.domain.com/keywordrichterm.” Having too many “/” in your URL structure hides the content deep in the site and makes it less likely to rank well because it will not be crawled as often by Google or other search engines.
  
  
  To make sure that we were going to rank well in Google’s search engine we added in a lot of informative and relevant information to each of the services as well. Additionally – we added a fair amount of strong FAQ’s on many of the subject for users to reference should they have any additional questions. The content and titles of each of the pages were targeted directly at the specific service for each respective page as well as to the overall term (i.e. weight loss) that we were targeting. This gave us an advantage over many of their competitors who were not doing such things.

Other Important Factors

Additional factors that are important to consider are the relative competitive nature of the field. Localizing for your town may allow you to rank better than if you try to rank for larger areas. The most surprising keyword for this specific client to me was the fact that we ranked so quickly in the highly competitive weight loss field. We even had many of our inner pages ranking for the terms in a very short amount of time.

Following closely Google’s search guidelines of creating strong informative and relevant content is always the strongest way to make sure that you’re putting your site’s future in the best possible place that it can be. It’s important to think about ALL of these factors when creating your clients’ website – you need to understand the client’s end goals, where they want to and can compete in the market, how their company works, and how others in the market are competing in order to make sure that you’re going to put them in a position to flourish.

Many in our industry make SEO an afterthought, or an additional service on top of the development of a clients website – to me this is a cop out. If you’re not thinking about SEO throughout the entire development process then you aren’t giving your client the best possible chance to succeed and might as well not work with them at all. Keeping SEO in perspective throughout the entire content and website development process is EXACTLY why our client did so well for themselves in such a short amount of time.

Have any Questions?

Please feel free to Email Me | Tweet Me | or Connect with me on LinkedIn – I would absolutely love to discuss this article with you or any other general questions you have. Thanks for reading – keep reading, and keep learning – it’s the only way to stay ahead of the competition. Also, if you liked the article please feel free to share it with your friends and family below. Cheers!

Lately I’ve been seeing a lot of deals on TV and all over the Internet advertising a quick and easy website for small businesses to get started online. Let me give you my personal experience with a lot of these websites – they are pieces of crap. Buying into the quick set-up, low cost model of Web Development & Marketing, is like buying a stationary bicycle – sure, you’ll be able to exercise but you’ll never be able to go anywhere with it.

At our company we take the time to ask all the necessary questions about the company, I want to understand as much as possible about the industry that they work in, who their target market is, what there short and long term goals are. In my mind (and in our development work) these are essential to the end product. When you’re buying a website from Espire Marketing you’re not buying a website customized to make sure that when we launch, you have all the right tools in place to reach your end goals – and to be effective in your market.

In this industry there are many options, sometimes it’s overwhelming to my potential clients because they simply don’t understand many of the things that I’m talking about. As a small business developer and marketer, I feel that it’s important that I educate my clients on the tactics that I’m using and why they will be beneficial. We have no secrets with our clients – the tactics that we put to use are put in place to make sure that our clients have the absolute best chance to compete and excel in their market.

Here is the real difference between what we do, and what the other guys do – when you get a website from us – every single aspect of every page – every keyword, link, button, and picture – is put in it’s place to maximize the usability and marketability of your website. I would rather lose money on a project than give my customers a product that doesn’t meet our high quality standards.

The entire reason that I started this business was because I really CARE about small businesses. My family’s company paid a lot of their hard earned money for a website from a company that was a grade A piece of crap. When I was hired to come in and clean up the mess – it took us almost a full year (and a few thousand dollars) to clean up all of the mess that the previous development company left for us to clean up. That – is unacceptable to me.

We build custom websites for our clients using the absolute best technology available that is not only beneficial to them now, but will carry their business into the future. If our clients are successful using our products, then it means that we did our jobs. No two businesses are the same – while they may sell similar products – each small business has it’s own character, special offers, and story to tell. There is no ticky tack solution in the world that can capture the imagination and entrepreneurial spirit that your business has to offer. Why settle for a pre-packaged, poorly planned, and terribly executed website – when you can build a custom website with us that will take your company into the future? For my company – and hopefully for yours as well – we don’t settle for just okay – we expect the best. And that is why we build custom websites for our clients. Thanks for reading.

Normally in the #smallbusiness world we’ll find all sorts of business advice from other tweeple.In 1 hour Mr. Broadhead tweeted 25 times about “small business” with his political agenda that he deems to be relevant to the conversation. Take a look at just a few of them with this screen shot here:

Judging by his Twitter statistics (2,951 tweets, following 163, and followed by 84) no one seems to think his posts are relevant or informative. His miniature audience is even getting annoyed as he’s lost 3 followers in the time it’s taking me to write the article.

So that’s your lesson in how not to use twitter hashtags – don’t do what he does. If you’d like to use them the correct way make sure you are posting to relevant locations. It’s not about saying a million things, it’s about being relevant to the people in your field, sharing valuable information, and building relationships. If done correctly the networking possibilities on social sites will be extremely powerful. Really this goes for anything on the Internet – share value with others, and they’ll share value with you. Cheers!

Okay – so I recently subscribed to the #smallbusiness hashtag on Twitter and I really need to vent about something. Since subscribing I’ve seen the username @labwebde tweet 6 times selling their “affordable services.” I’ve taken a look at their work and there are a few red flags that really worry me about this company.

Normally I would let this go but one tweet really got me fired up because it is so misleading about what works and what doesn’t work online.

SEO a scam? Wow. SEO sets the foundation for every single small business marketing campaign. The thing that was really upsetting is that the company threw the word scam around without taking a look into a mirror.

Their twitter account has over 24,800 tweets – 99% of them trying to sell their services. Social media is about sharing information that will be beneficial to everyone – not about selling products. Even worse – I decided to take a look into their services. First off “affordable” is certainly A word that you could use for their services – I’d prefer to use the word CHEAP to describe them.

Take a look at this screenshot of one of their websites:

Notice anything strange? What is that buggy code at the top of the page showing some random number? It’s not a visitor count I can tell you that much – it’s just shotty work. On top of that after reviewing the SEO services for that clients website I noticed that they ranked either D or F on nearly every single important SEO initiative that would be beneficial to their clients and bring the real results.

I am pretty sure that a 5 year old with a few weeks of practice could create the website that this person used – and they charged up to $1500 for it!?

There are many things that are affordable in life – and there are many online services that are affordable on the Internet – but that doesn’t necessarily mean that they are beneficial. Think of it like this – if you buy some toys from the dollar store, they are certainly very affordable….but they’ll break in 3 months with any use.

I’m writing this article because people like this company give reputable businesses like mine a bad name. We offer our services for FAR LESS than larger firms but we ALSO give you everything that they would give you. Don’t get fooled by the “affordable” tag – it’s only that cheaply priced because they’re giving you the bare minimum to get your site up. You’ll find that they’ll leave you extremely disappointed and not prepared to succeed online. If you’re serious about succeeding online – you can’t skate by with the bare minimum.

At Espire we take our jobs very seriously. Deciding to work with us means that you’re putting your business’s online success in our hands. I got in this business to help small businesses avoid these type of cheap “get rich quick” type scams and to give them a value that they will see in their sales figures and feel in momentum. If you’re interested in finding out more contact us or take a look at our small business services. I promise you that you’re in good hands and we have a proven track record of success. Thanks for letting me vent – have a happy new year and a fantastic day.

Small Business New Years Resolutions

• Lose the Budget – this one might be hard for a lot of small businesses to think about doing, especially if you’re business is having some cash flow problems. However, Internet Marketing tactics should be judged solely on their Return on Investment. If your campaigns are achieving a positive ROI – why cut the campaign short? Perhaps starting out with a test budget might set your minds at ease – then you can take a look at the numbers and decide whether you’d like to continue or not.
• Start your own Network – While it is important for a company to have it’s own social marketing campaigns going, it is just as important for the main players in a business to be well versed in the ways of social networking. Get the sales team, President, VP, and head of marketing all involved in social campaigns. This will give your company the chance to be an authority in your field on the Internet and will allow you to secure more business for your company.
• Take a look at your staff – Hiring the right staff is the most important thing a company can do – and your company is only as strong as it’s weakest link. Take a look around the office and determine if your company is working with all the right people. If you the year prior brought some unpleasantry to your company from a few of your employees, maybe it’s time to move on. It’s never fun to let go of someone – but it could be the most important move you’ve ever made.
• Set monthly, quarterly, and yearly goals – and STICK TO THEM. Set them for yourself, your sales team, your entire staff, and company wide – and let your employees know what they are. Communication and transparency inside of your business are important. It makes everyone feel like they’re a part of the team and it gives everyone something to try to reach and set rewards for reaching goals. Also, dont’ set them too high – If you set goals that are unrealistic then your employees won’t ever take them seriously.
• Read about new technologies – The most important game changer in your field may be the new technologies arising. Don’t rely on your IT department to tell you what technologies you need – sometimes you’ll hire a proactive IT department but in most cases they are more concerned with self preservation and security. Get creative and try some new things this year – don’t be afraid to have some fun with it.

So those are some ideas for your business this new year. Take my advice, or create some solid resolutions for your company. No matter what you decide to do – take some time to reflect and improve upon the things that your company does well. Happy New Year!

Interested in Small Business Lead Generation Services? Click Here for our Lead Generation service page.

6 Steps for LinkedIn

Step 1. Revisit your goals.
Step 2. Layer in your keywords.
Step 3. Strip out the clutter.
Step 4. Reintroduce your personality.
Step 5. Take a hard look at your profile photo.
Step 6. Get recommendations.

Our Analysis

These steps are wonderful steps to take towards making a more marketable LinkedIn Profile. If you are an entrepreneur or business person – you simply have to create a LinkedIn. It is the most powerful business networking platform on the Internet.

Social Media Resources

This is a summary of the original article written by Jeff Haden on INC.com – Read The Original

In this second edition of What I learned Wednesday I’m going to talk to all of you about something that I personally struggle with. My father has told me my entire life that “Patience is a virture my son.” And he is right – even if he did tell me the line after he’d just cursed the slow person in the fast food drive thru!

Patience, in today’s society – it’s has become less of a necessity – technology has turned us into a society driven by the idea of instant gratification. If you can find a way to give your clients that instant gratification at a good price – then you’ll likely find yourself sipping margaritas in the Caribbean.

Today’s lesson derives from a personal encounter that I’ve faced where I was striving to offer that instant gratification to our customers – but found in the end that I was sacrificing the very values that have helped build the company into the success it’s realized over the last 30 years.

Monday morning I received a call from a client looking for on of our digitally printed items that are of an extremely high quality. It is because of this high quality that we have been able to survive as a company with a longer turn around time then today’s society would demand. This client wanted them by Friday and called on Monday.

Normally we can make that happen (for a rush fee) but this week we were particularly backed up. I decided to look around to find places where we could meet this clients time constraints. I looked high and low – all around the country trying to find someone who could make it happen for our client.

After searching for a few hours I was able to find a vendor who could meet the clients needs. Naturally I decided to place an order. Excited that I had done a great thing I naturally called our client back and shared the good news….

A few days later the product arrived. As I opened the box up to bask in my glory – I was a bit surprised to find a less than stellar product. The fabric was complete junk – the print looked washed out upon arrival – and the hardware looked as if it would rust out or break with any wind at all.

With the clients deadline swiftly approaching I had two options – either sell the client the product and sacrifice the companies moral fiber or inform my client that I could no longer meet their deadline. For those of you who are regular readers – you know that I harp on consistency throughout your message and staying true to both your company and your customer. The decision was easy – I had to tell the client I couldn’t meet their deadline.

After I informed the client about the perdiciment they were slightly disappointed. However, I was upfront and honest with them about what had occured and was able to save the client – while they missed their deadline – they were much happier with the product in the end and their bosses were extremely happy with the final product.

The moral of the story is that I spent hours of time chasing something that wasn’t every really going to fully satisfy the needs of both the client and our company. So I guess I have to admit it that sometimes my Dad does know what he’s talking about and patience really is a virtue.

Reminders

The Reminders app itself is fantastic. It allows you to create, categorize, and set alerts for little things you need to take care of. Most of us have a business life AND a home life – this allows you to create specific lists for any reason you think of. Say you have a bunch of projects going – you can add a reminder for each of your projects, set a priority, add a due date, and voila! The most intriguing portion of reminders to me is the ability to add a location to reminders. Say you need to remember to grab a few things at the office supplies store – you can have your reminder remind you of what to buy just before you get to or leave a location. Very Practical.

iMessage

Okay – I am typically a Blackberry Nerd – I have to say that I was most excited about iMessage. You have no clue how nice it is to see that your message has both been delivered AND read until you’ve had it…and then it’s gone. iMessage allows you to message other iOS 5 users and you can send and receive messages between iPad, iPhone, and iPod – FANTASTIC. So think about it – you can send messages in between employees around the office, in a retail store, or remotely and not have to buy them a full phone contract. The best part is that iMessage works within the Texting app and automatically recognizes another iOS 5 device. VERY cool.

Where iOS 5 Lacks

This analysis wouldn’t be complete if I didn’t tell you where I think the OS really lacks.
Mail

Personally, I hate the email on iPhone. The autocorrect is annoying, and if you’re not carful you can send some pretty bad things to people – for instance when my wife tells me she’s going over to “amy’s” – her sister it says she’s going to anus.

Phone Reception

This has more to do with the device and can certainly vary from place to place, but in my daily life I am constantly sitting at 1-3 bars and usually at 1 bar. That’s just a problem for me. I can’t be talking to a client and have my phone all the sudden cut out – it just isn’t convenient.

Battery Life

I have found this to be a device issue but also has to do with the operating system. The fact of the matter is that all of the data that is being pushed and pulled on an iPhone requires a lot of energy. If you’re not careful you can be down to half a battery in just a few hours – especially if you’re in an area with poor phone reception.

My Overall Thoughts

Overall I think that Apple has really put together a nice operating system and they’re inching closer to something that is unbeatable. They just need to introduce a few things for me and then it will be both a fantastic toy that calls and a business phone. They don’t even have a “mark all as read” feature for their emails. If you get a lot of emails in a day – I would look somewhere else because it is very very annoying.

However, this is a great operating system and if battery life and email aren’t issues to you – then you would probably fall in love with the iPhone. The additional toys to play with make this phone a lot of fun.

I’ve taken a screen shot of a Facebook Fan Page in order to point out what I’m talking about.
1. A Strong Branded Image – WITH URL I might add. Since people who haven’t yet decided to “like” you fan page will only be able to see some information about you and your branded image – it’s important to have a strong branded image with your url. A Boring image could turn them away right away.

2. Additional Places to Contact You – Once you’ve gotten them to like you – they’re going might want to explore more about you. For this page we have a youtube page, we created an FBML page with a self branded video, and most importantly – we’ve given them the opportunity to sign up for our newsletter through Constant Contact. I was skeptic about how many people would actually sign up through our Facebook page for our email newsletter but it’s actually working – we’ve had the link up for about 14 days and 10 people have already signed up.

3. Contests – Look, people love contests and love free stuff. Come up with a prize that your Facebook fans would love. We’ve done multiple contests over the years and each time we’ve seen great success in the increase in our fan base as a result. You can use companies like WildFire App to track your campaigns.

4. Connecting with Partner Brands – One of the nicest features on Facebook Fan pages is the ability to “like” other brands that your company is associated with. When these companies see that you’ve liked them on Facebook often they will like you back and that will open your page up to an entirely different audience who may have never heard of you before.

5. A captivating audience – I chose to put this one last because it’s the most important and probably the most difficult to come up with. If your company already has a strong brand name, this will be easier for you to achieve. When building a captivating Facebook audience – try to target your core user – these people will be the example of how to interact with your page for the non-core users. The core users are also more likely strongly attached to your brand and will be willing to help spread your message. Remember – everything comes back to your core customer and the core values of your company. If you ever lose sight of that ANYWHERE in your business – you will likely lose your business somewhere down the line.

Thanks for reading – Make sure to sign up to receive our email newsletter – I’m building it up and have an important annoucnement coming soon that could possibly include some really cool prizes like a tablet….who knows?