Businesses, here’s a great sponsor link opportunity to help your SEO

Posted on March 29, 2012 by

You’ve heard it over and over again. You need links on other sites pointing to yours to climb in Google. And that in turn gets you seen and then brings you customers. And you’ve heard SEOs state over and over again that a great way to get those inbound links is by sponsoring a non-profit, an event, or your community’s little league, for example, because typically those organizations will list you as a sponsor on their website along with a link.

Today, I’m offering businesses something much more beneficial than your typical sponsor links.

If you know SEO at all, you know that you can increase the power of your link juice in the following ways:

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Posted in Link Building, Local Business Marketing, SEO | 6 Comments

Get oodles of reviews with this FREE review tool

Posted on February 7, 2012 by

I’m bummed. I had a client who probably spent an hour writing a glowing review at Yelp about what I did for his business with my KickStart consultation program. It was a full page filled with all the details of how I helped him and the embarrassing results he got – embarrassing because he commanded 8 positions on the first page of Google. He was aglow and went on and on and on. It was the kind of review that every business wants to get.

Sadly, I’m guessing that Yelp considered it too good to be true, so they removed it. That’s not all that uncommon. They do it in an attempt to keep out spam, but too often they are over zealous.

Don’t let the Yelp filter get you.

I don’t want that to happen to you, so I want to share two pieces of advice with you and give you a REVIEW TOOL for FREE that might help you get and keep the great reviews you deserve.

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Posted in Local Business Marketing, QR Codes | 4 Comments

Part 4: Where customers can find you online. Hint: Google Places.

Posted on November 22, 2011 by

Google or yellow page sites? Where should you be? On one or in the others? In 1? 2? 3? Oh my.

Just when I thought I was done, Myles Anderson posted this absolutely great research over at Searchengineland.com on how the Google Panda updates have impacted the traffic on yellow page sites, and I can’t keep silent about it.

(Notice I have not capitalized “yellow page” there. If you read Part 2 of this series, you’ll know why.)

I hope you read that post in its entirety, but I also know most people aren’t as nerdy as I am to even care for that many numbers and that much explanation, nor do they have the time, so I’ll summarize here for you with some important takeaways on what it means for your local business.

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Posted in Directories, Local Business Marketing, Local Search, SEO | Leave a comment

How to increase your blog following. Just show a little chest is all.

Posted on November 22, 2011 by

I just got this on my Facebook wall:

“Hi Kathy, you are my resident expert…I am trying to increase the audience of my new blog, Stepford Husband, do you have any tips or suggestions?”

David’s post came with this picture on his blog:

Now tell me, if you saw that wouldn’t you follow it?

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Posted in Facebook, Link Building, Social Media Marketing | Leave a comment

Is position 2 on the first page of Google good enough?

Posted on November 19, 2011 by

Or would hiring an SEO and a #1 position be worth the investment?

If you haven’t already, read the prologue to this post. If you don’t want to bother, then here’s a bit of info to set the stage.

In that post I showed how chiropractors in Scotts Valley were just about rendered invisible because Google bestowed a “Site Links” blessing on another chiropractor in town for the query “Scotts Valley chiropractic.” Dr. Hinde, though in position 2, looked like a mere mortal, while Dr. Thibodeau apparently achieved sainthood. On other queries, though, all chiropractors appeared to be on an equal playing ground, yet Dr. Thibodeau still reigned supreme.

This post answers the question, should Dr. Hinde in position 2 for the more popular and lucrative keyword “chiropractor” try for position 1? He also commands the first THREE positions for “Scotts Valley chiropractic office.” Is that enough?

And what about the other chiropractors further down the page and on other pages? Is it worth their time and investment in SEO to try to improve their rank in Google?

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Posted in Google Places, Local Search, SEO | Leave a comment

Part 3: Where people are looking to find a local business

Posted on November 19, 2011 by

This time we look at where on the SERP (search result page) commands the most attention

One of my favorite sources for SEO information, SEOmoz, recently posted their results of an eye-tracking study they did to show how consumers are trying to find local businesses. I could just point a link to their post, which I’ll do here anyway, but I wanted to bring over their study and images because I have some additional points I wanted to make. Here’s their post. And here’s the Kat & Mouse take. Continue reading →

Posted in Google Places, Local Business Marketing, Local Search, SEO | Leave a comment

Part 2: Where people are looking to find local businesses

Posted on November 19, 2011 by

Online or off? Google? Local directories? Facebook? Where?

Last week I showed you some data that revealed where people were looking online to find local businesses. That was part 1 of this series on where people are looking for local businesses.

That report was published in October, 2011. The same research firm released some other numbers back in March. I’m not sure what they say is much different, but I think the chart is clearer, so I wanted to share this with you as well.

ONLINE sources people check BEFORE visiting a local business or restaurant

Continue reading →

Posted in SEO | 2 Comments

Part 1: How are people looking for local businesses? Will yours get found?

Posted on November 14, 2011 by

Harris Interactive in its new study sponsored by CityGrid Media posted some interesting statistics that are important for you, a local business owner, to know. Here’s what they discovered.

Searching for a local business at home

To no surprise, online search and review sites are where most people go to find local information – 60% of them to be exact in this study of 1000 adults – when they were at home. In the under 35 segment, this increased to 85%! Again, no surprise.

And finally, only 8% said they go to merchants’ websites first before searching. That last metric is a little confusing to me especially since most people have to search to find a website to go to, but regardless of how or why that happens, there is still a crystal clear takeaway from these metrics. Continue reading →

Posted in Directories, Google Places, Local Business Marketing, Local Search, SEO | Leave a comment

How and why to keep away the dreaded Google bounce

Posted on November 12, 2011 by

75% bounce. 63% bounce. 95% bounce. 38% bounce. Maybe you’ve seen those in your Google Analytics, and if you don’t know what I’m talking about, then you’re missing an important metric in that last column (see screenshot below) that Google graciously gives you to help you win the internet marketing game.

Google analytics bounce Continue reading →

Posted in SEO | 24 Comments

Get your local BizBuzz on – A Google Places Primer

Posted on November 10, 2011 by

Until I get my ebook done which will be full of the best advice from all the best local search experts in the world, here are some slides I prepared for my local  SEO/Google Places presentation to help you optimize your Google Place page and to get it to rise to the top.

Many changes have occurred since it was written, thanks to Google’s fickle nature, but most everything here is still relevant.

Enjoy and then return later for that promised Local SEO ebook.

Local Search Is aBuzz

Posted in SEO | 1 Comment