Local SEO Tactics and Digital Marketing Strategies

Get Your Website Submitted To Google and Bing And Have Your Pages Indexed For Search Listings Learn how to submit your website to Google and Bing, to make sure your pages are indexed and available to show up on search engine results pages (SERP). The only reliable way to accomplish this is to use the Google Search Console to submit your website to Google, and to use Bing Webmaster Tools to submit your website to Bing. In this weeks episode we'll walk you through the basics on how to get your website submitted, make sure the Google and Bing know about new pages, and ensure that your pages able to be found by the search engines! You'll Learn The only way to submit your website to Google Setup your account in Google Search console (GSC) to submit your website You need to submit a sitemap in your GSC account Your sitemap acts like a Table of Contents for Google, to help them understand your website pages You should be using a Wordpress plugin or some other method to auto-update your sitemap when you create new content You can manually submit a page to Google by going to the Fetch as Google in the Crawl section of Google Search Console The process to submit your website to Bing is very similar to submitting to Google via Bing Webmaster Tools View the show notes, resource links, episode transcript, and watch the video version at https://www.localseotactics.com/episode37

How To Create and Use Category Pages To Improve The SEO On Your Site Use category pages to boost the SEO on your website! Category pages are very helpful for multiple reasons. They are an easy way to produce content on your site, and attack specific keyword or phrases you're trying to rank for. Category pages can boost your SEO by helping to group relevant web pages together, so Google can understand the products and services you provide and better match them up with the searchers intent. This approach is also great for your actual human web visitors, too, since it gives them natural navigational hubs to learn more or explore your offerings further. We'll walk you through some easy ideas and concepts, to help you get started making or improving your own category pages. What You'll Learn Using category pages on your website to round up content on similar topics Improve your SEO and search engine rankings with category pages Begin by looking at the type of products and services you offer and put them into groups Come up with the category for each of these groups and create a category page On each category page you will list individual products and services in that group Create the category page with SEO in mind for keywords, URL, title, and h tags Link to the product and service pages from the category page Category pages can be listed in the main menu of your website or other prominent areas Category pages can have call to action (CTA) buttons and other traditional conversion features Treat the category page similar to a landing page because you want to match user intent and convert Putting FAQ's on a category page is an easy way to add more relevant content to the page Add links to the category page from any relevant individual pages, where it makes sense for visitors to follow Update category pages with new content and links when it's created to keep your category page fresh View the show notes, resource links, episode transcript, and watch the video version at https://www.localseotactics.com/episode36

Hire Top Talent On A Temporary Or Part-Time Basis To Instantly Increase Business Productivity This week we interview Nate Hirsch from FreeeUp.com, who teaches us how you can use freelancers to scale your company on a budget. Nathan Hirsch is a 28 year old serial entrepreneur who is an expert in hiring online and building eCommerce businesses. He co-founded his first eCommerce company out of his dorm room in 2009 built it to sell over $25 million worth of product over 5 years. While scaling, Nathan discovered the power of outsourcing and ended up building a remote army of freelancers. In 2015, Nathan co-founded and became the CEO of FreeeUp, an online hiring marketplace that allows business owners fast access to a hand-picked network of top talent freelancers in eCommerce, digital marketing, web development, and much more who have already been vetted for skill, attitude, and communication. Nate shares his story of entrepreneurship, delegation, and scaling a small business on a bootstrap budget. Using freelancers to supplement your team can provide some great benefits to local business owners. You can hire top quality individuals quickly, and instantly improve the talent on your team - often with higher skill sets and lower costs than if you were to hire local talent. Learn how FreeUp only accepts the top 1% of all freelancers into it's pipeline, and how you can get started with a discount for being a Local SEO Tactics listener! What You'll Learn How Nate Hirsch founded FreeeUp.com and grew it into a successful business that allows customers to hire top quality temporary freelancers Nate got his first taste of scaled success by selling niche baby products on Amazon when he was attending college at 20 years old As Nate tried to scale his business he encounter many struggles in how to hire talented people to join his team Growing your business and delegating your duties as a business owner are very difficult FreeeUp only allows the top 1% of all freelancers to join their network and perform work for FreeeUp.com customers Freelancers are all vetted on many levels, including skill, attitude, and communication Utilizing freelancers allows you to utilize top level talent for short term tasks or projects instead of hiring them and retaining them In a job market where hiring local talent is very tough, using freelancers is a great way to get talented team members It is important to set expectations on what type of talent you need and what type of talent you are hiring in a freelancer Focusing on your own hiring process and refining them will make sure you continually bring talented people that fit your needs You should delegate things that you are not good at or that you don't want to do Find specialists to execute these delegated duties for you so you can turn your weaknesses into strengths Get $25 OFF from FreeeUp.com for all Local SEO Tactics listeners View the show notes, resource links, episode transcript, and watch the video version at https://www.localseotactics.com/episode35

Understand Searcher Intent On Google So You Can Incorporate User Intent Into SEO For Your Website Understanding user intent and searcher intent can be a huge benefit to your SEO. As Google continues to leverage it's AI and Machine Learning to provide search results, one of it's main focuses is to effectively guess the user intent on any given search term. For example, someone who often watches DIY videos may be presented with DIY information for a relevant search, even if they are not inputting "DIY" or "DIY videos" into their search. Gaining a clear understanding of the your audience, and what their intent would be when finding your page, will help you develop clearly identified content. This makes it much easier for Google to match your content with searcher intent, rather than guessing. In this episode we'll break this down and digest what it means, so you can create better content, convert more users, and rank higher in Google by incorporating searcher intent into your SEO strategy. What You'll Learn How to create pages on your website for the user intent Creating your page with a good user intent helps Google know who you are creating the page for If you are targeting a search term that is ambiguous for user intent then you may have poor results Going after long tail keywords can add more context to your content and help define intent Matching content to user intent will reduce bounce rates and keep users on your site longer Example - if you're creating a DIY article or page, make sure the content is helpful for solving their problems Example - if you're creating a page for services you provide, make it clear you are offering your services Strive to really understand what users are searching for - answers, info, services, help, or products Google uses AI and machine learning to try and guess a users intent and tries to match it to search results Having a strong intent based content page will also deflect poor quality visitors who did not match your intent At the top of the page clearly state the intent of the page right in the title and headings of the page View the show notes, resource links, episode transcript, and watch the video version at https://www.localseotactics.com/episode34

The Importance of Using Google Questions and Answers on Google Maps and Your GMB Listings Have you heard of or viewed the Google Questions and Answers area in your Google My Business listing? This is an area you should be paying attention to! Anyone with an active Google account can post a question about your business. Additionally, anyone can also answer that question! This is pretty cool, but also pretty scary from the standpoint of the business. Learn how to monitor Google Q&A, how to answer questions in Google Maps via the Q&A area, and how to leverage this to enhance your online exposure. Learn how to take control of the questions, how to have the best answers, and how to make sure your business content is in your own control. What You'll Learn What is the Google Question & Answer feature in the Google My Business listing area Anybody with a Google account can ask a question about your business Anybody with a Google account can answer a question about your business It's possible for people outside of your business to provide price quotes and answer information about pricing There can be multiple answers to any question on Google Questions and Answers about your business If you are registered as the owner of the business, when you answer a question it is tagged with "Business Owner" so the public can distinguish your reply All answers can be upvoted and the answer with the most upvotes will be the answer that is shown for the question Make sure you monitor the questions that are being asked on your GMB so you can provide answers to them You can check to see if you have new questions by going through your GMB listing by clicking the "view in search" or "view in maps" links Leave answers as fast as possible to answer the customers questions and to be the first answer provided Upvote your own answers right away and ask others you know to upvote your answers too Ask your own questions so you can get the information you want up in the Q&A section You can answer your own questions too, to make it a very good FAQ type of area in your GMB View the show notes, resource links, episode transcript, and watch the video version at https://www.localseotactics.com/episode33

Reasons Your GMB List Can Get Suspended and How You Can Get Your Listing Unsuspended You definitely do not want to get your Google My Business page suspended, since your GMB listing is such a crucial part of ranking high in Google for many popular local search terms. However, if your GMB got suspended, there is hope! In our first "Beer Friday" episode we'll discuss GMB suspensions, the reasons for getting suspended, and how you can get reinstated using the Google local businesses reinstatement requests. We'll also drink a beer. Cheers! What You'll Learn First Beer Friday episode - where we drink beer and talk SEO Beer is from Bald Man Brewing in Eagan, MN Reasons why your Google My Business listing can get suspended How to get your GMB listing reinstated if it gets suspended One of the more common reasons for getting your GMB suspended is because you check the box that says you have a storefront and serve customers at your location, when you do not have actually have a store front If your business category is one that Google considers risky, such as locksmiths or criminal lawyers If you deal with regulated goods, such as firearms, pharmaceuticals, or other controlled items Your Google My Business listing can be suspended for having multiple listings for the same business A good way to double check and see if you have duplicate Google My Business listings is to do a Google search on your address in Google Maps If you find a duplicate listing, and it's not currently claimed by you, you can claim it and then mark it as a duplicate or as closed Your can get a GMB suspended if you have incorrect information on your listing If you try and use keywords in your GMB business name, you run a high risk of getting your listing suspended If you make too many changes to the primary business info fields, such as your name, address, or phone number, you can get suspended Having a fake web address or a redirected website address listed on your GMB can get your GMB suspended If you have multiple business locations, you can get suspended for overlapping your service areas on multiple GMB listings If you do get your GMB listing suspended, it is possible to get your GMB reinstated by following the reinstatement process from Google It usually takes 24-72 hours for Google to respond to your reinstatement request If you don't get reinstated, you can try it again You can also send a Tweet to Google for questions or problems with your GMB Your individual GMB listing can get suspended, or even worse, your entire GMB account (and all listings) can get suspended View the show notes, resource links, episode transcript, and watch the video version at https://www.localseotactics.com/episode32

Improve The Speed Of Your Website To Rank Higher In Google Searches And Get More New Customers Website speed is a ranking factor, for Google. It's official, Google has confirmed it! So, if you're not paying attention to how fast your website is, then you're completely ignoring something that can easily help your Google rankings! In this episode we dig into what can cause your website to slow down, how to test the speed of your website, how to identify exactly how long each element of your website takes to load, and best practices you can implement to maintain a fast website today, as well as into the future. View the show notes, resource links, episode transcript, and watch the video version at https://www.localseotactics.com/episode31

How To Survive As Local Business For Over 20 Years By Embracing New Marketing Strategies You know Bob Brennan as the co-host to Local SEO Tactics. What many don't know is Bob's history as a successful brick-and-mortar business owner over the last 20+ years. For episode 30 of Local SEO Tactics, Jesse interviews Bob Brennan, discussing what it takes to survive as a business for over 20 years, and how continuing to seek out and embrace new marketing technologies can help grow your small business. What You'll Learn Insights into what it takes to persevere in small business with an ever changing marketing landscape How inbound or "pull" marketing is so much more powerful and outbound or "push marketing Contrasting the traditional marketing techniques like direct mail, versus newer digital methods Focusing on SEO and digital marketing costs substantially less than cold calling, direct mail, and appointment setting Business owners need to shift their marketing to become a "service based business" Using digital marketing allows for very low cost test marketing to see if your ideas will fly or not It's much easier for a local small business to open an online store with today's eCommerce technology Local businesses can leverage technology to provide value and services that competitors are not What are the basic inbound marketing metrics that a business owner can easily pay attention to Developing a customer service script can help your team to convert more first time callers into customers Make sure you are researching your competitors to see what they are offering and how they handle new customers View the show notes, resource links, episode transcript, and watch the video version at https://www.localseotactics.com/episode30

Understand When The Google Map Pack Shows Up and How To Get Your Website Ranked In The Map Pack We're all familiar with the Google Map Pack, right? Google map pack is the general term used to describe the location based results you see on a Google search results page, where it lists local businesses and identifies their location on a map with little place marker icons. Well, if you want your business to get in front of new customers, you need to be ranking in the Google map pack! In this episode we'll talk about how to determine which keywords will trigger that map pack to show up (not all will). We'll also dig into how you can optimize your website for the keywords that trigger the map pack, to make sure you are showing up here for local searches! What You'll Learn You need to be in the Google map pack if you want to be found for local search results on Google The Google map pack is group of businesses that appear in a box at the top of the search results page The map pack does not show up for every search term you want to target You need to find out which search terms the map pack is showing up for, and optimize for those keywords Find the qualifier and superlative keywords that you can add to your services to trigger the map pack to show up You need to have a Google My Business listing to show up in the Google map pack search results Be sure to do Google searches from multiple IP's and from multiple physical locations to understand the differences by location View the show notes, resource links, episode transcript, and watch the video version at https://www.localseotactics.com/episode29

Discover The Easy But Hidden Way To Engage With More Customers And Get Ahead Of Your Competition We've noticed a shift happening - customers are contacting businesses more and more with instant messaging, SMS text messages, and emails, and less with phone calls than they used to. This is great, but it comes with a catch! It's super easy to know when your phone is ringing...but how do you know if you have a new message on Yelp, Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, LinkedIn, or any other 3rd party messaging platform? Don't let these customer inquiries slip through the cracks! In this weeks episode we share some tips and tricks to quickly engage with these customers, and win the sales that your competition is missing out on! What You'll Learn There is a rise in the ratio of non-phone call communications for customer contact from websites Phone calls remain the most popular method of contacting local companies for service requests Often times businesses are slower to reply to emails than they are in handling phone calls Customers can easily contact many businesses via email in short order If you can promptly reply to emails, you will stand out above the competition Customers can also contact you via Yelp, Facebook, Twitter, and other 3rd party messaging methods You can use screen recording apps (like Loom) to record a message, and link to it in your message replies Many customers choose messaging over a phone call so they can have a one-way conversation and avoid talking to a salesperson Strategically reply to messaging with smart and informative answers, communicating your points where relevant Emails and messages are easily shared by customers, so your replies should take that into consideration Instant messages are much more intimate and less likely to get lost in the shuffle, compared to emails or phone calls Messaging platforms like Yelp and Facebook will display your response (reply) time - a slow response time can turn customers away, and a fast response can gain you new customers Find all your communication inputs and understand how and where you are getting new leads from Use Google My Business to enable messaging (SMS) direct from your GMB listing Use Twilio or Intrycks Call Tracking to integrate SMS on your business phone numbers Integrate a live chat feature on your website to provide easy and immediate customer interactions Make sure you have a quote form or contact form on your website that is easy to find and easy to use View the show notes, resource links, episode transcript, and watch the video version at https://www.localseotactics.com/episode28