Local Search Optimization: What to Do When Google Maps Has it Wrong

April 19, 2013 By + Leave a Comment

image showing huge Google push pinGoogle Gets Confused Just like the Rest of Us

Local Search is a strange place, but one thing seems to be clear:  One of the single most important factors in Local SEO is something you might hear cryptically called “NAP Match” or “NAP consistency.”  NAP stands for “Name, Address, Phone.”  Making sure that the NAP is consistent between various local directories, and especially that it is consistent between your website and Google/Bing/Yahoo/Yelp (otherwise known as the “Gang of 4″) is one of the basic best practices of Local SEO.  (You can find this and other information contained here in David Mihm’s incredibly useful local search ranking factors survey.)  Naturally, you run a big risk if you choose to represent your address in a way that conflicts with Google.  Unless of course you can get Google to see reason and correct their version of the address.  Doesn’t that sound easy?  Well, sometimes.

how to submit a problem report in Google Maps

(click to see larger)

Correcting An Address When it’s Easy

To correct your address, you can log into your Google Places page, if you’ve verified that you’re the owner, and correct it.  Or, if you don’t own the business, you can conduct a search at maps.google.com, find the listing, and “Report a Problem.”  (See screen shot at left)

But, what happens when Google does NOT show your business, verified or not, in its vast and conflicted database of local businesses?  How do you submit a correction?

I recently had to struggle with a situation where Google did not have the business in Places, but was convinced that the business address was incorrect.  Allow me to clarify.

My client has a business location in a fairly new industrial park in Las Vegas.  By fairly new, I mean it’s only been there about a year.  However even that is long enough for Google to show the industrial park correctly in a map view.

 

Spring Valley “Trumps” Las Vegas

Unfortunately for my client, Google decided that the neighborhood was more important than the exact city in showing the address.  When I Google the address for this business, notice what Google changes the city to in the next screen shot.

screen shot of address mismatch in Google places search

(click to see larger)

Now before we go any further, let me explain that the address I typed into the search field is a postal-service-verified address, and that the actual city really is Las Vegas.  Spring Valley is an unincorporated township within Las Vegas, in essence a sub-division.  My client needs to be recognized as being a Las Vegas business, not a Spring Valley business (I think lots of Las Vegans don’t know where Spring Valley really is, and I grew up near Spring Valley in San Diego County, so the potential for confusion is considerable).

What adds to the complication is the fact that my client’s business name was unknown to Google.  When I Googled my client’s business, I got irrelevant, unrelated business results.  The client has no Place Page, in other words.

In order to try and figure out what was going on, I gave it another try, but this time I omitted the zip code when I searched.  Hurray!  Google let me keep the city name as Las Vegas.

image of another local search address mismatch in Google

(click to see larger)

But wait.  What’s this I see?  They’ve changed the zip code to 89148.  That’s not even close.

I won’t even mention the variant where Google gave me the correct city but switched the zip code to 89118, but they did that as well.

Can You Fight Google Hall?

At this point I had a dilemma.  Do I create a place page using an address that Google won’t validate?  I already have on client where Google simply won’t accept a correction I made to their address via their Place Page.  I can’t really move forward and list the client with an inaccurate zip code, and although Spring Valley might create an address where mail will find them, it’s an unacceptable marketing and branding situation.

 

Getting Help

At this point I turned to an excellent resource for local search issues, the Catalyst eMarketing Local Search forum run by Local SEO guru Linda Buquet.  My question sparked a very informative thread that reminded me of a long forgotten, and little noticed, branch of Google’s empire called Google Mapmaker.  And mapmaker proved to be the solution to my problem.

I was able to log into my personal Google account, navigate to http://www.google.com/mapmaker and create a business listing at the correct address.  Google allowed me to input whatever I wanted in that way.  Google reviews such submissions, but I was able to attach a note explaining the situation and clarifying the correct zip and city name for the client’s business.  Google reviewed and approved it within 24 hours and, voila!, my client’s business now shows under its correct and approved name.  Additionally, they also immediately showed up in Places and I was able to merely claim them using the traditional claiming process.

screen capture of adding a place to Google map maker

(click to see larger)

Now that Map Maker is back on, er, my map…I can see one more option in my steadily increasing list of local SEO tools.

By the way, in our Master SEO Class we do an in-depth module on local search.  The class is in a workshop format and is taught across the United States, as well as Europe, Asia, and Australia.  For SEO class dates, please check our schedule.  And if you are looking for specific local SEO information, I highly recommend Linda and the community at http://localsearchforum.catalystemarketing.com.

Learn about in-person, hands-on SEO workshop with one of our expert trainers!
Filed Under: Local Search, Misc, SEO Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Search Engine Academy – Things to Think About for Promoting Your New Home Based Business

March 15, 2013 By + 2 Comments

Are you thinking about starting your own new home based business?

If you have ever owned a home based business you understand just how
important it is to have a good promotional plan.  After all, you will never
be successful if people do not even know that you exist.  The good thing
is that if you own a home based business there are several ways to promote
it to potential customers all over the world.

The first thing that you will want to do when you are promoting your home
business is to write up a plan; this is often referred to as a marketing plan.
In this plan you will want to outline everything you intend to do as far as
promotion is concerned.  By doing this before you even get started, you will
ensure yourself of having a guide to help you benchmark your progress along
the way and through the different stages of marketing. People sometimes
overlook this step because they think that they can simply promote as they
go along.  This is true, but by having a promotional plan in place you will be
much more successful.

This is especially important if you are planning on requesting financing for
your business launch. Remember, when financing a new business with a bank,
they will want to see not only evidence that you have a well though out plan,
but that you also know it off by heart. You should be well able to answer any
questions they may ask you, such as what will your office hours be, or perhaps
what your customer service policies will be etc.

Starting a new home based business

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One of the best ways of promoting your home business is through the use of
a website. By having a website, you will be able to promote your business
to people from all over the world. There was a time when this option was
not easily available, but those days have come and gone.  If you want your
home business to be successful, you will need to have a top notch website
that you can rely on.

When we say you need a top notch Web site, we are talking about more than
just something flashy in design. You’ll want your Web site to clearly
communicate all about who you are and what services you provide in a way
that compels visitors to contact you. This is style of sales copy is
referred to as “persuasive copywriting.”

Of course you can learn something about SEO or Search Engine Optimization
to help your pages be found more easily by those searching the Web. You
want your Web site’s message to be clearly written so that as readers land
on your page, they will instantly be able to understand what you do, your
expertise.

Other considerations for your Web site content might include:

  • SEO skills training
  • Genuine customer testimonials using the names of actual clients.
  • Perhaps some of the most “Frequently Asked Questions.”
  • A professionally taken photo of yourself and members of your team.
  • Remember, when putting forth a marketing message or sales letter, it can be
    very beneficial working with a professional writer experienced in how to
    write effective and persuasive Web copy.
  • For more ideas of what to include on your Web site, please see this post.

In addition to promoting your home business with a website, there are other
ways that you can do this online as well. Placing ads in e-zines has been
proven as a successful promotion method. The main advantage of doing this
is that you can reach a target audience that is interested in what you have
to offer.  This is much better than simply placing an ad in a publication
that does not even correspond with your company.

Of course, promoting your home business can also be done in more traditional
ways as well.

Many people feel that direct mail is still a great way to promote their
business.  This can be done by obtaining a mailing list, and then sending out
some well written materials that will intrigue people to contact you.  Even
though this method may seem a bit outdated, it can still be very successful
if done correctly. Then there is great opportunity to build your own list of
permission based subscribers too (also great for keeping in touch with readers
who want your information.

Promoting your home business is the only way that you are going to be able to
grow.  By starting out with a plan you will be able to ensure yourself of
guidance along the way.  Remember, there are hundreds of promotional tactics
available.  Find a few that work for you and stick with them.  You will be
seeing results in no time at all!

Check out this page for a list of Internet Marketing Schools located around the
globe where you can get SEO certification training in a personalized Workshop.

 

Learn about in-person, hands-on SEO workshop with one of our expert trainers!
Filed Under: Content Marketing, Google Analytics, Google Webmaster Tools, Misc, SEO, SEO Blogging, Workshops Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Social Media: Your Guide to SMM in 2013

March 12, 2013 By + Leave a Comment

The effective strategies for conducting online business marketing are fast changing, from search engine optimisation to social media marketing and beyond. Most search engine optimisation methods now incorporate social media strategies for winning and retaining target customers for online traffic and sales.

This underlines the fact that social media is fast becoming the way of the future, and any online business that refuses to embrace social media marketing and tools could very well be left behind.

The last few years we have seen major changes in the growth and development of social media which has, and will continue to change the face of online business activities and methods.

What Is Social Media?

Without getting too technical, social media is the interactive social websites where people post their business and personal profiles in order to connect with other businesses or people with the sole aim of sharing views, making comments, giving answers and making business and personal friends.

In another words, social media is all about online social communities (including personal blogs, Google+, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest and YouTube) where people seek to connect with other likeminded people on business or personal issues, with the sole purpose of furthering one another’s interests.

To really understand this, imagine all the friends and family connections that you have on Facebook and how you connect with them to meet social and business needs- this is a typical example of social media, where you connect and associate and communicate with other people or business owners.

How has Social Media Changed in 2012 and What Does it Mean For Businesses in 2013?

Networking, Networking and More Networking

Social media has changed in the area of networking and many businesses are tapping into this new feature. You can now search for any contacts online using integrated search features on these sites to seek and connect with any contact with the main aim of networking.

Forget Email, It’s all About Instant Messaging

Apart from networking, social media has also developed in the area of instant messaging. This has become a powerful tool for business owners and their target consumers. With the instant messaging function, you are now able to chat instantly with anyone and promote your business using these features.

Social Media: On the Move

It would seem that people like their social media like their coffee: to go! 2012 has seen huge changes in the way people are using their mobiles, and this has had a major impact on the way social media is being used by businesses. In fact, statistics show that more and more people are accessing social sites with their mobiles so businesses need to ensure that their content can be successfully viewed on smart phones or they could be quickly dismissed by social mobile users.

More (Social) Options Than Ever

As new features, or apps grow in popularity it’s become more important than ever that businesses ensure that they have a meaningful presence where their target audience is. This may mean businesses have to venture outside of the traditional (social) realm of Facebook and Twitter, into other social sites such as Pinterest, YouTube and Google+.

The Power of A Picture

As we head into 2013 we see a bigger push for social sites to become more visual. This can probably be accredited to the ever growing popularity in image-rich sites such as Pinterest, Instagram and Polyvore, and already we have seen a massive overhaul of Facebook’s photo (and photo album) setup. If they aren’t already, businesses really need to embrace image sharing through social sites and they can do this by getting creative with the images they share and the way they share them.

Push for Paid Advertising

2012 has witnessed a massive push for paid advertising on Facebook, with new advertising options becoming available to business pages. This push has come in light of the realisation that many posts (of a business page) are barely making it to their fans newsfeed. 2013 will see a huge shift in the use of paid advertising to gain more exposure and reach to Facebook users and businesses would be wise to consider integrating some form of paid advertising into their social media plan.

Learn about in-person, hands-on SEO workshop with one of our expert trainers!
Filed Under: Misc Tagged With:

Google Webmaster Tools: Checking out Blocked URLs Warning

January 25, 2013 By + Leave a Comment

This Search Engine Optimization Utility can Sometimes be Read Incorrectly

Intended audience for this post: Beginning users of Google Webmaster Tools

Main Takeaways:

  • Google Webmaster Tools can sometimes give warnings that can be ignored
  • You sometimes have to be patient and do a little digging to figure out whether a warning is really valid

Webmaster tools is the versatile tool in your kitI think anyone who follows this blog much will realize how valuable Google Webmaster Tools is in the world of search marketing.  It’s a veritable Swiss Army Knife of useful tools and information.  Any professional SEO, and many webmasters wearing SEO hats from time to time, will visit Webmaster Tools regularly to assess the health of their site by looking at the number of pages Google is crawling, whether Google is reporting any problems, inventorying links, checking search interactions, and so much more.

Additionally, a quick check of Webmaster Tools from time to time can reveal some serious trouble spots before they cause major damage.  I remember once instance where I made a change to a robots.txt file to block Chinese search engine Baidu from needlessly hammering our customer’s site.  I put a line in the wrong order through carelessness and inadvertently blocked Googlebot from the entire site.  Fortunately my able assistant Eliathah did a health check on the set the next day by checking Webmaster Tools and was alerted to the problem.  In fact, when Googlebot is blocked from a site, Google considers it such an unusual event they put a warning message top and center on your GWT dashboard.

Google gives out other warnings and error messages on the primary dashboard of Webmaster Tools, and it makes sense to pay attention to all of them.  But that doesn’t mean all of them require a panic-mode reaction and response.

Here’s a recent example.  We had a client with a new website and one of our novice techs was disconcerted to log into Webmaster Tools and see a notice for a whole bunch of warnings, as illustrated in the next screenshot. In fact, this shows 7 times more warnings than there are pages in this brand new site. So here’s how I’d recommend following up on warnings, using this particular warning as an example.

 

screenshot of webmaster tools warning

First click on the warning text, which will take you to a page that shows you what Google calls “Examples” of the types of warning that they are reporting. Note the description. This one says that the URLs have been blocked by your robots.txt (see screenshot).

 

Webmaster tools screenshot

Also note especially the date in the “Detected” column. This will give you some context. What was going on around that date? In this case, is it safe to assume that the site was still in preview? Could it have been that the robots.txt was blocking these URL’s because the site hadn’t been published yet?

Think through anything that was going on that might have generated that warning, and then ask yourself if that situation is the same now.

So let’s say that you think this particular warning is no longer valid. There’s a way to test that, especially if the warning has to do with possible blocking going on by your robots.txt. As this next screenshot shows, click on “Health” and then “Blocked URL’s.” It will tell you how many URLs are being blocked in the table at the top. More importantly it will allow you to test a particular URL and see if it’s currently being blocked.

Another webmaster tools screenshot

 

In the next screen shot I’ve illustrated how to use the “Test URL” function in the “Blocked URLs” section of GWT. First I selected one of the URLs that Google reported I’ve done is selected one of the URLs Google displayed (seen my second screenshot above) and I’ve pasted it into the URLs field (1). Now I can click on the “Test” button (2) and I will see the results of my test below it (3). In this case it indicates that the URL is “Allowed,” which means that we’re okay to ignore these warnings.

Last screenshot of Google Webmaster tools

The bottom line on this is to remember that Google warnings were valid at the time they were detected, but that doesn’t necessarily mean you still have an issue. Take a bit of time to check it out, and you’ll save time in the long run by avoiding correcting problems that are no longer problems.  (Thanks to Horizon Web Marketing for this demonstration example and screenshots.)

Google Webmaster Tools are just one of the many utilities that we cover in our Search Engine Workshops SEO Master class.  To see our schedule of upcoming classes, click here.

 

 

Learn about in-person, hands-on SEO workshop with one of our expert trainers!
Filed Under: Google Webmaster Tools, Misc Tagged With: ,

What is SEO? Why is it so Important?

January 2, 2013 By + 6 Comments

What is SEO?

"SEO Panda and Penguin"The definition of SEO, aka search engine optimization, is an interesting topic these days.  In it’s simplest form, it’s the process of driving traffic to a website from a search engine results page.

You type a word or a phrase into the search box, hit the return key, and Whala!  Your search engine of choice displays thousands and sometimes millions of results for you to choose from.

Those results are not just random either. They are tuned around your personal search behavior and preferences as well as where you are conducting your search from.

The search engine results page contains a variety of links to sites that could range from Wikipedia, to retail, or a local business depending on the search term.  Now more than ever they also often-times contain links to social media sources such as blogs and customer reviews.

To make it even more interesting, there’s the whole concept of Social Signals, which in a nutshell is your perceived level of on-line authority and influence.  How it’s measured and whether or not it’s accurate and/or should have an influence on SEO has sparked a lot of debate among search engine optimization and social media marketing professionals alike.

Mind boggling, isn’t it?

So let’s back up a minute – just what is search engine optimization and how is it different from social media marketing?

The goal of both SEO and SMM is to drive qualified traffic to your website and they are two distinctly different activities.

Search Engine Optimization

  • Driving traffic to websites from Search Engine Results Pages (SERP).
  • Optimizing a variety of variables such as content, website structure, as well as internal and external links (just to name a few) to increase the visibility and position on a search engine results page.

Social Media Marketing

  • Driving traffic to websites from Social Media Platforms such as Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Google+ and Pintrest.
  • Generating and promoting content that provides and encourages readers to share it with their networks and drive traffic to your website.
  • Creating and exchanging user-generated-content (UCG) e.g. product reviews and comments.

So they have nothing to do with each other, right?

There are still people who believe that, but they’re missing the boat.   The focus of both SEO and SMM is to increase the visibility of your website and to drive qualified traffic (or in other words, new customers) to your business.

It’s not enough to just have a website, it has to be found.  It’s practically a guarantee that if you’re doing one but not the other, or worse yet neither, the only people finding your website are your existing customers and maybe Aunt Martha.

People can debate all they want, but the two have become intertwined,and that one little word “content” is why no one should be blindly executing a strategy that doesn’t take both into consideration. If not, the efforts are doomed to failure.

If the social media advocate is creating content that is low quality, contains links to poor quality sites or isn’t optimized for the right keyword phrases, SMM could be undoing the SEO efforts.

Likewise, if the SEO efforts are done in a vacuum, and lack insight into what content is engaging the most readers in the social media platforms, they may be optimizing for the wrong things.

If the social media marketer is doing their job, they are listening at least as much if not more than they’re talking and are in tune with the problems customers are having.  In turn they are generating and promoting content that answers questions and helps their readers solve problems.  In order to do this, they need to understand how to create content that is optimized for search engines.

If the search engine optimizer is doing their job, they’re researching keywords that should be incorporated into the content and help increase visibility and drive traffic.  I’m not sure how they can do a good job at this if they don’t know what questions customers are asking.

So, back to the original question once again – what is SEO?

SEO is still the process of optimizing web pages so they will be found on Google, but it’s also a lot more.  It’s about integrating with the other internet marketing strategies such as social media marketing, content marketing, Pay Per Click (PPC), blogging, and website design.

It may sound overwhelming, but it doesn’t have to be.  Whether you choose to take a workshop such as the ones offered by the Search Engine Academy, or pursue self study and on-line tutorials just take a deep breath and dig in.  Your business and your customers will thank you.

Were you surprised by the definition?  Share your comments below.

Until next time.

Cheers!

Learn about in-person, hands-on SEO workshop with one of our expert trainers!
Filed Under: Content Marketing, Misc, SEO Tagged With: , , , , , ,

What is Schema.org and Does It Help Your SEO Efforts? #SEO

December 7, 2012 By + 1 Comment

Hello all you wonderful SEOers out there! Welcome to Search Engine Academy‘s blog on keyword research, information architecture, internet marketing and more.

While we teach a lot about organic SEO, we also pay close attention to those processes and techniques that support anyone’s organic SEO efforts to rank their web site higher.

One fairly new process – it’s been around for a little over a year now – is schema. org. What is schema.org, you say? Let’s answer that question and show you why it’s important for your SEO efforts.

Schema.org is data that is “on page markup.” Basically it’s structured data that’s HTML that you can use for a wide variety of things to publish better information about things related to your website and business. Schema.org helps search engines better understand your site. By using schema.org, you are improving or enhancing rich snippets for your web pages.

Google supports schema.org using microdata. Now that you know this, you understand it’ll help you in their SERPs, right? Right!

So what exactly is this data? It can be places, people, things and events, plus a whole lot more. The schema.org website has a humongous list for you to consider. Let’s consider just a few:

Event MedicalTest FoodEstablishment
Business Bloodtest Bakery
Comedy Imagingtest BarorPub
Dance Pathologytest Brewery
Education Medicaltestpanel CaféorCoffeeshop

 

Within these designations, there is code you put in your web page’s source code that shows up when you publish the page, so your web visitor can see it. This microdata can also show up in the SERPs.

For example, movie showtimes:

An Example of What Schema.org Microdata Might Look Like
The sky’s the limit! I encourage you to head on over to the website and browse the different ways you can use schema.org to show better information about your site to both web searchers and the engines themselves.

Google Webmaster Central has a nice article introducing you to schema.org. Actually, they are doing schema.org as a joint effort with Yahoo! and Bing, so the nice thing is, you don’t have make a choice between which format to use, because for once in their lives, the Big Three Search Engines decided to make it easy on us and accept the same format, yay!

The schema.org website is full of great information. It’s very plain and stripped-down looking, but it has everything you need to know to start using schema.org in your website. Are you ready to get started? Surf on over and begin reading how to do the code.

Here’s what I really enjoy about schema. org – it has a huge repository of  shared vocabularies that is understood by the Big Three Search Engines. This ties in very nicely with your information architecture (IA) efforts, which complements and supports your SEO efforts. See…everything works together in the end!

What does schema.org look like, anyways? What exactly is this microdata? Let’s say you run a site where you review games. You can boost your game in the SERPs by using schema.org Take a look at this example from the website:

Schema.org Example That Reviews A Game Created By Sony

See what it’s about now? Sure you do!

So, as you ponder ways to apply ongoing SEO to your site, think really hard about learning schema.org. It’s not tough. You get all coding from the site itself. By the way, be sure you use the Google rich snippets testing tool to make sure it’s all copasetic. Just remember, red is bad.

Until next time, please keep it between the ditches, umkay?

All the best to you,

Learn about in-person, hands-on SEO workshop with one of our expert trainers!
Filed Under: Google Webmaster Tools, Meta Tags, Misc, News, SEO Tagged With: , , , ,

Internet Marketing For Profit – How You Can Create A Successful EBook

November 29, 2012 By + 2 Comments

Internet Marketing For Profit – How You Can Create A Successful EBook
By John Alexander

Taking a little break from the topic of SEO Training, I was thinking back to 9 years ago when a friend of mine, Michael Campbell, encouraged me to write my first e-book. Never having written one before, I guess I thought to myself, but who would want to read my e-book?

I had just shown Michael some recent keyword research and that’s how it all got started. I took his advice and he provided me with some great insights on everything from how it needed to be written, the language and even the graphics and pricing. My first e-book was created in 2003 and I called it “Wordtracker Magic.”

Basically, it contained my personal methodology of using the tool called Wordtracker, to research user search behavior. How to save literally hundreds of hours of time and quickly tap into pure gold. Last year, I finally took the book off the market, since Wordtracker had changed their metrics.

 

 

 

 

Let’s talk about how you can create a successful e-book of your own.

Your e-book deserves to be seen by everyone in your niche, but unless you have an effective internet marketing strategy no one will ever know about it. The difference between your e-book being great and being successful is your ability to get it in front of the people. Once you have the e-book completed and to your high expectations the battle is only half over.

The rest of your work now is finding how to market it online.

The most important thing that you can do is make sure that your e-book is the best that it can be. Make sure that your ideas are crisp and clear, that it is error free grammatically and everything is spelled correctly.
Also ensure that all illustrations help emphasize the points you are making, and that it is pleasing to the eye.

It is easy for bad illustrations to become a distraction, so make sure they are done well. If you need to, get people to review and critique it for you and you take their advice seriously. The better your product is, the more
excitement will be created around it.

Between 2003 and 2005 that little e-book called “Wordtracker Magic” had earned over $50,000.00 and it sold for just $29.95.

Around the year 2005, I decided to re-write my original book and I added more examples and more methods for instantly finding the hottest phrases in Wordtracker’s keyword tool.  I renamed it “Keyword Forensics 2.0 for SEO” and nearly everyone that had bought the first version, came back to get the second version and it continued to make money every day, whether I was in the office or whether I was away teaching an SEO Workshop somewhere.

A couple of important points here:

1. Wordtracker, the tool had very few instructions back in 2003 and in speaking with others, I had learned that many people were spending hours just trying to find good keywords. I learned that not too many people used my methodology to quickly find search behavior.

When you write your e-book, it needs to be an eye opener. If it is instructional, then whatever strategy you are writing about must really help the reader in some useful way.

Ask yourself:

  • Will your book help save people time?
  • Will it help them make money?
  • Will it help them improve results somehow?
  • Will it help improve their performance in some way?
  • Will it somehow fill in a missing gap in a product?

Give it some thought, because this is crucial to building the readers desire to read it. It must be something truly useful. Strive for excellence and people will strive to get what you offer them.

2. Make sure your sales letter is well written and that it spells out all the benefits in the book. I was fortunate to have the very skilled help of Michael Campbell to watch over my shoulder. He actually helped write the original sales letter and that’s where I learned a lot about how people think when they are reading a Web page.

Once everything is published online, you can let your subscribers know that you have a new e-book. But also use word of mouth to spread the word about your e-book. It would be best to supply your customers with a form that they can recommend it to their friends and associates.

If it becomes hot enough, remember to put a “buy now” link right at the top of the sales letter so people can buy right away if they’re hearing good things.

Another marketing strategy that is going to be incredibly helpful is providing short articles full of good information to e-zines.

The internet is full of these type of sites and used by a wide range of people to seek out this kind of information. What this can accomplish is you make yourself known on a wider audience as an authority or expert on the subject you are dealing with. This will only help you, though, if you provide a link to your site or your e-book.

Don’t let them know everything that you know. Leave them with only part of the answers or snippets of information that you want them to know and that to get the rest of it they are going to have to pay for it. If you do this part right, they are going to buy.

A key strategy is to create a group of customers who will keep coming back and buying what you offer in the future. Offer free incentives for them to buy your e-books like an e-zine, newsletter, or even an e-book that you have written earlier or one that you have rights to.

The benefits of the e-zine or newsletter is that you are seen as a constantly good source of information and you stay on their radar. When you have your next e-book, you will have your first group of customers ready to go.

These ideas are only the tip of the iceberg but enough to get you going. If you have something excellent to offer people on the internet with your e-book, then have a marketing strategy that will bring it the attention it deserves.

 

 

Learn about in-person, hands-on SEO workshop with one of our expert trainers!
Filed Under: Article Marketing, Content Marketing, Misc, SEO, WordPress, Workshops Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

If You Need Web Traffic – Internet Marketing Provides A Realm Of Endless Possibilites

November 27, 2012 By + Leave a Comment

The internet itself is a realm of endless possibility, anyone can go out and start up their
own web based business and be successful. Thousands upon thousands of people have
already done this, and there is nothing stopping you from experiencing that same success.

The only thing that can often stop you is, well, you.

The single greatest pitfall potential business owners face is they simply give up.  They do
not see any returns and think it does not work, so they lose hope and abandon it. But if
you stick it out, you can join the statistics of successful internet business owners.

But to do that you Need Web Traffic to easily to your site.

Learning how to drive traffic is the most important aspect of owning an online business.
The more traffic you get, the better odds you have of selling your product and making money.

It’s like they always say, even if you make the best business in the world, if nobody knows it
exists then you still will not make any money.

Internet Marketing provides a realm with no limits

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There are some methods you can use to get people to visit your website that I
will share with you.

1. Take time to learn SEO first, not later.

2: If you don’t want to use SEO then you can pay for ads. But this method requires
money, and so if you are working under a tight budget this may not be an option.
But if you can afford it, then purchasing ads with search engines like Google or
Yahoo! are a great ways to increase awareness of your site’s existence.
Sometimes you have to spend money to make money, after all.

3: Strategically disperse links. If you Need Web Traffic, then back linking is something
you are going to have to do, and likely will have to do a lot. Back linking is where
you have another website carry a link to your site. More often than not this is done
by submitting to search directories that will carry your link. Another good way is by
Blogging. But whatever you do, be sure to find topic specific pages that fit with
your type of business.

3: Viral marketing. I am sure you have heard of this before, viral marketing is where you
get other people to market for you in a natural way. For example, if you have a youtube
video that involves your business and it gets a ton of hits because it is popular, that
is all marketing for your website. It can be difficult to pull off, but when it works
you will have very noticeable results and there is no telling how great an impact it
will have.

4: The importance of Keywords. Like back linking, keywords are of prime importance for
internet marketing. Keywords are the words or phrases people type into google to find
what they are looking for. You want to make sure your website is using keywords properly
so that the search engines can find your website and put it into the results when people
search for that specific keyword. If you are found for a topic that is unrelated to your
audience’s needs, you won’t see any organic traffic. Performing good Keyword research
must not be neglected.

If you Need Web Traffic then following these tips can help you get it. These are by no means
all there is when it comes to internet marketing and there are a lot of finer points you can
learn and master in order to maximize your search visibility as well as your profits.

But once you get the hang of it and get your business going, it is an easy and secure source
of income.

If you need to speed up the learning process, one of the easiest and fastest ways to grow
very competent in your skills, is to “learn by doing.” You can attend attend a hands-on
Workshop where you bring your laptop and actually work one-on-one with a certified
Master Instructor. You’ll get a very thorough training with great attention to detail. And
if  you attend any one of Search Engine Academy schools, you’ll also get a free 6 month
Mentoring Program at no extra charge.

For a listing of 2 Day Basic SEO class, or a 3 Day Advanced SEO class or a 5 Day Complete
SEO Mastery workshop in many communities around the globe, see workshop dates and locations
here.

Learn about in-person, hands-on SEO workshop with one of our expert trainers!
Filed Under: Adwords, Content Marketing, Google Analytics, Google Webmaster Tools, Misc, PR Web, SEO, SEO Blogging, WordPress, Workshops Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , ,

SEO Case Study Shows the Effectiveness of Good Techniques

November 23, 2012 By + 4 Comments

In today’s post, I’d like to pause to discuss why SEO is such an important part of marketing your business online. Often we need a concrete example to see the need of the great classes offered by the Search Engine Academy. As a sample, I’d like to offer up one of my clients as quick case study.

 

founder of inwood security vaults Rip Collins

Inwood Security Vaults Founder Rip Collins

Inwood Security Vaults is a private safety deposit box company based in Dallas, Texas. It was built from the ground up to be a vault with the latest in security features. Their private safe deposit boxes come in a variety of sizes – they even have lockers and closets in their facility.

One of the biggest challenges in their 30-year history has been marketing and advertising. They have tried a variety of advertising, marketing, and public relations – none of which gave them any significant return on investment.

Starting in 2008, current manager Betsy Collins heard about Google AdWords and started using it on a limited basis. They did see a small uptick in box rentals after starting that initiative.

In 2009 I was privileged to get to know Betsy through a networking group. She shared with me her challenges working with Google AdWords – and frankly I wasn’t surprised. If businesses don’t set up AdWords correctly, their budgets do not get used very efficiently.

Betsy and I sat down and took a look at her website and one of the first things I noticed was that all the text on the site was embedded in images. Since the text wasn’t seen as text by the search engines – none of the good information on those pages was being indexed to help them rank for their desired keywords. The website was hiding from Google and they didn’t even realize it.

However, they weren’t quite ready to take the step of redesigning the site. So the first thing we did was take over their Google AdWords budget with a more comprehensive Pay-Per-Click program.

After seeing good results for several months – they decided to let me take over their website development and SEO. We redesigned the site and also made sure that the text on the site was readable by Google and the other search engines. After some preliminary keyword research, we also started adding pages over time to the site with relevant content to their ideal customer.

The return on investment for their business was extremely significant. Betsy said “The number of safety deposit box rentals more than doubled after we began our Search Engine Optimization efforts. In 2007 we rented only 25 units and we are on target for 2012 for over 90 rentals here at Inwood Vaults.”

If you take a look at the Google Analytics traffic you can clearly see the increased exposure that a good SEO program gave Inwood Security Vaults.

The data below is for organic search engine visits only. It shows a steady monthly increase from mid-June 2009 through October 2012.
[article continues after image]

Inwood Security Vaults is a perfect example of how a niche business (private safe deposit boxes) can really benefit from an effective Search Engine Optimization program.

These are the same techniques we teach our students at the Search Engine Academy classes – and with a well thought-out plan you can have similar results.

 

Learn about in-person, hands-on SEO workshop with one of our expert trainers!
Filed Under: Misc, SEO Tagged With: ,

SEO Training and Internet Marketing – Achieving Your Full Potential

November 19, 2012 By + Leave a Comment

How do you achieve your fullest potential in Internet Marketing
on the Web? First take a look at this SEO Workshop from last
week (over in Asia:)

SEO Master Trainer, Fabian Lim with his Nov. Workshop

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fabian just completed his 5 Day hands-on SEO Workshop last
week with his largest group of SEO student graduates ever!

Asia Search Engine Academy with Fabian Lim

 

 

 
Student Graduates in November’s Asia Search Engine
 Academy pictured here with Master Instructor Fabian Lim

I predict that many of the students in this photo will be the
“success stories” of tomorrow. Why do I say that? It’s
simple. It’s because I am used to seeing lives transformed
all the time as graduates apply their skills to projects. and
discover a new SEO within themselves.  Why do I emphasize
the success ratio of this class compared to others?

1. Fabian Lim is an excellent Master instructor

2.but even more influential than that, if you could see all of the
photos of these students that I’ve seen, you’d notice something
in their faces. They all appear to have an intense desire to upgrade
their skills. If this class is any measure of Asian community, they
are all hungry to learn. I don’t see this everywhere always.

There is a principle that might be called “the Law of Attraction”
that can help you build momentum and realize a much fuller
potential on both a professional and personal level. This guiding
principle is best defined as “like attracts like” or to put it another
way, positive energy attracts other positive energy and the same
applies to negative energy too.

Knowing this is quite important, but it’s even more important to
realize a way of applying it to your life. For example, if you are in
debt and only think about trying to get out of debt, then it probably
won’t happen. The reason why it won’t occur is that you are still,
ultimately, focusing on the debt itself.

A better way to do it is to focus on having plenty of success. Doing
this will bring about ways to realize more wealth into your life, and
the debt will often just take care of itself.

You are always attracting things into your life. Always. Everything in
your life is the result of your thoughts, beliefs, and habits. Please note
that it isn’t the result of other people, circumstances, or the environment.
Sadly, our culture is quick to place blame, and that can make taking
complete responsibility a scary prospect for quite a few people.

Of course, we have probably all had opportunity to meet people who tend
to be negative or have a difficult time believing in their vision long
enough to ever see anything positive manifest in their life. In these cases,
there is invariably the old excuse of their trouble being blamed on someone
else’s behavior, or perhaps how life has somehow just been unfair. Whatever
the excuse, rarely will these individuals actively take any responsibility.

If someone is going through a difficult period in a relationship or
perhaps their marriage is in trouble, it has always amazed me that some
people will look to friends who have been divorced once or twice to take
their advice on how to save the relationship. It’s always wisdom to seek
counsel of course, but would you not be smarter to go to someone who has
demonstrated a measure of success?

Isn’t the same true for SEO, Internet Marketing and Social Media skills?

You want counsel from someone who can demonstrate a batting average
for success, right? So don’t listen to the voice of your fears, if you expect
to gain any helpful insight or guidance.

Don’t let that fear stop you from moving forward. You need to take
responsibility, but that also means you get to take some credit when
your actions open the gateway for good things to happen to you.

It’s good when you are building your online business to really let a
positive vision materialize before you. If you focus on others rather
than constantly be self-absorbed, remember that law of attraction…
you’ll find that others (most often who are like minded) will be
attracted towards you too. People who have learned how to build other
people up through positive mentoring, will often find new friends in
their life that seem to be positioned there in reciprocating relationships
too.

One of the early lessons I learned while building the Search Engine
Academy network of Associate trainers was this…I discovered that
one of the prime traits to watch for in partners, was to find people
that “care about other people.”

One might naturally think that the first criteria would to find those
that have the technical skills. But what I learned was that I could
teach technical skills to nearly anyone, so long as they were teachable.

However, you cannot teach someone to care about other people. Either you
care about people or you don’t, so I decided to make my benchmark to find
associate SEO trainers who are “others focused,” to know for certain that
they would also care about their students and graduates in a genuine and
ongoing way.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There is nothing wrong with having money, but it should not be the most
driving force. It nearly seems the byproduct of human nature that the
wealthier some people get, the more greedy they become.

Other false status symbols include things like the desire for power, the
fascination with entertainment. None of these things are really bad or wrong,
but what is needed today is a sense of balance. You can find that right balance
by keeping faith in God at the head of your business and the head of your home
and by caring for the people who are brought your way. Everything else will seem
to fall into place with everything you’ll ever need and more waiting for you as you
follow your vision.

Do you help to get your Internet Marketing skills up to speed  as quick as possible?
Are you hungry for the freshest SEO and Social Media insights?

We have a Search Engine Academy at all of these locations plus one new school now
in Dallas Texas and one in Pennsylvania.

 

Learn about in-person, hands-on SEO workshop with one of our expert trainers!
Filed Under: Content Marketing, Misc, Rant, SEO, Workshops Tagged With: , , , , , ,
« Older Posts