Uncover the missing formula in your web design and marketing | exceler8 the web

Whether you’re just starting your local web marketing or you’ve been at it for a while, there are some fundamentals that you must address.

The first is being found online when people go looking for what you sell. This is the first part of your “findability.” The second part of findability is for another post but to sum it up, it’s about saying and giving the buyer the relevant information they need to complete their search and ultimately select you as the provider of the solution or product they seek. The two together, being found by buyers, and saying the right thing to them at the right time, are your findability. Findability with your web site is what produces sales. When you think of online outreach I champion a targeted niche approach, when it comes to people seeking you out it’s better to think in terms of casting a wide net.

The main tool you should employ for being found, is Local Search Engine Optimization. The goal is to get your business listed higher in the natural, or so called organic search engine rankings. The vast majority of your efforts should be spent on Local SEO because that’s how the vast majority of consumers find you online.

The other way of increasing your local online findability has to do with appearing in myriad online directories and guides. While these products are used far less than search engines to locate providers of products and services they still represent an important market of buyers for you and shouldn’t be ignored.

These local online directories and guides include web sites like YellowPages.com, entertainment focused directories like CitySearch, newer local directories with a social media slant like Yelp, or specialty directories that cater to your industry or niche (like a restaurant or hotel getting listed in Zagat or Trip Advisor).

Surprisingly, getting listed in these online directories and guides does more than just the obvious step of getting you in said online directory. It also improves your organic local search engine optimization!

First, getting your business listed in the online directories lets people find you in searches. That part is as simple as it sounds. If you’re not in the directory you can’t be found. So the goal is to get listed. Second, all of these directories have the potential to link back to your main web site. That is if you’re in the directory and you bother to edit your listing to include your url. When you do, BINGO, it allows buyers to click on the link for your web site and find out more about you. Congratulations, you’ve just used an online directory listing to increase your chance of a sale.

Third, the link from major sites like YellowPages.com, Yelp.com and others also creates a link that raises the link popularity of your web site on search engines. Link popularity remains one of the most significant ways that search engines like Google and Yahoo! rank the importance of your web site, and therefore it’s relevance and position in search results. The more links from legitimate and highly ranked web sites, the more impact the link will have on your search engine rankings. Guess what the search engines think of big sites like Yelp.com, CitySearch, and Superpages.com? Right, they’re legitimate trusted sources of information on the web and due to that their legitimacy it high.

None of the benefits I’ve cited require you to purchase an ad of any kind. All you need is the free listing in order to be found and for the online directory and guide to provide you with the SEO “Google Juice” to drive your own web site’s natural search engine rankings higher.

It stands to reason then that your goal is to get listed in as many major and legitimate online directories and guides as you can. True. The problem is how much time it takes to set up your listings. This shouldn’t stop you from getting your listings set up.

Today, there are better ways to get your business listed in local online directories and guides and I’ll cover that in my next post!

Julian, ed Local Na8ion

QuickTime, iPhone or iPod Download.

We will give you three simple-to-implement tips that can rocket your site to the top of Google’s local search results. In episode 8 of Local Na8ion’s video podcast (run time 12 min) we detail how we used these exact methods to move Linda’s Cleaning Service – a house cleaning service in Wellington Florida – from page four of Google Local search results to page one. This didn’t take months, it took days.

We discuss

1. Using your city name in your URL (your web site address)
2. Putting your location information on your web site
3. Adding your business to Google’s Local Business Directory

Yes, you can do all of these things in 28 minutes, even if you’re not a techie!

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Corrections: apologies on our typo on slide 6 of the presentation (your NOT you’re – Yes we know the difference!). Would have taken 2 hours in video processing time to fix. Also, Linda has been in business since 2002 – not the two years I reported. Damn, I’m getting old.

Background: Linda’s Cleaning Service is my mother-in-law Linda’s local small business in Wellington Florida. Since Linda’s daughter Shannon (my beautiful wife and partner in crime here at Local Na8ion) and I are both web marketers it’s no surprise that we work on her site for free – and yes – Linda sends her cleaners to our house once in a while for free as well. Will market for cleaning!

Julian, editor Local Na8ion – where you are is where it’s at

iTunes, QuickTime, iPhone or iPod Download.

Epsiode 7 (8:58) In this session we tackle (gasp) PLANNING. Not only that, we try to make it fun. Really! When it comes to a marketing plan, it’s best to think like Steven Covey of 7-habits fame – “begin with the end in mind.” Having a solid plan will greatly increase your chances of success and our simple plan takes just three easy steps: research, act and measure. This is part II in our Real Life series featuring my friend’s new local business FloridaFireFitness.com.

Watch the video below or download a copy for your iPod Video.

Any business can use our plan to hit the ground running while not wasting time you don’t have or making your marketing plan unnecessarily complicated. Enjoy the show and please let us know what you think!

You can download our free spreadsheet file template (.xls) featured in our video Podcast to use for your own business marketing plan by following this link.

Background

We started the series with part I on SuperBowl Sunday with the video Podcast Applying our three-phase local online marketing program where we outlined how we’ll follow the progress of FloridaFireFitness.com as we implement Local Na8ion’s three-phase online marketing method (create, publish, connect). Following our three phase method we will create relevant local content, publish it on the Internet using state-of-the-art online publishing methods, and finish by connecting with local buyers using the most effective online marketing techniques – everything from local search marketing to blog marketing.

My friend Ed and his partner are Fire Fighters by day in Palm Beach County Florida and on their time off they help people stay fit, strength train, run a faster mile, or you know… how to muscle a 280 pound man on to a stretcher for emergency transit to the Hospital. They have a practical and unique personal fitness approach that can work for young and old and the beginner to the advanced.