Archie Jeter

1. Keyword selection

First, we’ll start with free tools, but I recommend if are serious about your SEO efforts to look into more advanced options. Start with an informal survey. Ask friends, customers and employees what they would type into the Google search box in order to find the products and services you offer. Another tool in your toolkit is the Google Adwords Keyword Tool. The next option in selecting keywords is to spy on your competitors. They have already taken the time to research and can be a valuable resource.

Finally, one of the best and most affordable keyword research and analysis tools I’ve used is a software called Market Samurai. This software can instantly provide you with keywords that drive traffic but at the same time have low competition. This allows you to rank quicker in the search results for more keywords. The software is priced at a one time fee of $149. Check it out here.

2. The Meta Page Title

Google looks to the meta page title as the main description of what the page is about. The meta page text appears at the very top of the user’s browser and can be edited within your website’s html. Google also uses the meta page title as the heading for its search results. The key to a really effective meta page title is including all of your main keywords in both a human-friendly and Google-friendly way. The meta page title below includes all of the keywords my client wants to rank for.

Chicago Interior Designer | Home Decoration Services for Kitchens, Bathrooms, Fireplaces

3. Links

Links matter more than any other factor is SEO. Google gives you credit every time another website links to your website. It is vital for Google that when a user searches for information that they return the best possible results for the user. Google understands that if the user doesn’t find valuable information then they will not use their services.

One of the ways Googles algorithm determines which websites to place on the first page is the numbers of links that point to your website. This is the ultimate sign of trust. If other sites link to your website than it must have some type of valuable information on it. Soon, I will be posting a post about link building and the proper steps to take.

4. URL Structure

This is straightforward. Put your keywords in your URL. The most common way to structure this is the following:

5. Time

Here’s a secret: Google purposely puts your website into timeout and imposes a ranking delay on new websites. It will usually take 2-4 months for a new website to start ranking competitively. Even after this initial “time out” Google will not release the full potential of your SEO power. Not only does Google factor into your website age, but also the age of the links pointing to your website. Google wants to make sure your website is in for the long haul, but if you truly want to build a profitable business this should be your goal anyway.

Local search is changing the game for those looking to market locally online, particularly small retail stores. Whether using local search marketing or local SEO, the resulting impact on store traffic and sales is impossible to ignore. Get it right and you might corner your local market, get it wrong and you’ll be left in the dust.

Research Says

90% of online commercial searches result in offline bricks and mortar purchases (proprietary research /comScore). Is this an opportunity you can afford to miss? More precisely, what you need to ask yourself is, when local customers search for what you sell, do they find you?

Missed Opportunities

What this statistic means is that finding businesses locally is becoming an internet driven task. Thanks to local search tools, real local businesses are increasingly visible to local customers online. As a result, the internet is now driving local brick-and-mortar sales.

And as consumers continue to move online, their reliance on online tools to perform searches for local information, local businesses and everything else local will only continue to grow. 61% of local searches result in purchases (TMP/comScore). Almost 2/3 of customers using local search will go on to buy. Is this an opportunity that any local business can pass up on?

Harness the Power of Local Search

You can take advantage of local search in one of two ways. A) Local SEO -or- B) Local Search Marketing. Start with local SEO. Often “localized” keywords face much lower competition and less sophisticated competition – making it easier to grab top positions and click share. As your marketing evolves, add local search marketing to the mix. The seasoned retail marketer who is able to effectively use these two strategies together will thrive.

Local SEO Resources

• Yext
• Universal Business Listing
• Google Places