connect$with$the$ places$youlove$...

How to Launch Your Small Business Online

© 2011 SEO Training SW 1

Connect with the places you love

By: Roy Reyer www.SEOtrainingSW.com [email protected]

Are you frustrated because the old school method of advertising using the Yellow Pages and newspapers doesn’t work like it used to? Does online marketing have you totally confused? You’re not alone. It is estimated that over 2/3rds of Americans who search for local goods or services do it online and NEVER use the Yellow Pages. FACT: There are over 10 Billion Google searches done each month by people looking for goods and services in their communities. In addition to that, 53% of all mobile searching have local intent. When was the last time you picked up a newspaper to read the classified section? Me? Never. I check online, and most likely, so does your prospective customer. Chances are, like me, you don’t even buy a newspaper anymore. And you read all the latest news in real time online. If you’re in the market for a new home, car, or just about anything else, you’re reading customer reviews online and searching for a close bargain retailer to save as much money possible. In fact, a recent survey in the real estate sector showed that 80% of today’s homebuyers use only the Internet to find their new home. If you’re like most small business owners, you don’t have the time to learn and keep up with all these Internet Marketing trends, and you not sure which one to trust. Chances are you have been getting tons of emails each week from Local Search Internet Marketing Specialists, who promise they can get your business to the top of Google—Then they quote you a figure that will blow your entire marketing budget for the next five years!

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This is the main reason over 60% of small businesses in America don’t have a website. The 38% that do have a website don’t have it properly configured to appear in the local search results. How can this benefit you? This is the reason why we created this free eBook for you. We will outline some of the things you can do to get your business online while saving you what matters most… Your money and time. Getting Started 1: Get a Domain Name Purchase a domain name to host your website, and register it for several years. When choosing your domain name, consider purchasing one that incorporates your business name, as well as several others using keywords that are specific to the area you service and the products/services you provide.

Why is this important? When people search for products/services in a particular area, they typically use a common keyword phrase of the product they are searching for, as well as the location. Example: if you were a painting contractor, in

Wickenburg Arizona, you would want to own the domain name WickenburgHousePainter.com. Or if you own an auto repair shop in Wickenburg, you would want to own the domain name WickenburgAutoRepair.com. By including the keyword phrase, and the location in your domain name, you will increase the odds of having your website show up first in the search engine results. 2: Get Decent Webhosting Avoid those cheap hosting packages that typically host your website on the same IP address (virtual IP hosting) with hundreds of other, if not thousands, websites. Oh, yes. It happens. Your personal IP address is the unique identifier that the Internet uses to properly route traffic to your site.


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If you’re hosting your website using virtual IP hosting you’re in effect sharing the same IP address with thousands of other websites, who could be promoting questionable goods or services. Which could get you banned! This could cause Google, and other search engines to block your IP address without your knowledge. Spend the extra few dollars and get a unique IP address. Believe me, it’s worth it. One of the most popular webhosting options available today is through a company called HostGator. HostGator's unique IP address package starts at only $10.36 per month. 3: Set Up Your Email Address! Don’t use some generic email address. That looks unprofessional. Your hosting plan will include at least one email address, use it. Using an email address that is associated with your domain name will make you look one thousand times more professional than [email protected]. Your hosting provider will provide instructions on how to set up, and configure, your email both on your hosting and on your computer. It’s really very easy. 4: Get a Website This is the most critical step that will either make or break your success online. Important tips: Seriously.

• Don’t waste your precious time and money.

• Don’t design the site yourself! Hire a professional who is familiar with SEO, and more specifically, Local Search SEO.

That said, there are tons of free templates that you can use. Which is tempting, because it can save you money. However, there are several big problems when using a free template.


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First, the template may not be optimized for local search, and most likely isn’t (even though they may say they are) since local optimization factors are updated on a regular basis by the search engines. And the templates rarely get updated. Second, you have to be aware of duplicate content issues. That free template you might be considering most likely is used by a lot of other websites; this can end up causing what is referred to as a “duplicate content slap”. A duplicate content slap will reduce your chances of getting a good listing because the search engines consider your site to be too similar to other websites, therefore not as unique or important. Website Developers When shopping for a web developer it is good to have them send you some samples of their websites, so you can check out and review their coding, and make sure their websites pass the W3C Markup Validation Test. We are involved in Local Search Optimization Training and work with several web developers who are familiar with the latest trends and techniques. We would be glad to give you a referral if you contact us. 5: What to Put On Your Home Page Your home page is typically the first thing that people see when they land on your website, so write a few paragraphs of content. Your content should include a description of what you do, who you do it for, where you do it, and why you’re the best to do it for your website visitor. Be short but descriptive. Also, link to other pages within your website to offer additional information. Make sure you include your business address, your telephone number, and a link to your contact page so they can easily contact you. Avoid putting a link direct to your email address as “e-‐mail spammers” will easily harvest your e-‐mail address and add you to their email spam directories, flooding your email box with spam.


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6: What to put on Your Other Pages Here is a list of some other pages that you should have on your website: About Page: The about page is where you should go more in depth about your company. Provide a detailed explanation of what you do, how long you've been doing it, and what makes you stand out from the competition in your community. Services or Product Pages: Explain what you do, what you sell, and what you can provide. Focus on the benefits of using your products/services. Don’t make it all about you, or what we call in the industry “we-‐we”. We-‐we=We do this, and we do that, and we are the best, so on, and so on. The people who will be visiting your website only care about one thing, themselves. So put yourself in your customer’s shoes and focus your content on how your products/services can solve their problems concerns and answer their questions. Add pricing information if it is appropriate. If you do physical work, then offer photographs and examples of the finished result. If you’re a landscaper, show a finished pool construction. House painter, show before and after photos, etc. Make a video and host it on YouTube. Contact Page: Make sure that you make it easy for your prospective customers to contact you, include your full address, your telephone number, hours of operation, an email form, a Google Map, etc. Special Offer Page: If you want to track your online customers, include a coupon or special offer that is unique for the visitors to your website. On All Pages: Be sure that you include the name of your business, your address, and telephone number EXACTLY as it is listed in the telephone book or any other online directory. This will be important later as you optimize your website for local search. 7: Optimize Your Website The next step in the process is making your website search engine friendly. Title Tags: Make sure that the title tags on your website are unique and include some keywords phrases that people would use to search for your products/services. Additionally, include your phone number to make it easier for people to contact you.




Each page of your website should have a unique title tag under 69 characters. Meta Description Tag: Your meta description tag is what shows up in the search engines that describes what your company is all about, so make it a “mini-‐advertisement” of what you are all about in under 165 characters.

Avoid Flash! If your web developer recommends using flash on your website FIRE THEM! Flash is very 2004 and will not work on various mobile devices such as iPhones and iPads. In addition to the limitations it puts on mobile devices, the search engines have a very difficult time indexing Flash and JavaScript navigation. Get Links: In a sense, incoming links to your website act as votes of confidence and in effect will have a great deal of influence regarding your ranking in the search engines. Outbound links to other websites in your area of service, or to other sites that are considered authority, will also help increase your authority. However, avoid linking to link farms or other spammy sites, as this may cause your website to be sandboxed by Google by linking to bad communities. Consider developing partnerships with other businesses in your community, where you could share articles and links with each other in promoting each other’s websites.




8: Claim Your Local Listings Get local by claiming and optimizing your businesses local pages on Google, Bing, Yahoo, Best of the Web and more. How to Claim Your Google Places Page: Here is how you can claim and optimize your Google Places listing with Google. First go to Google and type in your main business telephone number into Google. If your business is listed you should see something like this.

Click on the link “Places page” and the Google Places listing will show in the next window. If you see a green check mark on the top right of the page saying Owner-‐verified listing this means that you (or someone else) has claimed this local listing page. If you see the term business owner and a question mark this means that you have not claimed this page.

Claimed Google Places Page Unclaimed Google Places Page




If your Google Places page is unclaimed, please take a moment and claim it NOW as a competitor could hijack it away from you. Type in Google Places into the Google Search Box and click on the link www.Google.com/places/.

Click on the button [Get Started] located under the "Get your business found on Google" image. The next page will have the login form shown below.

I would suggest creating an account using an e-‐mail address from your domain and not a Gmail, Yahoo or your personal email address. By creating and using an email address with a domain name that is associated with your website, you are creating the level of trust with Google and an important factor in the ranking of your site.




9: Optimize Your Google Places Page Optimizing your Google Places page so it will appear before your competitors listing is also a very important step. There are over 85 important factors that Google uses in its algorithm to rank in the Google Places. However, unless you’re in a very competitive niche, doing just a few of these simple steps should put you ahead of most your competitors. After you log in to your Google Place page you will see a screen that looks something like this.

Update your business information, making sure that you use the name of your business, the address, and telephone number the same exact way it appears on your website, as mentioned in step 6. Include a link to your website and use the same email address that you used to create your Google Places Account. Include keywords in the description area describing what you do, where you do it and how you do it. Select the category that is relevant to your business, and then add a few of your own. Check the areas that you service, your business hours and your payment options.




Upload some photos of your business and some videos if you have any from your YouTube Chanel. And then complete the additional details section and you’re done! After you press the submit button Google will verify this information with you by either calling the telephone number associated with your account or by snail mailing a post card to the address containing a verification code. Other Local Business Pages There are a number of other local business pages you will also want to claim that will add to optimizing your online portfolio, some of these include:

• Bing Local • Yahoo Local • Best of the Web Local • Yelp • Kudzu

10 -‐ Show Your Love! Now that you have created your website and claimed your local pages, you will want to schedule at least a few hours each month to:

• Add new content to your website, • Solicit reviews for your local business pages, • Obtain links to your website and obtain citations (social mentions on other

websites) about your business, The moment you stop loving your website is the moment that Google will stop loving it also.




11 -‐ Additional Training Resources As advanced instructors with the Search Engine Academy, we offer one-‐on-‐one consulting, in person SEO Workshops and video based training in all aspects of online marketing. Local Search Video Training DVD This informational packed DVD contains:

• Over 6 hours of professionally recorded and edited video from our live 2011 Local Search SEO Workshop topics included:

o Google Places Optimization o Other Directory Optimization o Keyword Research

§ Google Keyword Tool § Google Insights for Search

o Content Optimization o Geo Tagging of photos/videos o How to get citations o Competitive Analysis o QR Codes o Local Search Optimization o hCard Formatting o Basic SEO Optimization o Creating Backlinks o How to get reviews o Using Google Tags o Boost PPC advertising o How to start your own Local Search Consulting business

• All the 113 PowerPoint slides from the 2011 Local Search Workshop in PDF form.

• 42 Page Local Search eBook o Google Places Cheat Sheet o On Site Optimization Techniques o Off Site Optimization Techniques o QR Codes

• Excel Checklist of the 82 most important Local Search Ranking factors, the 19 items you want to avoid doing and the most important data and review providers and engines.



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Save Your Time and Money! Attendees came from all across the US to this live workshop and paid $400 to attend. But you can save the hassle of travel and save by ordering your own DVD for only $179.00 now by using this link. http://www.seotrainingsw.com/local-‐search-‐training-‐dvd/ Supplies are limited to only 100 copies, so act fast! About the author:

Roy Reyer has been involved in Internet Marketing for over 15 years and is certified as an Advanced Search Engine Optimization and Internet Marketing instructor with the Search Engine Academy and is President and CEO of SEO Training SW. Roy teaches, coaches and consults with businesses big and small on how to maximize their online marketing.

Roy’s clients include the legendary Joe Sugarman of BluBlocker fame and the Trump Network during the 2011 Apprentice TV series. For more information about Roy and his services, visit his website at www.SEOtrainingSW.com or email him direct at [email protected]. Facebook:www.facebook.com/roy.reyer Twitter:RadarRoy Google Plus: https://plus.google.com/105474734324311485603


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