New Statistics Illustrate Local Search Optimization’s Importance
Today, Google announced that it has changed the name of the Google Business Center to Google Places. While the announcement itself may not have raised many eyebrows, the statistics that Google included with the press release certainly have.
According to Google, 20 percent of all searches are related to location. Since comScore reports that 14.3 billion searches were conducted through Google in March, this means nearly 3 billion Google search queries contained local terms.
The Google announcement also contained the following statistics:
- More than 4 million business listings on Google have been claimed by business owners (using the Local Business Center, now Google Places)
- Nearly 2 million listings have been claimed in the United States
- Google has nearly 50 million Place Pages covering all types of places ranging from businesses to parks
- Google Place Pages are viewed millions of times each day
These statistics only reiterate what we’ve known for years – local search optimization is a crucial part of any SEO campaign. If 20 percent of all searches come with local qualifiers, you could possibly be missing out on up to 20 percent of your potential traffic by neglecting to optimize for local search terms.
To help local businesses further develop their local search strategies, Google also announced today that a number of new features have been added to Google Places. These features include:
- Service areas – Businesses that serve clients throughout a geographic area can now mark the areas they serve.
- Tags – Tags cost $25 a month and can be attached to Google Places profiles to promote business features or specials. Tags are only available in certain areas, which Google expanded today to include three new cities – Austin, Atlanta and Washington, D.C.
- Free Business Photo Shoots – Google can send photographers to businesses in select cities for free photo shoots of their interiors. Let Google know if you’re interested in a photo shoot, and a photographer may come take pictures of your business.
- Customizable QR Codes – Businesses can now create their own QR code to place on marketing material like business cards. These codes can be scanned by smartphones and send users directly to the business’s Google Place Page.
The Ten Commandments of Online Marketing for Small & Local Businesses
Step-by-step instructions for the small business just trying to get a handle on this whole internet marketing thing.
By David Mihm
MIHMORANDUM NO. 72 |
In honor of the recent passing of the former president of the National Rifle Association, I submit to American small business owners the following ten essential action items for a successful online presence.
Disclaimer: This is NOT a comprehensive list of online marketing techniques for small businesses. These are simply the ten most essential strategies that I have found to be effective for maximizing my clients’ online presence since 2004. In most cases, I perform these services for my clients or at the very least, advise them on the best courses of action. If you’re interested in learning more, contact me at stephanie@elitewebsiteconsulting.com.
I. Research your keywords before building or re-building your website.
Ascertaining your most lucrative set of keywords is the foundation upon which your website can be built–that’s why it’s the First Commandment!
- If you have the budget (and the time), running a Pay-Per-Click advertising campaign (called “Adwords” at Google) for a couple of months is a great testing ground. You get actual data on how many people are searching for exactly what keywords you think they’ll search for.
- But even if you don’t run a Pay-Per-Click campaign, you can still use Google’s Keyword Research Tool and see what people are searching for. Plug in a few keywords that you think people will use to find your business. Google will show you data for those keywords, and suggest several others that seem similar in concept.
- Look at the size of the bar in the righthand column (average search volume) and compare it to the size of the bar in the lefthand column (advertiser competition). Usually if there are a bunch of advertisers, it means it’s a pretty hard keyword to rank for. If there aren’t many advertisers, but it looks like there are a fair number of monthly searches…well, that’s your sweetspot.
II. Create compelling content that targets your keywords.
Your content should
- Look good visually
- Be written in a tone that you’re comfortable portraying your business with
- Be formatted in a way that’s easy for visitors to scan
Each website page should ideally be 0.5 to 1.5 pages long in Microsoft Word. Shorter than that, and the search engines won’t get a good enough “scent” of the page to know what it’s about. Longer than that, and your visitors might be intimidated or lose interest.
Target a different keyword set on each page of your website. You’ll capture a much wider range of search traffic this way. Be sure to use geographic modifiers with your keywords if geography is important to your business.
Don’t stop writing content once your website launches. New, compelling content is critical to developing links to your website, which help your search engine rankings dramatically.
III. Build your website in simple HTML. Or at least most of it.
HTML is the favorite language of search engines. A quality website designer should know how to make even basic HTML look pretty using CSS and even a little Flash or AJAX where appropriate.
- No fancy PHP, ASP or Javascripts (some uses of PHP / ASP are perfectly fine). Search engines have a tough time with pages that have too much dynamic content.
- Dropdown forms only where absolutely necessary. For the most part, search engines still can’t navigate through these forms.
- Flash embedded only WITHIN a page, with other HTML content surrounding it. For the most part, search engines still can’t index Flash very well.
I almost feel like I should start a separate “Ten Commandments of Coding for Search Engines” !
IV. Link freely and openly within your own website.
Links are the major way that search engines find new pages to index. But their spiders don’t have unlimited time to hunt around your website, so you want to make sure that you:
- Link to your most important pages directly from your homepage.
- Link to your most important pages from as many pages of your website as is practical or reasonable.
- Link pages together in a way that makes sense to both visitors and search engines–if you’ve got pages with similar content, cross-link them. For example, your “antique chairs” page should be linked to your “vintage tables” page, etc.
- Make sure that you include a sitemap to every page of your website, and link to your sitemap FROM every page of your website (usually in the footer).
The text that you link with is an INCREDIBLY important signal for search engines. It helps tell them what that destination page is about. So instead of linking to your Products page with just “products,” link instead with “vintage tables” or “antique chairs.”
V. List your contact information in HTML on every page of your website.
Your contact information should be placed consistently across your website. This is good for visitors, as it gives them a way to contact you and reassures them that you are indeed a business in their area. It also gives search engines a strong local “scent” as to where your site is located, and can help boost your rankings in the Local algorithm.
- Include your full address and phone number with local area code
- Use both geographic AND product/service keywords in your business title. For example, if your real business name is “Foster’s Supply,” adjust it on your website to read “Foster’s Office Supplies – Salem, OR.”
- Images won’t work as well because they can’t be read by search engines (yet).
- When coding your address, use the hCard Microformat if possible.
VI. Submit your website to respected directories in your industry and geography.
Very few people actually use directories anymore (back in the early days of the internet, when there were no search engines, directories were really the only way to find anything), but their main value today lies in the link back to your website. Search engines count links as “votes” for a website, and the more votes your site has, the higher it’s going to rank.
- Dmoz — It’s free, although increasingly difficult to get a listing in Dmoz because there aren’t enough editors to review your listing.
- Best of the Web — In my opinion the most cost-effective, potent directory link you can buy. BoTW is exceptionally well-reviewed and you can get a permanent link to your website for around $200.
- Yahoo — The Yahoo Directory is expensive ($299 a year) but if you have the money, it’s worth it because one link actually counts as several due to Yahoo’s international syndication of its directory results.
- Business.com — Expensive (~$200/yr.) but well-indexed by the search engines.
- JoeAnt — Less expensive (~$40/yr.) but not as well-indexed by the search engines.
Other directories depend on your industry and geography. Do a search for “my-business-keyword directory” or “my-location directory.” See what websites show up near the top. Chances are, those are good places to get a listing.
You can also search for neighborhood organizations or promotion entities like Chambers of Commerce or Convention & Visitors’ Bureaux. It never hurts to ask for a link from anyone.
VII. Submit your website to Local Search Engines.
As I mention on my SEO Consulting page, the Local search engines’ algorithms are, for the most part, independent of the main ranking algorithm. Thus, it’s essential to get your business listed and ranked in both, if you are even partially-dependent on local search traffic. At a bare minimum, you should submit your business to the following:
You might also consider:
You should submit your website using the same contact information list on your website. Remember to use both product/service AND geographic keywords in your business title.
Note that many or all of these companies will try to sell you something as you input your business information. My advice: decline anything you have to pay for, but make sure that you get a confirmation that your FREE listing has been entered into their database.
VIII. Add or verify your business information with data providers for the Local Search Engines.
- InfoUSA
- Localeze
- InsiderPages
- Merchant Circle
- Yelp (note this link is for Portland, OR businesses…business owners in other locations will need to adjust once they’ve set up an account)
- Universal Business Listing ($30 fee)
Again, be consistent and submit your website using the same contact information list on your website. Remember to use both product/service AND geographic keywords in your business title.
IX. Don’t neglect your offline marketing.
As print subscribership and traditional newspaper revenues drop, offline and online PR efforts are merging at a rapid rate. Print content is increasingly being syndicated across multiple web properties online, and often includes links to companies that are quoted or featured in articles. Additionally, print outlets are now starting to hire bloggers, who routinely link out to content that interests them. Remember that links coming into your website have a direct impact on your search engine rankings.
Additionally, sponsoring non-profit events or making donations to charitable organizations in your area may lead not only to positive associations by your customers, but to links from these organizations’ websites to your own.
X. Engage your community.
Stemming off of Commandment IX, it’s critical for long-term online success that you are an active member of your community, both locally and in your industry worldwide.
- Read industry or geo-focused blogs. Make insightful comments on blogs you enjoy reading. If you make enough of them (or even one or two good ones), the author is bound to take note and you can begin to develop a relationship with him / her.
- Write blog articles about emerging or un-publicized topics in your industry or region. Either syndicate them on other popular blogs and content sites (with a byline that includes a link to your website, of course) or publish them on your own blog.
- Don’t forget about capturing customer email addresses and marketing to your subscriber list.
- Don’t hesitate to ask for customers to review your business on the Local search engines and other sites like CitySearch and InsiderPages.
Content Marketing – A Basic Guide
Content Marketing – A Basic Guide
Content Marketing is the process that allows a company to market their business by providing quality content to attract new customers. It’s not about selling – it’s about building the relationship. It’s not about interrupting a customer to bring you your message – it’s about letting your customer request the information that’s right for him or her and moving forward at their own pace.
If you’ve been marketing for a while, (and by awhile I mean 5 years or more) you’ve probably focused on advertising. Your goal with every form of marketing is to promote you and your products and your business. Not so with content marketing.
Content marketing is about building value and trust. It’s about having quality content available in many different formats, and letting your customers and prospects decide what’s right for them.
Start with a blog
One of the reasons blogging is taking the Internet by storm is the ability to add content whenever you choose. Start with my site TheSocialGhost. I started it with the sole premise of providing quality content on how you can utilize content to the best of your ability. My goal is to give you quality tips every week, and help you understand how important content is. Do I have services available like ghost writing? Definitely. And I promote them in subtle ways (how’s this for subtle!). But I also know only a few people that read this post will have any interest in ghost writing at all. Most are looking for ideas they can use to build on. And because I know the importance, I’m willing to share my knowledge freely to help everyone understand blogging and content marketing a little bit more.
A blog puts you in the drivers seat. A blog gives you the control to add content whenever you choose, day or night.
Build with a list
Having a blog is great, but it’s the list that really makes your business profitable. Because without a list of clients and prospects to market to, your business has little value.
So once you have your blog in place and you’ve started to add quality content, its time to build a list. In the simplest form, you can do that by promoting your RSS feed, and having people sign up to monitor your new posts. Or take it to the next level and offer a free report, whitepaper, audio or video recording, and have people sign up for it. (Have you signed up for my free audio file? It has a ton of quality content.)
This list is your golden tool for building all the business you desire from this point forward.
Add in a little social
Why is social growing in leaps and bounds? Because it allows you to freely share content in any way you choose.
Have you ever Googled yourself? What comes up? Especially if you are a small business, you need to monitor this all the time. You can control what’s coming up by feeding in content. We have huge followings on Facebook and Twitter. When we link to a post, we can drive thousands of page views with just a couple mentions on social sites.
The key is to get the following and the comments rolling on social sites that you can’t control, and lead them right back to the content you do control on your blog.
Common Sense Safety Tips For Social Sites With GeoLocation
Location based platforms are everywhere. With the rise in use in Foursquare, Facebook and Twitter, location based marketing offers promising alternatives for brick and mortar businesses.
For those of you that use it, you love it. But if you are still new to the concept, you may be asking yourself “why would anyone want to use this technology?” It opens up a variety of new problems to your already complicated life. GeoLocation sites have their purpose. And as many case studies have show, businesses can do quite well with this technology. But if you decide to use it, you should focus on security first.
1. Never use geolocation features at home. Logging in from home not only tells people when you are at home, it also tells people where your home is. With the huge impact of social over the past few years, if a person wants your home address, nothing can stand in the way of them finding it. But do you really want to broadcast it out to everyone?
2. Never use geolocation at a friend or family member’s home. Same rules apply. If you wouldn’t want to put yourself at risk by broadcasting your personal life, why would you do it to your family and friends?
3. Be careful what and who you are following. With social sites, your friends, followers and fans are open for the world to see. Anyone can easily browse a follower list to see who is on the list. It may be damaging or even unethical is some situations for links to be made. For instance, if a political journalist is on the followers list of a conservative Republican, do they support that person? While the journalist may be doing it just to stay in the loop, looks can be deceiving.
4. Avoid developing patterns. Checking in regularly from locations can develop patters, and can lead to as much safety concerns as releasing your home address. Never check in at your child’s school in the morning as you are dropping them off. Never check in at the coffee shop where you stop in every morning at 9. Think before you reveal your location – would you want someone waiting for you when you arrive?
How To Use Foursquare For Small Business
Think your behind the times if you’re not using Facebook or Twitter for your business?
Now you can add another social site to that list as well.
Foursquare is a social site that’s just celebrating its first birthday, and already has tens of thousands of users, and businesses adding their name to the lineup everyday.
Foursquare combines a friend finder and a social city guide, along with game mechanics that allow users to earn points and received special prizes along the way.
To join the Foursquare network, you start by downloading either the iPhone app or the Android app, or using a mobile website with other phones (a Blackberry app is in the works.) Don’t have a web browser? Not a problem – you can check in by sending text messages. Then when your out at a restaurant, bar, café, park – someplace you may want to connect up with friends, you simply check in via Foursquare. Every time you check in, you’ll be awarded points. There are different badges for a variety of things, such as discovering new places, and spending too much time in one location.
As a business, where do you fit in? By watching who’s visiting of course.
Foursquare offers a mayor badge to a person that has visited a location more than anyone else. When the mayor enters your business, you can offer them deals and enticements – how about a free drink or a free appetizer?
You can even combine your social campaigns. Announce on Twitter a special for the first person to become the official mayor of your restaurant.
It’s all about having fun, playing the game, and attracting a whole new crowd to your location.
So You Like FourSquare
FourSquare is a mobile application that lets you checkin anywhere around you. From your local gym, to a movie theater, to a restaurant – even the Apple store, you can checkin just about anywhere.
And if you checkin enough, you can unlock badges, specials, and even become the mayor of your favorite place.
Why FourSquare? It originally started out as a way of finding cool places to go in an area that may be unfamiliar to you. Co-founder Dennis Crowley was planning a trip to Scandanavia in 2008, and grew frustrated after a Google search gave him random and non-useful results. He reached out to friends to ask for travel tips and recommendations, and received some amazing tips. So an idea for an application that would allow users to share facts about locations in a gamelike format was born.
Sounds great. But is it really something that can make the long haul? Is this an application that will be here a year from now?
Maybe so. You just have to think outside the box for a while.
Let’s say you are in the travel business. Why not build up your own channel of tips to locations you feature? When someone checks in, they will receive your tips?
That’s what the History Channel started up as a way to promote sites they use in their programming. Instead of random tips, you’ll actually receive historic tips put out by their historians. The more you uncover, the closer you’ll get to unlocking the Historian badge. And you can learn a variety of interesting facts along the way.
Or how about if you host an event? SXSW may be off the charts compared with your event, but it’s a great way to come up with ideas for your own. What if you used the app to bring people together? Provide tips about the local area, what to see and where to go.
I think we’re going to be seeing a lot more of FourSquare in the future.
10 reasons why local SEO will help attract new customers to your business
1. Local customers are switching to the internet to find local businesses
64% of local customers use online search engines and directories as their main way to find local business; only 28% of people use old paper directories as their preferred source of local information.
2. The number of online searches for local businesses is up 58%
In 2008/09 the number of ‘local searches’ (i.e. a search that included a location in it) grew by 58%. This was more than double the growth in general search volumes meaning that more & more people are looking for local information & businesses via search engines like Google.
3. Local search marketing is highly targeted & timely
Using local search engines & online directories promotes your business to local customers at exactly the point that they’re looking for your business. There’s no better time to connect with a potential customer then when they really need you.
4. Highest conversion levels of all local advertising channels
Local directory marketing has higher conversion rates than other, traditional advertising options – up to 50% conversion on some directories. That means that you’ll convert 1 in 2 leads into an actual customer.
5. Mobile internet usage growth
More and more local customers use mobile phones and mobile ‘apps’ to find best local business while they’re walking around. Local SEO covers both PC & mobile internet access meaning you never miss out on a potential customer.
6. Great return on investment
Unlike other advertising (e.g. local papers, leaflets etc…) with local SEO there is little wasted exposure. You reach potential customers when they need you not when they don’t. This makes local SEO both efficient and cost-effective.
7. Only 10% of businesses have claimed their Google Places local listings
Most local businesses haven’t got to grips with online marketing yet. That leaves the door open for you to get a head start before your competitors wise-up and it gets more competitive. Strike while the iron’s hot.
8. Many of the best local SEO opportunities are free (for now!)
It’s free to claim your listing in Google maps (called Google Places) and to list your business in hundreds of online business directories. That’s free promotion for your business, but it may not be free forever.
9. Local newspaper readership is in massive decline, down 40-80%
Fewer & fewer people are reading local newspapers. Recent figures show some local newspapers have lost 80% of their readership in the last 20 years. Why? Because local people are turning to the internet for their local news as well as to find the best local businesses & local deals.
10. 70% of local consumers trust online business reviews
Word of mouth is a major factor in the success of local businesses. Get your trusted customers to review your business online and attract hundreds of new customers.
And if you need an 11th reason to grow your business through local online marketing then here’s an ethical reason for choosing local SEO – it’s Green & Eco-friendly
These trends are strong now and they’re only going to get stronger and more significant in the future. Now is the time for you to take advantage of local search engine optimisation and boost your business before your competitors boost theirs.
Free Directory Submit – A Social-aware, SEO-friendly web directory submission service.
CFAF Directory
A1 Web Links – Internet Service Resources
Deep Links Directory Aauml Web Directory
WishDC.org Web Directory
Facebook Deals will be Holy Grail of location-based mobile couponing
February 2, 2011
Will Facebook Deals be a game-changer?
Mobile and social media experts are embracing the idea behind Facebook Deals, even though there are several initial limitations of the platform that have important implications for marketing and customer engagement strategies.
One of the most important limitations of the platform is the fact that Facebook retains all of the demographic data of consumers who check-in and "like" businesses’ Places and Deals. So, while there is no argument that Facebook Deals is a great way to start a mobile conversation with customers, it will not give businesses a better understanding of individual customers and their friends.
“There is no doubt that Facebook Deals is an easy way for any business to get started in the mobile and social space, since it allows businesses to reward the early-adopters willing to check-in at their places,” said Steve Jarrett, founder/CEO of MePlease, Richmond, England.
“At the same time, we know that the future of marketing is quickly becoming focused on personal, one-to-one conversations with your customers and not a general broadcast to an anonymous group of Facebook users,” he said.
“This means that businesses must develop a wider marketing strategy where Deals is just one component of customer engagement and not a strategy that is entirely reliant on it.”
Facebook’s Android app
Since businesses do not get to keep the demographic data of consumers that check in at their locations, the conversation remains a one-to-many broad-reaching communication that is generic and fairly anonymous, per Mr. Jarrett.
Regardless of the limitations, Facebook Deals is expected to have a large impact on the mobile marketing space.
High expectations
Michelle Barna, director of social marketing and brand communications at Venda Inc., New York, has high expectations for the platform.
Facebook is upping the ante with LBS
“With the increased popularity of smartphones, applications, mobile Web browsing and the like, mobile marketing has become much more mainstream and an initiative on many companies and brands to-do list,” Ms. Barna said. “Now with the addition of Facebook Deals, mobile marketing is on the fast track to the must-do list.
“With Facebook nearing 600 million users and over 200 million of those users on its mobile products, local businesses are now given access to an incredible database of active and engaged consumers,” she said.
The uptake of Facebook Deals may pose as a threat to smaller services such as Foursquare and Gowalla. These smaller players will be forced to revolutionize and stay on their toes, which is a positive for the consumer and the marketer, Ms. Barna said.
Foursquare and Gowalla are accessing a smaller pool of people, and in turn a smaller group to market to.
As such, in order to thrive in the space they will have to offer something unique and innovative that sets them apart from Facebook Deals, or at least complements it.
“The rise and popularity of local online daily deal sites such as Groupon and LivingSocial illustrates that Facebook Deals has the potential to be incredibly large, with the possibility of being the largest,” Ms. Barna said. “The reason? Scale and accessibility.
“Facebook is nearing 600 million users and is accessible on multiple mobile platforms, making Facebook Deals easily available regardless of carrier, location or handset,” she said.
Businesses can make the most out of Facebook Deals by building a loyal customer base through a handful of different deal offerings, while tapping into the incredible social circulation Facebook has to offer, per Ms. Barna.
Additionally, within Facebook, businesses have multiple ways to promote their deal by either posting the deal to their Facebook Page or Place, purchasing Facebook Ads, or as a Facebook user enters a store seeing the deal once Facebook Places is accessed on their phone.
“Mobile is becoming more social by the day, and by bringing the world’s largest social network to the mobile platform and giving users and businesses a place to connect that bond is bound to grow stronger,” Ms. Barna said.
According to Ron Schott, senior social media strategist at Spring Creek Group, Seattle, the pure fact that Facebook has roughly 600 million users and about 200 of those use its mobile version makes any sort of marketing-based aspect appealing.
Add to it the fact that mobile use of Facebook is continually on the rise and there is a definite opportunity for low-cost deal distribution that can help small and mid-sized businesses in addition to the big-box retailers and traditional bricks-and-mortar shops.
"I think the space, even in it’s infancy, can definitely do with more competition," Mr. Schott said. "The biggest thing Foursquare and Gowalla have going for them are their devoted fan bases, but with Facebook you’re looking at a large user base that, in all reality, is still getting used to the idea of checking in at a location.
"I do think the Deals platform aided by Places will grow to be one of the larger deals platforms out there, but not without some time and trial," he said. "When people open up Foursquare, Gowalla or Whrrl on their mobile device they’re doing it specifically to check-in at a specific location and tell their networks.
"When someone opens up Facebook on their mobile device, they have to consciously make a decision to navigate past the noise of their feed, message, etcetera, and then check in. For that reason alone, I think we’ve seen a bit slower adoption since the initial launch of Places and Deals."
Best practices
Mr. Jarrett has some best-practice tips on his blog that marketers should adhere to when beginning their move into Facebook Deals and Places:
• A fan page and a Place page is not one in the same.
Most businesses do not know that a Facebook fan page is a basic presence on Facebook, which by now, most brands already have. Facebook Places, which is the entry point into the Deals, is completely different.
The Place page is where Facebook aggregates check-ins from that specific location.
• Create a Facebook Place.
As on now, if consumers check into a location on Facebook that no one else has checked into, that consumer actually creates the Place page for that business.
Because of variations in spelling and letter case, some businesses have several pages for many locations. This means that a business has to dig deep and claim each and every single one of its locations as an official Place.
All that needs to be provided is an email address to verify the Places page. The email address is linked to that specific location.
• Are Facebook Deals ideal for everyone?
Facebook Deals leverages people’s existing use of the Facebook applications on iPhone and Android smartphones instead of requiring them to download a separate app or join another service.
If you decide to offer a deal, when a customer checks-in on a smartphone at one of your locations, they will be pushed your Facebook Deal that is on offer.
Mr. Jarrett recommends that businesses promote their deals to optimize visibility and exposure.
• Develop a long term mobile and social strategy, not just a Deals strategy.
Marketing has become mostly about a personal, one-to-one conversation with customers. Strategies that rely on this type of communication have come out of top as consumers really value personalized messages.
Marketers need to incorporate on a broad marketing strategy where Deals is just one aspect for engagement.
“Facebook as a social mobile platform, there’s a natural affinity as an online platform for mobile access,” said Pratick Thakrar, founder of Imagine Worldwide Ltd, London.
“It is a great vehicle for aligning the brand but it is so important you don’t follow standard ad placements,” he said. “The true value is in customization, which can provide the richness that drives the engagement that brands and agencies want.
“Facebook can provide geotargeting, age and gender association so Facebook Deals demonstrates the importance of localized deals through the mobile channel.”
Final take
Here is a demo o theFacebook Deals service
Are You Guilty Of Boring The Cr*p Out Of Your Website Visitors?
Website “Salesmanship in Print”
Internet Marketing Solutions Denver
I don’t spend my whole day copywriting, nor claim to be a website copywriter, but if there is one main element that can really get your website to make more money, it’s…
Delivering the right message, to the right audience at the right time
Here’s what I mean. Imagine one night you have a splitting toothache that will not let you get to sleep… you know… that excruciating pain that you just can’t bear. (yes… I’m talking from experience)
You jump on the computer (remember… you can’t sleep) and type into Google “how to fix a toothache”. Up comes a whole pile of websites all talking about toothache pain.
The first website that you look at talks about the anatomy of the tooth, how decay gets in and starts to attack the nerve… causing you pain.
That’s all well and good… but it ain’t helping the pain that’s hitting your jaw like a jackhammer ripping through concrete.
Not quite the remedy that you want. Mind you, that type of information is typical of the content of many websites. In fact most of it is downright BORING!
Is your website guilty of that!
The next website you look at has this big headline “Get rid of toothache pain in 30 minutes or less”. You read on a little more and it goes into detail of remedies ranging from natural solutions to taking a heavy duty pain relief tablet that you should place on the tooth and let it dissolve.
Which website was most useful to you at that time?
You guessed it! The one that immediately solved your problem… the one that had;
The right message to the right audience at the right time
Think a little about what your website is all about. What problem are you trying to solve? Is the sales copy delivering the right message to the audience that you are trying to market to.
What you should be delivering is what’s referred to as “Salesmanship in Print”. It’s what great copywriters understand. And when applied correctly it will deliver a truck load more cash to your bank account.
When you take your message to the market, it’s complete, vibrant, and aimed to connect with your prospects.
It’s pure salesmanship. No matter what the media … print ads, direct mail pieces, websites, it doesn’t matter. The message remains the same.
And a lot of people don’t get this.
Most website content is all technical gibberish … like they are speaking some kind of different language. There is no connection there, no empathy or under-standing or pure emotion. It’s like they forget they are there to sell!
So get this straight…
When you’re writing website sales copy (you know, a sales piece that’s supposed to sell your product), write the way your target audience speaks. Don’t speak in big complex words… speak the way your target audience speaks.
That’s when you’ll get the connection you need to sell your stuff.
You see… most buying decisions are based on emotion… not logic… and when you connect with use of the right words you will hit your prospects emotional buttons.
You will identify their pain (toothache) and provide the solution (no more pain).
How to beat your competitors in the search engine, even when they outrank you…
I do a lot of testing. I have a literally 1000′s of top 5 rankings in the search engines which allows me some pretty good data.
In most markets, I shoot to control the top 5 listings.
Sometimes I achieve it, other times I only get a couple of the listings.
With this trick, I almost guarantee that I will pull more traffic than the positions ahead of me.
You ready for it?
Optimize your titles with a good ol’ direct response call to action (that also contains your primary keyword).
MOST people will have a title that looks like this:
Keyword Stuff | keyword stuff blah, blah, blah.
Mine on the other hand may be…
Is KEYWORD a scam? Click here for a hard core, unbiased review of KEYWORD!
Obviously, create a title that fits your keyword. Using my example above for ‘ginger bread house’ wouldn’t work.
So how do I know that this works?
In one of my markets, I own the top 6 positions with 6 different sites (all focused on the same keyword).
Position #5 get MORE organic traffic than spot #1.
The DIFFERENCE is that the title on the site in position #5 is a direct response call to action.
So when a visitor searches for that term, my title jumps out at them.
For many of you, this isn’t groundbreaking… but have you actually USED this?
If you are battling it out with a competitor and just can’t seem to beat his position, just beat him out with a killer title.
Most direct response headline formula’s will work for this.
