Duct Tape Marketing - Latest Comments in Win Local Search With Local Content

Re: Win Local Search With Local Content

Chuck — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 02:40:33 -0000

This is an "oldie but goodie" post. I'm still trying to get the most critical aspect of SEO to sink in.
Thanks for the insight.

Re: Win Local Search With Local Content

Michelle Tukachinsky — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 17:38:06 -0000

Thanks so much for your post. I think local SEO is crucial for any business that is looking for local business. I focus on exactly everything that you have said.. and it works. :)

Re: Win Local Search With Local Content

Misty Cryer-Davidson — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 12:18:21 -0000

This article is very interesting. A lot of people target the wrong market. Localizing your content makes it so much easier to target a defined segment of the worldwide market.

Re: Win Local Search With Local Content

Online Marketing India — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 03:16:03 -0000

I share your views. The three steps you've mentioned have been pretty consistent with many of the top ranking sites. Keyword heavy pages(not too obvious) along with the locality name really helps local businesses. I think the tips you've given are common to all be it blogs or local business sites.

Re: Win Local Search With Local Content

Greenville SEO — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 11:47:33 -0000

Another important point to make is that a lot of times you can get results faster by taking advantage of local terms.

For example:
If your trying to rank for "marketing" (which is next to impossible since it's so vague) it's going to be very hard.

But if your try to rank for "San Diego Marketing", you have a much better chance.

You will also see results a lot faster.

I also wrote a post on Starting with Local SEO which mentions how to get faster results.

PS. i think you have a typo in your list at the top of the article...HTLM coding?

Re: Win Local Search With Local Content

Paul Simister — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 08:35:16 -0000

John this is one of my complaints about many website designers who create the website for small businesses but don't even know the rudiments of SEO.

In many cases it is not difficult to get to the top or near the top of local searches both organically and with Google's own local search facility. The more appearances on page one the better from my point of view.

To pick up Randy's question, keyword research shows that there is a long tail and you can pick up extra hits but you'd only chase those when you've got the main keywords covered.

Someone searching for "marketing consultant Forth Worth" is either looking for a marketing consultant in the area or is a marketing consultant checking their own Google ranking and wanting to take a look at the competition.

I can't see that more generic searches would be localised so someone may ask the question "how can I get better traffic to my website" but they are unlikely to add in Forth Worth as it unnecessarily restricts them from getting the best free advice on the web.

What may happen is that instead of searching for an SEO expert or internet marketing consultant, someone may type in "who can help me get more website traffic in Fort Worth" but Google's likely to find good combinations for that search based on website content about generating traffic and mentions of Fort Worth.

The great thing is that for the last two weeks much of the uncertainty has gone. Google are now revealing search data in the Adword Keyword tool rather than those silly green bars that used to appear.

https://adwords.google.com/...

Now we can see that "marketing consultant fort worth" doesn't generate many hits at all, "marketing fort worth" only generates a few.

Re: Win Local Search With Local Content

MarketingTwins-Randy — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 23:21:55 -0000

Is there any point to putting in full phrases/questions in the keywords instead of just single words? So instead of "Fort Worth marketing consultant" could I put the solutions that people might be asking for such as "looking for a way to generate more sales leads in Fort Worth" or "how can I get better traffic to my website Fort Worth?"

Sometimes people know the solution so they google it (KC remodeler), but sometimes people just search on questions / problems they are having ("how do I encourage my customers to refer me more often?" or "who is the best web designer in Fort Worth?")

I'm no SEO expert, so I'm sure just hitting on certain keywords is better (and more likely to hit), but sometimes if I'm typing a QUESTION about my PROBLEM, I may not hit on the keyword (if your keyword is in the SOLUTION, not my PROBLEM).

I would love anyone's thoughts on this one.

Re: Win Local Search With Local Content

ducttape — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 13:37:30 -0000

@John - yes I do

Re: Win Local Search With Local Content

John Haydon — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 13:16:13 -0000

John,

Just to clarify: When you say "inbound links", you mean other sites linking to you?

Thanks,

John

Re: Win Local Search With Local Content

ducttape — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 13:08:44 -0000

@Chris - yes, thanks for the clarification I do mean updated, additional content. However, I don't agree on the WordPress comment. It's hard enough to get small business owners to even accept the idea of adding a blog and blog content. While I think your approach is a step in the right direction for many, there are many other who first need to crawl, to accept the idea of what content really is and what it means for their business.

Re: Win Local Search With Local Content

Joe — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 12:23:12 -0000

Couple of points John. "use local words in you title tags of pages, anchor text for internal and external links, H1 tags ... ." Well, yeah, user local key words to market locally but it's more specific than that. One needs to decide up front what keywords you marketing each page for and then user those exact keywords (or one keyword) in the places you name. This is why your Kansas City Remodeling contractor did well in your search. Check his source code, you see "kansas city remodeling contractor" at strategic places. Change the search phrase a little and page doesn't rank. It's about targeting specific keywords whether this is local or national. Also, did you see where the Kansas City guy's highest value link came from? see backlinks--answer>: ducktapemarketing by a mile.

Re: Win Local Search With Local Content

Roger Samara — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 12:16:38 -0000

John, that is really interesting.
This is very helpful information.
I am currently managing 32 blogs and this will help me a lot.
Thanks!

Re: Win Local Search With Local Content

ducttape — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 12:13:27 -0000

@Heather - glad this helps - best of luck and keep blogging!

Re: Win Local Search With Local Content

Heather — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 11:49:07 -0000

Thank you! The timing of this article helps so much! I'm going to be doing more marketing for two companies via blogging and was looking for more ideas on how to reach out. This helps!

Re: Win Local Search With Local Content

cheri — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 11:47:19 -0000

John I love your insight.
It means so much to our local small biz owner to be able to get their site up on the first page of google.
It could mean the difference between new paying clients and nothing happening to improve their sales.

A professional Seo co that is affiliated with our company, did the seo for the Metzler remodeling co that is right there with this one.

Our web site packages come with seo. This is not allways the case. But it is important that our clients succeed, so we make sure they get the best pckges to help them.

Tell your friend good job with his seo.