Local Search Marketing - Top Local Search Engine Results Mean Business
Internet marketing is not the same as owning a website yet most businesses actually do very little beyond building a website to get noticed on the web
. Website and business owners will stare in abject bewilderment and wonder how heck "that guy" shows up as number 1 in the search results. It doesn't make sense and clearly if there was any justice in the world, your website should outrank "that guy". But it doesn't and what have you done to fix that?As an Internet consultant, I can tell you from having looked at literally thousands of locally oriented businesses that there was very little effort needed to gain the positions that those in the top search results seem to enjoy. That's actually good news. For the most part, most businesses that are in the top 10 of search results have been around for a while, have had a website for a while and may even have some of the search terms people use in their domain. Beyond that no effort was needed to be top dog on Google searches. (I focus on Google because that represents 70% of local searches.)
Focusing on Google, there are three places in the search results that you should be showing up. The most important is the Google Local Listings known as Google Maps. If Google finds your website with an associated address and phone number, you may find that your business is listed in Google Maps. Most business don't realize that they can edit AND OPTIMIZE this maps listing for free! In my humble opinion, this is the MOST IMPORTANT place to be in Google Listings for businesses who want local referrals. Optimizing Google Local listing placement is a subject for a different discussion but first you have to assume control of your own business listing in Google Maps. If your business is in the listings, you can claim it and after a simple verification process, you can then start to edit your listing. Include as much detail as you can. This might be the first exposure a potential prospect has to your business.
The more traditional search results occur in Google's paid search listings and the natural (organic listings). Dive in to Google's advertising programs (they are readily available to anyone) and learn how to use Google Adwords or hire a pro. I recommend the latter but it doesn't hurt to get your feet wet so you can understand what is going on. Adwords lets you bid on any search term for which you want to appear in the search results. The only time your ad will show up is when someone is searching for your products and services. The only time you'll pay is if that client ends up on your website. Typical pay-per-click costs for most local businesses can range from $.50 to 5.00. You might think that's a lot of money for a click but given that this is a client in your target market looking specifically for your products and services, you might want to reconsider. The costs of the clicks is typically very market driven and in the worst case, you might break even assuming you judiciously chose your search terms. The point is, that with pay-per-click, you can show up in any of the search results that you think appropriate.
Organic listings are the golden eggs of Google. I would argue that in the case where the search pulls up the local listings, the organic listings are actually a close second. Still, being first in the organic listings is a very coveted position. Of all the clicks on the results pages, the first organic listing gets more than half! While we are not here to provide a course in SEO, I can tell you that the first organic position for most local businesses is NOT HARD TO GET. That's because most businesses don't understand how "that guy" got to the top. I suggest to many business, choose two or three of the most popular keywords that represent your products and services and then add the general location where you want that business to come from. For example: plumber dayton. Most people might actually type "plumber" on their first search until they realize that none of the listings are local and they need a "plumber in dayton". If you follow this guideline for terms like this as well as some basic link building exercises, your site can climb in the ranks pretty fast. I've done this so much now that I offer performance based contracts. If our local optimization program doesn't yield top page results, our clients don't pay. In most cases, we can make it happen in a matter of days! I took my own site from 221 to number 1 in three days for the search term Search Engine Optimization Dayton. You would expect that to be pretty competitive wouldn't you but alas, people in my industry rarely follow their own advice!
The whole point is to tell you that the first result in Google is as valuable as the first placement in the Yellow Pages used to be. And for those of you who used to pay Yellow Pages $1000's, it's time to let go. I can look you up on my cell phone and you know who delivers those results? Google!
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