6 Strategies for Local SEO

http://www.forbes.com/sites/steveolenski/2014/04/03/6-local-seo-strategies-for-small-businesses/

I was recently impressed with an article on Forbes. Not because of what it said about local SEO, but because businesses are starting to take local SEO seriously.

Forbes challenged business owners to view local SEO and internet marketing as an investment in their business – not a ‘money drain’ as so many small business owners view it.

Forbes was also honest in calling local SEO ‘a confusing topic’, ‘tough to know where to even begin’, and to admit that it isn’t going to get any easier.

Local SEO

There are hundreds of blog articles telling you what you need to do. But, creating a Google Page, is just as useless as building SEO links  if it isn’t done right then it will actually skew your ranking position. The result is you will rank for the wrong keywords, if you rank at all.

The basic local SEO tools are only as good as the marketer who wrote them. The web is full of citations which look good, are well written, but they don’t sell. Being on page #1 of Google, and having amazing reviews, will not help if your ‘ad copy’ does not sell.

The fundamental purpose of marketing is to build reputation, branding, and generating revenue.

One Brand – Internet Wide

More important than good ad copy, is to present the same message across the entire internet. All images, ad copy, social networking, and marketing needs to have the same message. This is lost on many Do-It-Yourself marketing campaigns.

There is often a conflicting message between a business owner’s Google Plus account, their Google Page, and website. This is well understood on the internet. What isn’t as clear is ‘what is the message.’

Customer-Centric Marketing

Customers do not care about your business. They do not want to hear about your success, your track record, or your growth. Customers only have one question, ‘what can you do for me?’ Addressing that question builds a strong marketing foundation.

SEO is Dead.

This is the biggest misconception to hit internet marketing in 2014. SEO is not dead. SEO has just changed, it has diversified. SEO is still the most cost effective marketing tool.  This trend will continue to grow with the rise of mobile shopping and local search optimization.

Why Do Some People Claim SEO Is Dead?

The answer is simple. Most people are paying off shore and ‘turnkey’ websites to build content that no one wants to read, no one understands, and has no ‘value.’  You can go on the web any day and find hundreds of articles on any topic. Ninety Nine of those articles can be reduced to 50 words. In most cases those 50 words offer no useful information.