SEO and Google’s new 1+ service

Social Media Landscape

 

Google 1+

So Google is rolling out its latest version of social media. But something is different with this try.  It may really work!  And if it does, SEO will change forever  and ever and ever. Really.

I am not going to go into what the Google 1+ is. A thousand SEO’s and Social media blogs have already done that in the first 3 hours of the Google announcement.  You can read the Google you tube on it here -> (Good Stuff)

So, as Google rolls out this new Social media system, where you can give a plus (like a face book like) to any of your search results, and your Google network will see those, and the site’s you and others like will be elevated (one can assume) in the search engine results The SEO factor that is clearly and with out question the most important is the one thing that never changes. Great content.

You can do all the back linking, on site tweaking , meta description re working, navigational assessing, you tube professing, and none of it will beat driving traffic to your site by having amazing, interesting, unusually engaging, fun and sharable (I think I made that word up) content.

Because Google is moving towards the individual and their social network (google profile required) being the SEO.  So even though some businesses have spent a huge amount of time and energy on all the SEO tactics in the SEO Moz, SEObook and all the other universes, it all comes down to this.

 

Be Interesting.

Like I said in any earlier blog. Search engine optimization is easy! It was a popularity contest for Google’s attention. Now its a popularity contest for your attention.

How to be Interesting. Well, just look at what catches peoples attention,  and then go look at your on line stuff. Would it catch your neighbors attention?

A good example:

The blender company that did the video’s on how its blenders can blend anything including a I-phone.  I watched it, I told my wife and friends about it, and when we want a really great blender I will most likely go there again. www.willitblend.com/videos.aspx?type=unsafe&video=iphone4

That’s Interesting! (and Funny, and engaging)

Now I see national sites doing a lot more research, fun, and great content than local sites.  The reasons don’t need to be stated. But…I will any way… resources. Time, money, talent, cash flow. all that. But we in the Local world, that being those of us, which is the VAST majority of us, who work, play, sell, and buy primarily in our own little towns, villages and cities,  must start doing something that we are not all that good at. Yes. Be Interesting !

Future SEO =  finding and developing Interested and engaging web properties and spaces.  Content and Marketing creatives rejoice. Your time has come in the SEO world.

 

 

Enhanced by Zemanta

SEO in Denver Tips

Panorama of downtown Denver, circa 2007, looki...
Image via Wikipedia

SEO in Denver Tips

 

I am preparing for a webinar were I will be helping some of an ActionCoaches clients to understand how to do SEO and get better internet visibility on their sites. Part of this process is reading through some of my SEO tips on this blog.  I thought I would share the blogs that are of most importance and why:

salesjumpstart.net/blog/2011/03/13/google-places-citations/

This tells you some of the better sites you should link your site to.

salesjumpstart.net/blog/2011/03/09/search-engine-optimization-denver-tips/

More information on how to research linking opportunities for your site

salesjumpstart.net/blog/2011/03/05/seo-and-twitter-in-denver/

How twitter may affect your rankings on a blog.

salesjumpstart.net/blog/2011/02/28/search-engine-optimization-in-denver/

How A BBB link or association links can help your site.

salesjumpstart.net/blog/2011/03/01/importance-of-google-places-reviews/

The importance on getting On-line reviews on Google places.

If you spend 15 minutes reading those blogs you will have a great start on your sites Internet Visibility program.

Don’t forget to start by listing your site on Google places, Yahoo local and Bing Local!


 

 

O’meara Ford Denver. Fake Reviews?

Automobile dealership - entrance for service a...
Image via Wikipedia

O’meara Ford Denver. Fake Reviews?

Fake reviews are a big problem in the on line world. It look’s like O’meara Ford in Denver, and possibly several other car dealerships are having a huge amount of what seems to be fake reviews posted on Google Places to help their horrible ratings.  But you be the judge.

Below you will find the “other” reviews posted by individuals who posted great reviews about O’meare ford Denver. They all rate other car dealerships, and some rate the same exact companies that the others did.  Are you kidding?

Here are the actual profile’s and reviews of three individuals who posted great reviews for O’meara.  You decide. If I had more time I would go look at the other 50 or so,  but I am sure the vast majority would look fake as well.

 

Kathrine:  5 reviews all on Car Dealers in Denver.

 

The profile above has 5 car dealership reviews?

 

3 car dealership reviews, and the same hotel casino reviews as the profile above.

Wish I had more time,  but I will follow up with more. My advice is to be very careful when reading O’Meara Ford Denver reviews, or any of the dealships these profiles refer to.

More when I have time…


Enhanced by Zemanta

Do Not Fake Google Reviews

I just got this email:

comments = Google is now using business reviews to
determine
business ranking. People are trashing companies with
reviews, Complaint sites and Blogs.

We can help you defend your company by posting positive
 Reviews, Blogs and creating Websites to take over
Search Results and control what people see about your company.

XXX-XXX-1347 

   for Review Posting Service
  for Reviews and Reputation Service

How does posting positive reviews help in your businesses
 Google ranking?

1. Positive reviews increase your business rank by
linking important and relevant websites to your website.
2. A constant stream of positive reviews improves your
online reputation.
3. Positive reviews drive traffic to your business.
4. Positive reviews restore a tarnished reputation
by
pushing down negative reviews and links.
5. Helps protect against competitors or anyone else
from attempting to run your ranking.

This service makes no sense. When you are on their web
site it seems to imply they are going to write fake
reviews for you. People can spot these from miles
away, and by posting fake reviews you muck up the entire
trust people may have in on line reviews.

The best system for on line reviews (and they are important)
is to let your real customers post them. Just send them
an email requesting that they go to your Google Places or
any other on line review site, and tell the world how you
did.
Enhanced by Zemanta

Google Places Citations

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA - OCTOBER 14:   Director of ...

Google Places Citations

An important piece to getting your local site ranked on Google is the citations for your site in your Google places listing (and some that may not show up in Google Places)

Here are some surprising citations we have seen in Google Places listings, and some that are not surprising but worth the trouble of obtaining.

  • Linked in Company profile
  • BBB membership
  • Craig’s list (classified advertising)
  • Allbusines.com
  • Yelp.com (business listing
  • Servicemagic.com (Customer)
  • Angie’s list ( Business Listing
  • Yellowbot.com
  • Local.yahoo.com
  • www.denverpreferred.us
  • www.hotfrog.com
  • www.123people.com
  • www.usaexplorer.com

And, from our work it does appear you will get more citations from your own site if your pages are well indexed in Google. Use Google web master tools (free)  and submit your site map. This of course is good for normal SEO, but appears to help in your Google places ranking as well.

There is some reason to assume that Google has diminished the value of your citations, and Google places optimization in General as it relates to your sites ranking.  My feeling is Google has lost some faith in its Google places ranking system due to the MANY programs it has encountered, and may be taking a bit of a breather, or a step back and figure it it period.

Some of this assumption is based on watching new listings over the last 6 months, and how they do not reflect the same information as listings from 12 or 18 months ago, even though they should.

But the one thing we know is your rankings are impacted by both the Citations your site has and it’s links, and that Google does take your Google places listing into account for your over all rankings for local intent keywords.

Don’t make the mistake of only focusing on Link’s.  A well balanced portfolio of Links, Content, citations, and more content will go a long way.  Do remember,  Getting your site visible is about promoting your site as if Google didn’t exist.  If you are doing anything just because you think Google likes it, it probably will not be a very good long term tactic.

 

 

 

 



 

Google Ad Words in Denver

Google Logo officially released on May 2010

Google Ad Words in Denver

For the second time this year a client has called me about their Google ad words program. Both had just started it on their own within a 30 day period, and were seeing really poor results.

Here is what they both had in common.

Google ad words really wants your ad, and keywords to match very closely.  You need to do individual campaigns for each key word type.  So if you sell Search Engine Optimization services, you would want to do separate campaigns on:

Search engine optimization

SEO

Local SEO

Internet Marketing
And use a different Ad for each with that keyword in the Ad.

Also, you have 4 choices of types of keywords.  Start with exact match. That means the searcher will have to type in the exact keyword phrase you bid on, and you will get very targeted traffic, and a higher click through rate.  A higher click through rate really helps with your quality score, and that affects the price you pay per click!

And….  make sure your ads are geo targeted for your city, or just the areas you service. I have seen local companies do national campaigns by mistake, using $50.  daily budgets.  The last thing you check before going live should be your location targeting.

There are many other things to pay attention to. But I would recommend you have a company that does pay per click at least set up your campaign.  You don’t have to have them run it (Frankly, that’s the easy part after the set up)  but having them set it up will save you a ton of time, and get the ad words campaign started correctly.

 


Search Engine Optimization Denver Tips

Search Engine Optimization Denver Tips:

We talked about getting your site and company listed on the local directories (Google, Bing, Yahoo).  Now What?

Here is a simple process that makes sense from a marketing and SEO stand point.  Search the main keywords people will use to find your service or product.  In the results you will find a mix of sites. Some will be competitors, and some will be directories.  Go to each site and see if there is an opportunity to add your web site under your category.

You should be able to find 3 to 6 good linking opportunities with in the first few pages of results.

And… have you asked your favorite vendors and suppliers if they would like a testimonial from you to put on their web site (with your company information and web site).  Remember, the BIG SEO companies focus on two things, content on site (interesting and unique) and linking from other relevant sites.

I will talk more about good content later this week. under Search engine optimization Denver. There are some great blogs out there on the subject as well. It should be noted this tip works in any city.

 

 



 

Colorado Springs SEO Tactics

Colorado Springs 03
Image via Wikipedia

Colorado Springs SEO, and local SEO

Every city has slightly different SEO cultures. One of the mistakes national firms (that you might find using pay per click advertising for SEO ) make is not understanding, or at least not utilizing the local city landscape for SEO.

This is true in Denver, Colorado Springs, or any metro area. The first step any SEO company might take in developing a local SEO campaign in a city is checking if the client has a Google places listing, a Yahoo local listing and a Bing local business listing. Without these the local client isn’t going to get the rankings that Local searches provide, and I am amazed how often national SEO firms ignore the importance of the Search local directories. You don’t need a SEO company to list your company. If you are a business owner, go to www.getlisted.org It’s a great service (and free) to make sure you are listed.

Another big part is obtaining links in the local area. National SEO’s just don’t have the experience in specific markets. A firm that specializes in local SEO already knows the local territory,  and what sites and tactics will work best to promote your company and bring traffic to your site.

Being part of a community is also a big advantage when providing SEO services.  Many of our clients came to us based on the fact that we would be available for face to face meetings.

So when selecting a Colorado Springs SEO firm, or for any local program, I would suggest you look for the firms that know and already preform SEO  in your city.  Make sure to ask for 3 solid recent references.  It’s not hard to check how good a SEO company is, they should have well ranked clients just a keyword search away!


 

More about our Colorado Springs SEO and Local SEO on our site

 

Enhanced by Zemanta

Replacement Windows Denver and SEO

Replacement Windows Denver

One of our new clients sells replacement windows in Denver. The interesting part is they also do Solar, Insulation, Roofing,  Electrical, And soon HVAC. So the concept is to be Denver’s Energy Contractors, and that’s the name of the site www.energy-contractors.com  You can see it under replacement Windows Denver

One of there challenges is that as a highly professional company, selling Solar installation,  which takes a true consultative sales style, and then selling replacement windows, which the competition is very hard sell,  is a cultural challenge

I believe they should stay with their professional consultative style for sells of replacement windows in Denver, and in the long run it will pay off.

I like the idea that one company with great references, and a BBB member, can provide most of the energy services your home will ever need.  Even with the new changes to the rebates offered by Excel Energy for Solar installation (which has many Solar installers getting out of the business)  Stellar is staying the course based on their strong belief that Solar is SOlarPanels a big part of our country’s future.

 


Social Media Search Engine Optimization Page

So here is the concept. One page on a site that your clients, prospects and friends can find all the places you are on the Internet.

Yes, I know they can see all your Icons on your site. But here is the difference, with a Social Media page, dedicated on a site with nothing but Social media pages, you and other business owners can return the favor by getting an email that they have liked, followed , or reviewed your company and going and doing the same for them.

Here is a concept page. What do you think?