Local Seo Tactics And Digital Marketing Strategies

How To Use Google My Business Descriptions, Services, Attributes, and More Google My Business (GMB) is an extremely important part of SEO and the digital marketing strategy for any local business wishing to get found online.  In this weeks episode, we'll review some recent changes and updates to GMB, plus some important areas you'll want to take advantage of.  Find out how to continually optimize your listing, increase exposure, and stay up-to-date on any new GMB updates in the future! YOU'LL LEARN New features that are available to use in your Google My Business listing What you should do with the Google My Business description area How using the Google My Business description can benefit your SEO and exposure Overview of the new Services feature within your GMB listing How to match up your website structure with your GMB Services Best practices for Section names, Service titles, and Item Descriptions When you should or should not show your pricing in the GMB Services area Google has removed all anonymous r

These Are The Pages You Need To Include On Your Website What are the most important pages you need do have on your website - one of the most common questions we get asked! In this episode we'll break down the main pages that every local business should be including, and answer this question. These are the critical pages for Google bot and your customers, and you need to design them for both to have success. Here's what working for us right now and we hope it helps you, too! YOU'LL LEARN What are the critical and essential web pages that you need to have on your website Your homepage is the most important page on your website Using your primary Google My Business category on your homepage How to properly display your address and nearby cities you serve on your homepage Creating niche pages for the products and services you provide Including your secondary Google My Business categories in your niche pages Designing your pages for both your customers and Google to navigate and find Using an About Us page to sen

Apps For Website Change Monitoring, Change Detection, and Alerts Nowadays, there are many great website change detector apps to help monitor website changes and give you instant alerts to said changes! Ever have the pleasure of receiving a message from your customer, telling you your website is down? Or that you have an error on the page preventing them to buy or contact you? It's fun, right? No matter how great things seem to be going, errors can happen in an instant! We'll break down some of the free and low cost apps we use for change monitoring and to keep us instantly informed! Plus - learn how to use these same apps to spy on what your competition is doing! YOU'LL LEARN How to automatically monitor your website for downtime Get automatic alerts if your website goes offline, and when it comes back online Monitor your website for hacking and hijacking issues How to make sure your website does not have plugins causing on-page issues Ensure any content embedded into your website is always active Monitor sp

How To Take Better Photos For Your Website - Part 2 Matt Addington shares tips and tricks for taking your own photos for your website, with your smartphone, in part 2 of this interview. We'll also cover how to edit photos, great tools for editing built into your phone, and how to use photos on your website in the best way for maximum engagement and conversion. Matt shares some great tips that will make anyone better at taking photos, telling stories, and ultimately developing better content for your website! YOU'LL LEARN How to take great photos for your business with your smartphone What are the best angles to take photos with your iPhone How to zoom in on ordinary things to take dramatic photos Getting your camera to a place that you or others normally take for granted Don't let the background be a distraction ("when in doubt, leave it out") What is the HDR camera setting on your phone all about How using the touch focus feature on your phone can help take better photos Using built in editing features righ

How To Take Better Photos For Your Website - Part 1 One area of your website that can have a huge impact on user experience is the photos (or videos) that you have on your web pages. Interesting and engaging photos can draw customers in, enhance your image, and tell the story of your brand. We've got Matt Addington – photography wizard – in to talk about this. In part 1 of this two part episode, Matt shares some tips and tricks on how to take better photos for your website, to help make your pages stand out from the crowd and resonate with your customers! YOU'LL LEARN Techniques on how to take better photos with your smartphone Why images, photos, and video are more important than ever for your brand identity How to stand out with photos taken from a unique perspective How photos and videos can be used to tell a story and be more engaging Focus on a simple and tight image and remove background clutter for powerful images Use multiple images on your page to tell a story, instead of one all inclusive photo Gre

Introduction To The GMB Offer Posts and How To Craft A Great Offer Google has released a new feature within Google My Business (GMB) called Offer Posts. The new GMB offer posts are very similar to the traditional posts, but you can use them to post sales, discounts, promotions, or other special offers.  The new offer posts have some unique features like staring date and ending date, promo codes, and more! We'll break down the features, and go over some best practices to leverage this new feature to help you improve SEO, gain rankings, and get more sales! YOU'LL LEARN What is the "posts" feature in your Google My Business listing What is the new GMB offer posts feature How is an offer post different than a traditional post Where you'll find the GMB offer posts feature in your GMB listing How often you should put out new GMB posts How many words you can use in a GMB post What types of offer posts are having the best conversion rates How to construct a good offer within GMB offer posts How you can use keywords

Avoid Over Optimizing Your Website To Maintain High Search Rankings Yes, it is possible to over optimize your website.  Too much of a good thing can get you in trouble with Google, and impact your search rankings in a big way. In this episode we answer the question "what is over optimization", and break down some of the tactics and strategies you can use identify and avoid over optimizing your website. YOU'LL LEARN How is it possible to over optimize your website? What it means to be over optimized on your website What is keyword stuffing How keyword stuffing can lead to website over optimization Developing your web pages for "user intent" and not just focusing on keywords How to fix and reformat an over optimized web page Mixing in keyword variations on your page to make it SEO friendly and user friendly Methods of reviewing your page to determine if it's too focused on specific keywords Google knows if you are writing your pages for rankings and not for humans to read Quality content and clear communicatio

Rank Higher in the Google Map Pack By Using GMB Categories as Keywords On Your Website Google My Business, also known as GMB, is a crucial part of any SEO strategy in today's world. In order to maximize the relationship between your GMB listing and your website, you need to take advantage of the Google My Business categories. These categories are very important on the SERP (search engine results page), and using these categories like you would a keyword is a great way to increase your exposure, bump your web rankings, and show up in the map pack! YOU'LL LEARN How to bring synergy between your website and your Google My Business listing Get your GMB listing to show in the Google Map Pack more often Choosing the primary category in your GMB listing is critical to your success Checking to see which categories are relevant for your business in GMB Using your primary GMB category as a keyword on your homepage Using variations on GMB categories versus exact match Avoiding over-optimization and over usage of the ca

Use An XML Sitemap Generator To Create and Auto Update Your Website Sitemaps Want your pages to show up in Google?  Then you better have a sitemap on your website! A sitemap, or more specifically, an XML sitemap, is like a roadmap or a table of contents for all of the important pages, posts, and images on your website.  Having an XML sitemap will tell Google, and other search engines, which pages are on your website - so they can know to include them in their search results. In this episode we'll cover the basics of sitemaps, how to create them, and why you need one! YOU'LL LEARN What is a Sitemap for your website What is an XML sitemap What is an HTML sitemap Why you need both HTML and XML sitemaps Easy plugins for WordPress to generate an XML sitemap How to choose what content to include in your sitemap How sitemaps tell Google you have new pages or images on your website How to generate sitemaps on non-WordPress websites Selecting sitemap generators that auto-update Thanks for Listening! View the show no

Use Google Search Console To Submit Your Website To Google and Report On Google Search Performance Google Search Console (also known as Google Webmaster Tools pre-2015) is a free service, provided by Google, that lets you peek into some great information about your website. If you're not using this right now - you should be! You can use it to submit your site to Google, report on how many people are finding your website from Google, where your pages are ranking on search engine results pages (SERP). Plus, you can view how many people visit on mobile devices versus desktop computers. Check it out! YOU'LL LEARN What is Google Search Console (formerly Google Webmaster Tools) How to get your website into the Google Index faster using Google Search Console, so you can show up on search results ASAP What does Google Search Console do for you How often should you be reviewing Google Search Console Instructions on how to setup your Google Search Console account How to add your website(s) to the console for tracking

How To Decide If You Should Refocus Your Homepage Or Make A New Page To Attack Keywords In this weeks episode, we dive into a question that was submitted by Patrick, who listens to the Local SEO Tactics podcast.  Patrick was wondering if he should modify his homepage to attack a new keyword target, or if he should create a new page to go after that keyword instead. We'll break down the options and talk about the various situations in which you may choose path over the other. YOU'LL LEARN Which page carries the most weight on your website How Google serves up web pages, not websites, in search results Deciding if you should change your home page or create a new page when going after a new keyword target for your website When you should avoid refocusing your keyword targets on your homepage When it's okay to refocus your keyword targeting on your homepage When you should create a new page to attack a new keyword focus When you should refocus your keyword targeting on an existing page versus creating a new page

Use Online Reputation Management To Drive More Traffic and Improve Your SEO! Online reviews are very important, not only for helping to build trust with potential customers, but also as it relates to the overall SEO of your website. From Google, Facebook, and Yelp, to Angies List, the BBB, and many more…customers can leave their feedback an a number of places today. As a local service business, you need to take control of these review portals, so you can not only view and manage the customer reviews, but also to leverage them and take advantage of the praises in your marketing strategy! YOU'LL LEARN Overview of automated review capturing systems At what point should you consider using an automated review capturing system How to get more customers to leave you a positive review How to remove the barriers for customers to leave a review for your business How asking for feedback instead of a review will increase your review rates How to get your customers onto the "leave a review" screen within Google (and othe

Learn How To Use Improved Call Handling Strategies To Charge More For Your Services! As a local service business, it can be annoying when you get price shopper phone calls.  However, the reality is that we are ALL price shoppers! Don't shy away from giving price quotes and estimates over the phone, because that is what customers really want. In this episode we'll cover some of the best tactics and strategies we've uncovered to handle price shoppers, and convert them into great customers while your competition turns them away! YOU'LL LEARN Best practices for new customer call handling to convert more prospects into new customers How to quickly instill confidence in new callers and win them over Tactics to identify "price shoppers" and quickly convey your value Leveraging a call handling script to funnel customers into your sales process Why price checking your competition is so important How to use text message follow up's to convert more prospects into customers The 3 R's - Referrals, Reviews, and Repeat bus

Use Call Tracking Software To Gain Insights and Increase Customer Conversions A key component to any marketing strategy is trackability. One area that is often overlooked by local businesses is tracking the number of phone calls that come in.  This is a huge mistake!  However, it is pretty easy to solve with a call tracking software solution. We'll break down the features and benefits of a good call tracking solution, and share the best practices that we've compiled over the years - both from using this technology ourselves, and with the hundreds of clients we've worked with. It's surprisingly affordable, and the benefits are numerous! YOU'LL LEARN Why you should use call tracking software What is call tracking software How to use call tracking and recording to measure your results How to establish a baseline of leads you're currently getting How to obtain a phone number for any area code Using tracking phone numbers to measure marketing campaigns Using tracking phone numbers to test market in specific citie

Spy On Your Competitions Keyword Strategy Have you ever wondered what your local competitors are going after, regarding their website and keyword targeting strategy? Believe it or not, there is a whole host of services out there just waiting to help you find the answer! In this episode we'll go over some of these tools, and how you can use them to spy on the competition and get new keyword ideas. YOU'LL LEARN Discover who your main online competitors are Find out which keywords your competition is targeting Best practices to study what is working for competitors How to research other markets to find trends Online tools and resources for spying on the competition How to discover niches your competitors are ignoring Thanks for Listening! View the show notes, resource links, episode transcript, and watch the video version at https://www.localseotactics.com/episode10  

How To Pick The Best Keywords For Your Website Everyone's heard of a keyword, but do you really know what a keyword is? In Episode 9 we'll break down the definition of a keyword, and what that really means for you when it comes to getting traction in search engines like Google and Bing. We'll also talk about how to use free Google tools to research keyword ideas, and how to choose the best keywords for your website. YOU'LL LEARN What is the working definition of a keyword How many keywords you should focus on How to pick relevant keywords How to research for new keywords Keyword research and discovery tools Creative ways to uncover hidden keyword niches Thanks for Listening! View the show notes, resource links, episode transcript, and watch the video version at https://www.localseotactics.com/episode9

Creating A Mobile Friendly Website Plus SSL Security We'll tackle two important SEO topics in this episode. Learn what it means to have a "mobile friendly" website, what a a responsive website is, and how to have a "mobile first" design approach to building your website. We will also dig into what it takes to get your website secure using SSL security. Learn why both topics are extremely relevant to your SEO, and how implementing best practices for these areas will help your website search rankings! YOU’LL LEARN What it means to have a "mobile friendly" website The difference between mobile friendly, responsive, and mobile first website approaches How to design a website with best practices for mobile usage in mind Why it’s important to design your website for mobile usage What is SSL security for your website Why is SSL security important for your website What will happen if you ignore Google’s SSL security warning Thanks for Listening! View the show notes, resource links, episode transcript, and watch the

Basic SEO Practices For Creating Web Pages - Part 2 In the conclusion of this two part episode, we'll wrap up the basic SEO strategies you need on your web pages.  Learn how to utilize headline tags for SEO, and what it takes to write great page content - both for the search engines, and for the users that will visit your website! YOU’LL LEARN How to use headlines on your page to rank higher Best practices in using headlines to convert customers What are headline tags (H tags) What is the difference between H1, H2, H3, and H4 tags Best practices for using H tags on your page How many pages your website should have How to optimize your page text to increase ranking Tools for writing better pages Thanks for Listening! View the show notes, resource links, episode transcript, and watch the video version at https://www.localseotactics.com/episode7

Basic SEO Practices For Creating Web Pages - Part 1 In part one of this two part episode, we continue to focus on the basics of website SEO. We'll discuss using images to enhance your webpages, how to use those images for SEO benefits, and when to use stock photography versus photos you can shoot with your smartphone. YOU’LL LEARN How to properly use images to enhance your pages Where to find images that you can use on your website Tips for using your smartphone to take your own photos Using stock photography on your website How to properly name your images for SEO benefit Best practices for optimizing image size and download time How to use Alt Tags for your images Thanks for Listening! View the show notes, resource links, episode transcript, and watch the video version at https://www.localseotactics.com/episode6

Basic SEO Fundamentals - For New and Existing Websites There are many tricks and tactics you can use to optimize your website to rank higher in search engines such as Google.  In this episode we cover the fundamentals that should be a part of any website design, for proper SEO. YOU'LL LEARN How to choose the right domain name for your business website, to rank high, and get return customers Why it's so important to rank in the top 3 for Google results, not just on the first page How to properly name your individual web pages to get them ranked, and to attract customers Best approach on creating a page title that ranks high and converts customers to your website What is the page description, and how does it appear on the Google search results page How to use our SEO Audit tool to grade your website and web pages How to use our SEO Audit tool to spy on your competitors Thanks for Listening! View the show notes, resource links, episode transcript, and watch the video version at https://www.localseotactics.com/