Local Seo Tactics And Digital Marketing Strategies

In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, it's still important to focus on your SEO and website.  One thing that is important to your SEO, but often hard to execute, is getting more backlinks for your site.  A great way to get backlinks right now is to tap into your local media and community resource websites. Right now, most of these organizations have web pages or sections of their website dedicated to giving local businesses more visibility.  There are resource pages, maps, and listings of businesses that are open, and the services they provide.  This is an excellent and easy way to obtain great high quality and relevant backlinks for your website.  In this episode we'll discuss the tactics and strategies you can take advantage of right now.   Backlinks are a big part of search engine ranking in Google Most media outlets have a page online to list local businesses that are open Often times you can link back to your website on these sites Find local TV, radio, newspaper, or online publications Look for their

When it comes to your website, security is often an overlooked topic.  Right now, with the current coronavirus pandemic impacting our lives and dominating our news and discussions, we are all very distracted.  The bad guys and the hackers know this and can take advantage of the situation while our attention is focused elsewhere.  Make sure your website is secure and protected against these threats with some simple and often free solutions.  As the saying goes, "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure" and that holds true for this topic here.  Taking the time to make sure your website is protected can save you many headaches and a lot of time down the road.   Always be aware of website security, especially in times of great distraction Security issues can impact your customers or users and your search engine visibility Your website should be secure with SSL security If you are using Wordpress, keep Wordpress updated to current releases Make sure all Wordpress themes and plugins are updated to avoid se

In this episode Jesse and Bob share thoughts and ideas that are working to keep businesses afloat during this coronavirus pandemic.  It's always important to listen to your customers to identify their pain points, their motivations, and their desires - and that is even more amplified right now.  By quickly adapting your business, and communicating these adaptations clearly online and on social media, you can continue to serve your customers and maybe even thrive in the current marketplace.  Leverage technology and your human resources to change now, setting your business up for maximum success now and also for the future. What You’ll Learn Ways that businesses are pivoting their digital marketing for the coronavirus pandemic Google reviews are still paused by Google, so new reviews are not showing The questions and answers section of Google My Business is also temporarily down Keep using the available GMB features, like posts and photos to communicate Make sure you communicate your business open status front

Since we can't escape the current coronavirus pandemic, we will again embrace it in this week's episode!  Learn some of the tips and tricks that businesses are using right now to adapt to the current marketplace, and how to communicate those changes to their customers and prospects.  You can leverage your website and social media in new ways, to stay connected and give customers the information they are looking for.  Adapting to these customer expectations and providing them solutions will win you new business now while positioning your brand for operating in the future COVID-19 era, however long that may be. What people are doing to make sure their businesses stay open and active How to let everyone know you are open for business still How to better communicate with customers about your business and status Opportunities with social media and digital communications Position your brand to survive the coronavirus pandemic

Coronavirus is having a major impact on businesses large and small.  In addition to the economic impact of COVID-19, customers are changing the way they interact with businesses, and businesses are forced to pivot and offer services or products they may not have in the past, in order to survive.  Luckily there is a host of technology solutions to enable more dynamic online interactions with your customers, as face-to-face retail becomes an issue in the coming weeks or months.  In this episode, we'll focus on some popular video and communications tools, and discuss how to use them to operate your business, and also to engage with your customers in new ways. What You’ll Learn How the COVID-19 pandemic is changing the way we interact with businesses online People are rapidly changing how they look for a business online Businesses are shifting to more online and website based communications Use tools like Zoom, Loom, and Google Hangouts to interact with customers in new ways Leverage video recordings and YouTube

For local SEO, your Google My Business listing is an extremely important tool for your business.  In this episode, we will discuss the best practices and relevancy of the description field within your GMB listing.  The description field is the largest single input area for your GMB, and it's also an area that is highly relevant for inputting specific keywords and geographic references that you want to be found for.  Here are some tips and tricks to approach your GMB description with SEO in mind, to improve your local rankings! What You’ll Learn Google My Business (GMB) is very important for your local SEO The description field in your GMB is a great resource for targeting keywords and geographic areas Your GMB description will show in your business Knowledge Panel You can input up to 750 characters in your description Even if the description is not seen by users every time, Google knows what it contains Google has eluded to the fact that putting keywords in your GMB description will help you rank for those k

Doing SEO on your website is very important, but how do you know if you're doing it right?  In this episode of Local SEO Tactics, we cover three of our favorite 100% free online testing tools, to help grade and gauge your website and SEO.  The three primary areas are page speed, schema implementation, and overall SEO - which contains keyword optimization, page structure, images, and other on-page website elements.  There are many tools online, and there are many more free tools that we are not talking about today.  A simple Google search will show many popular testing options, in addition to the ones mentioned in this episode.  Enjoy! What You’ll Learn There are dozens of reputable tools you can find online to help optimize your website Use our free SEO audit to check your web page for optimization on specific keywords Make sure any SEO audit tool you choose looks at domain issues, keyword optimization, and image analysis Use the Google Structured Data Testing Tool to check your web page schema markup Check

Here we are at episode 50!  A small but significant milestone for the Local SEO Tactics shows so we want to first thank you for the support and feedback on this journey!  In today's episode, we feature our first call-in question.  Evelyn, asks if it is okay to use the same background image on all pages of your website?  We cover this, and some related scenarios, to talk about the SEO impact as well as the user experience for choosing to do this! YOU’LL LEARN Does it hurt SEO to use the same background image Make sure the background image does not slow your page load times It is better to use original photos over stock photos You can use a slider instead of a background image if it makes sense on your page Sometimes a background image does not reformat to a responsive page properly Use a slider with image effects like Ken Burns effect to create movement and animation Find show notes and episode information at https://www.localseotactics.com/using-the-same-background-image-on-every-page-of-your-website-50/

By now we all know online reviews are a necessity for a local business.  Your reputation and public ratings are an instant edification of your business and show potential customers what they can expect if they patronize you.  If you are getting good reviews and have a sizable amount of reviews, you can leverage what we call “review clout” and expand your business into new revenue streams.  In this episode, we talk about how to find the related niches for your business, where your review clout can quickly get you new business and dominate the competition! YOU’LL LEARN Getting reviews is always very important for your business Ask customers face to face for reviews to get as many as possible Use automation like ReviewLead to capture even more reviews for your business Once you have high review count and high review rating you can leverage it for new revenue streams Find niches that you can serve that have low competition Look for competitors in the map pack that have low review scores Add keywords and optimiza

Images and graphics are an important part of any website, landing page, or sales page. Images help tell your story, showcase your brand, or clarify an example. As the adage goes, a picture is worth a thousand words! In this episode we will cover some of the basic things you should be doing to optimize your images that you use on your web site. You can get your pages to load faster, and you can take advantage of some very important SEO benefits with image optimization. Take a listen and hopefully you will learn a new trick or two! What You’ll Learn Google can tell if you are using stock photography or not Google Vision AI can determine an image object, relevancy, and topical associations Use your own original photos and graphics whenever possible on your web pages Optimize your images for proper size Optimize your images for maximum loading speed Take advantage of alt tags and file name to benefit your SEO efforts View show notes and all links on the show page at https://www.localseotactics.com/learn-how-to

Optimizing a page for a keyword; it's a topic that comes up weekly here at our agency. There are many elements that go into successful SEO and web page optimization. That said, if you're not doing the basics in relation to the keyword you are targeting, the rest is tough sledding. In this episode we'll walk through the basic block and tackle of what you should focus on for how to optimize a web page for a keyword or phrase. What You’ll Learn To have a successfully optimized page, you must not skip the basics of keyword targeting Getting your keyword into the URL of the page is great if you can do it Be sure to incorporate your keyword phrases into your headings Develop the page content on purpose with the keyword and related phases in mind Adding images with file names and Alt text that uses your keyword is ideal To be targeting the keyword, you must be mentioning the keyword on the page View show notes and all links on the show page at https://www.localseotactics.com/how-to-optimize-your-web-page-for-a-ke

Content is king!  This phrase is virtually beaten to death in the marketing world nowadays.  But, it's true.  At the end of the day, content is what Google serves up, and content is what we need to produce to be found in Google.  Producing content can be very intense, overwhelming, and time-consuming.  Be smart about it, and develop a website content strategy that you can not only execute yourself, but one that you can also delegate internally, or externally to talented experts! What You’ll Learn You must do keyword research to identify the proper phrases to target and incorporate into your content Write pages that answer common questions your customers are asking When you type pages, use the tone of talking to the customer directly Determine the frequency you can stick to for how often to put out new content Determine the size of the page (how many words needed) depending on the market and niche you are in Use in-sourcing to delegate content creation to people on your team Use outsourcing to hire freelancer

In this episode, we will go over two important aspects of properly positioning and optimizing your Google My Business Listing (GMB Listing).  The first topic is how to identify your primary digital competitors, who may be different than the historical competitors you are aware of!  The second topic is how to peek under the hood and discover what categories your competitors are choosing for their Google My Business listings.  The process may seem a bit technical and complicated as we walk through it, but it's actually quite easy once you do it in practice! What You’ll Learn Why it's important to understand your digital competition versus your historical competition How to search on desktop and mobile search to find out who your primary competitors are Look for competition who is dominant in the map pack Choosing your GMB category is very important for your visibility You can also choose multiple subcategories for your business too Learn how to view which categories your competition is using for their GMB When

Joe Anderson of Metaphor Creations is back for part 2 in our discussion about website speed and optimization.  We'll go over page caching for your website, to understand how a cache works, and how using a page cache plugin can speed up your website.  We'll also dig into plugins, for what makes them great and what makes them dangerous!  Keep your site running smoothly by following these best practices and helpful tips. What You'll Learn What caching is and how to use caching on your website Use page caching to make future visits to your web page very fast for users Use WordPress plugins to minimize your script and make your site load faster Using minimizing plugins can help but you must be careful and test your site afterwards When choosing plugins for WordPress make sure you choose quality plugins from known developers If plugins are making your website slow, you can disable plugins to determine the culprit Keeping your plugins updated will ensure your site is free of errors eliminates security holes Visit

Joe Anderson of Metaphor Creations is back on the show this week, and this time we're talking about website speed. Specifically, we're talking about how to improve the speed of your Wordpress website.  This is part 1 of a two-part interview with Joe, and in this half, we're going to cover web hosting and using a Content Delivery Network (CDN) to make sure your web host and server is running as fast as possible.  Plus, Joe shares a discount for everyone on his Ditty Ticker plugin bundle for Wordpress! What You'll Learn Get 10% off the Ditty Ticker Bundle from Metaphor Creations using the code “intrycksditty” Website hosting makes a difference in your website speed, especially for WordPress websites Using a Content Delivery Network to speed up your website CDN stands for Content Delivery Network Visit the show page for all links and for more information; https://www.localseotactics.com/improving-website-speed-for-wordpress-part-1-interview-with-joe-anderson/

We're talking about the Google Posts feature within your Google My Business (GMB) listing this week.  Previously we discussed the various types of Google Posts you can leverage, but in this episode, we take a deeper look into the "standard" Google posts option.  This is a powerful method to quickly communicate to Google the primary services you offer and the geographical area that you wish to be found for.  Check out and put it into action, whether you are just getting your GMB off the ground, or if you're a GMB veteran! What You'll Learn Use Google Posts to communicate to Google the primary cities you do business in How to identify nearby cities and neighbor hoods that Google will recognize How use Google Posts to communicate to Google the primary services you provide How to use these tactics to launch an initial content strategy for Google posting Visit the show page for all links and for more information; https://www.localseotactics.com/setting-up-your-initial-posting-strategy-for-google-posts/

How To Get More Reviews On Your Google My Business Listing For this week we're talking about reviews again.  Specifically, we're talking about how to get even more reviews on your Google My Business listing.  Just being passive and asking a customer to leave a review, or contacting them a few days after the sales transaction is not enough.  You need to hold their hand, coach them, and even slightly pressure them to leave a review right then and there.  If you can accomplish this, you will outpace your competition, improve your Google rankings, and get more business fast!  Check it out! What You'll Learn You need a Google My Business Listing in order to get reviews on Google Be up front and help walk a customer through how to immediately leave a review in person Some customers may have “technology shame”, not knowing how to leave a review and so they will not leave one Double the amount of reviews you are getting by being a little bit pushy and focused on getting reviews Getting more Google reviews can improv

Learn The Different Types Of Google Posts And How To Best Use Them In this episode we kick off our second season with one of the most important topics for local SEO...Google My Business.  Specifically, we're talking about the Google Posts feature within your GMB listing (Google My Business listing).  There are four primary post types, at the time of this recording at least!  Those are Google Update Posts, Google Offer Posts, Google Even Posts, and Google Product Posts.  We will explore what each one should be used for, the best practices for each, and what using them properly will do for your business and local exposure online. We will also talk about the new domain name and home for the Local SEO Tactics show! What You’ll Learn New domain name and home for the show at localseotactics.com What are the four main areas and types of Google Posts How to use Google Update Posts How to use Google Event Posts How to use Google Offer Posts How to use Google Product Posts View the show notes, resource links, episode

Learn What Plugins We Use To Power Our Websites With Joe Anderson From Metaphor Creations This week Jesse interviews Joe Anderson from Metaphor Creations, talking about Wordpress plugins and taking a peek at some of the powerful plugins we use at Intrycks to power our websites.  These plugins help to create dynamic content on your website, keeping them fresh and engaging for your customers and prospects.  Plus we unveil our newest collaboration, Agile Alerts, and announce the free Beta Registration on the show. What You’ll Learn Interview with Joe Anderson of Metaphor Creations Intrycks collaborates with Metaphor Creations on a regular basis to provide websites and digital marketing services to customers Our new collaboration www.agilealerts.com is now live and taking beta users Joe has been a Wordpress developer since 2011 It's very important to create good and "sticky" content for your website, to keep users engaged Use the Content Duplicator plugin to quickly create new page or post templates for your Wor

Develop A System To Consistently Produce New Content For Your Website Content is king, but producing good relevant content for your website is easier said than done.  Especially if you need to put out that content on a regular basis.  In this episode we share some tips and tactics on how to create a content production strategy that allows you to stay on track and keep putting out fresh content.  Learn how to get easy ideas for content, what type of content you should produce, and how often you should be creating it.  Plus, don't forget to setup your website to automatically alert Google when you have new content on your site, too! What You’ll Learn You need to have a regular content production schedule to continually produce new content for your website Your level or quantity of content production will depend on what your competition is doing You can research your competition to see what their content output is by viewing their blog, or checking their XML sitemaps You need to be active in producing new conte