I’ve been working on SEO (search engine optimization) to increase my organic search results for both my personal blog and website and my company’s website, mainly by focusing on tried-and-true SEO tactics and some newer ideas. My main goal for my blog is to improve in the SERPs (search engine results pages) for certain keywords (online marketing and social media related ones), but for my company, I want to completely own the SERPs on Google for one specific goal: I want anyone in my city (San Marcos, Texas) searching for “printing,” “web design,” or “social marketing” to pick up the phone and call me. In order to do this, I’ve been looking into some simple “geo-targeting” SEO tactics that you can use to do the same for yourself.There are countless ways to improve your rankings for organic-driven location-based search results, and I’m not sure of all of them. Chances are though, you haven’t really put much time into focusing on geo-targeting as an SEO strategy, or your SEO person or firm hasn’t made it a priority. For a start, try out these things and give it a month or two:

On-site optimization:

1. First and foremost, content is still king. SEO is based on one thing: proving to Google, Bing, and Yahoo that your site is important to the searchers. With this concept in mind, start building a database on your company’s website of articles, blog posts, links, and industry-related content that will “fill out” your site. SEO begins with content because without content, there’s nothing to optimize. Maybe there’s a way to tie-in your personal blog to your company’s site, or you can actually begin blogging for your company.
2. Pick out a few main keywords (not locations) that you’d like to target. You can choose a few that may seem more competitive, because you’re still going to be targeting a location or a region in addition to these keywords. For Higher Calling Media, I’ve chosen “printing,” “business cards,” “postcards,” “brochures,” “web design,” and “social marketing,” to name a few.
3. Categorize these keywords by order of importance. SEO is always easiest starting small, and doing this will help you determine which ones get header tags (<h1>, <h2>, etc.). Here’s my list:
   1. Printing
   2. Business Cards
   3. Web Design
4. Find some way to work both your geo-targeted keywords and your relevance keywords into your company’s site <title> tags. For me, my title should read “San Marcos Printing and Web Design” or something like that. In WordPress, this is as easy as installing the All-In-One SEO Pack and changing the settings around a bit. I don’t want to get too far into the details of WordPress SEO, but ViperChill has a GREAT overview of it. Read it and follow exactly what it says!
5. Work your other keywords into <h1> and <h2> tags (and sometimes <h3> tags), depending on keyword importance.
6. Use Scribe to help create extremely SEO friendly posts and content. It does cost money (they’re running a sale on it right now though), but it really is worth it. In addition to helping structure your content to target certain keywords, it also generates very intuitive tags and keywords for your META keyword box. Here’s a price breakdown:

“Scribe will come in 3 plan levels at 3 different monthly price points:

• Advanced: 300 evaluations a month (around 100 pages or posts) for $97 (they’re offering this package for $27/month until Friday, February 26th!)
• Publisher: 120 evaluations a month (around 40 pages or posts) for $47
• Starter: 30 evaluations a month (around 10 pages or posts) for $27″

Off-site optimization:

1. Use Google’s Local Business Center to add your company information for free to their directory. This alone will allow you to show up in Google Maps results listings for your geo-location.
2. When you create your listing, you can add coupons, locations, hours, and other great information, as well as videos and photos. Use these to get an edge over your competition. Google actually tells you how “complete” your profile is–get it to 100% and you’ll be in a much better position than your competitors.
3. Start building backlinks that include your location keywords as well as your relevance keywords. This will help Google know that you’re actually in a certain location, and it won’t hurt your organic non-location-based results, either.
4. As always, keep using SEO, social media, and other online tools to create buzz around your products, services, and general “happenings.” Every little bit counts, and with most things SEO, it may take a little while, but it will start to pay off for your business!

If you have anything to add or want some questions answered, just leave a comment below! I’d love to hear from you!Other Popular Posts:

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I attended a huge networking event today, and I really enjoyed most of what I was involved in. Austin is filled with great people, and passionate business owners, and lots of entrepreneurs who don’t know the next step. They’re considered (by me) to be very successful, and they know their industry inside and out. Still, though, they don’t understand the power of the Thing They’re Missing about online marketing. The Thing They’re Missing is what drives me to do what I do. The Thing They’re Missing is the Thing that could matter the most for their online marketing; the next era of small business, or the Thing that makes or breaks their business completely. For most, the Thing That’s Missing is not a website, or a Facebook page, or even an online newsletter–it’s the culmination of ALL of those channels, working together in tandem to create a seamless presence online for whomever may one day stumble upon it. Sound familiar? The Thing They’re Missing is part online marketing, part social media–a topic I love to soapbox about, because it’s what I grew up with.

If you met me yesterday at the Chocolate, Blues, and Business networking event, you’ll immediately remember one thing about me: I was younger than you. Sometimes by a lot, sometimes not so much. The key to what I do that sets me apart from the other guys who claim to be “social media” or “online marketing” experts is that fact. While I wasn’t around for the latest developments in your industries (health care, insurance, mortgage, etc.) I grew up with mine. I was there when Facebook was only open to college kids (I remember bugging Mark Zuckerman to let my high school have Facebook accounts). I was there when MySpace sucked (wait–it still does?). I was there when Twitter was just a twinkle in an addicted Facebook-status-er’s eye. I was there when that Thing They’re Missing was that Thing We’re All Missing.

In a not-so-small way, I built my online marketing/social media industry. Rather than having years of experience or multiple accredited degrees in traditional marketing that I’m trying to transfer into the digital space, I have years of experience growing up with newer and faster ways of creating, regurgitating, reaching, discovering, and sharing information. Throughout all of this, I’ve been listening to my friends, peers, and mentors about what works in the world of online marketing.

So–entrepreneurs–what do you do now? Do you try to find the Thing They’re Missing and apply it to your business by blogging, Twittering, Facebook-ing, and newsletter-ing? Maybe. For some, it’s easier to understand that privacy (at least superficially) is dead. The idea of “push-based” online marketing (or offline!) is dead. The concept of “interruption advertising” is dead. Stop Missing The Point with your online marketing and start listening to what your kids are telling you!

Right now:

• Set up an account at Twitter (in your own name, if you can; privacy is dead), and send out a Tweet about what you do.
• Then, search on Twitter for a keyword that applies to your industry with the “#” sign in front of it (#socialmedia, #marketing, #online marketing #insurance, etc.).
• Find and read some of the articles linked in the search results, and re-Tweet some of them that you like.
• Rinse and repeat at least 5 times today.
• And tomorrow.
• And the next day.

You’ll soon have a feed of Tweets that you’ve sent with keyword-rich hashtags (#) for others in your niche to see. After you’ve got a page or two of Tweets sent out, seek out some other people in your industry (start by finding the ones who originally sent the Tweets you re-Tweeted…). Follow as many as you can. This is the birth of your online marketing campaign–that’s it! Nothing else to do until you complete this easy task!

What you’re doing is building a network of like-minded individuals who are one step closer to trusting you (which is many steps closer to actually doing business with you).

Sound familiar? It’s called networking, and it’s not your father’s networking. We did it yesterday together in 3D, but this way is faster, bigger, and just as useful for your online marketing if you do it right.

Want more information on social media, online marketing, and networking? That’s why you should be reading my newsletter…Other Popular Posts:

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3. The Social Media Paradigm

Before I get into this post, I need to define what I mean by “social media” and “productivity” in this instance. First, by social media, I’m referring to your efforts to connect, share, mediate, and be relational online, whether for personal or online marketing reasons. I am including the use of social networking sites to socialize, social bookmarking sites to share your favorite information and resources, and microblogging, blogging, and forum-type platforms. Second, by productivity, I’m talking about how efficient and effective these efforts are. For example, I believe that it’s pretty easy to expand your social media reach online piece by piece by sending out Tweets each and every day, unsolicited, but you may not be as efficient as you could be. In the same vein, you may be able to convert a few visitors a day to your site/blog by sending these Tweets, but you may not be as effective as you want to be.What’s our goal here? Why look into the productivity of our Tweets? I’m only using Twitter as an example–this approach should apply to every “social media” or online marketing activity we partake in. Simply put, we need to analyze what’s working and do more of it, and find what’s not working, and cut it out completely or change it so it is. In traditional marketing campaigns, this process can be done through split (A/B) testing, focus groups, and old-school data-analysis. In the world of online marketing, the concepts are basically the same, but the social media methods are a bit more elegant and the results come (a bit) quicker. Let’s get started.

Step 1 – Break down what you’ve got.

Pick a social media channel–I’ll start with my blog. My blog only has about 30 regular readers on average. It sucks, but to me that’s 30 people a day who “seem” to care about what I’m writing here. As I started from nothing, building to a 30-subscriber count to me is a taste–albeit small–of success. Anyway, let’s break down what we’ve got.

• Who’s reading? FeedBurner makes it a bit tricky to analyze who’s reading, but judging by the comments I’ve received on the blog, I can assume most people who are stopping by at this point are bloggers, social media folks, and internet marketers. This is important data to me because I can either continue trying to reach this group of people by writing more about these topics, or I can focus on another sector by switching gears to something else.  However, just by understanding who’s reading shouldn’t be enough information to make that decision. We need to keep going to figure that out.
• Who’s responding? Who’s re-Tweeting? Who’s commenting? Who’s replying to your forum posts? Are they happy/sad/mad/whatever about your posts, or are they just trying to stir up conversation so you’ll go visit their site (by the way, visit their site–let them know you stopped by, and they’ll probably come back to yours!)? It’s not hard to tell who’s actively interested in what you have to say, and who just wants some cheap attention. Both reasons for responding are completely fine–but one isn’t going to be a lasting relationship.
• Who’s reacting? Is anyone on your blog or Twitter feed responding in a way that is fueling your conversation with the world? Look for re-Tweets of your messages from the same people, and reach out to them in the social media world more. Find those who ask questions on your comments pages and answer them publicly by writing a post in response to them. Reacting is basically responding with initiative–more than a “thank you,” and implying that they’re looking to you for advice, help, guidance, camaraderie, etc.

Once you’ve broken down your audience (your current audience, not your target audience), see if it aligns with what you envisioned for your social media and/or online marketing efforts. Are you reaching the people you need/want to reach? Are you getting the results (even if only on a minuscule scale) you intended? If so, move on to Step 2. If not, tweak your message and work extra hard to reach out to those who are your target audience.

Step 2 -Place measurement tools and checkpoints.

Once you’ve got a good idea of who falls into your readership/audience demographic, place the measuring tools within your reach. Using online social media tools every day can help you expand your network and keep up with your industry–giving you invaluable insight into what’s going on with your customers, competitors, suppliers, etc. Here are some examples of “tools” I use daily/weekly/monthly:

• Google Analytics – For my blog, I check in with my Analytics account daily. I want to see who’s visiting, where they’re coming from, and what they’re looking at when they get there. Also important to me are from where they’re exiting (exit pages), and how long they stick around.
• Hootsuite – For Twitter, I use Hootsuite almost exclusively now to send and read posts from all of my accounts–including those from LinkedIn and Facebook. Since I manage multiple Twitter accounts for clients, I like having the stats and dashboard for everything all in one place–and with only one login. Hootsuite also has a great built-in search function. I have live searches set up for things like #social media, #socialmarketing, #interpersonalskills, etc. Use the search function in whatever program you prefer to keep a tab on who’s saying what. Bonus: follow those who are coming up regularly in your searches, and re-Tweet their information liberally. Hootsuite can very quickly become your social media hub for checking in with your network(s).
• Google Reader – While I use NetNewsWire for my RSS subscriptions (because I can read them offline), Google Reader is a fantastic way to have everything under one roof. If you have an Analytics, Gmail, AdSense, or other Google account, Google Reader is a piece of cake to hook up. A great way to use an RSS reader is to do a Technorati search for the keywords that relate to your niche and subscribe (via RSS) to the results. They’ll show up right in your RSS reader every time it’s updated.

There are a million other social media resources out there for tracking and data analysis, but these are the most frequently used for me. Remember–burying your head in stats all day may enlighten you, but it won’t create your content or build your business for you. Keep it simple and you’ll be set.

Step 3 – Set up your systems.

If you’re like me, your motto is “I’ll procrastinate tomorrow…” Don’t let your good intentions go to waste by not acting on them. Set up systems for yourself that are easy to follow and reasonable early in the game, and try as hard as you can to stick with them. Here are some examples of my systems:

• Plan your posts/Tweets. For blog posts, I use the Blog Post Planners made available by ProductiveFlourishing. They give me a great tool to guide my blogging throughout the entire month for multiple blogs. For Twitter accounts, you can use Hootsuite or TweetLater (now SocialOomph) to schedule Tweets in advance. An excel spreadsheet is also a simple yet effective way to plan out your Twitter and online marketing/social media strategies. Most of what I plan in Twitter is on-the-fly, as I like to follow up quickly with RTs of great content from people in my network.
• Schedule your time. My daily schedule was so drastically different each day last year that I didn’t get nearly as much done as I could have. Just by having a single block of time daily for writing posts, I was able to completely turn around my business–and I’m still adding “blocks” to my schedule. By adding “blocks” one at a time, I’m able to still feel free and unhindered by an otherwise rigid schedule. Remember–as a blogger, you can work from wherever you want, whenever you want!
• Break the rules. After you’ve created and followed a schedule for yourself and your writing, stop following it for one day a week. Like dieting, your mind needs a day or two to completely indulge itself and recharge for the next week. Use that day to read something other than blogs, forums, and web stuff. I like a bit of fiction–maybe The Count of Monte Cristo?

Systems are a big favorite of mine. With systems, we can build an online business that is virtually run without our input–for some great examples of that, read Tim Ferriss’ The Four-Hour Workweek. Blogs can also provide a great example of an automated income stream based on systems.

In conclusion, it’s important to see your business from all sides: choosing keywords and targeting them through killer content can net you some profit, but it won’t go too far to build a network for you. Ideally you want to follow the set of rules the SEOs have set forth to optimizing your blog and website for keywords, but use the social media tools to help people trust you. A killer online marketing, branding and social media strategy involves both SEO and social media working together simultaneously. Don’t leave out one or the other!

As always, I want to provide this information free of charge in exchange for your readership–I’d love for you to leave a comment down there, and I’d love it if you signed on for more cool stuff like this. My RSS feed is here, and my free weekly newsletter is here.Other Popular Posts:

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In continuing with online marketing and my tradition of list posts, I’ve decided to write an online marketing post that everyone can use. Don’t have a blog? Get one–but if you refuse, use these tips for your business’ website or your team’s online marketing strategy then. Here goes nothing:

1. Write great content. If this tip ever leaves these kind of lists, I’d be appalled. Content is the first priority for online marketing success–if you don’t have a way to write–or get–great content, leave now. Everything else you read here is null. This subject is huge in itself, so I’ll defer the rest of it over to Brian at Copyblogger.
2. Comment on other blogs. Leave helpful advice and tidbits of wisdom–and thank them for their work–on other blogs. Commenting is like backwards online marketing–you’re making yourself and your business available for people to see your trail online. Head over to IntenseDebate for a great (free) service and WordPress plugin to use for commenting on your blog. Aim for blogs in your niche, but understand that with inner-connectivity the way it is in online marketing, ANY blog or website will do. Google will find you!
3. Respond to every comment you receive. This tip is harder to do if you’ve already got some serious traffic, but for my site, it’s a MUST. I only get one or two comments a week (sad face), but when I do, I respond and email them personally for stopping by. For my ulterior motive of possibly eventually selling to these people, online marketing principles tell me that trust is key–build it now or forever hold your peace!
4. Guest post. Guest posts can drive a significant amount of traffic your way in a very short amount of time–are you ready for it? Be sure that your blog is ready to “receive” guests–have landing pages ready, and make sure there’s something for them available when they arrive, or that your online marketing campaigns are set up and ready to convert.
5. Use StumbleUpon campaigns. For a very low conversion rate (compared to AdWords), you can pay for an exact number of “stumblers” to arrive on your site. Same rules apply–be ready for them! I’ve used StumbleUpon for online marketing before, and it’s a great way to guarantee some traffic, but beware–this type of traffic doesn’t tend to stick around or purchase anything!
6. Be involved on Twitter. Use Twitter to promote content you read and subscribe to, and every now and then (read: 1/5 of the amount you promote others’ work) promote your own blog posts and articles. You can even use Twitter marketing software to gather and create leads, if that suits your business’ online marketing style a bit more.
7. Ask for traffic. Use social networking sites like Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter to post questions, stories, interviews, whatever, and actually ASK your network to let you know what they think about it all. You’d be surprised at how many people are okay with an unsolicited yet gentle push.
8. Geo-target your Google listing. If you are a business (or use your blog to bring in leads), use Google’s Business Listings to show off your location and a little about what you do. This works well for service-oriented blogs like consultants and speakers, and is a key element for bridging the gap between online marketing and offline marketing campaigns.
9. Pay for traffic. For many online marketing campaigns you could, of course, use Google AdWords to drive traffic to a landing page like this one. But be aware that there are many other search networks out there, and most are cheaper than Google! Hint: the AOL search network runs on Google and can be up to half the price…
10. Be present. There is something about the online marketing world that seems to know if you’re really there or not. Sure, you can plan a blog post and 3 Tweets to go out for each day of the month, but people seem to know that you’re on autopilot. Do the above and automate all you want, but only to free up time to spend responding to comments and commenting elsewhere and building your network of real people. As my favorite professor says, “Are you in it or into it?” Be into your blog, and people will start noticing.

Got some more ideas about online marketing or generating traffic? I’m pretty sure I didn’t cover everything–drop me a line in the comments section, and we’ll keep this post going! For now, though, subscribe to my newsletter!Other Popular Posts:

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If you’ve been running a business for any amount of time, you know the importance of finding, pitching, and landing clients. The process usually involves cold-calling, referral followups, requests for proposals, face-to-face meetings and/or some combination of the above. Online, while it’s significantly harder to have a face-to-face meeting (or easier if you’re using a VOIP telephone service like Skype), it’s still possible–and sometimes more effective and efficient to pitch and win clients. Here’s an overview of how I use social media to guide and land my biggest projects:

1. Listen. If you haven’t heard me slam it down your throats about listening, go check out this and this. Either way, understand that to get any traction at all from your social media campaigns, you need to be listening. I set up Google Alerts, Twitter search feeds, and run relative searches regularly. This way, I know what my audience (you) is saying, doing, feeling, and thinking.
2. Join the conversation. Once I have an idea of the type of content my crowd wants to consume, I create it. This creation can take place on a blog by writing and posting my own content, Tweeting useful tips and advice, and joining in Facebook or LinkedIn discussions. But, it could also mean Re-Tweeting others’ useful advice or posting guest articles on my blog.
3. Be helpful, not forceful. I don’t ever want to come across as overbearing or a know-it-all, but I do need my target customer to see me as an expert–how else can he justify paying me? Expertise doesn’t always mean a smart-ass attitude, but it could work for some.
4. Ask questions regularly. Questions can be “give me advice” type or “do you need advice” type. Both ways will help me see what my audience of future clients knows and/or want to know. Once I’ve answered and asked enough questions, people will start to see me as a “real” person, out to help others. Then and only then will I start “marketing” to them in the traditional sense.
5. Begin marketing. Once you’ve achieved “expert” status (at least self-declared), try to slowly talk others into why they should pay you to do what you do best. Use a gentle push, yet guide them to your landing pages and optimized website. Don’t have one? Let me know and I’ll help you get one. See how easy that was?
6. Hold their hand. Even though you may be marketing to web-savvy, computer-oriented folks, don’t think for a second that they know your business as well as you do. I never assume that a client already understands why they should have a Twitter account (even if they say, “I totally understand why I need a Twitter account). I explain it to them anyway.
7. Give them more than they asked for. If a client is paying me to design and maintain a newsletter, I’ll set them up with a Twitter account, Facebook page, and a blog to ensure that their newsletter has a “backup.” If referrals are one of the strongest and easiest forms of landing new clients, than over-delivering is the best way to guarantee those referrals will keep rolling in.

Landing clients really comes down to developing a product or service and then putting yourself out there enough to ask people to pay for it. Using social media in doing so can speed up the process significantly, but it should never take a backseat to the quality and sincerity of your message. Don’t use social media as a faster way to tell people nothing; it’s still nothing. Find something worthwhile to say or provide, and use social media to exploit the value of communication.Other Popular Posts:

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A post I just wrote for Twitip.com: Top Three Tweet Title Tips.Other Popular Posts:

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