In our previous post I talked about the explosion of local search. More and more people are using the Internet to find local companies, do research, and look at all competitors before making initial contact with prospective companies. The fact is, many people make a decision about a company based solely on the research done on the Internet. In fact, a growing number of people prefer this kind of “anonymous” interaction with a company before any personal connection is made.
Getting listed high on Google, the number 1 search engine, on a local search phrase can be valuable – it brings credibility as well as potential clients to your web site. It took us 30 days to get to #2 on Google for “South of Boston Marketing” and #6 for “South of Boston Web Design.”
There where two main components of this strategy:
- Links from other “search engine friendly” web sites
- Rich, valuable content
Links
We’ve placed about 500 links on search engine friendly web sites. This takes a great deal of work, but it’s well worth the effort. The only advice I’d offer on linking is to be very careful how you get these links placed. There are hundreds of companies who’ve automated this process and can place links to your company on thousands of web sites for $50 or less.
These links could actually undermine your position because Google and other search engines do not just count the number of links to your site, but the QUALITY of those links. Be very careful about the links you put out on the Internet that link back to your site – always do the linking manually by visiting each site and entering your information. Beware of any kind of automated search engine optimization package – if you’re going to work with a Search Engine Optimization (SEO) marketing firm be sure to ask them specifically how they intend to market your site.
Quality Content
I think high quality content is one of the most important aspects of being listed high in the search engines. I also believe a blog is one of the most effective ways to do it. The main reason is because you become a part of the online community. To me, getting listed high in Google is simply the outcome of being a participant in the online conversation.
If you’re an honest contributor to making the web a better place, you’ll likely find yourself moving up the rankings. I have no idea what the algorithms for search are (how Google and others determine who is placed were on their sites). In fact, you could spend years trying to figure out the nuances of search engine placement. What I do know, however, is that if you’re a good Internet citizen and use some basic tools to share your knowledge, you’ll likely be successful.
The nice thing about a blog, is there’s a ready-made network to share your content, and increase the number of high quality links back to your site. I’ve covered a basic strategy for blogging in a previous post, so I will not go in to too much detail here. However, I will share a fantastic tool that will get your good quality content spread throughout the ”blogospehere“ with a click of a button.
It’s called Ping-o-Matic, a free tool that allows you to “ping” all the key blog indexing sites on the web. Simply put in your blog information, hit enter, and you’ve sent out an invitation to dozens of sites to come and look for new content on your blog. These sites will then pull some of your content into the engines with a link back to your site. This is a very powerful tool I’ve used with great success not only on our web site but others as well.
One last comment about blogging: make sure you add links to your content that go to other good quality sites. While links away from your site may seem counterproductive (why send visitors to other sites?), they’re an important part of being a “good Internet citizen” and, not surprisingly, it helps in Internet search rankings.
In conclusion, don’t try to find the “magic pill” of Internet marketing because there isn’t one. Internet marketing is more about being a part of a community and sharing your expertise in an honest and open way. This is especially true for local Internet communities that are beginning to grow and blossom. Share what you know with no strings attached, open source your knowledge, and you’ll soon find yourself linked throughout the Internet and moving up the search engine rankings.
