Optimizing for local search - made easy

 

Dear likeminded SEO searcher As you know, Wordtracker doesn’t normally endorse another company’s products unless we feel it can truly benefit you. Our friends at Planet Ocean and SearchEngineNews.com are about to publish a new book and quite frankly they’ve outdone themselves. They’ve created the best, most incisive guide we’ve seen on how to optimize your site for local search: "The Professional SEO's Blueprint to Local Search Optimization" Here's a recent article that was published explaining exactly why local search is something you need to understand in order to stay competitive in today's markets: Gold rushes never last forever ...but fortunes are built on the foundations they provide! - by Stephen Mahaney, CEO Planet Communications At the height of a devastating series of financial recessions, bank failures and widespread unemployment that plagued the US economy throughout the decade, one of the biggest gold rushes in history began. In July, 1897 hopeful fortune seekers from all walks of life stampeded to the siren call of Klondike gold in the hope of striking it rich.   Gold miners in line to stake their claim But the REAL fortunes were made by the clever men who set up shop early enough to sell the necessary goods and services to the prospectors. That's right, like all gold rushes, the people who make the most money are the ones who are... Selling tools to the gold miners! And, with respect to that entrepreneurial formula for success, nothing has changed! To the discerning eye it's plain to see it's happening again. Recently CNN published an article titled The Top 10 tech trends of 2009 which outlines that the so-called 'smartphone' is much more about mobile computing than about the actual everyday function we call a phone. In fact, because the smartphone is so, uh... smart, it's being used less as a phone and more and more, and more as EVERYTHING else! At Planet Ocean we recently conducted a local search training course. During a discussion, one of our students related the story about how his son (age 35) went about finding an orthodontist. Without any prompting he reached for his new smartphone, immediately pulled up Google Maps and entered the search term orthodontist. Take note: this fellow did not hesitate for one second and made no attempt to engage the use of a computer or even a search engine. Nor did the son attempt to access a phone book or a newspaper - no. He went straight to Google Maps and simply entered the relevant search term. In two seconds he had a full list of local orthodontists - all located within a few miles of his present location because his smartphone knew his current location. And, of course, these listings typically provide links to customer reviews whenever they're available as seen in the sequential screenshots shown below: The display can be toggled to show all of the nearest locations in map format - the A to G listings also known as The Google 7 Pack. The smartphone will also allow you to access driving directions and operational details that, traditionally, one would expect to find on the business' website... ...all without ever leaving your... uh, phone. Now, that's one smart phone! Obviously, if you are a bricks-n-mortar business owner, you can see there's some mighty potent potential going on here. But even more incredible, as a professional SEO, explaining all this to a local business owner just got as easy as a five minute demo on your own smartphone to illustrate how miserably lacking their business presence appears to be on a smartphone local search. And, there's a good chance they'll want to talk to you about "fixing" the problem. Ya think? For instance, the demonstration above provides me with no less than six local search SEO prospects that do not yet have their local search presence optimized with reviews. It also shows that one of their competitors is standing out simply by providing a couple of five star reviews. At this stage in the game, there isn't yet a lot of catching up to do. This means for YOU the SEO, the gold nuggets are plentiful and just lying around on the ground waiting to be scooped up. All you really have to do is... 1.                      Target the businesses that ordinarily budget a lot of money for Yellow Page ads, 2.                      Show them where they are lacking in their local search presence, and 3.                      Get a contractual agreement to fix their problems. Obviously this includes claiming and verifying their listing, getting their reviews in order, and ensuring their location and operational details are accurate and accessible to the exponentially growing number of customers who'll be using maps to search. In other words, This is the new Yellow Pages! ...and any business owner who spends heavily on Yellow Pages advertising would have to be an idiot to ignore their company's presentation on Google Maps. Therein lies your golden opportunity. T-mobile, ATT, Sprint, Garmin, and even Google are releasing their own smartphone version this year. Surprisingly, this all remains a mysterious secret to most local business owners. BUT the explosion of smartphones coming into the marketplace will create a seemingly overnight, and perhaps even frantic awareness amongst location sensitive business owners of all types - from attorneys to zebra breeders and everything in-between. It's the beginning of a gold rush! The quiet time, before the masses rush in, is about to end. If you are a local business (i.e. a gold miner), drop whatever you are doing and stake your claims before your competition leaves you hopelessly behind. If you are a professional SEO, then it's time to set up shop to sell tools to the gold miners. In the light of these seismic changes Planet Ocean has published an entirely new SEO Book devoted to local search! Its' 30 pages are jam-packed with all new information, illustrations, and screenshots devoted entirely to the latest local search strategies. It covers ALL of the recent and major new developments in local search ranking. And reveals how the new smartphones will change the strategies for local search optimization. You will discover: Why you must claim your listing now   How to optimize your local search listing – and why a position in Google’s 7-Pack is so important   How to avoid getting hit by Google's infamous penalty stick.   How to deal with bad reviews...or no review   Step by step details on how to setup and claim your local listings fast, including: - signing up with Google - adding and modifying your listing - enter your business information for the best search engine results - adding your marker location - submitting your listing - choosing the right business category – and the right keywords for your industry - adding additional details – that will boost your chances of being found The four main competitive analysis questions you need answers for: - On and offsite ranking factors – and what you need to do to boost your listing - On-page ranking factors – and what to list on your pages to help the search engines pick your business before your competitors’ - Other factors that affect the search engines’ view of your ranking – the who, what where of local search - How to drive business to your site with coupons The time has come when any business, large or small, must include local search into its online marketing strategy – or play catch-up with those that do! Today we are pre-releasing the book exclusively to Wordtracker newsletter subscribers (that's you) at an introductory price of just $49 (which will be increased to $69 at launch). To learn more, and to order your own pre-release copy at the introductory low price of $49, click here... I am very sure you'll be glad you did ;) Seize the day! Stephen Mahaney - CEO / Founder Planet Ocean Communications P.S. You have nothing to lose with our 90 day no-risk guarantee. If you're unsatisfied in any way, just let Planet Ocean Communications know...we'll gladly refund your full purchase price with no questions asked! Yes, I’d like to find our more about The Professional SEO's Blueprint to Local Search Optimization.