Popular Articles on Business 2 Community

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• Why Consistent Blog Content Boosts SEO & Builds Authority
• Guide to Social Media: Twitter [SLIDESHARE]
• 6 Ways To Develop A Content Marketing Mindset
• How to Build a New Startup in 5 Strategic Steps
• How to Create a Mobile-First Content Marketing Strategy
• 5 Common Marketing Fails That Stop B2B Business Growth
• How to Get Started with Local SEO

Why Consistent Blog Content Boosts SEO & Builds Authority Posted: 27 Jan 2014 03:23 AM PST One of the most helpful SEO practices a marketer can do for a business is to blog once a week. As an inbound marketing agency, we recommend this practice for every client. The clients that take us up on this advice and let us implement a weekly blog for them see traffic to their site increase within 6 months. Most see traffic double within a year. As this graph shows, the organic traffic to one client site nearly tripled last year: Why do blogs have such an impact on SEO and your brand authority? Here are 6 reasons: 1. Creates Fresh Content for Search Engines Search engines value fresh content that provides their users with answers to questions. Search engines exist for this reason. When marketers create relevant and useful blog posts that solve problems, search engines reward them by giving a "thumbs up" to the content and displaying the post in a search result. 2. Increases Opportunity to Rank for Keyword Phrases The more blog posts you create, the more chances you have to boost your SEO rankings for a variety of keyword phrases. Because of blogging, the number of keyword phrases our clients rank for typically doubles within a year. 3. Positions You as a Credible Resource Blogging on a consistent schedule improves the chances that your readers will see you as a credible brand they can always trust and look to for guidance on industry related issues.  If a company is sporadic with their blogging, they might be sporadic with other elements of their business too.  When you blog consistently, you create the impression that your brand or business is here to stay. 4. Holds You Accountable Getting on a regular schedule makes it less likely that your blog will fall by the wayside.  Planning and scheduling blog posts a month or even a quarter in advance is like making a list before going to the grocery store. It's much more likely that you'll actually make a meal when your ingredients are planned out ahead. And, it's much more likely that you'll actually write a post when the topics, keywords author, and publishing day are scheduled in advance. 5. Improves Your Trust Level Blogs allow you to educate potential customers, not just sell to them, which is important in today's age of transparency.  Forbes reports 32% of online consumers trust a stranger's opinion on blogs more than they trust branded advertisements. According to the Science of Marketing, 60% of respondents click on paid search results either "never" or "less than once a month," which means most people click on organic results from web pages and blogs first. A long-term blog plan results in a library of useful resources to educate customers and gain their trust, which ultimately positions you a thought-leader who has authority within the industry. 6. Enhances Your Google Authorship Google is constantly changing its algorithms to find quality and relevant content related to the search terms people enter. Consistently posting original blog posts on your website and Google+ page makes you more credible to Google and increases your "AuthorRank." As your rank improves, your blog posts have a higher chance of being found on the first page, which could be the first step toward a new sale if that person clicks on the link, reads the posts and likes what they see. In addition to building authority with Google, a good "AuthorRank" can improve authority with people too. Search results have more impact when the content is linked to a picture of the actual author. Which listing would you be more apt to click on? Are you challenged with keeping your blog updated consistently? Try this free guide to stay inspired.

Guide to Social Media: Twitter [SLIDESHARE] Posted: 26 Jan 2014 04:00 PM PST Guide to Social Media: Twitter from Mainstreethost More often than not – and mostly from more mature generations – I get the question, "what is Twitter and why should I be on it? While I could go on for days explaining the many benefits of being on Twitter, unless you grasp the core idea/concept behind this far-reaching social network, the rest will make no sense. The third largest social media network, Twitter is the "buzz generator" of the social media world. Often the place where people go for late-breaking news and updates, Twitter is ideal for any business, especially if that's where your audience is. (I'm sure you're wondering if your audience is even on Twitter, and to that I say, sign up and find out!) But first, here's a guide to being on Twitter – why you should be on it, what you should post, when you should post, how to build a following, who you should be following and how to sign up. Why should I be on Twitter? Being on social media has become necessary for all businesses. With 645,750,000 users, Twitter is quickly growing, which means it's more than likely your audience, or at least some of your audience, is on Twitter. Whether you're a business-to-business (B2B) or business-to-consumer (B2C) business, Twitter is one avenue for connecting with your audience. It provides an opportunity for users to discover and follow various businesses and industries for the latest news, links to blog posts, and opinions. Like other social media platforms, being on Twitter will help create and increase your brand's awareness, while establishing your brand/organization as a thought-leader and expert in your industry. It's also a great way to get your company's personality out there, which is another way to build a following and attract new customers and followers. What should I post on Twitter? Like any social network, what you post (Tweet) on Twitter should be tested. Post different types of information and articles, and see what gets the most response. With promoted posts, you can increase the reach of your post and track its success through Twitter analytics. With a 140-character limit, word choice is extremely important on Twitter. Twitter's one network where your followers only have the headline to entice them to click on the link – so you need to make it count! Now, more than ever, Twitter is encouraging image sharing. Think about it: would you be more likely to click on a Tweet with an image attached or one without an image? Use images to your advantage – after all, a picture is worth 1000 words! For example, if I were a local cupcake bakery, (let's call my business Courtney's Cupcakes) I would post pictures of my creations and inspiration, along with articles and blog posts about cupcakes, baking, event planning, weddings, the food/beverage industry, and other local businesses. Monitor Twitter to see what works for other brands that are similar to your company. At Courtney's Cupcakes, we search Twitter to see what other cupcake shops and bakeries are doing and use that as inspiration for our own Tweets and even blog posts. While I recommend using other people's and businesses' Tweets and blog posts as inspiration, there's a lot to be said about being different and standing out from your competition. Success, especially on social media, hinges on fresh, interesting content that's never been seen before. This kind of content is what captivates people and entices them to come back for more; this will also help build your Twitter following. Social listening, which is eavesdropping on your customer's social media conversations, will also help determine what your audience is saying and interacting with. This will help you determine the kind of content you should create and share. Another extremely useful approach to observe what's being talked about on Twitter is through hashtags. The idea behind hashtags is to draw attention to a specific word, phrase, or idea in your Tweet. Hashtags are searchable within Twitter and you can see what's trending to join in on the conversation, or even create a conversation. Below is an example of trending topics, which often change throughout the course of a day. When posting, you should re-tweet, favorite and respond to your competition and other people's/businesses' tweets. Nobody wants to see a Twitter-feed where you only talk about yourself- that's not what people are looking for on social media. It will take some time to figure out a Twitter posting strategy and what works best for your business, but honestly, that's all part of the fun! When should I post? Just as you should test what you post, you'll also want to test when you post, including the day of the week and time of day. Unlike some networks where posting/sharing content once works great, with Twitter I suggest you post the same tweet multiple times a day/week/month and even year. In a blog post from The New York Times, "How Many Times Can You Tweet the Same Tweet," Twitter icon Guy Kawasaki shared this advice: "Repeat your tweets four times, eight hours apart! If you do it that way you will always catch Pacific Coast prime time, which is early evening." Twitter is constantly updating; something you post one second could be at the bottom of your followers' feeds within the next second. If you're wondering how you're going to keep up with posting multiple times a day, the easiest way is to schedule Tweets through a social monitoring tool such as TweetDeck or HootSuite. Check out this list of ten popular Twitter tools to assist in monitoring, scheduling and tracking your Tweets. How do I build a Twitter following and who should I be following? For Twitter to be a successful social media outlet, a strong following is crucial. So, how do you build that following? First off, find people in your industry and follow them. Follow businesses and well-known thought-leaders in your industry. If you're a local business, follow area businesses, news sources and local individuals. Reach out to these people and ask them to follow you in return. The best way to build your following is to promote and share content that people want to see and share. Social media is all about figuring out what people want and what they will share. The more often you share things people enjoy and love, the more likely they will follow you and share your content, which will increase your exposure. Don't forget: share content from others. If others see you sharing and commenting on their tweets and posts, they're more apt to follow you and share what you have to say. After all, they aren't called social networking sites for nothing! At Courtney's Cupcakes, we follow a variety of local businesses as well as local news stations and outlets. This not only helps us keep up to date with area happenings, but there's a lot to be said about supporting and endorsing area businesses, and many times it works both ways. We also follow other cupcake shops throughout the country and industry-related brands, including event planners, bakeries, and wedding/bridal companies to name a few. Keep in mind: you're not going to build your Twitter following overnight. These things take time, but the effort is worth it. How do I set up Twitter? Now that you have a better idea of why you should be on Twitter, what, when and how to post on Twitter, and how to build your following, you just have to set up your Twitter profile. The steps below should help you get started, then the real fun begins! Sign up for Twitter at https://twitter.com/signup. When filling out the form below, sign up as your business. For example, I would put "Courtney's Cupcakes" in the full name section and then I will choose a username (handle) that reflects my business; my username is going to be BuffaloCupcakes. Your full name will be displayed on Twitter feeds, followed by your handle. There is a limit of characters for a username, so you might have to get creative. Just make sure your handle is recognizable and aligns with your brand. For example, my display name and handle will look like this on Twitter: Courtney's Cupcakes @BuffaloCupcakes Keep your handle short. Not only will it be easier for people to remember, but it will also encourage people to mention you in their Tweets, without sacrificing too many characters (they only have 140 characters to work with). Once you sign up, Twitter will guide you through setting up your profile and finding people to follow. Fill out your profile to completion, including your location and the bio section. And don't forget to upload a profile picture; I recommend using your company logo. After your profile is complete, it's time to Tweet! For more in-depth Twitter tips, check out this post. Was this social media guide to Twitter helpful? Let us know in the comments below, along with any questions or comments you might have.

6 Ways To Develop A Content Marketing Mindset Posted: 26 Jan 2014 09:22 AM PST Your Road Map to Thinking Like a Publisher To develop a content marketing mindset requires a major rethinking of the current approach. It may not be easy, but it is essential. By reading and sharing this blog post, you will develop a content marketing mentality, first for yourself and then for your organization. You already know how important it is for your organization to act like publishers that offers valuable content that makes you a trusted source for your future and current customers. For instance, the conventional wisdom of publishing says advertising departments must work with journalists and publishers to compete for shelf space in magazines and papers – a mindset that no longer holds true given the demise of traditional print media. Moreover, consumers can get access to free content from blogs instead of paying for magazines or books. Therefore, it's time to start thinking like an internet publisher and start competing for space on the content shelves of the web. That's the all important start to developing a content marketing mindset.  (Think Like a Publisher). However, publishing has developed via companies over many years, therefor, in order to create the kind of high quality content that emanates from a great publisher, a new media focused skill set is required. Think Like a Publisher Invest your time to build credibility with others by sharing your work for them to read and review. This happens when you deliver content that is relevant to your target customers. Bad, boring brochures are only part of the problem with traditional marketing.  The Yellow Pages is a classic example. Historically, whether a customer was selling consumer product or business products, they needed to be in the Yellow Pages. That is no longer true. Instead, prospects are first going to the Internet to see information about products and company information. In a competitive market, the Yellow pages usually falls short of most prospects first instinct – the search engine. Therefore, creating a website with positive and sharable headlines, and with important content, is the approach to put yourself at the top of the qualified search results. Imagine what would happen if small businesses devoted their advertising dollars to creating great websites. Imagine also, that they were driving content to the websites through excellent content and intelligent search engine marketing and approaches to making content go viral. There are few road maps to steer organizations safely through the marketing frontier, and too few are willing to make the trek. But for those who do so, there is a way in which content marketing can become an integral component of your company's DNA. This process is designed to make it easier to transition to the creation of valuable and relevant content. First Understand then Be Understood You must understand exactly what outcome you require before beginning a successful content marketing strategy. That means knowing what you want to get out of the initiative – sales increase, retention measures, cost saving, lead generation, employee retention, culture building, or something more. Equally important is understanding the needs and challenges of your prospected targets. Behavioral – Everything you communicate has a purpose. What do you want your customers to do? How do you want them to feel? What action do you want them to take? (SHARE) How will you measure their behavior? How will you put them on the path to purchase? Essential – Deliver content that your best prospects really need in order to achieve success, whether at work or in life. What do customers need to know? What will provide them with the most benefit? How can we increase the potential positive impact? What media types must be included? Strategic – Your content marketing efforts must be an integral part of your overall business strategy and corporate culture.  Does this content marketing effort help us achieve our strategic goals? Does it integrate with other strategic initiatives? Targeted – You must target you content precisely, so that it is relevant to your buyers. Are the prospects identified? Is there a solid understanding of what motivates them? Are their professional roles understood? Is their perception of the product accurate and understood? Use these target areas to in order to create marketing efforts that are used by the most innovative newspapers, magazines, TV, radio. By taking the time and committing the resources to answer these questions, you will have the needed information to create a content marketing plan that works for you. Creating original content is imperative for growing and sustaining a profitable business. Rules to Market By Businesses who think like publishers are more empowered now than ever before, thanks partly to the rise of social media, which gives marketers platforms to create communities of customers. But only marketers who are willing to aggressively promote themselves will benefit. The experts espouse these new rules of publishing: You are in control. You have the power to do your own marketing and the tools to build a community of fans. Don't underestimate the power of social media. "You can't be an author without being a participant in social media." A blog is a necessary component of your publishing strategy. Stay online.  No traditional bookseller can compete with the digital world. Bootstrap. Don't write a blog post and then market. When you are writing a blog, or thinking about writing one, get started promoting it. Create your layout before the blog post is done. Keep seeking the new edge. Follow thought leaders. Figure out how to find readers and give them a reason to follow you. You can entertain. You can educate. But you need to give something away to those who need it most. image credit: mr lightman/freedigitalphotos.net

How to Build a New Startup in 5 Strategic Steps Posted: 26 Jan 2014 07:30 AM PST When I walked away from my startup in late April of 2013, I had reached a major crossroads. More than two years of my life had been invested into Habidy.com, a struggling social media company. I was in a place where many entrepreneurs had been before me: zero business prospects, zero income and a bucket full of obligations (including supporting a young family and paying NYC rent). I had some decisions to make. I could continue eking it out in the startup world or turn back to the corporate drumbeat that I had walked away from in 2008. Startup life meant stress and uncertainty and an emotional barometer that boomeranged between elation and disappointment. On the flip side, a day job could provide a steady paycheck and a modicum of fulfillment. But it would also mean a departure from a lifestyle that allowed me to chart my own course for success. For me, the choice was easy — I stuck with startups. However, this time I chose to consult with startups, taking what I had learned through trial, error and misdirection and applying it to other early-stage founders with big brains and even bigger ideas. Here is an overview of how I built and scaled a consulting business over one month's time — and went from zero to four incredible startup clients in the process: Step 1: Define Your Brand What services are you selling and why will people choose you as an expert provider? Defining your brand means first defining yourself. Determine what you can do for people that they can't (or don't have time to) do for themselves. Given my marketing and PR pedigree, my niche was easy to pinpoint and articulate to others. I help early and mid-stage startups hone their content and their market. I ensure that their messages, delivery and product are all singing from the same songsheet. Find what sets you apart and what promise you can fulfill for your customers and get to work. Step 2: Hone Your Message Once you've found a niche and feel comfortable selling your services to others, you need to develop easy message points that clearly communicate your reason for being. Defining a brand and nailing your message may seem relatively easy, but your business’s first, powerful impression is the most important thing for any company. Get it right the first time and you'll be well on your way. Step 3: Activate Your Network You can never understate the importance of a great network. And no matter your background or your field, you'd be surprised with how far your base network will get you. Reach out with personalized messages to everyone you know and close with a specific "ask." To whom can your connection introduce you? Can you meet for a 10-minute chat or coffee to discuss the next steps you're making in your career? If you don't ask, you'll never receive. You'll never fail to be surprised at the generosity people show with their time if you show interest and gratitude. But don't sell yourself short — networks can be built and buttressed every day. Start small, be consistent with your outreach, and good things will follow. Step 4: Price to Move Consulting is a tricky business — especially in the startup world. While ad agencies where I worked in the mid 2000s charged clients $150 an hour for my time, at cost-conscious startups it’s more realistic to make around half of that. Start low, offer discounts and work in cash-stock ratioed plans to send the message that you have some skin in the game. Also, keep in mind that an important but low paying role at a small startup could lead to a more enriching long-term relationship if your efforts open doors and on-board customers for your client. Step 5: Execute on the Work An early mentor once told me, "Create reasonable expectations for every client and then vastly exceed them." This has served as a mantra for me throughout my professional career. Value is the name of the game for any owner. If your value shines through, your own successes will follow. In my case, it lead to an early referral that was a major boost to my practice. While two of my first clients came as referrals through my network, the third was passed on at the suggestion of a client I had worked with for just two weeks. If you do great work, the results will speak for themselves. Brendan Mangus is Principal Consultant at Colorwheel Media Consulting, a new breed of tech consultants specializing in helping early and mid-stage startups refine their product, define and grow their market and community and execute their outreach and go-to-market strategy. Prior to starting his consulting practice, he spent more than a decade providing marketing, branding and public relations counsel for a variety of clients ranging from Fortune 500s to nonprofits and startups. He is based in New York City and can be reached at bpmangus@gmail.com.

How to Create a Mobile-First Content Marketing Strategy Posted: 26 Jan 2014 06:15 AM PST A recent study by Nielsen and Google suggests that 77 percent of mobile searches are performed at work or home — areas where a PC is also likely to have been available. Yet, mobile website visitors have a 9.56 percent higher bounce rate on an average than desktop visitors. These conflicting stats demonstrate that, while there are tremendous opportunities for marketers on the mobile channel, there are also big challenges that need to be overcome. Indeed, the 93 percent of B2B marketers who create content (as indicated by CMI's most recent research) should mobile-optimize their content marketing strategy in order to extend the time visitors spend engaging with their content, and convert more of those mobile visitors into customers. Here are a few usable tips to help you do just that: 1. Focus on localized content Most mobile consumers search on the go. The Google/Nielsen study mentioned above also suggests that 40 percent of all mobile searches were performed with a local intent — and this number is still on the rise. So how do you discover what your consumers are searching for locally? One easy method is to use Google Trends. Google Trends lets you research local search trends by geographical area. Simply enter the search terms you are looking to target in your content efforts and choose a geographical location to get some valuable competitive performance insight. For example, let's research two possible keyword terms — "mobile marketing" and "online marketing" — and choose United States as our region of interest. The above trends results show that if you are targeting customers in Alabama, it may be more impactful for you to use the term "mobile marketing" in your content, while if your company is planning to cater to customers from Utah, then creating content about "online marketing" might bring you more success. Insight like this can be highly advantageous, as localized keywords are less competitive than the global ones. You can even configure Google Alerts to send you regular updates on regionally trending topics that might serve as inspiration for new content topics. Visiting online groups on LinkedIn and following Twitter accounts of local organizations are also excellent ways of getting local information to inform your mobile content marketing strategy. 2. Understand mobile search intent Mobile search intent is entirely different compared to desktop search. Mobile content should be based on a deeper understanding of the mobile context of the user and his or her behavior while on those devices. Google Analytics can help you find the exact keywords your mobile visitors use to find your site. Log in to your Google Analytics account. Go to Audience > Mobile > Overview. Add a filter to include mobile keywords (including tablets). This will give you a list of keywords used by both mobile and tablet users while searching for your website. Using these keywords can make your mobile content more relevant to your target audience. 3. Leverage video marketing According to another Nielsen study, 28 percent of online consumers watch video on their mobile devices at least once a day, making videos the most used content format on this channel. Content marketers have more options than ever for creating video content — including producing short videos on Vine and Instagram — to make sure their messages are catering to the short attention span of mobile consumers. To get a few ideas on relevant topics for creating video content for mobile consumption, try using the "View YouTube Search" results in Google Trends. On a side note, make sure you are choosing relevant hashtags for your videos on Vine, as these tags will help viewers find your content and join conversations on Twitter. Vine also helps drive social signals that will result in better search rankings on Google. 4. Define mobile conversion points Signing up for a newsletter or downloading a white paper are both desirable conversions for content marketers. But mobile devices aren't naturally suited to these tasks, as they generally involve web forms that may be difficult to view or fill out on smaller screens. For this reason (and others), it's best to carefully define your conversion goals as part of your mobile content marketing strategy, and design your brand touch points accordingly. For example, while optimizing web forms for mobile, ensure that you ask only for the required information, so that users don't have to spend a lot of time typing on their phones unnecessarily. It's also helpful to use auto-populated fields and drop-down menus instead of text fields, wherever possible. You can also choose to enable contextual keyboards using HTML5 input codes for Android and iOS devices. For example, if the field requires an email address, then you can provide a keyboard with @, hyphens, and underscores for quicker access to these commonly used keys — making it easier for the user to complete your forms. 5. Be touch friendly In the absence of a cursor, clicking on an exact element on a smartphone screen can often become difficult. Users can become frustrated if links are too close together to accurately select the link they intend — and this frustration means they are more likely to stop reading your content. Designing best practices for mobile content requires increased space between different touch targets within your content. This makes it easier for your users to tap on your calls to action and links to your additional content, to your social media outlets, or to your website. When designing your content and landing pages, follow guidelines provided by different mobile platforms to decide on the size of the touch targets you should use. For example, iOS Human Interface Guidelines recommends a minimum target size of 44 pixels wide 44 pixels tall. There is an overwhelming number of mobile marketing possibilities. Choose what suits your business needs and will help convert potential prospects to customers. With mobile device usage growing by leaps and bounds each year, perhaps it's time to start creating a mobile-first content marketing strategy — and then work backwards to cater to your desktop visitors' needs. If you have an interesting mobile marketing tip, please leave it in the comments section below. For more insight on how the unique considerations of mobile content should be factored into your content marketing strategy, read CMI's Content Marketing Framework: Channels. Cover image via Bigstock

5 Common Marketing Fails That Stop B2B Business Growth Posted: 25 Jan 2014 02:00 PM PST Growth – the goal every business sets out to achieve. Marketing has been one of the key components of every business' growth plans and strategies for as long as we've known. A good marketing plan and disciplined execution have been proven to help a business achieve its growth objectives. However, not many businesses have got marketing down pat. Here we identify the 5 marketing mistakes commonly made by business that hinders growth: 1. Prioritising Sales over Marketing All too often, business owners think Sales will do their magic and get them where they want to be. They support Sales completely, allocating more budget when asked without a second thought. In doing so, the business inadvertently restricts Marketing and its ability to address the target audience based on their buying journey. Promotional materials are then made based upon Sales' requirements without any consideration for the type of content suitable for different stages of the buying journey. Marketing then ends up being an add-on to help promote the sales materials and falls flat, wasting valuable budget and hindering growth. I am not advising businesses to go the other way round and prioritise marketing over sales. Every business needs salespeople to make the sale; but they also need Marketing and their knowledge of the buyer's behaviour. Bring Sales and Marketing together to build your growth plans and you will come up with a set of actions that both sides agree on and are accountable for. 2. Arbitrary tactic selection Business owners are sometimes guilty of choosing tactics based on what everyone else is doing. Communication pieces are therefore built without aligning to their specific buyer's journey, and when it fails to deliver as expected, they stop executing it. Ultimately, these businesses end up spending more resources trying many different tactics without actually ever committing to any. There is no one tactic that will magically lead you to more sales and growth. Before you go into discussing or selecting tactics, you must understand your target audience – their problems, needs and their buying behaviour. Understand the stages they go through when making a buying decision for a product / service such as yours. Then, determine the best tactics for each stage of their buying journey so that you can nurture them well. 3. Marketing not accountable to revenue This is the biggest mistake made by business owners. Marketing is seen as the department that creates fluff and pretty pictures, while Sales do the actual work. Marketers are then left to build their brochures and flyers, which have no purpose beyond promoting the business / product / service and don't accomplish much for the business. Marketing has the potential to deliver real value to a business, if given the chance. Marketers should be held accountable beyond lead generation. They should be made responsible for delivering qualified leads to sales and then supporting sales with appropriate materials to close the sale. 4. Promoting your company, not helping your buyers solve their problems Most businesses think the sole purpose of marketing in their organisation is to build materials that promote their company, their product and their service. Most of this content is product-centric or company-centric, never actually giving the target audience any information of value and therefore, rarely generate any real leads. As a result, Marketing is then chastised for failing. Business owners need to realise that marketing can only generate results if it is delivering real value to your target audience. How can you deliver this value? Your marketing material must be informative and helpful to the audience, and most importantly, in tune to your buyers' problems and needs. Overall, your content must be relevant to your buyers for it to get any attention from them. 5. Underestimating the power of digital marketing Business owners are often skeptical when it comes to new ideas. Digital marketing has been perceived as a cheaper and less successful alternative to real marketing. Some organisations even get on to it without really understanding what it entails. They get marketers to build a website, create a few social media accounts and they think they're set. Digital marketing can generate results with proper planning and execution. Build a comprehensive digital marketing strategy that outlines all your channels and content plans. Social media may even have its own strategy, depending on how you plan to use it. When planned and executed properly, digital marketing has the power to draw your audience, convert them to leads and nurture them. To learn how to measure exactly what contributes to your businesses bottom line, download our free ebook:

How to Get Started with Local SEO Posted: 25 Jan 2014 11:09 AM PST Small businesses can often feel at a disadvantage when competing online. There's always someone with a better site, greater reach, and deeper pockets. But such a mindset overlooks the one significant advantage your local store has over Amazon.com: locality. As much as 43% of google search traffic has local intent. That's 43% of all google traffic searching for physical businesses, services, shops, properties – just like yours. And that's going to increase. And become more profitable. In this article we'll take a look at why local search is becoming increasingly important and what you, as a local business owner, should be doing about it. So, why is local search so important now? The standout factor for me is mobile. The Rise And Importance Of Mobile Search Search on mobile devices is on the rise (in 2012, according to a ComScore study, mobile based search grew by 20% compared to a fall of 6% in desktop search), and are more effective at driving business than desktop searches. As people look for things to do, places to eat, whilst they're out and about, they're pulling out their phones and searching for local businesses. The proximity factor is important here … a good search result listing for people on the move is going to drive business directly – and quickly; a good search result listing on a desktop machine is more likely to be acted upon later – mentally saved for compare & review. A recent study showed that 75% of mobile searches triggered additional actions. These included open ended actions like 'further research' or 'a website visit' but also significant, measurable, actions: a store visit (17%), a purchase (17%) or a phone call (7%). Perhaps most interestingly was the speed with which these actions take place: 55% of actions, following a mobile search, took place within an hour of the search. We could go on (and the stats are impressive), but the point is this: mobile search is driving people to local businesses and these people take action. So the questions become: what are you doing to target mobile search? What are you doing to boost your business with local SEO? Google's Local Search Algorithm The first thing to consider is this: what does google care about? The answer is: a lot. Moz.com, in their comprehensive listing of local search ranking factors acknowledge that 'it becomes very clear that there's no longer a single "Local algorithm" at Google anymore—if, indeed, there ever was one', and their efforts to provide a comprehensive resource of local search factors come down to a list of how small business owners can best prioritise their local SEO marketing efforts. The upshot is that there are a number of quick-wins to be had when thinking about local search, and a number of smart steps you can take to ensure you benefit as much as possible from your local listing. Create and verify your Google+ local page Your first step should be to create a local business page on google. In Google's rush to make everything a part of their 'Google Plus' network, this now has to happen in conjunction with your Google Plus account. Confused? Don't be – head to the Google Plus for Business page and claim your business page. You'll be asked to verify that this is indeed your business – they're going to post something to the address you use and you'll need to enter the PIN that is included with that mailing. But that's a one off deal – and you are able to create and update your profile whilst that process is taking place. It's possible that you have already created a local business page – I know people who had 2 or 3 pages set up for their business that they weren't aware of (sometimes, when creating gmail accounts they use for business, or whatever). You're going to want to clear those up – if you have duplicate listings for your business, you should delete the local pages that you no longer maintain. You can contact google to help with this if your local business listings are not associated with your Google Plus business account. So, now that you have a local page in google – what should you do with it? Creating the page is step one … now you have to work it: Fully complete your local business profile. You get 300 words – so write a good description that includes keywords and services, provides your contact details and opening hours. You also get to upload photos (up to 5) and a video. Definitely upload the photos – they can display in search results – and if you have a video you can upload, do that too. We'll take a brief look in a minute about the power of video to local seo. You will also be able to link one web page to your local business. Your natural inclination would be to link your home page – and that may be the best thing to do. But you may want to include your contact page, or your about page, or a page that has been specifically created for the purpose – a page that has a good, relevant, page title and well written content optimised specifically for local search. Your profile should also include a local phone number (tempting to list your 800 number if you have one, but I'd advise using your local phone number since your local area code will carry some weight with Google in assessing your locality), and a consistently formatted address (i.e. you should keep your address formatting the same across your google page and your website). If your business operates in several locations, you should create a page for each location on your website. You might have a single contact page listing all of your details – but that should include links to separate pages that focus on one specific location. It'll help google identify you as a local business for the different locales you operate in. Enhancing Your Local Search Results With the creation of your google local business page, you are already well on your way to standing out amongst your local competitors – but there are a good few ways you can start to enhance your local listing: i) claim your google authorship If you haven't claimed google authorship for your blog, this is something you can do in a few simple steps. It helps because first of all it verifies you as the source of the content – google wants to give more prominence to recognised content producers; ideally it'd skew search results toward authors who have more authority. Associating the content you produce with your Google+ account will help with this authority. Here's a handy little tutorial on claiming your google authorship. ii) encourage customer reviews Positive reviews anywhere online are going to be good for your business. However, only reviews in certain places are going to have a direct impact on your local SEO performance. Ideally, you'd encourage people to leave reviews on your Google+ Local page. Reviews on secondary sites – such as Yelp, Yell or Scoot … these all help, but if you can push people to leaving reviews on your Google+ Local page, that's certainly best. (Google, as you might have guessed, is pushing all businesses to operate within it's ecosystem of products – whether that's Google+, YouTube, Adwords, or whatever.) Reviews are incredibly important – not only do positive business reviews directly influence the decision of purchasers, but a high number of positive reviews will inevitably push you further up the search rankings. The question is: how do I get reviews of my business? There are a number of ways to try: directly ask customers! Use your existing communication efforts (email broadcasts, SMS marketing) to request directly that people leave a review on your Google+ local page connect with your Facebook / Twitter followers and ask them to do it as well include a 'leave review' link in your outgoing email signature – and on your website also can you do the same on your sales receipts to customers – leave a URL printed on the material you hand to every customer if you want to take it further, why not provide your customers with a handout they can use to understand how best to leave a review? This excellent free tool allows you to print out personalised customer review forms! … in short: do whatever you can to encourage people to leave reviews of your business. But you can't afford to be passive about it. Thinking that 'people will leave reviews if they continue to be pleased with our service' is wrong. People won't. You need to remind them – and the closer to the time of purchase that they're reminded, the more likely they are to leave that review. Make it easy for people, and encourage them to do so (although it is against Google's terms to offer an incentive, positive encouragement is just fine). In the local context, customer reviews are as important as a good back linking strategy is to more geographically diverse businesses, so don't underestimate this step. iii) use video to promote your services YouTube – another Google product with importance for search engine rankings – can be a great opportunity to provide some more weight to your local SEO campaign. Because relatively few local businesses have created videos, optimising your YouTube presence can have a really strong effect on your campaign. A few technical points listed below will go a long way to helping your video gain prominence and provide benefit to your local SEO, but it is worth mentioning first that your video should be interesting enough for people to watch all the way through. Try and keep it under 2 minutes, and give a good deal of thought as to what you want to cover in it. Straight ads for your company probably won't be that engaging for viewers Producing a series of 4 or 5 videos covering different aspects of your industry, of your production process, of how your products / services help people … then that is more likely to be interesting, more likely to be watched, and more likely to be shared. That said, these technical pointers will also help: – always geotag your video. An obvious step – but the point here is that we're trying to associate your video with a location. Adding that basic information will ensure that your video is geographically associated with your business. N.B. Currently, it's unclear how Google use this information (previously, there was a contextual layer in Google Maps that showed local videos – that seems to have gone), but the information is collected and there's likely to be benefit in completing it. – link to your business in the description. Each video you upload can have a description – make the most of this. Give a full description that includes both relevant keywords that could be used in content discovery, and also a link back to your business website. If you want to be really smart about it, I'd have a page on your website for each YouTube video you upload, and have both the page and the video optimised for the same set of keywords. YouTube themselves provide an excellent breakdown of the kind of information you can add to both the video description and title. – associate your video with your Google+ local page. As mentioned earlier, when you create your Google+ local page, you can associate a video with it – this is your opportunity to link your local page with up to five videos. Take it. Some Tools To Help Out As with all things SEO, there are tools you can use that will help you out – give you pointers to where you can improve, or tips on things you might have missed. Here's a few that might come in handy: Get Listed Get Listed is a great free tool which details where business listings exist for your company, and where they don't. Super handy – it provides you with a to-do list of where to start improving the number of your business listings. It also tells you if listings exist for your business that are currently unclaimed, or if there are duplicate listings that you should consolidate. You should find where your business is listed, verify that the name, address and phone information is correct in each – and go through the places where you're not currently listed, making sure you add your details to each of these. This tool is so useful, it's hard to believe that it's free! Analysis of your Google+ Local Page If you enter your basic business information into this tool, you'll receive back a wealth of information pertaining to both your Google+ local page and your website – it's a great check for consistency of information (making sure the address in Google+ matches that of your website), taking you through number of business reviews, and some good information from your own website too. These two great tools will certainly be enough to get you started in your local SEO campaign! We've covered a lot here – starting with the increasing importance of mobile to overall search volume – and what that means to you as a local business. We looked at how best to set up your Google+ local page – the things you can do to help ensure you appear up the rankings. Also, we looked at some things you can do to enhance your local search presence – good use of video, some tips to attract more customer reviews. And finally, we looked at two great tools for helping you with your local listing. My advice would be to act now on this. Right now, not all local businesses are taking these steps – but you can bet that with the increase in mobile usage, and as businesses become more aware of the options available to them, they will do soon. This is a great opportunity to make an early stake to your local area!

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