I explain how small businesses can use SEO (search engine optimization) to help their website get found online. Applying the core principles of SEO to your website can make the difference between attracting new customers to your business -- or not. Don't create a website without applying the best practices in SEO!!
- 1. INTRODUCTION TO SEO A Primer for Small Businesses Maria
Verven, Verve P.R.
2. MARIA VERVEN Entrepreneur and owner of Verve P.R. and Vaping
Vamps 25 year career in P.R., former V.P. of Piper Jaffray,
Fleishman- Hillard Lecturer at the U of MN, Teaches New Rules of
Marketing & SEO classes Passionate about helping small
businesses get found online 3. WHERE WOULD YOU HANG A PICASSO?
Building a website thats not optimized is like hanging a Picasso in
your basement 4. SEO DEMYSTIFIED SEO = Optimizing websites so they
show up higher in the organic search engine results It is not PPC
(pay per click) SEM (Search Engine Marketing) includes both SEO and
PPCSEO = Search Engine Optimization 5. U.S. SEARCH ENGINE MARKET
SHARE 6. WHAT HAPPENED? Theres been a massive shift from
traditional marketing to Internet or inbound marketing 7. THE BIG
PICTURE 634 million websites 51 million websites added last year 42
million blogs, 60% of businesses have a blog 11 million publish
using social networks 8. OLD SCHOOL MARKETING Yellow Pages
Newspaper Advertising Direct Mail Telemarketing INTERNET (INBOUND)
MARKETING SEO: Search-Optimized Website PPC & Banner Ads Social
Media Content Marketing, New P.R. 9. Because it cuts the sales
cycle in half or less WHY THE SHIFT? 10. WHAT HAPPENED IN JAN 2012?
Assessment.com Google Analytics 11. SEO: LIKE A BRICK HOUSE The
House = SEO on every page The Chimney = Your content strategy
(blog, social media, P.R., etc.) The Smoke = Keyword- rich content
updates 12. ON-PAGE VS. OFF-PAGE SEO On Page SEO: 1. Pick the best
keywords for each page 2. Do everything right so Google gets it 13.
KEYWORDS Words describing the product or service youre selling
Keywords are a string of 3 to 5 words The goal is for your site to
rank on your keywords 14. Title Tag Meta DescriptionDomain TYPICAL
GOOGLE SEARCH 15. KEYWORDS MUST MATCH Your Keywords 16. HOW TO
CHOOSE KEYWORDS Use Keyword Tools Analyze the Competition Type
keywords into search engine while logged out Research backlinks to
highly ranked sites Use Google Analytics & Webmaster Tools See
which pages are driving the most traffic 17. FINDING THE SWEET SPOT
Keywords that arent overly competitive Keywords with good search
volume 18. USING KEYWORD CLUSTERS 19. THE DEAD GIVE-AWAY Title tag
has no keywords 20. KEYWORD CHART Welchlin Keyword Traffic
Competition 21. HOW TO BUILD A WEBSITE Build your website from the
outside looking in Optimize every page for a different keyword
Content, content, content 22. WHERE TO USE KEYWORDS Title and meta
description (Meta tags) Headings and content (On page) Titles and
descriptions for images and videos Anchor text (text with a link to
your website) Internal and external links 23. META DESCRIPTION AND
TITLE Meta Title 70 characters (about 8-12 words) Use keywords,
avoid filler words (like your business name) Search engines read L
to R. Include keywords first! Meta Description 160 characters Can
be more promotional Create unique meta tags for each page 24.
QUALITY (ACCORDING TO GOOGLE) Original content (250+ words)
Consistency and relevancy Images and videos Proper spelling,
grammar, formatting Links and social shares from high quality
sources 25. BEST PRACTICES FOR CONTENT 250 words per page Limit
keywords to1-2 per page Content should make sense & flow
naturally OK to substitute relevant keywords (lawyer for attorney)
and variations (speaker/speaking) 26. IMAGE OPTIMIZATION Use
keywords in Alt text to describe photos Good: wedding photographer
in Maple Grove.jpg Bad: bride photo.jpg, bride with bouquet.jpg 27.
LOCAL SEO Optimize location-based search results 28. LOCAL SEO Fill
out all fields with photos & descriptions (use keywords)
Eliminate any duplicate listings Claim and verify your location
Incent customers to leave reviews Monitor reviews & respond to
negative comments 29. SEO FOR A LOCAL BUSINESS - WEBSITE Pick
important location qualifiers Repeat wherever its appropriate: Page
title tags and descriptions Site content Address in footer 30.
TOOLS: #1 TOP FREE TOOL Google's own keyword tool 2009,
WWW.EG3.COM30 https://adwords.google.com 31. TOOLS: #2 TOP FREE
TOOL Google Analytics 2009, WWW.EG3.COM31
http://www.google.com/analytics/ 32. TOOLS: #3 TOP FREE TOOL Google
Webmaster Tools 2009, WWW.EG3.COM32
http://www.google.com/webmasters/tools Bing Webmaster Tools
http://www.bing.com/toolbox.webmaster 33. TOOLS: #4 FREE TOP TOOL
KeywordSpy 2009, WWW.EG3.COM33 http://www.keywordspy.com/ 34.
TOOLS: #5 TOP FREE TOOL SEOBook's FireFox Rank Checker 2009,
WWW.EG3.COM34 http://tools.seobook.com/ 35. TOOLS: #6 TOP FREE TOOL
XML-Sitemaps.com Sitemap Generator 2009, WWW.EG3.COM35
http://www.xml-sitemaps.com/ 36. TOOLS: #8 FAVORITE PAID TOOL
Market Samurai Keyword Research, SEO Intelligence, Rank Tracking
2009, WWW.EG3.COM36 37. OFF-PAGE SEO TIPS Build links by creating
quality content Update content frequently Do NOT invest in
link-building schemes Social search (intersection of social media
and SEO) is increasingly important Usability of your site is also
increasingly important High bounce rate and low engagement are red
flags 38. SEO FOR PR Good P.R. is worth tons of link-building
efforts Optimize the title, lead and 1st 250 words Free pitch
services: PRWeb, Pitch Engine Use neighborhood media (Patch.com,
etc.) Deep link to inside pages 39. SOCIAL MEDIA 40. FINAL TIPS SEO
= part art, part science. Your web developer may know the science
but not the art of content. SEO = an ongoing strategy. Ranking can
take months, so be patient. SEO = part analytics. Look at your web
stats to see which pages are getting the most traffic. 41. KEEP IN
TOUCH! Maria Verven VERVE www.VervePR.com [email protected]
linkedin.com/in/mariaverven
