Local SEO - Help Please! (26)
Hey guys, I'm helping a family member out. She's opening a new spa in town and she needs help marketing it. I have a decent grasp on paid traffic but I'm not too keen on SEO. She's kinda strapped for cash so I'm doing most of the leg work for free.
I figured this forum probably has some of the most creative and talented marketers around so there's bound to be a few marketers who have some experience with local SEO. Hopefully some of you might be able to give me some pointers on how to get her some local exposure, online or otherwise.
So far I've registered a domain name and picked out a free wordpress theme, created a FB fan page, and I have a FB campaign all fired up and ready to go as soon as she opens up shop. But that's pretty much all I've got.
Questions:
1) What would be the best (non-scammy) approach to building links to a local business site?
2) How do I go about getting her in that local directory listing on Google and other directories for local businesses (Yelp, etc..)?
3) How do I determine which keywords to rank for? Should I target any related high volume local search term? Or focus on just a few relevant keywords? Would I be penalized for going after too many keywords?
4) Are there any wordpress plugins you guys could recommend that might help with SEO? (On page or off page)
5) Anyone have direct experience with Groupon or any of those other daily deal sites? I've heard mostly mixed reviews about how much they actually help local businesses. I know for sure the local businesses get hosed initially since they have to provide up to a 90% discount on services, not sure how many repeat customers they actually generate on average.
6) Does a .com carry more clout than .ca (The business is in Canada)
7) Any other ideas or recommendations would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks in advance.
Mods, if I'm way out of line posting this thread, I'm sorry! You can delete it or move it.
Alright, so she uses a WordPress site and NOT a shop system like magento, xt.Commerce etc., right? First of all you should aim for good and solid content. At least 400 words per page and I would start out with at least 10 pages. I know everyone hates content but it's the food of searchengines...
1) Get slowly some bookmarks (catch me up for a solid deal $25 for 100 bookmarks from a very reliable friend of mine). Write some press releases about the opening and products she is offering and put them on certain press release sites.
Once done, get the RSS Feed of her site and submit it to these sites: http://feedity.com, http://www.feedest.com and http://www.millionrss.com
2) Sign up here: https://www.google.com/accounts/Serv...S%26hl%3Den-US and add your kewyords as categories. Fill out the profile as much as possible (phone, email, website, description etc.)
3) Do a deep keyword research using Google Keyword Tool, Google Whonderwheel (there is also a scraper out there on WickedFire for $25) and Google Suggest as well as Google Insights.
4) Fo sho. I would recommend these plugins:
- Headspace 2 (Main SEO plugin, different pagetitles, posttitles and description, tags beeing used as meta-keywords)
- Google Sitemap Generator (XML sitemap generator)
- Redirection (one of the most powerful redirection plugins I ever saw. Create redirections manually or let the plugin do the job)
- RSS Footer (ads your blogurl into the RSS feeds, great against the content grabbers 
) Got an enhanced version of this, PM me for the download
- Sitemap Generator (this creates a user sitemap)
- SEO Friendly Images (adds missing alt/title tags)
5) I know from local business which have done WELL using groupon and local deals. Would probably be a great idea to use their services to push her business and get a solid amount of customers.
6) I always prefer .com but using local domains if I want to rank in specific countries. If possible grab both and do a redirect on the .com to the .ca
7) I think she really should invest a small budget into Facebook Ads or AdWords. Don't try AdWords on her newly site, let it age...
Hope this helps.
Yep, its just a plain old Wordpress site, no eCommerce stuff at all. I heard Wordpress is SEO friendly and does okay with search engines.
Really appreciate all the effort and details, I'll definitely hit you up for some bookmarks after I get some content done up. Just a couple of questions on content, if you don't mind.
Its a spa, so should I be writing 100% unique articles on manicures, pedicures, body wraps, waxing, etc..? Or would be it okay if I just find some articles and use an article spinner? Is there any specific site structure that the search engines prefer?
Thanks again!
Definately go with UNIQUE content, no spun, mixed content at all on a business, money site. You can, of course, grab some youtube videos, rebrand them and integrate them into your site. Google loves content with images, videos and external links. Innerlink some of your pages with keywords as well.
For the structure it's all about on how you came up with the keywords and what makes sense. I have no clue what spa means to be honest so I can't really help you out.
If you need any help setting up WordPress SEO friendly just hook me up.
ppvnewbie is on point!
Another suggestion which I use on my own sites is to create an infographic around "spa" treatment or the spa niche itself.
Ex: Weird Spa Treatment Around The World
That shit goes viral quick (especially if you tweet it and FB share it) and if the infographic is 1)Interesting & 2)Graphics is BOMB!...it'll grab you legit links back to your site!
Just a suggestion!
I remembered reading a great guide to local SEO a little while ago, and I was able to find it again.
I should've known it from from Sugarrae. http://www.sugarrae.com/seo-sphere/s...ness-websites/
Awesome input guys, really appreciate the feedback.
Thanks for that article Coop, I just gave it a quick browse and it has some great content, will definitely give it a thorough read when its not 2am.
I've made tens of thousands of dollars by providing local SEO to businesses in my area. It's something that is VERY easy to do, and you can get a good handful of clients paying $500+ per month to maintain their local SEO campaign...which takes about an hour per month for each client. Very easy business, very easy money once you get good at it.
Give this a read and it may give you a better understanding of what will help you rank:
http://www.davidmihm.com/local-searc...-factors.shtml
Holy smokes! I thought the article Coop recommended was long but this one takes the cake.
So much detail, especially with Keyword targeting. It's gonna take me awhile to go through all this info.
Thanks drooblez! And thats great to hear that you made good coin doing local lead gen, its definitely a viable business!
get wp seo plugin. it's free.
it takes care of:
- google xml sitemaps
- page titles and metas
- canonical
- breadcrumb navigation
- no base category
- nofollows/noindexes
- rss
- cleans the header
- robots.txt/htaccess
- permalinks
- etc.
Yes, it's definitely a long read, but very valuable information.
1) What would be the best (non-scammy) approach to building links to a local business site?
Backlinks from local sites are WAY better than article backlinks, blog comments, etc. Try to find local blogs in your area that could mention her business name and possibly get a link to her sites in the body of the post. Get creative with this one and you'll get awesome results. Also be sure she is listed in any local directories in your area. In my town, there is a local directory of businesses for our newspaper.
2) How do I go about getting her in that local directory listing on Google and other directories for local businesses (Yelp, etc..)?
There are some that you should manually do. Most of them were mentioned in the link that coop mentioned. One word of advice... (and very few know this)... DO NOT create a Google Places page for her yet. Wait until you submit her business to a BUNCH of different local directories.
If you're a lazy fucker like me then you can use a service like https://www.ubl.org/ (don't pay $75 for this, go to the packages page and scroll to the bottom for the $39 basic package here) and they'll do it all for you. A better site than UBL is Localeze @ http://www.localeze.com/, but that's a little pricey if you're working for free.
3) How do I determine which keywords to rank for? Should I target any related high volume local search term? Or focus on just a few relevant keywords? Would I be penalized for going after too many keywords?
ppvnewbie covered this point... Local keyword research isn't difficult. A lot of it can be done by just using common sense in your head.
4) Are there any wordpress plugins you guys could recommend that might help with SEO? (On page or off page)
Again, covered previously in above posteres.
5) Anyone have direct experience with Groupon or any of those other daily deal sites? I've heard mostly mixed reviews about how much they actually help local businesses. I know for sure the local businesses get hosed initially since they have to provide up to a 90% discount on services, not sure how many repeat customers they actually generate on average.
I've had many clients (I have a spa client that used Groupon) and they get amazing results from the daily deal sites. My spa client JUST opened up and she would barely work... getting 1 to 2 appointments a day. Instead of sitting there doing nothing, I told her to do a Groupon and she did. She got incredible results and lots of repeat customers.
However, I've seen it work the other way too. Another spa client of mine was doing expansion in their building. So when you entered the lobby, there were some boxes and tools and stuff in the lobby. That bite them right in the ass because a bunch of people went and left reviews on Yelp (people who bought the Groupon) and talked about how unprofessional the place was with all the clutter everywhere.
6) Does a .com carry more clout than .ca (The business is in Canada)
I deal with just US clients so I honestly can't give an answer for you on this... but I would assume that .com would work just fine. I don't see anyone that gets a boost in ranking because they used a .us domain instead of .com.
7) Any other ideas or recommendations would be greatly appreciated!
Hit me up if you have any other questions!
Local SEO and Local Lead Gen is my bread-and-butter and several of the earlier posters put out great links and hit all the things I would have said.
Just to belabor the point a bit; local links are huge. I've tested local sites that had all the requisite directory submissions, drip feed blasts, and money link building campaigns into the thousands of backlinks- but 10-30 LOCAL backlinks will out perform a thousand internet-wide backlinks in her geographic area everytime.
A great source of ideas for getting local backlinks is here: http://www.seerinteractive.com/blog/...ed/2010/12/06/
Also, check out Whitespark's Local SEO Citation finder: http://www.whitespark.ca/local-citation-finder/#
Last note: Make sure that her address, the business name, and the phone number (with local area code) is consistent throughout all profiles, down to the way it's capitalized and punctuated. That means Yelp, Google Places, Yahoo Local, et al ad infinum. Make sure the address also appears the same way in the footer and on the contact page.
Edited to add: I've had mostly poor results with local businesses doing a Groupon promotion. Most of them saw a HUGE uptick in business the day of the event (which pushed them into the red because they had to give away so much product for so little) and then a dribble more business for a week or so afterward thanks to name recognition. But beyond that it resulted in no increase in sales. The thing to remember about Groupon/ LivingSocial/ Coupon-du-jour users is that they are deal hawks, and are therefor implictly loyal to finding deals, not to a brand.
I must say guys....awesome bunch of info.....well done....
Awesome info, guys!
About getting local links...would making your own local blogs work? Like make a blog or web 2.0 site about different aspects of your local area (e.g. restaurants, local events, shopping, etc), post entries like 1-3 times a week, and backlink those sites?
Regarding spun / unique content:
Google won't punish you for using spun content. I own a linkbuilding company and top agencies outsource all the linkbuilding to us. We have over 200 clients (business owners) and do everything for them (onpage optimization, linkbuilding, Google places entries, etc.). As long as you're not using duplicate content on your own page Google won't do a thing about it. When doing blogposts we create an article with 300-500 words and spin it 19 times. By using our own indexing technique we get up to 95% of those posts indexed. None of our customers sites got a penalty or got deinxed.
Linkbuilding has a lot to do with experience and test runs. Do your own tests with some new and unused domains to proof my statement. 
Try finding local webdirectories, articledirectories or even newspapers where you can get a link to your site.
Doublepost - please delete. 
Damn, knowledge bombs being dropped all over.
Looks like I have my work cut out for me, this is great stuff, definitely would have taken me awhile to figure it all out on my own.
Thanks for lookin' out guys!
@machete:
Yes, that would work, however you must make sure every site is on a unique C-class IP. I've built local websites before but not just for one client, I use it for all my clients. I look for local news in my area and then I republish it. I stick random backlinks within the local news article to my client site.
@everyone:
Phillian mentioned something HUGE above and that's the point on consistency. Again, it's very important that your NAP (Name/Address/Place) are ALL the same. And never use a 1-800 number... always use a local phone number.
Originally Posted by drooblez
Send me a PM and I'll help you out.
Some great tips and advice here. WOW @drooblez that's a crazy post but extremely useful. Bookmarked for future reference.
http://www.davidmihm.com/local-searc...-factors.shtml
When you sell local SEO services - do you have a specific proposal template that you use? I bought a proposal kit a few weeks ago and are trying to design a proposal that sells, but are wondering what you are doing there?
I am a member of my local Chamber of Commerce and the connections you can make there definitely help - including getting people link to you (or your SEO customers). Definitely worth the $300 - $600 (depending on how much this costs in your area).
Originally Posted by bigbyte
If I can say something- pick what it is you want to do. Do you want to be a Local SEO? Or do you want to be an Affiliate Marketer?
Someone gave me that advice shortly after leaving my job at a law firm and going full time in early 2009. I didn't listen to them. I thought I could do Local SEO/ client-based work and use it to fuel my affiliate marketing business. In my experience, clients take way more time and the business model is based on trading hours for dollars. This ended up being a horrible downward spiral for me that cost me tons of time and resulted in more stress for a whole hell of a lot less money then if I had just concentrated on affiliate marketing the whole time.
As the saying goes, chase two rabbits and catch none. If you want to do local SEO because it's your interest- godspeed and I'm happy to share a ton of resources with you. But if you're just planning on taking on client work to help fund your AM ventures, there are easier ways to do that.
Two + years into being full time my single biggest regret are the local SEO clients I've taken. Local Lead Gen is a happier medium between SEO and affiliate marketer, but my focus is 100% on growing my affiliate marketing business from the ground up right now. After two years in the trenches, I sincerely believe it's the way more scalable path.
Spot on Phillian, very much agree/same boat, but just starting to learn AM here & now after 1+ year local seo.
Also if this site is on a shared host you may get better SE results by spending a couple bucks on a unique IP address.
It is not the end all be all, but if you are serious this is one of the things in Google's algorithm and it can help out
especially if there are shady sites on the same C IP block.
Good luck!
CZ
posted from 2009, but still got some good stuff on this post. check it --> http://www.seoptimise.com/blog/2009/...-business.html
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