Category Archives: Small Business

Effective tips for bettering the local SEO position of your site designed using WordPress

Posted on by · 3 min read

Optimize your WordPress Site for Local SEOOf all the open-source CMS platforms that exist, WordPress is definitely one of the most popular, thanks to its resourcefulness, flexibility and convenience of use, including the fact that the system can be used for free. No wonder then that, nearly 29% of all sites are based on WordPress and the CMS system has been downloaded over 47 million times till date. Another good reason for the CMS platform’s widespread popularity is that it is highly SEO-compatible in that the system can be used easily even by those who are technically not savvy.
A site designed and developed using WordPress can be incredibly crucial for local or smalltime businesses, intending to improve their local SEO ranking but may not have the wherewithal to opt for across-the-board online optimization strategies. Following are some simple yet effectual improvement techniques you can take advantage of so as to make your portal claim a position on the first SERP of Google or Yahoo.

1. Focus on organic link building

Your site’s local SEO standing is considerably influenced by the linking profile-the domains connecting to the site, back links quality, and link anchor text optimization. Do not expect to have organic links overnight and also do not anticipate quality links to start delivering instantly.

The emphasis should be on quality more than quantity-Strive towards having as many quality back links as possible simply because just one such back link is always more valuable than innumerable links with questionable quality.
Be on the lookout for prospective link building openings-Maximize your opportunities for link building by taking advantage of a competitive analysis apparatus that will redirect to competitors instead of you.

Anchor text optimization-Make the anchor text optimal for local SEO search, like integrating the name of your practice or the locality of the city where your business is situated.

2. Content optimization is the key

The textual and visual content of the site is as important as its security standard, loading time, and structure. Pay attention to creating persuasive and engaging content first before you can think of optimizing the same. You do not need to tear your hair out when it comes to on-page optimization; just use the Yoast SEO plugin.

3. Make your site smartphone friendly

You can take it for granted over 70% of your customers will find you using their smartphones. Additionally, Google is according greater significance to sites that are more smartphone-friendly. Use a perceptive WP theme, design the site keeping smartphone users in mind, and make the most of a mobile app for heightening the smartphone friendliness of your site.

4. Make the site more responsive and speedy

Take all the necessary measures to ensure that your website loads within 2-3 seconds on any handheld or tabletop device.

5. Let your URLs reflect location keywords

In case you have several landing pages, where every page is devoted to attracting clients in a specific locality, make sure you embed the location keyword in the URL in order to enrich the experience of the user.

6. Consolidate your WordPress portal with Google My Business

Get your Google Your Business (if you do not have one yet) that will club together significant parameters influencing local rankings including but not limited to business description, user feedbacks, and physical nearness.
If you own a local business and want to increase its visibility across the web, you can visit www.localseojacksonville.biz or make a call to 904.425.9679.

6 Tips for Local SEO That You Can Advantage of

Posted on by · 3 min read

6 Tips for Local SEO That You Can Advantage ofThough the SEO landscape has come a long way and evolved tremendously over the years, its significance in the world of websites hasn’t diminished at all. SEO remains as relevant today as it was during the days when Google was steadily progressing to become the world’s most admired search engine. Google, in order to maintain its top position in the search engines’ listing, updated its ranking algorithms several times in a year.

The world’s top search engine still releases algorithmic updates for ranking countless websites secured on its servers, only the parameters have undergone change, a sea change in fact. For instance, updates to Penguin or Panda are more geared towards sites that are smartphone-friendly. More than 60% of those who log into sites (for completing a purchase or seeking relevant info) do so from portable digital devices, mostly smartphones.

Another factor worth noting is that the updates accord significant weightage to sites that are promoted by taking advantage of a local SEO strategy. If you have a business website, especially an e-commerce site whose SEO marketing technique doesn’t incorporate local or regional demographic, then chances of your site not garnering a good rank or even getting delisted from Google’s servers are quite high. So what tips should you follow to have an effective local SEO plan in order to attract niche clients for your business?

1. Register your site with Google My Business

The very first and foremost local SEO tip that you should make the most of is to register your business with Google My Business. You may have a state-of-the-art site that you claim to be user-friendly but it could be that the same is not visible to many individuals as it is not displayed prominently. Once you subscribe to Google My Business, your site’s name, business address and hours, reviews, and nearness to user’s location will be visible on the SERP (search engine ranking page) whenever a user makes a Google search of your firm.

Just go to the Google My Business to complete the registration or listing process.

2. It pays to have an interactive and smartphone-friendly site

Are you aware that majority of your present clients may have logged into your web-based outlet via their handheld PDAs, like smartphones and tabs? It is also very likely almost all your future customers will get in touch with you after visiting your site from their portable devices. If users or prospects face issues downloading and/or navigating through your portal on their mobile digital gadgets, they’ll not waste time in moving on to competitors’ sites.

So, if you haven’t yet structured your local SEO site to make it smartphone-friendly, then it’s high time you did.

3. Make local SEO listing consistently across the web board

In order to make your presence felt throughout the web world, you can choose to register with local indexing sites, besides Google. But before you proceed to enlist your business with such listing sites, you’d need to ensure that the NAP (name, address, and phone number) info is always provided. Additionally, make sure that this info is correct and identical in all the listings including but not limited to:-

  • Angie’s list
  • TripAdvisor
  • BBB (Better Business Bureau)
  • Bing
  • Yahoo
  • Foursquare
  • Yelp
  • Local commerce guilds and federations
  • Chambers of Commerce
  • Telephone directories, white pages, and yellow pages

4. Benefit from testimonials and feedbacks about your service

It has become the norm for businesses, both small and big to maintain separate profiles for the different social media platforms, including Facebook and Twitter. Customers, shoppers, and buyers of products and services are prone to offering a review or feedback on such automated social media sites at the drop of a hat. Refashion your local SEO in a way so that customers are encouraged to write a positive review about your product or service.

5. Target local ad extensions

Make the most of Google AdWords in order to publicize your business in the locality or neighborhood you’re located. Once you subscribe to Google AdWords, users will be able to know more about your business’s location that’ll give them the confidence to get in touch with you via a ‘call button’.

6. Develop content that’s relevant and location-based

Develop content that is original, meaningful, and relevant to your business. Also, make sure that the content is orientated towards the locals, and is tempered with names of streets, local news, events, and happenings.

SEO Service Can be Affordable for Small Businesses

Posted on by · 1 min read

SEO JacksonvilleGood  news for small businesses, bad news for established local SEO firms the industry is becoming more competitive and the shortage of local SEO professionals is beginning to be filled, though gurus with more than a few years experience are still in the minority.

SEO affordability then may become a reality for many more small businesses and not by trying to do it yourself, and often getting it not quite right.

For some time if you wanted an affordable SEO company you would look to outsource off shore, quite possibly to India or the Philippines, there are a lot of very good SEO professionals in these countries but there are some very poor ones as well; now more than ever a bad SEO company can do more harm than good following the Google Penguin update.

Many people who opted for cheap SEO services in the past from offshore companies have now seen their sites penalized by Google Penguin and they have no comeback, it is much better to use a US based SEO company but price has always been an issue.

In terms of the time SEO takes to complete it shouldn’t cost as much as it has in the past or even does now, SEO companies though know they are competing against other types of marketing and they understand the relative value of SEO so charge as much as they do.

A $1,000 a month on SEO may seem a lot but it probably is better value than the same spent on newspaper advertising or another type of traditional media advertising. Read more …