Local SEO Tactics and Digital Marketing Strategies

These Are The Pages You Need To Include On Your Website

What are the most important pages you need do have on your website - one of the most common questions we get asked! In this episode we'll break down the main pages that every local business should be including, and answer this question. These are the critical pages for Google bot and your customers, and you need to design them for both to have success. Here's what working for us right now and we hope it helps you, too!

YOU'LL LEARN

• What are the critical and essential web pages that you need to have on your website
• Your homepage is the most important page on your website
• Using your primary Google My Business category on your homepage
• How to properly display your address and nearby cities you serve on your homepage
• Creating niche pages for the products and services you provide
• Including your secondary Google My Business categories in your niche pages
• Designing your pages for both your customers and Google to navigate and find
• Using an About Us page to send signals to Google about being a legitimate business
• Putting a Contact Us page in your main menu
• What type of information you should be putting on your contact page and how to display it
• The importance of a reviews or testimonials page, and what it does for Google
• Creating a "locations served" page if you serve cities outside of where you're physically located
• Matching your Google My Business service area with your locations served page

View the show notes, resource links, episode transcript, and watch the video version at https://www.localseotactics.com/episode23

Thanks for Listening!

Nowadays, there are many great website change detector apps to help monitor website changes and give you instant alerts to said changes! Ever have the pleasure of receiving a message from your customer, telling you your website is down? Or that you have an error on the page preventing them to buy or contact you? It's fun, right? No matter how great things seem to be going, errors can happen in an instant! We'll break down some of the free and low cost apps we use for change monitoring and to keep us instantly informed! Plus - learn how to use these same apps to spy on what your competition is doing!

YOU'LL LEARN

• How to automatically monitor your website for downtime
• Get automatic alerts if your website goes offline, and when it comes back online
• Monitor your website for hacking and hijacking issues
• How to make sure your website does not have plugins causing on-page issues
• Ensure any content embedded into your website is always active
• Monitor specific landing pages to ensure they are always up and working properly
• Catch changes any hackers, malware, viruses, or bots make to your website
• Monitor the source code of your website for unauthorized changes
• Monitor your Facebook, Twitter, Yelp, or other social accounts for changes and updates
• Get alerted when content on other websites changes - like pricing on Amazon
• Spy on your competitors websites for content updates and get notified when it changes
• Get instant alerts when your competition updates it's online prices
• Monitor your competitors website to see what new keywords they are targeting
• Get alerted when your brand is mentioned on specific websites
• Setup notifications when important websites are updated with new posts or content
• Create alerts to monitor your competitors social media accounts

View the show notes, resource links, episode transcript, and watch the video version at https://www.localseotactics.com/episode22

Thanks for Listening!

Apps For Website Change Monitoring, Change Detection, and Alerts

Nowadays, there are many great website change detector apps to help monitor website changes and give you instant alerts to said changes! Ever have the pleasure of receiving a message from your customer, telling you your website is down? Or that you have an error on the page preventing them to buy or contact you? It's fun, right? No matter how great things seem to be going, errors can happen in an instant! We'll break down some of the free and low cost apps we use for change monitoring and to keep us instantly informed! Plus - learn how to use these same apps to spy on what your competition is doing!

YOU'LL LEARN

• How to automatically monitor your website for downtime
• Get automatic alerts if your website goes offline, and when it comes back online
• Monitor your website for hacking and hijacking issues
• How to make sure your website does not have plugins causing on-page issues
• Ensure any content embedded into your website is always active
• Monitor specific landing pages to ensure they are always up and working properly
• Catch changes any hackers, malware, viruses, or bots make to your website
• Monitor the source code of your website for unauthorized changes
• Monitor your Facebook, Twitter, Yelp, or other social accounts for changes and updates
• Get alerted when content on other websites changes - like pricing on Amazon
• Spy on your competitors websites for content updates and get notified when it changes
• Get instant alerts when your competition updates it's online prices
• Monitor your competitors website to see what new keywords they are targeting
• Get alerted when your brand is mentioned on specific websites
• Setup notifications when important websites are updated with new posts or content
• Create alerts to monitor your competitors social media accounts

View the show notes, resource links, episode transcript, and watch the video version at https://www.localseotactics.com/episode22

Thanks for Listening!

Matt Addington shares tips and tricks for taking your own photos for your website, with your smartphone, in part 2 of this interview.

We'll also cover how to edit photos, great tools for editing built into your phone, and how to use photos on your website in the best way for maximum engagement and conversion. Matt shares some great tips that will make anyone better at taking photos, telling stories, and ultimately developing better content for your website!

YOU'LL LEARN

• How to take great photos for your business with your smartphone
• What are the best angles to take photos with your iPhone
• How to zoom in on ordinary things to take dramatic photos
• Getting your camera to a place that you or others normally take for granted
• Don't let the background be a distraction ("when in doubt, leave it out")
• What is the HDR camera setting on your phone all about
• How using the touch focus feature on your phone can help take better photos
• Using built in editing features right on your phone
• Using apps and mobile versions of programs like Photoshop for professional editing
• Powerful features with Adobe Lightroom for phone and desktop photo editing
• When it makes sense to hire a photographer instead of taking your own photos
• Using a "less is more" strategy when putting photos on your website

Thanks for Listening!

View the show notes, resource links, episode transcript, and watch the video version at https://www.localseotactics.com/episode21

How To Take Better Photos For Your Website - Part 2

Matt Addington shares tips and tricks for taking your own photos for your website, with your smartphone, in part 2 of this interview.

We'll also cover how to edit photos, great tools for editing built into your phone, and how to use photos on your website in the best way for maximum engagement and conversion. Matt shares some great tips that will make anyone better at taking photos, telling stories, and ultimately developing better content for your website!

YOU'LL LEARN

• How to take great photos for your business with your smartphone
• What are the best angles to take photos with your iPhone
• How to zoom in on ordinary things to take dramatic photos
• Getting your camera to a place that you or others normally take for granted
• Don't let the background be a distraction ("when in doubt, leave it out")
• What is the HDR camera setting on your phone all about
• How using the touch focus feature on your phone can help take better photos
• Using built in editing features right on your phone
• Using apps and mobile versions of programs like Photoshop for professional editing
• Powerful features with Adobe Lightroom for phone and desktop photo editing
• When it makes sense to hire a photographer instead of taking your own photos
• Using a "less is more" strategy when putting photos on your website

Thanks for Listening!

View the show notes, resource links, episode transcript, and watch the video version at https://www.localseotactics.com/episode21

One area of your website that can have a huge impact on user experience is the photos (or videos) that you have on your web pages. Interesting and engaging photos can draw customers in, enhance your image, and tell the story of your brand.

We've got Matt Addington – photography wizard – in to talk about this. In part 1 of this two part episode, Matt shares some tips and tricks on how to take better photos for your website, to help make your pages stand out from the crowd and resonate with your customers!

YOU'LL LEARN

• Techniques on how to take better photos with your smartphone
• Why images, photos, and video are more important than ever for your brand identity
• How to stand out with photos taken from a unique perspective
• How photos and videos can be used to tell a story and be more engaging
• Focus on a simple and tight image and remove background clutter for powerful images
• Use multiple images on your page to tell a story, instead of one all inclusive photo
• Great photos on your website should invite users to read and view more content
• Don't show the same type of image multiple times - be unique with each photo on your website

Thanks for Listening!

View the show notes, resource links, episode transcript, and watch the video version at https://www.localseotactics.com/episode20

How To Take Better Photos For Your Website - Part 1

One area of your website that can have a huge impact on user experience is the photos (or videos) that you have on your web pages. Interesting and engaging photos can draw customers in, enhance your image, and tell the story of your brand.

We've got Matt Addington – photography wizard – in to talk about this. In part 1 of this two part episode, Matt shares some tips and tricks on how to take better photos for your website, to help make your pages stand out from the crowd and resonate with your customers!

YOU'LL LEARN

• Techniques on how to take better photos with your smartphone
• Why images, photos, and video are more important than ever for your brand identity
• How to stand out with photos taken from a unique perspective
• How photos and videos can be used to tell a story and be more engaging
• Focus on a simple and tight image and remove background clutter for powerful images
• Use multiple images on your page to tell a story, instead of one all inclusive photo
• Great photos on your website should invite users to read and view more content
• Don't show the same type of image multiple times - be unique with each photo on your website

Thanks for Listening!

View the show notes, resource links, episode transcript, and watch the video version at https://www.localseotactics.com/episode20

Google has released a new feature within Google My Business (GMB) called Offer Posts.

The new GMB offer posts are very similar to the traditional posts, but you can use them to post sales, discounts, promotions, or other special offers. The new offer posts have some unique features like staring date and ending date, promo codes, and more!

We'll break down the features, and go over some best practices to leverage this new feature to help you improve SEO, gain rankings, and get more sales!

YOU'LL LEARN

• What is the "posts" feature in your Google My Business listing
• What is the new GMB offer posts feature
• How is an offer post different than a traditional post
• Where you'll find the GMB offer posts feature in your GMB listing
• How often you should put out new GMB posts
• How many words you can use in a GMB post
• What types of offer posts are having the best conversion rates
• How to construct a good offer within GMB offer posts
• How you can use keywords in your posts for SEO
• How to set starting and ending dates for your offer post
• Using promo codes in your offer post for eCommerce applications
• Using promo codes in your offer posts for non-eCommerce situations
• Benefits of using images with text overlays in your posts
• How to make a GMB offer post with a strong call to action (CTA)
• How to present a clear CTA for your offer with relatable context

Thanks for Listening!

View the show notes, resource links, episode transcript, and watch the video version at https://www.localseotactics.com/episode19

Introduction To The GMB Offer Posts and How To Craft A Great Offer

Google has released a new feature within Google My Business (GMB) called Offer Posts.

The new GMB offer posts are very similar to the traditional posts, but you can use them to post sales, discounts, promotions, or other special offers.  The new offer posts have some unique features like staring date and ending date, promo codes, and more!

We'll break down the features, and go over some best practices to leverage this new feature to help you improve SEO, gain rankings, and get more sales!

YOU'LL LEARN

• What is the "posts" feature in your Google My Business listing
• What is the new GMB offer posts feature
• How is an offer post different than a traditional post
• Where you'll find the GMB offer posts feature in your GMB listing
• How often you should put out new GMB posts
• How many words you can use in a GMB post
• What types of offer posts are having the best conversion rates
• How to construct a good offer within GMB offer posts
• How you can use keywords in your posts for SEO
• How to set starting and ending dates for your offer post
• Using promo codes in your offer post for eCommerce applications
• Using promo codes in your offer posts for non-eCommerce situations
• Benefits of using images with text overlays in your posts
• How to make a GMB offer post with a strong call to action (CTA)
• How to present a clear CTA for your offer with relatable context

Thanks for Listening!

View the show notes, resource links, episode transcript, and watch the video version at https://www.localseotactics.com/episode19

Yes, it is possible to over optimize your website. Too much of a good thing can get you in trouble with Google, and impact your search rankings in a big way.

In this episode we answer the question "what is over optimization", and break down some of the tactics and strategies you can use identify and avoid over optimizing your website.

YOU'LL LEARN

• How is it possible to over optimize your website?
• What it means to be over optimized on your website
• What is keyword stuffing
• How keyword stuffing can lead to website over optimization
• Developing your web pages for "user intent" and not just focusing on keywords
• How to fix and reformat an over optimized web page
• Mixing in keyword variations on your page to make it SEO friendly and user friendly
• Methods of reviewing your page to determine if it's too focused on specific keywords
• Google knows if you are writing your pages for rankings and not for humans to read
• Quality content and clear communications can get your pages ranked
• Consider the "user intent" on what your page is communicating

Thanks for Listening!

View the show notes, resource links, episode transcript, and watch the video version at https://www.localseotactics.com/episode18