Local SEO Tactics and Digital Marketing Strategies

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

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

Google My Business, also known as GMB, is a crucial part of any SEO strategy in today's world.

In order to maximize the relationship between your GMB listing and your website, you need to take advantage of the Google My Business categories.

These categories are very important on the SERP (search engine results page), and using these categories like you would a keyword is a great way to increase your exposure, bump your web rankings, and show up in the map pack!

YOU'LL LEARN

• How to bring synergy between your website and your Google My Business listing
• Get your GMB listing to show in the Google Map Pack more often
• Choosing the primary category in your GMB listing is critical to your success
• Checking to see which categories are relevant for your business in GMB
• Using your primary GMB category as a keyword on your homepage
• Using variations on GMB categories versus exact match
• Avoiding over-optimization and over usage of the category keyword
• Leveraging your secondary GMB categories into new pages on your website

Thanks for Listening!

View the show notes, resource links, episode transcript, and watch the video version at https://www.localseotactics.com/episode17

Want your pages to show up in Google? Then you better have a sitemap on your website!

A sitemap, or more specifically, an XML sitemap, is like a roadmap or a table of contents for all of the important pages, posts, and images on your website. Having an XML sitemap will tell Google, and other search engines, which pages are on your website - so they can know to include them in their search results.

In this episode we'll cover the basics of sitemaps, how to create them, and why you need one!

YOU'LL LEARN

• What is a Sitemap for your website
• What is an XML sitemap
• What is an HTML sitemap
• Why you need both HTML and XML sitemaps
• Easy plugins for WordPress to generate an XML sitemap
• How to choose what content to include in your sitemap
• How sitemaps tell Google you have new pages or images on your website
• How to generate sitemaps on non-WordPress websites
• Selecting sitemap generators that auto-update

Thanks for Listening!

View the show notes, resource links, episode transcript, and watch the video version at https://www.localseotactics.com/episode16

Google Search Console (also known as Google Webmaster Tools pre-2015) is a free service, provided by Google, that lets you peek into some great information about your website.

If you're not using this right now - you should be! You can use it to submit your site to Google, report on how many people are finding your website from Google, where your pages are ranking on search engine results pages (SERP). Plus, you can view how many people visit on mobile devices versus desktop computers.

Check it out!

YOU'LL LEARN

• What is Google Search Console (formerly Google Webmaster Tools)
• How to get your website into the Google Index faster using Google Search Console, so you can show up on search results ASAP
• What does Google Search Console do for you
• How often should you be reviewing Google Search Console
• Instructions on how to setup your Google Search Console account
• How to add your website(s) to the console for tracking and reporting
• How to verify your website to prove that you own it
• How to submit your sitemap to Google
• Using the "Fetch as Google" feature to trigger your pages for indexing
• How to see which pages you have in the Google Search Index
• Access Google search data to see how many times your pages are shown on the Google search engine results page (SERP)
• Access Google search data to see how many clicks you're getting from Google SERP

Thanks for Listening!

View the show notes, resource links, episode transcript, and watch the video version at https://www.localseotactics.com/episode15

In this weeks episode, we dive into a question that was submitted by Patrick, who listens to the Local SEO Tactics podcast. Patrick was wondering if he should modify his homepage to attack a new keyword target, or if he should create a new page to go after that keyword instead.

We'll break down the options and talk about the various situations in which you may choose path over the other.

YOU'LL LEARN

• Which page carries the most weight on your website
• How Google serves up web pages, not websites, in search results
• Deciding if you should change your home page or create a new page when going after a new keyword target for your website
• When you should avoid refocusing your keyword targets on your homepage
• When it's okay to refocus your keyword targeting on your homepage
• When you should create a new page to attack a new keyword focus
• When you should refocus your keyword targeting on an existing page versus creating a new page
• The danger of deleting pages off your website with out properly informing search engines

Thanks for Listening!

View the show notes, resource links, episode transcript, and watch the video version at https://www.localseotactics.com/episode14

Online reviews are very important, not only for helping to build trust with potential customers, but also as it relates to the overall SEO of your website.

From Google, Facebook, and Yelp, to Angies List, the BBB, and many more…customers can leave their feedback an a number of places today.

As a local service business, you need to take control of these review portals, so you can not only view and manage the customer reviews, but also to leverage them and take advantage of the praises in your marketing strategy!

YOU'LL LEARN

• Overview of automated review capturing systems
• At what point should you consider using an automated review capturing system
• How to get more customers to leave you a positive review
• How to remove the barriers for customers to leave a review for your business
• How asking for feedback instead of a review will increase your review rates
• How to get your customers onto the "leave a review" screen within Google (and others) within seconds
• How to get 2x or 3x more reviews from your customers
• How to get email alerts when customers leave a review, good or bad, on any review portal

Thanks for Listening!

View the show notes, resource links, episode transcript, and watch the video version at https://www.localseotactics.com/episode13

As a local service business, it can be annoying when you get price shopper phone calls. However, the reality is that we are ALL price shoppers!

Don't shy away from giving price quotes and estimates over the phone, because that is what customers really want.

In this episode we'll cover some of the best tactics and strategies we've uncovered to handle price shoppers, and convert them into great customers while your competition turns them away!

YOU'LL LEARN

• Best practices for new customer call handling to convert more prospects into new customers
• How to quickly instill confidence in new callers and win them over
• Tactics to identify "price shoppers" and quickly convey your value
• Leveraging a call handling script to funnel customers into your sales process
• Why price checking your competition is so important
• How to use text message follow up's to convert more prospects into customers
• The 3 R's - Referrals, Reviews, and Repeat business
• Using the "bookends" price quoting method to give an estimate to every single inquiry
• How the "bookends" price quoting method builds confidence and converts more customers
• How to "tell" a customer you're going to follow up, instead of "asking" them
• How to avoid providing free tech support and wasting time on the phone for DIY callers

Thanks for Listening!

View the show notes, resource links, episode transcript, and watch the video version at https://www.localseotactics.com/episode12