Me • Founder of Taproot Digital LLC • 17 years of communications experience • 10 years of online marketing experience (SEO, SEM, social media, web analytics) • Built my first website in 1994 • Once crashed a website for 4 days and still received almost 1.3 million visitors/mo. (up from 300K) • Wrote master’s thesis on consumer adoption of wearable computers 2 2
Mental Journey: 1. Quick update/overview of search & social personalization 2. How to be effective and efficient with social media 3. Local SEO 101 4. Tips for how to build traffic to your website through links, citations, and reviews First pro tip: Today’s slides are here: http://bit.ly/1HUZpcr 4 4
Search Today: “With your permission, you give us more information about you, about your friends, and we can improve the quality of our searches….we don’t need you to type at all. We know who you are We know where you’ve been We can more or less know what you’re thinking.” - Eric Schmidt, Google 7 7
Social Reach - Twitter Even Twitter acknowledges that you may have to tweet 14-21 times in a week in hopes of reaching only 30% of your total audience. 9 9
on LinkedIn • Results and rankings are unique to each user/query • Profile keywords of both parties (searcher, results) play a significant role • Rankings are adjusted based on how prior searchers have reacted to your profile • LinkedIn usage and interaction with profiles/content/groups, etc. • Skills feature - crowd-sourced classification of skills • If user is logged in with Gmail, they will use Google search history and Google+ interactions 11 11
Takeaway At current rates: ➔ If a brand that has fewer than 1 million followers on Facebook or Twitter ➔ That brand is better off paying to promote its best content via sponsored updates ➔ Than it is paying someone to post social content all day long. 12 12
Organic Social Free ways to still play the social game: • Make it easy for people to share your social content ◦ Social media “like” and “follow” buttons on your site • Prioritize building your team’s social media footprints over your corporate accounts 13 13
SEO Ranking Factors 16 ❖ Relevance ❖ Distance ❖ Prominence ➢ Based on information we have about a business from across the web and offline ❖ Local CTR? *** ➢ In the past how many times has the listing been clicked on by users searching with the keyword 16
Friendly Website 17 Local Search Association (LSA) research shows that: • 50% of consumers state they are extremely likely to look at business websites when searching for a local business, the second highest source behind search engines • 67% of consumers want improvements or mobile-optimized sites from those businesses, according to Yodle. 17
What is a Citation? – A citation is a mention that references your site or domain. It doesn’t have to link to it. Tips: • Create a unique description for each citation, but always remember to keep your NAP (Name, Address, Phone Number) the same across the web. • Just pay for this: https://moz.com/local $84/year. 20 20
Local Links Focus on links that: 1. Will drive direct referral traffic 2. Build visibility with your target audience for your brand 3. Build your reputation - Eric Enge from Stonetemple Don’t: 1. Pay for them 2. Get links from sites not related to your offering. They all need to look local 3. Spam people when asking for links 23 23
Link Building Ideas • Generate news (Chamber of Commerce, news publications, and major publications) • Local business awards • Sponsor a Meetup • Host a community event • Local community development center business directory • Speak at a college • Sponsor or donate to a local club or organization • Create and promote a local resource • Get links from manufacturer websites that provide you products • Build relationships with local bloggers • See where your competitors get links Other ideas: http://www.seerinteractive.com/blog/35-local-link-opportunities-you-missed/ 24 24
➔ Collection of link building email templates here ➔ Track your responses (all free). ◆ Gmail - Sidekick • Tracks email opens ◆ Google Sheets ◆ Gmail - Boomerang • Re-send your email if person doesn’t reply to, open, or click ◆ Gmail - Streak • Has a “Journalism” pipeline to track the link building process 26 26
of Local Reviews • 88% read/used reviews to determine the quality of a local business • 93% said they checked reviews before dining or shopping. • 88% said they trusted online reviews as much as they’d trust a personal recommendation • 85% read up to 10 different reviews while researching their purchase - BrightLocal’s 2014 Local Customer Review Survey 2,000+ consumers 28 28
to get reviews 1. Let your customers know that feedback is welcome and accepted. 2. Remind the customer to review you at the end of the transaction 3. Put up signs at your business location 4. Showcase the reviews you have 5. Use remarketing campaigns to target those who purchase from your website 6. How to get Google+ Reviews today 29 - 2015 Yodle study 29
to Manage Reviews • If you remain silent, only the reviewer’s perspective will be visible. • Customers want to see that your brand cares about their concerns. • How to monitor your reviews? • https://www.freereviewmonitoring.com/ • https://www.brightlocal.com/seo-tools/reviewflow/ • http://www.trackur.com/using-trackur-to-monitor-local-reviews 30 30
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