Squidoo as a local search engine marketing tool

Small businesses that want to search well for local keywords will do well to consider a local SEM strategy that includes Squidoo.

Squidoo.com is a site that provides a platform for user-generated content. It was created by the hugely popular marketing guru Seth Godin and it is one of the top 500 most visited sites in the world.

Here’s how it works: Users sign up for free and then create a “lens”, which is basically a website that users can then add different kinds of content to. A lens is something in between a website (which might be thought of as static and impersonal) and a blog (which might be thought of as dynamic and personal).

The site has a higher PageRank and its URLs are customizable. So, if you are a Cincinnati-based dry cleaner, you can (and should) get some Squidoo lenses with domain names like /CincinnatiDryClear and /CincinnatiDryCleaning and /DryCleaingCincinnati and so on. Of course, good local SEO success is not just in the domain name and backlink. You should be putting keywords throughout your site – in titles and in the content – so that it points back to you with the right tags. Don’t forget to add high quality, compelling content as well as images and videos to make your lens visually appealing.

You can create as many Squidoo lenses as you’d like so the sky is the limit in terms of what you can do. They are fun, too, with basic drag-and-drop functionality and really easy, intuitive interfaces. All of that helps to take some of the “work” out of marketing.

What’s up for 2010? Local Search Engine Marketing trends for this year.

Eminent local SEM blogger Andrew Shotland of LocalSEOGuide.com created a set of predictions for 2010. I consider them to be “must-reads” for all local SEO and SEM people out there, as well as businesses who are thinking about marketing locally online.

You can read the article here but I will summarize it for you:

Open Source Yellow Pages. In his article, he talks about how Twitter has the potential to become the clearinghouse for local Yellow Pages information, replacing current options.

Google will continue to grow. Google is going local and Andrew believes that they will increase their emphasis on local businesses this year.

Demand Media Strategy. This is where content no longer becomes arbitrarily created but strategically created and written. A colleague of mine who is a business writer does exactly this kind of work — content strategy — and is noticing a trend toward it as well.

Local guides. Shotland derides this method but I think it has legs for a while and will be the advantage for first movers.

Small Business SEO budgets will increase. This is good to hear. Businesses need to market themselves and invest in doing that successfully.

Want to read more about local search engine marketing trends? You can read all eleven plus additional insights here.

Want to read more about online marketing trends and how local fits in?
SEO Trends to Watch for In 2010
Predictions for the Changing Local Search Landscape in 2010

Planning your 2010 Search Engine Marketing

The New Year is almost upon us and that means new opportunities to market. If you’re in business and serving a local clientele, you’ll want to be targeting local keyword searches (which are made up of a keyword plus a local modifier, like “Denver pants store”).

So, what should your local search engine marketing plan look like?

Local search engine marketing plan – step one
Start by outlining the vision you have for your marketing. Do you want to attain top search engine results? Do you want to increase more foot traffic to your store or call-ins to your telephone number? Outline the metrics that you will use to determine success.

Local search engine marketing plan – step two
Next, outline your target market. Obviously they will include people in your local area but you probably also narrow them by other demographic features, such as income bracket, gender, etc.

Local search engine marketing plan – step three
Based on what you know so far, figure out what terms you want to target. Your products and services and industry are often key terms to use – “plumber”, “contractor”, “Laundromat”, etc. – and these will be combined with your local modifiers. In some cities, that’s easy, it’s just a single word. But in other places, that might not be as easy. New York City is abbreviated as NYC, so people might search with the abbreviation instead. Or perhaps there is a smaller neighborhood name that you want to target instead of your city name. You need to figure that out.

Local search engine marketing plan – step four
Fourth, outline the onsite tasks you need to do. These include revising the keywords on your site to more accurately reflect the local terms you’ve identified.

Local search engine marketing plan – step five
Lastly, outline the offsite tasks you need to do. For example, you might create press releases or distribute online articles or employ Google AdWords to generate traffic.

Who is searching for you?

In search engine marketing plans, one of the most effective techniques toward become proficient and successful in online marketing is the use of fictional biographies to describe your target market. For a local search engine marketing effort, this is just as important.

A fictional biography is a synthesized description of a typical or ideal target audience who sees and responds to your marketing. For example, a company targeting a term like “Orlando car repair” might describe their typical or ideal target audience like this:

“Our ideal audience is a vehicle owner located in Orlando proper or within fifty miles of the city. They own a popular domestic or import vehicle that is no more than 10 years old and consider it to be a valuable asset and their second biggest investment (next to their home). Although they may or may not have a lot of discretionary income, they see their vehicle as a critical part of their lives and are willing to spend money to maintain it. They seek our services for repairs and for regular preventive maintenance. Most importantly, they live in or near Orlando and search for ‘Orland car repair’ when they need our services.”

A fictional bio, then, helps you to identify important elements in your marketing so you can adjust it and target it more effectively. In the example above, the marketer might note that the age of the car could become a modifier in a search. So they might research to see how often someone searches for “Orlando car repair” versus “Orland new car repair”, for example.

Push and pull of local internet marketing

As a business owner targeting your local market, you need to use two different techniques when creating local search engine marketing content.

First, you need to apply “pull” techniques inside your website to attract local searchers to your site. These “pull” techniques might include:

• Keyword optimization
• Alt tags
• Compelling local content

Second, you need to apply “push” techniques outside of your website – at other marketing locations, for example – to drive people to your site. These “push” techniques might include:

• Article distribution
• Press releases
• Google AdWords
• Videos posted on YouTube
• Appearance on Google Maps

When it comes to online marketing, there isn’t one strategy that is more important than another. They are both equally critical to ensure that you will search when someone types in your service plus your local target market.

When creating a search engine marketing plan, be sure to include both onsite “pull” techniques and offsite “push” techniques to appear in the search engine listings you’d like to target.

And as you do this, be sure that it doesn’t replace the offline marketing you are currently doing. If you use print or display marketing, billboards, or networking, those things should continue. Rather, your online push and pull local internet marketing should enhance – not replace – your current marketing practices.

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