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.

Why Internet Marketing is Right for Local Offline Businesses — Part 1 of 4

The thinking goes like this: Internet marketing might be fine for global businesses but local offline businesses (whose customers are drawn through word of mouth or local advertising from the surrounding neighborhoods) aren’t looking online for a service provider.

However, they are looking online! Local internet marketing provides another powerful marketing channel for local businesses to pursue… and it’s even better than offline marketing.

The Kelsey Group is an advisory and consulting service specializing in marketing (particularly search and Yellow Pages marketing). In their annual search forecast, they write that local search is going to become a huge part of marketing for local businesses, outpacing broader global search.

“Local search growth will outpace [broader global] search growth through 2013. Local businesses and those that target geographic areas will make a sustained effort to build … their online presence.“

For the next three years (at least), more and more local businesses are going to get on board with local-focused internet marketing. Your competitors probably are… will you?

3 Ways that Local Businesses can Use Social Media

Small businesses are eager to get on board with the social networking phenomenon. And it’s no wonder, either: social networking is a massive trend with profound social implications.

People spend a lot of time in social media for work and leisure. And smart businesses are meeting them there. Here are 3 ways that your local business can use social media to improve your online marketing:

1. Create a fan page on Facebook. Think of it like a Facebook page for a business. Your customers become fans and you can interact with them through Facebook in a similar way that you might interact with family and friends. Host discussions, hold contests, share photos, poll your audience, and more. Engage them!
2. Create a Twitter hashtag for your business (for example, if you own Maryland Eatery, your hashtags might be #marylandeatery or #mdeatery. Run a program like Tweetdeck to keep an eye on what people are saying about you and tweet frequently with that hashtag. (Hashtags can be registered at wthashtag.com.
3. Start a blog. Yes, a blog is social media! You can create one on Blogger or through Wordpress. Post regular content and, most importantly, engage your audience in a conversation!

Local businesses might shy away from web marketing and social media because it seems like an “international” marketing medium. But there are exciting local internet marketing opportunities.

Search Engine Marketing as a Branding Tool

The hidden story of search engine marketing

Search engine marketing serves the most obvious purpose of attracting traffic to your site. But that’s not the only work it does. It positions you; it brands you. In this blog, we’ll look at six ways that you can strengthen your brand and, as a result, strengthen your search engine marketing:

1. Define your business and services. While many businesses think they can define their business and their services, they are really just defining them from an industry insider’s perspective. Instead, define your business and your services from a customer perspective: To use one real-estate-related search engine marketing example: People won’t search for “I want a real estate agent”; they’ll search for “I want to buy a home.”

2. Developing your marketing materials and your story. You can’t do it all; there are simply too many marketing options out there. So, decide what your story is (summarize it like an elevator pitch) and then decide which of the many marketing options available are best to relate your story. Be sure to develop a mix of search engine marketing and offline marketing to get a good mix.

3. What makes your brand stand out? Every brand needs to have something unique; otherwise you’ll just get lost in the crowd. As you build up a reputation online, people will start to search for what makes you unique. This also helps local search engine marketing as well if your brand is related to a narrowly defined geographic area.

4. Building and managing your brand online. This is where search engine marketing comes into play: While you’re creating content to push or pull traffic to your website, that content is also establishing your brand. By the time people get to your website they are already familiar with who you are, what you do, and what makes you unique.

5. Manage your brand reputation online.  Search engine marketing is not a “set it and forget” effort. You need to be consistent and strategic in order to maintain your reputation. Develop a search engine marketing strategy that has a long-term timeline with plenty of short-term effort spaced evenly throughout.

We’ll talk more about branding in the weeks to come!