Well, I posted my first blog a couple of days ago, about getting your business seen on search engines, and my business partner and writer for a few websites including www.allinlondon.co.uk David Thompson, just posted a Brilliant blogg on localised SEO and getting your business seen in the local area - I thought it would be great for some businesses on here to see, so David Thompson from BeHigher gets all the credit for this blogg and his short interview at the end.
"Something I wanted to talk about on my blog this week is SEO, but more specifically localised SEO.I have been involved in Behigher.co.uk long before we had a name for the company, but my knowledge was just used for friends and family websites - as with most things that work well, this grew and myself and my business partner decided to go full time with BeHigher.
So something we get asked a lot about is localised SEO, so I thought I would write a few tips and advice for maximising the most from DIY local SEO. I’ve broken this down into 5 steps (and a 6th bonus tip!), there is obviously a lot more, but with this it’s a good starting point, and if all of the points are applied results will not be far away.
1) Make your target keywords local - so if your service is “wedding planner” and you operate in London, try and include all the local authorities and boroughs that you want to be noticed in, such as “wedding planner southwark” “wedding planner west London” and variations based on local search. Keep your national more generic keywords too, but the localised ones will also benefit you too.
2) Submit your site to local search - if you don’t already know one, find one, there are plenty of local sites that cater for small businesses in the local area - businesses are on there for a reason. Even if the sites look poor and don’t have a page rank, that’s not as important as people think, when you are targeting local traffic.
3) This one is very simple, but effective - display your postal address, and your business address (if they are different, or just one if the same) but once this information is indexed these words in your address are included in the information of your site. Simple eh?
4) Submit to local sections of larger search engines, don’t forget sites like Craig list, gumtree etc etc.
5) Get on the local maps section of google, this is free and is basic seo techniques, but many people don’t bother, don’t see the benefit, but for local traffic its important.
6) *BONUS* exchange links (and banners too if you prefer) with local businesses. Now this you have to be careful with, but if you keep the numbers to maybe 5-10 links it will be fine - try and keep the businesses relevant, so for a wedding planner for instance, include links to “chauffeur car hire”, “flower shops” etc, in the local area, can be very powerful. Just linking to some random local businesses can be good too - but SEO benefits more from relevant links, so if you are going to do it, might as well do it properly.
Well that’s all from me this week, just thought I’d leave you with my site of the week, this is www.anthialott.com - a new site which is tailored to creative people, in need of inspiration. Anthia is based in London, and New York, she lives in North London and jets over to New York as and when work arrives.
As I was talking to her over a coffee recently she told me “More and more work is coming from London, I’ve had to set up a website recently just to automate the enquiry process which was taking a lot of time”, she continued “local search is incredibly powerful and needed for my business to grow in London, plus it gives me the opportunity to target other major cities as and when my business grows in the future”.
David Thompson
http://www.behigher.co.uk
- Complete solution for small business SEO / PPC / WEB DESIGN
So, thanks to David for all that fantastic information, its incredibly useful and if you are looking to target local customers, get those aspects applied today!
I will be posting my next blog after the weekend and plan to give some more advice on your seo campaigns.
All the best!
Tom
http://www.behigher.co.uk
- Complete solution for small business SEO / PPC / WEB DESIGN
Thursday, 27 March 2008
Tuesday, 25 March 2008
Whats the point of a website if nobody can see it?
The amount of people I speak to in business, and ask the question - do they have a website?
Many reply with yes, and then go into detail about how much it cost and how it is'nt generating any cash for them. Not all companies say this, of course, but you'd be suprised how many do!
In a website there has to be a reason for creating it - many think that it's like having a business card online, well thats great, but who's going to see it? and often if a potential customer does happen to stumble across it, its normally shocking!
Websites are created for two reasons -one, to generate more awareness (to a blog, a notice board, a chairty etc) - or - to generate more business. Whatever the type of site it has no use unless the right kind of people are looking at it - "the target market".
It suprises me just how many websites have been set up as one page, cost about £500 to create, let alone the domain and hosting being wasted on a site sitting there doing nothing.
What good would play.com be if it did'nt have customers? What if the latest movie came out without a website? What if the community site you joined only had you in it!?
The internet is the most powerful opportunity in business - capture and lure 100,000's of customers around the world to your page, showing your products and services, and how unique your website is compared to everyone elses!
Make the most of what you have! - Every opportunity counts, and the internet is the biggest your business will ever see!
Tom
http://www.behigher.co.uk
SEO / WEB Build for small businesses from £89 per month!!
Many reply with yes, and then go into detail about how much it cost and how it is'nt generating any cash for them. Not all companies say this, of course, but you'd be suprised how many do!
In a website there has to be a reason for creating it - many think that it's like having a business card online, well thats great, but who's going to see it? and often if a potential customer does happen to stumble across it, its normally shocking!
Websites are created for two reasons -one, to generate more awareness (to a blog, a notice board, a chairty etc) - or - to generate more business. Whatever the type of site it has no use unless the right kind of people are looking at it - "the target market".
It suprises me just how many websites have been set up as one page, cost about £500 to create, let alone the domain and hosting being wasted on a site sitting there doing nothing.
What good would play.com be if it did'nt have customers? What if the latest movie came out without a website? What if the community site you joined only had you in it!?
The internet is the most powerful opportunity in business - capture and lure 100,000's of customers around the world to your page, showing your products and services, and how unique your website is compared to everyone elses!
Make the most of what you have! - Every opportunity counts, and the internet is the biggest your business will ever see!
Tom
http://www.behigher.co.uk
SEO / WEB Build for small businesses from £89 per month!!
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