LocalTek is pleased to announce a great new customer, Bonne Terre Chamber of Commerce. As a very active local Chamber of Commerce the leaders were interested in offering a website that provided users the ability to take advantage of social and mobile media as web trends show that people are increasingly using Facebook and their mobile phones to access local business information.
The site features text message integration to allow for interested parties to receive messages about events and new members or promotions. Also, based on mobile internet usage the site also features an easy to use mobile version of the website that loads faster on mobile devices.
At the same time the Bonne Terre Chamber of Commerce wanted to ability to increase their revenue sources by taking advantage of online advertising and featured listings on their website. LocalTek was able to integrate this functionality into the core of the industry leading content management system that was chosen to for the base of the website.
LocalTek has also assisted the Chamber with increasing their presence on Facebook by integrating Facebook “Likes” and creating a Facebook page for the organization. Members will be able to use the social media site to help promote events and businesses in the area.
Staying competitive on the internet can be a fairly difficult endeavor. There is a lot of forces at work all vying for the same pairs of eyes. It might seem logical to think that leaving the information available will be enough. If you want those local sales conversions, its time to take a good look at the Research Online Purchase Offline demographic. A recent study has shown that close to 80% of people buy their product offline after doing online research. Obviously, that is just one study. If we expand the scope and look at more; you can find statements of anywhere from 50-90% of customers are doing the same depending on what study you look at. The point is, no matter what study you look at; that is a lot of people.
Simply put, you want your products and business found when consumers are doing their research. Local online marketing specifically caters to the locale around you. That way, the person a half mile away searching for a product finds yours before a nationwide outlet. Local SEO is a very important niche when one considers the primary goal of search engines. They want to provide the most relevant information to their browsers. What is more relevant than a business that has the product they are seeking only a half mile away? Seems more relevant than a business with the product three states over.
That puts local business owners in a great position. If your local SEO strategy puts you at the forefront of search results on your product for your area; how many of those researchers are you going to be able to convert?
If you are using an online marketing strategy, is it appropriate for local online marketing? National exposure is all well and good. What good is it if the people finding your product live across the country? With as many people that Research Online Purchase Offline, it’s a fairly safe bet they are not going to buy from your business. They are going to go to their own local business and buy what they were researching. The way to remedy that is to increase exposure to local searchers.
Many of the ideas and thoughts presented here can seem intangible. It may seem hard to think that there is so many people simply doing their research and looking elsewhere. If you want a concrete way to consider the ramifications; think of the last month. How many times did you look up information for something online and then bought it elsewhere or offline? At least once, right? Probably several more times than that.
Local online marketing and local SEO strategies are the key to turning those browsers into buyers. If consumers doing research are finding your website and your information, it is a lot more likely they are going to come to your store to make that purchase. The best way to make that happen is to make your information friendly with the search engines. Your consumers are educated when they come in the door. Whose door do you want them entering to make that purchase?
The naïve entrepreneur hops onto the internet with a smile and an idea and expects to receive PayPal payments by six o’clock. But, as every experienced webmaster can tell, the internet can be a black abyss for the unprepared and ignorant. Enter search engine optimization. SEO is a methodological process that makes a website and its content more findable by internet users. Without SEO, a website is easily dismissed to the dank catacombs of online obscurity. How to search engine optimize a website? Here are five simple ways to check if your website has been search engine optimized.
Got Links?
Search engines send spiders to sneak out websites and gather information. Spiders travel along links. Websites require both internal links (partnering pages within a site) and external links (linking one site to another). Links can be inbound (linking to your site) or outbound (leading to an affiliate’s site). Many links are text-based and use a clickable anchor text. Some webmasters may purchase back links from a broker. Most search engines frown upon this behavior and may flag these links as spam.
Content Is Crucial
Major search engines place precedence on web pages with a minimum of 300 words. While images and Flash-based content are useful, nothing beats articles for captivating an audience. Each article should address one main topic and have its own page. Each page should not address more than one main topic. Most importantly, the content must be relevant, well-written, and fascinating. This is the prime method to search engine optimize a website.
Keywords are King
All articles should always contain keywords. Keywords are words and phrases that search engine users will likely search for. Phrases can be short-tail (less than three words) or long-tail (three or more words). Insignificant words like noun markers and short prepositions are ignored by search engines. Keywords should be thematically specific but not exclude the broader audience. Primary keyword phrases must not exceed 5-8% of the entire text, or else search engines may flag the content for keyword spamming. Keywords are a tried-and-true method to search engine optimize a website.
Technical Tags & Titles
Keywords should also be integrated into URLs, Meta tags, image captions, and page titles. Not only do search engines place precedence on URL keywords, but it also makes a URL easier for a customer to remember. After reading text-based links, spiders usually examine HTML Meta tags and image captions for keywords. Use the “ALT” tag to assign keywords to images without readable captions. Page titles should also be optimized with engaging keywords for readability.
Deficit Design
Any site with a cluttered home page, befuddling navigation bar and unattractive design theme is obviously not search engine optimized. Usability and functionality are the most important aspects of a professional, optimized website. A website should effortlessly waft from one page to another. That is the best way how to search engine optimize a website. After all, what’s the use of SEO if the customer just returns to the search engine?
The internet is an incredible place for small business. Far from being the realm of massive corporations, the internet allows small, specialized companies to prosper quite well. This does not happen on its own, however. A company must take advantage of St. Louis search engine optimization in order to get in touch with customers in its area. St. Louis online marketing is necessary in order to put a website in a place where people will see it.
The days in which a site could be found just by existing are over. St. Louis search engine optimization requires work from a great deal of experts in the field who know what they are doing and have a keen understanding of St. Louis online marketing. This technical understanding allows St. Louis search engine optimization to push a site toward the top of the search engine results so that customers will see it. This is important because 96 percent of visitors do not look for items beyond the front page in a Google search, meaning that St. Louis online marketing can not be ignored.
You do not need to own an online business in order to benefit from St. Louis search engine optimization. Some studies have shown that more people find out about a place from an online search than the phone book or other traditional media. St. Louis online marketing takes advantage of this fact and uses St. Louis search engine optimization to put your business on the front page where it will be seen.
Surprisingly, most of the people who find out about a local business online still visit it in person. The success of St. Louis online marketing can not be gauged by the number of online sales. Some studies have shown that eighty percent of people who find out about a site as a result of St. Louis search engine optimization still end up visiting the business in person rather than making a purchase online. This makes St. Louis online marketing effective for any type of business, regardless of whether it is possible to sell goods online.
Successful St. Louis search engine optimization requires assistance from a company that understands how local online promotion works. St. Louis online marketing must be targeted specifically for St. Louis customers in such a way that allows them to find out about the site. It places the business in apps run on smartphones that direct people to locations nearby, and understands how best to work with this new paradigm.
One of the newest vocabulary terms coined by the ever growing internet marketing structure is the “nicheverse.” It brings to light how audiences on the web are becoming more and more stratified as people are more able to easily find very precisely the product or service for which they are looking.
Common marketing knowledge has always been to market specifically to a target market, with the Pareto principle (the 80 / 20 rule) in full effect. However, businesses could get away with a bad or unfocused marketing campaign in the age of brick and mortar.
Today, there are simply too many choices. A business can have the greatest product, and because of the pure volume of product out there, without a focused marketing structure, the business will drown in a sea of obscurity.
It is especially important in an online campaign to have your search engine optimization campaign directed at your local community. For St. Louis business, there should be St. Louis SEO. Proper St. Louis SEO will be seen by local consumers as content specifically for St. Louis, which they are more likely to support. Other advantages of St. Louis SEO include:
St. Louis SEO gives a business a nicheverse
St. Louis SEO can be easily found by local media for free publicity
St. Louis SEO will create partnerships with other SEO St Louis businesses
St. Louis SEO keeps competition away by only marketing in areas likely to sell
St. Louis SEO increases marketing efficiency by utilizing the 80 / 20 rule
The SEO St Louis needs can also help make your business more cost effective. As SEO St Louis for your business grows, your keywords will naturally become more long tail and tailored to the local market. The SEO St Louis will be looking for is not the SEO that other communities will be looking for, so SEO St Louis will also increase the effectiveness of the online marketing campaign.
SEO St Louis will bring a niche oriented market looking to buy, and will increase conversion rates on your web site. SEO St Louis will definitely help your business achieve the results you are looking for, and SEO St Louis will help bolster the local community so that you will be seen as a local expert in your field.
Recently we here at LocalTek worked with Annette Wolf at Aire Magazine to help create a web presence for her local print magazine to allow her to take advantage of the move of her readers online.
The print media publication now has a vibrant and easy to manage website that can be easily added to as the magazine has new lifestyle content.
Aire Magazine also wanted to work with social media, such as Facebook and Twitter, to allow for instant communication with their readers. This has allowed the magazine to interact better and determine what the readers want in future issues.
Listen to Annette Wolf, Owner, of Aire Magazine below:
The customer worked with LocalTek doing both Social Media promotion on Facebook along with a full website development. The customer new they needed a full web presence from the beginning as they launched their new store.
With an easy to use content management system that allows them to decrease cost by making changes to their website as needed and a search engine optimized website that focuses on drawing customers from their target area they are now on their way to success.
If you are ready to bring your business online call LocalTek today at 800 647 2909 or use the quote request form at the top of our website to contact us today.
LocalTek is happy to announce the launch of the O’Dells La Premiere Danse Studio website. O’Dells is a dance studio based on Desloge, MO and provides dance instruction to the surrounding communities such as Farmington and Park Hills.
The site features a mobile version that is shown when parents and customers visit from their mobile phones as well as text messaging integration which allows the dance studio to send text messages to parents if there is a change in schedule or news to announce.
O’Dells will be active on Facebook which will allow for them to promote their dance instruction and class news to a large social network interested in O’Dells students, recitals and more.
Ole Tyme Pantry is focused on providing quality bulk food, great deli food, as well as poly furniture products.
With a bakery making some of the best cheesecake and breads you could imagine they were looking to expand their presence by reaching online customers that were looking for their store and goods. With their new website they have done just that.
When educating customers about online marketing, one of the points we make with them is there is never a guarantee on showing up on the first page of search engines for the keywords they want to rank for.
We caution strongly against any company with a promise for these top spots. This being said LocalTek has approximately a 99% success ratio when it comes to local search engine optimization. This means our customers get found when people search their mobile phone or computer for local businesses.
For successful companies in search engine optimization it is not just a one time effort to optimize a website to be found online. A page can be ranked in the top spots as little as hours or as long as months to years depending on the competition for the keywords desired.
The science behind why this happens is based on Google. The Google search engine has approximately 200 different factors in their algorithm on which a page earns its rank, the algorithm can change daily which means NO web or SEO company can guarantee how a website can rank months out or even day to day depending on the topic. But they can work to do things in a way that has shown consistent results for their customers, with over 350 customers Localtek has that data to show what works for our customers over the long term.
Once a page is ranked for the desired terms it is critical the customer understands that SEO is not a one- time fix but an ongoing process. An important note to customers is that the possibility of losing top rankings after time is not usually a blunder made by the SEO company.
Updating the website regularly with new and relevant content and tweaking keywords are all an ongoing process to maintain rankings. If these things are going to be either a time, interest, or knowledge challenge to the customer LocalTek has a package which includes a regular SEO maintenance review of the customers’ website varying from monthly to yearly depending on the customer’s goals.
There is one for sure fact to keep in mind if you are considering building your online presence for your business. If you don’t have a web presence it is certain your competitors will be showing up in the top rankings without you. So your first step is to either start your plan to be found online or plan to update your web presence that may be out of date if it was built several years back.
Do you want the people looking for your business online to find you WITH your competition..or not at all? If they have their online marketing already in progress now is the time step up your campaign or you will be missing out on hundreds or thousands of people they are currently reaching in your same target market.
Having a local search engine optimized website is not something to wait on, chances are if you had a website built by a typical web development or marketing company they did not focus on what really matters, getting business to your door. If it seems overwhelming let us help with the maintenance and the development to make sure your customers find your business online.
