While We Wait: Thank you, McDonald's
If you arrived at 10:31am (or perhaps 11:01am), it was too late!
But now, McDonald's is offering it's awesome breakfast (is it the whole breakfast menu, or just select items) all day!
Our local McDonald's had actually already started All Day Breakfast, a couple of weeks or so ago. I've been getting the Sausage McMuffin, without the meat.
McDonald's is a GREAT company (I wish that CEO was still there, though), and thanks to them, for this business decision!
I think I might do a McD run right now (I found at least one local store that's still open 24/7). Maybe not tonight. :-)
posted by Aakash at 10:37 PM
While We Wait... Learn How To Boost Your SEO!
I was glad to get my blog jump-started again, and like before, I have posts I would like to get published. And like before, I haven't published them. I'm also trying to get other blogs underway, and I'm debating what format/website would be best, for my future writings.
In the meantime, I might re-post some content here. Here's an article on Search Engine Optimization (SEO), by
David Prochaska of Fidelitas Development:
(As with other articles shared here, the embedded hyperlinks were added by me, and didn't appear in the original pieces.)
3 Ways to Boost Your Local SEO
Over the last few years, Google has been delivering more localized search results. That’s a good thing for local businesses because it gives them a chance to actually show up in the search results. In the past, local businesses struggled for a spot on Google’s first page; now they have their own section!
So what is it that actually helps a business rank higher in the local search results? There are 3 ways to boost your Local SEO: citations, reviews, and schema.
1) Local Citations
Many people view these as directories, but they’re mistaken. A local citation is anywhere you list your business name, address, phone number, and maybe your website, along with pictures and a description of your business.
You don’t want to fire out your business information at any website that accepts it. The major sites to cite your business include Google+, Bing, Yahoo, Yelp, YellowPages, CitySearch, Factual, DexKnows, Acxiom, and Infogroup. There are more, but those are the major ones you should stick with initially.
It’s important when listing your business to have a consistent NAP, which is name, address, and phone number. Don’t fret over every little thing like ‘St.’ and ‘Street’. Google is smart enough to know they mean the same thing. What you don’t want is two different phone numbers, different addresses, or a totally different business name.
2) Reviews
Your business is awesome, so people are going to leave you awesome reviews, right? Let’s hope so because reviews are a big factor when it comes to ranking your local business in the search engines. There are a few things you should know about getting reviews.
Google+ is the main place to get reviews. After all, Google is who displays the search results, right? Don’t stick solely to Google though. Google finds other places you get reviews, and you’re able to see this on your Google+ page. The next most important place is
Yelp. Yelp can be an awesome traffic driver to your website, aside from the local SEO benefits of having great reviews on there.
The speed you get reviews is taken into account as well. If you are getting decent reviews on a constant basis, Google knows and Google rewards this. If you get one review this month, 10 reviews the next months, and no reviews the next month, that’s going to look odd. Make the customer experience so awesome that people seek out a place to leave you reviews.
If your customers don’t know where they can leave a review for your business, encourage them with handouts at your place of business or have a Yelp badge on your website. People want to talk about your business, but sometimes it feels like work looking for a place to leave a review. Make it easy for them.
3) Schema
Implementing Schema on your website is a way of placing certain code on your website so that it will communicate better with the search engines. There are many different types of
Schema, but we’re going to focus on local businesses.
Things you can include in your Schema code are name, description, address, city, state, zip code, phone number, email address, and a Google map. I’m not going to get in the technicalities of it but just know that it works!
Local SEO is becoming more prevalent, and many business are already adopting the above practices, so don’t get left behind sucking your thumb. As I said, there are hundreds of factors when it comes to how your website ranks locally, but hopefully you can take these three steps and gain some traction.
...Note: Check out the original article, at the Fidelitas Development blog.
Update: Here is a follow-up article I'm sharing, by
Tyler Sickmeyer of Fidelitas Development, on the same subject.
4 Tips on Improving Local SEO
When most marketers discuss SEO, they focus on broader link building campaigns and detailed on-page SEO strategies. But for most brick-and-mortar businesses, local SEO strategies are a critical component for any internet marketing campaign. Many searches for local businesses and brands include the geographic area, and sites like Yelp can be optimized to increase impressions and exposure to prospective customers. Here are four local SEO tips and tricks to help improve your site’s rankings in local search:
1) Make sure your online listings are consistent.
The devil is in the details. Businesses that are truly optimized for local search have the same name, address, website, and phone number on each and every local directory, from Yelp and Yellowpages.com to directory submission sites like Localeze.
2) Leverage social media.
Make sure that your business’s information is listed correctly on each social profile. Further, continue to engage your customers with compelling content and promotions in order to appear higher in the search rankings by attracting more fans and followers. One Fidelitas client has been so successful at this that their Facebook page actually ranks first in most local searches for their targeted keywords.
3) Build a local Public Relations campaign.
Take advantage of local PR opportunities to generate credible links in addition to immediate buzz. Restaurants targeting foodie blogs and Realtors targeting local publications with quality content and actual news are two examples of PR opportunities for smaller businesses.
4) Optimize your own site.
Too many businesses overlook an easy opportunity to take local SEO into their own hands by optimizing their website. One problem with many website designers is that while they are capable of building a nice looking website, they often prove to be inept when it comes to on-page SEO. Besides tweaking copy to include as many local references as possible, businesses should incorporate local search phrases into their ALT tags and page titles. Finally, be sure that the contact information listed on the site matches what has been submitted to local directories and social media pages.
Original articles posted at the Fidelitas blog.
posted by Aakash at 11:09 PM