1. Good keyword research. You need to have the proper keywords to get a high ranking. We don’t want general search and "let’s get information" type words. Car, computer, i pods, cell phones, insurance, and credit cards are all examples of generic terms that are used for research. These are not buying keywords and are not easiy attainable for the top. You want to break things down like Milwaukee ford dealers, Milwaukee used cars, Milwaukee computer stores etc. are what people search for when they want to buy. They also can be dominated by new web sites.

2.  Content, new content, good content. I think you get the idea that you must have really good fresh content on your site. Potential customers want to know that you are an expert and the best way to show them is through your writing and information you give away. I also mean for you to submit well written articles linking to your site which drives the rankings and will also bring traffic.

3. You shall use social bookmarking. to gain links and traffic. When linking you will use a locally optimized keyword like Milwaukee watch store which only has 3 local stores listed and no sites with a high PR at the top. Take you niche break it down to long tail keywords and add a local qualifier. What’s "Long Tail Keyword?" check back in the next couple of days I will be explaining it.

4. Publish to directories. Not just any directories and not with an auto submitter either. Spamming directories doesn’t help your rankings. Submitting your site by hand is the way to go and make sure each directory is a high PR directory. Also make sure it has a relevant category you fit in. If the directory is only for Christian sites and you don’t have Christian content don’t submit it there. Find directories that match what you are selling so when someone does see your site they will come too possibly buy.

5. You will use Rss feeds when possible. Don’t have a blog? Doesn’t matter you can create your own Rss feeds with your web site. You can also post your links on free blog services and get traffic and back links from them. There are many ways to use Rss feeds and I will help later on but make sure you start using them. They can jump you up rankings almost faster than anything else when the other steps are taken.

There you have it. Nice simple, fast, and effective way to the top of the local search engines. Good luck in your quest.

The easiest way is to organize local businesses together and form a business group. Make sure that one of the people in the group is a web design person and every other member should be local small businesses. This group will then develop a local web site for locals to shop at, get information, and see the products and services. This web site becomes an Internet mall and contains everything that local shopper needs. They can get hours, get prices, etc all at the click of a button and it will have every item a Walmart has and more.

Remember I said make sure you incorporate the computer guy? They will be able to design and host this mini mall and for doing so get front page space for advertising. You then can have listings for the businesses, local news stories, and articles posted. The news and stories are divided up by the actual businesses that are part of the business group. Each one takes turns and generates some good content. it will be constantly updated and will fly up the Google rankings.

The businesses should then pool their money together and get advertising to direct people to this mini mall. With the pooled resources and only one web site to get them to go to you really get the most advertising for your buck. Once the customers land there you have a unique page for each business and also a link to their web site. Yes, those natural inbound links Google loves, yet another advantage. With the traffic and great content the PR Rank of the mini mall will be very high and will pass that page rank to each owners web site getting them to rank higher also.

As you can see getting a business directory going is not that hard. It is a great way to pool advertising money and take on the big boys of retail. Really the only question is who will take the first step. If it’s  you give me a call and we’ll get the ball rolling.

I am going to use my parents as an example. They live in rural Wisconsin and still have dial up, so when they are going to buy something they come here to do so. I get to monitor their online habits as they want to use my high speed. What they used to do was put in a term they wanted and searched for information. They would do a general search like cars and get the detailed information. From their they would look up car dealers and take off to visit them. They would drive from dealership to dealership and check prices etc. The process generally took a day and they seem to be like a lot of people with their shopping habits. Now fast forward to last week.

They decided to buy a new couch when they got into town. They looked up the generic couches to do some research of the different brands and get some reviews. Once they had a brand of couch narrowed down they decided to do a local search for Milwaukee furniture stores. They then went the extra step of searching and shopping online till they found what they felt was the best store. It was at this point they drove to the store and shopped till they decided exactly which one and bought it. Where did they find the store? Local search! People are not as willing to drive around anymore with gas prices as high as they are. They also did two layers of search first comparing brands then comparing stores locally. It is the true buyer that does the second step and also the most qualified. As a small business what type of buyer do you want? The answer is simple and that is why local search engine optimization is crucial to finding the local buyer. You may miss some shoppers by narrowing your focus but you will gain actual real buying customers cash in hand.

I really believe that local stores that know how to rank highly in organic search are going to reap the benefits of that knowledge in the next few years. Customers are looking more and more toward local search when they are ready to purchase an item. The question is will they find you?

The problem for most site owners is they need content oriented sites to rank well in these search engines. If your focus is content, it is not exactly easy for your shopper to shop at your web site. You must vary your optimization to help these customers find what they want. You also need to look at how these shopping stores set up their sites to sell. Categories is the main theme that is used. For example they may break down a stereo by make model price, or ratings. The question then becomes how can we compete and still rank high for our store. Diversification of search optimization is the key.

You have to have multiple strategies carried out over different pages to compete with the large online stores. For instance you can optimize each page with categories as key words. Each page with a separate item optimized heavily to rank when that item is searched.  This not only works well for an optimized page but can really help for adwords or pay per click advertising. The other big factor you have is localization. You can have the opportunity to put local areas in the optimization because you are only selling locally. The big companies can’t break it down that far as easy and complete as you.

Is this a perfect system? No you can’t get every customer and the ones you lose will most likely be un-loyal price shoppers which you will have no margins or profit. The key is groups of products or categories first then local keywords so that loyal local customers can find you and buy from you. At this point it is your job to make sure they come back and buy again!

Who reads your web site? People do, correct? First and foremost write your copy for your visitors. Don’t write for search engines last time I checked they don’t buy anything from you. How do people read? They actually skim or scan your site and about 20% or so read it word for word. Web users have a hard time reading from screens rather than paper so it slows them down by 25%. Most web users are then impatient because they are searching for something specific. You must write your site for this type of customer using headlines, subheads, and bolding important points. If you get their attention then they will put more time into what you have to say.

Content is king has been said more than a few times. It really is the truth when it comes to the quality balance between optimization and providing information for your future clients. I have always maintained that you worry about giving out top notch information and Google will recognize this and reward you. Don’t put together a site and try to scam the search engines that is not SEO it is spam. The basic foundation for search optimization is the same basic foundation for marketing your business. First get known locally, get to be liked by your prospects, and of course earn their trust. People do business with people they like and trust. Giving away good content and information shows you are knowledgeable, likable, and trustworthy. Being local just enhances those feelings and will drive them into your local store.

Remember that you have your web site up for your customers not the search engines. Give good information, write for the customers benefit, and the search engines will reward you with a top ranking. On top of that you will become liked and trusted and that is the best thing that could happen for your business!

Ask your web designer to consider SEO and they will say sure I’ll add keywords to your meta tags for you. I’ll also submit your site to the search engines. They will usually put something that has 33,000,000 other web sites trying to rank for it. This, of course, is utterly worthless for your Google campaign and meta tags aren’t even powerful anymore. So now you have a cool site but no one knows it exists.

So the question is "How do I avoid making this mistake?" If you are just now considering a web presence it is relatively easy. Talk to a search engine optimization expert first to determine how to dominate your niche. By paying a little more attention up front you will drive tons more visitors down the road. The SEO expert will help you gather keywords that work, set up proper writing for SEO, pick a good domain name, and other important  measures to insure good rankings and more importantly good sales. Traffic and conversions are the to things you need the SEO expert for.

Odds are you are reading this and already have made the mistake of not optimizing your web site first. Can something be done to help your optimization efforts? Yes, but it doesn’t necessarily involve on page optimization (web site changes). Since your site already has made a name for itself you aren’t going to want to make drastic changes like change the domain name, change your branding, and change the advertising theme. This is when off page optimization is key to driving more qualified traffic. For instance start a blog and make it SEO friendly and drive customers to your web site. Submit articles showing your expertise and drive those people to your web site. Set up feeder sites (blogger, wordpress, weebly, wetpaint) that will be search engine friendly and can drive people to your main site. The scope of this topic is way to large to cover here but more information is at my blog on how to do this.

When deciding what kind of customers to target make sure you learn about search engine optimization first. The key to having a Google friendly site is to set it up correctly the first time. If its to late for that look up using web 2.0 to optimize your site effectively.

The first step is keyword research. It is not the most exciting part of SEO but it really is the foundation everything is laid on. If you optimize your site for the wrong keywords you might as well not have a site because it won’t be found. The obvious first step is to write down everything you are trying to sell and want to rank for. I will then take those keywords and do a lot of research on them. Search for high ranking keywords with minimal competition. WordTracker is a way to get this information and also breaks the results down for you. Remember when doing searches you also want to be doing local keywords because that’s were your buyers are.

I like to look at my competitors keywords next to get an idea what some of the terms they use are. Simply go to their site and then go to the view tab of your browser and go down to view source. Look for something along the lines of meta name= keywords. Who is linking to your competition and where are they ranked. Your competition really is going to determine how much SEO you will have to do. Remember your goal is to outrank your competition so use what they do to  your advantage.

The next step is web design and development. Hopefully you are in the process of creating your web site. It is harder to fix something that is broke then building it correctly from the start. Make sure your site is built search engine friendly design and architecture. This will help you vault above your competitors and also save money in the long run.

Getting your fist inbound link is what you now should be focused on. Don’t fall for those search engine submission for 100 dollar deals. You want the search engines to find your site naturally. How is that you ask? Someone who is in their index that links to you. I recommend using social book marking as an easy way to get Google indexing your site. You can also use a local web directory like local.com or merchant circle will get you indexed fast.

Finally the last step I would recommend is a site map for your site. If you have the bots checking out your site you want them to find every page. A site map will help them locate your pages. As a side benefit many of the major search engines also will provide reports and statistics when you provide this.

Enough work for a little while. Sometimes going back and reviewing the basics can help in your rankings. I realize now that I can overlook some of the most important steps when telling people what to do because they are not cool and sexy. Funny though these are the steps that seem to really set you apart from the rest.

Lets say that Jackie works at a law firm in Milwaukee, WI and she needs special paper to print out an important booklet for a presentation they are doing. Jackie needs to buy this paper today so they can start printing it. She is not sure where to go for this paper. She goes on the Internet and types Milwaukee paper stores. She finds two local companies visits their web sites and decides where to go. That is the targeted buyer you want when you are trying to optimize your web site.

The following sites I am listing are local advertising type sites. You can sign up and have your local information listed on their site. These sites have high page rank and generally you can get a high local listing. I recommend if you do nothing else at least get your local store listed on these sites for traffic purposes. These sites will provide you with inbound links which can only help your ranking.

Yahoo Local Listing

Goog 411

superpages

local.com

yelp.com

judys book

google maps

These are just a few of the sites that are used as local directories or local coupons. There are many more out there for you to partake in. I would highly recommend looking up local directories and making sure you are listed. They are free and if they bring in one local paying customer it is all extra profit for you.

If your business is location based like Milwaukee, WI web searchers and search engines need to know this. You must always mention your location on everything you do on the web. It is even more important if you are in a very competitive field. By local targeting you can take on national or state level businesses with success and smaller pockets. These larger corporations don’t have time to break it down into localized advertising.

What seems to happen on many cases is a business owner and webmaster set up their web page based on huge national keywords and don’t get anywhere near the top. They give up after a little while and then say the Internet is not where we want to spend our time. Some others then decide that paid search is the way to compete then spend thousands of dollars on pay per click. This unfortunately is even harder to master and now the business owner is out thousands of dollars hasn’t sold anything.  By contrast a business owner who targets locally easily obtains page one, drives traffic to the web site, and has sold some of their services to local buyers.

Let me give you an example of a business doing local search engine optimization. You sell used cars at a small lot in Franklin, WI. You target "used cars" for your web site and you are on about page 112 or so. The person who looks up general "used cars" is probably looking more for information on the best type of cars and the ratings of those used cars. Once they have this information they will look locally for one of those cars. Almost all customers who are going to buy a local car would type in Milwaukee used car or Franklin used car. These are real buyers looking for a dealership to go to. Real buyers are what you should be targeting not general information seekers.

This is a very small change you can make to your web site for it to produce income for your small business. The obvious benefit to geo targeting your site and keywords is a top ranking is possible in the organic searches. This results in increased visibility for your small business and highly targeted traffic that is going to buy. By narrowing you parameters you are better defining your type of customer and will get better return on your money spent. What is I can take 3 or 4 of the top spots? Stay tuned!

1) Is willing to share their knowledge.

A good search optimization consultant willingly tells you of the strategies they use to help your web site rank highly in the search engines. When the consultant won’t discuss their techniques one could assume they are black hat or negative tactics. These unsafe techniques or commonly called black hat seo can result in lower rankings and even being ignored by the search engines altogether. When you have been de-listed by Google or the other search engines you may have to start all over including a new domain name. If you have an excellent domain name this can be very costly. Avoid anyone using these bad techniques.

2) Will be able to use cutting edge techniques.

If your consultant doesn’t keep up to date you can be sure your site will fall behind. Always check to see what they do for training and finding out the latest techniques. They should be able to explain what’s happening now and how they are integrating it into your rankings. They should also tell you how they are keeping up to date like research, seminars, books etc.

3) Does not guarantee a number one listing.

No one can guarantee top position because it is an art not science formula to get to the top. Not to mention the search engines change the way they do their rankings a lot so what may work today may not tomorrow. A good SEO consultant will be able to get your site to rank higher. You should be able to check other web sites that he/she already did. A good SEO consultant is able to get most web sites top 10 positions for the main keywords. He/she will also help you identify the right keywords.

4) The goal and purpose of SEO is to get a successful web site.

The primary goal of seo is to make your site a success not just a top ranking. You spend money on the SEO works so you want to get something back for it. The higher rankings in the search engines are just part of that. Your consultant will realize sales have to be made and you can’t have web copy that only works for rankings. Just being in the top 10 of the search engine rank pages does not guarantee more sales. The copy needs to be written for the visitors so that they will be more willing to spend their hard earned money. Nothing is worse than doing an organic search and coming to a web site ranked high that has nothing of value, don’t do this!

5) Gives you a basic evaluation of your web site for free.

This doesn’t mean a redesign or anything like that. The consultant will look at your keywords, rankings, and general optimization to give you an idea of ways to improve. Even if you don’t go with the consultant it should be in there nature to help with a problem or two so they can show good will.

6) Does not have too many clients.

I realize this is a weird one but if the seo consultant restricts how many clients they have they can better optimize your site. If they only really care about money they will have numerous clients and will keep adding them even if they are doing a disservice.

If you follow these simple steps you should have a partner who will work hard for your success. Remember that finding the right seo consultant can make you profitable and happy for many years to come.