Category Archives: Organic SEO

Professional SEO vs. DIY

Local Maps SEO, Local SEO, Organic SEO, , , , , , , ,

SeoSome business owners are squeamish when it comes to working with a local search engine optimization (SEO) company. This is mostly due to the unfortunate truth that many local SEO firms are scams or use unaccepted SEO techniques. However, not all SEO companies are out to get you and although many SEO tactics and tools are free to use, getting to the top of the search engine rankings takes extensive time and knowledge. Here are the pros and cons of both utilizing the services of a top local SEO provider or taking a DIY approach.

DIY SEO:

Pros:

  • Most tools used for SEO are free and there’s plenty of free information about improving SEO on the Web. So to do local SEO for your company, it would essentially cost for your website and time.
  • It’s a great learning experience. Teaching yourself this valuable skill is advantageous and will continue to be as your business grows.

Cons:

  • DIY SEO is extremely time consuming. Achieving top rankings on Google and other search engines can be tedious and a lot of hard work.
  • There’s a lot of misinformation available on the Web and if you aren’t sure which sources are reliable, you could end up hurting your rankings or wasting your time and effort on an SEO campaign that doesn’t work.
  • Carrying out an SEO strategry is a full-time job. SEO is a long-term growth strategy and a huge commitment. It requires a lot of research, repetition and as time passes it only gets more complex.
  • Building an effective website or landing page can be expensive. You must pay for web hosting, copy writing, optimization and design.

Professional Local SEO:

Pros:

  • Let the professionals do all the heavy lifting. The hard, time consuming work can be passed off to a professional or company that has the time, tools and knowledge to get the job done efficiently. You can throw some money at the situation and leave the worries and stress to someone else.
  • Results come faster. Since an SEO company’s sole purpose is to perform Internet marketing and search engine optimization for companies like yours, they already have systems and tools in place to get started right away. They don’t need to teach themselves SEO first like you would have to do. Since they’re experts, they know all the best techniques and have the necessary connections to get you ranking as quick as possible.
  • Internet marketing is constantly changing. It’s hard to keep up with the ever-changing world of SEO. Search engines are always changing their algorithms and as a business owner, it would be hard to keep up with your employees, business location, customers and the ever-changing Internet marketing industry. Chances are, you don’t have the time. A professional can put full attention on the search engine optimization of your business so you get maximum results.

Cons:

  • It can be hard to find a legitimate company to work with. There are many unreliable black hat SEO companies out there, you must be tough when deciding who to work with in order to avoid the Google black list or losing money on less than desirable results. Check out the company’s credentials before deciding to work with them.
  • It costs money. Help from a professional costs money. However if your SEO company is doing its job and getting your business found on the first page of the search engines, you will be getting more leads and it will be well worth the money.

When you weigh the pros and cons it’s easy to see that if you have the funds, leaving the local SEO to the professionals is your best option. Although SEO can be done on your own, if you’re inexperienced it can be easy to make a mistake and hurt your rankings or waste your efforts on techniques that don’t really work. When choosing a local SEO provider, be aware of possible black hat SEOs and be sure to gather as much information about the company as possible before agreeing to work with them.

3 Reasons Why Claiming Your Google Listing is Crucial to Local SEO

Local Business Directory, Local Maps SEO, Organic SEO, ,

Google, along with other top search engines, is currently competing to provide you with the best local search engine possible. That’s why they’ve already gathered information on millions of local businesses – to provide you with the most relevant information possible through Google Places. Google Places is a local business directory that provides users information about local businesses such as address, phone number, description, business hours, photos, videos, reviews, driving directions and more. If your business is listed in Google Places it will also be able to show up on the Google Map, which appears at the top of the search results page and helps direct consumers right to your business location.

Odds are, if you’re not a new business, your company already has a Google Places listing. So you may be asking, “if my company is already listed, why do I need to bother with ‘claiming’ my listing?”

Although Google may already have your business in its database, the information it has may not be correct and it is certainly not optimized. Google and other search engines often obtain incorrect or outdated information that can really put a damper on your rankings. Sometimes duplicate listings are made by mistake, which doesn’t only confuse your potential customers but also the search engines, which penalize you with lower rankings.

Claiming your business has many advantages. Here are the top 3 reasons why you should claim your business on Google Places:

1. You can update your information easily when needed – Once your local business information is on Google Places, Google is not going to update it. This means that there could be misinformation about your business on your listing as well as outdated information. Claiming your business allows you to edit this information as needed, giving you full control over your business’s image.

2. Optimizing your local listing is an option – Once you claim your listing, you will be able to optimize it using keywords and categories to help it get to the top of the Maps. Listings that haven’t been claimed have little or no local SEO, so claiming your listing and adding more information will make it complete and give you an advantage over your competitors.

3. Adding enhancements – Once you claim your Google listing, you can add enhancements that make your listing more appealing to the search engines and your potential customer. Adding more information such as business hours, videos, a URL to your Website, coupons, photos and more will help consumers who view your listing. These enhancements also make your listing look better to Google and you will be rewarded with higher search rankings.

Google wants businesses to claim their listing. For this reason, when a business is claimed, higher search rankings will follow. The bottom line is, if you claim your Google business listing, you will have more control over your online image, higher rankings and more consumers will be able to see your listing. This means more potential new customers leading to more profit.

Bing Local & Bing Business Portal

Local Maps SEO, Organic SEO, Search Engine News, , ,

Local Splash has recently started utilizing the Bing Local listing in our continuing mission to produce top placement for our customers across every major search engine. Bing Local is a web listing that shares many traits with other online listings, but Bing Local offers several unique options for customization and the inclusion of additional information.

For starters, Bing Local provides listings to mobile devices that use Bing as a default search engine. This will allow any listing on Bing Local to be found on a smartphone as easily as it could be found on a tablet or a computer. The user can also see how their listing will be formatted on every available medium, allowing them to tailor their listing in order to put forth the most effective presentation.

When a user selects a listing, they are treated to a rather familiar sight—a detailed description of a business or service, their contact information, reviews, and so on. The real difference between Bing Local and other search engines lies in how the user arrived at the listing itself.

While setting up a Bing Local listing in the Bing Business Portal, the incredible attention to detail is immediately apparent. A wide variety of pre-made categories (as well as an even greater number of sub-categories) is available when classifying a service or business, many more than either Yahoo or Google. Each profile can also hold up to nine photos uploaded by the user, further customizing their listing to the needs of the client and illustrating their business.

The true jewel of the listing service, however, is in the keyword functions. The client can select as many as five keywords and rank them based on their business description. For example, if a plumbing contractor would like to be found for their sewer and drain cleaning services over their water heater installation services, they can assign a higher value percentage to “sewer and drain cleaning” in order to advertise that service to a higher degree. This allows the user to effectively control what he is found for rather than just attempting to be found, adding a refining element to search engine optimization. Of course, this function can be changed at any time in order to accommodate seasonal services and specials.

Bing Business Portal seems to be the palette on which the most complete local listings are created at the moment. There’s no stone left unturned in the creation process, and proving it is the last, and perhaps the most convenient feature of Bing Business Portal: instant verification. Unlike Google and Yahoo, which both feature lengthy verification procedures, Bing Business Portal immediately verifies the listing or, if there’s a problem, notifies you of inconsistent or missing information.