OPTIMIZE FOR REGIONAL SEARCH ENGINE LISTINGS
Competing Against Big Budget Websites | Millions of Web sites are elbowing each other every day for search engine positions. Many of them belong to big businesses with big marketing budgets. How do you compete with that? By grabbing some of the lower-hanging search engine fruit, they’re too big and busy to notice.
VISIONEFX helps businesses rank high among major search engines. One of our methods is to collect quality content for our client’s Websites. The content can be regional or local, and we recommend using as much as you can. If you sell lady’s jewelry, talk about local jewelry shows, local trade shows, fashion shows, and events.
Don’t know of any events? Try calling the Virginia Beach Convention Center or browse The Virginian-Pilot’s shows and events section or Pilot Online. Quality content is king! And your regional online market is valuable.
UTILIZE LOCAL AND REGIONAL SEARCH ENGINE LISTINGS
If you have a business in Virginia Beach or any other Hampton Roads city such as Norfolk, Portsmouth, Chesapeake, or Suffolk, get a local listing on Google. Yahoo offers local listings as well. To see how local results differ from general results, go to Google and type “YOUR BUSINESS in Virginia Beach.”
You’ll see “Local results for YOUR BUSINESS near Virginia Beach, VA” at the top of the page. If you click this link, you’ll see 9 to 10 companies listed for Virginia Beach, VA. This type of list is prevalent and powerful for consumers looking for services or products on the Web.
GET RESULTS WITH REGIONAL SEARCH ENGINE LISTINGS
Customers prefer doing business with local businesses. But you need to rank high in local search. How do you get there? Sprinkle your Web site with the correct keywords. If you’re a Virginia mortgage company, figure out how customers will search for mortgage services or loans over the Internet if they live in Virginia.
Will they type “loan companies in Virginia,” “Virginia mortgage companies,” or “mortgage loans in Virginia”? Google Suggest Tool is an excellent way to know what phrases people use to search for your product, service, issue, or cause.
Not many users, including search engine professionals, learn about this great Google tool. But it works, and it’s an excellent tool for getting into the consumer’s mind.
ALL POLITICS IS LOCAL — SO IS GOOD WEBSITE CONTENT
If a business with a Web site in Hampton Roads, then it’s a good idea to tighten your Web site copy and keywords to contain the words “Virginia Beach.” But make sure you walk the fine line between legitimate use and overabundance.
Search engines will spot the latter and ignore your site. Your success or search engine position will also depend on the competitiveness of your business. For example, “firewood in Virginia Beach” versus “dentists in Virginia Beach.”
WRITE FOR VISITORS – NOT SEARCH ENGINES
There is no magic formula or special software to get you listed at the top of search engine results. However, a golden rule will do the trick — Content is King. Good content generates excellent search engine results – period.
So go ahead and chat it up, tell people what you do, what you sell, what you provide. Talk about your competition. Yes, you heard me right. But make sure you’re doing this in a way that “informs” your Web site visitors instead of intentionally piggy-backing on the popularity of another Web site.
Be careful when you’re using a competitor’s name. For example, suppose you’re a moving company based in Virginia Beach and fill your Web pages with name-brand, popular moving companies in Virginia Beach, Virginia, for no other reason than to ride on their popularity in the search engines.
In that case, you could get penalized by the search engines. Remember, it’s all about relevant content – relevant to your Web site.
OPTIMIZE WEBSITE HEADINGS TOO
Another way to optimize your Web site is to use your keywords in headings, subtitles, page titles (found in the blue bar at the top of your Web browser), boldface, and hyperlinks because these stand out to the search engines.
HOW TO BE INVISIBLE
Many Websites were built by hobbyists or created with old software no ranks well in today’s sophisticated search engines. That means these Web sites are “invisible” to significant search engines, which means thousands of “eyes on screens” will be looking at someone else’s product, service, issue, or cause.
I went to Google and searched the “plumbing company in Virginia Beach.”
I did not find any local plumbing Website results on the first or second pages. What does this tell me? It says there is not one single plumbing company in the city of Virginia Beach that has a Web site that is appropriately optimized.
It also tells me that there are not many (if any) Web sites for plumbing in Virginia Beach.
Too bad. A small plumbing business could rule local search in the major search engines for “plumbing.” Try this with search terms related to jewelry, real estate, or auto sales, and the results will be much different.
WEB SITES DON’T COST; THEY PAY
Get one if you provide services or products in Virginia, Virginia Beach, or other Hampton Roads cities and don’t have a website. It is quickly becoming the primary way our younger and middle-aged generation search for information, products, and services.
ABOUT VISIONEFX
VISIONEFX takes SEO-driven web design to a whole new level of excellence. Be sure to read our Google Reviews and see what our customers say about our services.
Do you need help getting found in Google search? For more information about our web page SEO services, you may reach us at 757-963-1787 or contact us online.
Also, see VIRAL MARKETING AND NEW BUSINESS
