Local SEO Tactics and Digital Marketing Strategies

Here we are at episode 50! A small but significant milestone for the Local SEO Tactics shows so we want to first thank you for the support and feedback on this journey! In today's episode, we feature our first call-in question. Evelyn, asks if it is okay to use the same background image on all pages of your website? We cover this, and some related scenarios, to talk about the SEO impact as well as the user experience for choosing to do this! YOU'LL LEARN Does it hurt SEO to use the same background image Make sure the background image does not slow your page load times It is better to use original photos over stock photos You can use a slider instead of a background image if it makes sense on your page Sometimes a background image does not reformat to a responsive page properly Use a slider with image effects like Ken Burns effect to create movement and animation Find show notes and episode information at https://www.localseotactics.com/using-the-same-background-image-on-every-page-of-your-website-50/

By now we all know online reviews are a necessity for a local business. Your reputation and public ratings are an instant edification of your business and show potential customers what they can expect if they patronize you. If you are getting good reviews and have a sizable amount of reviews, you can leverage what we call "review clout" and expand your business into new revenue streams. In this episode, we talk about how to find the related niches for your business, where your review clout can quickly get you new business and dominate the competition! YOU'LL LEARN Getting reviews is always very important for your business Ask customers face to face for reviews to get as many as possible Use automation like ReviewLead to capture even more reviews for your business Once you have high review count and high review rating you can leverage it for new revenue streams Find niches that you can serve that have low competition Look for competitors in the map pack that have low review scores Add keywords and optimizations to your GMB and website for the niche to gain visibility View show notes and all links on the show page at https://www.localseotactics.com/review-clout-leverage-your-online-reviews-to-expand-into-new-revenue-streams-049/

Images and graphics are an important part of any website, landing page, or sales page. Images help tell your story, showcase your brand, or clarify an example. As the adage goes, a picture is worth a thousand words! In this episode we will cover some of the basic things you should be doing to optimize your images that you use on your web site. You can get your pages to load faster, and you can take advantage of some very important SEO benefits with image optimization. Take a listen and hopefully you will learn a new trick or two! What You'll Learn Google can tell if you are using stock photography or not Google Vision AI can determine an image object, relevancy, and topical associations Use your own original photos and graphics whenever possible on your web pages Optimize your images for proper size Optimize your images for maximum loading speed Take advantage of alt tags and file name to benefit your SEO efforts View show notes and all links on the show page at https://www.localseotactics.com/learn-how-to-optimize-images-for-web-speed-and-seo-benefits-048/

Optimizing a page for a keyword; it's a topic that comes up weekly here at our agency. There are many elements that go into successful SEO and web page optimization. That said, if you're not doing the basics in relation to the keyword you are targeting, the rest is tough sledding. In this episode we'll walk through the basic block and tackle of what you should focus on for how to optimize a web page for a keyword or phrase. What You'll Learn To have a successfully optimized page, you must not skip the basics of keyword targeting Getting your keyword into the URL of the page is great if you can do it Be sure to incorporate your keyword phrases into your headings Develop the page content on purpose with the keyword and related phases in mind Adding images with file names and Alt text that uses your keyword is ideal To be targeting the keyword, you must be mentioning the keyword on the page View show notes and all links on the show page at https://www.localseotactics.com/how-to-optimize-your-web-page-for-a-keyword-a-basic-overview-047/

Content is king! This phrase is virtually beaten to death in the marketing world nowadays. But, it's true. At the end of the day, content is what Google serves up, and content is what we need to produce to be found in Google. Producing content can be very intense, overwhelming, and time-consuming. Be smart about it, and develop a website content strategy that you can not only execute yourself, but one that you can also delegate internally, or externally to talented experts! What You'll Learn You must do keyword research to identify the proper phrases to target and incorporate into your content Write pages that answer common questions your customers are asking When you type pages, use the tone of talking to the customer directly Determine the frequency you can stick to for how often to put out new content Determine the size of the page (how many words needed) depending on the market and niche you are in Use in-sourcing to delegate content creation to people on your team Use outsourcing to hire freelancers or specialists to help with content creation For a long term solution to outsourcing you can consider adding a Virtual Assistant Check with colleges to see if you can work with an intern to develop content for you View show notes and all links on the show page at https://www.localseotactics.com/create-a-website-content-strategy-and-get-help-making-new-content-for-your-site/

In this episode, we will go over two important aspects of properly positioning and optimizing your Google My Business Listing (GMB Listing). The first topic is how to identify your primary digital competitors, who may be different than the historical competitors you are aware of! The second topic is how to peek under the hood and discover what categories your competitors are choosing for their Google My Business listings. The process may seem a bit technical and complicated as we walk through it, but it's actually quite easy once you do it in practice! What You'll Learn Why it's important to understand your digital competition versus your historical competition How to search on desktop and mobile search to find out who your primary competitors are Look for competition who is dominant in the map pack Choosing your GMB category is very important for your visibility You can also choose multiple subcategories for your business too Learn how to view which categories your competition is using for their GMB When you look at a GMB you only see one of the several categories the business may have listed https://www.localseotactics.com/discover-what-google-my-business-categories-your-top-competitors-are-using/

Joe Anderson of Metaphor Creations is back for part 2 in our discussion about website speed and optimization. We'll go over page caching for your website, to understand how a cache works, and how using a page cache plugin can speed up your website. We'll also dig into plugins, for what makes them great and what makes them dangerous! Keep your site running smoothly by following these best practices and helpful tips. What You'll Learn What caching is and how to use caching on your website Use page caching to make future visits to your web page very fast for users Use WordPress plugins to minimize your script and make your site load faster Using minimizing plugins can help but you must be careful and test your site afterwards When choosing plugins for WordPress make sure you choose quality plugins from known developers If plugins are making your website slow, you can disable plugins to determine the culprit Keeping your plugins updated will ensure your site is free of errors eliminates security holes Visit the show page for all links and for more information; https://www.localseotactics.com/https-www-localseotactics-com-improving-website-speed-for-wordpress-part-2-interview-with-joe-anderson/

Joe Anderson of Metaphor Creations is back on the show this week, and this time we're talking about website speed. Specifically, we're talking about how to improve the speed of your Wordpress website. This is part 1 of a two-part interview with Joe, and in this half, we're going to cover web hosting and using a Content Delivery Network (CDN) to make sure your web host and server is running as fast as possible. Plus, Joe shares a discount for everyone on his Ditty Ticker plugin bundle for Wordpress! What You'll Learn Get 10% off the Ditty Ticker Bundle from Metaphor Creations using the code "intrycksditty" Website hosting makes a difference in your website speed, especially for WordPress websites Using a Content Delivery Network to speed up your website CDN stands for Content Delivery Network Visit the show page for all links and for more information; https://www.localseotactics.com/improving-website-speed-for-wordpress-part-1-interview-with-joe-anderson/

We're talking about the Google Posts feature within your Google My Business (GMB) listing this week. Previously we discussed the various types of Google Posts you can leverage, but in this episode, we take a deeper look into the "standard" Google posts option. This is a powerful method to quickly communicate to Google the primary services you offer and the geographical area that you wish to be found for. Check out and put it into action, whether you are just getting your GMB off the ground, or if you're a GMB veteran! What You'll Learn Use Google Posts to communicate to Google the primary cities you do business in How to identify nearby cities and neighbor hoods that Google will recognize How use Google Posts to communicate to Google the primary services you provide How to use these tactics to launch an initial content strategy for Google posting Visit the show page for all links and for more information; https://www.localseotactics.com/setting-up-your-initial-posting-strategy-for-google-posts/

How To Get More Reviews On Your Google My Business Listing For this week we're talking about reviews again. Specifically, we're talking about how to get even more reviews on your Google My Business listing. Just being passive and asking a customer to leave a review, or contacting them a few days after the sales transaction is not enough. You need to hold their hand, coach them, and even slightly pressure them to leave a review right then and there. If you can accomplish this, you will outpace your competition, improve your Google rankings, and get more business fast! Check it out! What You'll Learn You need a Google My Business Listing in order to get reviews on Google Be up front and help walk a customer through how to immediately leave a review in person Some customers may have "technology shame", not knowing how to leave a review and so they will not leave one Double the amount of reviews you are getting by being a little bit pushy and focused on getting reviews Getting more Google reviews can improve your visibility and search rankings Visit the show page for all links and more information; https://www.localseotactics.com/getting-more-reviews-on-your-google-my-business-listing/