Tag : SEO services Atlanta

Don’t waste money on advertising – Good Local Marketing Advice

Posted by Jan at 3:54 pm

Invest in marketing

As you develop your 2010 budgets, what are your plans regarding your
marketing and advertising…and why?

So often we talk with business owners who have spent thousands of
dollars on yellow pages, banner ads, radio, newspapers and other
forms of advertising. In most cases, they bought the ad because the
sales person was very convincing and it sounded like a good idea at
the time. However, they often feel like they never saw a return on their
investment and are then hesitant to try other methods of advertising.
Which is good!

What?

Yes, it’s true. For most small and medium sized businesses, advertising
is not very effective.  Of course, there are exceptions, but in most cases,
developing smart marketing campaigns is the way to go for smaller
companies.  Large companies can advertise because they have the budgets
to buy the frequency and combinations to reach huge audiences. For example,
Coca-Cola advertises on billboards, radio, tv, in magazines & newspapers, etc.
Obviously, advertising works for them: they are the most recognized brand in
the world.

With advertising, it is very difficult to calculate specifically what is generating
new revenues for you. However, with marketing you can easily see what’s
working, what isn’t and quickly make changes to be more effective.

Marketing includes your email campaigns, direct mail (postcards and letters),
coupons, and even your SEO and social media campaigns.  Marketing allows
you to segment your audience so that different types of prospects receive
messages that will be informative, interesting, and relevant to them. You can
also include a ‘call to action’ which will help you to see how effective a particular
campaign is.  If you’re getting ho-hum results, it’s not very difficult or expensive
to change the message or the call to action.

So as you put your budgets together for next year, ask yourself if you will be
spending your money on advertising or investing it in marketing?

*****

Please keep The Surfside Group (TSG) in mind whenever you or your Clients
want to GROW a business!

TSG has been in the business of growing Client’s companies since 1997. The
focus of our practice is to identify, recommend and implement the proven,
“best practices” strategies, systems and solutions, that meet each Client’s
unique needs.

Our model also allows Clients to access the experience and expertise of our
business partners, put it to work for their venture, and get it right the first
time. This approach accelerates growth, avoids costly mistakes, lessens risk
for investors and increases the overall likelihood of your success!

Call us today and arrange an initial conversation as to how The Surfside Group
can help your organization to sell more, market better and GROW!

Here’s to your success!

Suzanne Foley

you can visit them at www.SurfsideGroup.com

Local Internet Marketing Research – Insider Google data released

Posted by Jan at 11:56 pm

Did you think your websites rank determined your local listing status?

Think again!

Tom Critchlow has done a great job of researching and distilling information about what makes local businesses rank with in the coveted Google 7 pack. Even if you aren’t an SEO junkie it is important information to know because it shows just how critical citations, reviews and proximity can be.

Getting the top spot in Google is always changing and shifting as they change and tweek thier algorithms. So research like this is invaluable in helping local search marketers understand the changes and hopefully – what is coming down the pike for Atlanta local SEO. The information shows that it isn’t just one thing like citations, review or tags, it seems tobe a combination of factors making each aspect  important. It might seem boring to the average business person but it gets alot more interesting when you reaslize that the difference means more calls, clients and sales to your local business!

Here is part of the article: to read the entire thing – click on his name below.

Google Local Research Data Released For Free

By: Tom Critchlow

Being a good SEO involves research. You need to be constantly pushing the envelope on the data that you gather, the insights that you gain and what recommendations you provide in terms of what works and what doesn’t.

What’s In The Data?

The link to the Google Docs file is here in case that’s easier for people.

It’s always nice to try and quantify exactly how important different factors are and do some analysis on which hypothesis are actually correct and which are just learned from the crowd and generally accepted as true.

I’ve got no ground-breaking insights in this post, but by analysing this data and other data I have come to the following conclusions:

1) – The raw number of reviews is not the only ranking factor.

We can see this by comparing for example the Renaissance Seattle Hotel and the Hilton Seattle Hotel – the Renaissance has WAY more reviews but still doesn’t rank.

2) – The raw number of citations is not the only ranking factor.

We can see this because the Grand Hyatt Seattle Hotel has an obscene number of citations compared to any other hotel in Seattle.

3) – The combined number of citations and reviews is not the only ranking factor

Although we’re getting warmer here (the sum column, E) this isn’t the whole story. If we look at the average sum of the top 7 ranking hotels we see that there are 3 hotels that don’t rank which have a higher sum than average – Renaissance, Grand Hyatt and the Crowne Plaza.

4) – Distance to centre (of Seattle) seems to play some part in the rankings

Looking at the data we see that the Edgewater Hotel has the highest combined total with many many reviews and a large number of citations but doesn’t rank number 1. Perhaps this is something to do with the fact that it’s a lot further out from the centre of Seattle than the other hotels – 1.3 miles to be precise, almost double the next furthest out ranking hotel at 0.7 miles (the Best Western).

5) Star ratings could well play a part in the rankings

Typically people have assumed that the raw number of reviews is more important than the sentiment of those reviews. However, this may not be true. Take a look at the Fairmont Olympic Hotel, a very low combined reviews and citations score but 4.5/5 stars in total of the reviews.

6) Quality of citation almost certainly plays a part

Firstly, assuming it didn’t – citation spam would be big business! But digging into the data I see that the best western has a very low combined score but has citations from sites such as the New York Times. Same again with the Hilton, which has some very strong citations from authority sites. This suggests to me that quality of citation is important, or perhaps the number of citation root domains? (like with links, perhaps multiple citations from one domain don’t count so much…)

Note 1

There is still speculation that the ‘regular’ SEO factors come into play such as pagerank or strength of domain. I’m not convinced this is a factor. After all, Google Local Listings are attached to an business name (and address/phone number), not a URL. Sometimes there isn’t even a URL for Google to attach to the listing. This makes me think that regular on-page SEO factors don’t carry that much weight. I’d like to hear other’s thoughts on this though?

Note 2

It’s worth noting that in the data you might like to exclude the Crowne Plaza Hotel from your data analysis – when gathering the data I see that it’s missing an image which may imply a wider issue about data perhaps? Not sure what a missing image means but I doubt it’s good news for the Crowne Plaza. This is backed up by the fact that it by rights (i.e. combined citations and reviews score) it should rank, but it doesn’t

Contained in the full spreadsheet is Google Local data for a particular search phrase “Hotels in Seattle”. The link to the Google Docs file is here in case that’s easier for people.

• Summary – The summary information which contains the hotels which rank for the phrase. The top 7 are the ones that I see in the Google Local one-box. The remaining 13 are the ones which rank once you click on the map to explore Google Local rankings. The data contained includes the number of reviews, the number of citations and the distance to the centre of Seattle for each hotel.
• Sheet 1-20 – These sheets list the complete individual citation list for the relevant hotel. So for the edgewater hotel which ranks 4th we click on sheet 4 and see the full list of citations for that hotel.

Note 3

In a usual analysis I would have looked at the category of the listings, I don’t think this is a factor in this case since it’s a competitive SERP and all the listings are likely tagged with the Hotel category.

To Conclude…

What can you do to get better rankings? Get more citations and reviews! The combined number of these seems reasonably well correlated with rankings once you factor in distance from centre etc. Especially if you can get positive reviews and citations from strong websites.

But also, to conclude, we see that the algorithms are somewhat complicated. I’ve still not completely figured out why some sites rank and why some don’t but I’m getting close. I’d love to hear analysis from other Google Local SEOs who’ve been digging around in data. I’ll show you mine if you’ll show me yours

Note: Thanks Tom! this was a very generous offer to share your reserach so freely, go to his blog here and join the conversation!

Atlanta Chiropractors – How many local customers are looking for you?

Posted by Jan at 10:22 pm

Back pain is a popular search: Atlanta Chiropractors need to know

I did some research today on chiropractors and noticed that when I just use “chiropractor” the 7 pack was 3 spots down and the rest of the page was directories. Yet when I added the modifier chiropractor “chiropractor Atlanta” the 7 pack was top and the rest of the page was organic websites. Another caveat is that the people int he 7 pack were different.

What this means for local Atlanta marketing is that the highest volume search term is already being returned with local results, and that even with a qualifier like “Atlanta” getting into the 7 pack will become essential for local Atlanta chiropractors.

Here are some search numbers for chiropractors in atlanta:

“chiropractors Atlanta” 1600 per month – costs $3.80 for PPC

“chiropractor atlanta”  1600 per month – costs $4.74 for PPC

“atlanta chiropractors” 720 per month – costs $4.74 for PPC

“chiropractors in atlanta ” 260 per month – costs $4.19 for PPC

these 4 terms = 4180 searches per month

“chiropractors” 450,000 per month

“chiropractor” 1,220,000 per month

“chiropracter” 27,000 per month

How much is a new client worth to Atlanta Chiropractors?

Lets say your average office visit is $50 and each clients normally comes 12x a year this means that a new client is worth aprox – $600 a year or more!

How cost effective is search engine optimization for local businesses like a chiropractor?

So over 8000 people a month are searching for chiropractor/s atlanta

The top 3 spots get 85% of all clicks on the page

The first listing gets 2/3 of those clicks

Just the numbers mam

Meaning the top 3 local listings can expect to get the lions share of traffic – clicks ( aprox – 4100)

The first listing will most likely get 2/3 of those ( aprox -  2600)

If only 10% of those people follow thru with an appointment that lucky Atlanta chiropractor could conceivably get over 260 new clients !

and if you remember that each client is worth a yearly $600 then that could be over $153,000 on new client business a year!. Now imagine getting over 200 new clients each month – could your chiropractic business even handle that?

and someone is already paying an average of $4 for PPC for those terms meaning getting organic results is equal to scarfing up over $16,000 in FREE traffic.

Heck even getting only 1% could mean 26 new clients in one month generating an added revenue of over $15,000.

Right now many local Atlanta businesses are struggling to get new clients, but the search numbers show that people are still out there shopping, even if more carefully. If you are willing to invest in your future – local search marketing could be the marketing solution for you.

Local SEO to do list:

I will be putting out a video soon that shows this research process and some other important things to consider for local businesses. If nothing else, go Google a term you think people are using to find your business ( NOT your company name) -See who comes up and where you stand. If the map comes up with names, click on the top two and see who is getting the lions share of traffic. THESE are your real competitors.

Why use SEO services Atlanta?

Posted by Jan at 1:18 am

Don’t get ripped off!

We know there are plenty of other Atlanta SEO companies to choose from. We appreciate the fact that you are here reading this page – Thanks! We mean it.

When you choose SEO services Atlanta you become part of a very powerful marketing team.

We promote your business like it was our own.

• We are a local Atlanta business. We are committed to helping Atlanta businesses grow with local Atlanta customers. Our knowledge of Atlanta is invaluable for targeting and choosing geo targeted keywords and we are only a phone call (or cup of cocoa) away.

• You will work with SEO experts. With over 8 years of Search engine optimization experience we love to dominate the first page of Google. We guarantee to increase local sales by getting your business in front of more local customers. We know how to choose the most profitable keywords to target and how to syndicate content all over the web for massive results.

• Now you have a friend with connections. Through us you have a direct relationship with the largest companies that supply data to local directories like the yellow pages, yelp and Kudzu as well as search engines like Google, Yahoo and Bing. This means they trust our data and give it special priority.

• Your business will have a powerful 24/7 sales machine. You will have professional marketers working to promote your business. (not just IT guys who make pretty websites) We focus on conversion and we know how to turn clicks into customers. Your business can experience a flood or a trickle of new local customers based on your business needs. This works even if you don’t have a website.

• Your business can utilize cutting edge technologies with no effort on your part. You will be able to use the latest technologies without having to lift a finger to make them work. We partner with and use the most powerful technologies available, from website building, email delivery to video distribution or autoresponder follow up systems – we only work with top quality, professional, reliable vendors and programs.

At SEO services Atlanta we KNOW which tools produce exceptional and consistent results which is why we chose them carefully. If a new one comes along, you don’t have to worry about missing it – we will jump right on it, after all you are on our team!

Who do you know?

Local Business is all about the Relationships

You can use technology to help you communicate better with people – not to replace it. Our specialty is in setting up programs specifically designed for a high level of personalization but with the ease of hands off operation. This makes it a huge win-win for you and your customers. Atlanta small businesses that build relationships create a strong customer base. Maintaining these one-on-one relationships are invaluable, but very time consuming. We have developed high tech processes that allow you to stay in touch without sacrificing the personal touch.

You can build strong relationships on autopilot. We believe that a local business owner’s most powerful asset is your ability to communicate better than your competitors. It has been our experience that the success of local Atlanta businesses is based largely on personal interaction – not a product or price. Getting found in local search is just one way of communicating better.

An Atlanta SEO Company who Knows Atlanta Business

Get on the Map – the Google map that is. Local businesses often target a very small geographic area or small niche groups. In a city the size of Atlanta it can be “mission critical” to reach a very specific area, group of people or neighborhood. This is where local search marketing can make or break your business. Believe me when I say, the customers next door are going online to look for your business information – even if they already know your location. Don’t let them find your competition and be tempted to shop elsewhere.

Location, location, location. We make sure your location gets listed and displayed accurately for Google maps, and the applications that use them like phones, blackberries, iphones and other mobile devices. We can also use geo mapping to target very specific neighborhoods or areas of town like Buckhead, Virginia Highlands or Atlantic  Station.

Effective SEO in Atlanta is all about helping you connect and communicate with local consumers in a way that grows your customer base. That is what we love to do.