SEO:Basics for Local Tucson Businesses

When I changed careers a few years ago and started a internet business I didn’t even know what SEO meant but now I know that SEO is the holy art of getting your seen on Google. After slogging my way up the mountain of misery and losing thousands of dollars and spending more in time I’d like to take a few minutes and share a few tips on the basics of SEO for my fellow local small business.

If you are like me when you go the search engines you are looking for information only or you looking for something to buy.  Since this is for local businesses here in Tucson I’ll concentrate on you getting more customers.  Better leads mean more customers and the cost of  those leads has to be considered.

Everybody for obvious reasons want to get on the front page of  Google. The way to get to the front page of Google for your business is a combination of science and art. In other words you want to have something a reader wants to read and you want something that the search engine love to “read” (they actually crawl, thus spiders). So it’d might be make a little sense to follow effective strategies when you are writing.  When you are writing you want your content to be keyword rich but readability always trumps keyword. In other words if you “jam” your content with your keywords it is obvious to your readers AND to the search engines and will work against you.

Most local business owners here in Tucson are busy working 60 hours a week running their business and either don’t have the time or inclination to write powerful content to get to the front page of  Google. My strong recommendation would be to contact a  professional SEO person who can handle adding content to your site on a VERY regular basis. A minimum of three or four entries should be added to your site on a weekly basis and the easiest way to do that is to bring them to your business and let them get a page full of ideas to write about that are unique to your area. For instance if you are a pest control company you might want to have them write about termites in Arizona but in Florida you might want to write about cockroaches.  Many owners I have spoken with are proud of the fact that they were able to get a URL in their company name. Unfortunately,  the search engines don’t care. Your URL should have your main keyword in it.  In addition the header, footer and everything in between should be consistent. When I explain this to many Tucson Local Business they get depressed because

1. They’ve spent a small fortune on a gorgeous sites that nobody is looking at because the URL says nothing about what is inside their site.

2. The thought of a redo is overwhelming

If I am talking to a local plumber or A/C man and start talking about: keyword analysis, usability analysis, website maintenance, sound navigation, promotion, search engine ranking report I might as well speaking to them in Greek(geek). We’ve all had the experience of a technical person lapsing (or doing it on purpose) talking in jargon that makes no sense. It never sits well with me so when talking to a SEO person they should be able to explain it to you in simple terms.

I do have great news for local business owners here in Tucson and that is there is new method I have developed where we can do an effective work around your existing website and actually  capitalize on it. I call it the “billboard” method. Imagine you could afford to rent all the billboards in town to advertise your business. That’s what I can do for you and get it done quickly and inexpensively. I would be glad to consult with anyone about their website whether you are in Tucson or not, it really doesn’t matter.

The last thing I’d like to mention is that effective SEO is forever while many of the other “internet marketing” techniques I know about are temporary. If you are paying to be in a directory it’s just a glorified yellow pages. If you are paying PPC (paid for click) or PPI (paid for impression) the moment the money runs out the ad runs out. Ugh.  Gaining prominence in many keywords (for instance in my business) takes time. It is very much like building a business next to your business.

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However, in many instances you will have the opportunity to take your business globally if you are patient and get connected with competent SEO professionals. For instance, taking a local spice company. They are able to promote their business here in Tucson locally but can certainly see the day when they could be shipping spices around the world. Same with a coffee company, unique clothing and you get the idea. Finally, don’t say to yourself  “not in my business” take the time to do a free consult. Why? Because let’s say you are running a maid service and you say “I could never take my business beyond Tucson”. Well, it’s really a matter of thinking outside the box. For starters, if you have been in business for awhile you have a book  in you waiting to be sold to the world.  That’s just one tiny example.

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