Small Business Web Design, Local Internet Marketing, Local SEO, Online Video, Training | LOCAL Na8ion West Palm Beach, FL

5 minutes to better local search engine rankings

If you’re trying to attract free traffic from search engines to your small local business you need to optimize your site for local searches. This practice is generally known as local search engine optimization (Local SEO).

My tip today focuses on one specific but very important Local SEO technique…

Website titles

The website title is the text that appears at the very top of your web browser window when you visit someone’s website. It’s also what people see on search engine results pages like this.

Click to view larger image

Here’s an example of a local search someone might type into Google.

Local Search example

“Florists Charlotte”

Your website title should include descriptive words that read well, include your location, and includes the major search keyword/s or search terms for your business. While your business name is nice, it’s generally the least important part of your website title.

Guess what 98% of the small business website titles start out with?

The business name.

Think of it like this. Is a banner you make for your front window that says 50% Off – Spring Sale going to attract business or the one that says George’s Hardware?

Your website title is like a banner about what you do for both people and search engines.

Good Local Website Titles

Let’s take a look at the top 5 search engine results from the local search example I used above, ‘Charlotte Florists.’

1. Charlotte Florists, Flowers, Local Florist Shops – North Carolina (NC)
2. Charlotte florists and gift shops
3. Charlotte Florists – Flowers Charlotte NC – Starclaire House Of …
4. Port Charlotte Florists – Flowers Port Charlotte FL – Port …
5. Charlotte Florists – Flowers Charlotte NC – Gallery of Flowers

Notice a theme?

The winners on this list lead with their city and then their common search keyword/s or search term/s.

How to do it

Get out your pen and pad or favorite word processor and start working on a new website title. Keep your new title under 70 total characters and include your major town/city first, your keyword next, and if there is room, your business name. A pipe, one of these | is a great way to visually separate information in your website title. Use this tool to count the number of characters in your new website title so you don’t feel like you’re back in Kindergarten. Here’s an example I just worked up.

Charlotte Florists, Elegant Charlotte Flowers | Mary’s Botanicals

I included the location city and two major search terms in my title and snuck in a business name in 65 total characters.

1. Charlotte Florists
2. Charlotte Flowers
3. Something additive and descriptive “Elegant” for the people reading my title
4. Business Name

Want some more examples of what to do with your website title? Check out SEO expert Aaron Wall’s video on how to write great SEO website titles below.

Julian, ed LOCALNa8ion
Local Internet Marketing for Small Business | LOCALNa8ion.com
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We could all use less distractions when we’re writing updates for our small business web site. After all, the more frequently we write content and publish it on our websites, the better our local search engine rankings will be.

Today, there are tools called full screen editors, writing tools that are specifically designed to remove distractions like email and instant messenger notifications from your computer. I use and recommend programs like WriteRoom for the Mac and WriteMonkey for Windows.

What many people don’t realize is that there is a similar full browser window text editor right inside WordPress that will help you focus on your writing.

This episode of Local Knowledge contains an educational screencast that shows you two workflows for using these full screen editors in your writing and publishing on WordPress 2.7.

The first method pairs up a dedicated full screen editor like WriteRoom with WordPress. The second method lets you do ALL your work right within WordPress. Both methods work, you decide which is best for you.

Remember, local search marketing is free and any tools and tricks we can use to make it easier for us to market our business are powerful tools. You know the saying ‘Don’t sweat the small stuff….It’s all small stuff!’ Modifying your workflow using these methods may seem like a small thing (and it is) but it’s chock full of positive results.

Julian Seery Gude
Local Knowledge | Local Internet Marketing for Small Business
ed, LocalNa8ion.com | Where you are is where it’s at

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Today on Local Knowledge I discuss four main topics, including:

• Batch your work using time, tools & technology
• Edit a WordPress post or page (see LocalNa8ion.com for full video)
• Update your site once per month to maintain reader/viewer interest and improve your search engine results
• Promote other content on the web to save your own time when blogging or creating web content

Looking for the link for 100+ WordPress Video Tutorials?

Here’s SpeckyBoy.com’s post 100+ WordPress Video Tutorials, from Basic to Advanced

How to edit WordPress Posts & Pages

Now, here’s that videoTutorial by iThemes.com and ScreenTutorial.com on how to edit WordPress posts and pages.

Thanks for watching Local Knowledge, the world’s first video podcast dedicated to Local Internet Marketing

Julian Seery Gude, ed

LocalNa8ion.com

Where you are is where it’s at