QuickTime, iPhone or iPod Download.

If you don’t already have an easy-to-update website for your business check out this video.

Update your website for more leads | Episode 17 Local Knowledge Small Business Web Design, Local Internet Marketing, Local SEO, Online Video, Training | LOCAL Na8ion West Palm Beach, FL -

I often dive deep into specific topics as I did this past Friday when I blogged about how to Re-write your website title for better local search results. That’s just one important part of Local SEO. There are many others. But what are they?

Below you’ll find a short video which provides a great overview of search engine optimization by Senior Vice President Stephanie Leffler of Network Solutions featured on MSNBC’s Consultant Corner.

Stephanie discusses SEO practices like your website ‘title tag’, incoming links to your website, and many other useful SEO topics like the importance of creating text based content for your website in order to attract search engines.

Enjoy the video

Julian, ed LOCALNa8ion
Where you are is where it’s at

Search Engine Optimization Basics Video Small Business Web Design, Local Internet Marketing, Local SEO, Online Video, Training | LOCAL Na8ion West Palm Beach, FL -

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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Re-write your website title for better local search results Small Business Web Design, Local Internet Marketing, Local SEO, Online Video, Training | LOCAL Na8ion West Palm Beach, FL -

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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

Local Knowledge Episode 15 | Distraction Free Writing using WordPress Small Business Web Design, Local Internet Marketing, Local SEO, Online Video, Training | LOCAL Na8ion West Palm Beach, FL -

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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

You can do it all with the Internet | Episode 14 Local Knowledge Small Business Web Design, Local Internet Marketing, Local SEO, Online Video, Training | LOCAL Na8ion West Palm Beach, FL -

I searched for myself on Google and found nothing.That message was written on a coaster under my delicious golden amber beer at Outback Steakhouse.

Do you find yourself lamenting the same thing about your local business?

With today’s economic crisis it’s become more important to reach new customers. At the same time you need to dramatically cut your spending. I have great news for you.

Today, it’s possible to cut ad spending in traditional local media like print Yellow Pages and Newspapers while still increasing your overall marketing exposure and sales leads.

Wait, did you read that right?

You can cut back on ads and still increase your marketing exposure.

Let’s look at an example scenario.

Local business owner Jane spends $1,000 a month on a Yellow Pages ad. She used to see great results from her ad but over the years, especially in the last five years or so, the ad just isn’t pulling in new calls like it used to. More and more, when Jane asks her clients how they found her, they answer in a one word, two sylable reply.

“Goo-gle”

Jane can take a hint. She invests between $1,000 to $5,000 in a new online marketing strategy and web site. This includes getting a clear picture of who her existing and desired customers are and then building a web site that speaks to that target market with appropriate:

- messaging
- design
- local search engine optimization (local SEO)

Jane’s new site will be her star sales person. It will have all the current information about what Jane sells and why she’s different (and superior) to her competitors.

This new site will let Jane, a typical resourceful business person keep her web site up-to-date with information on specials, sales, new products and services and other useful information.

For Jane, it won’t be any harder to update her new web site than it would be to write an email on today’s web-based email programs like Yahoo! Mail or AOL mail. You open a web browser, you sign in, you type, you format your text (bold, color, etc.) and you click on the ‘Publish’ button just like you’d hit the ‘Send’ button after composing an email.

Along with the relevant content and local search engine optimization on her new web site these frequent updates to Jane’s site (let’s say once every two weeks) will position Jane’s web site ahead of 90% of her competition on search results pages on Google and Yahoo!.

The targeted leads that Jane receives from Google and Yahoo! won’t cost her anything. Once she’s done paying for her new web site with the money she saved from cutting back on her Yellow Pages ad she’ll be way ahead of the game. As time progresses Jane will save more and more.

If Jane hired an experienced online marketing agency or consultant and invested $3,000 in her new web site she could expect to make up the cost of her new online presence in three short months. Over the year of her annual Yellow Pages contract she’ll keep 9 months of what she was spending on her old Yellow Pages ad in the bank. That’s $1,000 a month X 9. Nine grand.

Jane can do a lot with $9,000.

How about you?

For the vast majority of small businesses, the Internet remains a HUGE untapped source of buyers.  These buyers are using Google, Yahoo! and other search engines to find local products and services. To maximize your sales to these buyers your goal is to get your web site listed towards the top of organic search engine rankings.

The Organic, or natural search engine results are the main results for web pages and links after you’ve performed a search.  For local searches on Google, this includes search results that appear on a map, often referred to by search engine marketers like us as the ’10 Pack’ – so called because of the number of local businesses appearing in the map search. We’ll take a look at a picture of this in just a minute.

In the field of search engine marketing we use the terms organic or natural search results (which don’t cost anything) to distinguish from paid search ads that appear along the top and right side of the organic search results. The majority of people using search engines refer to the organic search results.

Here’s a look at where organic and paid search listings appear on Google, and you’ll also notice the 10-Pack Map listings (click on the picture to see a large version).

CLICK PICTURE to see an example of Local Search Results on Google

Your local media rep from the Newspaper and Yellow Pages will tell you that independent studies have proven that businesses of all sizes that cut back on advertising during recessionary times do poorly and fail in greater numbers than businesses that increase their marketing exposure.

If you follow this wisdom you should go buy more ads and make them bigger too! That’s what the old media companies are hoping anyway. But you don’t need to do that. I worked for the largest of these Yellow Pages and Newspaper companies over my 20 year career and their argument doesn’t hold water anymore.

With the options available to you today online it’s now safe to go find your biggest knife and start cutting traditional ads.

Then you’ll take a portion of your savings and invest them in the one-time cost of a modern web site and online marketing plan, along with the training to make your web site your new star sales person. You’ll pocket the rest of the money.

If you’re not the self-help type, then you can hire an expert to perform this work for you – like Local Na8ion. As with any purchase, the informed buyer (that’s you in this case) is the buyer who gets the best deal and the best available product and service.

Help yourself

Perhaps the most important step to maximize savings and local search engine rankings is to make sure your new site is one you can update yourself without technical knowledge. This means you don’t have to pay a programmer every time you want to update your web site, and every update you make to your site means better rankings on search engines.

The web site publishing software your new web site runs on should be mainstream, with tons of people using and supporting it. You should be able to go to your local book store or library and find a selection of books on how to use the software. You should be able to search on Google for the software and find thousands of companies ready to help you. 

Many a nightmare story has been told about small business owners that set up a ‘Free’ Microsoft or Yahoo! web site only to find out that these companies dummy down their offering and rarely update their tools. You don’t get locked into one company with one solution. 

With today’s leading web site publishing technology, specifically using content management systems like the one we recommend, WordPress, your web site updates are as easy to publish as an email. WordPress is mainstream in that it’s used by millions of large institutions, companies, and individuals. You can buy WordPress for Dummies and many other mainstream publications to teach yourself about the application. WordPress has a community of developers and service providers that are expert in its workings and can provide you with services that run the gamut from customization to training. Here at Local Na8ion, we’re just one example.

If you’d like to learn more about why we recommend WordPress for small business, you can watch our video podcast, Local Knowledge.  If you’d like to see what this looks like for yourself tune in here to our upcoming video podcast Local Knowledge and we’ll show you exactly how easy it is to perform an update using WordPress. Stay tuned!

- Julian, ed Local Na8ion

I searched for myself on Google and found nothing Small Business Web Design, Local Internet Marketing, Local SEO, Online Video, Training | LOCAL Na8ion West Palm Beach, FL -

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In episode 13 I say “Hi!” to viewers who have been with us for our first 12 episodes and “Hola” to our new YouTube viewers.

First, I will catch you up on what I have been doing and then…

I figured I’d name our show since I’m in it for the long haul:

Local Knowledge. That’s the name! The World’s First Video Podcast dedicated to Local Internet Marketing.

…and finally I discuss how our next sessions will cover the topic of web design for small business (on a shoestring budget of course).

Julian Seery Gude
ed, Local Na8ion
www.localna8ion.com

Episode 13 Where in the world is Julian | Episode 13 Local Knowledge Small Business Web Design, Local Internet Marketing, Local SEO, Online Video, Training | LOCAL Na8ion West Palm Beach, FL -

Want to appear towards the top of local search engine rankings on Google and Yahoo! when a buyer searches online in your city for your product or service? Sure you do – it is free search engine marketing after all.

Today in Episode 11 on Local Na8ion (run time 9:57) we feature a video lesson on three quick and easy steps to optimize your web site for local search engines. Using non-technical methods, we will demonstrate three ways to hardwire your web site to increase local sales with something called a title tag, and adding your address to your web site footer (the bottom of your site).

Our three Local SEO tips can be implemented on your WordPress site in less than 10 minutes, even if you don’t know a lick of HTML.

Want some good tips optimizing your title tag? These recommendations from Google will come in pretty handy.

Don’t have an easy-to-update WordPress web site and blog? Why on earth not! Well, in the mean time, here’s a link to the old not-so-easy way to change the title tag on your web site. You would use the same method to update your footer of your index.html file to put your physical street address in your web site footer.

Want to save yourself time and headaches and upgrade to WordPress for less than $100 a year

Upgrade to WordPress today and you’ll save yourself a lot of headaches and avoid the technical mumbo jumbo that old web sites require you to learn. WordPress is a tremendous platform to build your local online sales on. Here’s how you can get started with WordPress for less than $100 year.

Julian, editor Local Na8ion
Where you are is where it’s at

Local Search Engine Optimization in Three Easy Steps | Episode 11 Local Knowledge Small Business Web Design, Local Internet Marketing, Local SEO, Online Video, Training | LOCAL Na8ion West Palm Beach, FL -

I’ve talked a lot about WordPress but I haven’t explained why it’s better than all the typical offerings pitched to small companies (products from Yahoo!, Microsoft, Google, YellowPages.com, CitySearch, and others). Today I’ll do that in just 200 words. To accomplish my goal I’ll just hit the highlights and leave further explanation for later posts.

• It’s the tool the Pros use and there is good reason for that
• Offers you tremendous SEO out-of-the-box – this means FREE search engine marketing
• Easy to write and publish new content with no need for technical knowledge
• It can be a web site, a blog or both
• People like me all over the world are showing you how to use it – for free
• For less than $100 a year you can get an equivalent web site and blog for what you’d pay a designer or programmer $2-$5K for
• It’s really free, (called open source) only pay for web hosting
• Infinite design and feature customization
• Access to WordPress community of contributors numbering over 10,000 to assist with design, programming, training or consulting (size of community drives competitive pricing)
• Geek stuff under the hood helping you without you needing to know Geek

Top Ten reasons WordPress for Small Business beats the pants off the rest Small Business Web Design, Local Internet Marketing, Local SEO, Online Video, Training | LOCAL Na8ion West Palm Beach, FL -

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We will give you three simple-to-implement tips that can rocket your site to the top of Google’s local search results. In episode 8 of Local Na8ion’s video podcast (run time 12 min) we detail how we used these exact methods to move Linda’s Cleaning Service – a house cleaning service in Wellington Florida – from page four of Google Local search results to page one. This didn’t take months, it took days.

We discuss

1. Using your city name in your URL (your web site address)
2. Putting your location information on your web site
3. Adding your business to Google’s Local Business Directory

Yes, you can do all of these things in 28 minutes, even if you’re not a techie!

Subscribe via iTunes or our regular RSS subscription!

Corrections: apologies on our typo on slide 6 of the presentation (your NOT you’re – Yes we know the difference!). Would have taken 2 hours in video processing time to fix. Also, Linda has been in business since 2002 – not the two years I reported. Damn, I’m getting old.

Background: Linda’s Cleaning Service is my mother-in-law Linda’s local small business in Wellington Florida. Since Linda’s daughter Shannon (my beautiful wife and partner in crime here at Local Na8ion) and I are both web marketers it’s no surprise that we work on her site for free – and yes – Linda sends her cleaners to our house once in a while for free as well. Will market for cleaning!

Julian, editor Local Na8ion – where you are is where it’s at

Episode 8: 28 minutes to better Google Local search results Small Business Web Design, Local Internet Marketing, Local SEO, Online Video, Training | LOCAL Na8ion West Palm Beach, FL -