Three Simple Keys to Ranking Your Local Business in Google Searches

Are you Stressed About Getting your Business on Page 1 of Google?

What is a small business owner to do? (Read on)

Are you afraid that the world of Internet marketing and websites is leaving your business behind. Do you fear that the competition is doing all the right things and you do not have a clue?

You already work as hard as you can just making sure you deliver the best product or service to your customers. Where could you possibly find the time to learn and do all this Internet marketing?

You have priced the cost of elaborate websites, e-commerce shopping carts, SEO campaigns and email marketing and you cannot afford the thousands of dollars it would take. Also, you feel very uncomfortable about buying something for that amount of money that you do not understand.

Your Business Mentor Ray is going to give you a bit of advice, … relax! It is not hard and it is not expensive to take the first effective steps in getting sales and new customers from the mysterious Internet and Google. Notice I said the the first EFFECTIVE steps.

We are not going to be talking about massive online brochures or on-line purchase sites. We may not even be using your local business name in the domain name. The key for simple steps and a low cost start to making your local business appear on the first pages of Google is to make the right choice of just three things.

Three Simple Keys to Ranking Your Local Business in Google Searches

1. Domain Name
2. Key Word Phrases
3. Focused Content and Call to Action

Key Number 1 – Domain Names

This is not about the name of your local business. For example; the use of “Angie’s Hair Salon” or “Tommy’s Car Service” are NOT right for this effort. I am not talking about changing the name of your business either.

This is about using the words that local customers would use when searching for a type of hair salon or car service. These are the words that will go into your Domain Name. You must include some type of geography or GEO Tag in the words you use.

For example, if Tommy’s car service is in downtown Tampa and people generally use the term ‘downtown’ or ‘downtown Tampa’ to describe the area, then this needs to be in the Domain Name you choose and register.

Now still on the Domain Name. The term “car service” may be to broad to be EFFECTIVE – (remember we are trying for an Effective web presence). So here you need to think about the services or products you provide and how you customers would phrase some of them when they type into the Google search box. For example, they may use the term ‘mechanic’ instead of ‘car service’. Or they may really think of your business more as a ‘battery replacement’ service.

Pick three of these terms that are less broad and are the type of things customers say when asking about your services. As a result you may decide on “Downtown Tampa Mechanic”, and “Tampa Auto Battery Replacement Service” and “Downtown Tampa Battery Mechanic”.

Now take each of these terms that you come up with, put them into quotes and paste them one by one into the google search box. Take a good look at the search results – these are your competitors for those search terms.

Next you need to find out if these search terms to be used in your Domain Name are appearing in the google search index. To do this you need to go to this free key word search tool from google. Go to: Google Keyword External Tool

When Your Business Mentor Ray did this for the term “Tampa Auto Battery Replacement Service”, I learned that more people search for the term when I used it this way, “Tampa Car Battery Replacement Service”. By substituting ‘Car’ for the word ‘Auto’ the term became much more representative of what google searchers are actually looking for. Use the ‘local monthly searches’ column for the numbers to use, ignore the rest and do not worry if your number is not the highest. Complete this process until you have three terms that fit the criteria of being Geo-tagged for your area and focused on a particular product or service of yours.

These are the three Domain Names you will register. Go to any of the major domain name registries – like Godaddy.com or HostGator.com and pay for each domain as a .com name. It will cost about $10 per year each.

Next, you will need a hosting account to be able to put your Domain Names on the Internet. If you do not know how to do this – please find a local resource to help you or use an outsourcing website like Fiverr.com.  These site will be done in word press and can all be hosted as sub-domains on the same hosting account. Expect to pay about $200 per year for the hosting.

Key number 2 – Key Word Phrases (Building Web Site Content)

In this second step you are going to find the topics to write about on your website. Here you will only focus on the keywords in your chosen Domain Names. Following along in the example we are using for Tommy’s Car Service in downtown Tampa. Two of the pages will be the standard About Us and Contact Us pages.

It is good to talk about your your family run or locally owned business and commitment to customer service and full range of products and services you offer as well as your name address and phone and email here on both these pages. If you can add photos of you, your staff and facility and a short video that would be really good, but not necessary at this point and something that can be done at any time.

Next you will make at least one page of content (at least 500 words – more is better) on the specific keyword term you want to focus on … in this case “Tampa Car Battery Replacement Service”. Write your article about the services you provide relating to car battery replacement. If you offer free testing of batteries or any other battery specific service talk about that. Give some good advice about batteries and car battery replacement.

Add a section to this page briefly describing any other car services or products that you offer. If you already have a general website place a link to it from this page and on the other 2 pages on your mini site. Be sure to link from your general site back to these mini sites.

Be sure to include an easy way for the customers to contact you by telephone or text or email. Include address and directions, as well as, your hours of operation. If you have any testimonials from customers this is a good place to put them.

If your service (like battery replacement) is a seasonal service be sure to change the text to include any special offers or updates needed. Later you can add in a  newsletter or broadcast email service – do not worry about it now.

Your content will be displayed on the Internet through word press. This is very easy to use and you do not need any technical knowledge or the dreaded HTML knowledge to get a very nice appearing web site. Just use one of the simple free design themes provided by word press. You want the look to appear easy to read and simple and clean. No bells, whistles, flashing lights etc.

Key Number 3 – Focused Content and Call to Action

Your sole purpose here is to attract the web searcher needing the specific service you offer, in the specific location where you are. Meet their need and they will connect with you for a purchase. This is a fast search, connect and go transaction.

Think of it as a quick yellow pages look-up. In fact this is the way most people find local information now. If your little mini site comes up on the 1st page of Google for the term you have chosen, then you will get those customers calling you.

Now do this for all three of the domains you have registered. If you get stuck with any of the technical stuff use the outsourcing site Fiverr.com or craigslist.org for help. These activities are not time consuming and you should not pay a lot for the help. You can get all three mini-sites with domains, hosting and technical services relating to word press for less than $500. If you need someone else to write your content that would add only an additional $100 to $200.

The process above can be repeated for as many of your services or products as you wish. Maybe Tommy’s Auto Service has a car detailing shop or an Automatic Transmission service. The local hairdresser can do mini-sites on hair coloring, or perms, or wedding hair services, or nails etc.

In growing your local business on the Internet, multiple, small and tightly focused websites are much more effective in your local market. The Internet covers the world, your business only cares about your local marketplace. Use Geo-tagging and common service search terms to help Google help your potential customers to find your business.

As with any marketing efforts it is important to keep track of where new business comes from. Be sure to ask your customers how they found you and keep notes of the information. Do more of what works and less of what is not working.

You can do this or manage the process of getting it done. The time will be minimal and the results will surprise you with these –  Three Simple Keys to Ranking Your Local Business in Google Searches.

As always Your Business Mentor Ray welcomes your questions and comments on the article –  Three Simple Keys to Ranking Your Local Business in Google Searches

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