"Optimizing a site for local search marketing dominance can be an overwhelming task."

Most companies have staff to deal with, vendors to juggle and ‘alphabet soup agencies’ to keep happy. Finding time to research and grasp internet marketing opportunities unique to the Central Coast can be more difficult to handle under these circumstances than most people realize.

Here’s a quick little checklist I put together to help local companies grasp why effectively marketing their businesses online is critical.

This checklist is titled, Internet Marketing Advice: 5 Sure Fire Ways to ‘Invite’ Competitors To Dominate You Online

Mistake #1 – Stay offline.

The first and most common way to invite competitors to dominate you is to stay offline. Sadly few area businesses have a website at all. For proof, peruse the local Chamber of Commerce website. Many Santa Maria Valley Chamber of Commerce members do not own websites.

This trend is not unique to Chamber of Commerce members. It’s the same with non-chamber businesses too. Most of them do not have websites either.

Based on the number of local companies I’ve spoken with over the years, I estimate that only around 10% of Central Coast companies have a website of their own. This is sad. Why? Because according to Google, 73% of online activity is “related to local content” in one way or another. And research conducted by The Kelsey Group and ConStat shows 70% of homes in the U.S. use the internet when shopping for something locally. People search online but buy offline.

So if a company has no web presence they are missing out on local shoppers who now use the internet as a local shopping information resource more than they use newspapers.

Clearly every local merchant, retailer, professional and service provider should have a website. Either to give directions, transact sales online, strengthen relations with existing clients and customers, or to develop new relations with local online surfers, many of whom primarily make buying decisions based on what they find on the internet.

It amazes me that in this day and age when it’s reported that 87% of businesses use the internet to find new vendors and 43% of consumers are expected by the year 2012 to make purchases influenced by the internet –if not directly transacted online– that any company would choose to opt-out of this primarily free source of revenues. They are walking away from free revenues.

Plus, by not building a site they are leaving doors wide open for competitors outside of our area to rank higher in internet search results and ’steal’ local buyers who belong to area businesses. This is a compounded loss.

Every company that does not yet own a website, is in essence ’stealing’ resources from the Central Coast. The money that local buyers are sending to competitors outside this area is money that is not being reinvested into our community.

Before you say to yourself that this is a little thing, consider that perhaps 90% of area businesses are making this same mistake. 90%. That has to be a huge amount of money that is no longer available to strengthen our local economy. All because the majority of local companies fail to appreciate how important it is in today’s economy for local businesses to be online.

Mistake # 2 – Buy into the myth that erroneously claims, ‘if you build it they will come’.

Of the local companies that do have websites, the majority lack an online presence.

What I mean is that the site are online, but they are poorly positioned in search results. No one locally can find the sites when searching common expected keywords in Google or Yahoo or similar search engines.

Instead of local buyers and surfers finding relevant local sites, the surfers end up landing on pages that have nothing to do with any Central Coast company. For many local search results, out of area companies dominate search engines.

The primary reason out of area companies dominate local results is because many local companies have imagined that internet marketing is a case of set it and forget it. That is, they think that just listing their web address on their business cards and stationary is going to drive massive amounts of traffic to their site. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Creating a great looking website that no one can find while is like building a major superstore and placing it in the middle of the Amazon Rain Forest — sure it’s there, but who can find it?

With over six billion competing pages listed in Google alone, there’s slim chance many people will find a site that is poorly positioned for critical and relevant local keywords and phrases.

The solution to fix this problem requires on-site and off-site search marketing activities plus a focus on visitor conversion. The steps are too detailed to list here.

Mistake # 3 – Hire a SEO ‘expert’ to spam search engines with useless content and dirty tricks

Using illegal "black hat" SEO tactics and scams can and will get your site blackballed. Eventually.

All it takes to bring you down is one disgruntled employee or annoyed vendor or competitor to report you. Your site will get blacklisted. Might as well shoot yourself in the foot at this point because now your site will never show up when people go online to buy.

A better approach to search marketing is to operate with full integrity. Never mislead visitors or try to trick the search engines. You’d only end up hurting yourself.

Mistake # 4 -Believe that the extent of real SEO is limited to altering meta tags and other on-page elements within a site.

This is sad. I’ve lost track of the thousands of pages I’ve scanned in Google of so called SEO experts who charge huge four and five-figure fees to alter meta tags and other on page factors, while claiming that is what SEO is all about. It isn’t.

Trust me on this one. I’ve been online since before the world wide web existed. Back in the early days of online marketing on page factors was the key to top SEO. But over the past four or five years the search engines have gotten smarter. Way smarter.

The SEs know spammers falsify meta tags and other on page factors. That is why the winning search engines ignore keyword meta tags. Instead, the search engines’ algorithms focus on other critical and relevant data to build search results. Spamming your site with fake content doesn’t cut it. More is required. Much more.

Mistake # 5 – Spend $10,000 a month for ‘guaranteed’ 1st page results in Google.

That lie is a scam! No one can guarantee #1 position on Google. But don’t take my word on it… here’s what Google says about guaranteeing 1st page results:

"Beware of SEOs that claim to guarantee rankings, allege a "special relationship" with Google, or advertise a "priority submit" to Google. There is no priority submit for Google. In fact, the only way to submit a site to Google directly is through our Add URL page or by submitting a Sitemap and you can do this yourself at no cost whatsoever."

So what are these ‘guaranteed’ companies guaranteeing? Non-competitive and low competition phrases, like your own company name. This is a no-brainer. Anyone who owns the ‘official’ site for a company should rank relatively high on Google very easily for that name. After all, there is only one ‘official’ site for anything and Google wants to provide the highest user value possible. That usually includes first of all delivering up the official sites for all relevant searches. This doesn’t cost $10k to accomplish. In fact it’s usually free and is automatic. Don’t fall for the scams.

Is Your Site Optimized
For The Search Engines?

If your site is not optimized for achieving highest local rankings possible, you’re missing opportunities to gain greater levels of traffic through search engines’ organic listings.

Here are the key steps to begin optimizing your site for the search engines:

• Research And Determine Relevant Keyword Selection For Your Target Market
• Review Your Site To Determine If You Are Providing Visitors and Search Engines With Optimal On-Page Elements
• Evaluate Main Content For Possible Changes Or Additions To Match Target Market Expectations
• Publish Relevant Offsite SEO Content To Attract Traffic From Social Media Portals And Boost SEO Positioning

Obviously these steps are time-consuming. Sure, you can choose to do this work yourself and experiment with the process in hopes of eventually landing on the correct combination to give you top local ranking. But as a business owner and decision maker your time is limited. Why bother? We might be able to help…

Here’s Your First Step Towards Local Search Marketing Domination…

Read our blog entry What Is Search Engine Optimization. The insights are relevant to local SEO as well as competing on a national or international level.