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Local SEO: To DIY or Not to DIY?

Last Updated: May 12, 2016

After reading up on Google’s countless webmaster resources, you’ve managed to put together a pretty decent-looking Maps listing for your local business. Feeling confident, you wonder, “How hard could the rest of my online advertising really be?”
This is usually the gateway that leads small business owners into handling their own local SEO and online advertising. Some business owners who take the DIY route wind up realizing they bit off more than they could chew. Yet, others discover a hidden talent for online advertising and learn that they’re more tech savvy than they thought. It can go either way.
If you can’t figure out whether you should try your hand at DIY online marketing or bite the bullet and hire an outside company to do it for you, this post is for you. We’ll highlight the major pros and cons of each avenue to give you a better idea of what you might be getting into.
Let’s jump in.

DIY: Pros and Cons

Pros

Performing all of your own local SEO and online advertising can be a big money-saving measure for small business owners, helping you avoid monthly payments to an outside company.
Other benefits of DIY SEO include:

  • Having intimate knowledge of your business’s online advertising strategies, since you’re the only one working on them.
  • Having immediacy when it comes to online advertising work. You can make any desired changes without having to wait for someone else to do it.
  • Having complete oversight (read: control) of your company’s online strategies. You can easily keep track of all of your logins, directories, and other pertinent info because you’re the only one who has access to them.

Cons

However, many small business owners decide the above perks aren’t worth dealing with the numerous obstacles that come with performing your own SEO. Some of these obstacles are:

  • Only working with one data point: yours. For SEO, where you need as much data as possible to monitor trends and conduct A/B testing, this can put you at a disadvantage.
  • Not devoting enough time or attention to SEO. Since you’re balancing this work with running a business full time, you may not notice any issues or strange hiccups in your campaign right away.
  • Diverting time away from your job. You essentially lose revenue every time you work on your online advertising instead of providing service for a customer.

Internet Marketing Company: Pros and Cons

When a small business owner decides the obstacles facing them in DIY online advertising are too much, they usually opt to hire an Internet marketing company instead (or they forego online advertising altogether).

Pros

So, what are the benefits of hiring an outside company that appeal to small business owners?

  • More data. The Internet marketing company probably has hundreds of other clients, which means hundreds of data points to pull from and sharpen their expertise. They can tell if something is an isolated case or a broader trend.
  • Optimal strategies. A professional company will have developed multiple approaches to maximize efficiency for various online advertising needs.
  • Combined experience. Because it’s a team made up of multiple individuals, the online marketing company has lots of combined experience and various fields of expertise to draw from.
  • Constant monitoring. It’s their full-time job to monitor online advertising campaigns, so they notice right away when a new issue crops up. They also know as soon as Google updates its algorithm and can determine how wide-reaching the update is.

Cons

Hiring an outside company may sound like an ideal scenario, but, as with anything, it does come with certain drawbacks. For example:

  • Waiting period. Depending on the size of the company you’ve hired, it’s unlikely you can get immediate results for whatever work you need done. You’ll almost definitely get someone on the phone, but you won’t necessarily be able to see the work instantly completed. (Note: A smaller company can probably provide you with a faster turnaround time.)
  • Less control. When you hire an outside company, you don’t have much control over your online advertising strategies. Plus, you won’t be able to replicate their system on your own because each marketing company uses its own “secret sauce” when performing local SEO.
  • Monthly payment. If your budget is super tight, then it might be difficult to afford a premium SEO service. Luckily, some of the smaller online advertising companies offer packages that tend to be more budget friendly.

Do a Gut Check

Ultimately, the decision between doing your own web marketing or hiring a professional comes down to your gut. Ask yourself questions like:

  • How comfortable do you feel learning the numerous webmaster tools involved?
  • How willing are you to devote your leisure time to online advertising tasks?
  • How much wiggle room is in your monthly budget?

If the mere thought of spending hours on Internet directories, social media, and Google Maps makes you cringe, then maybe the DIY route isn’t for you. But if you enjoy learning and challenging yourself and you’ve got plenty of spare time, then it just might be worth a try.
 

Why Do Rewarding SEO Campaigns Demand Your Patience?

Last Updated: February 15, 2024

Wouldn’t SEO campaigns be so much easier if you could just flip a switch and watch them go? Alas, the Internet simply doesn’t work that way.
Launching an online marketing campaign takes a lot of time. To ensure extended success, Prospect Genius—and many standup companies like us—must run through an exhaustive, time-consuming process when setting up any new campaign.
If you’ve been asking yourself why your Core campaign took so long to get off the ground, then this blog post is for you. Here, you’ll get a thorough explanation of all the work Prospect Genius typically does when launching a Core campaign. You’ll also find out why this process is worth the wait.
Let’s jump in!

How We Create a Campaign

As soon as a new client accepts our terms of service, we pull the lever and get the ball rolling on your campaign. Each step leads to another, and they must be completed in the right order. We cannot skip ahead. Remember the game Mouse Trap? It’s kind of like that.
Here’s what the process looks like from beginning to end. By the time you get to the bottom of this list, you’ll understand how much work goes into getting a campaign off the ground:

  1. Basic background check. Before beginning any work, we investigate what kind of information and listings are already out there for your company. This will inform us on how to proceed.
  2. Address check. We need to ensure you can receive mail at the address you gave us. This is how Google verifies your business’s location. If you can’t receive mail there, we must figure out a legitimate workaround before we can continue.
  3. Call forwarding setup. We order your call forwarding number, a.k.a. your CallTrax™ number, which allows us to track your incoming leads for you. Once we receive this number from our provider, we set up call forwarding and add it to our system.
  4. Photo collection. We gather photos of your business found during our background check or submitted by you. We save these photos in a collection so we can use them when we build your LeadTrax™ site. If you don’t have any photos, we will find relevant stock photos for you.
  5. Review collection. We search the Internet for reviews of your business. We record and save all of the positive reviews so we can display them on your LeadTrax site.
  6. Google Maps setup. We find out whether you have an existing Google Maps listing. If you do, then we try to gain access to it by having you name us manager or by submitting a claim to Google.

And that’s just the initial setup! Now, your campaign moves on to the writing and assembly stage.

  1. Keyword research. We do research to discover the most appropriate keywords for your site. This enables us to formulate the best approach for on-page SEO.
  2. Fresh content creation. We write all of the copy for your LeadTrax site from scratch. No content is duplicated for new clients. You get totally unique content for your site.
  3. Error proofing. Writing content from scratch means it has to be meticulously combed over for mistakes. We double- and triple-check your content to certify its accuracy.
  4. Site building. Once your content has been crafted and carefully edited, we design and build your site based on our templates. Our templates leave plenty of room for customization, though, so it’s never a one-size-fits-all scenario.
  5. Quality control. Before we launch your site, we check it one more time to make sure it looks great and represents your business accurately and positively.
  6. Resource setup. After your LeadTrax site has been launched, we create Bing and Google accounts so we can set up Webmaster tools and resources for your campaign.
  7. Social media setup. We also create social media pages for your business on Facebook, Twitter, About.me, and Foursquare.

This covers the first several weeks of your campaign. Then we move on to the trickiest part:

  1. Online promotion. Over the next 60 days, we create and/or claim a series of online listings using the most up-to-date information about your business. However, this process is performed in multiple stages, spread out over weeks. (Find out why below.) The efficiency of this process is partially dictated by your cooperation in claiming and verifying listings.

Once this phase is complete, you’ve reached the end of what we call your “ramp-up period.” It usually takes about 90 days, or three months, to get here.

Why Does It Have to Be Done This Way?

We aren’t the only ones who take our time establishing a campaign. Any reputable Internet marketer knows a campaign can’t be launched overnight. Building the foundation for a long-lasting presence takes weeks and weeks and weeks of meticulous, strategic work.
Why do we thoroughly examine your company’s web presence before we even begin? Because we need to correct any past missteps and start your campaign on a solid footing. Otherwise, the actions of your campaign may contradict existing information and inadvertently work against you.
Why do we write all of your site content from scratch? Because we understand that your business is unique, and your content should represent you. Plus, copying content from other campaigns is a surefire way to get penalized by Google. Duplicate content is a huge no-no any way you look at it.
Why do we perform your online promotion in multiple stages? Because creating or updating all of your listings at once will lead Google to mark them as spam. We strategically spread out the creation of your listings week by week so your growing presence appears more organic. This nurtures your site’s rankings without risking penalties from Google.
In other words, we take our time because that’s the only way to do online advertising right.

How Come Other Companies Get It Done Faster?

It’s true—some companies can get your campaign up and running in a week. And after reading all about our setup process, you have to ask yourself, How is that possible?
There’s no simple answer to this, but it boils down to the fact that it’s easier to take shortcuts. Many Internet marketing companies sacrifice long-term presence for quick results. They set up your campaign as fast as they can, and then they forget about it.
But here’s the thing: You only get a super-fast turnaround when your web history hasn’t been thoroughly examined, when your content has been copied and pasted, when your business is promoted like spam, when your campaign is just another carbon copy.
So if an online advertising company is promising you unbelievable success within mere weeks, it’s because they’re cutting corners. Don’t take the bait.

A banner we proudly display in our office.
A banner we proudly display in our office.

Reminder: Traditional SEO Is as Influential as Ever

Last Updated: April 21, 2016

With the growing emphasis on local rankings in Google Maps, it’s easy for business owners to forget about the significance of traditional SEO and organic search rankings.
Thankfully, a recent article by Christopher Ratcliff reminds business owners of the enduring importance of organic SEO—especially as it relates to local rankings. The article discusses how Google revealed the top factors in local ranking. And, as it turns out, organic search ranking is one of those factors.
In addition to geographic proximity, topical relevance, and customer reviews, “prominence” is a factor that influences where a business ranks on Google Maps. According to Google’s own explanation (which is linked to in Ratcliff’s article), “prominence” has multiple meanings. In some circumstances, prominence is dictated by real-world popularity; thus, well known establishments like museums, departments stores, and places of worship will appear high in local search rankings. In other circumstances, prominence refers to the amount of information Google is able to collect about a local business. Therefore, lots of articles, links, and directory listings will lead to higher local search rankings.
And then Google comes right out and says this:

Your position in web results is also a factor, so SEO best practices also apply to local search optimization.

That’s right: Your organic rankings directly impact your local rankings.
This should clear up any misconception that Google Maps and mobile search have rendered traditional SEO obsolete. Moreover, online marketing companies like Prospect Genius and countless others specialize in making organic and local work together for optimal results.

What You Don't Know About Directory Listings Can Hurt You

Last Updated: April 13, 2016

How much do you know about your small business’s directory listings?
Our guess: Not nearly as much as you should.
They may seem negligible compared to the overwhelming, day-to-day demands of running a business; however, if you don’t stay on top of them, your directory listings could wind up being populated with incorrect information about your company. In turn, this will have far-reaching, negative effects on your web presence.
Whether you’ve worked with an SEO provider in the past or your web presence is more of a DIY effort, it’s up to you, the business owner, to have at least a general idea of where and how you’re listed online.
In this post, you’ll discover:

  • Popular directories where your business might be listed
  • What to look for when you check your listings
  • Why it’s critical for you to keep your listings accurate

Let’s dive in, shall we?

Know Where Your Business Is Listed

To get started, search for your company on some of the more popular business directories. These include Google Maps, Bing Local, Yelp, Manta, the Better Business Bureau (BBB), and Angie’s List. Start with these and, if you’re feeling motivated, you can move on to a more thorough Google (or Bing) search for the rest of your listings.
However, bear in mind that tracking down every site where your company is listed can be a tedious, time-consuming project. It requires several hours of sifting through page after page of search engine results. Unfortunately, most small business owners simply don’t have the time or energy to do this themselves.
So if you currently work with an SEO provider, reach out to them and ask if they offer any tools or resources to uncover all of the directories that list your business. If you aren’t currently working with an SEO provider or your provider doesn’t offer this type of service, call Prospect Genius! We can conduct a WebFax® report that will tell you everything you need to know.

Know How Your Business Is Listed

Knowing where you’re listed is the first step. Next comes evaluating the accuracy of those listings.
Remember, it may not be your fault if some of the information is wrong. Incorrect listings can result from a number of different variables. But regardless of whether errors were caused by a careless marketer you worked with in the past or a directory bot that pulled only partial information from another listing, it’s your responsibility to be aware of them.
If you discover any errors, fix them right away (or contact whoever controls your listings so they can fix the errors for you). Here’s what you should be looking for.

Is Your Contact Info Correct?

First, verify that all of the following information is filled out. Then, check it for typos and other errors:

  • Phone number
  • Street address
  • Company name
  • E-mail address
  • Website URL

Prospective customers won’t be able to contact you if your information is wrong, so it’s vital you fix these errors ASAP.
Understand the dangers of conflicting information by reading our blog post, “One Simple Way to Take Control of Your Online Presence.”

Are You Listed in the Correct Categories?

Next, take a look at the category (or categories) your business is listed under. These categories should accurately describe the selection of products and/or services your business offers.
Even if you think your categories are probably correct because an SEO professional handled your directory listings for you, check anyway. We see a lot of cases where a business’s web presence is floundering, only to discover that a previous SEO provider had listed them in the wrong categories. Sometimes, they left out a category due to human error; other times, the provider got overzealous and named too many categories that were mostly irrelevant.
No matter what caused the initial problem, you need to make sure you’re ultimately listed under the correct categories. This is a crucial aspect of your web presence, as it may determine who actually sees your listings. If you’re not listed under the right categories, you could be missing out on people who are searching for your services.

Is Your Service Info Up to Date?

Finally, for the same reasons explained above, it’s imperative that you keep your business’s service information up to date on all of your listings. It’s not uncommon for businesses to grow, change, and expand over the years. If your services and/or products have changed recently, make sure your web presence reflects that.

Ignorance Is Not Bliss

When it comes to your business’s directory listings, there’s no such thing as remaining “blissfully” unaware.
Like everything else in business—and in life—you can’t help yourself by keeping your hands over your eyes. If there are problems with your listings, they exist whether you’re aware of them or not. It’s better to be aware. When you’re aware of problems, you can fix them. Otherwise, they’ll just quietly wreak havoc on your web presence.
Armed with the information in this post, you can now go forth and make sure your business’s directory listings are working with you, not against you.

Shocking News: Russia Buys Google

Last Updated: February 15, 2024

So, this is pretty unbelievable news.
Very quietly, over the last two weeks, some of our country’s biggest search engine companies have moved their operations over to Russia. Google, Yahoo!, and Bing are among these companies. The news hasn’t been publicly announced yet, but we managed to get an early scoop.
Why the move? Our sources tell us it boils down to money—specifically, taxes. The owners of Google, Yahoo!, Bing, and other Internet companies escaped to Russia for tax benefits. President Vladimir Putin allowed them to establish operations there and enjoy tax-free status, but only under one condition: that they rename their companies after him.
Here’s a sneak peek at the companies’ new branding.
Google is now “Puugle”:Puugle
Yahoo! is now “Yahpu!”:Yahpu!
Bing is now “Puting”:puting
And we actually managed to get an exclusive look at the new Puugle home page! Check it out at www.puugle.com.
Needless to say, this is going to have unpredictable, far-reaching ramifications for the whole online advertising industry. So stay tuned for updates as this story develops.

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