Google Campaign - Step 14

Step Fourteen The following few steps will be the most effective steps in getting your website to the top of Google for your local search terms . There are two terms you will hear a lot and you need to know...

Backlinks: Backlinks are the number one most important factor when you want your website to get to the top of Google searches. In the simplest terms, backlinks are links on the internet that point back to your site.

Anchor Text: Anchor text is the actual text of the link. For example, if you notice on a website you can click on certain words and be taken to another site, those words are the "anchor text". Commonly, you might see the words "Click Here" and when you click them you are taken to another site. The "Click Here" is the anchor text in that case. This is important and you will see why later.

Google loves backlinks, and it is widely believed that they are the single best way to get your site to the top of Google. If a site has a lot of other sites linking to it then that site is powerful in Google's eyes, why else would there be so many other sites linking to it?

Developing backlinks should be the majority of your Google search engine optimization. The key is to use anchor text properly! You want your keywords to be the anchor text. If you want to get to the top of Google for "Toronto Landscaping" then you want as many links as possible with that as the anchor text.

Future lessons will tell you how to build these links, but sometimes you may be required to use some HTML OR BBcode. The code is very simple though, and it is worth memorizing:

HTML

<a href=”http://www.yoursite.com”>ANCHOR TEXT aka KEYWORD</a>

BBcode
[url=”http://www.yoursite.com”]ANCHOR TEXT aka KEYWORD[/a]

On a high level that is really it. Create backlinks with your keywords as the Anchor Text. That is the most effective way to climb to the top of Google. Future lessons will let you know where to get them!

Google Campaign - Step 13

Step Thirteen

Alright in the last lesson we talked about the ways you can incorporate a blog into your site. If you aren't interested in blogging, then you can ignore this lesson. The future lessons will get you back on the track on how to promote your traditional site. This lesson is how people can best use their blog to attract customers. These tips work whether the blog is on your main site, or hosted elsewhere (wordpress.com for example).

The key to a blog is updating it properly. I will discuss two techniques you can use.

1. Brand yourself as an expert. Use your blog to answer questions about your industry. Think of a huge list of questions people might have about your service or product. Each question can be one "post" on your blog. You might even start to rank in Google for these questions, attracting potential leads when they search for answers.

2. Use your original keywords. Remember you made a huge list of local search terms in one of the first steps? You used some of these keywords on your website already but you probably a have a large list remaining. Here is where you can use them. Each keyword is the title of your post!

***NOTE*** If using Wordpress.com set your permalinks (in settings menu) to Custom: /%postname%/ . This will ensure that the URL of each of your posts has the post title in the address. Which means, you will also have keywords in your URL. A definite bonus in Google's eyes.

Now you can make a post a day, or a week or whatever. They key is to stay active and somewhat regular. No huge delays in between posts. Once you have a huge list of questions to answer, in combination with your existing keyword list, start making posts. You can even make a bunch of small posts one day, and schedule them to show up on your blog at future dates.

As for the posts themselves, I think you can keep it simple. I would suggest to aim for +250 words. You can add a picture if you want, but it isn't necessary. If your blog is offsite, remember to include a link to your main website.

In conclusion: The best bet is a website built with WordPress. The second best option is to have your blog offsite but linking to your site. Make regular blog posts using keyword terms and industry specific news/questions. Keep the posts in the 250 word range.

Google Campaign - Step 12

Step Twelve

Alright, this step is pretty huge. I don't expect everyone to take it but it can make a big difference both in terms of website functionality and search engine rankings.

Your website really should have a blog . This is a big step and it can be accomplished a couple of ways.

1. You can build your entire site using WordPress . This is the ultimate choice because WordPress offers you so many benefits. Google loves it. It is a blogging platform by nature and you can update your website using the WordPress back office, which is as simple as using a word processing program. Lastly, you can use "plugins" to accomplish many of the tasks from earlier lessons.

Now that said - this is a high level choice with a cost and time commitment you may not be able to handle right now. That is fine, there is an alternative. If you ever do commit to a site redesign or a new website, consider WordPress as the platform, but until then...

2. You create an offsite blog and link to it from your website (vice versa you link to your site from the blog). This is a simple solution and can be done quickly and free! You can do a Google search on "free blogs" and get a ton of results. I strongly suggest WordPress.com though. You can enjoy some of the benefits from the above and If you do ever move your website to a WordPress platform you will be familiar with the back office. Just visit Wordpress.com (or blogging site of your preference) and follow the on screen directions to create your blog.

***NOTE***If you are asked for the title of your blog and web address, use your favorite keywords from the list you created in early lessons!

The basic idea of a blog is an online journal. You make "posts" (daily, weekly or whatever) about your business. Blogs are important because they allow you to create and produce content quickly. The more content you have on your website, the more powerful Google views that site.

For example your website grows by another webpage every time you make a post. So instead of your website having five pages, if you made a post every day your blog would have well over 360 pages by then end of the year. A 360 page site is more powerful than a five page site in Google's opinion.

So the goal now is to either build a website that natively supports a blog, or create one off site and link to your site. The next lesson will deal with how to use the blog, then we will end the blog talk and the rest of the lessons will be applicable to traditional sites as well.

Google Campaign - Step 11

STEP ELEVEN

This next step is a big one. This step is bigger than search results placement -it is a must for every business out there, even those that don't want to dominate the local search terms.

Google has a local business center that allows users to basically get a profile of their business integrated into Google Maps. This step is a big one for local businesses. You definitely want your business coming up on Google Maps. It will help people with directions, be seen by anyone searching Google Maps and it could help in the search engines. Have you ever searched for something on Google and instead of the normal results, a map pops up showing you all of the local businesses that match your search? You want to be on that list! Best part is it is free and easy.

***NOTE*** Google Local Business Center is now known as Google Places.

To get started visit:
www.google.com/local/add/businessCenter (or you can visit www.google.com/places and click on add new business)

Once again you get to flex your mighty Google Account, use the account you created for previous steps to log in once you visit the above link. Click on Add a New Business.

The next page you are prompted to enter your country and phone number. You should enter your business number here to see if Google already has your business listed. If it does, then you can follow the on screen directions to edit and verify your business.

If your business doesn't exist you will get a form to fill out. Take your time and fill out the form as best as you can. Make sure to include a link to your website . I also like including a couple of pictures, it does make a difference. Give as much information as you are comfortable with. The more you fill out, the better your listing will look. Once you are done, click submit.

The next step requires you to verify your business. This is done in one of three ways. Phone call to business phone number, text to listed cell phone number or a post card. The first two are nearly instant, the post card takes a week or so. All three methods result in a PIN number you need to enter in the back office of your Google Places account. Once you have verified your listing it will be published and you are done a very effective step. You will now show up in Google maps searches, and possibly google search results.

Google Campaign - Step 10

STEP TEN

I was gonna mention this point near the end, but since we just set up the Google Webmaster Tools account lets move on to XML Sitemaps.

An XML Sitemap is a file that lists all of the URL's of your website. This file will allow search engines to quickly find any new pages you add (or posts if you have a blog).

The first thing you have to do is actually create the XML file. If you use WordPress for your website (more on this later, always recommended) there is a plugin called "Google XML-Sitemaps". This plugin will handle XML Sitemap creation and submission. It is highly recommended. For those of us with traditional websites, read on...

Creating an XML Sitemap from scratch is not really fun, especially if you have tons of pages. There are lots of XML Sitemap Generators out there, you just have to search for them. The one I most recently used was:

http://www.xml-sitemaps.com/

You can use this one, or find your own. Once you have found one just follow the onscreen directions to create your sitemap. On the above site, you will get a link to download your xml file. Once you have done that, you will have to upload that document to your website. You can do this yourself via FTP, or your website's backend. You can also get your web designer to do it. If you upload the file to your public_html folder, then the link to the sitemap will be www.yourdomain.com/sitemap.xml (or whatever you titled it, keep it simple with sitemap.xml though).

Once you have your sitemap URL it is time to go back to Webmaster Tools! Log into your account and then under the Site Configuration tab will be a Sitemaps link. Click that link and you will see a "Submit a Sitemap" button. Click that button and add the URL of your sitemap. You are done!

Google Campaign - Step 9

STEP NINE

Last lesson, we discussed Google Analytics. Google doesn't just offer analytics, it also offers another free web service called Google Webmaster Tools. Similar to Analytics, this also offers website owners some cool features on top of a potential rankings boost.

Using Google Webmaster tools allows you to do things like:

★ Submit Sitemaps (more in future lessons)
★ Find external links to your website
★ Analyze your Title and Description tags (helps eliminate duplicate ones)
★ Navigation Diagnostics - Will let you know of dead links on your website, or pages that Google can not see

For our purposes, the real benefit to this is a potential boost in your search engine results. Setting up Webmaster Tools is a snap - especially if you did the last step (Analytics).

You need to start by visiting:

http://www.google.com/webmasters/tools

You can use your current Google Account to access Webmaster Tools. It is recommended you use the same account that you used to set up Analytics (I will explain later).

Once you have accessed and logged in to Webmaster Tools. You will see a button that says "Add A Site" click this button and add your website URL. Once you have done that you will be taken to a verification screen. There you will see a piece of code you can add to the area of your webpage.

Are you sick of dealing with website code? Well, if you set up Google Analytics with the same account you are using now, you will be able to verify using that code you have already added. Look for that option and choose it.

If everything goes smoothly you will now have a verified Webmaster Tools account. Once your data populates you can check out the different options available to you now. Google has a great knowledge base with answers to just about any question you may have.

Google Campaign For You

STEP EIGHT

The entire goal of this course is to get your site on the first page of Google for your search terms (keywords). The higher the better. Thats the reason we don't leave a stone unturned. If there is something that might help us get there, we need to take a shot.

Google provides a number of free tools for the webmaster. One of the most important is Google Analytics. This tool allows you to keep track of your web traffic. You can monitor how many people visit your site and how they got there (amongst dozens of other measurables). If that was the only benefit it would still be well worth it. These lessons are concerned about Google search rankings though, how does this fit?

Well it is the opinion of many people that Google lends some weight to sites that use their website services. In my opinion, this makes it a complete "no brainer".

You can monitor your websites traffic AND possibly boost the status of your site in the eyes of the almighty Google. Win win.

To set up Google analytics follow these steps:

1. You will need a Google Account, you can get one form Google.com if you don't already have one. If you have gmail, you have a google account.

2. Then you need to visit: https://www.google.com/analytics/ and there will be a big "access analytics" button, click it. You will have to enter your Google account information.

3. You will be prompted to enter things such as your URL, country and time zone. Do that and hit continue. You will be prompted to enter some personal information, enter that and hit continue again.

4. Next step you will read and agree to Analytics terms and services.

5. Now that is done, you will get the "Google tracking Code". This code will need to go into your website code (yes code again, hopefully you are comfortable with this or have a good web designer). Just enter the code provided onto the bottom of the pages you want to track, right before the tag.

6. In 24 hours you will begin to receive updates on your web traffic! Simple as that.

For more detailed instructions (including pics) visit:

http://www.flyteblog.com/flyte/2008/12/setting-up-google-analytics-a-stepbystepguide.html