The amount of search engine queries as a whole that contain some kind of local intent is mind-boggling with upwards of forty percent. Business owners concerned about their local Memphis SEO should consider the importance of positioning their websites for local search success. On the other hand, Memphis business owners first priority is running their business and considering a local Memphis SEO initiative will test the limits of time and resources beyond manageability. In this situation, it makes sense to hand over the job to someone that specializes in local and organic search marketing.Savvy business owners have already caught on to the importance of local, organic and social search engine marketing. Evidence of this is provided by the number of local businesses that not only have a website but a Facebook business page as well. However, most business owners would rather not navigate the murky waters of Memphis SEO and its methodology. For those business owners that would rather not delve into mechanics of SEO, we have provided an outline below.
Research
As a business owner with a website, you took the first step into the SEO world by researching your target audience and designing a website or having one designed with that target audience in mind. You as a business owner know your customers and clients and you have the solution to their needs. A website is your storefront to capture your audience, to showcase solutions and to convert website visitors into clients and customers. The initial research you did before building your website is only the first element of your research.
Keyword Research
Keywords are the cornerstone of all search, local, organic, nationally, globally and PPC. They are what bring together the targeted audience with the website. Keyword research is an on-going process which is not unlike mining for precious metals. Through keyword research with the help of keyword research tools, a SEO professional can find the obvious target audience keywords. In-depth keyword research will, as is often the case, turn up not so obvious long-tailed keywords that can turn into real gems that neither the business owner nor the SEO professional considered initially.
Know Thy Competition
The strengths and weaknesses of your competition can provide an SEO professional with a wealth of information. Your goal as a website owner when implementing best practices for Memphis SEO local search is to ultimately outrank your competition for every keyword related to your market. In other words, you want to dominate the local search market for your area of business. Professional SEO’s know how to look at your competition and use their strengths and apply them to your website. They also know how to use their weaknesses to your advantage. Many of their weaknesses can be found simply by looking at the source code of a competitor’s website. Most importantly, their linking profile can be studied easily enough to determine what is needed to outrank them in the local search results. The study of your competition is an essential part of a Memphis SEO initiative.
The Memphis SEO Strategy: Three Important Elements
On-Page optimization is the first of three very important elements of implementing a sound SEO strategy. In reality, a Memphis business owner must please two masters with their website. Of course the first master would be visitors to the website which should reverberate with targeted content and the necessary aesthetics. A talented website designer should be considered in your overall strategy. Well written sales copy along with illustrations and pictures if the targeted business area requires them are all necessary. Keywords within Meta tags, articles, title tags and all sales copy are required to please not only website visitors, but more importantly, search engines.
Off-Page Optimization
Much to the chagrin of our website designer brethren, although necessary, on-page optimization in the overall design of your Memphis online marketing strategy is much smaller in comparison with off-page optimization. Most website design companies do excellent work and are passionate about their vocation and rightly so, they are wonderfully talented artist. However, most web design companies offer SEO as a secondary product to their clients and don’t do enough to properly optimize their client’s websites off-page.
There are portfolios of website design companies here in Memphis which showcase beautiful websites designed for their clients and they are beautifully crafted pieces of art, I must say. However a simple click of the mouse on some of these websites reveal the source code and there are no targeted keywords within the Meta tags, one of the rudimentary elements of on-page optimization and local intent search. We’re not beating up on our local web design friends, our research locally has only revealed this to be true.
Local business listings are necessary and up-to-date information is critical. Local business directories may be a potential customer’s first interaction with your brand. Although your website is the preferred method for the initial interaction with a potential customer, this is not always the case. Correct and up-to-date information on third party websites should be monitored and errors or omissions quickly corrected. Make efforts to ensure your website is properly categorized within third party sites and photos always increase the chances of searcher/customer interaction.
There are many factors involved with off-page optimization with the most important being your inbound linking structure. Your rankings in the local search results are largely determined by inbound links. Relevance for local intent search is signaled through anchor text within the link as well as the content surrounding the link. Another important determining factor is the link’s value, a derivative of the page rank of the webpage the link is coming from. Link building is where the “rubber meets the road” with a SEO initiative. In other words, of all the things that comprise a local Memphis SEO initiative, link building is the largest factor which will determine your website’s positioning within the local search engines. Link building requires considerable time and resources and can be challenging for someone that does not have the skill to navigate the SEO landscape.
Fine Tune Your Online Marketing With Analytics
No marketing campaign would be successful without monitoring and analyzing the data produced. Memphis online marketing is custom made for analysis and the use of Google Analytics is a powerful tool when used to track and compile data. Analytics can help webmasters fine-tune their online marketing efforts and determine what is and isn’t successful within their local Memphis SEO initiative. Google Analytics reveals how visitors are interacting with a website, providing a wealth of information including new keywords used to find a website that may not have been considered during the initial keyword research phase. You can find Google Analytics here.
Memphis SEO Services for Memphis Business Owners
Memphis area business owners should optimize their websites to capitalize on the high volume of local search going on within Memphis and the surrounding areas everyday. Every local Memphis SEO initiative must be customized to meet the needs of the individual website and its target audience within the competitive landscape. Search engine optimization ebbs and flows with the currents and tides of changing search engine algorithms and ranking factors. This clearly reveals the need for both strategic and technical requirements to position a website well for Memphis area local search. If you are a local business owner researching the idea of a Memphis SEO initiative, please consider the services of Search Engine Optimization Memphis.
