Don’t get penalized for old online marketing techniques. This video will help you learn how to rank higher on Google in 2017 using organic (i.e., FREE) online marketing techniques.
* Intended to be used and must be used for informational purposes only. Fees may be changed by Amazon at any time.
What worked three years ago for SEO isn’t what will work today. Google’s ever-changing algorithms demand constant attention for online marketers. For example, there are new strategies for companies who wish to rank high for local business, etc. Here are a few of the online marketing techniques you need to know now…
Online Marketing in 2017: SEO (Search Engine Optimization) Basics for Today
SEO concerns how well you rank in online searches for the services and goods your business sells. Therefore, SEO is a critical part of online marketing.
Google is an online search engine that dominates the world of online searches with 86% of the market. It is a very dynamic company where change is a constant. If you are not staying current on the latest online marketing techniques, you may find your Google rankings slipping or dropping out of site completely.
- Moz Pie Chart - According to Moz, an Internet company that provides data on local ranking factors for online marketing, here are a few of the more important factors that determine whether or not you show up in search rankings of Google’s local business listings (all percentages approximate):
- 15% of your success depends on whether you have a Google My Business (GMB) listing setup completely (via GYBO.com) and optimized
- 14% of your success depends on whether Internet mentions of your business’s name, address and phone number match exactly with how they are presented in your GMB listing.
- 8% of your success is due to whether or not you have reviews set up on your GMB listing.
- 5% of your online marketing success for showing up on Google searches depends on your use of social media (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.)
- 20% of your success for showing up on Google searches depends on how well your web site is optimized, with each page (and blogs) dedicated to a separate aspect of the services your provide, written strategically to appeal to Google’s latest algorithms.
- 20% of your success depends on how well you strategically implement back links (more below)
- The remaining percentages concern a variety of other online marketing factors.
- Set Up Google Alerts – set them up to monitor both your competition and keywords that concern your competitive online marketing status within your market space.
- Test Your Website Scores – one way to do this is through gtmetrics.com – allows you to measure the speed of your server. Google said recently the speed at which your site loads will become a larger ranking factor for how to rank higher on Google in 2017. This is due to the proliferation of searches being done on mobile devices, many of which are still 3G. GTmetrics.com also provides a lot of other detail for optimizing your web site.
- Google My Business listing – critical for Google rankings. Set it up at GYBO.com (“Get Your Business Online” – a Google portal). List your business’s NAP (name, address and phone number mindfully, as promotional mentions of your business’s NAP anywhere else on the Internet that match perfectly with your GMB NAP info.
- Setup Google Analytics – you can’t improve what you can’t measure. This free tool provides search engine metrics for your business and provides important data for online marketing in 2017.
- Track Your Rankings – know where you rank versus your competitors. There are some free ways to do this, and some that require a fee. Brightlocal.com is a subscription service that tells you how your keywords rank relative to your competition and is great for planning.
- RANKING>TRAFFIC>CONVERSION>LEADS – the formula for how to rank higher on Google in 2017 and make sales! If you aren’t ranking on Google for the services you offer, very few potential and existing customers will know you exist.
The umbrella of SEO not only covers your rankings on Google but also includes Bing and Yahoo; social media as well as your email marketing, pay-for-click campaigns, YouTube, etc. all impact your rankings to varying degrees and if you do them right, you can be at the top of your market without paying online ad fees.
Online Marketing in 2017: Keyword Research
Keyword research is essential to you success and can be easily organized by forming a checklist from the below bullet points:
- Check Your Website for Current Keywords - Knowing what words to rank for is essential to your free online marketing. It’s hard to rank for keywords that every other business attempts to rank for. Conversely, you don’t want keywords that no one searches on. The key is finding a keyword phrase that strikes the balance and results in conversion and leads. A great way to do this is to have a form on your site that asks people how you can serve them. The words they use in answering that questions might be keyword “gold.”
- Google Keyword Planner
- Create a Top 50 Keyword List
- Spy Competition
- Do a Google search on the keywords you are considering. What shows up? Are your competitors there?
- Relevancy
- Triggering Local Results
- Going forward, the keywords you type into your computer will often yield different results than those you type into your phone. Google will increasingly be focusing search results based on the location of the searcher, a critical factor which will localize online marketing going forward. Therefore, be mindful going forward that search results will be more localized on Google.
Online Marketing in 2017: Citations
A citation is anywhere your business’s name, address and phone number are online. These must be consistent WITH YOUR GOOGLE BUSINESS LISTING (via gybo.com) anywhere your business is indicated online, such as on Facebook, Yelp, CitySearch, YouTube, on local chamber of commerce and other business listings, and on your own web site, etc. for success in online marketing rankings. It even helps to be consistent with your GMB listing on stationery and printed promo as often times others will be entering your information into Internet forms off of these documents, such as into online directories, etc. Consistency with your GMB listing is essential to how to rank higher on Google in 2017.
- Create Citation Report & Evaluate – subscription services such as brightlocal.com and whitespark.ca can do this for you. See interview with Miles Anderson, Brightlocal founder.
- Claim and Optimize Top 10 & Top 50 Citations
- Fill Out or Correct/Optimize New Local Citations
- Be Patient and Persistent - fixing and monitoring online marketing issues like these takes a little time and attention, but are worth the effort.
Consistent citations can occupy listing spaces dedicated to your business instead of your competitor.
Online Marketing in 2017: Why Do Online Reviews Matter for a Local Business?
- Review guidelines
- How to get 2-3 reviews per month
- Remove negative reviews/respond to reviews
- Have a review party and trade reviews
- Reviews with Schema markup
- 5 Star reviews on google – enlist happy customers to provide a 5-star review minimum.Great for online marketing!
- See our recent blog post on new Amazon policies related to incentivized reviews.
Excellent information regarding online reviews and other online marketing points is available at our Online Reviews Blog.
Online Marketing in 2017: Meta Data & NAP
Behind the scenes info on your web site pages that determines how the link and description of your services/page appear in Google search results:
- Yoast - a service on WordPress (used to create 60% of web sites presently) that assesses and provides feedback on SEO benchmarks for sites created with WordPress.
- Title – an extra opportunity to use a keyword
- Description – more opportunities to use a keyword
- Keyword – pick 1 per page. Unlike years past, this is how it must be done today.
- NAP (Business Name, Address, Phone Number)
- Multi-location business with NAP –each location must have separate phone number and separate address. Each location should be linked from GMB to specific pages on the web site, i.e., a separate page on the web site for each location.
Online Marketing in 2017: contact page, look & feel of site, call to action, event tracking
- Contact page - provide a quick and easy contact form to fill out that asks for base info, such as name, address, phone number and main interest in contacting you.
- Create thank you page and counter
- Add interactive embedded Google map
- Eliminate/replace any outdated "captchas"
- Call to action buttons/event tracking – don’t be shy.
Online Marketing in 2017: Back Links
Having links from other web sites benefits your SEO rankings. Trade testimonials, etc. instead of reciprocating links for SEO benefit.
Online Marketing in 2017: Rich Content, Product Pages and Blogging
- Write 300-600 words per service/product page
- Visually breakup content
- 1 page for each product or service
- Create 1-2 videos per service or product page
- Add rich media pictures
In summary, keeping your online marketing effective requires a dedication to keeping a vigil on the changing Google search platform.
Awesome Dynamic™ Tech Solutions, Inc. will offer a 6-Week Course on all of the above (but with greater detail) starts Wednesday, January 18, 2017. Six 90 minute courses, with Q& A on every course. All courses recorded and delivered to you via video. Includes excellent resources provided by top SEO experts. Visit awesomedynamic.com/event to register, or call Awesome Dynamic at (800) 238-1811 and ask for Terry.
Paul Dworianyn, the guest on this program and owner of Awesome Dynamic Tech Solutions, is an expert on the things that really matter in online marketing and why. He has been in the web design business for over 20 years, starting Awesome Dynamic™ Tech Solutions 6 years ago and has grown the company steadily to 20 employees busily working on web sites, SEO and most recently recognized for ranking internationally in consulting and services for sellers on Amazon. In addition to benefiting his clients with his cutting edge knowledge, Paul has grown his own company considerably using the above points on how to rank higher on Google in 2017. For more information on Awesome Dynamic, visit www.awesomedynamic.com or call (800) 238-1811.
