Small Business SEO On A Shoestring

Aaron Weiche

Aaron Weiche (why-key)

VP & Founder of Five Technology12+ Years Bunch of websites (500)Web firm with a staff of 14Creative & strategyBlogger, Twitter-er, Facebook-erHusband, father of 3 daughters Nebraska Husker football

Resources

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SEO Tech Basics

<Core Code Needs/>The Building Codes

• “Search Engine Friendly” Clean Code• Crawlable – you must be indexed to be ranked• URLS - www.site.com/remodeling/basement-finishing• HTML & XML Sitemaps• Clear navigation, free of Flash• Load speed• 301 redirects, custom 404 pages• META titles and descriptions – more to come

• SEO’s long term future isn’t technical, isn't geeky

SEO Tech Basics

The Building Code Inspector

• www.google.com/webmasters/tools/

Provides detailed reports on your websites visibility, crawl errors and other useful informationto help identify technical issues.

Be Different

Change Your Approach

The Trust Game

The GOAL is to create a website that is trusted.By consumersBy search engines

The Trust Game

Small Biz SEO Layers

DesignContentOptimizationLinks

Design

DESIGN:

Branded & UniquePhotosCustom is your 1aWP Themes are your 1b

Design

SEO is about trust, do you look the part?

Content

• Research Competitors WebsitesUsability, content, call to actionBe better

• Keyword Research

Get past the topKnow your targetsHeavy into location if applicable

Content

Welcome To Our WebsiteFor over 10 years we have been providing the finest in products and services to our customers. Through dedication, education and innovation we are recognized as an industry leader.

Content

Trusted Minneapolis PlumberFor over 10 years we have providedplumbing services and repair toMinneapolis homeowners. Fromshowers to toilets, leaks to installs, our plumbers are the best.

Content

Trusted Minneapolis PlumberFor over 20 years we have providedplumbing services and repair toMinneapolis homeowners. Fromshowers to toilets, leak repairs to installs, our plumbers are the best.

ContentContent

Page NamesDo NOT use these:

• Use keywords like “Plumbing Services”

SERVICESPRODUCTSABOUT

Content• Write A Blog or Create News

On your domain - /blog or /newsEndless benefits – feeds, structure,

linksDon’t get hung up on frequencySHARE all of your expertise, secrets

suckAll the small thingsPhotos/visuals rockBe where the “linkers” areContent that’s link worthy

Optimize

Let’s make it better!

Optimize

• Tell The EnginesDon’t make the bots or the people have to work to figure out what EACH PAGE is covering.

Optimize

• META PAGE TITLESWrite them for each page – L to R, displays

65 characters, key term, location

Sid’s Restaurant - Italian - Take Out | 612-223-4444

Optimize

• META DescriptionsView these as a 30 second commercial for your link. Can your sentence draw a click?

Do I REALLY need to tell you about META tags?

Optimize

• Well Structured Content Just Makes SenseHeaders, sub headers, bullet lists, boldEasy to digest for humans and bots

• Internal LinksLink the terms that guide users to answers

Optimize

• Local Search – Location Matters in Small Biz30% of all searches involve a city, state or zipClaim your local listings – GetListed.orgComplete all aspects – text, photo, videoFind local directories & providers

• Google Recognizes Local Snippets micro formats - http://bit.ly/localsnip

Optimize

Create A Website Footer That Offers Value

HTML Links, Location Data, Calls to Action

Links

Links are like gossip on the web & you need them to talk about you.

Links

• Know Where Your Links AreYahoo: link:www.domain.com

• Know Your Competitors LinksMake note of where they have links from

• 3rd party tools/websites

Links

• Anchor TextThe terms in your link are a big signSt. Paul restaurant beats www.wafrost.com

Links

•Get SomePartners, vendors, associatesDirectories & paid linksBloggers, comment, get noticed, helpFind similar businesses in other marketsSocial media, tweets, FB, listsSearch, make note of those who rankDo not email/failLearn to ask people for linksBe part of the web, not just your site

Tie It All Together

• It’s the mix not the silver bullet• Track, evaluate, adjust• Change your approach• Realize everything you do is content• Be human, it’s what the engines want to be

We can be friends forever

• @AaronWeiche

• facebook.com/weiche

• fivetechnology.com/blog

• THANK YOU!