Discover A Real-World, Actionable Strategy to Market Your Security Firm Online - Succeed with Local Marketing - Google Places, SEO, Facebook, and much more! WELCOME TO: SEARCH AND SOCIAL MEDIA STRATEGIES FOR THE SECURITY BUSINESS Mark Helton General Manager / Founder, SEO

Agenda  Introduction: Search and Social Media State of the Union  Search 101 with focus on Local Search  Social Media 101  Action Plan - Online Marketing Success Blueprint for Your Franchise  Conclusion

Who Is STORMFIXER SEO / Mark Helton?  STORMFIXER is an Las Vegas based Search engine optimization and Social Media Marketing Firm  We have a large mix of clients across many verticals:  Security  Attorneys  Surgeons  Dentists  Many other small business types  Core Focus on small to mid sized businesses with expertise in Organic SEO, Google Places, Reputation Management, and Social Media.  Affordable!  Mark is a 8-year veteran of Search marketing for technology companies. I head up the Search and Social Media Team.

Why Bother with Search and Social Media  Yellow Pages are in steady decline  Directory Ads (Print) are not working – poor response and not measurable  Newspapers are in trouble across the country  Television / Radio is not cost effective for many businesses  marketing has seen a drop in response rates due to the pure volume of “noise”

Global Internet Users Photo Credit: Jess3Jess3

90 Trillion The number of s sent on the Internet in Source: Jess3Jess3

600+ Million Active Facebook Users Source: Tech HeraldTech HeraldPhoto Credit: OversocializedOversocialized

131 Million The number of blogs on the Internet. Source: Jess3Jess3

10 Billion+ Tweets Sent on Twitter Since 2006 Photo Credit: Rosaura OchoaRosaura Ochoa Source: MashableMashable

2 Billion Videos Are Streamed Each Day On YouTube Photo Credit: jonssonjonssonSource: TechcrunchTechcrunch

GETTING FOUND – ONLINE VISIBILITY

 What is Local Search/Local SEO  Why Local SEO is important  Challenges for Local Businesses  Later… Tactics For Local Search Optimization  On-Page Optimization  Off-Page Optimization  Reviews  Citations  Links Search Engine Optimization and Local Search

 Local Search is any search made with the goal of finding something in a specific geographic area.  This is known as searching with local intent. Local Search Is…

 The searcher uses geographic modifiers.  The searcher has personalization settings on.  IP Addresses  The Search Engine (Google) interprets local intent from the search phrase. How Is Local Intent Determined?

 73% of activity online is in one way or another “related to local content”  For every one dollar U.S. consumers spend online, another five or six are going to offline purchases that are influenced by online research  97% of Internet users in the U.S. gather shopping information online, and of those consumers 51% explicitly characterize their behavior as “Shop Online, Purchase Offline”  70% of online searchers will use local search to find offline businesses. Why Local SEO Is Important

 Alarm company  Security company  Alarm company  Security company  Commercial Alarm company  Commercial Security company  Commercial Alarm company  Commercial Security company  Residential/Home Alarm company  Residential/Home Security company  Residential/Home Alarm company  Residential/Home Security company Valuable Local Keywords for Security Companies

But Are My Clients Really Looking For Me Online? Who’s Looking for Me?

 Online and on their phone.  Just having a web page isn’t enough anymore.  You want to be a respected and trusted authority and a yellow page ad isn’t going to get it done for you. You need to be where your customers are every day: This Is A Paradigm Shift

How High Do I need to Rank?

Why Local Search Is Important

 Neighborhood?  City?  Nearby cities?  Region?  State? Where Are Your Customers?

 The broader your geographical reach, the more time and money you need to be successful.  Generally, the narrower your reach, the easier it will be to compete online.  Why? There is usually less competition and it is usually less savvy about internet marketing. Where Are Your Customers?

What is the “Long Tail”

On Page Optimization  Build relevance and trust in your location+keywords.  Focus on the basics to make your site friendly to Google:  Title Tags  Description  Great Content  Internal Linking  Always keep a local geographic slant in mind

 Place your full street address and local phone number on all pages of your website.  Optimize your Contact or About page for your business name and location.  Use the hcard microformat to make your location unmistakable to the Search Engines.  Add a KML file (special location file) to your website Location, Location, Location! Where Are You?

 If your business name doesn’t make it very clear where you are and what you do, then use a tagline to communicate that information to both humans and Search Engine spiders. TIP: Give Your Biz a Tagline

 Create a separate page for each location  Use local info on each of these pages  Link internally to location pages, using the location names in link text  Use other terms on the page that will help the Search Engines understand where you are: street intersections, highway exits, what’s nearby, nicknames for neighborhoods, etc. TIP: For Multiple Locations:

Create your business listings (Maps):  Google Places  Bing Local  Yahoo Local If you never do anything else, just build your Google Places page Create Search Engine Business Listings

1.The Google Local Business Center (LBC) 2.Third-Party Data Providers 3. Visiting websites (web crawling) Where does Google’s Local data come from?

Local/Social Sites

A Google Maps Listing

Google Maps Dashboard – Measuring Results

 Use the same name, address and phone number everywhere online.  Go to the sources of business data and standardize there.  Make it easy on Google  Branding Standardization Builds Trust

 Use your main keyword phrase and complementary terms in your profile descriptions  Grab the “long tail” by including:  Your products and services  The brands you carry  The Locations you serve  Anything else relevant to your niche Optimize Your Biz Listings

 Choose – or create – the right categories  Give your listing attributes Optimize Your Biz Listings

Citations, aka web references, are web pages that cite or mention your business or web site. They do not have to contain a link! Create Citations

 Citations are important in building Google’s trust in the information it has about you.  Citations can drive targeted traffic to your business.  Citations are easier to get than links – many are free. Keep Creating Citations!

 Ratings and reviews enter into the algorithm on some sites-like Yahoo!Local  The more reviews, the better.  Highly rated items can rise to the top on some sites and poorly rated ones are rarely seen.  Users can sort their results by ratings on some sites, creating their own personalized rankings. Reviews Influence Rankings

 The right incoming links can help with location trust.  Look for links from local authority sites.  Look for links from sites that rank for what you want to rank for.  Use existing relationships to get local links. Tip: Get Local Links whenever you can Offsite SEO – It’s all about Linking!

Social Media 101 – Getting Known!

“Social Media Marketing: Enables Others to Advocate for Your Business Through Compelling Content” Image credit: Ian Sane

“Social Media is Like a Cocktail Party: Listen Then Respond” Photo Credit: The Dana Files The Dana Files

“Facebook is a social network that connects people personally and professionally through connections, messages, photos, & videos.” Photo Credit: Marvin KuoMarvin Kuo

Facebook Fan Pages Let Businesses Interact with Customers and Prospects

“Twitter is like a Text Message with a BCC: To The World” Photo Credit: ydhsuydhsu

Businesses Use Twitter to Converse with Prospects, Provide Customer Service and Drive Website Traffic.

Social Media Can Drive Leads and Customers Photo Credit: PhotoDu.dePhotoDu.de

Social Media is for Leads and Sales Source: State of Inbound Marketing Report -

Social Media is for B2B and B2C Source: State of Inbound Marketing Report -

Mobile Phone Market 4 TIMES as many mobile phone users as internet users 33% of phones use high speed data services iPhone, Blackberry and Android The Mobile Media Revolution

What Can You Do? How To Start?

Building a Long-term Strategy  Website  SEO  Social Media  LinkedIn  Twitter  YouTube  FaceBook  Mobile  Consider a custom mobile website  Optimize your existing site for mobile

Optimize website with geographic slant (city name(s), keyword phrases) Claim Google Places listing for your business Claim Yahoo Local listing for your business Claim Bing Local listing for your business Do a baseline analysis to determine where you are today List your business in dozens of directory and review sites Setup online lead capture mechanisms (forms) on your website Get you listed in all local search directories Begin building targeted links to your business website. Do this monthly! Work with your customers to solicit real reviews – more is good! Track results of your progress Roadmap for Your Business

 Website  Make sure it is heavy on keyword rich text  Make sure it has a form to capture visitors information. Consider offering a report of some kind as a give-away  SEO  Decide whether you are going to outsource or do the work yourself. Expect to pay $400 - $2000 a mos. depending on your market.  Check that your website is visible in Google today  Build targeted pages of content about each product/service you offer  Linking – expect to build a few hundred links a month initially to get successful.  Create a baseline – monitor where you are today  Use Excel to track where you are on a bi-weekly basis Areas To Address

 Social Media  Create a LinkedIn/YouTube account for your business  Create a Facebook Fan page and Twitter Account  Create/Add a Blog to your website  If possible, add 1-2 articles per week  Consider having a “custom” Facebook/Twitter site created ($ in total). This will enhance your results in both of those platforms  You can outsource the creation of the custom sites, and even the content depending on your goals Areas To Address

 Don’t create more than 1 Google Places listing at your business location (for same business).  Don’t create more than 1 Google Places listing with your business phone number  Don’t purchase links from services online  Don’t spend time on A-B B-A linking. Eg. you link to me, and I’ll link to you.  Don’t “borrow” content from other highly ranked sites without making changes first  Don’t hire someone to do “SEO”, internet marketing, or social media who doesn’t have references or can show you results on their own site!  Avoid hiring someone to help you who doesn’t have their website, or who solicits you blindly via a random  Don’t let anyone set-up your Google Places listing using their account – ensure that your own user/pwd are used to create the business listing. Avoid at All Costs!

 and receive a free analysis of where your business stands in your  No obligation / pressure to work with our team  If you decide you would like to outsource your internet marketing, we have a discounted package put together for attendees:  No Set-up Fee - $500 value  Local SEO - Small market - $400 per mos.  Local SEO - Mid market - $650 per mos.  Local SEO - Large market - $795 per mos.  No Contract – Completely Results Based Free Analysis