Content for Local Sites & Local SearchHow local marketers can build content that earns inbound traffic

Rand Fishkin | CEO

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Challenges Local Businesses

Face w/ Content and SEO

The Dreaded Time Crunch

Many local business marketers have lots of other responsibilities apart from web marketing

Web Savvy of Content Creators

Many of them probably wouldn’t catch on to silly memes from Reddit like those featured above.

Local Listings > Natural SERPs

Ugh. If I wanted maps for Korean restaurants, I would have used Google Maps. I want content!

These results do nothing to answer my query

Multiple Listings vs. “Thin Content”

The numerous listings on http://www.in-n-out.com/locations.asp don’t provide particularly unique content.

Temporal vs. Evergreen Content

Via Cyrus Shepard’s http://www.seomoz.org/blog/google-fresh-factor

Earning Broad Recognition for Locally Focused Work

Lyle Lanley’s brilliant monorail work never received the national attention it deserved.

Competing w/ Big, National Brands

Now Google’s prioritizing standard SERPs over local listings? What the what!?

I already know about these guys. I want local pizza

How Do We Combat

These Challenges?

The Content Process

Step 1: Know Your Customers

Who are likely customers? What are their likes/dislikes? Why do they come to you? Who are you

missing?

Build an Email List (Maybe Offline?)

In-store guest books can turn walk-in traffic into an incredibly valuable resource for online marketing efforts

Create & Send a Customer Survey

Getting your customers’ feedback

Step 2: Brainstorm Broad Keywords

Your products & services provide an easy roadmap to start the keyword brainstorming process

Novelty Goods

Notebooks

Paper Goods

Creative Gifts

Stationery

Decorations

Typeface Goods

Font Geeks

Conduct Competitive Analysis

Paperhaus is a nearby store to Paper Hammer and carries many similar products

Oooh! Brands is a good way to think about

keywords, too.

Aha! Hadn’t considered words like “portfolio” or

“writing instruments”

Use Local Filters to Find Relevant Terms

Via Google AdWords’ https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal

Build Your Target Keyword List

Good advice here: http://www.seomoz.org/blog/keyphrase-competition-and-targeting

High Volume(many searches/month)

Low Competition(weak sites/pages in the top 10)

High Value(large % of visitors buy)

Step 3: Content that Deserves to Rank

If a user searches for a query, do you have the answers they’re really seeking?

One Way to Get “Great Content”

http://www.seomoz.org/blog/great-content-for-seo-simpler-than-you-ever-imagined

An Aside on “Must-Have” Content

If your local website doesn’t have these, you’re in big trouble.

Description of your business

Details on your location & hours

What you sell (and hopefully how much it costs)

Lots of photos

Why you’re special/unique

Accolades

An Aside on “Must-Have” Content

That’s what happens if you don’t have the content basics nailed down on your site.

Step 4: Build Your Creative Content

Via the awesome Ben Heine http://www.flickr.com/photos/benheine/4770218308/

Creative Content Guidelines

Your goal is to target stuff in the middle, but anything that hits at least two of these is worth a shot!

Some Ideas To Help You Get Started

Also check out http://www.blueglass.com/blog/5-ways-to-brainstorm-for-creative-content/

What’s interesting in your neighborhood?

What unique things do you do that few know about?

What have been your biggest challenges?

What are unique applications for your products?

What are creative projects your staff engages in?

What are unique ways you’re leveraging technology/the web?

What mysteries or secrets are associated with your business?

What’s unique about your customers?

What are the FAQs you get from friends when talking about your work?

What aspects of scientific or cultural inquiry apply to your business?

Content Types that Work

Start with content formats that feel easy and accomplishable – don’t stress trying to do the uncomfortable

Blog Posts

Photos & Photosets

Video

Infographics

Tools

Content Curation

Charts and Graphs

Articles / Essays

PDFs / Whitepapers

Slide Shows

Getting Distribution

Want to Rank? You Need Links & Citations!

Via Mike Blumenthal: http://blumenthals.com/blog/

Channel 1: Local, Content-Centric Sites

Nearly every region has multiple, content-focused sites targeting the local area

Channel 2: Broad Social Platforms

The usual suspects – lots of local-related activity and opportunity exist thanks to broad adoption.

Users: 50mm 750mm 200mm 120mm120mm 10mm

Users: 14mm Millions 14mm 6.5mm

Channel 3: Local Directories

Generic directories, especially those that have hundreds of cities, are usually less valuable than specifics

Channel 4: Travel Sites + Blogs

In addition to these big guys, there’s a huge, long tail of travel sites and blogs potentially worth reaching

Channel 5: Discussion Forums

Local newspapers, Yelp, Craigslist, VirtualTourist, TripAdvisor and others often have regional forums.

Channel 6: Government/Municipal Sites

Many city government and municipal services/membership organizations offer member listings

Your Job with Each Channel:

Don’t try to force a channel – if it’s not working, don’t sweat it. There’s plenty of opportunities.

Visit and investigate options for biz dev/listing/content/participation

Ignore those that don’t

Watch your analytics/foot traffic/referral sources to determine impact

Revisit sources that continue to provide value

Pursue those where you believe an opportunity exists

KPIs to Track

Traffic (Visits)

I like “visits” rather than “unique” because the latter is very hard to quantify accurately

Conversions / Actions

Anything that’s likely to yield direct value should be tagged as a “conversion” in your analytics

Newsletter signup = conversion

Reservation = conversion

Contact might even

be a conversion!

Growth Rate of Referring Sources

This shows traffic from Facebook to SEOmoz. You’d ideally want to know how each channel you invest in performs.

Growth Rate of Social Reach

Yay! Our new Social Dashboard: http://www.seomoz.org/blog/introducing-social-analytics-in-seomoz-pro

Citations / Brand Mentions

Via Google’s “search tools” and then “past week”

Links and Link Metrics

Via http://OpenSiteExplorer.org

10 Tips and Tricks toAccelerate Your Content’s Effectiveness

#1) Local Guest Content Contributors

This works both ways – you can BE a guest contributor and/or invite others to contribute on your site!

#2) Events Promoted on the Web

The Paper-Hammer site sadly neglects many events they participate in, but noted this one on their blog.

#3) Email as Content & Conversion Point

http://mailchimp.com/pricing/ offers a free tier for up to 2,000 member lists!

Awesome!

Slightly less awesome

#4) Partnerships w/ Hyperlocal Friends

http://shooflypiecompany.com/friends.html does a brilliant job of this and earns links/citations as a result

#5) Specials for “Wired” Customers

Offering incentives for customers likely to leave reviews, tweet, share, like, follow or link can be effective

#6) Show Off Your “Reviewable” Pages

Go with the one on the left – linking directly to where users can leave reviews

#7) Create Top X Local Lists

Aim for “best of” or “top x” lists that don’t include you, but are likely to attract outside attention.

#8) Host All Content on the Same Domain

Vain’s blog is on the vain.com domain, which means links to it serve the entire site, not just the blog

#9) Content from Your Employees

Via http://saltlakecoffeeconnection.com/ where short-form content (similar to tweets) earns pages

#10) Turning FAQs Into Content

If they’re asking in person, they almost certainly wish they could know before arriving there.

Just Make Some Content and

Stick It Up on the Web?

Content Can’t Live in a Vacuum

Combine w/ the Rest of Inbound and Win

Create Great Content

Find Channels to Share

Participate in Communities

Use Analytics to Measure

Figure Out What Works

Refine Your Content Process

Q+A Time!

@seomoz

www.seomoz.org

help@seomoz.org

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