Study Findings and Suggested Tips to Optimizing Your Local Listings:

Finding: 71% of searchers value the information contained in local search results. 60% of these searchers said that local listings with an image get their attention more than standard listings.

Tip: Make your local listing stand out from the crowd. After claiming your listings within Google Places, Yahoo and Bing local listings, you wil want to enhance it with a great looking photo.

Finding: 17% of searchers do not use local geo-modifiers when searching, with this percentage on the rise amoung younger searchers. While on the other hand, older searchers are more inclined to search using local modifiers – roughly 63%.

Tip: When targeting a younger audience, businesses should focus more on generic terms. When targeting older consumers, businesses should focus more on local modifiers within their search related terms.

Finding: 60% of local searchers add a city name to their search query. 42% of searchers choose to add a zip code.

Tip: Optimizing for town name and city name should deliver more traffic than ZIP code, but a well-rounded local SEO campaign should utilize both.

Optimizing your local listings ensures that potential customers find you using search and map functions within search engines. Doing this correctly will support your SEO marketing efforts, as well as increase your visibility and online reputation. For more information, check out Google, Yahoo and Bing Local Listings. If you have questions, or would like to discuss claiming and optimizing your local listings, we would be happy to help. Contact Sage Island today!

1) Establish trust:

To be successful on Twitter, you have to build a reputation for being a trusted source. You must become your industries leading source for up-to-date and timely information. This will help you build a strong following on Twitter. You can establish this trust by referencing articles and links about the bigger picture as it relates to your business.

2) Link to your website:

Integrate your current Twitter URL into your website by placing a button or call to action on all pages within your website. When tweeting, provide back links that redirect to your site to help gain traffic to your site. Make sure that when promoting your company’s URL, that you have provided added value once they arrive. Both integrating your Twitter URL and linking to your site – will help drive your Twitter URL up in the search engines.

3) Be responsive and reward followers:

You won’t win over the twitter population if you only use twitter as a self-promoting platform. While providing one way marketing messages about your product is okay, it is preferred if you instead ask questions and engage followers in a more casual, conversational approach. Share other peoples content in order to let the “Twitter-sphere” know that you are participating in the conversation. Engaging followers, thanking followers for following and responding in real time will help you build your customer engagement.

4) Don’t forget about your keywords and character limit:

When possible, write keyword rich tweets. Beginning your tweets with a primary keyword will allow you to leverage the realtime and long-term index relevance across search engines. Also, make sure your tweet’s character limits allow for “retweetability.” It is best to keep your tweet under 120 characters in order for your followers to easily add your RT@name in front of their tweet.

5) Measure and monitor what people are saying:

Utilizing tools such as HootSuite and Radian6 will allow you to monitor, track and gain insights regarding your Twitter traffic. Similar to Google Analytics for your website, these sites provide data regarding your Twitter visits, demographics, referring site visits and specifics on individual tweets that you have sent.

Understanding these 5 Twitter tips is only the beginning. Knowing who to follow and the important hashtags for your industry are important as well. Keep your eyes out for more insightful Twitter and social media tips to come in the next week. If you have any questions, or want information regarding other social media opportunities, please contact Sage Island today.

With that said, it is important that your business take advantage of the opportunity to be listed within Google Places, Yahoo Local and Bing Local Listings. Your local customers already search Google, Yahoo and Bing for the products and services that you offer. By creating local business listings within these three platforms, you can be confident that your business will be easily found online. These platforms will also complement your current search engine optimization strategies.

While each local listing platform is different, they all provide unique features that will allow you to add photos and videos, custom service categories, brands that you sell and coupon options that make your business stand out among your competitors.

More and more people are searching online for local businesses, so it is important that your company have a presence.

If you are looking for innovative ideas or have any questions, feel free to contact us today. At Sage Island, our goal is to help your business grow.

2. Use a variety of fresh content. It is crucial to keep your blog posts exciting. Include media in your posts to maintain your reader’s attention. Never just promote yourself. Write about what your viewers want to read.

3. Keep it short and to the point. Feel free to keep your blog posts around 200-250 words. These days’ people don’t have the time or the attention span to read a lengthy, drawn out blog post. Most of the time you can say exactly what you need to say in a simple and concise post.

4. Keywords, keywords, keywords! Always include important keywords in your post title, linked within the body of your text and in the tags of your post. Make sure to keep your tags under 10 so that you don’t clutter the subject matter. You can also add keywords within your image alt text to enhance your ranking within search engines. Using your most important keywords throughout your blog post will help tremendously with SEO.

5. Remember to link. Try to find a place to link to the pages with important information on your site, such as your homepage or contact page. If you would like to expand on ideas, you can offer links to other posts that you have written that may support the content of your post. Internal linking is always a good thing. It is also good to cite the authors of any source of information you have used. Those links are greatly appreciated, and will eventually be paid back to you.

6. Communicate with your readers. Add a poll or a survey to your site to find out exactly what it is your viewers like to read. This will help you determine the right content to provide and will encourage readers to not only interact with you, but with each other.

7. Always respond to comments. Your readers will most likely have something to say about the content you post. Make sure to answer their questions, give additional insight or information and provide any additional resources they may need.

8. Find the right schedule. Make sure to post in a routine manner; never too often and not too sporadic. You will quickly find out which time of day and days of the week get the most hits by looking at your site analytics and demographics.

9. Never ignore the numbers. Take advantage of analytics, it will provide you with all of the insight you’re ever going to need. You can track every visit from hundreds of different angles. It will be the best source for learning who your viewers are.

10. Maximize all social media resources. Promote your blog posts on all of your social media channels. This will spread your content and reinforce the information you are trying to share. It also makes it easier for people to find your site.

How Social Search Will Transform the SEO Industry

The newly launched ActionSportsNow WordPress blog offers an online platform for ASN to stay connected with their customers and provide up-to-date industry and sports related news.  The site feeds news into the website, by sport, to offer the latest news to ASN users, no matter what source they are visiting.

As a Search Engine Marketing (SEM) Specialist, your responsibilities will be to design, develop and implement PPC campaigns on major search engines including Google, Yahoo!, Bing, etc.

The SEM Specialist will also work with Account Executives, Graphic Designers, Programmers, and other team members to drive paid search engine traffic success and will be charged with establishing best practices on optimization of a variety of different PPC campaigns for a variety of unique customers. Additionally, you will be responsible for developing and implementing keyword strategies, including working with business owners to understand their specific PPC needs and developing strategies, plans, and campaigns accordingly.

The SEM Specialist will also work with developers to evolve in-house SEM tracking and reporting tools and keep current on SEM developments within the industry.

Responsibilities
* Create, manage and optimize PPC campaigns in support of business goals for Sage Island customers.
* Continuously review and optimize PPC campaigns, including thorough analysis of profitability of campaigns, keyword lists, landing page quality, downstream feedback of lead and traffic quality, etc.
* Serve as internal search expert to ensure best practices are shared and leveraged by all groups.
* Continuously improve tracking, reporting and profitability of the SEM efforts.
* Analyze and translate quantitative and qualitative data from web analytics tool into actionable SEM plans
* Research and develop best practices to identify new market opportunities and maximize program profits with improved paid campaign performance and organic rankings

Skills
* Knowledge and experience with the creation, management, and optimization of PPC campaigns
* Experience with PPC campaign management and optimization tools
* A quantitative approach to traffic measurement and experience with collecting and interpreting site visitor statistics
* Experience using Microsoft Office programs (Excel, Word, etc.)
* Must be detail-oriented with excellent analytical and problem-solving skills
* Strong written and verbal communication skills a must
* Ability to work individually on a project or in a team environment
* Self-starter approach to work, with an eagerness to consistently meet and exceed objectives and take on more responsibility.

Qualifications/Requirements
* 1 – 3 years experience in marketing
* Bachelors degree, preferred Marketing, Journalism, English, Communications

Full-time with benefits package. Send us a cover letter and resume. Specify Marketing Specialist in subject line to jobs@sageisland.com.

If you’re like me, you’re constantly learning something new when it comes to SEO.  Keeping up with the ever changing trends is hard enough, understanding exactly how search engines work can get overwhelming. Recently I stumbled upon what is now my go-to SEO Reference:  The Beginners Guide to SEO. If you haven’t read through this tutorial (which chances are pretty good you have, since it’s the world’s most read SEO guide)  I recommend you visit the site! You can read online or download a copy of this really helpful information.

While I am not sure why some people attempt to push in this direction I can only say it won’t work. SEO is a craft not a science. First off there are far too many variables to determine in SEO to be able to treat it scientifically. Also, if anything, SEO would have to be a social science as most things in SEO depend on human behavior. People writing algorithms, people linking, people creating content.

Read more at http://seo2.0.onreact.com/seo-is-a-craft-not-a-science