What this means is you can hire an SEO firm for $1,000 or $2,000 a month, depending on how aggressive you want to be, retain them for 6 months or 12 months, and yet still have no guarantee that you will be on page one or get any leads from it.
Even if you do get on page one, after a year or two of paying an SEO firm, Google may change its algorithm—and you could lose it all overnight (we’ve seen that happen many times).
SEO is a constant cat-and-mouse game between Google and those who do SEO for a living. It’s getting harder and harder to get results, and we know a number of SEO firms that are starting to offer other services like web design or social media marketing, while others are deciding to fold up shop rather than continue to play games with Google.
If you’re planning to be in business for the long term, are patient, and hire a good SEO firm, then SEO may be a very good long-term investment and generate a good ROI over time. Because it’s a viable strategy, we’ve asked a respected local SEO expert, Richard Jacobs, to contribute a chapter to this book (Chapter 27). Reading this chapter will arm you with the education you need to make smart decisions about SEO and who you hire to do it for you.
You may be getting three to four solicitations a day from SEO firms telling you how poorly your website is ranking, how your horrible website is not getting you as many leads as it could be, and how they have the magic solution to get you to the top of page one on Google (we get their emails too!). The majority of these firms outsource their SEO to cheap overseas labor and mark up the costs 100 percent or more.
Please do not respond to their offers. If it sounds too good to be true, it is. Read Rich’s chapter to get a solid understanding of what good SEO is all about before hiring a firm to do it for you.
Clear, Measurable Results
Another advantage of PPC is that, using the methodologies you’ll learn in this book, it will give you clear, measurable results. You’ll know exactly how much you spent on clicks and how many leads and how much revenue you generated in return.
You cannot get clear, measurable results like that with SEO. Google doesn’t share a lot of SEO data with website owners, which makes it very difficult, if not impossible, to accurately measure how many leads you are getting from organic traffic.
In fact, one thing to watch out for is that a lot of the organic/SEO traffic you get to your site may be from branded traffic (i.e., people searching specifically for your company name). So it may look like you’re getting lots of great quality leads from organic traffic, but these are people who already know who you are and would have contacted you anyway. Be sure to keep this in mind when you are trying to evaluate the results from any SEO work you do.
WHY PPC WILL BE A TOP SOURCE OF LEADS FOR A LONG TIME
Think about it: Google is one of the most profitable companies in the world, and about 90 percent of their revenue comes from Google ads.
PPC is never going away. Google is a publicly traded company with a responsibility to their shareholders to increase profits, and they are constantly rolling out new things that get more people to click on ads. Recently they rolled out new improvements, such as callout extensions (which we will talk about later) and other things, that make their ads take up more space on the page.
Google doesn’t make money on SEO. They make money on Google AdWords (the name of their PPC program). They are constantly rolling out new products for advertisers, and we found that they love local business advertisers. Why? Because your business is very relevant to searchers. If someone is searching for an injury lawyer in Dallas, Google wants people to find an injury lawyer in Dallas—they want relevant search results.
From our experience, the fastest, most reliable, and most profitable way to generate an ROI on Google comes from running PPC ads so that is what we are going to focus on in this book. You just have to make sure you’re approaching PPC the right way, and we’re going to show you exactly how to do that for your local business.
Contents
Preface
CHAPTER 1
Why 95 Percent of Local Businesses Are Failing Miserably with Their Marketing by Talor Zamir
What They Don’t Teach You in Law (or Any Professional) School
What You Will Not Learn in This Book
“Real” Marketing
High Potential—Low Risk
Limited Budget? No Problem!
SEO Last, Not First
CHAPTER 2
Search Engines Are the New Yellow Pages by Talor Zamir
Why the Yellow Pages Was (and Search Engines Are Now) the Highest-Quality Leads
Why Traditional Forms of Marketing Are Less Effective
CHAPTER 3
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) vs. Pay Per Click (PPC) by Talor Zamir
The Differences between SEO and PPC
The Advantages PPC Has Over SEO
Why PPC Will Be a Top Source of Leads for a Long Time
CHAPTER 4
The Dirty Little Secret Ad Agencies Are Afraid You’ll Find Out by Talor Zamir
Ad Agency Math
The Number-One Thing Local Business Owners Want
CHAPTER 5
The 80/20 Rule: It’s Not What You Think, But It’s Really Profitable! by Perry Marshall
Back When I Thought I Understood 80/20
80/20 Applies to Nearly Everything You Can Measure in a Business
80/20 Isn’t Just Two Groups, “The 80” and “The 20”
There’s an 80/20 Inside Every 80/20!
Overlay Multiple 80/20s—and Double Your Mojo!
Perfectionism Can Get in Your Way!
The Myth of the Long Tail
Some 80/20 Rules of Thumb
CHAPTER 6
Google AdWords: The Greatest Innovation in Advertising History by Talor Zamir
A Dramatic Shift
Not as Easy as It Used to Be!
CHAPTER 7
The Top Four Reasons Local Businesses Fail Using Google AdWords by Talor Zamir
1. No Landing Page or Awful Landing Page
2. Horrible Ads with Low Clickthrough Rates
3. No Conversion or Call Tracking
4. Poor Campaign Structure
AdWords Aren’t Perfect, But
CHAPTER 8
The Most Important Piece of the Puzzle—Your Landing Page by Talor Zamir
The Importance of Conversion
Why Your Landing Page Will Convert Better Than Your Website
Online ADD and One-Decision Marketing
The Goal of Your Landing Page
CHAPTER 9
How to Make Landing Pages that Convert Curiosity to Cash by Talor Zamir
Example of a Dreadful Landing Page
The Local Business Landing Page Template
What You Should Avoid on Your Landing Page
CHAPTER 10
Increase Your Conversion and Dominate Your Niche with a Killer USP! by Bryan Todd
What Is a USP?
The Six Essential Elements of a Power USP
CHAPTER 11
Why You Must Track All Conversions on Your Landing Page by Talor Zamir
Most Local Business Advertisers Are Flying Blind
Track Conversions with Dynamic Call Tracking
Getting Started with Dynamic Call Tracking
True Campaign Optimization
CHAPTER 12
How to Find the Best Keywords to Start With by Talor Zamir
What Would Your Ideal Client Type into Google?
The Secret to Keyword Research for Local Businesses
CHAPTER 13
Advanced Keyword Research by Talor Zamir
Using Google’s Free Keyword Planner
How to Spy on Your Competitors to Find the Best Targeted Keywords
CHAPTER 14
Keyword Matching Options: Dodging Google’s Stupidity Tax by Talor Zamir
Understanding Keyword Match Types
Shortcut for Generating Keyword Match Types
Negative Keywords are Really Importa
nt!
CHAPTER 15
Breaking Out Your Keywords into Ad Groups by Talor Zamir
The Psychology of Search
Structuring Your AdWords Account for Success
CHAPTER 16
Build Your Google AdWords Campaign from Scratch by Talor Zamir
Warning: Do Not Use AdWords Express!
Choosing the Right Campaign Settings
Advanced Settings
Creating Your Ad Groups
CHAPTER 17
Bidding Strategies Make or Break You by Talor Zamir
Bidding for the Top Three Positions
Setting Your Initial Bids
Changing Your Bids
CHAPTER 18
The Ultimate Local Google Ad by Perry Marshall andTalor Zamir
Ad Copy
Ad Extensions
A Good Ad vs. a Bad Ad
Your Ad Copy
CHAPTER 19
Ad Extensions: Twice the Real Estate for No Extra Money by Talor Zamir
Location Extensions
Call Extensions
Sitelink Extensions
Callout Extensions
Review Extensions
CHAPTER 20
Split-Testing Your Ads: The Key to Continuous Improvement by Talor Zamir
The World’s Greatest Market Research Engine
Split-Test with Ease
Split-Testing Is Not Just About Clickthrough Rates
Six Things You Can Test in Your Ads
Adding Additional Ads to Your Ad Groups
Unlimited Possibilities
CHAPTER 21
Conversion Tracking by Talor Zamir
The Most Important Metric: Cost Per Conversion
Three Things to Watch When Optimizing Your Campaign
Setting Up Conversion Tracking
CHAPTER 22
Mobile Search Advertising: The Future of Local Business Marketing by Talor Zamir
Mobile Ad Positioning
Adjusting Your Mobile Bids
Creating Mobile Optimized Ads
CHAPTER 23
Scale Up Your Lead Flow Once You Have a Winner by Talor Zamir
Bing Ads
Adding More Keywords
Advertising 24/7
Expand Your Geo-Targeting
CHAPTER 24
Remarketing: A Powerful Strategy Every Local Business Should Use by Talor Zamir
Getting Started with Google Remarketing
Creating Remarketing Ads
Segmenting for Success
Expanding Your Remarketing Beyond AdWords
CHAPTER 25
Convert Those Leads into Paying Clients and Profits by Perry Marshall and Talor Zamir
The X-Factor
Six Tips for Converting Leads into Clients
What Two of Our Most Successful Clients
Have in Common
CHAPTER 26
What to Look for When Hiring a PPC Agency by Adam Kreitman
Six Questions to Ask Before Hiring a PPC Agency and Why
Hiring an Agency Does Not Mean You Are Off the Hook!
CHAPTER 27
Local SEO Techniques by Richard Jacobs
Measuring Success in Local SEO
Diagnosing SEO Problems Using Your Website’s Structure
SEO Tactics to Build Your Website’s Traffic
Local SEO is Very Similar to National SEO
Getting “Enough” Favorable Reviews in Google Maps
A Final Word of Caution
CHAPTER 28
Facebook and Facebook Ads for Local Businesses by Keith Krance
Facebook Doesn’t Want to Be Cool
The Five-Step Facebook Fast Start Formula
Step 1: Publish “Facebook-Friendly” Goodwill Content
Step 2: Target Audience Research
Step 3: Publish and Boost Your Facebook Post
Step 4: Repeat with Conversion-Focused Campaign
Step 5: Analyze and Optimize
The Facebook Fast Start Review
CHAPTER 29
Take Action—and Get Started!
80/20: Top Strategies to Implement Now
CONCLUSION
A Final Call to Arms
Before We Go
About the Authors
Index
This is an excerpt from Ultimate Guide to Local Business Marketing by Perry Marshall and Talor Zamir, Ultimate Guide to Local Business Marketing ©2016, Entrepreneur Media, Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduced with permission of Entrepreneur Media, Inc.
Ultimate Guide to LinkedIn for Business Page 28