​If there is one thing we do know about small business owners, it is that they are extremely busy and almost always hustling. Although many small business owners identify search engine optimization (SEO) as a vital marketing strategy, the majority lack the skills or resources to implement everything that is required to get their website on top of the search results where they can be found. At the very same time, most small businesses have limited budgets for digital marketing.

Having a good-looking website is great but not very useful if nobody finds it. Although SEO can be a daunting task, small business owners should pay attention to the following basic guidelines and concepts.

​The primary reason small business owners struggle with SEO is that their website is not designed with Google in mind. Sure, your website may look good, but if it is not properly structured, very few people will find it. It is critical to develop your website with a strong website structure so that search engines can correctly scan and analyze your web pages.

​The next most critical factor in developing a successful small business website is keyword research and usage. The better your small company website ranks for important search terms related to your business, the more it will be found by potential customers looking for the goods and services you offer. Keep it simple and focus on a limited number of keywords per page. Create additional pages if needed.

​The telephone books are long gone but these days, online business directories offer similar services. There are hundreds of online business directories, and some are more important than others. Submitting your website to multiple online business directories is time consuming but this service can be automated. By far, the most important business directory is Google My Business (GMB). Setting up a Google My Business profile is straightforward and will significantly help your business to be found on the internet, even if you do not have a website.

​Alco Web Design provides small business website design and SEO services for a professional and cost-effective presence on the web. We are a small business and understand the needs of small business owners. We provide personalized and dedicated services, and you ALWAYS deal directly with the owner.

For more information or help with small business SEO best practices, keywords selection, and online business directories, please contact us at Alco Web Design LLC and we will get back to you promptly.

​In the old days of telephone books, the “white pages” were used to list the phone number of every person living in an area and the “yellow pages” were used to list the businesses in that area. Those books were distributed to every household and used constantly for personal and business needs. The yellow pages were a powerful way to reach local customers and savvy business owners would make sure their business would be listed.

The telephone books are long gone but online business directories now offer the same services. There are hundreds of those online business directories. Some are more important than others and most would list your business for free.

Submitting your business information to the business directories is not difficult and does not require special skills or black magic. But finding those directories and submitting the same information multiple times is frankly quite painful. We work with a third-party company that specializes in those services. Please contact us if you need any help submitting your business to the business directories.

By far, the most important business directories are Google and Microsoft and creating your business listing with those companies is of the utmost importance. For that reason, we recommend business owners to manually submit their business to those directories. Here is how to do it and how to set somebody up as your account manager once your account is active. Please contact us if you need help managing your Google My Business or Bing Places accounts.

Google (Google my Business or GMB)
1. Setup a Google account for your business (How to setup a Google account)
2. Manage your GMB account (How to manage a GMB account)
3. Optional: Allow somebody to manage your GMB account (How to add manager to GMB account)

Microsoft (Bing Places)
1. Setup a Bing Places account for your business (How to create a Microsoft Account)
2. Manage your Bing Places account (How to add or claim a Bing Places business listing)
3. Optional: Allow somebody to manage your Bing Places account (How to add manager to Bing Places business account)

​For more information about how you can take advantage of the online business directories to promote your small business, please contact us Alco Web Design LLC and we will get back to you promptly.

Data integrators collect and share business information all over the internet. They are used by the search engines, social media platforms, review sites, and local business directories to identify and validate information about your business. If you let your aggregators listings expire, your business loses its ‘Trusted Status’ and becomes harder to be found on the internet.

​By Alain Houle, Alco Web Design LLC

​Data aggregators are great at disseminating data but they cannot identify inaccurate and outdated information. They sometimes get confused and when this happens it creates a series of problems including duplicate and erroneous business listings that hurt business owners more than they help.

​In the United States, there are four major data integrators (Infogroup, Localeze, Foursquare, and Factual). Taking advantage of the data integrators is a cost-effective way for small business owners to promote their business online. Periodically validating accurate business details is a good practice to take full advantage of the data integrators.

Local sales are very important for most small businesses because many of their sales are made locally. In other words, there is no point for a Wisconsin plumber to advertise in California. Unlike most SEO experts, Alco Web Design specializes in local SEO services for small businesses. Contact us for submitting your website to the data aggregators or for any questions related to your small business website and its SEO.

For Google, citations are badges of merit used to determine the credibility of a website. Businesses with several quality citations often rank very high on the search engines result page. Citations are one of the most important ranking factors for local search results.

There are hundreds of citations to consider. Some top tier generic citations such as Bing, Google and Foursquare are a must for all businesses. Some citations are specialized for dentists, attorneys, web designers etc. Not all citations are equal but, as a general rule, the more quality citations you have the better it is for your business.

• Top US free citations sites
• Top local citations by business category​

​Many citations directories will list your business for free but manual submitting is a tedious and time-consuming process. Most small business owners prefer to purchase their citations through a citation building service provider such as Alco Web Design. Contact us now, we can help.

Google changes the rules all the time and your competitors work hard to get on top of the search results. If you don’t do anything you get behind. Most of the SEO & website promotion activities listed below can be implemented easily and for free.

1. Refresh your website: You offer new products or services? You expanded your territory? You have new staff? The sun is shining? Let the world know about what is new and exciting about your small business.
2. Take advantage of the new Google My Business (GMB) tools: Refresh or touchup your GMB listing to remind Google and your potential customers that your small business is alive and kicking. GMB recently released a bunch of new tools, take advantage of them!
3. Create a mailing list: Get leads to potential customers by creating a mailing list. People opting in for your mailing list are obviously interested to hear from your small business. Increase your sales by giving them what they want.
4. Create a new write up or blog post like this one: If you already have a mailing list, a blog, or a Facebook account, write something up and get in touch with those potential customers. It does not have to be complicated, reuse write ups from promotional documents or customer service emails you already have.
5. Join the modern age and create a video of your business: Post it to your website, YouTube, Facebook, and to your Google My Business (GMB) listing.
6. Review your search terms: Things change all the time on the internet. Make sure your main search terms are still the right ones for your small business.
7. Check your Google rankings: Do it yourself or get help from your webmaster. Your competitors constantly change their website. If you don’t, they will rank on top of yours and get your customers.
8. Get a mobile website: You don’t have a mobile website? Where have you been? Everybody is browsing the web with tablets and cell phones these days. Get mobile and advertise your business where your potential customers will find it.
9. Get Listed: Consumers can’t buy from a business they can’t find. Getting citations from the top directories and data aggregators is affordable and necessary for your small business to rank on top of the Google search results.
10. Review your reviews: Most customers look at online reviews before making a purchase. Check your reviews every week and try to understand why you got negative reviews. Customer service is everything. Politely reach out to people that left negative reviews and see what you can do to make them happy or even to change their review.

Continuous improvement is the least expensive way to maintain your small business website on top of the Google search results.  For help or more information, call us at (920) 850-4642 or fill in this contact us form. Talk is cheap, we will get back to you promptly.

​Gone are the days where having a website was the only thing small business owners had to do to drive customers to their doorsteps. Every business has a website these days and competition is fierce for the top of the Google search results. Here is what you and your Web Master should focus on:

1 - Google My Business Signals (Proximity, categories, keyword in business title, etc.) 19%
In addition to be the most important search ranking factor, your Google My Business (GMB) listing is an excellent way to connect online with potential customers. Setting up GMB is free and easy. Once your GMB account is setup, take advantage of the GMB posts to advertise for special events and promotions.

2 - Link Signals (Inbound anchor text, linking domain authority, linking domain quantity, etc.) 17%
For Google, links are like votes at a popularity contest. Websites that get many links, especially from important websites, must be good and deserve to rank high on the Google search results. Trade reciprocal links with your supplier, customers, or other noncompetitive businesses. Get links from your local chamber of commerce or local organizations you sponsor or are part of. Participate to blogs or publish newsletter with a link back to your website. Tell the world about your website and get linked!

3 - On-Page Signals (Presence of NAP, keywords in titles, domain authority, etc.) 14%
Writing for the web is a delicate balance between creating persuasive content that is also easy for Google to categorize. Give Google a chance to understand what goods and services you offer, who are your customers, where is your business located and how to contact you. Your webmaster does not know your business. Work and rework the text of your pages, then let your webmaster take care of the technical details.

4 - Citation Signals (IYP/aggregator NAP consistency, citation volume, etc.) 13%
Before the Internet, people used printed directories like the Yellow Pages to find information about a business. Citations are the modern equivalents of the Yellow pages. They are electronic directories that publish your business name, address, phone number, etc. Many citations directories will list your business for free but manual submitting is a tedious and time-consuming process.

5 - Review Signals (Review quantity, review velocity, review diversity, etc.) 13%
Google uses online reviews to determine the reputation of a business. Reputable businesses rank higher on the Google search results. Getting positive reviews from satisfied customers is easier said than done. Convincing an unhappy customer to change a negative review is even harder. Get help from specialized consultants. Focus on the top review sites that are Google My Business, Facebook, Amazon, Yelp, trip Advisor, Yellow Pages, BBB, Manta, Angie’s List, and Foursquare.

6 - Behavioral Signals (Click-through rate, mobile clicks to call, check-ins, etc.) 10%
Google uses statistical info about your visitors to determine how well your website meets their needs. Websites that get attention from visitors rank higher on the Google search results. Make sure your content is interesting and well organized, so your visitors quickly find what they look for and come back to your website. Having fresh content, creating periodic promotions or creating a blog are good ways to convince visitors to come back to your website.

7 - Personalization 10%
Websites with original content rank higher on the Google search results. Do not copy from you’re your competitors. Come up with your own text and do better. Writing for the web is not easy for most small business owners that are business people, not writers. Consider professional writing services.

8 - Social Signals (Google engagement, Facebook engagement, Twitter engagement, etc.) 4%
Interestingly, participation to the social medias ranks last on the top Google ranking factors. This means that, for most small businesses, social medias should be used with moderation and after work on other factors has been completed.

Alco Web Design LLC
Having a website is pointless if nobody finds it. We take SEO seriously and strive to deliver consistent and sustainable traffic to your virtual doorsteps. Let our web designers and SEO experts turn your website into a cost-effective marketing tool. For more information call us at (920) 850-4642 or fill in this contact us from and we will get back to you promptly.

​Every business owner knows exactly how important it is to have a user-friendly website that showcases relevant information, looks great and functions well. While all of these are very important aspects of building a website, it’s crucial to optimize your site properly too. Local sales are important to small business owners. Using the right kind of SEO techniques will help ensure it get the visibility needed to attract the right customers and improve conversion rates.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is crucial in building brand awareness for your company or business. This is because online users are more likely to trust sites that are amongst the top 10 on the SERPs (search engine results pages) than brands that aren’t.

What is local SEO?
Local SEO is a very specific and effective method of online marketing that gives small businesses the chance to promote their services and products to a niche, local audience. When you use Local SEO, local business directories such as Yelp, Yellow Pages, and Google Local will send local customers to your website.

Local SEO promotes your business’ name, address, phone number, as well as the products and services YOU offer, and not just your website. Including Local SEO in your overall marketing strategy can help you reach local customers that are more inclined to purchase your products and services.

The benefits of Local SEO 

• Regardless of the size/type of your local business, a targeted approach towards web traffic can increase your overall sales. The right techniques will help you reach customers when they’re actually ready to buy.
• While it’s important to have higher traffic numbers, they don’t necessarily always bring in more sales. It’s crucial to learn more about your site visitors’ location, their marketing preferences, and interests. A well-planned Local SEO strategy can help a business understand what types of strategies rivals use and how to use a customized approach suited to their business.
• When the right users are targeted, you will automatically find there is a rise in conversions. Local SEO will help your businesses target the right visitors so you benefit from long-term sales success.
• You should conduct some research on the competition. Begin by thinking of your site’s commonest search terms; these will give you an idea of which other businesses are implementing similar online marketing strategies. It might seem like a monumental task to compete against larger companies, but local searches are far less competitive.

By using the right Local SEO strategy, you have every chance to establish yourself locally. We at Alco Web Design LLC can provide custom Local SEO solutions for your small business; please call us on 920 850-4642 or fill in this contact us from and we will get back to you promptly.

Search engines are getting increasingly sophisticated. In their effort to deliver the most informative and relevant search results, the algorithms look at multiple sources to gauge the legitimacy and the authority of a particular website. These sources include Google+, Yelp, Yellow Pages, and other such business directories. 

If your business is listed on such high-authority networks, the search engine algorithm would trust your website and consider it legitimate enough to be displayed on organic local searches. 

What are Citations?
Before the Internet exploded onto the scene, people used to manually browse through a directory like Yellow Pages to find a business and its contact information. That piece of information is known as a citation. With the internet, citations are listings of your business name, address, and information in electronic directories. 

Now, users just need to type some words on the search bar and they can get results in a fraction of a second. They don’t need to browse through bulky directories as the search engines would give them all the information they need. But where do search engines get their information from? 

Some of that information comes from citations in local online directories. Just like we’ve grown to incorporate the Internet into our lives, our directories have as well. Today, we have the White Pages, Yellow Pages, Yelp, Google +, and other such directories. They have business names, contact information, and perhaps even ratings and reviews. 

Why Do Citations Matter?
Like with the old yellow pages, citations increase your business’ visibility. The more citations you have, the more visible you are to the search engines. Businesses with several good quality citations often rank very high on search engine results page. In fact, it’s one of the most important ranking factors for local search. Having a citation in all local directories will place you on an even footing with big-name companies and allow you a fair share of the market. 

There are hundreds of citations sources to consider for your website. You just need to make sure that your citations are placed on reputable and high-authority websites. Search engines will consider the quality of the source when they determine how to rank your website. 

If you want more information about our citation building services, don’t hesitate to contact us, we will get back to you promptly.

​Most people that are looking for a product or service will end up conducting an online search. They will look at multiple sites that provide that product or service and zero in on one that matches their requirements. Not only do they look at the specifications and description of a product; they also want to ensure the site they are purchasing the product from is a credible company.

​By Alain Houle, Alco Web Design LLC

​They ascertain this by looking at what the position of the website is on the SERP (search engine results page). You will rarely find users moving onto the second page of the search results. So when there are so many biggies out there with established companies working on their marketing strategies, how can the small businesses keep up?​

Some strategies
The good news is that it’s possible even for small businesses to reach that coveted position on the SERP; they can do this by focusing on building website authority. Take a look at a few things that can be done easily:

• Carve a niche- This is very important; if you deal in multiple services or product niches, your marketing focus will also get diluted. The minute you pour more effort into just a few select keywords, your visibility on search engines will increase.
• Long-tail keyword strategy- These are nothing but longer phrases that incorporate your keywords. Statistics prove that long tail keywords help improve ranking- they may bring in less traffic than smaller and more keywords, but the traffic will be more specific to your business. 
• Local SEO- If you are a small business, its best to focus on Local SEO and target a local audience rather than aim for national or global visibility. The latter two won’t bring in business and won’t add to your authority either.
• Focus on inbound links- Use local specific keywords, post press releases and work on increasing the number of inbound links to your site. These links should also come from other high authority sites in your specific industry. 
• Reviews – The other way to jump in rankings is to focus on cultivating very positive reviews from different customers. That doesn’t mean you solicit reviews or compensate customers for posting favorable reviews. However you can encourage them with occasional call outs via social media sites, or you can encourage reviews using Yelp stickers on your social networking profile. 
• Authority content publisher- When you want to build credibility, trust, loyalty and awareness, the one way to do that is to frequently publish quality content. Build your on-site blog and distribute videos, podcasts, webinars and ebooks etc via various channels.

When you are consistent with your brand building strategy, you will automatically become a dependable authority in your field. For more information about how you can build authority for your business website, and for comprehensive web design solutions, contact Alco Web Design via email; we will respond promptly.

​In competitive environments, even well designed and well optimized websites have difficulties to stand out and draw their share of visitors. Internet marketing are promotional activities designed to bring potential customers to a website. Here is list of them, please visit our internet marketing page for more details.

​By Alain Houle, Alco Web Design LLC

​Tell the world about your website: Tell your suppliers, customers, colleagues, partners, friends, family, baby sitters, church members, etc. and invite them to visit your website. Give them an incentive by offering an on-line coupon or some information only available on your website.

Conventional advertising techniques: Your website name should appear on every email message you send, business card, letter heads, invoices, yellow pages, promotional items, advertisement flyer, etc. Radio & TV ads, they still work, use them!

Get linked: Ask your suppliers, customers, partners, chamber of commerce, business associations, town hall, local paper, non-competitive businesses, etc. for links to your website. Figure out who links to your competitors and request links to your website. Grease the skid by offering a reciprocal link.

Give a reason to your visitors to come back to your website: Periodically change content, offer sales and promotions, create on-line only promotional items, etc. Publish a blog and send newsletters or periodic emails with links back to your website.

Facebook: I hate Facebook but with 1 billion accounts, Facebook is a force to be recognized. Create a Facebook page and periodically post new information inviting people to visit your website. Once again, give them an incentive by offering an on-line coupon or some information only available on your website. Consider doing the same for Twitter.

YouTube: Create video(s) about your company, post them online and invite viewers to visit your website. YouTube is owned by Google that will reward you for your effort. Create a YouTube channel and group all your videos so they are easy to find.

Local listings: Remember the old Yellow Pages phone book? Many websites offer an electronic version of the Yellow Pages and will gladly list your website for free. Local listings are a must for many small businesses that rely heavily on local sales. Google My Business, Bing Places, and Yahoo Local are the most important and a good place to start. There are many other local listings, prioritize your efforts.

Get reviews and positive feedback: Ask your satisfied customers to post on-line reviews on Facebook, Google Maps, Bing Places, and Yahoo Local. Grease the skid by providing them with incentive such as a coupon, discount, or gift card.

For more details please visit our SEO Internet Marketing page.

Getting Better Ranking
For example, if you have a site that sells cell phone accessories, then inbound links from articles like “The latest cell phone accessories for youngsters” should have some key phrases like “sleek leather covers” or “Trendy cell phone covers for girls” etc. Here are some simple link-building SEO pointers. This will help in getting your website a better ranking: 

• Relevance- The website that holds your link has to be “relevant” with reference to its topic or theme, to the service or product that your site deals with 
• Quality- The actual quality of the site which is linking back to yours is crucial. It is best to focus on linking quality sites and do not get tempted to  link-up too many sites that are low relevance
• Credibility- The links that come to site should be of a high quality. This simply means that the links should not be coming in from irrelevant sites like gambling/ adult sites 
• Page Rank- The site that links back to yours should ideally have a page rank above 2 or 3. A higher ranking will add credibility to your site 
• Website Age- The age of the sites that link to your business site should be a minimum of 2-3 years
• Do Follow Links- This means your webmaster will ensure that the links on the website will be able to pass on “link juice” to other sites
• Anchor Text- Ensure that your content has the right anchor text. For e.g.- in a cell phone accessories website, instead of having a link that says “ click here”, it’s MUCH better to have some text like “popular cell phone accessories”

In addition to all these factors, make sure that the link is also positioned high up on any page and that the content surrounding it is relevant to your business. Links from social media should come in from sites like Twitter and Facebook. For the perfect website optimization and linking solutions contact us or visit our website, www.alcowebdesign.com. 

But things have now changed and a larger number of people are veering towards online searches when they want to look for a specific product or service. This is where local business listings come into the picture and we help a number of clients with this medium. It has a number of benefits for small businesses:

• Easy Search- When you categorize your business in the appropriate niche, it will show up in the search results when someone searches for a product/service. This is a great way of ensuring that prospective customers in the locality are able to access your information easily.
• Offers & Promotions- You are also able to quickly advertise any new offers or promotions via local business listings. They can be changed/updated very conveniently and you can also customize them very easily.
• Mobile Phone Access- Increasingly, the trend is that people look for information via their mobile phones, when they are on the move. The minute you advertise in local business listings, it opens up that particular set of customers to you as well.
• Versatility- You are also able to display videos and photos and make your ads more effective, in the simplest of ways. Local business listings also give you more ad space compared to Printed Pages.
• Cost Efficient- Displaying your ad on local business listings is very cost-efficient in comparison to print advertisements. The latter can cost thousands of dollars while the former will cost only a fraction of that amount. This, in combination with the flexibility that the medium provides you, in terms of being able to alter the information- is definitely a high ROI.

Overcome the Challenges
Operating a small business profitably in the current market scenario where the competition is very high is quite a difficult task. The key to increasing sales and improving your bottom line lies in adopting smart online marketing strategy and advertising your business in local online directories is one of the best methods of achieving this. For more information about local business listings, contact us or visit our website, www.alcowebdesign.com.

But it also has many other benefits and when we handle online marketing or web design for any of our clients, we ensure that the best techniques are used.  Take a look at the benefits of link building:

• Boost Search Engine Rankings- Surveys have proved that almost 7% of consumer sales take place online & an amazing 89% of the online purchases are affected by online research. The Inbound links to your site impacts the position of your website on the search engine results pages.
• Direct visitors To Website- Having quality links attracts real people to your website and placing those links on quality sites is also important. This can go a long way in improving the traffic to your site and this also increases the chances of conversion.
• Adding Credibility- Regardless of which market you are in, there are a number of websites that will be similar to yours in terms of the services/products that are on offer. But when you ensure that your links are placed on various sites, it automatically positions you as a leader in that space. It adds to your credibility and gives you an upper hand against your rivals. 
• Attracting More Quality Links- At the outset, a new site finds it difficult to get links and it is important to get some early successes & build momentum. Once you do this consistently, you will notice that getting quality links is not that difficult any longer.  Once other sites recognize you as a market leader, they will want to link to you.

High Value Marketing Tool
What is even more important is that link building is a very effective marketing tool. Unlike advertisements, high quality links will bring in traffic to your site very consistently, and their influence will be evident for numerous years. Google as well as other search engines always take the age of the link into consideration.

Keep in mind that anyone who links to you has done so because they see value in you and your business and this becomes a very strong selling point for your business. Let Alco Web Design help you with link building for your site. For more information, contact us or visit our website, www.alcowebdesign.com.

My most successful customers are those who work closely with me to design\optimize their websites and save their time and energy for free internet marketing.  Internet marketing is the art of turning your website into a powerful marketing tool. Many internet marketing techniques do not require any specific knowledge and can be implemented for free.  Here are a few ideas:

Please do not hesitate to contact Alco Web Design or to visit our website if you have any questions about free internet marketing.

Alain Houle, President
Alco Web Design LLC - http://www.alcowebdesign.com
N1337 Westgreen drive, Greenville Wisconsin 54942
920-850-4642

There are hundreds of local search directories and it is not practical to register your business to all of them so you should focus on the major ones.

• Note 1:  All of these directories will list your business for free but most of them will try to upsell you paid offerings. It is not clear what value you get for the additional money so I would stay with the free listing.
• Note 2:  Do not overlook other specialized search directories that may apply to specific businesses; dentists and lawyers are good examples. To find them, Google your keywords and city\town and see what comes up.
• Note 3:  Several of those local search directories will try to verify and validate your listing from multiple sources. Make sure your business information is consistent between your offline publications, your website, and the local search directories you sign up to.
• Note 4:  When updating your business listing, do not forget that you work with LOCAL search directories. Follow this link for more details on how to create successful local listings for your website.

Here is a list of the top local search directories: Google Places, Yahoo! Local, Bing Local, SuperPages, YellowBook, YellowPages, Yelp, Citysearch, Merchant Circle, Topix, Insider Pages

Please do not hesitate to contact Alco Web Design if you have any questions about how to use the local search directories.

Alain Houle, President
Alco Web Design LLC - http://www.alcowebdesign.com
N1337 Westgreen drive, Greenville Wisconsin 54942
920-850-4642

Google Places is the new name for Google Local. All Google search results are based on keywords but Google Places also uses geographic distance to list local businesses on top of the search results, just below the sponsored links. This area is prime real estate for any businesses interested by local sales.

Google Places is a free service; here is how to get a good ranking with Google Local search results.

MAKE SURE YOUR WEBSITE IS CONTENT RICH AND GOOGLE FRIENDLY

CREATE YOUR GOOGLE PLACES LISTING (http://www.google.com/places/)

BUILD TRUST (Google Places will validate your listing from multiple sources, make sure your business information is consistent)

Alain Houle, President
Alco Web Design LLC - http://www.alcowebdesign.com
N1337 Westgreen drive, Greenville Wisconsin 54942, 920-850-4642