Google | SEO Services and Web Marketing from Eric Haaranen

May 24, 2010 Posted in Marketing Ideas

The Importance of Local Search for Small Businesses

Local search is the term we use to describe the action that people take when they turn to the Internet to find information about local businesses. For the first time in history, people are more likely now to search for your business on the Internet than in the Yellow Pages.

What this means to the average business owner is simple. If your website or information about your website shows up on the first page of Google for search terms related to your business, it is very similar to having your business situated in the prime retail area of your town or city. People will find you. (more…)

Feb 18, 2010 Posted in Marketing Ideas

Google’s Highest Priced Keywords Approach $100 per Click

According to AdGooroo, in the third quarter of 2009, Adwords advertisers were paying $99.44 per CLICK for the keyword “Mesothelioma.”

To put it a different way, somebody (lawyers, presumably) were placing ads on Google and paying almost $100 every time someone clicked on their ad and come through to their site. Isn’t that amazing? (more…)

Dec 23, 2009 Posted in Marketing Ideas

Where Your Customers are Going to Research You

It used to be that anyone thinking about doing business with you would first consult with their colleagues or friends to see if any of them had worked with you before. If not, they would likely turn to the Yellow Pages and give you a call. That would put you in a good position because you have total control of the information they receive about you and your company.

Five years ago, that same potential customer would get online and visit your website, learn about your products and services and contact you if they were interested. Again, a good situation for you to be in as you have total control over what appears on your website.

Today, things have changed. Social media sites like YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, etc. have become so powerful that they constantly appear at the top of the search engine rankings. More importantly, consumers are more apt to trust the information found on these sites because they believe this information is posted by non-partisan people ie. your happy or disgruntled customers and it is more likely to provide them with an honest assessment of what you have to offer. (more…)

Oct 20, 2009 Posted in Marketing Ideas

SEO or PPC – Which is the Better Path for the Small Business Owner?

I get this question a lot and I’ve answered it over the phone and through email many times but surprisingly, I’ve never addressed it here so here we go.

SEO stands for Search Engine Optimisation which is the ability to get a website listed on the first page of the Google natural rankings. By natural rankings I mean the free listings so when people click on your link you get free traffic to your site.

PPC stands for Pay per Click and that is a different beast. You can pay to have your ad appear on Google or other search engines and you only pay when someone clicks on your ad. Hence the name.

Ok, marketing jargon out of the way, what is the best approach for the small business owner to take? On first blush, it seems obvious. Go for the SEO and get all kinds of free traffic. Why pay for visitors when you can get them for free, right? (more…)

Sep 29, 2009 Posted in Marketing Ideas

Video Marketing for Any Small Business Website

Video marketing is a relatively new and very promising form of online marketing. Basically, video marketing is the producing of short promotional or informational videos and then distributing them throughout free video hosting sites like YouTube.

Such a form of marketing serves two very key purposes. First, a lot of people can see your video and contact you either directly through the video or by visiting your website to learn more about what you do. Second, these video hosting websites have strong page rank with Google and by placing your video on them you can gain some powerful links back to your site. (more…)