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MAIN STREET ROI GUIDE TO SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATIONNow, that said – it still is pretty common to see very fast results with SEO, just byfollowing the simple, proven best practices we teach here at Main Street ROI. Weconsistently receive success stories from new customers of ours who have followed ourbest practices and suddenly started appearing on the first page of Google within 30 days.How is this possible? Usually, these fast results are possible because of very weakcompetition. Most small businesses aren’t following the best practices I’m laying out inthis eBook. And so, if you simply implement our best practices, you can often jumpahead, quickly, and with no risk of getting penalized or banned by Google.However, SEO will likely only become more competitive in the future, as more of yourcompetitors catch on. For that reason, we recommend that you continue to reinvest inyour SEO over the long-term, so you continue to stay ahead.Speaking of long-term, another common misconception is that it’s nearly impossible tostay ahead with SEO over the long-term, because it’s always changing Misconception #3: The Rules Of SEO Are Always ChangingIn some respects this isn’t a misconception– it’s sort of true. Google is always changingthe details of its algorithm.Over the past several years, Google has made some significant changes. Years ago, Googleintroduced Google Places and started featuring local results more prominently. Then,Google introduced Google and started to integrate social media data into the searchresults. And then Google changed Google Places to Google Local And when youconsider all of these changes, it can seem overwhelming.Main Street ROIwww.MainStreetROI.com646-470-3753P a g e 10

MAIN STREET ROI GUIDE TO SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATIONHowever, when you look at the big picture and take a long-term approach, you’ll see thatGoogle has actually been pretty consistent over the years. While the details of SEO areconstantly in flux, the fundamentals haven’t changed for years.My business partner and I first got our feet wet with SEO way back in 2005, so we’vewitnessed a lot of these changes over the years. Throughout all of these years, Google’sapproach has remained surprisingly constant. And, as a result, the rules of SEO remainlargely the same, from year to year.So, what does Google want? Google wants to feature the best results, the bestinformation, and the best local businesses. And they want to prevent “spam” fromclogging up the search results and ruining their users’ experience.Therefore, our long-term advice is to give Google what it wants. Don’t focus on trying to“game” the system and forget about silver bullets. If you focus on giving Google what itwants, you’ll win over the long-term. Follow our 4-part recipe and you’ll see your businessmove up and stay at the top of the search results.Misconception #4: SEO Guarantees New CustomersAnd there’s one more myth I want to clear up: The myth that if you get ranked in Google,you’ll automatically get new customers. This can be true, but it’s not necessarily true.Now, earlier in this eBook, I said that SEO is one of the most straightforward ways ofgetting customers. However, it’s not automatic and there are a number of ways that theprocess can break down if you’re not careful.In order to get customers from Google, all 5 of the following steps must occur:1. Your prospect needs to search for something relevant to the services you offer.Main Street ROIwww.MainStreetROI.com646-470-3753P a g e 11

MAIN STREET ROI GUIDE TO SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION2. You need to show up in Google.3. Your prospect needs to click and check out your website (or your Google Localpage).4. She needs to like what she sees and contact you.5. Finally, you need to close the sale.Obviously, getting ranked in Google is a critical step. But you need to have all of thepoints in that sequence working for you, or else it’ll break down.For example, if you’re ranking in Google for some phrase that nobody ever searches, thenobviously you won’t get any website visitors. And if you’re ranking in Google for somephrase that’s irrelevant to your business, then people may come to your website, but theywon’t contact you. And even if you attract website visitors and leads, you can losecustomers due to a lousy offline sales process.So, with that in mind, now let’s walk through the SEO best practices we recommendevery business follows. We call this our recipe for profitable SEO, and it has 4 parts.Here’s the recipe:Research Relevance Reputation RevenueNow let’s dive into this recipe in detail, and I’ll explain exactly what we mean by each ofthose ingredients SEO Ingredient #1: ResearchThe first step is to research the exact keywords your potential customers are using to findyour type of business in Google.Main Street ROIwww.MainStreetROI.com646-470-3753P a g e 12

MAIN STREET ROI GUIDE TO SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATIONThis process is known as keyword research.Luckily, you don’t have to guess about what people are searching in Google every day.Google makes this information available to the public for free, through their keywordresearch tool. This tool is called the Keyword Suggestion Tool.Here’s the link to Google’s keyword ExternalYou can also find it by simply going to Google.com and searching “keyword tool” – it’ll bethe first result you find.As you’ll discover, this tool works like a thesaurus. Just type in the words you thinkpeople might use to find your type of business in Google, and Google’s keyword tool willgive you related search phrases, as well as data about how often the words and phrasesare searched.Here are some best practices to keep in mind when conducting keyword research for yourSEO campaign.Before you use Google’s tool, start by brainstorming keywords on your own. What wouldpeople search to find your type of business? Put yourself in your potential customer’sshoes. You may even want to ask your current customers what they’d search to find you.It’s really important to identify the actual words your customers would use, rather thanoptimizing around jargon words that only your peers and industry insiders would use.Once you’ve got an initial list of keywords that you think make sense, start enteringwords and phrases into the Google keyword tool and see what Google comes back with.Main Street ROIwww.MainStreetROI.com646-470-3753P a g e 13

MAIN STREET ROI GUIDE TO SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATIONThen, the next step is to prioritize the keywords. There are two main factors you’ll wantto keep in mind when selecting the keywords you’re going to optimize for.2 Critical Keyword FactorsFactor #1: Search volumeObviously, if you want to attract a lot of new customers from Google, it’ll be important tofocus on keywords that are frequently searched. Google will tell you how often differentvariations of keywords are searched. The search volume is quoted on a monthly basis.Factor #2: RelevanceYou want to make sure to focus on relevant keywords. Especially when you’re just gettingstarted with SEO, you want to focus on keywords that have the highest possible chancesof delivering qualified customers. You don’t want to focus on what we call “tire kicker”keywords.Additional Keyword Research TipsHere are some additional tips to help you choose the right keywords.Hiring Intent: You want to prioritize keywords that demonstrate strong “hiring intent” –an obvious intent to hire a person or company like you. For example, if you’re achiropractor, I would recommend prioritizing “chiropractor” keywords above generic“back pain” keywords. And the reason is that a person who is searching for a chiropractoris much more likely to go see a chiropractor than somebody who is simply searchingabout back pain.Geographic Keywords: Also, if you want to attract clients in your area, pay attention togeographical keywords. For example, if you’re a lawyer in Dallas, you’ll want to identifythe exact phrases people search when trying to find a lawyer in Dallas. For example, theyMain Street ROIwww.MainStreetROI.com646-470-3753P a g e 14

MAIN STREET ROI GUIDE TO SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATIONmay search: “Dallas lawyers” or “Dallas law firms”When brainstorming local keywords, a good technique is to mix and match phrases thatcontain your area and your service. For example: Dallas lawyers, attorney in Dallas, lawfirms in Dallas, and so on. You’ll be surprised how often very similar phrases can havesignificantly different search volume.For example – according to Google, “Dallas lawyers” is searched 390 times per month, but“Dallas law firm” is searched only 170 times per month. So, if you ranked #1 for “Dallaslawyers” instead of Dallas law firm, you would potentially get twice as many leads andclients. This is why proper keyword research is so critical to your success. A little bit ofextra homework up-front can pay significant dividends over the long-term.Get Specific: And also, be sure to focus on keyword phrases related to your specific areasof practice. So, for example, if you’re an attorney and you practice a specific type of law,such as personal injury law, then be sure to research those specific keyword phrases.This goes back to my earlier point about relevance. If you’re a personal injury attorney inNew York, it’s much more valuable for you to show up for “New York personal injuryattorney” than it is for you to show up for “New York attorney.” And don’t be afraid todrill down even deeper. For example, if you specialize in car accident cases, then researchthose specific phrases.Identify Local ‘Trigger’ Words: And here’s another tip to keep in mind if you want toattract local clients. Earlier I mentioned how Google is showing local business resultsmore frequently. This section of Google is called Google Local (and it used to be calledGoogle Places). Well, if you want to appear in these local results, I strongly recommendfocusing on keywords that are already triggering these local results. That way, you’ll havethe greatest likelihood of showing up in the local results and gaining maximum exposure.Main Street ROIwww.MainStreetROI.com646-470-3753P a g e 15

MAIN STREET ROI GUIDE TO SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATIONOK, so at this point you’ve conducted your keyword research. And you’ve picked thekeywords you are confident will deliver a steady stream of highly qualified customers toyour business. I recommend you keep track of these keywords in a spreadsheet, so youcan easily refer back to them.Let’s move on to the next ingredient in the formula: Relevance.SEO Ingredient #2: RelevanceRemember what I said earlier about how you want to take a long-term approach to SEO?You don’t want to take short-cuts. That’s like taking steroids in our weight-liftinganalogy. You want to take a healthy approach that’s going to deliver results over thelong-term and not backfire. Well, that means giving Google what Google really wants.And what does Google want? As I said earlier, they want to show people the highestquality results possible. And one very important aspect of quality is relevance. Googlewants to make sure that your website or your Google Local page is perfectly relevant tothe keyword searched in Google.com.So how do you tell Google you’re relevant? You need to make edits to different parts ofyour website and to your Google Local page.How to Optimize Your Google Local PageIf you own a local business, I recommend you start by optimizing your Google Localpage, for a couple reasons. Google is making local results more and more prominent, andlocal SEO is still low-hanging fruit in many cities and towns. Plus, it’s very fast and simpleMain Street ROIwww.MainStreetROI.com646-470-3753P a g e 16

MAIN STREET ROI GUIDE TO SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATIONto edit compared to editing your website, because you don’t have to get a webmasterinvolved in the process.So, if you haven’t already, you’ll need to create your Google Local page. If you’re not surewhether or not you have a Google Loca page, then search for your local phone number,business name, and address in Google Maps (http://maps.google.com). Does your listingalready exist?If not, then you’ll want to create one. When you go to http://maps.google.com, you’ll seea link at the top-left that says “Put your business on Google Maps” – and that’ll guide youthrough the process.Next, you’ll want to fill out all the different categories, including your business name,your description, and the relevant categories. And the most important places to includeyour keywords are in the Description field and in the Categories field. Be sure toinclude your target keywords in those two areas.But here’s a word of caution: Don’t over-optimize by stuffing too many keywords intoyour Google Local profile because Google’s becoming more sensitive about that, andover-stuffing your keywords could backfire.Here are a couple counter-intuitive points.First, I recommend you avoid including your keyword as part of your business name. Forexample, if you own a dental practice in White Plains, New York called Allan Weiss &Associates, don’t enter your business name as “White Plains Dentist – Allan Weiss” – justuse your real business name.Main Street ROIwww.MainStreetROI.com646-470-3753P a g e 17

MAIN STREET ROI GUIDE TO SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATIONGoogle will eventually figure out your real business name based on information in otherlocal business databases. And once Google determines your real name does not includethe extra keywords you added, they will either change your name themselves orcompletely remove your profile.Also, only use basic keywords for your Category selections – don’t include geographickeywords in those phrases. For example, if you’re a New York City cosmetic dentist, justuse “cosmetic dentist” as a Category (and skip “New York City”). Google already knowswhere you’re located and using geographic phrases in category names is against theirTerms of Service.Next, as you’re filling out your page, be sure to complete all of the fie

Misconception #1: SEO Is 100% Free Just a minute ago, I explained how SEO is valuable because it can provide you with free customers. And that’s true. When you’re ranking in Google’s organic results, the clicks are free. However, it’s important to realize that SEO isn