What every business needs to know today:Learning the basics of

search engine optimization

John Denny (@johnhdenny)

In order to compete today -- every business needs to know the basics of SEO and becoming visible online

In order to compete today -- every business needs to know the basics of SEO and becoming visible online

"If local prospects can’t find you when they search online– you don’t exist".

-John Jantsch

And the reality is, if you don’t learn this for your business,

there will be consequences…

Basics of SEO

• Don’t need to know robots.txt strategy

Basics of SEO

• Don’t need to know robots.txt strategy• Do need to understand the basics of how

Google ranks one site above another

Basics of SEO

• Don’t need to know robots.txt strategy• Do need to understand the basics of how

Google ranks one site above another– And… you need to factor that understanding into

how you run your business every day

How I come to my view of the world

• 25 years in marketing, a good portion spent at NY ad agencies leading brands like Staples, Sony, Royal Caribbean cruise lines

How I come to my view of the world

• 25 years in marketing, a good portion spent at NY ad agencies leading brands like Staples, Sony, Royal Caribbean cruise lines

• Spent tens and hundreds of millions for these brands on mass media– primarily broadcast TV

The world of marketing is changing• Mass media advertising like TV

and radio have become less effective

• Internet has changed the dynamic– Time spent online has

skyrocketed over the last decade– Users are actively looking for

what they want via search engines

– The explosion in social media means “word of mouth” has gone on steroids

The world of marketing is changing• Mass media advertising like TV

and radio have become less effective

• Internet has changed the dynamic– Time spent online has

skyrocketed over the last decade– Users are actively looking for

what they want via search engines

– The explosion in social media means “word of mouth” has gone on steroids

The world of marketing is changing• Mass media advertising like TV

and radio have become less effective

• Internet has changed the dynamic– Time spent online has

skyrocketed over the last decade– Users are actively looking for

what they want via search engines

– The explosion in social media means “word of mouth” has gone on steroids

The world of marketing is changing• Mass media advertising like TV

and radio have become less effective

• Internet has changed the dynamic– Time spent online has

skyrocketed over the last decade– The explosion in social media

means “word of mouth” has gone on steroids

– The explosion in social media means “word of mouth” has gone on steroids

The world of marketing is changing• Mass media advertising like TV

and radio have become less effective

• Internet has changed the dynamic– Time spent online has

skyrocketed over the last decade– The explosion in social media

means “word of mouth” has gone on steroids

– Users are actively looking for what they want via search engines

• “In terms of getting someone to your business, (Google) is the single largest source of free traffic in the history of mankind”

• “In terms of getting someone to your business, (Google) is the single largest source of free traffic in the history of mankind”

• “the reality is there are 100’s of billions of searches happening on Google every month, and some of them are people searching for what you have to offer.”– Dharmesh Shaw

New Marketing Philosophy

Get found by your best customers by creating an online presence that attracts qualified web visitors and leads.

Based on the ideas of:– Seth Godin: “Permission Marketing”– Dharmesh Shaw (HubSpot)/Research Analysts at

Forrester research: “Inbound Marketing”– David Meerman Scott: “New Rules of Marketing”

The Good News: success is not defined by your $$

The Good News: success is not defined by your $$

“Today there is a trend bringing increasingly sophisticated online marketing capabilities to SMBs at very low cost.”– Greg Sterling, local marketing analyst

An analogy: Today’s smartphones have more processing power than NORAD had in 1965

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An analogy: Today’s smartphones have more processing power than NORAD had in 1965

You can draw this same comparison to the power you have to market your local business today

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This is the best time in the history of marketing to be a local business

This is the best time in the history of marketing to be a local business– More tools, more power, plummeting cost

This is the best time in the history of marketing to be a local business– More tools, more power, plummeting cost

(you just need the knowledge to know how to take advantage)

How does this work?

Search engines love unique content, and themore useful content there is on your website, the more opportunities you give searchers to find your products and services.

“We send out customer surveys to people who’ve purchased our cabinets… we’ve found over 90% of have found us or researched us online.”– Ben Argov, owner Sonoma Wine Accessories

But….

• “I don’t have the budget to build a fancy web site”

But….

• “I don’t have the budget to build a fancy web site”

• “I don’t have a staff to write and design a blog”

But….

• “I don’t have the budget to build a fancy web site”

• “I don’t have a staff to write and design a blog”

• “It’s easy to create content around something as interesting as wine, but my business is harder….”

If the dumpster people can do it, so can you.

Turn everything into content

• Record everything and transcribe it all into text. Interviews, conversations, product DVD’s, personal opinions, etc.

• Turn support emails into FAQ pages on your site

• Start generating videos of everything

– Advice from Rob Snell, owner hunting dog training supply store gundogsupply.com

Thank you!

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Check out my blog: JohnHDenny.com