All Local Online Marketing Should Start With Keyword Research

The number one reason most local online marketing campaigns fail is either no keyword research or poor keyword research. Conducting proper local keyword research before building a website, writing a blog post, submitting an article, creating an online video, etc will put you on the right track to dominating your local market on the internet. If you fail to plan, plan to fail!

Most people know about the Google Keyword Tool. However 99.99% of people do not know how to use it properly for local online marketing keyword research. The majority of people also do not know that Google Keyword Tool is very inaccurate. This tool was designed to be used for Google’s Pay Per Click (PPC) customers. It is FREE for anyone to use.

There are a ton of fancy keyword research tools on the market that cost money. All of these tools that I have purchased in the past use Google’s keyword research tool to pull their search numbers. Which means these tools are also inaccurate. The only reason to use one of these tools is for the other special features they provide. I will talk about the one I use and recommend, for local online marketing, in future posts.

Before We Begin

We are doing local keyword research. The number of searches for local keyword phrases are very low compared to giant chain stores and pop stars having clothing malfunctions! You chose your profession and the location you provide services in. So you will need to work with what you got.

Step #1 – Local Online Marketing Keyword Research

Even thought the Google Keyword Tool is very inaccurate it is the best source of information available for local online marketing keyword research. The first step is to sign up for a Google Adwords account. Don’t worry it’s FREE unless you run a PPC campaign of course. The reason you will want an account is that you can get up to 800 search term results when logged in vs. 100 results if you are not.

Step #2 – Local Online Marketing Keyword Research

Have you ever seen the acronym K.I.S.S.? It means Keep It Simple Stupid! That is the best way to start. You should start by selecting very broad keywords, about three to five should work.

For example if you are a plumber you could choose

Plumber
Plumbing Repairs
Plumbers
Plumbing Companies
etc

Local Online Marketing - Local Keyword Research

Then the keyword tool will spit out a long list of keyword phrases for you along with their average number of monthly searches. Now what you need to do is go through this list and select all of the good keywords that people would use if they were in need of your service. There will be a lot of keywords that don’t apply. For Example:

Plumbing Parts
Plumber Jobs
Plumbers Salary

You get the picture.

Step #3 – Local Online Marketing Keyword Research

This is the fun part. You are looking for keywords for “Local Online Marketing“. What you want is people that are in your local area to find you. If you were a plumber in Seattle, a person searching for a plumber in Orlando wouldn’t help you make any money. So what you will need to do with the list of keywords that you have selected is to add your local city to all the keywords in your list to make them local online marketing keyword phrases. Here is how I do it:

City Name + Keyword
Keyword + City Name
Keyword + City Name + State Name
Keyword + City Name + State Abbreviation
Repeat with the second keyword and so on

OK, I lied this isn’t very fun, but it is necessary to find the right local keywords that people are searching for. After you have completed your list of local online marketing keyword phrases, you will need to copy and paste those keywords back into the Google Keyword Tool and run another search to see what you come up with.

Step #4 – Local Online Marketing Keyword Research

Now that you have your results for your local online marketing keywords you will notice something. All of the phrases with the same base keyword will have identical search numbers. If you believe that, you could be making a huge mistake. What you need to do is determine which one of those phrases is the best one to choose. If you target the wrong local online marketing keyword variation you could cost yourself big money in missed opportunity.

***Coming Soon – Local Online Marketing Keyword Research Videos. Learn step by step the process to selecting the local keywords that will give you the best chance for local online marketing domination. BONUS VIDEO – The keyword research method no one ever talks about and it gets accurate numbers.***

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My Opinion About Google Places For Local Online Marketing

You will probably find my opinion about Google Places as part of a local online marketing campaign quite shocking! Most people are used to people sugar coating things. As you will find out, I tell it like it is, good, bad or ugly! Where to begin?

Before the big Google Places upset late in 2010, I thought Google Places was a great thing for businesses. As a matter of fact my own company had two spots on the first page of Google. My website was ranking high in the organic section of Google and my places page was also ranked very high.

Here is a picture of how Google Places looks pre and post October 2010.

Local Online Marketing - Google Places

After the big change my local online marketing site was still ranked at the top of Google, however I only had one spot instead of two. But what I noticed was that many of the sites that had either been ranking in the places or the organic section had disappeared and others had emerged. In fact only three sites remained dominant in that market.

I also looked at some of my local online marketing clients sites and found that they were also doing well and many of their competitors had also fallen by the way side. However some of my clients, those who had office locations in the suburbs, had taken a beating!

Google’s Local Online Marketing Algorithm Change

What happened was that Google started to place a high value on the actual business location as part of the new algorithm. Those business owners who do not have a business address in that city are penalized, even if they have properly optimized their sites for keyword phrases including the major metro city as part of their phrase. What sucks is that most people use the major metro city name as part of their search. This caused many businesses to suffer a loss in business.

Another problem that many service based businesses face is that they run their business out of their homes. Google doesn’t consider these to be legitimate businesses. What a load of crap!

My Suggestion For Local Online Marketing Domination

Google penalizes local online marketing websites, that are listed in Google Places, that do not have business addresses in the major city when people are using the city name as part of their search phrase. If your business address is located in a suburb and you want to get top rankings for the major city search terms, you need to DUMP your Google Places account! WHAT? That’s right, dump it, shit can it, delete it!!! If your website is properly optimized you will be able to outrank the blended places/organic listings. I would suggest to not even use Google Places if your business is located inside the major city in the metro area unless you have two websites. The picture below shows you that this is more than possible!

Local Online Marketing Don’t Do List

There are many local online marketing tactics that people use trying to cheat Google Places. If you use these tactics, you will eventually get caught! If you get caught be prepared to suffer the consequences. I had one client, who with out my knowledge, tried some Google trickery and got busted. So Don’t:

Use a PO BOX, UPS Box or any other such service
Stuff your listing with location based keywords
Use your keyword phrase as your business name
Use an address that is not your business address

Here is local online marketing solution for those of you who still insist on using Google Places. If you need an address in a major city, your best bet is to find a virtual office and use that for your address. If you search enough you may be able to find a cheap one.

Local Keyword Research