Do It Yourself Local Seo For The Small Business Owner

Learn How To Rank In The Search Engines As a Small Business Following This Step by Step Course

Last updated 2022-01-10 | 4.1

- Understand what Local SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is
- The Basics of setting up a small business website with Wordpress or Squarespace
- The importance of having a mobile friendly website

What you'll learn

Understand what Local SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is

The Basics of setting up a small business website with Wordpress or Squarespace

The importance of having a mobile friendly website

How to setup and use Google+ for Business

You will understand what important sites you should list your business on

The importance of building business profiles across the internet

Basic elements of on-page and off-page SEO

How to outsource content writing for your website

How to get more reviews for your Google business page

* Requirements

* You will need a basic website built with either Wordpress
* Squarespace or another easy to use content management system
* A willingness to learn
* implement
* read and take consistent action

Description

Do you want to learn how to rank your business higher in Google Search?

Do you own a small business?

Do you just want to do the work on your own?

This is the perfect course for you.

I've created a step-by-step course that walks you through everything you need to know about boosting your visibility in the Google local map pack.

In August of 2015 Google changed the "local 7 pack" into the "local 3 pack".

It's now more important than ever to be working on Local Search Optimization for your business.

Only 3 businesses are now shown within the local business pack when typical "service + city" terms are used in Google search.

In this course I walk you through the basics of:

Setting up your website for local search
Setting up your Google+ business page
Adding your business to important website directories such as Yelp
Setting up basic social media profiles such as Facebook, Twitter & LinkedIn for business.
I walk you through several tools that can be used for tracking your rankings and auditing your business for search.
I show you the importance of content and how to optimize it for your business
I provide ways to generate more reviews for your business on Google, Yelp and others.
I show you some other websites you can use to generate new clients for your business.

If you've been struggling with SEO for many years as a local business, this is the course for you!

Who this course is for:

Small businesses who are willing to put in the work to rank locally
Those who are interested in dominating the search results for their local city
If you are a business owner that lacks time to take action, this course might not be for you but it will help you understand the concepts of local SEO if you are unable to implement.

Course content

15 sections • 48 lectures

Introduction To The Course 5 lectures

What To Expect In This Course Preview 00:59

This is the introduction to the course.

Want Help From Me? Preview 01:01

Who Am I? Why I Created This Course Preview 03:14

In this lecture I discuss who I am and why I created this course.

What is local SEO? Preview 03:58

Local SEO generally refers to ranking in the search engines for "local" business. Typically what's seen in the local map pack when searching Google.

Pricing - This Course Vs. Using An SEO Agency Preview 02:40

I compare some pricing insights to keep in mind.

Setting Up a Simple Website for Business 6 lectures

Do You Build Your Own Website Or Pay Someone Else To Build It? Preview 02:10

If you are not technical, building your own site might be a challenge for you. Consider hiring someone to build a site for you, preferably in Wordpress.

Why Your Website Must Be Mobile Friendly in 2015 Preview 01:59

Real Quick.. Preview 01:11

Learning Wordpress - A Simple Content Management System Preview 03:30

Wordpress Hosting Preview 09:01

Squarespace - Simple For The "Do It Yourself" Crowd Preview 02:41

SquareSpace is a simple drag and drop interface based content management tool that you can use to build your business website.

Setting Up Your Google+ Business Page 5 lectures

Introduction To Google+ For Business Preview 01:49

Google+ for business is VERY important for ranking locally in your area for your business. Most of the course is focused around this.

A Poor Google+ Business Page Vs. a Good Google+ Business Page Preview 06:14

Here are some examples of optimized pages vs. non-optimized pages on Google my Business.

An Example Google+ Business Page Setup Preview 05:00

In this video I walk you through setting up your Google+ business page.

Using Canva To Create a Header Image Preview 01:48

Canva is a great tool if you are looking to make simple edits to your photos.

Posting on Google+ For Business Preview 01:54

Posting on Google+ is another way you can increase awareness for your company. Post your blog posts and be sure to include hashtags with a # to mention relevant keywords that make sense for your business.

Setting Up Your Yelp Business Page 1 lectures

Setting Up a Yelp Business Page Preview 02:09

Yelp is an important place to have your business listed.

Basic Social Media Setup 4 lectures

Facebook Business Page Setup Preview 03:19

Facebook business pages are actually one of the most important pages you can have.

Setting Up a LinkedIn Business Page Preview 01:52

Linkedin is another very important site you should have your business listed on.

Setting Up a Twitter Profile Preview 01:49

Twitter is simple to use and also can be used for business.

Run a Social Media Contest To Generate Buzz Preview 02:00

Running a contest or giveaway is a great way to generate buzz for your business.

Creating Business Listings for Local SEO 3 lectures

Name, Address, and Phone Consistency For Your Business Preview 02:55

Making sure the NAP (Name, Address, Phone Number) is consistent across all of these profiles is critical for ranking in the local map pack on Google.

Building Citations (aka Business Listings) Preview 08:42

Checking Citation Consistency (aka Business Listings) is easy to do with tools like Brightlocal.

What are Data Aggregators? Preview 02:43

Data Aggregators pass your business information to tons of other sites across the internet. Using a service like Moz Local will allow you to utilize many of these.

Tools For Building Citations, Rank Tracking & More 4 lectures

Check Citation Errors For Free With Moz Local Preview 05:42

Moz local is a simple tool for checking basic errors on the top business websites. It's 100% free to run a scan with and I highly recommend it.

Using Brightlocal for Building Citations, Monitoring Reviews, Tracking & More Preview 07:19

Brightlocal contains tons of useful SEO tools for local search. I at least recommend checking out the trial and using some of their tools to see where your business currently stands.

GeoRanker For Checking Your Rankings Preview 01:26

GeoRanker is another tool you can use to check local SEO rankings.

UpCity Local SEO Preview 12:13

UpCity is an awesome platform for Local SEO. It has a huge task list of ideas far beyond what I've shown in this course, I recommend trying it out and seeing if it's something you could use for yourself.

Optimizing Your Website for Local SEO 3 lectures

Adding Name, Address, and Phone (NAP) To Your Website Preview 03:39

In this video I show you how to add the NAP information to your website.

Using The "Wordpress Local SEO" Plugin For Your Site Preview 01:45

If you are looking to make life a bit simpler I do recommend checking out the Yoast Local SEO plugin.

Local SEO Articles Worth Reading Preview 04:44

Here are a couple local SEO articles worth reading. There is tons of free information out there that can be found on Moz and other sites.

Content Writing 7 lectures

Why Content Is So Important Preview 05:03

In this video I discuss the importance of content for local SEO.

Building Content Pages For Your Services Preview 02:43

Creating service pages for your business is crucial. You should have content for every single service you offer in a different page.

The Google Keyword Planner - Keyword Research Preview 04:45

Adding Heading Tags Preview 01:22

In this video I cover heading tags for SEO.

Adding an "Alt" Tag To Your Images Preview 03:55

In this video I cover adding alt text to your images. I also mention Google's Picasa tool which you can use to add a longitude and latitude coordinate to your image based on location. This will also help with local SEO.

Hiring a Writer for Only $5 Preview 05:44

Writing content does not need to be expensive, you can hire writers for as little as $5 per article from Fiverr.

Link To Other Relevant Content On Your Website Preview 02:37

Linking to other content on your website is something Google will take into account when ranking. I cover it briefly in this video as a best practice.

Social Syndication 1 lectures

Setting Up JetPack To Post On Social Media Automatically Preview 03:09

Jetpack is a free plugin that you can combine with their publicize feature to automatically post on social media when you add content to your website.