We’ve got a bit of a unique situation here.  Our fair city is one of the few that is searchable in many different ways – saint louis, st louis, stl and so on.  But does it really matter to you how people searching for local merchants?

You better believe it.

Paging Doctor Lou

Looking up a search like saint louis orthodontist and st louis orthodontist may look pretty much the same, but there actually are differences in rankings, sites listed and ranking order.

Do the same thing for stl orthodontist and you’ll not only get s different set of results, but Google doesn’t even provide the 7-pack of local listings.

All three searches are different. So what – right?

In This Case, Hoarding is Good

Have you seen that show where they go into people’s houses that hoard things?  There are items stacked on everything.  You can barely navigate the homes most of the time.  Well, when it comes to visitors and rankings, hoarding is good.  You want all the visitors for all the related queries, no matter how they decide to put in the Saint Louis part.

If they put St Louis,  you want it.  If they put stl, you want it.  So optimize your website and build links for all versions.  Rank for them all.

Zip it Up

Don’t forget zip codes.  I was very surprised at recent data that showed the amount of people typing in service 12345.  People are typing in services and products and tacking on a zip code so they can only get local queries.  If you offer a local service or sell a certain product at a brick-and-mortar store, you should consider ranking for zip codes, too.

Paid Listings Matter, Too

If you’re one of the crazy few that are putting money into PPC instead of SEO, you should note that having all versions of Saint Louis in your keyword list isn’t going to hurt you any.  Same for zip codes.  Do it.

Don’t have time to rank your website for all these local phrases?  Hire me for your local SEO efforts and watch your competitors weep!

What was the word that was mentioned more than any other? WordPress.

During my session on Local SEO, one of the business owners raised his hand and said, “All throughout these sessions the number one thing we keep hearing is blog, blog blog. Why is this so important to a small business owner?”

I loved this question.  It’s a question I get in most of my small business sessions, and it’s one that can be easily answered.  There are a lot of reasons to blog, but there is one (in my opinion) that stands out above the others.

Blog for the long tail

In my opinion, the long tail of search is one of the greatest places for most businesses to pull in great leads.  A long tail searcher is already considered a warm lead compared to someone who’s looking for a more generic phrase.  For example, if you fix washers and dryers, which customer would you think is a warmer lead?  One that searches for ‘maytag washer’ or ‘maytag washing machine repair company 63103′?

Assuming you’ve written a blog that covers maytag washers, there’s a higher probability that the second searcher will a) land on your site and b) be a much warmer lead which will probably convert (if your site is well optimized to grab that lead)

Since long tail words are virtually unlimited, the vast variety of them will best be harvested by consistent and diverse content.

Blog for content

Those wacky search engine spiders love content.  They love to come to a website and see more than just pictures.  They want something to digest, something that’s original and industry related.  If you are fattening them up with quality industry-related content, they’re going to like you.  And like leads to rank.  Just like Santa Claus, leave out some good cookies and milk each week.  You’ll see your site grow, you’ll make the spiders happy, and you’ll reap the profits of more traffic.

Blog for activity

There’s nothing worse than a stale website.  If your website isn’t changing, updating or growing, you can forget about any search engine love.  They like to see movement.  Movement means life, and a website that’s ‘alive’ will have a much better chance at ranking.

Blog for community

One of the best things about blogging is the fact that people can interact with your business.  There’s something cool about being able to leave a comment on a post that was written about something I’m looking for.  If you’ve written a post on Why Your Maytag Dryer Isn’t Turning, and that’s just my problem, there’s a darn good chance I’m going to buy from you.  And I’ll probably leave a comment on your post thanking you.

And if that’s not my problem, there’s still a chance that I’ll leave a comment with my problem/symptoms.  You can then answer this, or better yet – write another blog about that problem.

Having your blog open to comments (moderated, of course) will lead to an interactive website.  Your visitors will give you free content in the form of comments, and you’ll be able to better serve your community of followers.  Win-Win.

Does your business blog?

Do you think it’d be a good thing to start? What are your biggest hurdles in getting a blog going?

Three of my kids (ages 10,11,14) use YouTube for most of their searching online.  The oldest (who has sat through several of my SEO classes) uses Google.  But all three of the younger ones use YouTube when looking for something online.

Granted, most of their searches are for music/musicians or video game related info.

Still, interesting.