Geo-specific searches and Google Instant

I’m happier than you could know for my other blog… a metro-DC/Northern Virginia-based flooring industry-specific blog that gets hundreds of real, organically-generated visits per day.
It’s a workhorse that generates solid leads for a fantastic sales team near Old Town Alexandria.

Why am I happy?

Because I’ve worked for years to get that blog and others tailored for geo-specific search results (did you notice the geo-specific terms packed into the first two sentences of this post?)
And now, Google Instant is paying off… actually, not much has changed, but folks looking for products in a specific city, county or zip code are just a touch more likely to click on my output.
And that, my friends, makes this geek very happy.

Here’s a small section of queries that came through just this morning:

earthscapes vinyl sheet flooring
stone skin
earthscapes flooring
checkerboard flooring
stone peel and stick mosaic tiles
935 splendor flooring
vct tile patterns
help lca management vodeo wordpress
earthscapes coronado
black and white checkerboard luxury viny
tarkett vinyl flooring kids
carpets and aging
smartstrand ratings
earthscape flooring 20002
earthscape titanium series
anso tigressa low voc carpet
refinishing hardwood stairs
buy tile arlington va
earthscapes flooring samples
stack tile accent
verde vecchio granite 22304
triexta vs.tigressa
laundry room design
tile floor installer in alexandria va
tigressa warranty

Notice some of them have city names?
Others have zips…
I’ve been working on this type of search optimization since the late 1990′s and it enabled me to sell one of my startups in 2007… after nearly 11 years of work that really paid off.
Spend some time going through search queries that have led to your site and you’ll notice at least one or two.
If you don’t, get busy because it’s one of the most effective ways to get local traffic… and that’s the kind of traffic you want if you are in a retail brick-and-mortar business.

 You can’t see me, but I’m doing my happy dance

All the best,

Chris

Interns – a wonderful “secret” weapon for driving traffic.

Ok, so “Crakalicious” is not a user name I would have chosen for a popular blog comment post, but who am I to judge?!
There is a point to this and it’s a good one.
I’ve used interns for years to delegate tasks and provide opportunity.
As a former intern myself, I was given a fantastic opportunity that I ran with… no, I sprinted with, to translate it into an editor-ship with a startup that is still in business after over 15 years.
I’m pretty proud of that.
Oh, right, let me get back to the point.
This post is about interns and one simple way I’ve employed them to get important, but time-consuming tasks, done.
Specifically, commenting on popular blog posts (definitely after reading them!) and linking back to my various web presences.
It’s a great way to build traffic, but it’s a low-dollar/hr task that I just can’t do any more.
Why is it ok?
Because my interns actually read the blog posts they comment on.
That’s pretty important, speaking as a blogger that has to sift through loads of spam comments that have nothing to do with my erudite (humbly spoken) writings, and link back to ridiculous sites, some of which make me sick.
And where did the name “Crakalicious” appear?
Well, I’m still laughing about it because it was on a CNN blog post about drug use.
Of course, junior and I had a talk and that name disappeared.
Then he replaced it with “John Smith” and we had another talk.
Now he uses his real name and we’re both happy

All the best,

Chris

What’s in a name? A lot, if you’re Google!

Keywords, meta tags… yawn. Well, not exactly. They do play a part in the search engine picture. But here is something missed by many amateurs – page titles.

It’s quite a simple way to go after a specific search-oriented customer. But consider this (because Google! sure does) – if you sell “widget x in washington dc” you should have a page titled “Widget x sales in Washington DC” instead of naming it “About Us.” I’ve been capitalizing on this for years and you get this nugget free.

Here’s an example:

The above doesn’t contribute to your search engine ranking if your customers are looking for hardwood floors in Northern Virginia. But this does:

Now, you can go overboard with a 100-word title, but you would be amazed how often the above has made me money… that’s right, I put that tag up there and on many other sites.
Stay tuned for more because there is a lot to learn!

All the best,

Chris