Do Not Speak to the Police Before You Call Us!

The majority of Criminal Defense Websites say this-and it’s just not Denver; it’s coast to coast. I think many individuals who have faced criminal charges would agree that this is excellent advice. Let’s put a different spin on this situation that I recently experienced first hand-When Attorneys Dissolve the Partnership and the financial consequences of your Internet Marketing Program!

If you are involved in a breakup with your partner-Don’t agree to anything until you call Steve Mertz for a consultation!

Here are some specifics of this case study.

I build the original website for the two partners. We had original and authoritative content that Google recognized with time. They were on the first page of Google searches for terms such as Denver Criminal Defense Attorneys, Denver Sexual Assault Attorneys, Denver Drug Attorneys etc. They were also in the magnificent 7 of Google Places-what do you think this kind of Internet placement is worth?

Now, let’s consider some specifics:

Who owns the domain name?

They’re partners, do they both own the domain name? Well, the two partners negotiated a settlement. They decided that partner A owned the domain name and he would license the domain name to Partner B for a stipulated time. However, Partner A decided to remove all the content that was spidered and was showing up on the first page. Before you decide on your new domain name  remember the significance of having a domain name with keywords in it. Unfortunately, a new domain name will take time and effort to start showing up in the searches-be sure you know what your SEO strategy is to jump start this process. What do you think the consequences were?

The website dropped like a rock in Google searches because there was no content! Worse yet, if someone was doing a search for say, Denver Sexual Assault Attorneys, and they clicked on it-they got the ugliest message in the world; Error 404-Webpage Cannot Be Found. Do you think partner A might be liable for negligence and loss of business? A brief reminder: Call the Internet Marketing expert before you agree to anything!

Who Owns the Content?

Partner A claimed that he developed and refined the content for Google searches, but why would he remove all the content? He thought he would take all of this content to his new site and everything would be Wonderful…and they lived happily ever after-Dream On! I got my client’s website up first and all of that copy is now on his site. Too bad Partner A hadn’t planned on this outcome.

Who Owns All of Those Great Backlinks to the Website?

All those backlinks that you spent hundreds of hours on and maybe thousands of dollars-they’re no good to either one of the partners. If you don’t understand the significance of backlinks-Speak to an Internet Marketing Expert before agreeing to anything!

Who Owns any Articles Written and Paid for by the Partnership?

There could be an article that was written for the firm and showing up in the searches for say, Denver Criminal Defense Attorneys. My take is this: the article was written for and paid for by the firm. So, first come, first served, my client now has a majority of those articles on his website!

Who Owns or Controls the Google Places listing?

This is huge, being in the top 3 of Google Places  can bring a huge ROI to your business. What happened in this case? Partner A went in and changed the name and the phone number to his firm. This was further complicated by the fact that for now, they both have the same address. So you think this could confuse Google? Here’s what happened-Partner A was gloating that he had out manuevered Partner B; after all, they showed up in several categories for Google places. Unfortunately for partner A, Google received about 6 to 7 emails showing that Partner A had no rightful claim to the Google places listing-Google removed Partner A from Places and partner B is having his Citations diligently worked on-he is very close to sliding into a top position with Google Places.

The gloves are off and both of the partners are suffering from loss of business because of these missteps and questionable actions by Partner A but Partner B is on the way to Internet success-more later!

If you have a partnership and have questions about a partnership dissolving-call the Internet Marketing Specialist  before you agree to anything!

This topic is now one of my most requested when I speak to Associations and Organizations. Please contact me if you would like me to give you specifics on how I can make this Internet Marketing topic the most talked about presentation at your convention!

First off, hopefully if you are a small business in the Denver, Colorado area; you have done some research or asked some questions about Google Places. Long story short, it will never hurt your bottom line results to be listed near the top of the page for your important search terms! There are many contributing factors as to who gets to be included in the Magnificent Seven-and I’ll share with you the latest thinking:

1. When you go to Google Places to claim your listing, fill out all the information that they ask for. It’s important to state how large your business area is. For example if you are a tree service in Denver, do you also go to Castle Rock and all the way up to Westminster? If you do be sure you state that. In the description, write a summary that includes your keywords, this is very important so take some time.

2. If you have a blog, write a post and link to your Google Places page. Do you have a business associate in Denver not in competition with you? let’s say you know a Denver Painter-he could write a blog post about you and you could reciprocate. Please be sure that you link to the Google Places page and never say “click here” use your keywords, such as Painting Contractors Denver!

3. Now, the heavier lifting starts! You need “citations” from other sources to help you climb into the Magnificent Seven-you may ask, what are citations and how am I going to get them? Think of citations as links from other sites. These links are very critical to your success. Here is a great, free tool for finding citation sources: http://www.whitespark.ca/local-citation-finder/ This free tool is compliments of Darren Shaw-big shout out to Darren!! Put in your keyword phrases such as “Painting Contractors Denver” and it shows you a great list where you can go and sign up your business with the business name, address and phone number. These citations will now point to your website and will greatly increase your chances of showing up prominently!

4. Be sure you always use the same name everywhere. For example if your business name is J Place Paintng use that name everywhere and use it exactly-don’t vary it!! Google is looking for consistency so if you decided to use the name Superior Painting by J Place Painting-you are shooting yourself in the foot-trust me, use the same name, address and phone number for best results!

5. Do you have a $100 website or less? Do your best to optimize your site for keywords, meta tags and authoritative and original content-this too is important in your quest for a top listing in Google Places.

6. Have your customers go to your Google Places page and write a recommendation-it will help you a great deal! Offer them something for their time and effort such as a discount, gift card etc.

Here are some other very good articles on Google Places Optimization:

5 Steps to Google Places Optimization Zen

Google Places Help and Support

3 Step Google Places Optimization Through Prevalence

I’m sure there are many other great sources but this will get you started

If you are not inclined to do this work call or email Steve to have him look at your project for optimizing your Google Places page!! Good Luck

BOB STROM is the owner of Ballard Lock & Key, which provides locksmith services in Seattle. If you live in the area and find yourself locked out of your car or home, here is an essential piece of information about Mr. Strom’s company: it really exists.

By that, the Haggler means that there actually is a guy named Bob Strom, who is a bonded locksmith. And he owns a business, which you can visit, at 7352 15th Ave NW. This might seem too obvious to note, but it sets Mr. Strom apart from more than 90 percent of his local competitors. According to Yelp, there are — no joke — nearly 3,000 locksmiths in Seattle, though with relatively rare exceptions these operations aren’t in Seattle at all.

They are phone banks, typically set up in far-off places, often in other countries. Call them and they’ll dispatch a locksmith. Some are legitimate, but others may all too often do shoddy work and/or charge two or three times the estimate.

In the last five years, some of these lead generation companies, as they are known, have become notorious. A few have been sued by state attorneys general. Several have shown up in gotcha television news stories, a selection of which can be viewed on YouTube by searching for “locksmith scam.”

You might assume that lead gen sites would be no competition for people like Bob Strom. But for a couple of years, in one crucial arena, they have been crushing him: Google search results. Last Tuesday, the Haggler typed “emergency locksmith Seattle” into a browser, and the top results — most notably, the seven that appeared in the highly coveted Google Places spots, which are marked on an area map — appeared to be lead gen sites. They have local addresses, but if you call and ask to visit, they demur.

“We’re renovating,” said a rep at Emergency On Guard Key Service.

“We’re a mobile service,” said a rep at 24/7 Emergency Locksmith. Asked for more information, the rep hung up.

How, you may wonder, do phone banks that may be thousands of miles from Seattle leapfrog a living, breathing local locksmith in Google searches?

The Haggler asked Doug Pierce of Digital Due Diligence, an Internet research firm based in Brooklyn, to look into it. Mr. Pierce found that lead gen sites use some interesting gimmicks to charm and hoodwink Google’s algorithm. Some basically hijack the local addresses of other entities in or near the middle of town. A business called 24 Hour Speedy Emergency Service, for instance, uses the same address as the King County Administration Building. 

Other sites, Mr. Pierce found, are just tricked out for maximum Google visibility. In particular, lead gen sites are good at spreading their name, address and phone number — NAP, as it’s called in the search business — around the Web, which is apparently a superb way to curry favor with Google Places. On Tuesday, a search of the NAP of Emergency On Guard Key Service yielded more than 1,700 results. By contrast, a NAP search of Ballard yielded 256.

Mr. Strom, it turns out, has so little chance of outranking lead gen sites that he’s having a hard time finding a Web consultant to help him fight back.

“I told him that it would just be a waste of his money,” says Craig Baerwaldt of Local Inbound Marketing, a search engine expert whom Mr. Strom tried to hire recently. “There are hundreds of these lead gen sites and they spend a ton of money gaming Google.”

Of course, this is not just a Seattle problem. Lead gen sites dominate Google results for locksmiths in many cities nationwide, and in more than a few towns. And it’s not just locksmiths. Other service industries, like roofing and carpeting, have a similar problem. If Google is the new Yellow Pages, then lead gen sites have perfected the same game that companies in the predigital age played when they started their names with combinations like AAA1 to land atop printed listings.

But because few people search beyond the first page online, snookering Google might be far more effective, especially because many people assume that the company’s algorithm does a bit of consumer-friendly vetting.

The Haggler contacted Google, and a spokesman, Gabriel Stricker, e-mailed this statement on Wednesday: “We’re aware of the gaming practices happening in the locksmith industry — practices which long predate Google and have affected the Yellow Pages for decades. We’ve implemented several measures to combat this issue, including improving our spam-detection algorithms and working with the locksmith industry to find solutions.”

The Haggler appreciates the challenge that Google faces. Thousands of people spend all their workdays devising novel ways to fool the world’s most popular search engine. Fighting this tech-savvy horde can’t be easy.

Yet if the example of locksmiths is any indication, the horde has the upper hand in certain service sectors, and it all but owns Google Places. Though Google is apparently already battling back. On Thursday, a search of “emergency locksmith Seattle” yielded only one Google Places result, not seven, but maybe more tinkering is needed. The site that landed on this prized perch appeared to be a lead gen operation — it’s 24/7 Emergency Locksmith, which lists its address at a U.P.S. store. The woman who answered the phone at 24/7 would say nothing about the company, or even where she was located.

FOR Mr. Strom, the sooner Google works out more countermeasures, the better. He estimates that he has lost about one-third of his revenue since the lead gen sites popped up a few years ago. Customers have paid a steep price, too.

“We showed up at a job last week,” he said, “and this woman told me, ‘A young man came yesterday, quoted me $49 to open my door, then he drilled my lock, charged me $400 and left — and now I need a new lock.’ I hear something like that almost every week.”

This meeting is open to the public and will start at 6pm at Brauns on Blake which is located at 2401 Blake Street. Denver, CO 80205. The cost is only $5 bucks and you will love this group! If you have questions on how to pick the best keywords, analyze your results and increase revenue-this meeting is for you!!

We have a new sales representative who lives in the San Diego area and we will be having client meetings on:

• Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
• Website Design
• Blogging
• Social Media
• Google Places and Local Search SEO
• Retained Monthly SEO

If you have any interest in meeting please email or call us and we can arrange a meeting. Thanks, Steve

I’ve met some very interesting small business owners at Starbucks and they too sometimes feel as though they are fighting for their life when it comes to Internet Marketing. Two examples come to mind:

The first is a very hard working immigrant who told me how he came to this country and started his own limousine service here in Denver. Some of his specialties include excursions to nearby mountain communities like Aspen, Vail and Breckenridge, Colorado. He asked me to look at his Internet Marketing and SEO efforts. To my amazement he had not 1 but 4 different websites! Build them and they will come?? The first thing that struck me was the fact that the four websites were not interlinked, this really is a must. Some of the sites had duplicate content and he was not able to edit the sites himself-this is why we use Word Press! I love his strategy; who wouldn’t want the first 4 sites for the Google search Limousine Service Denver?

Interestingly, none of his sites appear on the first page. His efforts are too stretched and he does not have the SEO expertise to pull it off. Bottom line: If this sounds familiar; hire a Denver Internet Marketing firm or just concentrate on having one fabulous site!

The second individual was an attorney. This guy has put a lot of effort in his four websites and has a fundamental understanding of Internet Marketing and SEO. Again, none of his sites are linked together and he spends a lot of time working on these sites…could it be better spent on being an attorney? Another thing that really shocked me was the fact that he did not know what percentage of his business was coming from the Internet or from what site. Do yourself a huge favor and insist that your assistant gets this information from new callers!

I am seeing the trend of multiple websites increasing by small business owners. Just remeber that someone has to manage and pull all of your efforts together.

If you would like a second opinion on your efforts call or email the Denver Internet Marketing Firm.

Matt McGee wrote an insightful post on this matter called 10 Likely Elements of Google’s Local Search Algorithm and with all things Google the target always is moving. I’ve had some interesting conversations with my Google representative, she sells the Google boost ads and is very familiar with Google places, so here goes:

1. Your address. According to Matt: If you want to rank for keywords related to a particular city, you better be located in that city. He also points out an exception and I’m going to mention a few more. I have a client whose address is Englewood, Colorado but his service area is much larger. One of the areas that he wanted to show up in is Tree Service Greenwood Village, CO. He is now showing in Google places even without a location in Greenwood Village. He shows there because my rep told me to include this city in the “Description” section of places. Sure enough, as soon as I added Greenwood Village he showed up. This however, is just one factor.

2. Your Business Categories. Google gives you limited options on categories and if you choose a phrase that does not come up, you get a message saying you have selected a “custom category” not sure of the ramifications of this yet.

3. Keyword in Business Name. Matt ranks this as very high and from my own experience I too think this can be very critical.

4. Citation Quantity. Important! According to Matt: Google relies heavily on citations, mentions of your business elsewhere on the web. This validates your business name, address and phone information. He also gives an excellent resource article called Why Citations are Important to Your local Business Listings.

5. Completing Your Business Profile/Place Page. The more thorough the better, remember Google is directing more users to Place Pages, so according to Matt: it’s logical that pages with a lot of good information would rank higher. This is also confirmed by my sales rep. However, I recently acquired a SEO client who was the first on a Google Places listing and she had not claimed that listing-we took care of that immediately.

6. Business Data Consistency. Matt points out that your business name, address and phone number need to be consistent. My client actually had three different business names that Google had picked up and consequently in the top 7 place pages she had two listings. This can cause confusion so be consistent!

7. Reviews and Ratings. Reviews and ratings (positive) gives Google more confidence to recommend a local business-I would pay more attention than ever to this aspect. My Google sales rep even encouraged my client to have a laptop handy and after the service (she does waxing) ask the satisfied client to write a Google review. You may even want to offer to give them $5 or $10 dollars off their service for them taking the time to do so. Based on many conversations with my rep I would rank this as more critical than ever-Get Reviews from your clients!!! Have them go to Google Hotpot to write their reviews.

8. Proximity to Location. Matt says:

proximity to city center is much less important than proximity to the location being searched. Interestingly, when I was asking my rep about specific cities my client would like to show up in; she asked me the approximate miles from his business location to the desired city. She was a little vague on how far away someone could be and still show up in the desired city

9. My Maps and Other User content/Data. Matt points out that at the very bottom of a Place Page, Google shows the user-generated content associated with a business. He believes this is becoming a more important signal in part thanks to what seems to be more people using My Maps. Don’t forget geotagged photos of your business.

10. Certain Traditional SEO Factors. Matt feels that most traditional SEO factors don’t play a huge role in Place rankings. He feels that some SEO related elements do come into play and mentioned the age of the domain associated with the business and domains that have keywords in them. I think he is right on with these observations and my Google rep specifically mentioned that the age of the domain name associated with the business can be important!

Matt also points readers to a very good Google video called Google Places Moderator: Ranking The major take aways from the video include: Location, Relevance and Prominence.

Whether you like it or not, you may as well go to Google Places and claim your business and do the work mentioned above!

Let’s suppose for a moment that you want to rank #1 in a Google search for the phrase Denver Dentists. You go to your computer, put in the phrase and you show up #1 in the Google organic search results….but are you absolutely sure? Here is something to ponder-you visit your own website several times in the day or week and Google records this. It does this to give you more relevant search results because Google ranks sites higher that you’ve visited more often. I go to my computer and put in the phrase Denver Dentists and don’t find your site until page 4 or 5, why the disparity? Your search results are biased and you are not seeing your true ranking the way your potential clients may see.

The post points out that the simplest way to get true results is to sign out of Google or turn off Google search history personalization. By doing this you should  see unbiased search results and hopefully you still come up #1 in Google searches for Denver Dentists!

Let me mention another thing that causes a great deal of confusion in Google searches. You can have three different computers and people doing the same search and come up with different results; this is because depending on what Google data center you pull from, you may get different search results. The main Google data center is at my house, so I’m always number one in my searches

Segal takes us through a short case history of JC Penney and their efforts to appear on the first page of a Google search for terms like dresses, bedding and area rugs, to name a few. All of their SEO efforts came to fruition and they had a great Holiday season; appearing on the first page for several terms. The dream of every business owner is to appear on the first page of a Google search, preferably the number one or two spot. What’s the value of being number one in organic search?

According to a study last May by Daniel Ruby of Chitika, an online advertising network of 100,000 sites, found that, on average, 34 percent of Google traffic went to the No. 1 result, about twice the percentage that went to No. 2 These resuts are for organic, or natural search results versus pay per click.

So, where did JC Penney go wrong? They hired a SEO firm that bought lots of inbound links, some from spammy sites. Their biggest sin, was getting caught and now Google will punish them in search results. For example, if you are an attorney in Denver, Colorado and you want to rank #1 for the term Denver Auto Accident Lawyers, the more links you have coming into your site, the better. This assumes that they are good links and if the links come from other auto accident lawyers, they are even better because of the relevancy. You can read more about link building  from my previous posts.

Link building is a necessary evil for every Internet marketing and SEO campaign. It is very tedious and time consuming to get great links to a customers site and hence, it tends to be a monthly investment that should be budgeted for. Don’t forget the other basics of a good Internet marketing campaign. A very good primer is the recent blog post by Kalena called The 10 Week SEO Diet. Kalena does a great job of hitting the basics that are a great foundation for your successful Internet marketing campaign.

If you are a small business owner in the Denver area and would like to discuss your Internet marketing and SEO efforts please feel free to call or email us-we are the Denver Internet Marketing Firm that can show you proven results.

As I was going through the category here is an interesting domain name I found:

Los Angeles Personal Injury Lawyer | Car Accident Attorney California
Hurt? (800) 232-7070 FREE LEGAL ADVICE. Acclaimed Personal Injury Lawyer & Car Accident Attorney. No Win = No Fee. 30 yrs exp, 98.4% Success, …
www.4injured-losangeles.com/ – Cached – Similar

How about that domain name-not only does it have a number in it but they have a hyphen in there for good measure. They are also on page 2 for the phrase Los Angeles Automobile Accident Lawyers! Not bad!!

It looks based on the evidence, that numbers and dashes in your domain name won’t hurt your SEO efforts to shoot for the first page of a Google search. There are a couple of other interesting things about this site worth mentioning. They make good use of using relevant keywords in their title bar.  On the home page there aren’t any H1 or H2 tags, or meta descriptions….

Under the areas of practice, and specifically, car accidents, they do use H2 tags and the All in One SEO pack. This is a great tool for your SEO efforts. Another very good thing for this site is the fact that their domain name has been hosted since 2004, in Google’s eyes this is now a trusted domain name. They also appear to have done a good job on inbound links-very important to any good SEO campaign.

Interestingly enough on the Car Accident Attorney Los Angeles page they have a section called Links, generally a red flag in Google’s eyes. Under that heading of links are some of my favorites such as, Charleston car Accident Lawyer. Does this remind you of a good old fashioned link farm? This might not be considered best practices when it comes to link building  today but this one is under the radar

So, use numbers and dashes in your domain name just be sure that you focus on all the other areas that will increase your chances for showing up on the first page of a Google search for Los Angeles Automobile Accident Lawyers….