Scorpion Computers Case Study

Scorpion Computers is a Philadelphia computer repair shop located in the neighborhood of Port Richmond. The shop fixes all makes and models of computers including desktops, laptops, smartphones, gaming consoles and offers IT services as well.

Traditionally, computer repair has been their bread and butter representing the lion’s share of their annual revenue. Like many small businesses, they had an old website that wasn’t optimized for the search engines or for visitors.

The site received little to no traffic except for visits due to collateral materials such as flyers and business cards. It also wasn’t converting traffic to leads and most of their business came from neighborhood traffic and referrals.

The website was redesigned with an emphasis on personal branding creating a warm but professional look which was suitable for their business. Phase two was keyword research, which is the foundation of every SEO campaign.

The obvious choice was to go after keywords related to strictly computer repair, but a good SEO firm will seek to uncover those “hidden gems” that can be exploited and capitalized on that may not even be related to the core business.

In the initial research phase, an opportunity was discovered to create and optimize a landing page for “PS3 Repair Philadelphia”. PS3 refers to PlayStation 3, a popular gaming console made by Sony.

We found that there was virtually no search competition for this service but some measurable search volume that we decided to target. Game console repair was a service they offered, but rarely performed.

What happened next is nothing short of astounding. The website quickly achieved a #1 page 1 Google ranking for the new target keyword because of the low competition. Gaming is extremely popular and people that are hardcore gamers can’t be without their units.

Gaming consoles starting coming in steadily for repair and the shop started building a reputation as “the place” in Philadelphia to take your PS3 for repair. The shop invested in a high tech machine to repair the PS3 motherboards and did an optimized web video to showcase the new piece of equipment. The video is now ranking on page #1 of the search engine results as well.

8 months later, PS3 repair represents over 50% of the company’s revenue, with more gaming consoles coming in for repair than computers. PS3’s are taking over the shop and the new business is pushing them to the point where they are now looking for a second location to accommodate the growth.

Local Marketing Guru is a Philadelphia SEO firm helping local businesses create a dominant presense online.

When you hear the word “building,” you might automatically start thinking that it sounds like a lot of strenuous work is in store. However, link building is purely virtual and is really only a lot of work in a “George Jetson” sort of way. Link building will boost your web traffic and the heavy lifting will really only consist of pushing buttons!

 

Google PageRank

 

One of the most powerful elements to understand when it comes to your website’s visibility is your Google PageRank. This system gives everything online a numerical weight to measure its importance.

Perhaps the importance of PageRank is best understood through Google’s own words, “PageRank reflects our view of the importance of web pages by considering more than 500 million variables and 2 billion terms. Pages that we believe are important pages receive a higher PageRank and are more likely to appear at the top of the search results.” One of the most tried and tested ways to build your Google PageRank is through link building.

 

Link Building and Your Search Engine Rankings

 

The more links that come into your site, the better your web traffic will ultimately be. In the past, many web marketers benefited from link farms where people would pay to have links to their site artificially created. However, Google caught on and created mechanisms to catch this sort of “false’ traffic. These days, the best way to get traffic from link building is to have your links come from highly ranked sites (the higher the PageRank the better) that share the same area of interest as your site (relevance). When Google sees that legitimate websites with viable traffic are linking to your site, the search engine deems your site to be more important too.

 

The Importance of Anchor Text

 

Anchor text is the text in a hyperlink that you can click on to visit another page. The actual word that is part of the text is extremely vital, and it should reflect keywords that are important to your website. When Google measures results and determines your PageRank, it not just looks at other sites that point to your webpage, but it also looks at the anchor text.

 

Some people think that just including their web address is a good enough SEO strategy for link building, and while it will help, it is nowhere near as valuable as using anchor text. Effective anchor text should be natural to read and short.In fact, it should almost always be less than 60 characters. When the search engines algorithms analyze the content on the web for that keyword, they figure if this keyword text is linked to your site, your website is relevant for that particular topic.

 

Let’s look at the phrase “Chocolate Cupcakes” as an example. Ideally, if there were hundreds, even thousands of links from other websites with “Chocolate Cupcakes” as the anchor text pointing to your site, this would be much more powerful then using just the website address. As a result, your sites rankings would improve for those keywords because the search engines see your site as relevant to that phrase. The bottom line is that it’s fundamental to get your best keywords into anchor text on other websites.

 

It’s always good to understand the fundamentals of SEO so you can appreciate its value. We do however recommend that when it comes time for implementation, it’s best left for a professional Philadelphia SEO firm.

All websites are truly not created equal. Good web design extends way beyond an aesthetically pleasing website and into the realms of marketing and branding.

 

Most Web Designers are not marketers and they simply don’t know what elements to include from a marketing perspective. Ironically, websites are almost always marketing tools yet the majority of the sites out there today pack very little punch!

 

The best web designs effectively incorporate the following essentials into a visually stunning display while simultaneously enhancing your credibility in the process.

1. Professional Logo-A good logo is the cornerstone of building any successful brand visually communicating what you do and differentiating you from the competition. If you’ve been on the fence about getting a logo or know the one you have is not very effective, consider hiring a professional designer.

 

2. Web Video-Consider adding a professionally shot video to your homepage. The best videos are that of the business owner. This puts a face and voice to the brand. A 60 second commercial introducing yourself and what you do is a great way of getting people to know, like and trust you and ultimately do business with you!

 

3. Links to the Social Media Sites-Don’t be late to the party. Everyone is using social media now to build their brand. The idea is to “set up tables” where people are hanging out. People are definitely hanging out on sites like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and LinkedIn. If you’re not linking to your social media sites, it looks like your business is not keeping up with the times.

 

4. Images of Yourself, Store, Office, Staff, Company Vehicle, etc.-Adding a little transparency to your website makes your business REAL to the viewer. You can humanize their online experience with actual photos and not just stock pictures. Give the viewer a glimpse of the “who, what and where” aspects of your business.

 

5. Compelling biography-This is all about the about us page of your website. Don’t create a dry dialogue about the company. A good biography tells an emotionally charged story and paints a picture of all the events that lead you to become the person you are today. Share what makes you passionate about what you do and you’ll stand out like a super hero in the mind of the reader.

 

6. Testimonials-The power of “social proof” that a testimonial communicates to your prospect cannot be understated. Proudly display a testimonial on the homepage of your site and link it to a dedicated testimonial page. Video testimonials of real customers sharing their story of how your product or service solved a problem and addressed a need can significantly boost your credibility and finally your sales.

 

7. Organization/Affiliation/Brand logos-This includes proudly displaying the logos of any industry specific organizations to which you belong or support. This may consist of local, regional or national groups comprised of professionals in your industry or even charities. Additionally, if you are affiliated with the Better Business Bureau, local chamber of commerce or networking organization, proudly display those logos as well. If you sell or use a particular brand in your business, displaying the brand logo can enable you to piggyback on their credibility enhancing your own.

 

8. Credit Card logos-Accepting credit cards are a privilege reserved for businesses that have an established financial track record and good credit. Clearly this goes a long way in the credibility department. Proudly display the Visa/MC/Discover/Amex logos and if you accept PayPal or Google checkout you can add that as well.

 

9. Awards/Certifications-Show off your achievements and let prospects know your accomplishments in business. If you’ve received training that demonstrates a high level of excellence and education in your field, proudly display those certifications as well.

 

10. Blog-Connect your blog to your site and publish content that positions you as a leader and an authority figure in your field. This consists of compelling articles and videos that educate the consumer about what you do and/or help them solve a problem/address a need. The bottom line is that your content needs to have value and this is what brands you as an expert in your industry.

If you are just getting into Internet marketing, you may have heard the term “SEO” thrown around a lot, but you may not have a full understanding what this term actually means. However, those experienced in online marketing already know how crucial SEO is for both obtaining as well as maintaining traffic to their websites.

 

Let’s start with the basics. SEO stands for “search engine optimization.” It is all about choosing and utilizing the best methods to make sure that your site gets the traffic it deserves. You will also be happy to learn that SEO is all about “unpaid” search results. It can apply to different types of searches including video searches, local searches and images searches.

 

One of the ways that search engines make a decision as to whether or not your website is important or relevant is by the text on each page of the website. You could have the coolest, snazzier website around, but if it only had only images, no text, and no other websites linked to it, Google would be highly unlikely to think that your site deserved to be noticed.

Onsite vs Offsite SEO

 

Onsite SEO is when you boost your website traffic by making changes to web content including static pages, blogs, and meta keywords, and descriptions. Make sure that you don’t skip using a strong title tag and, if possible, choose URLs that contain SEO elements as well.

 

When it comes to Onsite SEO, it takes is some knowledge of how to find the best keywords that apply to your website and also how to properly integrate them. Once you have keywords working on your site’s behalf, you can constantly receive traffic from search engines and you can potentially forgo other methods like taking out web ads such as Google ad words (Pay Per Click) to receive that traffic.

 

However, there is also a whole other world for how you can generate traffic from other websites and that is called offsite SEO. One of the benefits of Offsite SEO is that it can help a great deal, and this is particularly true if your website is new. This type of search engine optimization shows the search engines that your website is relevant enough that other sites are referencing it.

 

A popular method of getting offsite SEO is to do link exchanges with other sites. Another popular way of generating traffic to your site is to publish articles and/or press releases on third party sites. When these articles link back to your site, it assists with your Offsite SEO optimization. If you have an RSS feed, you should also submit it to blog directories and search engines.

Your Potential Customers are Searching the Web

When people who are looking for your company’s products or services try to find them, of course, they use search engines. Each year the number of online sales as opposed to offline sales grow. The way people find these results is pretty obvious at this point, unless, of course, you have been living on a remote island. Potential customers “Google” to find the results they are looking for.

 

Obviously, you want your business to start showing up in these online searches. When your site appears frequently, you will get better results. If you aren’t getting good placement on Google, you can virtually bet that one of your competitors are… and that means they could be getting your traffic!

SEO, or Search Engine Optimization is a combination of techniques and strategies designed to position a website or piece of content (such as a video) high in the organic search results.

 

There are actually three types of local search results, so let’s start by defining what those are. There are paid results such as the Google Ad Words program whereby you pay per each individual click on the ad to drive traffic to your website (referred to as Pay Per Click or PPC).

Ads are generally placed at the top or right hand column of the search results page and your visibility depends on how much you are willing to spend relative to your competitors for specific keyword phrases. Ads can be geo-targeted specifically to your market upon campaign set-up. You don’t really optimize for these results since where the ads are being delivered have already been defined by the campaign.

 

Next, you have the local map result, which includes Google Places, Bing local and Yahoo local. Let’s look at Google Places as an example considering Google is the 800-pound Gorilla on the search engine block. If you’ve ever done a local search, you’re no stranger to the map that shows up at the top or right hand side of the search results page.

 

You’ll also have noticed listings with the map pushpin next to them as well as the ratings and reviews associated with the listing as well. This is a separate presence that you create for FREE within Google, whereby you can advertise the products and services you offer locally.

 

Lastly, you have the organic or natural search results, which are the FREE unpaid results that are traditionally the most desirable pieces of search engine real estate that drives most search engine optimization programs. It has been noted that the natural listings are more desirable for searchers to click on above and beyond the paid results making them more powerful.

 

To completely dominate a local niche you use the above triple threat. The paid ads are a great way to drive immediate traffic to a site but from a search engine optimization standpoint, let’s focus on the Local Maps and Organic results. These two strategies when used together have a synergistic effect on your Local SEO.

 

It is important to understand when positioning yourself locally that the keyword phrases you’re optimizing for generally include what’s referred to as a local modifier. This is the actual location of the product or service you are searching for used as part of the search phrase. For instance, if you were searching for pest control in Philadelphia you would optimize for the phrase “Philadelphia Pest Control” or “Pest Control Philadelphia” as opposed to just “Pest Control”.

 

With Google places, you can add keywords into the listings description but your physical address as well as the business categories you choose when creating the listing ultimately define where you show up. You want to make sure that the physical address of your listing and the address appearing on your website are consistent so search engines such as Google can make the connection.

 

What’s interesting is that recent changes in Google’s algorithms often mix both the Google Places result with the organic search results making your Google Places listing a mandatory part of your local SEO plan. When used in combination with a solid onsite and offsite optimization plan, you can dominate your local market on the search engines.

If you are seeking to boost your website’s SEO results (and who isn’t?) one highly valuable tip is to add a blog. There are a variety of reasons why a blog can truly boost the amount of web visitors your site receives. As you will find, simply taking the time to regularly update your blog can translate to impressive results.

 

First of all, when your website has a blog, it is no longer static. This means that you can constantly add new content. In fact, due to the fact that a blog is easy to update, you can add this content on your own and won’t need to constantly involve contracting a web designer every time you wish to post new information about your company’s products and services.

Contrarily, if you don’t have the time, interest or technical expertise to do it yourself, an Internet Marketing and/or SEO firm, can handle the details for you. This includes creating the content (articles & videos) for you as well.

 

The more content you add to your blog, the more traffic it will receive from the search engines. Therefore, once your website has a blog, be sure to update it as often as possible. The search engines love websites that have fresh new content as this keeps them coming back for more over and over again.

 

The engines also love sites with a lot of pages, and each time you write another blog entry, your website will become more vast. This will give you some priority over websites with fewer pages. Visitors can find out about your blog through RSS feeds when you post new articles. Each time you post a blog, the RSS pings your entry (alerts the search engines) and these new results are indexed.

 

Blogs also offer the opportunity for you to insert popular keywords that are relevant to your business. Working with an SEO specialist will allow you to uncover these highly trafficked keyword phrases related to your niche. When you start inserting these terms into your blog entries and tags, it will enable people searching for these terms to find your site. These new visitors may very well become valuable clients or customers.

 

Another benefit of a blog is that it is a natural fit for social networking sites. This means that you can tweet your blog entries and post them on Facebook fan pages as well. Facebook and Twitter will provide valuable backlinks to your site. Additionally, once you have a blog, there is the opportunity for you to receive links from other blogs as well.

 

Of course, websites without blogs can also receive plenty of traffic. However, the bottom line is that if you are seeking to take full advantage of all that the web has to offer your business, it only makes sense to add a blog.

When you are setting up your business website, there is no doubt that you want to do it right. That means that it is not only important that your website looks good, but also it is crucial that it is memorable and properly represents your brand. However, you don’t want your website to be memorable in a bad way. With that in mind, let’s take a look at the top 5 mistakes you want to avoid making on your site.

Sometimes business owners get so involved in creating a website with a slick look, that customers no longer can comprehend the message of the site. It is important that your website is still easy to navigate and also that there is a clear way people can quickly get the information they need to hire your services or make a purchase.

If your potential clients have trouble getting the information they are seeking, they may lose their patience and go elsewhere. Even if you have great keyword traffic, if people immediately leave your website, you may as well have no visitors at all!

One of the benefits of having a business website is that you can find out a lot about your potential clients. Website statistics can provide valuable information for building up your company. For example, what pages are people viewing on your website and how much time are they spending on them? These details can help you better understand your web visitor’s frame of mind. You can even track the keyword searches on Google that are leading people to visit your site. Obviously, this background information can be key to building up your business.

Another business mistake to avoid is to have a site that loads too slowly. This can sometimes be the result of a web hosting service and other times it can be the result of too many high-resolution images on the home page. If you find out your hosting service is letting you down, be sure to switch to a service that is higher capacity. In general, business sites should steer clear of heavy graphics and photos that can slow things down.

Another issue that often leads websites to load slowly is Flash introductions. While these intros can undoubtedly look very cool, they will often cause a web visitor to lose patience and look elsewhere. Further, Flash movies can negatively impact your website’s SEO results.

Due to the fact that business owners are busy, often outdated information gets left on a website. This can be news about “upcoming” events that took place years ago or irrelevant details about old promotions. Definitely avoid making this mistake, as it will make your potential customers feel that your business is a losing proposition.

Believe it or not, what you select for your domain name can really have long-lasting effects. For example, if you chose something extremely long, people will have trouble remembering your site name. Similarly, if you select a domain name that is next to impossible to spell, your potential customers just might give up before even getting to your website. Be sure that you pick a domain name that is short, easy to remember and relevant to your company.

You hired a top web designer and you’ve got a great looking website. You’ve been working with a leading SEO firm and you’re on the first page of Google. Now that your site gets a ton of traffic and is a virtual work of art, what are people doing once they get to your site?

 

People already have a general idea of what you do, but more importantly they want to know who you are. If your homepage was engaging enough and your visitor hasn’t already clicked out, the first stop for a good majority of your site traffic is the about us page. The question they are asking themselves is “Is This The Type of Guy (or Gal) I Want To Being Doing Business With?”

 

This is your chance to shine and telling your personal story makes you relatable to your reader. Instead of some dry commentary about your business, the about us page humanizes you and establishes your personal brand. This is the place to park a compelling bio that not only establishes your credibility, but speaks volumes about how your life experiences can help solve a problem that your reader is experiencing.
 
Let’s look at 7 key components of a persuasive biography that can make this section of your website a real standout for your visitor.

 

1) Indentify Your Audience- Let your reader know specifically that you are speaking to them and do it within the first paragraph of your bio. If you’re going to take people on your personal journey, make sure you let them know you can indentify whom they are.

 

2) Establish Your Mission-Tell your reader why you do what you do. Tell the bigger story which includes your specific point of view. What is your perspective on the issue at hand? Is this your life’s purpose? Is the service that you provide larger than yourself?

 

3) Explain Your Origin-What life experiences led you to this specific profession? Was it some thing that happened to you in your youth, as a young adult, in college or at a previous job? Was this experience what set you on your current life trajectory?

 

4) Share Your Tragedies, Not Just Your Triumphs-Without being overly transparent, share some problems that you’ve overcome that have helped you become the person you are today. Life is never a straight line. Your reader will relate to some of the struggles that you may have experienced as well as your ability to prevail over them.

 

5) Credibility-Here’s where you get to prove you really are an expert at what you do. This could be your education, your affiliations, notable accomplishments, awards, products you’ve created, etc. This is what establishes trust and believability that you can solve the reader’s problem.

 

6) Humanize-Site some activities or recreation you enjoy that makes you more approachable. This shows you are real and can establish some common denominators that you share with your reader. What interests do you have or hobbies do you take pleasure in? This can also include your favorite foods, colors or music or even some oddity.

 

7) Call To Action-Now that you’ve taken your reader on your personal journey, what is it that you want them to do now? Give them a specific instruction that tells them the next step they need to take. This could be a phone call or e-mail, opt-in in to your e-mail list or maybe even “liking” your Facebook page. This is an invitation to prompt an even deeper connection with you.

 

A couple of closing comments is first to consider writing in the first person for maximum impact. Also, don’t make the mistake of feeling obligated to structure your bio in chronological order. It’s better to tell what you are doing now at the beginning of your story instead of making the reader wait until they get to the end.

The motto “reputation is everything” certainly holds true when it comes to all things online. Because so many people constantly research products and services on the web, they will quickly find out details about your company that are both good and bad. One important site that you need to be aware of is Yelp!, as it has gotten more and more popular in recent years and results will frequently pop up in search engines. The fact is that if just one dissatisfied customer posts a negative review on Yelp, it can end up being the first thing people see when they look you up on Google.

Receiving a scathing review on Yelp! could have disastrous results on your business. Unfortunately, however, getting this site to take down a review really isn’t feasible. However, there are ways you can proactively deal with review sites like Yelp!, Citysearch and TripAdvisor. One thing you can do is hire a good SEO and reputation management company. These internet marketing firms specialize in using search engine optimization to push positive pages to the front of Google results and move negative pages down.

 

If you are seeking to manage your reputation on your own, you can run a campaign where you specifically ask customers to post positive comments about you on Yelp! Some businesses have found that offering some sort of small incentive to do so can be effective. Through this means, even if you do get a negative review on Yelp!, there will be plenty of positive reviews to balance it out.

 

Another important tip is to be sure to deal with negative reviews in a proactive manner. Respond to customers in a professional manner and try to help ease their frustration. Yelp! will allow responses to comments to stay up on their site. When you post a response, other readers will see that your business wants to address each client’s needs. By responding to negative feedback and showing your business cares, you can actually turn something undesirable around into a very good thing.

 

When managing your online reputation be sure to set up a Google alert to see if new comments are popping up about your business on sites like Yelp!. You can set this alert to notify you anytime your business name appears in new online content. Simply visit www.google.com/alerts, and you will quickly and conveniently be able to manage keywords and how often you are notified.

If you want to rank high in local search engine results, it is imperative to get listed on top local directories and get some positive local reviews. As it turns out, Google gives preference to companies that have reviews over those that do not. Plus, when new customers read reviews, they are more likely to patronize your business. It gives you a stamp of approval.

 

Google may give higher organic website rankings to companies that are listed on Google Places or Google Maps. Millions of Internet searches are local, so it is vital to place highly so your company is visible in new regional searches.

Local reviews are important from more than just an SEO perspective. Statistics show that customers are very likely to read online reviews before making a purchasing decision. In fact, this is one of the reasons that Amazon.com is such a juggernaut. The website has reviews for almost every item, and this is an easy and convenient way for other customers to decide what to buy. Studies show that customers actually trust online recommendations just as they would a personal recommendation from a friend!

 

In order to make sure that you start getting local reviews, it is a good idea to make sure your company is listed on Google Places, Bing Local and other similar online local directories. When you set up your page, be sure to write a good key word rich description, add your business hours, accepted payment methods, photos, videos and bring each profile as close to 100% complete as possible. Also, be sure that the business name and address is accurate and that you use the same exact format for each directory.

 

You will also want to get a local listing on Yelp! and other sites that happen to be relevant for your particular type of business. For example, if you run a hotel, you should get a listing on TripAdvisor. Similarly, if you have a restaurant, you likely want a listing on Urbanspoon.

 

Once you have your listing set up, you can sit back and (hopefully) the good reviews will start coming in! If you have customers who you know are satisfied, it is also a good idea to suggest to them that you would appreciate a review. You could do this through Facebook or even in person. Yet, be sure you only do this with happy customers. It should go without saying that those who are disgruntled might not think of writing a local review, so why give them the idea?