Skelton Internet Marketing Company Blog

Why You Should Choose a Local Internet Marketing Agency

sales@1800skelton.com (Etsel Skelton) — Sun, 09 Oct 2011 01:33:12 GMT

Here are five good reasons to choose a local Internet marketing agency:

1A local agency can do business with you face-to-face. Communication is vital to a successful Internet Marketing campaign. Whether it's spending time with you to see and learn about your business, discussing your needs and goals, working directly with you to create promotional photographs and videos, or simply answering questions prior to your signing the Agreement, a local agency is your business partner, and your neighbor.

2Having worked with many clients in the same area, a local agency has local resources, connections, and networks that national agencies simply to do not have. We can leverage these assets to get you better, longer-lasting results in a shorter amount of time.

3Word travels fast at the local level, and a local agency is very interested in protecting their reputation. In our experience, the local agency simply tries harder to please their clients. They serve a much smaller number of clients and have much more riding on each of their successes.

4Many national companies outsource their local work to...guess who? The local agencies! They leverage our skill and resources to help their local business clients. Do yourself a favor and cut out the middle man.

5Often at national companies your account will not be managed by the real talent on staff, but by junior-level employees, or perhaps interns. We believe that some of the best Internet marketing work in the industry is coming out of small, local agencies, where the experts are hands-on with your campaign.

Whether you choose to work with Skelton, or another local agency, our advice to anyone seeking to grow their Ventura County business using the Internet is to keep it local by engaging an Internet marketing agency located in Ventura County.

Search Engine Optimization - 5 Ways to Optimize Your Marketing Videos

sales@1800skelton.com (Etsel Skelton) — Sat, 08 May 2010 10:24:40 GMT

1. Make sure there is keyword rich text around the video. A video in the middle of a blank page isn't going to rank well. Search engines can't watch a video so you will need to provide some text that they can use to properly index and rank the page. Make the text descriptive of the video using relevant keywords.
Also, there are a few people, myself included, who prefer to read what you're presenting rather than watch your video. Unless there is a compelling reason to spend the time watching the video I will almost always scroll down to look for the text version.

Tip: You can edit the video script or transcript to make it stand on its own as an article, and post it below the video.
Tip: Make good use of the "real estate" around your videos on video sharing sites by adding keyword rich text to the page wherever reasonable.

2. Insert keywords in the video's metadata. This data is attached directly to your video and can be extracted by search engines to better index and rank your content. You will definitely want to create a keyword rich description of the video within the metadata. Keep in mind that this is data that can be viewed by users who download your video.

3. Insert keywords in the video's filename.

4. Insert keywords in the URL for the video page.

Tip: Video sharing sites often use the video's "Title" to create the URL, so use keywords judiciously.

5. Always include the complete URL for your video page in your video's description. I make it the very first thing in the description. Sometimes the website that you upload it to will turn it into a real link back to your site, sometimes they won't. At the very least, it provides users with everything they need to find your video, or your website.

As always, if you need help with your marketing videos, or marketing your videos, call us anytime!

Local Search Engine Optimization - 5 Tips

sales@1800skelton.com (Etsel Skelton) — Sat, 03 Apr 2010 04:49:41 GMT

Many other sites will automatically find and list information about your business. Usually, this means that your website is left unclaimed, hanging out there in directory limbo.

Don't let this happen to your business. You will miss-out on free exposure, extra traffic, and good incoming links that could only help with your Search Engine Optimization efforts.

As well, these local business listings, or profiles, can help to build trust with the major search engines. If your local business is legitimate, Google and the other major search engines want to rank your site well. They just need reason to trust that it is relevant and useful to their users, and this could be one of the most important ways to earn that trust.

Finally, this prevents someone else from claiming your listing, and allows you to correct any errors or add missing information.

NOTE: Always be sure to add your business in the right categories.

2. Submit Your Business Information to the Major Data Providers

These companies include, ExpressUpdateUSA.com, Acxiom and Localeze, and they collect the data that is the foundation of local search engine results. Make sure your business information is listed, accurately and consistently over these data providers.

NOTE: Always be sure to add your business in the right categories.

3. Use Geographic-Specific Keywords in Your Title Tags, Heading Tags, and in the Content on Your Website.

Make certain your website is found when local searchers add a geographic modifier (city, town, county, zip code, neighborhood, etc.) to your important keyword phrases. If you are a plumber, for example, use phrases like "plumber ventura" or "plumber ventura county" so that you will rank higher for these types of searches.

When you have control over the link text used to link to your website from another website, be sure to use these types of geo-targeted keyword phrases.

4. Make Sure Your Local Business Information is Accurate and Consistent

This is crucial. This is about trust. Make sure that your business information is both accurate and consistent wherever it is made available on the Internet. Use the exact same business name, address, and phone number whenever possible.

In the local Internet marketing business we call this a citation. A citation consists of your company Name, Address, and Phone Number (NAP). Notice that I typed number and not numbers. Use only one phone number as you create your business profiles around the Internet (I advise against the use of multiple tracking numbers). Google needs to see a consistent NAP, using the same phone number.

Bottom line: Build citations, and build them everywhere, accurately, consistently, and with robust profiles (lots of text, photos, videos, etc.).

5. Don't Reinvent the Wheel

It is likely that your high-ranking competitors have paid their SEO / Internet marketing dues and are ranking well for good reason. Study closely what they are doing to achieve their position, both on their website, and off (inbound links).

NOTE: Do not copy content directly from another website. Create lots of original and engaging content for the pages that you want to rank high in search engines.

Local search engine optimization is both an art and a science. Creating content that appeals to and motivates your visitors is the top priority. But using this great content to create a website that the major search engines deem a trustworthy and important source of information or commerce is golden.

Best of luck to you!

Etsel Skelton
President, Skelton Internet Marketing Company

Have questions? Why not call one of our helpful consultants? Call now: 1-800 753-5866.