If you’re like most businesses, your phone rings at least four times a day with a marketer on the other end asking if you would like to sign up with their online directory. Some of these are helpful, others … not so much. If you’re skeptical, you drop these guys like a hot potato. Some companies really benefit however, ever wonder why?

When people are looking for a specific business and can’t remember what it was called or how they happened on it, many times they’ll type in very basic keywords to find it. Often, instead of finding one company, they’ll find a list of every company that signed up with the directory that purchased that popular domain. Keywords do work, and that’s one reason directories can be helpful. Very basic keywords used in the URL will draw quite a bit of traffic, and if you’re located where they’re looking, it can be very good. The back link to your site may also be helpful.

Over-saturation of directory listings is still problematic – both on the search engines, when all you can find are a gazillion other directories, and in the directories themselves when listings are unfinished and leave little detail. Sometimes searching for things can be a real pain in the butt for the seeker. I see this particularly detrimental in the residential service community, and I’m recognizing an equally disturbing trend in restaurant listings lately.

We advocate using directories as a subordinate method of link building. Use the DMOZ, MerchantCircle, Yelp, Google, Bing, and Yahoo listings wisely, and you’ll come out ahead. Get tied up with some of the other smaller directories and mistakenly assume that a directory listing is your total link strategy,  and it can be an awful mess.

Don’t get me wrong, the listings I just mentioned definitely have some drawbacks too, but they work on a better authority system (domain age) and don’t stick you in with every Tom, Dick, and Harry who are doing the same thing. If that actually appeals to you however, and I can see where it might, make sure you’re doing something that makes you stand out. Lesser known directories may grow in relevance, and you might want in on that as well.

Directories work because they know how to stick you in a category that will be searched on. Directories have impairments when too many are listed, too many listings are incomplete, and everyone is using the same keyword strategy. I don’t think that benefits a searcher. I also think it’s not too helpful to have directory after directory after directory when a searcher is looking for a trustworthy company. I’m sure I’m not the only one who closes out of that search to search on different, hopefully better, terms. (Good argument for keyword research!)

To avoid the hassle of getting stuck in with the ‘other guys,’ get to know a little about keyword research and proper keyword use. It’s not a bait and switch game, it’s a method to improve where you comparatively sit with your competition. Everyone uses certain words when looking for something, and you don’t have to quit using them on your site to develop a better strategy. You do, however, need to figure out how you can get ahead of others who are using the same words and phrases. EVEN in directory listings.

You are better off paying for proper SEO research and listing with one of the free directories mentioned above than paying a regular monthly fee to be listed with a directory among many, many, many others – all who use the same wording.

I gave away a little of today’s post in my last one, where I addressed how to use keywords. Remember, I asked you if you could:

• Use them effectively in your H1, or header title.
• Use them in your H2, or header for a bullet or numbered list.
• Use them in the body of your short, opening paragraph.

That’s a start. Choosing one keyword, and using it like I showed you in Part 4 is very important. Using too many keywords can often take away from the quality writing you want to share with your readers. That one primary keyword should be used as described above, and it should be used in the opening lines of text under your title.

More Keyword Effectiveness

Another important placement of your primary keyword is in the anchor text of a link. Here’s why:

• The anchor text, or the different colored wording used when linking, provided the links connect (and you must always check), adds good authority.
• Anchor text used for linking outbound to another, possibly higher ranking site, may naturally turn into an inbound link once a relationship between authors is established. Keyword-rich anchor text coming in on an inbound link is good for authority.
• Anchor text using effective keywords for your internal linking between pages of your website is also good for your reader, and by default, you.
• Posting comments on relevant blogs and forums will also bring links in from other sites, so you want to include good keyword-rich anchor text when you leave them.

You’re not completely limited to one keyword for all your content. If used too frequently, you can actually hurt your site, not help it. Shoot for using your primary keyword naturally 2-3 times on a page in the places we’ve talked about. Then, go back and see if another word or phrase that you’ve researched can be used as a subordinate, worked into the text of your content. Don’t use it more than a few times.

It’s imperative that you write for your readership; your potential customers, your existing customers, and others, such as information gatherers and peers in your business to business relationships. If you can do this fluidly, and maintain the quality of your content, you’ve got the basics of a recipe for success.

One more thing as I wrap up this series. Be a good steward of your site. Make sure to reply to comments and return links to readers who have helped you link. It’s not going to hurt your company to complement or agree with a competitor’s comments or product lines, and doing so can actually be helpful for more than just linking. Once relationships are built, and that takes some time, you may very well find yourself in a situation where you’re offered extra work. Sometimes a company finds it better to send extra work to someone they trust than to risk turning down work with no alternative for their customer. That could only be possible with effective link strategies.

We’d love to hear from you. Be sure to leave your comments or questions with a link to your company along with your name below. Here’s to your small business success!

Photo Credit:   Flickr’s danielle_blue

Related Posts: Very Basic SEO 5 PT Series, Where Do You Find Your Keywords PT2, Using Keyword Research Tools PT3, How Do We Use Those Keywords PT4

People talk often about linking. Linking from one site to another is a pretty common way to show interesting, fun, or informative sites to friends, associates, and even networks on many social sites and emails. I did some research on a site we’ve been upgrading lately, and another common situation came up. As I shared what I had learned with the small business owner, I realized that all the nodding was due to complete and total misunderstanding of how, exactly, linking strategies can offset costs associated with marketing a company.

When you’re working with SEO companies or researching and employing those techniques on your own site, its similar, but not exactly like social networking with your friends for entertainment. When engaging with your friends, there’s no real goal other than to share the information. When you’re marketing however, the goal is to gain authority to your website by the search engine so that you move closer to the top of the search engine research page, or SERP. We need to be on the first page because most searchers don’t get past the first page before they re-enter the search query to try again. If you’re not on the first page, you don’t exist.

This site I’m referring to had initially been optimized for a particular phrase, and like most things associated with technology, the keyword relevance  changed. In this instance, another company in the same business had used ‘black hat’ methods of outranking our client’s site, and had seriously knocked us down several pages. That’s going to work for him until the engines realize what’s been done, and then he will be knocked to the bottom for a long time. So, it hurts our client now and we have to do something about it. What?

How does linking improve rank?
Besides the obvious keyword research update, a site in this scenario has a real shot of outranking the impostor with a good linking strategy. This can be paid for by hiring a good content marketing company, but it can also be done by you, over time, if you’ve got the time to dedicate to it. The more links from other websites back to your site gain it authority by the search engine spiders.  When they see those links, and more coming to it, and the linking increases, they see that searchers are going to it for real, relevant information, and that’s authority. It takes time to build that up naturally, and you don’t want to do anything unnaturally or you can hurt yourself more than help.

Its not just using the right keywords, although that is pretty important. Its also about using an effective linking strategy. Keywords change and have to be updated occasionally, and links go bad and have to be checked occasionally. Using keywords in your links as anchor text is also very important, but you can only control what you link from page to page within your own site or to another site. To give you an idea of what we were up against, one of our outranking competitors had well over 600 inbound links, and our client had 12.

One reason for the low number of links was the newness of the site, but the other reasons had to do with how long that site had just been sitting there without:

1. using a blog
2. updating the blog 2-3 times per week
3. commenting on other relevant blogs and leaving links
4. article submissions referring to the site using, you guessed it, links!

Its easy to find yourself there, as a business owner or marketing director of your company. There are PPC methods to get you to the top also. But this post recognizes that we need to be resourceful today. Successful linking strategies take time and repetition to build, but with dedication your site can become optimized for your customers’ needs.

Related Articles: New Feature: Small Business Marketing Links

Photo Credit: Robert Brook on Flickr

If you market to other businesses on any level, and haven’t yet subscribed to B2B Magazine, you’re missing out. We receive both the print and online versions, and tend to read them cover-to-cover each month. Today’s issue just arrived in the mail, and the first thing to catch my eye was the “New Channels” column by Paul Gillin, titled “New PR Reality: Link over Ink.”

Gillen hits the nail on the head when he says that “clients and executives mumble ‘That’s nice’ about a Web link, but get excited about a reference in their daily Wall Street Journal.” We’ve definitely found this to be true. But the rules have changed, and one or two good links can now return far greater results than a mention in the most prominent print publication.

It’s a rare business that won’t find its audience online these days. Unfortunately, it’s also a rarity for small businesses to know how to get found online. Publishing a Web site or starting a blog is not enough. Adding your Web address to your print marketing collateral is not enough. Sending out press releases that mention your business or your site … even that is not enough. Don’t neglect any of those activities, but to achieve your online objectives, you’re going to need links … quality, inbound links from other Web sites, blogs, social networks, and relevant directories.

How many times in the past month have you searched for something you read about in a newspaper or magazine? Ok, now how many times have you followed a link from Google or from within a blog or other online article? Is there any comparison?

By the way, you can subscribe to B2B Magazine and a variety of other useful trade publications for free at www.tradepub.com.