LOCAL SEO SERVICES – DC SEO
Are Local SEO Services the Right Fit For Your Business in the Washington DC Metro Area? Is it worth it to invest in a results-driven SEO program? These are the questions we hope to answer for you, once and for all, right here and right now. So strap in.
The truth is, the answer to the first question is YES 99.9% of the time. Some level of ongoing investment in SEO Services makes great sense for the vast majority of businesses. So, how about the second question - is it worth it?
And the answer to that is, YES, in most cases. But it also depends on a few important things that you MUST know about SEO, whether you are a dentist in DC, looking for the best DC SEO company to help you get more teeth whitening appointments, a divorce attorney in NYC, looking to get in front of more prospective clients in Google, or a business owner pretty much of any kind, in any other place in the world. So what are those critical things? Here it goes:
1) In order for SEO to be effective, you must be willing to invest for the long haul. The way we typically recommend doing this is to invest for a minimum of 5-6 months in a robust, multi-pronged SEO effort. Then at the 6-month mark you can see where you are – if you have achieved your goals and simply want to maintain, you can then downshift into an SEO maintenance plan, which is something most agencies offer – or at least they should!
2) You need the right team, using the right methods, with full transparency – no black hat SEO, spammy link building, and no collecting your monthly SEO payment without robust reporting – using metrics that you understand, and that relate directly to tangible results. If you come across any of these negative strategies – RUN AWAY!
3) You must understand that good SEO ALWAYS has two key elements – “on-site” or “on-page” optimization, and “off-site” or “off-page” optimization. Some agencies don’t want to hassle with trying to get your source code optimized on your website, so they just rely on off-site SEO techniques to try and influence rankings for the short-term. These agencies also frequently delve into grey or black hat SEO techniques, which can deliver short-term results, but do so often at great risk of long-term penalties from Google. Long story short – you must have a team that kicks butt at both elements – on-site and off-site SEO, and can document their methodology thoroughly and completely, each and every month.
That is exactly what you will get with SearchWise Media. As a highly reliable and transparent SEO company in Washington DC, we can create a balanced strategy that can actually move the needle for your business’s bottom line.
LOCAL SEO FUNDAMENTALS
Here is a simplified picture of what your business needs to rank high on search engines, for your target keywords, and get those coveted clicks from your target audience!
1. Great On-Site SEO. Some call it “On-page SEO”. Call it what you will. Here’s what you’ll need:
• Responsive Design Website
• Rich/relevant Site Content (text content, images, videos, infographics, you need a diverse range of engaging content to keep visitors interested once the land on your site. How long visitors stay on your site is measure in Google Analytics as your “Bounce Rate”. The lower the better on this one, and the range is 1-100%.
• Optimized meta data (title tags and meta descriptions)
• Social Media Integration
• Optimized Website Architecture (including optimized top navigation, footer navigation, and great internal linking
• NAP Optimization (Name Address Phone) – this simply refers to the fact that you need to have your NAP on your website, preferably in the footer, and on the Contact Us page, and ideally using what is called schema markup in your source code.
• Standard pages such as Privacy Policy and Terms of Service/Disclaimer pages.
2. Awesome Off-Site SEO. This just refers to everything that happens in your SEO campaigns that happens off your website, if you will. After the first month or two of SEO services, 90% of what your SEO agency is doing needs to be in this category. Off-site SEO includes campaigns such as:
• Citations Building (authoritative business listing directories) These pack a punch when it comes to adding credibility to your website and company in Google’s eyes.
• Creative campaigns to entice high authority websites, which are relevant to your industry, to provide contextual links to your website from theirs. This also builds your DA (domain authority) and acts to boost rankings.
• Diverse content syndication – this means things like posting videos on YouTube and other video sharing hubs like Vimeo, posting informational white papers on sites like Scribd and Slideshare, submitting articles to well-reputed article hubs like Ezine Articles (no spammy article distribution), and creating engaging, full profiles on Web 2.0 hubs like Tumblr, WordPress.com, and Squidoo, to name just a few.
• Creative link campaigning – this is worth its weight in gold, so to speak, if done correctly. One example might be looking for business sponsorship opportunities in your city, for charitable events such as the Polar Bear Plunge, which happens in most cities across the US now. There are tons of opportunities like this, to do good, while at the same time gaining powerful links pointing to your website. Sometimes just a handful of these can make all the difference in your search engine rankings.
• Social Signals Campaigning – this is simply having active profiles on the big Social Media platforms – Google Plus, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram are some of the heaviest hitters. The idea is, you want an accurate representation of your brand and business, including location details, hours, services, and relevant, engaging content that will be helpful to your customer base.
• Press releases – regular press releases about events and happenings with your company, when distributed through powerful news channels, can have a ripple effect. This effect not only balances out your linking profile with high authority links, no follow links, but also can give your business or company event great exposure and promotional opportunities that you might not otherwise get.
Only a DC SEO company that prioritizes your needs can deliver all of these elements without breaking a sweat.
"If your have a storefront with foot traffic, we highly recommend Searchwise's mobile/rewards service line. I think they only offer it at this time for businesses in MD, but it it just awesome. We've built up a serious database of customers, and are able to target our marketing efforts to their preferences and it's been incredible in terms of return on funds invested for the platform. Great job guys!"
Kaleb Mitiku
"Awesome job to the whole SW team! We went from 2 churn and burn big agencies to a totally different experience with SearchWise. It was great from day 1. A year and change later and we're still really pleased with our results."
James Schumer
"SearchWise Media has been great to work with. ROI always comes first which is huge for us. I would definitely recommend SW Media to other businesses that need to make the most out of their ad spends."
Bob Johnson
"SearchWise Media is the best. We've been working with them and using their services for many projects. Their team is extremely knowledgeable, efficient, and capable of working with both local small businesses and large, worldwide corporations. I highly recommend them for top level digital marketing services."