Blog Your Way To Search Engine Superiority

SLO County small business owners are severely behind the times when it comes to blogging.  The fact is, the days of the 5-page static website are LONG gone.  In today’s marketplace, if you’re not publishing your own content, your search engine relevance is plummeting.  Search engine optimization leads to higher profits and the best way to get there is by publishing content that is interesting and valuable to your prospects.

What is blogging, how can you start blogging (today) and most importantly, how can blogging grow your small business and boost you to the top of the search engine results?  Join the Central Coast Women’s Network and Prevail PR Monday, June 1 at KCBX as we lay out specific strategies for you to create a successful blogging campaign.

Here’s What You’ll Learn

The #1 Reason Why You MUST Add A Blog to Your Business Website

11 FREE Ways to Market Your Blog Locally

How to Expand Your Audience With User-Generated Content

7 Tools That Save You Time & Increase Your Efficiency

How to Pinpoint the Keyword Topics Your Audience is Begging You to Write About

9 Ways to Promote Your Blog Online & Build a Regional or National Audience

If you’re curious about blogging and want to learn how to control your search engine placement or just looking for a powerful, free way to build your business, you won’t want to miss this interactive workshop.  By the end of the evening, you’ll be itching to launch your publishing career… and have the skills and tools to actually do it.

To reserve your spot at this workshop, please visit CCWN and mention Prevail PR to get the member price.

In addition, everyone who attends will also receive a FREE 30 minute e-consultation with Prevail PR to answer all your personal questions in full detail.

SLO Web Design Challenge Final Results

In the SEO world, there are some keyword terms that are easier to obtain than others and other keyword terms that are practically impossible to breach.  In simple terms, there are keyword terms that command $20-$100 or more for the sponsored results listings that appear on the front page of Google when a search is made, and there are others that cost only a nickel.

Here in San Luis Obispo, the upper-echelon terms are those related to tourism, wineries, lawyers, financial planning and other professional services.  But no matter where you go, ownership of the top spot for “web design” will always be a fierce competition.  As more and more people jump on the web and leverage its uses for business, good web designers will continue to be in high demand, a recipe for saturation as web designer supply outweighs consumer demand.

To stand out in this flooded marketplace, web design companies can either focus on SEO or they can build their business on referrals.  In my opinion, they should do both.  By providing GUARANTEED RESULTS for our clients, we’ve been able to grow through referrals, but 60 days ago, we decided to challenge ourselves publicly and prove to all that we can back up our claim of getting you front page Google results within 60 days or your money back.

The challenge was pretty straight forward: get front page Google results for our targeted keyword term “San Luis Obispo web design”, a term that as we’ve discussed is highly sought after.  After a week, we had improved from irrelevant to on the map, debuting at #39, still wallowing in obscurity deep on the 4th page.  Not long after, we posted about our move all the way to the second page.  Yeah it was #19, but at least we’d made it to one-click territory.

Not bad for a couple weeks of work.  But the real test was coming up.  It’s nice getting to the second page, but each spot from here on out would need to be earned, as the others ahead of us were all established companies that have been doing business in the county for far longer than us, sometimes by as much as 12 years!  They’d earned their spots by delivering satisfaction over years of time.  Our challenge was to earn ours through method and testing, experience and experimentation.

After 20 days, some of our efforts began to appear on the front page, however, our domain itself was still making strides landing in at #15.  After 31 days, our halftime report card was very encouraging.  Two of our posts routinely showed up on the front page, and our main domain made surprise visits from time to time in the Top 10.  But we still had work to do.  Now that day 60 has finally come, it’s time to take a look at where we stand.  Will we have to give our money back or will we earn another happy referral?

And The Top 10 Google Results For “San Luis Obispo web design” Are…

1. Spider Web Logic

2. Corvus Art

3. iTech Solutions

4. A national ad for freelance designer jobs

5. AP Logic

6. The 805 Collective

7. Website Ink

8. PREVAIL PR

9. SLO Web Promotion

10. A craigslist ad for a web design job

We’re thrilled to say that we’ve actually cracked the Top 10 coming in the 8th spot, and expect in the coming weeks or months to move up even further.  We’re also #7 for the term “SLO web design” and routinely trade places with our longer-established counterparts.  Time may not be on our side, but effort, know-how and a passion to be great at what we do have gotten us this far.

To help us celebrate completion of our challenge, we’re offering all San Luis Obispo County small businesses the opportunity to put our Search Engine Optimization skills to the test with a 20% discount.  If we don’t do for you at least what we’ve just done for ourselves, you get your money back anyway, but your starting cost will be a little lower and we hope that combination is enough to get you to give it a try.

More and more of your prospects are researching products and services just like yours online before they buy, and if they can’t find you on the front page, they may very well never find you.  Are you ready to see the difference guaranteed front page Google results can make for your small business?

If so, give us a call or fill out the form below and we’ll set up a free consultation to discuss your needs.

SLO Web Design Challenge Results After 1 Month

Search engine optimization is a tricky game, but it’s infinitely easier when you have a good idea of what you are doing.  Now at the halfway point of our “San Luis Obispo web design” Google ranking challenge, Prevail PR has spent exactly 12 of 31 days on the front page of Google for keywords we previously didn’t even rank for.

A quick check of the sites ahead of us on the list show that these sites have been around from anywhere between 5 and 12 years, far longer than the 3 years we’ve been around and much, much longer than the 32 days we’ve spent climbing the Google results for local web design SEO superiority.

As you can see from the picture above, Prevail PR actually controls 1/5 of the front page results for “San Luis Obispo web design”, holding the #6 and #7 spots.  This feat is even more impressive when you factor in that 2 of the 10 results ahead of us are for large, nationwide directories of web designers, leaving only 3 local companies with higher search engine rankings for the target keyword.

Not bad for 31 days of work, huh?

Other Keyword Rankings

In addition to web design, Prevail PR provides other marketing services for local and national small and medium-sized businesses; however, our marketing remains locally focused and therefore, the majority of our keywords are targeted towards SLO County business owners.  Below are the keywords and rankings for our other main SEO efforts.

San Luis Obispo marketing – #3

San Luis Obispo business marketing – #1

San Luis Obispo small business marketing – #1

San Luis Obispo public relations – #6

San Luis Obispo ad writing – #21

San Luis Obispo seo – #3

Your website is your most important marketing tool, but without constant search engine optimization, most websites slip into the abyss with billions of other websites.  If you’re ready to start building a pre-qualified stream of traffic that finds your local products and services quickly and easily through targeted search engine queries, let Prevail PR help.

As you can see, we know a little something about rising to the top of Google search results.  We’re so sure we can help you do the same, our SEO services come with a 60 day money back guarantee.  If you don’t reach the front page of Google for at least one of your desired local keywords, we’ll refund your entire purchase no questions asked.

To find out more, fill out the form below and reserve your free SEO consultation today.

How To Lead People The Way They Want To Be Led

“Managing Without Authority” was the hot topic at the 9th CCWN Business Connection workshop last night at The Clubhouse in San Luis Obispo.  A group of over 30 local business women got together over dinner to discuss everything from the latest in home culinary technology and tips on today’s most effective business attire to new ideas on leading groups of people towards a common goal.

To lead things off, Amy O’Kane displayed her passion for handmade handbags and accessories, custom-made for your next special occasion.  She was followed by Pampered Chef consultant, Mary Anne Duarozan and Tess Krukow of Equilibrium Club Fitness.

After the initial introductions, guest speaker Patricia Borgardt of Mobility Therapy in Grover Beach took the floor and educated the audience on the virtues of developing a leadership strategy that earns the best from others instead of demanding it. She spoke on topics such as opportunities to influence people and how to spot the best members for a winning coalition and made an excellent case for giving up power instead of abusing it.

Interesting Notes:

9 Faces of Leadership

1. Charisma – A leader must be able to earn the respect of his or her followers.  Natural born charisma goes a long way towards reaching this goal.

2. Individual Consideration – Good leaders recognize and acknowledge the accomplishments of the individuals around them.

3. Intellectual Stimulation – Great leaders are also adept at stirring the intellectual curiosity in others, thereby maximizing their contributions.

4. Courage – All people, especially leaders, must make hard decisions in life.  Good leaders make these decisions with confidence.

5. Dependability – People will only believe in you so far.  If you don’t follow through on your word, you can’t expect the people you lead to either.

6. Flexibility – One of the best traits of a leader is being able to listen to the good advice from those they surround themselves with.  Build a gameplan, and adjust accordingly.

7. Integrity – Leaders are the moral compass of their organizations.  With a leader lacking character in charge, don’t expect that organization to go far.

8. Judgment – In business, hundreds of decisions need to be made each day.  More often than not, the person calling the shots needs to have make good judgment calls to succeed.

9. Respect For Others – Just because you are in charge, doesn’t make you more important.  Embrace diversity and you’ll excel.

Leadership Strategies

1. Empower Yourself – To be a leader, you must assume the position of leader.

2. Share The Vision – Your vision and follow through are key components of your leadership.  Help people buy into your vision by sharing it with them.

3. Build The Team – Few organizations get far without a solid team behind the scenes.  Use your skills to find the right people for the right jobs.

4. Determine Boundaries – Let everyone know exactly what you expect from them.  Set defined goals for each member of the team.

5. Emphasize Benefits – Every job has benefits.  It’s up to you to show your team what they will get from doing a good job.

6. Use The Word “We” – No one wants to work for a dictator.  Share responsibilities and rewards with your team and make sure they know they are a part of it.

7. Celebrate Victories – How can you expect to succeed if you aren’t prepared.  Keep a cold bottle of bubbly on hand for even small successes.

To end the evening, Sabrina Haggie of Bella Image Consulting gave her expert advice on how to dress for success in today’s marketplace.  Though directed towards a female audience, putting more thought into what we wear to work is sound advice for all of us.

Thanks again to Jacky Lopez for a terrific evening and all the speakers for another successful business networking event.

The New & Improved Mustang Daily

Cal Poly’s “Learn By Doing” philosophy appears to be alive and well, as evidenced by today’s launch of the beautifully redesigned Mustang Daily website, online home to the university’s student-run newspaper.

Not only is the site vastly more appealing to look at, it has many new features that should increase the site’s readership and because it was built with Wordpress (our favorite Content Management System and the engine that runs our site, as well), it offers more flexibility for the journalists behind Mustang Daily to add more new features as time goes on.

I’ve really got to hand it to everyone involved, including Lauren Rabaino, one of the hardest working editors the Daily’s ever had.  As a Cal Poly and Mustang Daily alum myself, I’d like to thank the entire staff for creating such a visually stimulating piece of online journalism.  Be sure to give Lauren your kudos and support one of the country’s great student newspapers.

SLO Business Owners: Learn To Harness The Power of Social Media

Our good friend Jacky over at the Central Coast Women’s Network has been working her butt off creating events to help local business owners network and grow their businesses and she’s at it again.  Tonight, Monday, 6, 2009, at the KCBX Training Center on 4100 Vachell Lane in San Luis Obispo, Jacky is providing a workshop for those of you interested in learning about social media and how it can help you grow your business.

Mainly focusing on leveraging Facebook and LinkedIn, this 2.5 hour workshop will go over ways to help you increase sales and improve customer loyalty.

Some of the things you’ll learn are:

* How to set up Groups and Pages for your business

* How to brand your profile

* How to manage and share your posts

* How to search for contacts to promote yourself, your products and your services

* How to create discussions about your products and services

* How to upload and share files, including pictures and videos

* How to bring your groups and events together on Facebook and LinkedIn

The cost to participate in this workshop is $45 for members and $55 for non-members and all Prevail PR clients get the member discount.  If you’re looking for new ways to grow your business without spending a fortune, this workshop is for you.  Join us tonight from 5:00 p.m. to 8 p.m. and start putting the power of social media to work for you tomorrow.

Can We Move Up 15 Spots In 40 Days?

We’re already #1 for keywords like “san luis obispo marketing”, “san luis obispo business marketing” AND “san luis obispo small business marketing”, but after 20 days of working on our search engine optimization for the keyword “san luis obispo web design”, we’ve had a couple of exciting breakthroughs.  First of all, we have spent most of the last week comfortably on the second page for our the main URL of our site.

While the point of this experiment has always been to get our main url listed on the front page of Google through organic SEO efforts, some of our posts updating our status have also begun to rank. As you can see from the picture below, our last post in this series actually hit the front page of Google just four days after we published it.

It’s not likely that these posts will stay in these positions, but nonetheless, it’s still a good sign to see and proof that our SEO strategies really work.  Will we be successful and be able to move up 15 more spots in the next 40 days?  Check back soon for our next update and find out!

If you’re interested in getting to the front page of Google results for your targeted local keywords, try Prevail PR’s Risk-Free SEO/SEM services.  Front page Google results within 60 days or your money back!

How A Blog Schedule Can Improve Your Small Business

Before fracturing my arm late in 2007, my blogging schedule was planned up to 4-5 months in advance. After fracturing my arm, it became non-existent. Sadly after nearly a year of rehab and time away from blogging, I got used to not writing every day. Writing hardly at all, actually.

A few weeks ago I was looking through some of the posts I wrote back then, and it was obvious that having a blog schedule had four major benefits:

#1 – It allows you to plan your posts accordingly. When you are planning in advance, you can tailor your posts seasonally and leverage holiday curiosity, as well as trends in your own sales cycle.

#2 – Scheduling your posts allows you to package your posts into more useful content. No one really wants to read a 5 page post, but combining 5 one-page posts into a whitepaper or ebook can bring your blog long-term, targeted traffic. Almost two years after posting our 30 blogging tips report, we’re still getting a consistent trickle of traffic from search engines and social media sites.

#3 – Planning allows you to customize your posts to not only educate your readers, but also to highlight your services. In my opinion, the point of having a business blog is to show how you are different and how your specific products or services are the solution to a specific set of needs. By planning ahead, your posts will do a much better job of leading your readers to this conclusion.

#4 – Blog scheduling exempts you from writer’s block. While other bloggers are brainstorming for ideas to write about each day, you can sit down and focus on getting something done instead. For me, this is probably the best benefit because I already feel a few hours short of a full day.

NEW BLOG SCHEDULE

This time, instead of 4-5 months, I went all the way with it and planned out a whole year’s worth of posts. Of course, other posts will be sprinkled in as time allows, but for the most part, I think you’ll get far more value out of our future posts.

SOCIAL NETWORKING MONTH

So, without further ado, I’d like to announce “Social Networking Month” here at Prevail PR. Social networking has skyrocketed in popularity over the last six years or so, but small businesses are just now starting to see how social networking can help grow their businesses.

Throughout the month, we’ll be taking an in-depth look at four of the most popular and useful social networks for small businesses:

• Twitter – April 3-10: Twitter Toolbox
• LinkedIn – April 13-17: LinkedIn Toolbox
• Facebook – April 20-24: Facebook Toolbox
• MySpace – April 27-March 1: MySpace Toolbox

First up, is Twitter. Check back all week for new posts on using Twitter to build your online presence or you can subscribe to our blog by clicking here. You can also follow our posts on Twitter.

We’re Giving Away $1,200 In Prizes Every Month…

And all you have to do is follow Prevail PR on Twitter for your chance to win one of our tri-monthly TWEEPSTAKES!.

Coming out on top of a weak economy is simply a matter of marketing. Strengthen your marketing and improve your sales process and you’ve actually got a good chance of getting out of this thing in a better position than you were in a year or two ago.

To help, we are giving away $1200 in marketing services every month for the rest of the year to those who follow our Marketing Success blog at Prevail PR.

What We’re Giving Away:

· * Site/Blog Critique (A $200 Value!)

· * A 5 Page Website With Custom Copywriting: Includes front/offer, about, product/services pages, a contact form and a blog (A $500 Value!)

· * 4 Hours of 1-on-1 eConsulting (A $500 Value!)

When We’re Giving It Away:

· * Site/Blog Critique: The 1^st of every month at 5 p.m. PST

· * 5 Page Website: The 15^th of every month at 5 p.m. PST

· * 4 Hours eConsulting: The 30^th of every month at 5 p.m. PST

How To Win:

Get 1 Entry For:

· * Following Us On Twitter

Get 5 Entries For:

· * Following Us On Twitter

· * Re-Tweeting This Post: Copy & Paste the following information in your Twitter and click update: Follow @prevailpr to win great marketing services that will help your business grow http://prevailpr.com/twitter-weekly-updates #prevailpr

Get 10 Entries For:

· * Following Us On Twitter

· * Re-Tweeting This Post: Copy & Paste the following information in your Twitter and click update: Follow @prevailpr to win great marketing services that will help your business grow http://prevailpr.com/twitter-weekly-updates #prevailpr

· * Writing a post on your blog about our contest and including the link to this post with the anchor text “San Luis Obispo Marketing & Web Design”

Winners will be chosen at random and announced on the 1st, 15th and 30th of each month at precisely 5 p.m. PST.

The first winner will be chosen tonight, April 1, 2009 so make sure to click the button to the left to follow us on Twitter and see if you won.

Please share this post with other business owners and help us help others.  Perhaps if they win, they’ll even let you have their prize.

Climbing The “San Luis Obispo Web Design” Results

Well, it’s officially been 12 days since we launched our “San Luis Obispo Web Design” SEO challenge and we’re pretty happy with the results so far.  We saw some quick results, rising from 67th to 39th on the Google search results in about 30 hours. Since that time, we have climbed up another 20 spots!  That’s right, we’ve now cracked the second page in less than two weeks, reaching the #19 spot.

Obviously things will only get more difficult from here as there are some very good and reputable web design companies in the San Luis Obispo area, several of which have been providing web design services for many years.  It will be interesting to see how much longer it will take to reach the front page, and more importantly, if we’ll be able to stay there.

To help promote our Risk-Free Web Design service, we’re going to be announcing a contest where we’ll be giving away 1 FREE website every month to a lucky small business.  Be sure to follow us on Twitter, as winners will be alerted first through Twitter and then announced here on our blog.