Wilmington SEO

New Client - CarolinaDocs.com Records Storage and Management

2012-01-26T09:30:00.000-05:00

We've recently started working with a new client, Carolina Records Center based in Vass, NC in the North Carolina Sandhills area. Their website is CarolinaDocs.com and their primary service is records and documents storage and management. Customers can use their services for off-site filing or archiving of personal or business records. Carolina Records Center will help organize and manage the files as well as retrieve them upon request.

In addition to the more traditional hard copy document storage, Carolina Records Center also offers scanning services for digital archiving. Customers can access their own digital files via the web where they can code and index the files however they want. This makes document searching and retrieval a fast, easy process that can be done online.

Carolina Records Center also offers document shredding as a walk-in or pick up service. They are an NAID member (National Association of Information Destruction) to ensure safe and secure shredding. They can shred based on a records retention schedule set by the customer or as a one-time purge.

One of the services the company is currently promoting deals with the transition to Electronic Medical Records (EMR) in the medical field. Carolina Records Center offers consulting to help customers shop for and find the best EMR Software provider for their needs. They can also manage data migration and back-file imaging in an efficient and affordable manner.

Carolina Records Center is a local business with a service footprint that extends throughout the Sandhills region of North Carolina. They have a lot of ground to cover with their internet presence and we hope to help them better reach their target audience.

Copywriting for the Web

2012-01-19T10:00:00.000-05:00

Our primary job here at Wilmington SEO is... SEO. Search engine optimization - the process of designing and building out your website (and overall online presence) so that Google and other search engines will recognize it as an authority in your field and have it appear at the top of search engine results for your targeted terms.

A huge part of this process involves words on the page, or on the webpage. This means that we do a lot of writing. We write for websites, blogs, articles, guest blogs, and press releases. We write meta-data, summaries, descriptions, keyword lists, and ad copy. We write headlines, tags, and categories. And the writing we do has a very specific goal so there's a very specific way we approach it.

Copywriting for the web is its own animal. There always has to be a keyword or key phrase target to start. I'm not saying that the writing has to be spammy and crammed with keywords, I'm just saying that there has to be a focus. Coming up with a witty, play-on-words kind of headline might work for selling books but it's not necessarily going to work to help your webpage appear in Google's search results for topical keywords. Unless maybe you work the social media angle and it goes viral. Some topics might allow for more witty headlines while others are more suited for something like Corrosion Prevention in FPS.

Keyword targets can be gleaned from your clients' knowledge of the industry, your own Google searches, Google search suggestions, the Google AdWords Keyword Tool, your own Analytics, your own Google searches on a topic (how did you type a phrase into the search bar?), or from SEO tools such as Wordtracker, SpyFu, or the SEOmoz Keyword Difficulty Tool. With all of these approaches, you craft a keyword list and write your website copy to go after each of these terms.

When we're copywriting for the web, we're thinking of our keywords, headlines, and headers; we're thinking how to organize the text into sections with headers, bullet points, and lists; we're thinking of how we can incorporate internal linking; we're thinking of what images, screenshots, and image alt text will go well with it; we're thinking of how to best encourage conversions; and we're thinking of providing useful, helpful information that visitors will actually want to read.

So before you jump into copywriting for your own website, think about your desire and ability to write in this way. And if it makes your head hurt just thinking about all this, just give us a call and have us do it for you! 910-547-6908 (Megan).

Happy Copywriting!

New Client Site - N2Blast.com

2012-01-12T10:00:00.000-05:00

South-Tek Systems, a leading manufacturer of nitrogen generating systems, has been a client with us since 2008. We recently launched a blog for them to promote their latest product, the N2Blast - Corrosion Inhibiting System for Fire Protection Systems.

This blog is a way for the company to dedicate various pages of information to this product - including photos, models, press, and FAQs - apart from the single page on the manufacturer's website. Having the stand-alone blog allows us to better target search engines for the brand name as well as the product keywords, such as fps corrosion. It also allows us to continually publish blog content and update press while having all the pertinent information about the product in one easy-to-navigate website.

As SEOs, we are big fans of content marketing, including blogs, articles, and press releases. We've seen success with greater exposure in the search engines for a variety of keywords by actively maintaining blogs, website content, and press. We've just launched the blog for N2Blast.com and we're already seeing the site appear on page 2 of search results for a targeted term. With a little link building, we hope to see page 1 pretty soon!

How to Monitor Google Places Reviews

2012-01-05T10:00:00.000-05:00

I was recently presented with the challenge of monitoring online reviews left on Google Places pages for a client that has multiple locations listed. I did some sleuthing around the internet to see how others are approaching this since Google doesn't seem to present an easy solution.

I already use SocialOomph which emails me when the company or a related keyword is mentioned in twitter. I use Google Alerts to monitor mentions of the company name and keywords in Google's index. I use Facebook Insights to track likes and comments on their Facebook Page. And we get email alerts of customer reviews from AngiesList and another review site we're signed up with.

There are several paid services for online review monitoring (that can probably consolidate all of these efforts!) but those can get very expensive, especially when you have multiple listings to track. I assume that these services have created their own scraper software to check these pages for updates and changes. The issue with reviews left on Google Places pages is that the reviews themselves do not appear in the Alerts - it seems that they are not crawled or indexed. When I look at the page source of the Places page, I don't see the review text in there. So we have to come up with another way.

I found a helpful blog post from Lakeshore Branding with ideas on Monitoring Google Places Reviews, Web Updates, and Content Changes. From this post, I came up with one potential way to monitor Google Places reviews. It's kind of a lot to set up but should be easy to check once it's all set:

Sign into Google with the account you want to use to track the reviews
Go to Page2RSS and enter in the URL of the Places page you want to track (this can be found in the upper right hand corner of the listing where it says "Link"). Click on "To RSS"
When Page2RSS gives you the RSS feed on the next page, click on the Google Reader link under Subscribe to Feed in the right hand column.
On the next screen, click on "Add to Google Reader"
Once you do that, maybe rename the feed so you can easily identify it.
Repeat this process for all your Places listings (and CitySearch or other listings you may have)
Once you have all your Page2RSS feeds entered into Google Reader, put them in a folder called Review Sites (or something like that) using your Reader Settings.
Then on your main Google Reader page, left click on the arrow next to your folder and choose "Create a Bundle" and give the bundle a name.
Grab the link for your bundle by clicking on "Add a link to your website or blog" when you're viewing your bundle.
When it pulls up the page with your bundle, click on "Atom feed" over in the right hand column.
Enter that feed URL into your email RSS reader (I use Mozilla Thunderbird and entered into "RSS News and Blogs" by choosing "Manage Subscriptions.").
You *should be* able to check changes in the pages right from your email.

Since I just set this up yesterday, I'm currently monitoring both the Google RSS feed via my email as well as one or two of the sites to make sure they are in sync.

I'm sure it would be easier to use a review site monitoring service (such as ReviewPush or ChatMeter) but you're going to pay a pretty hefty sum for using those to track several listings.

Please leave a comment to let me know if you've tried this method and how it works for you or if you've tried something else to monitor Google Places reviews that works well.

Happy New Year from Wilmington SEO!

2011-12-29T09:50:00.000-05:00

It has been an exciting, challenging, and fun year that we got to spend with our loyal clients, brand new clients, our own projects, and our wonderful family and friends. A huge thank you to everyone we work with here at Wilmington SEO for putting your trust in us to take your internet marketing to the next level. We have so much fun taking on the challenges that each project presents and we learn and grow in this industry every single day.

Happy New Year! Here's to an amazing 2012!

GoodCentsSavings.com - Personal Budgeting & Savings Strategies

2011-11-29T10:00:00.000-05:00

Wilmington SEO & Marketing, Inc. and CMG Equities, LLC recently launched a website called GoodCentsSavings.com: Helping you save money, stick to a budget, and live well on less.

With our combined expertise in the field of finance and marketing, we decided to create a resource for visitors to find practical tips for saving money and living well on a budget. This is real-world advice, coming from people in their (late) 30's who are parents, pet owners, home owners, business owners, and full time workers. We love to entertain and decorate for the holidays, we go to a trillion birthday parties a year, we grocery shop and cook dinner at home, and we even treat ourselves once in a while. But we don't have bottomless pockets and we have to stick to a budget.

Visitors can find tips and advice on household saving, shopping, entertaining, credit and loans, banking and budgeting. We'll share coupons and discount codes when we have them but most of all, we share our own experiences, challenges, successes, goals, resources, and ideas.

Go ahead and check out GoodCentsSavings.com. Subscribe to our email updates to get all the latest resources and ideas.

Google Remarketing

2011-11-22T10:00:00.000-05:00

Ever feel like you're being followed online? I recently made a purchase at CoffeeForLess.com and now I see their banner ad on nearly every website I visit.

Well, thanks to the awesome folks at Meetup202 here in Wilmington, I now know how sites like CoffeeForLess.com are able to follow me around. It's called Remarketing or Retargeting and you don't have to be an internet giant like Amazon (which is what I always assumed you'd have to be) to stalk your web visitors online.

Remarketing can be accomplished through the Content Network on Google Adwords or through other platforms such as Adroll. Basically, it allows you to tag visitors to your website and then to place bids in the ad publishing network to make sure those visitors see your ad again and again and don't forget about you.

Custom combinations of tags can be created to target ads to specific segments of your web visitors, such as (with the CoffeeForLess example) people who purchased K-Cups, whole beans, or tea. Or people who placed items in a shopping cart but did not check out.

This approach is a great branding tool and can be utilized to re-capture leads or sales. CoffeeForLess puts a coupon code in their banner ad. I made a note of that code and will use it next time I place an order.

There are a number of great ways the remarketing advertising tool can be used and optimized for best performance. We've been setting up remarketing campaigns for clients for whom branding and return visitors are a key part of their business. We're excited to gain more experience with this approach so we can better serve all of our clients.

Announcing the Launch of 20YearMortgageLoans.com

2011-11-15T10:00:00.000-05:00

Wilmington SEO & Marketing, Inc. and CMG Equities, LLC are excited to announce the launch of a new mortgage rate website, 20YearMortgageLoans.com.

The focus of this website is to help educate consumers about the benefits and risks of a 20 year mortgage for a purchase or refinance on a home or investment property. Visitors can also research current mortgage rates from a selection of the nation's top lenders including easy access to obtain more information or to request a quote from any of the lenders displayed.

For some homebuyers, a 20 year mortgage strikes the right balance between a 10 or 15 year mortgage and a 30 year loan. The 20 year loan allows the borrower to pay off their mortgage faster than they would with a traditional 30 year fixed mortgage, but provides more of a payment cushion than with a 10 or 15 year mortgage.

Check out our 20 year mortgage website to get an idea of how much you could save with this home loan product versus the 30 year fixed (see Pros and Cons) and to check current mortgage rates on a daily basis.

SEO & Google Analytics Update

2011-11-08T10:00:00.000-05:00

In an effort to make search more secure, Google is now hiding details about organic keyword searches in Analytics data when a user conducts that search while they are signed into their Google account or if they are searching from https://www.google.com.

For the official announcement about this change, please visit: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/10/making-search-more-secure.html.

Since we rely on Google Analytics to measure the effectiveness of our clients' SEO campaigns, we will likely see an effect from this change over time in terms of determining which organic keywords are driving traffic. Google asserts that this change will affect only a single digit percentage of referral data. We will still see organic search traffic numbers and we will know that they came from Google but we won't have information about each individual query. They will appear in the data as" (not provided)."

If we see the (not provided) data increasing among our Traffic Sources Keywords Reports in Analytics while also seeing our top organic keywords dropping in numbers, we'll turn more to Google Webmaster Tools which will continue to provide a sampling of search data. This is not a perfect solution at this point but we hope it will help to show that our SEO efforts are continuing to drive traffic through relevant and high converting organic search terms.

Additionally, Google AdWords (PPC) reporting will continue to show keyword search data. So I guess the data is not that secure...

New Client - Storage910.com

2011-11-02T12:56:00.000-04:00

We just started working with Wayne over at Carolina Storage Centers, LLC based in Southern Pines, NC. These guys run a storage empire over in the Sandhills, specializing in self storage in Southern Pines NC, climate controlled storage, business and records storage. They offer all the modern amenities you want and need for your self storage, including advanced security, mobile units, and an on-site manager. In addition to their storage and boat/RV parking facilities, Carlina Storage Centers also offers on-site shredding services.

Our goals with this campaign are to increase visibility for Storage910.com in the search engines for anyone searching "storage" related keyword in their geo-area, drive more targeted traffic to deep link pages on their websites, and to increase conversions (contacts) through search engines and the website.

This is a challenging project because, even though they are a local company, their geographic targets span the whole Sandhills Region of NC (Southern Pines, Pinehurst, Whispering Pines, Vass, Fayetteville, etc) and they have 2 locations with 3 related businesses. We are excited to take this on and look forward to meeting the challenge. Thanks for working with us, Carolina Storage Centers!

Ad Copy that Stands Out

2011-10-26T10:00:00.000-04:00

When starting up an SEO or PPC campaign for a new client, we always ask what makes the company stand out from their competitors or what kind of feedback they get from their clients that we can use as selling points in ad copy or website copy. Then we can incorporate that into the campaigns to show how the company adds value and stands apart from the competition.

I love checking out PPC company websites that show us ad copy that fails and ad copy that works (converts). One of those companies is boostctr.com. Here's an example of one contest they promoted recently:

I'll let you read their blog post to find out which one wins and why. But we can learn so much from studying these contests and picking up on the tips and strategies that really work - from headlines, to ad structure, word choice, punctuation, and more. It's amazing how much you really can accomplish with such limited space.

Of course, writing winning ad copy has to be backed up by a landing page that's designed to connect with the ad, deliver exactly what's expected by the visitor, and drive conversions. Some aspects of an optimized PPC landing page are:

Clean and simple, no clutter
Clear call to action with a stand-out images or buttons
Easy to complete contact form
Provide few options other than the desired action (minimize navigation and links
Use ad copy and keywords in the landing page text

This is the kind of stuff we love to study and that we're immersed in day-to-day. If you would love some help in getting your PPC ads working harder for you, please give us a call at 910-547-6908 (Megan).

Keyword Research for SEO

2011-10-19T10:00:00.000-04:00

One of the first questions we usually ask potential Wilmington SEO clients is "What keywords do you type into Google where you want or expect your website to appear?" Sometimes a client comes along within an industry that we know inside and out (mortgage seo, for example) while other times a client introduces us to an industry we really didn't know existed before we met them (nitrogen generators, for example). In those latter cases, we take the client's lead on what might be their most competitive keyword (stack testing, for example). From there, we launch into the keyword research phase of the SEO campaign.

There are a lot of keyword research tools available - some free, some paid, some valuable, and some with very little value. Here are a couple strategies we use for conducting keyword research:

Google AdWords Keyword Tool - this tool draws on phrases that users type into the Google search bar and that AdWords advertisers bid on. Keywords can be sorted according to relevance, global or monthly search volume, or AdWords competition. This is a great tool to get a snapshot of what search phrases your target audience is actually typing into Google to find companies, products, or services in your field.
Google Related Searches - when you type a search phrase into Google, the bottom of the results page displays "Searches related to [keyword]." This is a great indicator of alternative, relevant search phrases that many people are using. You can use those phrases to help build your keyword list.
Google Analytics - if you have Analytics installed on your website, you can inspect your search engine traffic reports to pick out any search terms that brought in a low number of searches but, with a little work, you can capitalize on to capture more traffic in the future. I like to use this strategy to come up with blog post ideas for client blogs.

There are other free and paid keyword tools, some for research and some specifically geared to building out your AdWords campaign (like Spyfu). There are keyword-related tools such as the Keyword Difficulty Tool (must be a PRO member to use) from SEOmoz that measures how difficult it will be to rank for certain keywords. You can use that info to craft your SEO campaign, maybe going after easier short-term goals and creating a strategy for long-term competitive goals.

With all the tools available for keyword research, we almost always start with the free tools from Google. Also keep in mind that every industry is different and, while long-tail keywords are always valuable for everyone, sometimes a more niche industry relies on a single keyword phrase (plus a couple variations) to drive the vast majority of traffic. Ranking #1 for that keyword - and staying there - has to be the goal from the start.

Updated SEO Clients Page

2011-10-12T10:00:00.000-04:00

Wilmington SEO & Marketing, Inc has been steadily adding to our client list, taking on new projects every month. Every new project presents it's own unique challenge, helping to keep us on our toes and learning about new developments in the SEO world.

We know that most of our clients (or potential clients) are either referred to us by word-of-mouth or they find us by doing a Google search for "SEO in Wilmington" (or related phrases). We also know that many of these potential clients are researching our company before they ever pick up the phone or send an email. In an attempt to provide the most accurate portrayal possible, we've recently updated our Wilmington SEO Clients Page. A few new clients that we've added are:

Hoge-Wood House - Wilmington NC Bed and Breakfast
Dr. Simon Melcher - Raleigh NC Dentist
Talk Charlotte - Charlotte NC Real Estate
ESS - Environmental Source Samplers - Stack Testing

Thank you for taking the time to research our company. We invite you to contact us directly with any questions about how we can help you get found online: 910-547-6908 (Megan).

You can also get info about our company here:

LinkedIn
Facebook
Website

Press Release Optimization

2011-10-03T10:00:00.000-04:00

One of our routine strategies for SEO is press release writing and distribution. Press releases are great for content marketing, branding, reputation management, visibility in search engines, and link building. We've seen some really successful results from routine PR submissions in terms of link building, search engine visibility, website referral sources, site traffic, and conversions.

Wilmington SEO creates custom press release drafts to be approved by our clients. We then handle online submissions of the release through various channels. With years of experience at this under our belts, we've now been able to pinpoint the sources that will provide quality, do follow links, visibility, and good distribution. We recommend a combination of paid and free sources for optimum success.

While press release distribution is important, it is only one part of the SEO puzzle and it really does take regular and consistent - at least monthly - submissions to start to have an effect on your site's search engine rankings. This takes some creativity in order to come up with press worthy topics on a routine basis, especially for smaller, locally based companies. But, believe us, it can be done!

If you're interested in having Wilmington SEO handle your company's press release writing and online submissions, be sure to give us a call at 910-547-6908 (Megan). And if you're an internet marketer in the Wilmington, NC area, I'll be presenting How to Effectively Write and Submit a Press Release at our next Meetup202 Internet Marketing Meetup. Join us!

New Client: Stack Testing Services

2011-09-26T10:03:00.000-04:00

Here at Wilmington SEO, we maintain a diverse set of clients which keeps things fun and interesting for us. We take on challenges ranging from mortgage seo to vacation resorts, learning to surf and cargo trailers as well as industrial based businesses the likes of which we've never heard of before we met these clients. We love these challenges because we get to learn about a business sector we never encountered before in our day-to-day or business lives.

Our latest client in this line of industrial-based businesses, is ESS-Environmental Source Samplers, Inc., a Wilmington, N.C. based stack testing company. From what we've learned so far, the EPA issues regulations for air quality compliance and asserts that consistent, complete, and accurate stack test information is critical in managing the national air program. Routine stack testing, or source testing, measures various performance standards which ultimately help determine compliance with applicable regional, state, or national EPA standards using approved test methodologies.

Any plant or facility utilizing a stack is subject to these performance measures. Our goals for ESS-Environmental Source Samplers are to improve their search engine rankings for "stack testing" and relevant keywords and to drive more targeted leads through their website. We are using a strategy of on-site optimization, content marketing, link building, and social media profiles to try and achieve these goals.

While SEO work does not require complete immersion in each industry, it does require an understanding of the products and services being offered and how they relate to the target audience. It also requires some marketing savvy in terms of understanding the most effective ways to reach that audience and gain quality conversions.

If you are thinking about SEO for your industrial-based business, please give us a call to learn how we've been able to help our current clients and how we might be able to help you: 910-547-6908 (Megan).

Hoge Wood House Bed and Breakfast

2011-09-22T10:22:00.000-04:00

Wilmington SEO and Marketing recently began working with Larry and Page Tootoo of the Hoge-Wood B & B. This great bed and breakfast in Wilmington, NC is located in the historic district in downtown Wilmington on South 3rd Street between Church and Nun Streets.They previously had a beautifully designed Flash web site but, like many Flash sites, they were not ranking in the search engines as well as they hoped to be. Their overhauled site was done in Wordpress by their son, Gabriel, who did a great job keeping many if the visual elements of their previous web site intact. We assisted them with their web site architecture, on-page optimization efforts, and will be helping them grow their online presence through social media marketing, cpc campaigns, and seo efforts. We are grateful for the opportunity to work with another fine local business and we hope to do our part in assisting them achieve their business goals.

You can visit their new site at http://www.hogewoodhouse.com/

If you would like a free, no obligation consultation for your online marketing call 910-547-6908.

Expanded Google Sitelinks

2011-09-19T10:00:00.000-04:00

We talked recently about the importance of branding for search engine rankings and now Google has given us a new reason to focus on our online branding efforts. When you are searching or researching a company using Google, you'll now see expanded Sitelinks with page titles and snippets (like in the screenshot above).

Google Sitelinks are "the links that show up underneath the first search result and which lead to specific pages deeper within the site" (according to the Official Google Webmaster Central Blog). Initially, these were displayed as a single row of 4 links beneath the title page, followed later by 2 columns of 4 links each. Now Google provides full size Sitelinks with the URL and a snippet of text, similar to the main search result. Their algorithm has also updated to try and reduce duplication in the search results by organizing all the links within a domain to a top result with nested Sitelinks. A domain can now display up to 12 Sitelinks - although it's up to Google to decide the what and how many. You can help by making sure your website is well optimized.

Google understands that most users use the search engine with a specific goal in mind even though they generally start their search with a broad term. For our company, Wilmington SEO, a user might search Google for "wilmington seo" with the ultimate goal of sourcing an SEO expert to help promote their mortgage company. In their search, they are likely to see a result similar to the screenshot shown above and they can jump directly to our Mortage SEO page.

I have to note here that these types of Sitelinks are generally shown on specific searches for a company name, i.e.[amertech tower services]. It just happens that our company name corresponds closely with a keyword-based search phrase.

This Sitelinks update and expansion is ultimately helpful to the user and is also powerful as a branding tool for your company. With properly optimized pages, both on-site and off-site, potential clients will be exposed to the details of your services directly from Google's search engine results page. They can get a well-rounded snapshot of the products and services your company has to offer before they even get to your website or call you on the phone. And this exposure gets your conversion potential that much closer to the point of sale.

Happy Searching!

New Appearance for Google Search Snippets

2011-09-12T10:00:00.000-04:00

Google search results are changing with the times. We've recently come across bullet point listings in the SERPS and upon further investigation, we found this blog post announcing the new snippets from Google: New Snippets for List Pages.

Google search result pages may now show bullet point lists underneath the page title for a result that contains a list - a bullet list, real estate listings, items in an ecommerce store, etc. This is done to better reflect the structure of the page being displayed.

We took this screenshot (above) of a search result for "115 S. Channel Dr, Wrighsville Beach." The page that was returned from the Hardee Hunt and Williams website is their Featured Homes page which organizes their featured real estate listings in a table. Google's search spiders recognized this table and displayed the search result accordingly. It also mentions how many listings you'll find on that page (37 listings).

Google's goal with this change and future SERP updates is to more accurately reflect the page structure and contents to help people find the most relevant results. I think it does a good job of that, is helpful for users, and helps results stand out a little more. Maybe an incentive to ensure your webpages are well organized!

Google Plus and Search Engine Rankings

2011-08-22T10:00:00.000-04:00

While Google+ is still in beta and invite-only form, there have been some good case studies done on what impact it can have on search engine results. Here are a few good links of experts discussing the emergence of Google+ and it's effect on search so far:

How Being "Friends" on Google+ Leads to Better Rankings - SearchEngineLand
Google+ Strategy: 5 Tips to Help Marketers Get Ready for Brand Pages - SearchEngineWatch
Experiments on Google+ and Twitter Influencing Search Rankings - SEOmoz

And here are some resources to help you learn more about Google+, how it works, and how you can use it:

Google+ in 15 Minutes A Day - SEOmoz
Introducing the Google+ Project - Real Life Sharing, rethought for the web - Google

I'm getting started on Google+ - find me!

Local Search Rankings

2011-08-15T09:00:00.000-04:00

Previous format for Google Places listings in search results

Today's format for Google Places listings in search results

We've seen a lot of changes in local search ranking factors lately. What used to be a relatively "easy" project has become increasingly more competitive.

This year, Google changed the format for how it displays local search results. They used to be displayed in a contained area at the top of the results page adjacent to a map with markers indicating the business locations. Organic results would follow below the map listings. Earlier this year, Google integrated the local listings with the organic results. Local Google Places results are still marked with a lettered pointer icon but they now take up the first half of the results page and are featured much more prominently, some with Sitelinks or quotes from reviews or links to citations about them elsewhere online (yelp or insiderpages, for example).

It's now more important than ever for local SEO campaigns to prioritize optimizing the website, the Google Places page, local web citations, and social media profiles. Ensuring consistency with business names, keywords, and descriptions across the board will help Google associate trust with the Places page and show it higher up in the results.

Also more important than ever are online reviews - and especially Google user reviews. A Google local search results page will reference citations, such as insiderpages or demandforce, but will only show Google user reviews on the listing. Google user reviews on a Places page will absolutely help it move up in the rankings.

Success in search engine rankings - and the time and money involved in achieving that success - will always depend on how competitive the target market is. Something like "elevator repair" might be easier to rank for compared to something like "dentist," simply because there are (probably) more dentists in an area than there are elevator repair companies. Maybe.

We do a lot of work with locally marketed companies and while some have seen success relatively quickly, others have posed more of a challenge and we're finding in the last 6 months or so that it's taking more time and effort to get results. But that doesn't mean it's not worth it - it absolutely is, and that's not going to change anytime soon. Give us a call or email us to discuss your website and options for local optimization: 910-547-6908 or info@wilmingtonseo.com.

Branding as a Search Engine Ranking Factor

2011-08-08T09:00:00.000-04:00

An interesting development in the world of SEO is the influence that online branding and reputation management efforts can have on search engine rankings. The emergence of +1's and Google+ means even more personalized search results - results based not only on your geographic region, but also on your search history, likes, connections, and search patterns. Google has been delivering personalized search results based on these factors for some time but now it's giving us even more ammo to get personalized results with their Google+ Project.

In light of these subjective results, it's more important than ever to establish your brand around the web - beyond your own website. Start a Facebook Page, keep it updated, and recruit fans. Start a twitter account, keep it updated, and join the conversation. If you're a restaurant, you want to be on Yelp and Urbanspoon. If you're a local company, build out your Google Places page and get reviews. Create a LinkedIn Profile and add your company. Start a blog and publish relevant, valuable material. As more people begin following you, interacting with you online, and leaving comments and reviews, your brand will become more established and reputable with the search engines.

If all of this sounds like a lot to keep up with, it is. But it should be considered an important part of your internet marketing strategy and should be made a priority with your marketing department or agency. This is the exact type of work we do for clients as part of our overall SEO campaign. Our social media and branding efforts on behalf of clients all work toward increasing search engine rankings.

Let us know if you need help navigating the world of online branding, reputation management, or SEO. We're here to help!

Growing Your Business with Search Engine Visibility

2011-08-02T15:02:00.000-04:00

There's no escaping the fact that Google and the other search engines (Yahoo, Bing, Ask.com) are significant forces in building and growing a client or customer base. Whether your goals are branding, increasing online sales, or building a B2B client base, having an optimized website that search engines consider relevant and valuable will bring fresh eyes to your business daily. If your site is professional, up-to-date, and designed with conversions in mind, then you can take a good portion of those visitors and turn them into customers.


Growth from 8,500 visits/month to over 38,000 visits/month with SEO

We hear feedback from our own clients that the investment they're making in SEO is paying off immensely in terms of boosting online sales or sales leads and building returning customers, referral business, and brand recognition. SEO today is a multi-faceted effort to build branding, reputation, and keyword visibility online while also working to drive conversions through website design, functionality, and content.

It's always so exciting - and challenging - for us to start with a new client and work to build their rankings and online profiles over time to where they're getting a growing number of sales or leads each month. The transformation in incoming traffic to their business can be a real game-changer. We've watched clients have their biggest sales month ever as a result of efforts and investment with SEO.

A couple reasons why SEO works so well for growing a business is that 1) people who are finding you online are looking for exactly what you sell or deliver so they are already sold on the product or service and need only be sold on your company and 2) SEO is a track-able form of marketing dollars when Analytics is installed on the site and goals and funnels are applied.

Let us know if you have questions about how SEO or PPC campaigns can benefit your business - locally, regionally, or nationally. Give us a call at 910-547-6908 or send us an email to info@wilmingtonseo.com.

SEO Ranking Factors

2011-07-06T16:10:00.034-04:00

In case you're wondering how we approach SEO and just what it is we do to help your site achieve higher search rankings, I've found a way to make it look really complex! There are actually a lot of factors that play a part in search engine optimization and I love infographics like this one from searchengineland.com that help you visualize all the different pieces.

OK - if you're not getting all this or it just looks like Greek to you, give us a call and let us help you understand what's going on in this world (or let us help you optimize your site ourselves!) 910-547-6908.

SEO and Social Media

2011-06-29T10:55:00.001-04:00

It seems you can't have SEO without social media in this age of internet marketing. The rise of social media has really changed the face of SEO and they are now so tightly tied in together. I'm not setting out to write a comprehensive piece on how social media affects SEO - there are some awesome blogs out there tackling all those implications - but rather to point out how planning both campaigns together will be more effective on both fronts than tackling them separately.

We are first and foremost an SEO company. That's our niche and our expertise. However, we've been integrating social media channels in our SEO campaigns since we started in 2008. We don't necessarily provide full-scale social media campaigns but we work to claim your brand, build out your profiles, find relevant connections (friends, followers, subscribers, etc), and keep your presence up-to-date. We started out doing this because we saw how it helped with SEO, especially with reputation management (filling up search results on the a company's brand name). We also pursue a lot of content marketing and using social media helps us extend the reach of that content.

Now when we begin an SEO campaign for a client, we integrate social media strategies from the start, knowing that it will not only help with our SEO goals, but it will also give the client a jump start in the world of social media (or a restart as the case may be). We encourage owners or employees to take part in their own social media presence directly, in addition to our efforts, and while some will do this, others are simply too busy and are happy with the effort we can put into it.

Whatever the case may be, taking on social media can seem like a daunting task but with the right plan of attack and the right perspective, it can be extremely effective.

Pay-per-Click (PPC) Advertising and SEO

2011-06-22T10:00:00.007-04:00

So many of our clients have questions about the efficacy of pay-per-click (PPC) advertising such as Google AdWords or Microsoft adCenter (showing ads on Bing and Yahoo search results pages). Do these ads work? Do they help organic rankings? Is it worth it?

The search engines tell us that having a PPC campaign using their platforms will NOT affect your organic rankings. Click-through traffic via these ads, no matter how much money you shell out to Google or Microsoft, will not help move you up in the regular, organic search results.

And the value of this kind of advertising really depends on the company, the product or service, and the search market for the product or service. We have some clients who depend highly on leads coming through PPC ads, some clients who maintain a low budget and use it as a source of supplemental traffic, and some clients who don't use it at all. We'll recommend PPC ads for particular clients while we're working to get organic search visibility going for their site so that they have representation in Google search results in the meantime.

The great thing about PPC ads are how targeted you can be (if you do it right!). Your ad text and destination URL can target the exact audience looking for your product or service so when a visitor clicks through to your page, they are getting the exact info they were hoping to find. And the better you organize your ad campaigns and adgroups, the better results you should have in terms of placement and cost-per-click.

The dangerous thing about PPC campaigns is how much money you risk pouring down the drain if you don't set up and maintain your campaigns properly. Google and Microsoft provide vast resources for learning how to optimize your PPC campaigns and it's important to take the time to get through all of the training. Plus, having some marketing savvy helps in terms of writing great ad text and speaking to your audience.

Pay-per-click advertising can be extremely effective for generating leads or selling products and services. It's all about determining budgets, costs-per-lead, and the value of those leads. PPC campaigns are trackable down to the keyword, ad text, and cost-per-click, so you'll know exactly how your investment is paying off, and how it might be wasting your money.

SEO for Real Estate

2011-06-15T09:00:00.003-04:00

Real estate in almost any town or city is one of the most challenging markets to break into with SEO. Often there are big companies with big marketing budgets and a broad reach putting a lot of time and effort into SEO and internet marketing. On top of that, individual brokers are often marketing their own sites and linking back to the main company sites. So you've got a network of big companies and individual brokers all working towards results on the same terms ("wilmington nc real estate" or "real estate in wilmington nc" for example).

We're currently working with one real estate company marketing Wrighstville Beach real estate and one real estate agent and her team marketing Charlotte NC real estate. Since Wrightsville Beach is such a focused market, we're able to get our client to appear in the top 6 Google search results for "wrightsville beach real estate" but Charlotte is a huge market and proves to be much more challenging.

One strategy we use for both is to focus on more niche search terms related to neighborhoods, communities, developments, and even individual listings. So rather than beat our heads against a wall trying to break into the first page for the broader term, we shoot for top results on these niche terms and build traffic to the site that way. Building traffic and links to the site in this way will only help the larger cause over time.

SEO for real estate is so important to the overall marketing campaign for real estate companies and brokers. And don't think it's a lost cause because of all the competition, but instead think about more "long tail" or niche markets you can go after and start working towards achieving search results on those terms (or just give us a call!). Good luck!

Florblanca Resort Videos, Photos, Blogs, and More

2011-06-08T09:00:00.067-04:00

We recently started working with Florblanca Resort in Costa Rica, a gorgeous Five Star beach resort with private villa accommodations, full service spa, fine dining restaurant, and daily yoga practice for guests. It has been so much fun getting involved in this project and helping to spread the word about such an amazing vacation destination. It makes me want to be on vacation every time I start working on it (this can be challenging while cooped up indoors with my desk and computer!). I get the same feeling when I work on our Surf Camp client....

OK - back to work - where was I? Right - SEO and Internet Marketing for Florblanca Resort. Florblanca is lucky to have a professional photographer working to promote the resort so they have amazing photographs and professionally edited videos that we can share with the world. Sharing photos on Flickr as well as videos on YouTube and Vimeo are a part of our campaign, in addition to blogging and content marketing. Here is one video showcasing a newly renovated guest villa, the Surf House:

You can check out the rest of their videos at youtube.com/user/FlorblancaResort or, if you prefer your videos on Vimeo, vimeo.com/florblanca.

They also have amazing photos to show off at flickr.com/photos/florblanca.

We've been incorporating all these elements into their blog at Florblanca Resort in the News | Costa Rica Oceanfront Resort.

Check it out and, if you like beach vacations, I promise you'll be ready to plan your next vacation at Florblanca!

Ecommerce Solutions for SEO

2011-06-01T10:00:00.026-04:00

While we don't claim to be web designers, we have some very basic skills and are quickly learning how to get by in this do-it-yourself website world. We use Wordpress template sites like the one you see here: Announcing the Launch of 7-Year-ARM.com to create attractive, Web 2.0, optimized websites. And we use BigCommerce hosted services for effective and optimized ecommerce solutions.

When a client expressed interest in creating an online shopping cart for his current catalog of cooling tower parts, we did extensive research for SEO friendly ecommerce solutions. He didn't want a lot of bells and whistles in terms of design or extraneous features and our main goal was to make sure he appeared in search engine results for keyword terms related to particular parts, models, and brands. Plus the site had to be functional in terms of shopping, site search, checkout, notification, and compatibility with their payment gateway.

Our research led us to BigCommerce.com, a hosted shopping cart platform that is designed specifically for SEO. It was even analyzed by expert Aaron Wall of SEOBook.com fame. Each page, category, and product has options for entering in metadata including page title, keywords, and description, providing great opportunities to appear in search results on very specific search terms. I found the technical support staff very helpful and always willing to walk me through a question or issue I had. For a while during setup, I had our account rep programmed into my phone and called on an almost daily basis! He was very patient with me :)

Although our client was not interested in extra features, BigCommerce does offer some cool features including automated email marketing, selling on Facebook, export to eBay and shopping comparison sites, and mobile commerce.

If you have a physical or virtual product to sell and are more of a do-it-yourself type, we suggest using a hosted ecommerce platform. We specifically recommend BigCommerce because we've seen great results with it from a generally easy-to-use back end. But remember, to reap all the benefits of the SEO features, you have to use the SEO features! I think their default settings are pretty good but we suggest you optimize your page titles, metadata and on-page descriptions to get the most benefit. Or you can just call us and have us set the whole thing up for you, optimized and all! For that, you should call Megan at 910-547-6908. Enjoy!

Achieving Top 3 Google Local Search Results - Wilmington SEO Case Study

2011-05-25T10:00:00.001-04:00

We recently discussed our website design and SEO project for LandtoSeaPainting.com (see: Local Painters Achieve Top 3 Search Results in Google - Wilmington SEO Case Study). We also started working with the website of another local Wilmington NC painting contractor, Colour-Solutions.com. Dan Joye at Colour Solutions saw the recognition that LandtoSea.com and other competitors were getting by appearing at the top of Google's local search results. He called us on the recommendation of our client and their neighbor to find out if we could help them compete in that space.

Colour Solutions had a newly designed website with tons of potential for content development. We did an initial overhaul of their current content and pages and then embarked on a local internet marketing campaign, including developing and claiming profiles on third party directory sites as well as blogging. It took some time but after a few months, Colour-Solutions.com is now appearing in the top 3 Google search results for relevant terms such as "painters wilmington nc" and "painting contractor wilmington nc."

We're excited about the success of Colour-Solutions.com in the world of Google search and continue our efforts to move them up in the rankings and market other relevant search terms for their company.

Local Painters Achieve Top 3 Search Results in Google - Wilmington SEO Case Study

2011-05-19T10:11:00.001-04:00

A few years ago, Wilmington SEO developed a search engine optimized website for LandtoSeaPainting.com, a Wilmington NC and Carolina Beach local painting company (and family friend!). Since then, Land to Sea Painting has reigned at the top of Google's organic rankings for relevant terms including "painting company wilmington nc" and "painters wilmington nc." Also since that time, the Land to Sea owner's wife, Anna, became a partner at Wilmington SEO & Marketing, Inc. (Stay tuned for news about another local painting company we've been working with!)

Some of our SEO and internet marketing strategies in building and marketing LandtoSeaPainting.com included:

Putting a Face on the Company - Billy is the driving force behind Land to Sea Painting and works on 99% of the jobs himself. We felt it was really important to show the person behind the company name so we used photos of Billy with his family as well as photos of his painting handiwork.
Instill a Sense of Trust - Billy had done projects at our home when I was here by myself with the kids. I felt it was important to convey that Billy is a trustworthy, safe, and reliable person to have in your home, whether you're there or not at the time. We provided a testimonial addressing this quality.
Showcase the Work - We used plenty of photos throughout the site to display Billy's painting work so potential customers can see for themselves what kind of quality they can expect.
Provide Contact Info - Every page displays Billy's phone number in the header and the site-wide footer provides his email address as well.
Built-In SEO Basics - Because we designed this site ourselves (and we realize it's a far cry from Web 2.0), we were able to provide the best possible SEO groundwork right from the start.
Google Places Listing - We made sure to optimize the Land to Sea Google Places listing. This came in especially handy when Google transitioned from displaying listings next to a map to integrating Places listings in with organic listings.

We created that website in 2008 and have since acquired new resources for building SEO optimized Wordpress templates. However, this is a successful website that not only performs amazing in search results, but also delivers conversions for Land to Sea Painting and garners lots of positive feedback from visitors who contact Billy after browsing his site. We're proud of the success that LandtoSeaPainting.com has had in the online world and we wish Billy the very best with his business always.

How to Work Around Personalized Search Results

2011-04-26T09:00:00.066-04:00

While personalized search results can be super-helpful for most people, they can also be a big pain for SEO's. It's getting increasingly more difficult to know how our clients are ranking for relevant terms throughout different markets. In addition, it's more difficult for our clients to compete in regional markets where they don't have a physical location.

We wanted to share some tools we use to help us find more objective search results, or to see how clients might be ranking in different locations throughout the U.S.

Sign out while doing a Google search - If you are signed in to any Google products (Blogger, Analytics, AdWords, Webmaster Tools, Places, etc), you will get personalized search results based on your past searches, websites you've clicked on using Google, and your connections with other blogs and people online. If you're signed in, you'll see your name in the top right-hand corner of Google.com. Click on your name and choose "Sign Out" from the drop down box.
Change your Location at Google.com - Google automatically gives you a location based on your IP address. My location is Wilmington NC. However, you can click on "Change Location" on the left sidebar of Google.com to find results for a different city. I also attempt to see more objective organic results by changing my location to "United States." That usually eliminates the local results you may see when searching for a product or service that's offered locally.
Download Rank Checker from SEOBook.com - This is a plugin for Firefox browsers that we use to try and gauge more objective search results for our clients. You can create a whole set of keywords for a domain and Rank Checker will go through your list to return search results for Google, Yahoo, and Bing. This is helpful for baseline reports and to get an idea of movement in the rankings. You can download the results to csv. We also track some keyword sets in SEOmoz's keyword rank checker as well.
Try AdWords Preview Tool - I believe you have to have an AdWords account to effectively use this tool but it's designed to let you preview your ads in different markets. You enter your keyword and then choose a location. It will show you a real-time search result page to let you view your ad placement and appearance. Viewing your ad in the preview tool shouldn't affect your CTR because it shouldn't count toward your impressions. But you'll also see organic search results on the page so it's another way to research results in different markets.

OK - these are a few ways that we try to work around Google personalized search results. But it's also important to keep in mind that most people using Google will see personalized search results. SEO together with branding, social media, and even traditional offline marketing are more important than ever if you want to compete in today's personalized world.

NCInsuranceQuote.com Ranking Top Ten

2011-04-19T09:08:00.000-04:00

We spent some time working with Adam Litton of NCInsuranceQuote.com to help create and optimize a website starting back in November 2010 (See: NCInsuranceQuote.com Launch). We are excited to announce that he is now ranking in Google's top ten organic search results for "NC Insurance" and "North Carolina Insurance" search terms.

Adam purchased his domain late 2010 and launched soon after. We managed the website launch by referring a website designer (Port City Digital), planning the site architecture, writing the website copy, and consulting on the website design elements including a quote form, web 2.0 buttons and icons, and site navigation.

Our strategy with Adam was to get everything up and running, launch a link building campaign including press releases, articles, and profiles, and then wait. Waiting is often a legitimate and necessary part of the SEO process, especially when it comes to a brand new website in a competitive industry.

NCInsuranceQuote.com, which was a brand new domain when it launched, needed to build up some domain authority before Google would give it any legitimacy. Once the website gets submitted and crawled, and the inbound links start getting crawled, Google will take the website out of its sandbox and start letting it rank. And that's exactly what happened with NCInsuranceQuote.com.

We had seen great rankings on Yahoo and Bing pretty quickly but it took almost 6 months for Google to get it on the first page for relevant terms. But now it's seeing an increase in traffic and conversions thanks to those first page rankings. We're excited to have reached our goal of achieving these rankings within 6 months.

Remember - if you want to save money on your North Carolina insurance, fill out a quote form on NCInsuranceQuote.com!

More Facebook Landing Pages from Wilmington SEO

2011-04-12T10:00:00.058-04:00

We wanted to share with you a couple more Facebook Landing Pages that we created for clients. These pages serve as attractive and appealing introductions to the company or organization, they encourage Likes for the Page, and encourage clicks through to selected pages on the website.

In an earlier post, we introduced the Facebook Landing Pages for Hardee Hunt and Williams Wrightsville Beach Real Estate Company and WB Surf Camp (See: Wilmington SEO Offers Custom Facebook Landing Pages). Since then, we've designed more of these pages for different clients.

This image is from the default tab for Pleasure Island, NC on Facebook (facebook.com/PleasureIslandNC). This is what you'll see when you visit the page and are not already a fan. You can also view this page by clicking on the Welcome tab under Wall and Info on their Page or by clicking here:

http://www.facebook.com/PleasureIslandNC?sk=app_7146470109

Since we created and installed this page, Facebook has become the #1 referring website for PleasureIslandNC.org. Each of the images here is also a link to a relevant page on the website ("Events" links to http://pleasureislandnc.org/calendar.asp while "stay" links to http://pleasureislandnc.org/accommodations.asp).

In addition, "likes" to the Page have also gone up, even without advertising.

This kind of Landing Page for Facebook helps give structure to your Facebook presence. It invites people in rather than throwing them right to your Wall where they have to figure out what conversations are happening there.

This next example shows a "Reveal" image for Advanced Metal Roofing's Facebook Landing Page. We encourage visitors to "Like Us for Instant Savings." Once the visitor clicks "Like," a new image appears at the bottom with the savings offer. Here's the Before and After:

Before

After Clicking Like

As with Pleasure Island, this is the page visitors will see when they go to facebook.com/advancedmetalroofing if they are not already a fan of that Page. You can also access the Page by clicking Welcome under Wall and Info on the left-hand side or by clicking here:

http://www.facebook.com/advancedmetalroofing?sk=app_4949752878

The images on the Page also link to relevant pages on AdvancedMetalRoofing.com and since we created and installed the Custom Landing Page, referring traffic from Facebook has increased 80%!

Please let us know if you have any questions about creating pages like these or the value they could add for your company: 910-547-6908.

Twitter Email Digest from Paper.li - My New Favorite Thing!

2011-04-05T09:00:00.001-04:00

I recently discovered the Twitter newspaper / email digest service Paper.li and it's my new favorite thing! I follow a number of people and organizations in the SEO, internet marketing, business, entrepreneurial, and entertainment worlds but I don't have the time to keep up with all the information and news that flows throughout the day.

There is so much great content being created and relevant news being reported every day that it can feel impossible to follow it all. Not to mention that we're crazy busy creating content for our clients and ourselves, scouting links, optimizing webpages, writing social media profiles, organizing website architecture, and so on and so on.

Well, I signed up with Paper.li and now every morning I have The Megan Criss Daily delivered to my inbox (it's actually delivered late at night but I'm not usually checking email then). It takes links from the previous day's most popular tweets, extracts their titles, snippets, and images, and puts them into a newspaper format, complete with sections for Headlines, Media (including embedded videos and photos), Technology, Entertainment, Music, Business, Health, and more (your sections would depend on who you follow).

This is the best way, I think, to scan the latest news in my industry and with my interests. Then I can pick and choose what articles I want to read in depth. And I feel very up-to-date with what's going on in my world.

Now I would love to find something just like this that can put together news and headlines from our client's own tweets that they can then send out as an email newsletter. Paper.li does not offer this kind of service and it doesn't sound like that's what they're interested in pursuing. We can still use it for clients if they want to put together a newspaper of who they follow and then broadcast it out. That could be an interesting and relevant resource for their email newsletter recipients. The paper would still include a section of their own tweets and a link to their twitter account for a little self promotion :)

Anyway - check it out, subscribe to my paper, or start your own. It's free and super easy. Enjoy!

Google Farmer Update - How Have We Fared?

2011-03-29T11:02:00.000-04:00

There's a lot of buzz in the SEO / Internet Marketing community about Google's "Farmer" Update that happened in late February, on the heels of the January 2011 algorithm update that affected big name brands such as JC Penney and Overstock.com. The Google update in January was a crackdown on paid, spammy link building in the case of JC Penney and, in the case of Overstock.com, a penalty for offering a discount rewards program in exchange for inbound links. Both of these techniques were in violation of Google's guidelines but for a long time had resulted in top search result positions for tons of keywords, translating to massive online exposure for the companies. Once Google penalized them with the update, many of their rankings fell to search results pages 5 and greater (virtually non-existent results).

SEO's everywhere held their breath to see how they and/or their clients might be affected by the big Farmer Update that was said to have changed more than 11% of the U.S. search results (see: The Google Dance / Updates Infographic). We are happy to report that none of our clients were penalized in Google search results and most of our client's Google organic traffic has increased in the last month. A couple of examples from today's Analytics:

PleasureIslandNC.org - Google organic traffic up 41.36% compared to previous month (some of this can be attributed to seasonal interest)
AdvancedMetalRoofing.com - Google organic traffic up 19.85% compared to previous month
ForTheBestRate.com - Google organic traffic up 11.74% compared to previous month
TrailerShowroom.com - Google organic traffic up 10.65% compared to previous month

We are continuing to keep our eye on the news and fallouts from the Google Farmer update but we have confidence that Google's crackdown on link farming and spam SEO tactics will only benefit our own clients as we do our best to adhere to best practices as set forth by Google and leaders in the SEO field.

Announcing the Launch of 7-Year-ARM.com

2011-03-21T11:01:00.000-04:00

CMG Equities, LLC is proud to announce the launch of 7-Year-ARM.com. Designed to help consumers understand the pros and cons of a 7 year ARM (adjustable rate mortgage), this site provides information about the 7/1 ARM loan as well as access to current rates specifically for for 7 year adjustable rate mortgages.

While CMG Equities does not offer mortgages of any kind, nor are they affiliated with the companies displaying current rates on the site, CMG works hard to deliver current and relevant information regarding mortgages and home loans of all kinds, including the latest available mortgage rates.

The 7-Year-ARM.com website specifically targets homebuyers searching for information on that particular kind of mortgage. Homeowners and homebuyers have a lot of questions about the adjustable rate mortgage and all the different options within that framework. It is valuable to asses your unique situation when it comes to choosing an adjustable rate mortgage to decide if it's the best choice for you. 7-Year-ARM.com helps homebuyers understand if their situation might be a good fit for a 7 Year ARM mortgage. It also provides specific 7/1 ARM rate tables to assist with the research and comparison phase of searching for a home loan.

If you're looking to purchase a new home, make a real estate investment, or refinance on your current mortgage, we hope you'll visit 7-Year-ARM.com to check out 7 Year ARM rates and information about the pros and cons of the 7year adjustable rate mortgage.

Happy Anniversary Wilmington SEO!

2011-03-15T09:04:00.000-04:00

Although the first incarnation of Wilmington SEO was born in January, 2008, the Wilmington SEO & Marketing, Inc. that we know today came about one year ago this month, in March 2010. It was a crazy and exciting time with Nat and Anna joining me, together bringing in new clients, incorporating the business, and working working working (or, like we say to the kids when they want to stay home with us, typing on computers all day).

As a cold winter slowly turns to a beautiful spring, that same excitement hangs in the air as we keep moving forward, staying up-to-date with changes and shifts in the industry, moving into new aspects of the field, and helping to generate more traffic and conversions for our clients.

Happy Anniversary, Wilmington SEO!! Looking forward to many more....

Surf Camp Videos

2011-02-22T10:00:00.001-05:00

Inspired by our recent Video Optimization post, I wanted to share this beautiful video with you from WB Surf Camp. They specialize in surf travel and learn-to-surf vacations for adults as well as overnight summer camps for teens.

This video is appearing #1 in searches on Vimeo for "surf camp costa rica" as well #2 in a Google Video search for the same term.

Get ready to book your next vacation after watching this!

Costa Rica Surf Camp from WB Surf Camp Productions on Vimeo.

Video Optimization - Get Search Results and Drive Traffic

2011-02-16T14:45:00.000-05:00

Online video is one piece of the SEO puzzle that should not be overlooked. Online video content provides a source for generating additional visibility, traffic, greater engagement and time-on-site, inbound linking and content for social media. Depending on the competition for any particular market, videos hosted on your website or social sites including youtube, 5min, and vimeo can be featured on the first page of search results for a target term.

Take this case-in-point: We created a simple video for our client, Trailer Showroom, highlighting their cargo trailer products with targeted text and optimized title, description, and links to the website. We uploaded it to YouTube.com 2 years ago and it now has over 10,500 views! Part of that success comes from the fact that this video appears on the first page of Bing search results in a search for "cargo trailers." It is also the first video that appears if you search for "cargo trailers" in a Bing Video search.

Search engines switch up how they present search results - sometimes showing images, video, and/or shopping results mixed in with the 10 organic results on the page. Sometimes those added elements are near the top of the page, sometimes at the bottom, and sometimes in the middle. Sometimes they appear as an organic search result and sometimes they appear in a group with similar elements in their own little section. Images, video, and shopping results also appear on their own tab within the search engines as well.

However the search engines decide to present the results at any given time, it is always worthwhile to submit shopping results if your site features products, to title and tag your website images, and to submit optimized content to video sharing sites in order to give yourself a chance for this added visibility. Even if your website doesn't rank on the first page, your video can!

Announcing the Launch of JoeCilento.com

2011-02-09T10:48:00.000-05:00

Wilmington SEO & Marketing, Inc. is excited to announce the launch of JoeCilento.com. Joseph Cilento is a Certified Mortgage Banker and Mortgage Executive with American Financial Resources.

With over 25 years experience with mortgage and home loan financing, Joe is currently the Chief Operating Officer of American Financial Resources, a mortgage company based in New Jersey and serving homeowners and homebuyers with mortgage financing programs in all 50 states.

Wilmington SEO & Marketing, Inc. created this website and is working on optimizing it for searches on Joe's name as well as searches for American Financial Resources. You can find out more about the company and about Joseph Cilento by visiting JoeCilento.com.

New Mortgage Websites

2011-01-27T12:02:00.000-05:00

Wilmington SEO & Marketing, Inc. and CMG Equities, LLC are excited to announce the launch of two new mortgage research-related websites:

a10YearMortgage.com and 5-Year-ARM.com

As you can guess, the focus of these websites are on specific mortgage products - the 10 year mortgage and 5/1 ARM Mortgage Rates (adjustable rate mortgage). Visitors can learn about the benefits of each mortgage package and research current interest rates from the nation's leading lenders and brokers.

In keeping with our focus on Mortgage SEO, we are dedicating some resources to building out new sites to help homeowners and homebuyers navigate the different mortgage products available from lenders and brokers. Plus we offer rate tables so visitors can easily shop mortgage rates from competitive lenders or brokers offering services in their specific area.

Does a 10 year home loan make sense for you? Is a 5/1 adjustable rate mortgage the right mortgage for you at this time? What are the current interest rates?

Given the turbulent history and the recent changes with the mortgage and financial industries, it's more important than ever to do your research on the different home loan programs available. Learn which loan program is the best fit for your situation and budget. We're working to help you become an educated shopper and to avoid pitfalls that lead to financial hardships.

If you're in the market for a new home loan or a mortgage refinance, then check out these sites to see if you're a fit for a 10 year mortgage or 5 year ARM.

Wilmington SEO Offers Custom Facebook Landing Pages

2011-01-21T15:46:00.001-05:00

Wilmington SEO & Marketing, Inc. is excited to announce that we now offer custom Facebook landing pages.

We can create a unique and customized Welcome Tab or a Special Offers tab on your Facebook Page using images, links to your website, and call-outs to "Like" the Page and to call or visit your website for more information.

This kind of landing page can be set as the default tab for anyone who is not already a fan of the page.

Here are two examples of Facebook landing pages we've created for clients:

http://www.facebook.com/hardeehuntandwilliams?v=app_4949752878

http://www.facebook.com/surfcamps?v=app_4949752878

This strategy is great for any business actively promoting their Facebook Page either with Facebook ads or the Facebook social plugins. New visitors to your Page will see images and text unique to your business with links to specific and relevant pages on your website, plus a call-out to "Like" the Page for exclusive updates, the latest news, exclusive offers, etc.

This landing page strategy is a wonderful solution for businesses wanting to capitalize on Facebook traffic to capture that interest and convert a visitor to a customer. While it's exciting to get new "Likes" on your Facebook Page, there's a question of value and conversion. We're always wanting to get visitors as close as possible to the point of sale or conversion. A custom Facebook landing page helps to deliver new Facebook "Likes" so you can stay in front of your fans on a long-term basis while also directing newcomers to your website where they can get more information, sign up for your service, or make a purchase.

We also have the capability of showing Special Offers exclusively to visitors who "Like" the Page. We can design a Special Offers tab with an image and text that prompts a visitor to "Like" the Page to see more offers. Once they click "Like," more offers will appear on that tab. Now you've got more fans that you can engage AND you're pointing visitors to your website to take advantage of those offers.

We're very excited about this new offering and hope you see the value and want to take advantage. Please call us to learn more or contact us through our website: 910-547-6908.

Happy New Year from Wilmington SEO!

2010-12-21T10:00:00.003-05:00

Illustration by HikingArtist.com

We wanted to take this opportunity to wish you all the best in the New Year. We are especially excited for 2011 and all the opportunities it may bring.

While Wilmington SEO has been working for clients since January, 2008, Wilmington SEO & Marketing, Inc. is not yet 1 year old. We are excited that we've managed to stay as busy as possible and have seen the growing success of our clients over the last 9 months. Our goal is always to make sure that our clients are seeing improved search results for targeted key terms, to ensure an optimized pay-per-click campaign that delivers quality leads, and to communicate with our clients our best advice and recommendations based on experience and a trusted approach to SEO.

So a HUGE thank you to all of our clients, associates and supporters. We wish you success, luck, and good health in the New Year!

As a bonus holiday gift, we want to give all our clients an extra keyword-rich text link!

Mortgage SEO

2010-12-14T10:00:00.003-05:00

Here at Wilmington SEO & Marketing, we have extensive experience with the mortgage industry and, in particular, Mortgage SEO. We help our mortgage and financial clients rank higher in search engines for their target markets as well create and manage internet advertising and marketing campaigns with a focus on controlling cost-per-leads (CPL).

Costs for advertising within the mortgage industry can quickly skyrocket but we have the knowledge, tools, and relationships to help maintain low CPL, keeping a eye on the ever changing market to know when to raise and lower click-through bids so as to manage volume as well as costs.

Wilmington SEO & Marketing partners Nat Criss and Anna Platz have a strong background in various aspects of the mortgage industry - from originating loans, to mortgage marketing, to compliance management. They have built relationships throughout the industry and have a wealth of resources to help manage the online marketing and search engine optimization for successful mortgage companies.

For case studies and examples of the search engine results we've helped achieve for our mortgage clients, please visit our Mortgage SEO page and contact Nat at 910-547-6910 or email info@wilmingtonseo.com for more information.

Frisco, TX Mortgage Website

2010-12-07T10:00:00.000-05:00

FriscoMortgageCompany.com

Frisco, TX is located in Denton and Collin Counties near Dallas / Fort Worth and has about 39,000 households. It was recently listed #4 on a list of cities with the lowest crime rates among those with populations of 100,000 - 499,000 and was #14 overall nationwide. Frisco is an ideal city for access to all the amenities of big city life but with a small town vibe.

FriscoMortgageCompany.com is a website serving residents and homebuyers in Frisco, TX and in all of the Lone Star State with mortgage and home loan information. CMG, Equities has created and is developing the site as a go-to resource for Texas Mortgage Rates.

Homeowners and homebuyers can bookmark FriscoMortgageCompany.com to check current Texas mortgage rates from some of the nation's leading home loan lenders. With direct access to ForTheBestRate.com, a mortgage rate research website, visitors can also shop low mortgage rates anywhere in the U.S. and request further information from lenders providing rates on the site.

We hope you find this website helpful and invite you to visit anytime: www.FriscoMortgageCompany.com.

Success in Google Places for Preferred Accounting

2010-12-03T13:00:00.000-05:00

We've recently been helping our all-star accountant at Preferred Accounting with her organic and Google Places local listing. It turns out to be a pretty competitive field here in Wilmington but we're excited to see that Preferred Accounting is currently in the #1 position in the Google Places results for wilmington nc accounting and the #2 position in Google Places for wilmington nc accountant. Here are the screenshots:

We'd like to take this opportunity to highly recommend Preferred Accounting to any business in Wilmington. Wendy and Nancy have provided excellent accounting services as well as trusted advice for our businesses. We very honestly would be lost without them. Visit their site at www.PreferredAccountingNC.com.

Giving Thanks in 2010

2010-11-23T10:00:00.004-05:00

The Wilmington SEO Extended Team

As the Thanksgiving holiday approaches, the team here at Wilmington SEO is 1) madly trying to get all our work done as we each prepare for week-long vacations with family and 2) we're trying to take a minute or two to evaluate where we're at and how we got here, realizing how thankful we are to have a successful business and happy, healthy families.

Although the holidays can be (and usually ARE) stressful - trying to make plans, preparing for guests or preparing to travel, spending extra money, planning and attending holiday parties, all while trying to cram in your regular work and evaluate the end-of-year business status, financials, and next year's forecast - it is also a great reminder to give thanks for what we do have, trying to focus on all the positives of our lives.

Wilmington SEO & Marketing is thankful for the growth we've seen for our clients and our own business throughout 2010. We're thankful for our clients who have faith that we can help their businesses grow. We're thankful for being a great team who can work well together and offer unique insight and resources to each other and our clients. We're thankful for our children and their loving, funny, inspiring, exciting, and maddening personalities. We're thankful for the wonderful teachers who take care of our kids all week long. And we're thankful for our families and friends who we wish we could see more of every year.

So, Happy Thanksgiving and try to take a minute or two (or at least a few seconds) to think about what you're thankful for in your life!

The Criss Family

The Platz Family

NCInsuranceQuote.com Launch

2010-11-17T09:11:00.000-05:00

Ready to save some money on your North Carolina insurance? Be sure to check out the recently launched NCInsuranceQuote.com. Wilmington SEO helped plan the architecture for the site, wrote the initial copy, handled the on-page optimization, and project managed the design work with Vince and Brent over at Port City Digital. Now, the heavy lifting begins!

Just Released - NCInsuranceQuote.com

As is the case with the mortgage industry, the insurance space is one of the most competitive verticals to compete in online. Our client understands this from experience after seeing just how much it cost to advertise with Adwords and to purchase leads from major lead aggregators such as NetQuote and InsuranceAgents.com. Over the coming months, we will be working with NCInsuranceQuote.com to build their presence online. The site went live on 11/17/2010 and we hope to get them there in the next 6-12 months.

The site is designed so that consumers can fill out one simple form and then receive insurance quotes from a number or NC insurance professionals. Currently the site is built to handle quote requests for NC home insurance, NC auto insurance, North Carolina business insurance, and NC life insurance. You can also request quotes via phone by calling 910.454.9800.

Mortgage Website for Indiana Homeowners

2010-11-16T10:00:00.003-05:00

IndianaMortgageCo.com

Indiana - The Crossroads of America - has a population of almost 6.5 million people in an estimated 36,000 square feet of land. Homeowners in Indiana reside in the bustling citiy of Indianapolis to the rural farmlands of Clark County. For such a wide range of property types, neighborhoods and homes, there are mortgage programs to fit each of these profiles as well as the budget of the homeowner or first time homebuyer.

Wilmington SEO & CMG Equities, LLC are excited to take on the IndianaMortgageCo.com website to help homeowners research low Indiana mortgage rates - whether it's USDA loans, fixed rate or adjustable rate mortgages, or a home loan refinance, the Indiana Mortgage Co website can hep visitors research the loans they need at rates they can afford.

IndianaMortgageCo.com displays mortgage rates from some of the top lenders licensed in Indiana. Take a look and see how this site can help rate shoppers compare loan programs and competitive rates. Some of our own clients may display their IN mortgage rates in the tables including American Financial Resources and American Bank, both offering Indiana mortgages and IN home loans.

We're excited about this new project and look forward to helping residents and homebuyers in Indiana (and those relocating to Indiana) with their mortgage rate shopping!

VA Mortgage Advice

2010-11-09T10:00:00.011-05:00

VAMortgageAdvice.com

Wilmington SEO & CMG Equities, LLC is proud to take on the VAMortgageAdvice.com website. VA home loans are designed for active duty military personnel and U.S. military veterans to take advantage of competitive rates and more flexibile mortgage programs including 100% financing options and less rigid qualifying credit guidelines.

In partnership with ForTheBestRate.com, the VA Mortgage Advice website helps to educate visitors about the benefits of the VA loan programs, provide military website resources, and provide a research platform for finding some of the best VA mortgage rates available on the market.

Some of the mortgage-based clients we work with, including American Bank, American Financial Resources, and Gateway Bank offer programs for VA loans and VA mortgages with excellent customer service and experienced loan officers to help lock in a rate and guide you through the process. ForTheBestRate.com displays competitive mortgage rate information from some of the nation's top lenders and brokers and is a great starting off point for someone just beginning to look into VA home loans or refinancing.

U.S. Veterans and active military families - be sure to bookmark VAMortgageAdvice.com and share this resource with your friends!

Google Local Search Craziness

2010-11-04T11:00:00.009-04:00

Snapshot of Integrated Local Search Results from Google Places

Have you noticed something different with Google the past couple of weeks? If you've done a search for a local product or service, i.e added the qualifying phrase "wilmington nc" to the front or end of your search term in Google, then you've probably seen a difference in the way that Google is presenting the results. There is a lot of buzz about this in the SEO industry and we've been busy researching the implications here at Wilmington SEO - both firsthand and through outside SEO case studies.

It used to be that if you searched for a product or service specifically in your town or city, such as "painting company wilmington nc," you would likely see a map at the top of the page with 1-7 businesses listed next to the map. Directly underneath that were the organic results. A company could be listed both next to the map and in the organic results (if properly optimized!).

Now what we're seeing with this kind of localized search in Google is that the local results are essentially taking over the organic results. In fact, Google is only displaying 3-6 organic results on a page instead of the traditional 10.

Google Local Search Results with Photos

The good news here is that local companies who have been optimizing for local search results AND organic search all along seem to be coming out ahead. Their Google Places listing is prominently displayed with their address and phone number, a link to their reviews, and possibly even a photo. Someone can click on the headline to visit their website, they can visit their place page, or they can click to read reviews. If a company is featured in the Google Places local search results, then this listing takes the place of their organic result. Google seems to be displaying EITHER the local OR the organic listing.

We've been excited to see our Wilmington NC-based clients at the top of these local search results. It will be interesting to see how this all plays out over time, but so far, so good here at Wilmington SEO.

Let us know how you've fared with the Google Places revolution. We're sure businesses are experiencing the full spectrum of emotions with this change.

All You Ever Wanted To Know About Mortgages...And Then Some

2010-10-26T12:50:00.001-04:00

We have been hard at work for several months adding lots of content to the mortgage website for American Financial Resources. By the end of this month there will be almost 800 pages of content on this site. Ever wondered what it means to "pay mortgage points"? Wanted to learn about taking out a Milwaukee, WI home loan? Interested in knowing a bit about mobile home mortgages? Well - we know where you can find out!

Seriously - the AFR team is a hardworking group of very nice people, and we really enjoy being part of their marketing team. Check them out at afrmortgage.com.

Wilmington SEO Launches Redesigned Site For NC Green Consultants

2010-10-19T12:46:00.000-04:00

There was a warm fuzzy feeling floating around the Wilmington SEO offices as we launched the redesigned NCGreenConsultants.com. It was a fun project to work on because this client is working hard to help businesses reduce their environmental impact - this helps the planet and our community, and is a cause near and dear to our (and hopefully everyone's!) hearts.

We worked with the NC Green Consultants team to improve the look and feel of their site, and to optimize the content. We took a little help from a website template to keep their costs down so they can focus their time and energy on saving the world, one small sustainable step at a time.

NC Green Consultants works with companies of all sizes who want to operate their businesses while doing as little harm to the planet as possible. They can also help organizations earn the Green Business League™ Certification which will demonstrate to customers the company's commitment.

Helpful Time Saver - SnapIt Screen Capture

2010-10-14T10:15:00.000-04:00

The folks over at Digeus, Inc. asked if we'd give their screen capture software called SnapIt a try and we found it to be a big time saver. It essentially lets you take a "snapshot" of something on your screen that you can then paste into another program. We have used it most on our blogs (check out some of our website launch posts for a few examples) but also for putting together proposals, reports, and sending updates to clients.

We thought we would share this info in case anyone out there might also find it useful. Here's the link to try it yourself (there's a free trial, but you do have to pay to register once the trial is up): http://digeus.com/downloads/snapit/files/3/snapit_3_7.exe

Introducing the ATS Cooling Tower Parts Online Store

2010-09-20T13:26:00.000-04:00

AmertechTowerServices, LLC. and Wilmington SEO are excited to announce the launch of the ATS Cooling Tower Parts online store. This site has been months in the making and serves as an e-commerce component of Amertech's existing cooling tower parts sales and service.

Our goals for this online store are to gain organic search results, traffic, and conversions on cooling tower parts in general as well as the specific cooling tower products available in the store, including cooling tower fans, gearbox, nozzles, and fill.

The ATS Cooling Tower Parts online store functions as both a stand-alone source for finding and purchasing cooling tower parts and a convenience for current and returning customers to be able to place an order and checkout right online. Our client wanted this site to be clean, simple, and easy to navigate without a lot of bells and whistles. The focus here is on finding and purchasing the products you need.

We hope you can take a minute to check out the store (even if cooling tower parts are not on your shopping list!):

http://parts.amertechtower.com.

Wilmington SEO is excited to move into the world of e-commerce. Be sure to contact us if you think an optimized, up-to-date, and functional shopping cart can enhance your online presence and appeal: 910-547-6908 (ask for Megan).

Announcing The Launch Of AmericanFSBMortgage.com

2010-09-10T16:08:00.000-04:00

We are excited that another site is going live - the newly designed online presence for American Bank's mortgage division. Based in Maryland, American Bank serves mortgage customers throughout the country and wanted a dynamic and attractive website to better serve their borrowers. Today's home loan shoppers want information quickly so we worked to deliver a site that is simple to navigate, informative, and makes it easy to request the current mortgage rates.

After developing a plan for the structure and goals for the site with American Bank we enlisted the help of Sage Island for the design and content management system. After we added our optimized content showcasing what makes American Bank a mortgage industry leader, the site was ready to make it's debut. Prospective borrowers will be able to use www.americanfsbmortgage.com to research home purchase and refinance mortgage programs, and find current pricing in just moments.

Pleasure Island Seafood, Blues & Jazz Festival Launches Online Contest

2010-09-10T13:32:00.000-04:00

We were excited to work with the Pleasure Island Chamber of Commerce on a contest which will award the lucky winner with 2 tickets to the Seafood, Blues & Jazz Festival and a two night stay at the Courtyard Marriott in Carolina Beach, a popular Carolina Beach hotel.

It has been a fun project to create the concept and graphics, put it all into place, and now get to work on promoting it! Feel free to enter and try your luck by clicking on the image above.

New Online Presence For Kelly Decker & The Decker Group

2010-08-28T10:41:00.006-04:00

We are excited to share the newly launched website for The Decker Group, a team of talented mortgage bankers serving Texas and Oklahoma mortgage clients, led by the one and only Kelly Decker. We have known Kelly for several years and can say wholeheartedly that he is one of those shining lights in the mortgage industry. He's smart, cares immensely for his clients and the people he works with, and stays on top of his game by continuously learning the latest industry information be it new programs, regulations, or what is currently driving mortgage pricing. He also has a ruthlessly funny self-deprecating sense of humor and is a lot of fun to work with.

We worked with the skilled designers over at Port City Digital on the look and function of the website, put together the site architecture and created the unique, optimized content. We will be working with Kelly for the next few months to increase exposure for the site.

Take a look at www.txmortgagegroup.com and learn about some of the Texas mortgage programs they have to offer. If you are looking for a Texas or Oklahoma mortgage give them a call at 972-591-3097.

Gateway Bank Mortgage Launches New Mortgage Website

2010-08-26T10:41:00.000-04:00

We are excited to announce the launch of a new mortgage website by one of our clients, Gateway Bank Mortgage. This long standing mortgage bank has recently expanded their Wilmington, NC location and approached us about a new website that would help them reach home owners and home buyers in need of home financing solutions. Gateway Bank Mortgage works with borrowers from Florida to Maryland offering a variety of purchase and refinance mortgage loans, meaning the site needs to target a wide geographic area and communicate information on a number of home loan products. It was also important that the site be user friendly and allow viewers to find information and request current mortgage rates quickly and easily.

Once we put together the framework for the site we enlisted the help of Port City Digital for the design (we may be a little biased but we think they did a pretty awesome job!) Then we got to work creating the copy for the site, optimizing it, and generating some online buzz (ummm, this blog post for example.) Stay tuned as www.gwmortgage.com climbs the ranks of the ultra competitive mortgage seo world. The top notch team at Gateway Bank Mortgage is a fun client to promote because they really are some of the best in the business. They offer a great value and are just all around great people to work with.

Wilmington Webbie Winner 2010 - WhatsOnWilmington.com

2010-08-11T09:50:00.001-04:00

One of our clients, WhatsOnWilmington.com, is the proud recipient of the 2010 Wilmington Webbie Award from Encore Magazine.

The Webbie is awarded to the best local website. Nominations are made by Encore readers and the winner is decided on by Encore Employees. Runner-ups for this year's award include capefearpassport.com, foodies.blogs.starnewsonline.com, frankdeals.com, and halfoffdepot.com/Wilmington.

WhatsOnWilmington.com is a comprehensive Wilmington NC events website. It is hands-on-edited by publisher Ranald Totten, an experienced writer who lives in Wilmington and is personally dedicated to promoting the area's events. The site is visually appealing, well organized, well written, and full of details and information about events in Wilmington. We especially love Ranald's funny and informative weekly email newsletters compiling the best free events of the week. You can sign up for that here: Wilmington NC Event Newsletter.

We admire Ranald's dedication to the area. He really puts in time and effort in promoting events, utilizing Facebook and twitter in addition to the website and newsletter. He even offers a WoW Widget (as seen in our blog sidebar) so that Wilmington bloggers and website owners can show off area highlights.

Congratulations to Ranald and Mindy on their 2010 Webbie Award for WhatsOnWilmington.com! We look forward to their continued success - now go visit the site! Wilmington NC Events

To read Ranald's full interview with Encore Magazine, please visit It Will WoW You!

New Client - Aarow Financial Group

2010-06-25T13:50:00.000-04:00

We just started working with a Wilmington NC insurance agency, Aarow Financial Group. They had designed a web site using Weebly which we had never used to date. After about 7 hours worth of work, we helped them reorganize the site and tweak the design elements a bit (in Weebly) and are getting ready to push the site out to the public and the search engines. We have been working with Ryan Thomas who is Aarow's Vice President of Sales. If you live in North Carolina and are looking for life insurance, disability insurance, long term care insurance, or retirement planning be sure to check them out. The site is brand spanking new so it is going to take a little while before we start to see some traction but we are looking forward to the journey. This should be an interesting process to see how well we can do with a free template design software program. Check back in the coming months as we start to post some results.

Nat

Cracking Top 10 in Google for Wrightsville Beach Real Estate

2010-06-22T08:29:00.000-04:00

It has taken a few months to get Hardee Hunt & Williams into the top 10 in Google for their primary search term, "wrightsville beach real estate". When we started working on their site back in May, 2010, we did some on-page optimization and after one month they jumped from number #68 to #34. Several months later, they moved to number #10. Hopefully, in just a few more months we help them grow into the top three to five spots and the traffic will follow.

We are also assisting them in creating and managing their Wrightsville Beach blog. Beyond just highlighting their Wrightsville beach real estate listings and market information, the blog will be a community resource where residents and visitors can turn for event information and community news. Between three of our clients...What's on Wilmington (news and events for the Wilmington, NC area), the Pleasure Island Chamber of Commerce, and Hardee Hunt & Williams, you should have no problem finding something fun today along the Cape Fear Coast.

Traction - Hardee Hunt & Williams

2010-05-13T09:01:00.000-04:00

For those of you who follow our blog you may recall a post from last month that we had started to work with Hardee Hunt & Williams. They are a Wrightsville Beach real estate company that primarily focuses on Wrightsville Beach, Figure Eight Island, and Landfall. Our first step was to do some on page optimization which pretty much took up our allotment of hours for March. In April, we started doing some link building and sixty days later we have seen some progress.

They are now ranking in the top 10 for "Wrightsville Beach real estate" and "Wrightsville Beach NC real estate" with both Yahoo and Bing. The are also in the top 10 with the big three search engines for "Figure Eight Island real estate".

While we have helped move the site from 68 to 33 in google for "Wrightsville Beach real estate" we still have a ways to go. Build those links. Build those links. Build those links!

Anna Featured Blogger on Infotrak

2010-05-07T13:29:00.004-04:00

Our own Anna Platz was recently a featured blogger for Infotrak National Data Services. For those of you who have yet to meet Anna, she joined Wilmington SEO after spending the past 6 years working in the mortgage industry as the compliance manager for a national lender. Her article dealt with some of the benefits of FHA mortgages and who may be eligible for these types of loans.

Infotrak produces mortgage guides for many National newspapers and has a comprehensive web site which tracks rates for mortgages, CDs, money markets, auto loans, and home equity loans.

Be sure to check out Anna's blog post and visit Infotrak.com the next time you are searching for mortgage rates or home equity loan rates.

New Client - Hardee Hunt & Williams

2010-04-16T09:27:00.004-04:00

Wilmington SEO & Marketing has begun working with the Wrightsville Beach real estate experts at Hardee Hunt & Williams. We are assisting them with their SEO efforts and striving to improve their organic search results.

Hardee Hunt & Williams is located on Harbor Island right before you cross over the Banks Channel bridge onto Wrightsville Beach. The company specializes in assisting clients buy and sell property along the Cape Fear Coast - specifically Wrightsville Beach properties, Figure Eight Island real estate, and homes in the Landfall development.

Be sure to check back in the coming months to see how things are progressing.

Wilmington NC Events Calendar - Whats On Wilmington

2010-04-08T10:52:00.003-04:00

WhatsOnWilmington.com is a beautiful new website dedicated to promoting local Wilmington, NC events including music, theatre, arts, sports, kids events, festivals, literary events, gallery openings, museum events, and more. Keep up with WhatsOnWilmington.com here and get the widget for your own website or blog:

New Client - American Financial Resources

2010-03-24T15:34:00.004-04:00

Wilmington SEO just starting working with American Financial Resources in March 2010. AFR is a national mortgage company based in Parsippany, NJ. We are helping them build out their new web site which is currently being redesigned by ION-E. We are assisting them with the architecture of the site, copywriting, on page optimization, link building, and their Adwords campaigns.

American Financial Resources is one of the largest FHA mortgage lenders in the U.S. with over $1.4 billion dollars funded in 2009. They offer a wide variety of home financing programs for mortgage refinance and home purchase loans including fixed rate mortgages, adjustable rate loans, USDA rural housing loans, VA mortgages, and even mobile home loans.

We are well aware that the mortgage industry is one of the most competitive in the online space and we are looking forward to assisting AFR grow their business through organic and paid search traffic. If you are looking for a great mortgage lender with low rates and fantastic service, give our friends at American Financial Resources a call.

New SEO Client Testimonial

2009-12-09T14:48:00.005-05:00

I recently received a valuable testimonial from a client who has been with me for one year now. Rick McKeithan, owner of the Trailer Showroom, an e-commerce site for Cargo Trailers, commented:

I'm thrilled with the job that you've done for me. As a matter of fact I consider your service to be the best money, dollar for dollar, that I've spent on most anything related to the business.

Since I've started working with Rick in December 2008:

Visits to his website have increased 131.52%
Google organic traffic has increased 985.6%
Traffic from the search engines now comprises 89% of his overall traffic compared to 84% last year, an increase of 5.61%.

We've been able to bring a number of his rankings in Google up to the first and second pages for his target terms, optimize his Google AdWords campaign to reduce costs while increasing clicks, and continually increase traffic throughout the year, including the traditionally slow months.

Thank you for the wonderful testimonial, Rick! I look forward to making more improvements and working with TrailerShowroom.com into the future.

Advanced Metal Roofing Ranks #2 in Google for "Metal Roofing"

2009-09-24T19:48:00.004-04:00

We've been working with Advanced Metal Roofing, a residential metal roofing company, for about a year and half now. Our goal with this company has been twofold:

To create a ton of online content and press to help potential customers learn more about the benefits of metal roofing and the positive reputation of Advanced Metal Roofing when they're researching the company using the search engines, and
To rank at the top of page 1 in Google for the search term "metal roofing."

We're excited to announce today that the corporate site for Advanced Metal Roofing has appeared in the #2 position for "metal roofing." We've got some work to do to make sure they stay there but metal roofing has proven to be a competitive field so it's very encouraging to see our client in the coveted top 3 position in Google.

In related news for Wilmington SEO, another client, South-Tek Systems, engineer and manufacturer of nitrogen generators, has been appearing consistently in the #2 & 3 positions in Google for their main target search terms "nitrogen generator" and "nitrogen generators." We are constantly creating fresh content on the main website, in the blog, and in external sources linking back to the client site to try and maintain this key position in Google.

If you have any questions about these case studies or about search engine optimization (SEO) in general, please feel free to contact Wilmington SEO.

Is Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Right for Your Business?

2009-02-28T12:50:00.005-05:00

Is SEO the right strategy for your business?

If your company is looking to attract more business from online shoppers - locally, regionally, or nationwide - then search engine optimization services might be right for you.

Now is the time to capitalize on the billions of consumers out there who are using Google and other major search engines to see what they can find out about any number of topics.

Wilmington SEO can help you become visible in these search engine results for your particular market. Whether you have products, services, or information to offer, we can help make a difference in your success.

Wilmington SEO offers a number of internet marketing services to help achieve your search engine optimization goals including:

Website analysis and consultation
Customized list of SEO priorities to get your site headed in the right direction
Action plan customized to your goals and budget
Ongoing SEO maintenance
Keyword research and keyword targeting
Copywriting for the web
Link building
Directory, article, and press release writing and submissions
Website analytics and reporting tool
Pay-per-click (ppc) campaigns with major search engines

Contact Wilmington SEO today to find out how we can help your company increase high quality, organic and pay-per-click (ppc) leads to your website: 910-547-6908.

New Wilmington SEO Testimonial

2008-11-24T15:11:00.004-05:00

Thanks to Charles Metzler of South-Tek Systems, manufacturer of Nitrogen Generators, for providing a testimonial for Wilmington SEO.

The www.SouthTekSystems.com website has started appearing in the top 10 search results for their main term "nitrogen generators" and we're all very excited about this! Other notable stats:

Traffic to their website has increased more than 41% in the last month!!
Organic search traffic from the search term "nitrogen generator" has increased 700% in the last month!
The search engines are now accounting for 76.95% of their overall traffic.

Here is Charles' testimonial for Wilmington SEO:

South-Tek Systems is Proud to recommend Wilmington SEO to anyone who is

serious about utilizing their website as a true marketing tool. Not only is the

Wilmington SEO team a pleasure to work with, they have gone above and beyond

in taking our website to the next level. Wilmington SEO put together a

winning proposal and followed it completely, assisting us with Blogs, Newsletters,

Video, Press Releases, onsite training and search engine traffic.

With all aspects of our dealings with Wilmington SEO, they have proven to be

a great asset to our company. Again, if you have a website, you need

Wilmington SEO.

Sincerely,

Charles Metzler

Militay and Industiral Sales

South Tek Systems

910 228 9304

New Client - Patron Software

2008-10-23T07:01:00.002-04:00

We've recently started with a new SEO client, Patron Software, a Donor Management Software company for non profit organizations. The key terms they want to rank for in the search engines are "donor management" and "fundraising software" so we'll be working to optimize for those terms. They sell their software product nationwide, even worldwide potentially, so this will be a more competitive market.

Patron Software is just starting a monthly subscription service for their software. Since they target mainly small, community based non profits, this subscription service will make their product more affordable.

Our search engine optimization strategies to start will be:

On-page optimization - title, keywords, description meta-data, optimized content, and internal links
External linking - find relevant directories, forums, etc for creating valuable links back to the Patron Software website
Social Media Optimization - find the best networks for this company, create profiles, generate content, invite comments and participation

We're excited for this opportunity to work with Patron Software. They believe in their product and are working to help non profits focus on their mission at hand.

Google Original Index

2008-10-13T12:00:00.001-04:00

Nat emailed this link to me the other day and it's pretty interesting. For their 10th anniversary, Google dug up the oldest existing index (2001). I thought it was fun to see what Google was like then:

Google 2001 Index

Enjoy!

Animoto.com - Create Videos For Your Blog or Website

2008-10-12T20:50:00.000-04:00

I recently learned about Animoto.com and am very excited about using it for my clients to boost their visibility in the social media world and in search engine rankings:

Animoto.com - Create Free Videos Online Using Photos and Music

Here is a video I created for Advanced Metal Roofing using photos that were already stored in their Flickr.com account:

And here is one I created for South Tek Systems, manufacturer of Nitrogen Generators, using images they emailed to me:

Definitely a great service - use it today!

Local Wilmington SEO Seminars

2008-09-24T10:30:00.002-04:00

I think this September is officially "Wilmington SEO Month." And I'm not referring to my business, necessarily, but SEO in Wilmington, NC.

It all started with a Social Media Marketing Workshop and Panel Discussion from Action Coach Reggie Shropshire earlier this month. Then last week I attended a Pleasure Island Chamber of Commerce seminar about Adwords, SEO, and Analytics from Andrew Gray, a local internet marketing professional. This week, I'm looking forward to an initial SEO Meetup right here in downtown Wilmington. It's slated to be a "meet and greet" with other Wilmington SEO professionals.

Since I work at home by myself, it's been very enriching to get out and network with other local people working on the same stuff I am. Long live Wilmington SEO!

-Megan

Using Videos to Create Search Engine Rankings and Traffic

2008-09-22T10:17:00.002-04:00

I've been working on uploading a series of videos to YouTube.com on behalf of Advanced Metal Roofing. James Kenton recently started producing his own TV commercials to start running this fall. If you live in eastern North Carolina, you've seen his commercials before - Tony's ripping up shingles and telling you to "Get off Your Asphalt!" and "It's Not Your Fault, It's the Asphalt!"

Well, this new commercial series is great and still features Tony, this time with a friend, Belinda. Together, they tell you about the benefits, advantages, and ROI of their MetalMan Roofing System.

We're hoping that by uploading these videos to the Advanced Metal Roofing YouTube Channel, plus creating accounts at Google Video, Yahoo Video, Webshots, MySpace, Vimeo and other video sharing sites, we can increase positive search engine rankings for the terms "Advanced Metal Roofing" and "James Kenton." We're also hoping to drive more traffic to the AMR Website, generate buzz about the product, and educate potential customers about the MetalMan Roofing System from Advanced Metal Roofing.

Here's a peek at one of the videos:

Check out the rest of the videos here:

Metal Roofing Videos

Organic Search Results & Conversions for Land to Sea Painting Company

2008-09-11T14:45:00.003-04:00

I was excited to hear that Land to Sea Painting, a local Wilmington, NC painting company, received their first organic search estimate request since we re-designed and optimized their website a couple weeks ago.

A potential customer was searching online for local painters and wanted to work with a small company. Owner Billy Platz and his wife Anna have family photos on their painting website and a personal touch to their content which may have helped this potential client feel good about contacting them.

Land to Sea Painting Company (www.landtosea.com) current Google rankings:

#1 + #2 "wilmington nc painting company"
#1 + #2 "painting company wilmington nc"
#1 + #2 "wilmington nc interior painting company"
#1 + #2 "wilmington nc residential painting company"
#1 + #2 "wilmington nc commercial painting company"
#2 "wilmington nc painter"
#2 "wilmington nc house painting"
#3 "house painting wilmington nc "
#4 "wilmington nc painters"

New Computer for the Ultimate SEO Experience

2008-09-07T22:08:00.001-04:00

With 2 old laptops failing me in the last few months, we bit the bullet and bought an HP desktop with a 21" monitor that is guaranteed to make me smarter, more productive, and much more inspired. Ready...go.

SEO Copywriting for www.FortheBestRate.com

2008-09-06T19:23:00.006-04:00

I've recently started writing SEO copy for the AAXA Discount Mortgage Website. AAXA is a Wilmington, NC based internet mortgage company that does business in 26 states. All of their business comes through their website and a large percentage of leads come from organic searches on keywords such as low mortgage rate and current mortgage rate. This is an incredibly competitive online industry and AAXA is pro-active with their search engine optimization efforts - keeping their website current, informative, and relevant to their markets.

Here is one example of a page I wrote that is currently posted at www.forthebestrate.com:

Riverside, CA Mortgage

Thanks!
Megan

Very Little Love from A Little Loved

2008-09-04T20:43:00.005-04:00

OK - This has nothing to do with search engine optimization, websites, Google, or anything work related but I thought I could use my Blog to relate a story about customer service gone bad in the world of children's consignment.

Today I loaded up a Graco double stroller into the car to bring to a local children's consignment shop to see if they could sell it for me. My 1-year old fell asleep in the car on the way there but I decided to go through with it anyway. So I unloaded 2 kids - one still sleeping - and brought them into the store. Just as we were about to walk in, my 3-year old says "I have to go pee-pee" and I immediately notice a sign on the door that says "No Public Restroom." So we walk in and I say:

"I know you don't have a public restroom but can my son use your bathroom?"

The person working said:

"Well, are you going to shop here?"

Ummmmm, regardless of whether I'm going to shop here or not, would you seriously NOT let him use your bathroom? This is crazy to me - especially in a children's store - and I just didn't know how to respond. I stammered something about wanting to do consignment and she allowed us into the bathroom, but said that I needed to go in with him.

I used to work in a children's thrift store that also did not have a public restroom but I always directed people to the bathroom when they needed it - without giving them a hard time. I did tell them it wasn't public but that was mostly so they could excuse the storage room aspect of it. I guess that's a health code violation but it's also a simple human act.

The woman did come to my car with me to look at the stroller (I still have sleeping child on my shoulder) but rejected it because of a stain on the fabric. That's fine but her words and tone were condescending and unappreciative of the trip I made to her store.

Of course, when I got in the car, I thought of all kinds of smart responses that ultimately led to Cooper pee-ing on the side of her building but as it was I said nothing and just let it get to me (very un-Zen-like I know). So now I've ranted about it on my blog and I feel a little better.

If you care - the store is called A Little Loved.

Also - I still have a double stroller to sell....

Social Media Marketing Seminar from Coach Reggie

2008-09-03T10:09:00.003-04:00

Last night Nat and I attended a local Social Media Marketing seminar put on by Action Coach Reggie Shropshire. It was right around the corner from us at Hall's Restaurant and we met up with our good friend Kathy Stierwalt from Right at Home of the Cape Fear.

Anyway, there was a great panel discussion about blogging and how to use online social media resources to help your business marketing efforts. I appreciated hearing local small business marketers relate their personal experiences with blogging and social media, how they use it to their benefit, and their success and horror stories with it. It also inspired me to try and get on a regular, consistent schedule with my own blog so that people may actually read it and learn from it. I'm so focused on getting work done for my clients in the extremely limited time I have to work that I always put my own marketing efforts on the back burner. If I can make blogging for Wilmington SEO a regular part of my week, that would be a step in the right direction for growing my business in the future.

So thanks to Ty Downing for inviting me to the seminar and I'm looking forward to our Wilmington SEO Meetup later this month.

Thanks!
Megan

New SEO Client - South Tek Systems

2008-08-26T13:50:00.000-04:00

I'm just starting with a new client, South Tek Systems. They engineer and manufacture Nitrogen Generators for industrial and process applications. Their clients include the military, the automotive and tire industry, restaurants and bars, the food processing and food storage industries, plastic manufacturers, and the medical and pharmaceutical industries. They are a GSA Contract Holder and their products are available directly through the company and at GSA Advantage Online.

Our SEO strategies will include:

On-page optimization
Link Building
Press Releases
Blogging - we've already started the Blog - South Tek Systems Blog
Social Media Marketing

I'm excited to get started with them. Look for them on the first page of Google search engine results for "nitrogen generator" soon!

New Home Page for Advanced Metal Roofing

2008-08-25T11:20:00.000-04:00

We recently revamped an optimized Advanced Metal Roofing home page to reflect an important new product they will be featuring. AMR now holds an exclusive contract for MetalMan Roofing Systems in North Carolina.

The new home page and additional pages on Kynar paint and MetalMan Roofing convey the benefits of the new product including a guarantee that your metal roof will not fade or rust, patented virtually seamless design, and 42% energy savings for the homeowner due to the Cool Roof technology.

PLUS - you can get a $500 GAS CARD upon installation of your new metal roof with Advanced Metal Roofing.

And there's a new video that doesn't start automatically when you open the home page.

Check it out!

Megan

SEO for Land to Sea Painting Website

2008-08-24T11:15:00.001-04:00

Nat and I recently completed a re-design and optimization of the Land to Sea Painting Company website:

www.LandtoSeaPainting.com

Billy and Anna Platz are good friends of ours and we highly recommend Billy's painting services for your home, office, restaurant, or bar for interior or exterior painting. He offers environmentally friendly low-voc paint choices if you're interested and he also does pressure washing and deck staining.

Thanks!
Megan

Google Adwords Keyword Tool Upgrade

2008-07-09T15:46:00.001-04:00

I noticed today that the Google Adwords Keyword Tool has improved to show actual numbers in the Monthly Approximate Search Volume and the Yearly Average Approximate Search Volume columns. It used to be that Google showed a bar graph that only told low, medium, or high levels of search volume without any hard numbers to go by.

I appreciate this improvement in the keywords tool because it gives me a clearer idea of the how many searches are made for a particular keyword. Before I always thought "Is 'low volume' 100 searches or 5 searches? Not sure."

There are many keyword tool options available online for your keyword research and I have some of them bookmarked at my Wilmington SEO Del.icio.us account, but I find the Google Adwords Keyword Tool to be my favorite one. It gives lots of options for variations on a keyword or phrase if you choose the "Use synonyms" box and now with actual numbers showing, you'll know just how popular each particular search term is per month and year. WordTracker is supposed to be great, but I work with so many local companies targeting to a specific geographic region that WordTracker is not worth the investment for me or my clients (However, I am starting work for DownPaymentDreams.com, an online downpayment wedding registry service, and I suggested using WordTracker for that website since it's a nationwide service - I'll let you know how it goes).

It's important to remember here that, depending on your target audience, you may not always want to choose the most popular keyword, or the keyword with the largest search volume. Yes, many people are using that term in their Google searches BUT you're going to face a lot of competition for that term and it may not prove very successful for you. Often, the terms with the most search volume are the broadest words. Today, I'm working on SEO content writing for a local painting company, Land to Sea Painting (SEO work not live yet), so I'll give you examples in terms of painting:

"paint" shows 4,090,000 approx search volume
"interior painting" shows 49,500 approx search volume
"painting company" shows 14,800 approx search volume
"interior painting company" shows 170 approx search volume
"exterior painting company" shows 110 approx search volume

So you can see how targeting your keywords to very specific terms relevant to your business will find fewer people searching that term BUT less competition for that term. When we add "Wilmington NC" to the term, the target narrows even further, drawing a very particular audience for your particular business.

The idea here is to create many separate pages on your website each targeting these very specific terms (one for interior painting company, one for exterior painting company, one for residential, one for commercial, etc) to act as "landing pages" for your site. A landing page is a page on your website designed to draw search engine attention for a particular term, entice a person searching that term to click on your link and then explore your site further once the visitor is there.

I know - doing all this keyword research and creating all these pages sounds like a lot of work (and possibly tedious work at that!). So that's why you call Wilmington SEO to do it for you! If you're trying to gain more marketing power and generate more leads with your website, check out our Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Search Engine Marketing (SEM) services to see if you can use our help. I'll bet you can!

It's Not Enough Just To Have Great Search Engine Rankings...

2008-06-26T16:16:00.000-04:00

That's right - you heard it here. It's not enough just to have great search engine rankings. Of course a top ten position is something you want for your website and something you need for success BUT you ALSO need to deliver smart, relevant information to both the search engines and to potential visitors.

At Wilmington SEO, our main goals when working to optimize your website for better search engine results are:

To let the search engines know exactly what your site is about and to show them that it is supremely relevant for your main keyword search terms

To let people searching your terms know exactly what your site is about and to show them that you have the information, products, or services they are looking for

Optimizing your website for the search engines should also inherently create a more user-friendly, topical, relevant, informative, and successful website all around. It's just not enough to provide search engines with an exhaustive list of keywords because, although sometimes that might be enough to land you in the top results for particular search terms, it's not enough to encourage people to click on your link.

Just think about your own habits when shopping online for products or information. What do you look for when browsing the results page of a Google search? What are the types of links and URL's you're more likely to click?

When searching for information, I either click on a link that seems like an authority on a subject and/or I click on a link that contains closest to the exact term I'm searching, without a lot of other junk spammed in there.

When searching for a product or service, I usually click on a link that contains closest to the exact product I'm seeking (and usually has SALE or DISCOUNT next to it!).

And I hardly ever go past the first page - unless I'm doing some sort of in depth research.

Basically, you're looking for a link that seems like a respected, established expert in the particular field you need - whether you need a house cleaning service or a new house.

Wilmington SEO works to not only get your website in the top rankings by showing search engines that your site is a respected expert in your field, but also to encourage people to actually click on your link by showing them that you have exactly the information, products, or services they're looking for on a website that's worth visiting.

Search Engine Keyword Position Tool

2008-06-25T15:31:00.006-04:00

I thought this would be a great way for visitors to check their own website's rankings for particular keywords. It's a really easy tool to use and can at least give you an idea of where your site lands in the search engine results pages for particular search terms. Of course the results bring you over to the SEOChat website so be sure to come on back over here!

As for accuracy, I wouldn't rely on the numbers you get with this tool as set in stone. My strategy is see what number comes up and if it's over 40 or 50, I know I have some work to do. But if the position shows up as 30 or less, I do my own search and often the site turns up in a better position. For instance, when I checked the keyword "kure beach rentals" for PleasureIslandNC.org using the tool, it came up as position #28 on Google. In my own search minutes later, it showed up as #19 (still have some work to do there!). It's a handy tool to use as a gauge anyway.

There are many variables that can affect rankings. A lot of times Nat and I will be sitting at our computers right next to each other and our search results for the exact same terms will vary by a few positions. Who knows, really (well, I'm sure there are people out there who can offer some explanations but I've never been one for engineering and algorithms, etc).

Anyway, check it out and give me a call if you find you need some help with search engine optimization (SEO) for your terms!! (not sure why there's such a big space here....)

Wilmington SEO Search Engine Optimization Services

2008-06-10T21:22:00.000-04:00

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) & Search Engine Marketing (SEM) Services:

Wilmington SEO is a small, part-time operation for now, but we offer a full range of services to help with search engine optimization and online marketing needs for your website.

Website SEO Consultation

New or Existing Websites

Keyword Research
Title, description, and keyword meta-tags
On-page content optimization
Internal linking
Inbound linking campaigns

Directory submissions
Writing articles & article directory submissions
Writing press releases & press release directory submissions

Online Public Relations (PR) & reputation management Campaign

Social Networking & Social Media
Blogging
Press Releases

Pay-per-click Campaigns

Google Adwords
Yahoo! Search Marketing
MSN adCenter

Website Analytics & Visitor Tracking Information

Track your website stats using Google Analytics & Google Webmaster Tools
Goal Conversion setup and tracking

Rates:

$40.00 / hour

We also offer monthly plans at a rate of $30.00 / hour.

You give us your goals and budget and we can come up with a plan to work with your needs. Our mission is to provide an affordable option to help local Wilmington, NC businesses compete in the online marketplace. We work to help your website become visible in search engine results for identified keywords and phrases. PLUS - We work to optimize your content to encourage people to actually click on your link in the search engine results!

Please visit our SEO Case Studies to see how we have had success with local Wilmington, NC area businesses like yours.

If you want your website to work for you generating leads for your company, then please contact us to get started with an SEO action plan today!

Commercial Interior Resources SEO Case Study

2008-06-07T06:57:00.000-04:00

Commercial Interior Resources, LLC - A local company based in historic downtown Wilmington, NC offering custom interior design work such as space planning, office furniture, carpentry and millwork, flooring, painting & wallcovering. They serve clients throughout southeastern North Carolina including New Hanover, Pender, and Brunswick counties.

www.CIRNC.com was my very first SEO project. Commercial Interior Resources came as a referral from Port City Digital. They had a cool site design showcasing their services and portfolio through great photos in a flash rotator but with very little content on any page. The website wasn't easily visible in the search engines except through direct traffic or possibly a search for their company name. When I first met with owners Brian and Heather Millen, they explained that they wanted to go after "office furniture wilmington nc." They thought that a focus on the office furniture segment of their business was going to make the most sense for the online market.

Now, their site was not designed with a heavy focus on office furniture - it was simply one of the pages on the site among the various services they offer. So using title, keyword, and description meta-tags, optimized file names, and revised copy for each page including lots of internal links with targeted anchor text, we pointed the focus of the site towards office furniture in Wilmington, NC.

Because their target was local for Wilmington, NC, once we got the optimized pages live on their site, we saw great results within days. It was so exciting and encouraging. In February 2008, www.CIRNC.com moved from obscurity right up to #7 & #8 in Google and #2 in Yahoo for "office furniture wilmington nc." They came in at #1 in Google for "wilmington nc commercial interior design" and other related terms where we spelled out "north carolina." From there, they moved right up to #1 in Google for "office furniture wilmington nc!"

Today, www.CIRNC.com is continuing to pull in great rankings for the term "office furniture wilmington nc" - #2 & #3 in Google (plus #3 in the local listings - without even having the words "office" or "furniture" in their company name!):

#4 in Yahoo:

and #1 in Live /MSN (plus #2 in the local listings):

Now, I have to admit that the copy on their pages is pretty keyword heavy. But Brian and Heather approved the pages and we did see success. Since then, we've scaled the keyword density back a bit to take out some of the "Wilmington NC" language. Like I said, this was my first client site to optimize and I went strong with what I felt was going to work for us, including high keyword density.

Brian & Heather have since taken the direction towards office furniture on their site even further, adding QuickShip Office Furniture and Office Showcase Closeouts options as well as bringing their Free Ergonomic Evaluations to the forefront. Now that they have the visibility, Brian & Heather are really focused on increasing conversions.

Commercial Interior Resources had us set up a Google Adwords pay-per-click campaign which is also helping with search engine visibility, not to mention sales leads and ultimately conversions. Other SEO strategies we're using for their site include:

directory submissions
article submissions
press releases
Google Webmaster Tools
Google Analytics for tracking visitors
Goal Conversions on Google Analytics

A huge thank you to Brian & Heather Millen of Commercial Interior Resources for entrusting us with their search engine optimization and marketing and to Vince and Brent at Port City Digital for sending us this referral.

Pleasure Island Chamber of Commerce SEO Case Study

2008-06-03T20:58:00.000-04:00

Pleasure Island Chamber of Commerce - encompassing Carolina Beach, Kure Beach, and historic Fort Fisher, Pleasure Island is on the southeastern coast of North Carolina, just south of Wilmington, NC. The Pleasure Island Chamber of Commerce supports the local business culture and economy, providing monthly networking opportunities for members as well as annual and seasonal events drawing tourists from all over the region. Long standing popular events include the Chowder Cookoff, the Beach Music Festival, and the Seafood, Blues & Jazz Festival.

Pleasure Island has a beautiful site designed by Port City Digital. Everyone was so excited about the upgrade to this new professional site but Board Member Bruce Holsten and Executive Director Gail McCloskey recognized that a site by itself won't do anyone any good unless people can find it and access it. They wanted their site to be an authority on the area, a source of information to residents, neighbors, and tourists. And they wanted inclusion in this site to be a major benefit to their members. With their URL - www.PleasureIslandNC.org - and their great site, they were set up to be just that.

When I first signed on with the Pleasure Island Chamber of Commerce, they had recently changed their URL from www.PleasureIslandChamberNC.org to www.PleasureIslandNC.org but they had 2 identical sites existing at both URL's. This sent up a red flag to me - eliminating duplicate content, especially duplicate websites, is a basic SEO practice. When the Pleasure Island Chamber signed a monthly maintenance agreement with Port City Digital, one of the first things they did was streamline their website to the newest URL. I tracked down their inbound links using Google Webmaster Tools and emailed anyone using the outdated link asking them to please update their link to the newer one.

Our first task has been to optimize the current pages for "pleasure island nc," "carolina beach," "carolina beach nc," "kure beach," and "fort fisher" as well as terms relating to the tourist industry and member businesses such as "carolina beach motels" and "kure beach motels."

We have seen a lot of success with our SEO campaign here. The Pleasure Island Chamber is in the top ten Google results for "carolina beach," "kure beach," "pleasure island chamber of commerce," "carolina beaches," "pleasure island," "pleasure island nc," "carolina beach chamber of commerce," "fort fisher museum," "fort fisher civil war museum," "pleasure island chamber," and "beach music festival."

But as far as making big jumps in search engine rankings - Since we started tracking visitor trends using Google Analytics in late March 2008 until May 2008, the Pleasure Island Chamber of Commerce has moved:

from #106 to #18 in Google for the term "carolina beach nc"
from #194 to #21 in Google for the term "carolina beach north carolina" (they are at a steady #7 for "carolina beach")
from #67 to #18 in Google for the term "kure beach motels"
from #126 to #21 in Google for the term "carolina beach motels"

Plus we have seen a huge increase in website traffic in the months since we started tracking visitors. Part of this is no doubt due to the tourist season just starting up BUT an exciting statistic to note is that:

50.3% of their web traffic is coming from Google searches this month (May 2008) where that number was 39.95% last month. That's up a whopping 25.89% and now makes up the biggest traffic source!!

Wilmington SEO sends a big Thank You to Port City Digital for referring the Pleasure Island Chamber of Commerce our way and to Bruce Holsten and Gail McCloskey for giving us a chance to take on their SEO campaign.

Advanced Metal Roofing SEO Case Study

2008-05-25T19:43:00.005-04:00

Advanced Metal Roofing - a leading residential metal roofing company serving North Carolina and expanding into South Carolina and beyond.

I first met with owner James Kenton in February 2008 to talk about search engine optimization for AdvancedMetalRoofing.com, a site designed by Port City Digital web design company. The site was not appearing near the top of the search engine rankings for their target terms:

or the broader terms of metal roofing and metal roofing company. Jim was interested in optimizing the site to improve these rankings to drive targeted traffic and leads to his site.

AdvancedMetalRoofing.com was ranked #66 in Google for metal roofing nc in early March 2008 before we started optimizing the site.

Once the basic SEO elements were in place and their optimized pages were live and indexed, Advanced Metal Roofing quickly moved up to #12 for "metal roofing nc" term and moved all the way up to #4 in April. They currently reside at #1 in Google search results for "metal roofing nc"!

And for the broader, more competitive term, "metal roofing," AdvancedMetalRoofing.com is ranking at #8 in Google today! For "metal roofing company," they are appearing in the #2 position!

In addition to search engine optimization for www.AdvancedMetalRoofing.com, owner James Kenton and I are working on an online PR campaign to boost his visibility in searches for his company. Our goal is to create positive press and public profiles in order to boost the value of the company online.

This is a work in progress as we see which sources are showing up in the search engine results pages (SERPs) for "advanced metal roofing" and what kind of ranking those results have.

Wilmington SEO is excited about the direction of this SEO campaign and is happy to have seen results so quickly. Owner James Kenton even gave us the opportunity to take over his Google Adwords, Adsense, and Yahoo Search Marketing (now Microsoft adCenter) pay-per-click campaigns. We are doing well with those and are monitoring the ad performance to try to achieve the results Jim is looking to get.

A big thank you to Port City Digital for referring this client to us and to Jim Kenton for giving us such a great opportunity to work with Advanced Metal Roofing.

Wilmington SEO Case Studies

2008-05-25T15:03:00.000-04:00

Wilmington SEO is proud to report that we've seen improved search engine rankings for our very first clients as a result of our SEO work. Below is a list of our clients. Click on the case study links to access more in depth studies for each one:

Advanced Metal Roofing - serving all of eastern North Carolina with residential metal roofing sales, delivery, and installation, Advanced Metal Roofing is a multi-million dollar company owned by the charismatic and enthusiastic Jim Kenton. Referred to us by Port City Digital, we met with Jim and learned that he wanted to improve his search engine rankings for the site focusing on "metal roofing nc" and "nc metal roofing company." He also wanted to launch an online PR campaign to increase his and the company's positive online visibility.

SEO Case Study for Advanced Metal Roofing

Commercial Interior Resources - located on Front Street in historic downtown Wilmington, NC, Commercial Interior Resources handles space planning, interior design projects, and office furniture sales and installation for businesses in southeastern North Carolina. When I first talked to owners Brian & Heather Millen, they told me that their focus for the website should be directed towards office furniture. They already had a great site designed by Port City Digital that addressed all their commercial interior services and our job was to really boost the office furniture portion and get results for "office furniture wilmington nc."

SEO Case Study for Commercial Interior Resources

Pleasure Island Chamber of Commerce - Carolina Beach, Kure Beach, and Fort Fisher NC encompass the area known as Pleasure Island on the southeastern coast of North Carolina. This Chamber of Commerce had a newly redesigned site by Port City Digital that everyone just raved about. However, they understood that a beautiful website is not the end of the story. In order to be successful, people need to be able to find your awesome site. So we set out to improve their rankings for "carolina beach nc," "kure beach," "fort fisher," and other terms related to the Chamber's members such as "kure beach hotels" and "carolina beach vacation."

SEO Case Study for Pleasure Island Chamber of Commerce

Contact Wilmington SEO

2008-05-25T10:11:00.000-04:00

You Have A Website - We'll Help People Find It

Wilmington SEO
www.WilmingtonSEO.com
910-547-6908
wilmingtonseo@gmail.com

Please contact us if you're interested in marketing your website for search engine visibility. We focus on companies in the Wilmington, NC area but we're willing and able to help anyone in the US.

Thank you and we look forward to hearing from you.
Megan Criss & the Wilmington SEO Team

History of Wilmington SEO

2008-05-24T15:08:00.000-04:00

Wilmington SEO officially made it's debut in January 2008 with client referrals from Vince Fierimonte and Brent of Port City Digital in Wilmington, NC. Thanks to Vince and Brent, I was able to start working part time from home helping mutual clients compete in the online marketplace. This has been an ideal situation for me since my role as Mom to boys now ages 3 and 1 takes a good chunk of my time and focus. I was so excited for this opportunity to put my knowledge of search engine optimization strategies to good use, to meet and help local business owners, and to use my brain for more than toddler playtime, nap schedules, snack management, dishes, and laundry.

The inception of Wilmington SEO really traces back to 2001 when my husband, Nat Criss, started a marketing company called Groov Marketing in Burlington, VT. A number of their clients had retail websites so Nat and his team set out to figure out how to make these sites successful starting with the most important factor - how to get people to find the websites. Nat went on to start a mortgage company and his main focus was to attract online rate shoppers using the search engine optimization techniques he had been learning. He later obtained his Vermont real estate license and built up his own personal real estate website putting his tried and true experience with SEO to work for him there.

All this time while Nat was gaining a foothold as entrepeneur and self-taught online marketing expert, I was working as office manager and marketing assistant for the management and merchandising company of the band PHISH based in Burlington, Vermont. (In fact, it was through this job that I met Nat as he had been the wholesale manager of Phish Dry Goods and left just before I started at Dionysian Productions.) This job was truly a one of a kind experience and I can't say enough about the jump start it gave me right out of college. I worked there for almost 7 years - right up until the band itself called it quits. Working for such a high profile, professional, top-of-its-game organization provided me with experience, skills, confidence, and some amazing memories that I won't soon forget. I owe a lot to the members of Phish, the management, merchandising, archives, and touring personnel and am proud to have been a part of that outstanding organization.

So when the time came for me to move on from Phish, Nat and I decided to break away from the cold, dark winters of northern Vermont and come south to Wilmington, NC - a beautiful historic city on the coast of southeastern North Carolina. One of the reasons we picked Wilmington was that it reminded us a lot of Burlington. We had lived in downtown Burlington and when we moved here, we immediately bought a house in the historic district of downtown Wilmington. This has been a great move for us and we don't regret our decision for a second. Vermont is a truly special place. We loved Burlington and there are things we miss - the people (my brother lives there with his wife), Church Street, the gorgeous landscape, the open spaces, and the countless hiking trails throughout the city and countryside - but we definitely do not miss living through those winters.

Our first child was born about 6 months after we moved to Wilmington and my focus was on raising Cooper. This was a blessing in so many ways, one of them being that I met a fantastic and talented bunch of women who were also new moms at the time. These women have become my core group of friends and we are still close today.

In the meantime, Nat had started his new position as Marketing Director of AAXA Discount Mortgage in Wilmington. As a prominent online mortgage company offering some of the lowest rates available, Nat put his SEO skills to great use, capitalizing on the huge population of people using Google, Yahoo, MSN and other search engines to search for terms directly related to AAXA's business.

As a side venture, we started a Vermont real estate lead-generating website called VermontSource.com designed by our extremely talented friend Geoff Raeder . Nat taught me SEO basics and I went to work marketing the site for optimal search engine results. Before the business could really take off, I decided to take a position with a local non-profit, the Parenting Place (now the Child Advocacy and Parenting Place of the Exchange Clubs Center) where I could work part time as their Marketing and Community Outreach Coordinator. I loved this job because I worked from their children's and maternity thrift store and had Cooper there with me. I got to spend the days meeting and chatting with local moms and families that visited the store, learning how to market on no budget, and doing event planning which is another love of mine. I worked there right up until Jalen was born in May 2007.

In June 2007, Nat and I went to our friend Meg's birthday party where Nat and another friend Karla got to talking. Karla learned that a big part of Nat's job was to make it easy for people nationwide to find AAXA's website. AAXA Discount Mortgage gains a huge percentage of their business from "free" organic leads - meaning that AAXA's website shows up in the top ten Google results for popular terms that people type into Google's search bar related to AAXA's prime focus. And these people find AAXA's site description relevant enough to click on their link.

Well, Karla's husband Vince is a web designer (we're coming full circle now) and many of his clients were asking him how they can achieve exactly that. Vince ran into Nat out at lunch one day and they set up a meeting to talk about how Vince could capitalize on his client's interests even though he himself did not have the time to launch a full scale SEO services faction of Port City Digital. I attended that meeting and Nat and I felt that we had the skills, resources, and initiative to take on the task of providing SEO services to local companies. Nat of course was not interested in leaving his position at AAXA, so I decided to follow up with Vince's clients who were interested in using their websites as strong marketing tools. And from there, Wilmington SEO was born.

I decided to call my business Wilmington SEO because I want to relay that my focus is mainly search engine optimization and search engine marketing services and my goal is to strengthen our community here at home by working with local business owners to strengthen and promote their overall company presence.

Thanks for sticking with me through this long-winded history but I hope to convey to you a bit more of my background, experience and more about me in general. Thank you so much for all of your support. Oh - and I wanted to mention that Karla Fierimonte (mentioned earlier) designed my fantastic logo and company identity. Thanks Karla!!