Appliance Pros in Alvin, TX, Hire Web Marketing Company to Serve Clients' Appliance Repair Needs

Extreme Appliance Repair of Houston announce their partnership with Prospect Genius, a leader in SEO and online advertising. This move will help them directly connect with more local, online customers in need of appliance repair and installation services.

Houston, TX, April 01, 2011 --(PR.com)-- Extreme Appliance Repair, a major appliance repair company serving clients in Alvin, Texas, and throughout the surrounding region, recently hired Prospect Genius, a provider of local Internet marketing services, to help connect customers in the Houston area with the professional repair and installation experts at Extreme Appliance Repair. Prospect Genius offers a service known as Search Engine Optimization (or SEO) that makes the online search process faster and easier when residents in Alvin and Houston search on the Web for an appliance installer or service professional in their area.

Lionel Rios, owner of Extreme Appliance Repair, chose to work with Prospect Genius and use their SEO service because he wanted to make it easier for people in the Houston metro who are having appliance issues and need to find expert dryer repair or stove installation help. Now, when customers use a search engine like Bing, Yahoo!, or Google to search on the Web for appliance specialists in Houston, they are able to locate Extreme Appliance Repair without difficulty. This makes a big difference for a local business such as Extreme Appliance Repair, since increased visibility is key to business success. As Rios says, "It was important to us to reach out to our customers on the Internet to make the process of locating appliance repair services as simple as it can be for folks in Alvin, Houston, and other local towns."

Prospect Genius employs SEO to make Extreme Appliance Repair a more prominent presence in Internet searches for appliance experts in Houston when people search the Web for a refrigerator repair pro or a washer installation professional in their area. SEO allows local residents to use any search engine they choose, from Google to Yahoo!, to locate Extreme Appliance Repair on the Web when they need any type of professional appliance assistance.

Matt Gallo, a senior Web marketing expert with Prospect Genius, says, "On Prospect Genius's side, our goal is to simplify and streamline the online search process for home and business owners in Houston who need anything from a washer repair to help with installing a new dishwasher. With SEO in place, finding the assistance they need is easier than ever before."

Ample research illustrates that when a company ranks higher on search engine results pages, that company gets more Web traffic, meaning that when an effective online marketing program, such as SEO, is in place, it can have a major impact on local businesses. As appliance repair and installation professionals in Alvin who wanted to make it as easy as possible for customers in the Houston region to find them online when they search for dishwasher repair, oven repair, or stove installation experts on the Web, Extreme Appliance Repair chose to work with Prospect Genius and its proven SEO program.

Gallo says, "We're thrilled that SEO is able to help folks in Houston to locate the appliance professionals at Extreme Appliance Repair in a worry- and hassle-free way when they search online for whatever type of appliance repair or installation assistance they need."

Extreme Appliance Repair provides professional appliance repair and installation help to clients in Alvin, TX, and throughout the Houston metro.

Contact Information

Extreme Appliance Repair
Lionel Rios
(281) 816-5269
extremeapp.542@tx-biz.com
http://appliance-repair-services-houston.tx-biz.com/

 Source http://www.pr.com/press-release/

FREE Webinar on Search Engine Optimization for your Press Release Slated for Business Wire’s Educational Outreach Series

Learn to Make Your Press Releases More Friendly to Search Engines in this FREE Webinar

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--A webinar on how to optimize your press release for search engines is back by popular demand, scheduled for April 20. 

“The moving target of SEO for press releases continues to evolve”

Joseph Miller, EON Product Manager and author of Business Wire’s popular SEO Tip Jar blogpost column, and Alison MacDonald, a Business Wire account executive in Silicon Valley, will present useful tips for professional communicators on how to make press releases more welcoming to search engines. The webinar is FREE to professional communicators and others interested.

“The moving target of SEO for press releases continues to evolve,” says Miller. “We’ll do our best in this webinar to help clients understand ongoing changes and offer ideas on getting the most from your press release efforts.“

Business Wire’s educational webinar series launched in 2007 and has since enlightened thousands of professional communicators, garnering three awards from the Society for New Communications Research.

Details and registration for upcoming webinars follow.

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Search Engine Optimization for Your Press Releases

10 a.m. Pacific / Noon Central/ 1 p.m. Eastern

Registration: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/112913465

In this webinar, we'll share insights on applying modern Search Engine Optimization (SEO) to your Press Release using proven techniques, tips, and tools.

Joseph Miller, EON: Enhanced Online News Product Manager, Austin

Alison MacDonald, Business Wire Account Executive, Silicon Valley

More resources are available at the Business Wire webinar archive, or at All Things Press Release.

Press Releases and Twitter: What to Expect When You Tweet Your Press Release

Xxtensible Business Reporting Language: What You Need to Know about XBRL

Etiquette for the Digital Age

How to Build a Better Online Newsroom

Beginner’s Guide to Search Engine Optimization for Your Press Release

About Business Wire

Business Wire, a Berkshire Hathaway company, celebrates its 50^th anniversary in 2011 as the global leader in press release distribution and regulatory disclosure. Public relations and investor relations professionals rely on Business Wire for both broad-based and targeted market reach. A recognized disclosure service in the United States, Canada and a dozen European countries, Business Wire handles XBRL tagging, document formatting and regulatory filing into EDGAR, SEDAR and other systems. Business Wire provides online newsroom hosting and integration services as well as search engine optimization, mobile distribution and detailed measurement on every press release. Its patented NX delivery platform provides simultaneous full-text posting of Business Wire content to news systems and websites in virtually any country or language. With 32 bureaus worldwide, Business Wire offers local service and global reach.

Learn more at BusinessWire.com and the BusinessWired blog; follow updates on Twitter: @businesswire or on Facebook.

Photos/Multimedia Gallery Available: http://www.businesswire.com/cgi-bin/mmg.cgi?eid=6666789&lang=en

Contacts

Business Wire
Monika Maeckle, Vice President New Media
+1 512-476-1000
Monika.Maeckle@businesswire.com
www.businesswire.com
Blog: http://blog.businesswire.com
Twitter: http://twitter.com/businesswire
Facebook: http://facebook.com/businesswire

Source http://www.businesswire.com/

Do You Still Use Print Ads?

In the 25 years I’ve been in business, I have tried a variety of ways of reaching customers: print advertising, a retail store, a Web site in the days prior to Google and search-engine optimization, a Web site with extremely poor S.E.O. and the early versions of AdWords, and now a Web site with good S.E.O. and the current AdWords.
Back when there was no Internet, I ran an ad showing my tables and chairs every month in the local city/lifestyle magazine, and it did pull in customers. I did this from 1994 to 2004, after which it was apparent that Google was far more efficient and effective. My print ad (if I recall correctly, it was a 4-inch x 5-inch ad, in black and white) would generate on average two calls a week. Each ad cost me $2,500 a month, and never produced more than $350,000 annually in new sales.
Each new dollar would yield, on average, another 17 cents somewhere in the following three years in repeat business. (Keep in mind that I sell furniture, where the opportunity for repeats is limited –how many dining tables do people need? And word-of-mouth business in furniture sales is almost nonexistent.) This was sufficient for a while, but I could never get beyond that $350,000 ceiling. I tried running in other local publications, but the sales did not rise proportionally to the higher spending — most likely the same people were reading all of the magazines I tried, and the additional ads were redundant.
Now, using Adwords and an effectively designed site, I spend about $8,000 every month and pull in between $150,000 and $250,000 a month in sales. Higher spend but much higher yield. Also, I am reaching a different client, one who, in the days of print, would have been inaccessible to me. My corporate and government clients are widely scattered, and only interested in my products for a brief period of time. Google brilliantly connects this type of buyer with specialized producers like me. These clients are primarily interested in completing the transaction so they can resume their ordinary duties. This contrasts with residential work, where the sales cycle can last years, and the demands for extreme customization make production inefficient. Our margins for conference tables allow the business to thrive, while the margins on dining tables are barely adequate for survival. Consequently, I’m no longer interested in residential business.

I still get calls from people trying to sell me print ads — the local magazines and newspapers, various directories, charity-event programs, you name it. I politely decline, of course. I have better ways to spend my ad dollars. And at the same time, I do see advertisements in local and national magazines, and get all kinds of catalogs and junk-mail advertising. Our phone company drops off a heap of Yellow Pages every year that I promptly recycle. The local newspaper is still filled with ads, although the classified section is pretty much gone. There’s still a lot of print advertising.

It looks to me as though magazine ads make good sense if you are a nationally known, established brand. They act as a little nudge, saying “Remember me? I do this!” I imagine they work best when they are run continuously and ubiquitously. But wow, the price of a national print campaign must be enormous. The newspapers and magazines I read are full of that type of ad, but there are also ads for smaller, local concerns. These people couldn’t possibly be running a national campaign. It would be way too expensive.
Here’s my question: Are the people buying those ads simply caught in past habits? Or victimized by clever sales representatives? Or are there situations where putting your message on a dead tree is still the best option? For what type of business is this the best option? I’d love to hear from any small business who is using print media successfully, and please be detailed about the type of business you are in, the type of ad you run, and what kind of publication you choose.
Maybe it’s a local shopper newspaper, maybe you distribute fliers, maybe you put postcards in those strange packets one gets in the mail. In these days of Web and social media, it’s easy to assume that the old channels are dead for small companies. Can someone show otherwise?
Paul Downs founded Paul Downs Cabinetmakers in 1986. It is based outside of Philadelphia.

 Sourec http://boss.blogs.nytimes.com/

Oak Park Photography

Portrait Photographer Joins Up with SEO Firm to Help Locals Access Photography Services More Easily

Oak Park Photography of Thousand Oaks, CA, has recently signed up with Prospect Genius, a leader in Internet marketing, in order to connect with a greater number of local customers online.

Thousand Oaks, CA, April 01, 2011 --(PR.com)-- Oak Park Photography, a portrait photographer serving Thousand Oaks, California, is pleased to announce their new partnership with Prospect Genius, an online advertising company specializing in SEO for local businesses. By working together, Oak Park Photography hopes to make their portrait studio more accessible for local families.

As David Khorsandi, professional photographer and owner of Oak Park Photography says, “I knew we needed to do more to help local parents and families find our portrait photographers online. We picked Prospect Genius to do just that.”

Prospect Genius utilizes SEO (search engine optimization) technology to take the difficulty out of finding Oak Park Photography online. With their effective SEO strategies in place, Prospect Genius can help companies move up in search engine results pages, essentially making them more visible to area customers. Studies illustrate an extremely strong relationship between how high a company is ranked on a search engine results page (SERP) and how much traffic their Web site receives, so the right SERP ranking can make a huge difference for small businesses like Oak Park Photography.

With this new partnership in place, now all local families or parents will have to do to find Oak Park Photography is search for “portrait photographers in Thousand Oaks,” or “senior pictures in Oak Park” on a major search engine like Yahoo!,

Bing, or Google. SEO means Oak Park Photography will come up higher in the results.

Matt Gallo, a senior Web marketer for Prospect Genius, comments, “At PG, we’re dedicated to helping local businesses expand their customer bases through effective online advertising. For the family-owned portrait studio at Oak Park Photography, the increased visibility and web presence offered by our lead generation program can make all the difference.”

Oak Park Photography is a family-owned portrait studio located in Oak Park, California. They provide baby photography, senior pictures, and other portrait photography services throughout the Thousand Oaks area.

###

Contact Information

Oak Park Photography
David Khorsandi
(805) 556-4032
oakparkphoto.533@cali-biz.com
http://photographers-thousand-oaks.cali-biz.com/

Source http://www.pr.com/     

Google introduces Page Speed Online – a good tool for SEO

Google has announced a web-based tool that helps marketers assess their sites' speed performance and makes suggestions to boost page speed. This tool might be especially useful for marketers looking to boost their SEO, as Matt Cutts says site speed should be a top search engine optimization priority.

The Page Speed Online tool allows marketers to enter their site URLs. Then, it analyzes web content and makes suggestions for improvement. “Reducing page load times can reduce bounce rates and increase conversion rates,” says Google.

he feature doesn't score how fast a site is, per se. Rather, it assesses how much room a site has for improvement. The lower the score, the more improvements can be made. We tested Brafton.com, and Google rated us a page speed of 83 out of 100. (For reference, Mashable received a score of 65.)

Mobile performance can also be tested by the Page Speed online tool. This is a nice feature for marketers looking to increase their mobile site performances (which should be a consideration for a number of businesses, as the smartphone market is supposed to grow by 50 percent this year).

Overall, marketers can't ignore the push from Google to make their sites faster for the traditional and mobile web. Cutts told marketers site speed should be one of their top three considerations for SEO, and the company recently released Page Speed for Chrome, enabling webmasters to make their sites faster for Google's browser.
 Source http://www.brafton.com/

Madd Web SEO Is Changing The Industry Standards In Search Engine Marketing

Madd Web SEO seeks to change industry standards by educating their clients during the search engine optimization process.

Online PR News – 31-March-2011 –Search engine optimization is quickly becoming one of the most well known terms on the Internet. Search engine marketing is the only way for a business to grow their search engine rankings and increase brand exposure throughout the web. Madd Web SEO believes in educating their clients in the process of search marketing and how to keep their rankings once they’ve reached page one. Search engine optimization is an ongoing task even after they reach the frontline.

Not only is SEO about increasing rankings, but it is also about building a powerful brand name. “I have found that many of my clients are looking for help in SEO, not just hiring a specialist to do the work for them. They would like to have the knowledge to continue the process once their contract is fulfilled.”, states Klepper, owner. Continuing efforts in search marketing will keep a business in the news headlines, which in turn grows the bottom line.

Online publicity is by far the most powerful marketing strategy in todays business world.
“I believe in giving my clients the opportunity to be as involved in the search marketing process as they would like.”, notes, KIepper. Madd Web SEO is unique in their approach to search engine marketing. By offering to teach clients the process and answer questions down the road, they attract a distinct clientele.

Madd Web SEO is a search engine marketing, optimization and networking company based out of Fort Myers, FL. Madd Web strives for less clients, lower cost and quicker results. More information can be found online at http://www.maddwebseo.com.

Source http://www.onlineprnews.com/

PR-SEO Mythbusting for Better Link Building

 If you've ever worked with a PR firm to build links, you've probably found yourself in a conversation where everyone vigorously agrees about the power of PR to drive search engine optimization (SEO) results, yet have vastly different ideas about scope and details.

SEO is a relatively new discipline, so it's important we do a thorough job explaining what we need from our PR counterparts. The following letter is designed to be something an SEO can give their PR firm to help them understand the changes they should make to dramatically increase the number of links their effort yields.

An Open Letter to Public Relations Pros

Dear Public Relations:

You probably had no idea, but the work you do is among the most valuable SEO strategies out there. And it's not because you're a press release SEO-optimization guru (sorry!), but because you know how to drive media mentions at scale. And media mentions can drive links.

There are few things that warm Google's heart more about than deep, relevant, high authority links. So this is why we value public relations -- your work drives links, which Google values, and is what drives rankings -- and with great rankings comes valuable traffic.

But to succeed, you need to start thinking in terms of links. This could dramatically change how you search for media opportunities (based on which media outlets give links), what stories you craft (news stories with an online anchor point or resource works best for attracting links), how deeply within the "long tail" of publishers you target for personalized outreach (as deeply as possible), how you prioritize your time (online more than print; any mention with a link will do), and what metrics you report to show your ROI (followed links!).

In this spirit, let's address a few myths and assumptions so we can work together effectively:

PR-SEO Myths and Truths

1.      Myth: Press release optimization is an important value-add for PR-SEO.

Truth: There are very few situations where the tens or hundreds of transient, low-quality links gained from an SEO-optimized press release will be more valuable than a single link from "earned" coverage. Press release syndication sites tend to be poor signals of quality because anyone use them, even relatively poor websites. In other words, the links tend to be low authority. Also, any good links tend to disappear as quickly as they appeared.

2.      Myth: PR delivers its primary value in traffic, branding, word-of-mouth buzz, awareness, influencer mindshare, and thought leadership.

Truth: Maybe for some, but for websites that care primarily about organic search traffic (i.e., traffic they get from Google), your value is in links. And since search engines can only see links that stay in place, and only count "followed" links, PR's value to SEO's is measured by its ability to deliver permanent followed links. In fact, to put this in perspective, in most cases, an SEO-driven site would prefer 50 links from no-name, medium authority publications than a mention in a USA Today story.

3.      Myth: A good blogger outreach strategy is to find the most important blogs in the client's market, get them to cover the story, and the rest will follow.

Truth: A better strategy is to target one or two top blogs but devote the majority of your time to the long tail of blogs. How long is long? In my experience, this can be 200+ highly relevant blogs, some with vanishingly small traffic, in a space like personal finance. Long tail blogs tend to be more receptive to personalized, relevant pitches (especially if you build a relationship with them first), and many of the top bloggers read smaller, upcoming bloggers to find and vet upcoming stories.

4.      Myth: "Your coverage is driving tons of links."

Truth: Sometimes media links out to stories without really linking. If they use "nofollow," JavaScript, redirects, or pass users through a "now leaving this site" page, those links are unlikely to count in Google's eyes. So when we talk about links, we typically only count as legitimate followed links.

5.      Myth: It's a bad idea to push for a link when pitching.

Truth: It is true, asking a reporter for a link directly is gauche; however the way you talk about your client when you're pitching can have a big impact. Practice saying, ".com" after the client's name to reinforce that the story is the website. If the story is about some online resource, be sure to send the reporter the URL (and push the client to create one if they don't have one already).

6.      Myth: Attracting repeat coverage is a good idea.

Truth: It's true, attracting links from the same media outlet repeatedly is nice because it's often easier to do than obtain coverage from a new media outlet. But the real win in link building for PR is a constant flow of new links from new sources.

7.      Myth: Newspapers, magazines, and blogs are the best places to seek links.

Truth: Any media outlet that publishes online can give links. Broadcast media outlets that run links alongside stories are worth your attention.

8.      Myth: Traditional media databases are a good way to build a media list.

Truth: Traditional media databases lack crucial information such as whether or not the media outlet links to websites they cover in stories (google "site:ajc.com intitle:website" and see how many unlinked website mentions you can find) and whether stories stay online or disappear into a news archive. They also tend to have scant detail about long-tail bloggers, which are often your best bet for attracting links. But in my mind, their worst feature is they force users to search for journalists based on publication name and general "beat" classifications defined by the vendor. A much better approach is to search for reporters based on what they have actually covered in the past, using tools such as Google News, Google Blog Search, Google Archive Search, EBSCO, Lexis Nexis, or PRMatchPoint.

9.      Myth: "Feature coverage" is more valuable than a passing mention with a link.

Truth: As long as a website gets a link in a story, and the story remains online, it's valuable to us. So given the equality in value, why not devote equal resources to monitoring Profnet and Help a Reporter Out as you would pursuing a feature story.

10.  Myth: A story that appears in a newspaper's print edition is more valuable than a story that appears in its blog.

Truth: Blogs rule; it's often easier to get a link from a newspaper's blog, the link is likely to be a "live" link, and it's more likely to stay online and not disappear into a news archive. So all things being equal, you should pitch the story to a blogger before the print journalist.

The Good News

PR pros and link builders share many of the same core beliefs: that relationship-building is the core skill in our professions; there are nearly limitless ways to create PR and link opportunities; it's important to develop a drumbeat of coverage and links from diverse sources; and becoming an industry resource referenced by news sources is an important goal. Yet too few PR professionals realize how much more effective they could be at driving links with a few tweaks to their approach, or the significant impact on rankings and traffic those links have for their SEO-focused clients.

Hopefully the above list will help PR and SEO align efforts, increase the priority we place on attracting links, and deliver a higher ROI from our work, which is always the bottom line.

Source  http://searchenginewatch.com/