Posts Categorized: SEO

Long-Tail Keywords and Why You Need Them

Long-Tail Keywords and Why You Need Them - LMH Agency

You want to use the power of the internet to help you grow your business locally. 

I mean…you wouldn’t be here unless you did!

You’ve heard of search engine optimization (SEO) and know that it could be the easiest way for you to start implementing (that won’t also take a ton of time), but you have no idea how to get started. We get it, and we’re here to help. 

Today we’re going to dive into a topic that will set your website and blog content up to create powerful results just by being more strategic about the keywords and phrases you use inside of your content. 

So, let’s talk long-tail keywords.

First: define your long-tail keywords.

Long-tail keywords are typically three words or more, compared to other SEO keywords, typically only a word or two. 

These unique phrases are super specific to your business and your geographical location, which will help you get even more targeted results when using them in your content. For example, “plumbing companies in Dallas” or “broken

By using long-tail keywords, businesses can skyrocket their search engine rankings, get more website traffic, and get more potential customers through their doors. 

If you’ve got a limited marketing budget, long-tail keywords are one of the best ways to leverage your resources without spending a lot of money on local ads or other forms of marketing.

Why are long-tail keywords important for your SEO? 

Long tail keywords are an essential tool for any business not to overlook. They are more specific than broad keywords, but they also yield higher conversion rates because they create more precise results.

Using long-tail keywords can also help your website create microniches and pockets that help you stand out from your competition. Things like a particular service, your location or geographic area, or even the types of clients or industries you serve can help you stand out from the crowd. 

When you ensure that your business has an SEO strategy that leverages long-tail keywords, you have a better chance of ranking higher on Google. If you’re a local business, this is often THE thing that will set you apart from your competitors, so it’s important that you don’t overlook it. 

Long-tail keywords can also help you attract more qualified leads. As long-tail keywords are more specific, they are more likely to be used by people who have a specific need or interest in your product or service. This means they are more likely to be potential buyers who need exactly what you do. 

As an added bonus, long-tail keywords can give you more insights into what your customers are looking for. By analyzing the results of your long-tail keyword SEO campaigns, you can gain valuable insights into what content your customers are currently searching for and what keywords they are using to find it. 

Once you have this information, it also means that you can start using the exact keywords as market research that you implement into any marketing campaigns or other deliverables. 

How do I use long-tail keywords, and where do they work best?

Using long-tail keywords is easy to get started. Just add some of your most important topics to the end of your broader keywords to create long-tail keywords. 

Long-tail keywords are best used in content marketing, like your website copy, ad copy, or blog posts, as they can help you target more specific audiences or those who are further along in the buyer’s journey and likely to buy soon. 

The bottom line? Long-tail keywords are a critical component of your content marketing and SEO strategy, impacting who sees your content and from where. 

While incorporating these specific phrases into your marketing strategy might feel like a lot of work upfront, it’s also the key to helping you rank on Google. If your goal is to be on the first page of Google and the top recommendation for your business in your area, long-tail keywords are an absolute must.

Get in touch with us to learn more about how to stand out from your competitors using well-researched keywords. 

Contractors: Here are 7 Tips to Optimize Your Marketing Content

7 Tips to Optimize Your Marketing Content - LMH Agency

Are you looking to optimize your marketing content for SEO? 

As a local service-based business, your marketing content is essential to attracting new clients and building brand recognition, especially with customers who are right there in your own neighborhood.

But with so much content out there, how can you make sure your content stands out against your competitors?

The answer lies in SEO (Search Engine Optimization).

By optimizing your marketing content for search engines, you can improve your visibility, show up on maps, and attract more potential customers. In this blog post, we’ll discuss seven tips to help you optimize your marketing content for SEO and get the results you want.

1. Use relevant keywords

One of the most important aspects of SEO is using relevant keywords in your website content. These are the words and phrases that people type into search engines when they’re looking for something—more specifically, that certain something that you offer. 

By including these keywords in your content, you can increase your chances of appearing higher in search engine results. Be sure to use keywords that are relevant to your business and the services you offer, and that will help your marketing content also improve your search ranking on Google. 

2. Focus on quality

When it comes to SEO, creating quality content for your audience is key. Your content should be well-written, informative, and engaging. Don’t sacrifice quality for quantity. Instead, focus on creating content that provides value to your audience that will help with retention. 

3. Optimize your titles and meta descriptions

Titles and meta descriptions are important elements of your content that can impact your SEO, too. Your title should include relevant keywords and be eye-catching enough to attract clicks to anyone who comes across your website on a search engine results page or SERP. 

Your meta description should also include keywords and provide a summary of what your content is about.

4. Link internally

Linking internally to other pages on your website is also a great way to boost your SEO. This helps search engines understand the structure of your website and can improve the user experience for your visitors at the same time, making it easier to navigate in the process. 

5. Optimize for mobile

More and more people are using mobile devices to access the internet. To optimize your content for mobile users, make sure your website is mobile-friendly and your content is easy to read on a smaller screen by checking on your font size, content structure, and ability to navigate. 

6. Utilize social media

Social media is a great way to build up backlinks and drive more traffic to your website. By sharing your content on social media platforms, you can attract new followers and engage with your existing audience.

7. Monitor your progress

Monitor your progress with analytics tools to see where you can improve and adjust your content accordingly. By following these tips, you can optimize your marketing content and get the most out of your SEO efforts. 

Finally, it’s important to monitor your progress and adjust your content accordingly. Use analytics tools to track your website’s traffic and see which pages are performing well. This can help you identify areas for improvement and make changes to optimize your marketing content further.

If you really want to go big and stand out on search…we’re here to help.

By following these seven tips, you can optimize your marketing content for SEO and attract more potential clients to your business. 
Remember to focus on quality, use relevant keywords, and monitor your progress to continually improve your content. With these tips in mind, you’ll be on your way to SEO success in no time. And if you want to play with the big boys, give us a call or contact us so we can give you a hand in your chapter of business growth. Don’t wait!

SERPS: Search Engine Results Pages Explained

 Search Engine Results Pages Explained - LMH Agency

So…you want your local business to outrank your competitor down the street and show up as the #1 spot on Google SERPs. 

Sounds like an easy ask, until you realize that without a solid strategy for Search Engine Optimization, or SEO for short, your small business is totally sunk. 

Luckily, we’re here to break down exactly what you need to focus on to help you rank on your search engine of choice using the content on your website to help you make it happen. 

But first…

What are SERPs? 

SERP stands for Search Engine Results Page. Nothing fancy here, it’s the page that is displayed after a user types something into the search engine. 

SERPs are basically just the listing of web pages that are most relevant to what you searched for. 

A SERP typically consists of the following elements

  • Organic Search Results: These are webpages that have been indexed by a search engine, based on their relevance to a given query. 
  • Paid Ads: Paid advertisements that are targeted to the user’s query, are almost always at the top of the results page. 
  • Knowledge Graph: A visual representation of certain facts and relationships related to the user’s query (i.e. business traffic, estimated wait times, etc.)
  • Related Searches: A list of related queries that can provide more context around the user’s query. 
  • Videos: Videos related to the user’s query. 
  • Images: Images related to the user’s query. 
  • Maps: Maps related to the user’s query. 
  • Shopping: Shopping results related to the user’s query. 
  • Local Listings: Local listings related to the user’s query. 
  • News: News stories related to the user’s query. 
  • Social Media: Social media posts related to the user’s query.

How can I get ranked higher on SERPS? 

Optimize the keywords in your website content

What does it mean to improve the keywords in your content? It means specifically including certain words and phrases that your ideal clients are likely searching on Google or their phones. This way, they’re sure to find you. 

If you’re just getting started with keyword research, a really simple way to approach it is to put yourself in your client’s shoes, google one of the services you provide, and then look at the keywords that pop up just under the search bar. It’s a great place to start but we highly recommend doing a keyword analysis so you can super target your local community. 

Here’s a quick overview for how you can create keyword rich content:

  • 1. Create content that is optimized for the keyword you want to rank for. (ex. “Frisco plumbing” or “DFW Volkswagen repair)
  • 2. Improve your website’s technical SEO, such as page speed, mobile-friendliness, and indexability (Google’s ability to read the content). 

  • 3. Build high-quality backlinks from other relevant and high-authority websites. 

  • 4. Use social media to promote your content and gain more exposure. 

  • 5. Monitor the SERP landscape of our competitors and adjust your SEO strategy
    accordingly. 

  • 6. Use structured data to enhance your website’s visibility in the SERP. 

  • 7. Monitor your website’s performance and track your keyword rankings.

Improve your Core Web Vitals

Optimizing core web vitals can help you rank higher on SERPs by improving the overall user experience of your website. Core web vitals are performance metrics that measure the loading speed, interactivity, and visual stability of a page. 

By improving these metrics, you can make your website faster and more user-friendly, which can lead to higher rankings in SERPs.

Utilize imagery and improve overall page speed

Images can help you rank higher on SERPs by providing an additional signal to search engines that the content is relevant to the search. 

This can be done by adding descriptive alt tags to your images, as well as making sure the image file name is relevant to the content. 

Additionally, using images that are well-optimized can help improve page speed, which is an important factor when it comes to ranking on SERPs. 

Need help showing up first? Give us a call or contact us to get found, stand out, and earn more than your competitors. 

Scale Your Contractor SEO using ChatGPT

Search engine optimization (SEO) is a critical component of any successful local business. It helps to ensure that potential customers can find you online, and gives you an opportunity to create a strong online presence for your company. 

In today’s digital world, it’s essential for all companies, large and small, to understand how to optimize their SEO for maximum visibility. This article will help you understand the concept of OpenAI and ChatGPT to completely revolutionize your business.

But first…what is OpenAI?

OpenAI is a revolutionary AI-powered platform that can help businesses to scale their SEO efforts and better capture potential customers online. With OpenAI, small businesses can create highly targeted and customized SEO campaigns in a fraction of the time it would take to manually develop and implement an SEO strategy.

The platform enables businesses to quickly analyze and modify their SEO techniques to ensure that they are optimized for their target audiences and current trends. One of the primary benefits of OpenAI is that it can help your business to more effectively target local customers. 

The platform provides marketers with valuable insights into local search trends and allows them to identify the best keywords to use in SEO campaigns. This helps to ensure that a business is targeting the right demographics in their local markets, and makes it much easier to reach potential customers within their geographic area.

How can ChatGPT help me?

ChatGPT helps businesses to succeed by improving customer service and generating more leads. ChatGPT can provide personalized product recommendations and support in real-time. 

This can help your businesses better understand their customers and their needs, and provide a more tailored customer service experience. This can result in more effective lead generation and increased sales.

Additionally, ChatGPT can help businesses create efficient processes and automate tasks. 

Every small businesses is looking to maximize their resources and free up time to focus on more important tasks and ChatGPT can help by creating efficient processes such as customer support, lead generation, appointment scheduling, sales processes, order tracking and more.

Getting started with ChatGPT is easy! You can use the ChatGPT API to integrate ChatGPT into your own applications. Alternatively, you can use the ChatGPT web app to explore its capabilities without needing to write any code. We’ve been using it a lot and really feel like this tool is *the* game changer for the home services industry. If you need any help, be sure to contact us!

On SEO and Paddle Boards with David Baer

On SEO and Paddle Boards with David Baer - LMH Agency

I had a great time sitting down with David Baer’s podcast, More Perfect Marketing, to talk about my personal entrepreneurial journey and how I went from owning a paddleboard shop to running a full-scale digital marketing agency for general contractors. We all start somewhere, and it’s usually different from where we end up!   

I’m a huge fan of David’s podcast because he dives deep into the backstories and motivates small business owners with his incredible community, books, courses, and research on high-impact digital marketing and scaling the smart way. If you haven’t checked him out yet, I suggest diving into his website at baeronmarketing.com to learn more. 

In this podcast, David and I discuss so many nuances of my journey and lessons in business, including: 

– Starting my first business venture with my brothers based on a passion for wakeboarding (and failing)

– Launching two paddleboard shops that catapulted me into the publishing world

– Scaling our business through a sustainable, niched social media community

– Hiring friends and adding value to your business by being a giver, first and foremost

– Getting familiar with local marketing and supporting service-based businesses

– Learning by trial and error when it comes to partnerships and a bigger vision

– Understanding search engine optimization, the rule of reciprocity, and doubling down on what matters most to your community 

And so much more.

Don’t miss this one, especially if you’re in the home services industry! Listen to the full podcast below:

Quick Start Guide: Optimizing Local SEO

optimizing local SEO

Optimizing Local SEO is crucial if you want your business to be found by potential customers in your local area (which – let’s be real – you do).

Regardless of what you’ve heard, SEO is not just one thing. Rather, it’s an entire range of components that all add up to making your company the one that comes up when a prospect searches for what you do in your area. The possibilities with SEO are endless as you continue to grow, but if you haven’t gotten started yet – here’s a quick start guide you can use to get yourself set up for success.

Take these steps now! You’ll be so glad you did it later. Here’s an easy-to-follow process for optimizing local SEO:
Step 1: Optimize your Google Business Profile

Your Google Business Profile is a free listing that appears in Google Maps and search results when people search for businesses in your area. To optimize your Google Business Profile, you must (must must) ensure it is complete and accurate. Here are some things you can do:

1. Claim your profile: If you haven’t already, claim your profile on Google My Business. This will give you control over your listing and allow you to update and respond to reviews.

2. Add accurate information: Make sure your business name, address, and phone number (NAP) are accurate and consistent across all online directories and platforms.

3. Choose the right categories: Select the most relevant categories for your business and ensure they match your products or services.

4. Add photos: High-quality photos of your business can help make your profile stand out and give potential customers a better idea of what to expect.

5. Get reviews: Encourage customers to leave reviews on your profile, as this can improve your search rankings and help potential customers decide whether to choose your business.

Step 2: Use UTM Codes to Track Traffic

UTM codes are tags you can add to the end of your website URLs to track traffic from different sources. For example, you can add a UTM code to a link that you share on social media or in an email newsletter to see how many people click through to your website from that source. This can help you measure the effectiveness of your local SEO efforts and make adjustments as needed.

Step 3: Build Citations

Citations mention your business name, address, and phone number (NAP) on other websites. Building citations can help improve your local search rankings and make it easier for people to find your business online. To build citations, add your NAP information to your website and then list your business in local directories, such as Yelp, Yellow Pages, and Angie’s List.

Step 4: Create High-Quality Content

conent for local SEO

Creating high-quality content is an important part of local SEO. This includes creating blog posts, articles, and other types of content that are relevant to your business and your local area. Your content should be informative and engaging, and it should include keywords and phrases that people are searching for in your area. This can help improve your search rankings and drive more traffic to your website.

Step 5: Build Links to Your Website

Building links to your website is another important part of local SEO. This involves getting other websites to link to your website, which can help improve your search rankings and drive more traffic to your website. To build links, start by contacting other local businesses and asking them to link to your website. You can also create content other websites will want to link to, such as infographics, how-to guides, and other resources.

By following these five steps, you can optimize your local SEO and make it easier for people to find your business online. Remember to track your results using UTM codes and make adjustments as needed to ensure that your local SEO efforts are as effective as possible. Contact us if you need any support, we’re here to help!

Why SEO is Important to Focus on During an Economic Slowdown

Why SEO is Important - LMH Agency

While everyone is busy losing their mind over the economy slowing down, it’s essential to focus on cost-effective marketing strategies that can help you attract and retain customers. While everyone else is cutting back on their marketing, history shows time after time that those who lean in on optimizing their marketing will make an even bigger impact in the year to come.

Because let’s face it, your HVAC business is essentially recession-proof. You’ll always have a problem to solve and people to help – the key is to ensure they can find you and that you stand out from your competitors through your search engine optimization (SEO). It’s the OG, long-game move that separates the wheat from the chaff.

It puts you into a new caliber of lead generation and predictible revenue when it’s grown and managed effectively. All you need to do is to do is to get clear on your gaps and provide quality content that’s genuinely helpful (and masterfully implemented) to speak to the search engines.

Whether you’ve never heard of it before or know that SEO is the thing you’ve been needing to focus on, here are 5 good reasons to start now:

Increased Visibility

SEO can help you increase your visibility online, making it easier for potential customers to find you. It doesn’t get much simpler than that! A slow economy only means you need to get a little more creative to set yourself apart, and SEO is the best way to do it. It’s like laying a really firm foundation you can keep building on for more and more brand awareness. By optimizing your website for search engines, your HVAC company can increase your visibility and attract new customers actively searching for your services.

We’re speaking to HVAC companies in this particular article, but SEO is critical for every business in today’s economy. So, apply what you read here to your business in whatever industry you fall into.

Increased Trust and Confidence

When your company’s website appears at the top of search engine results, it immediately builds trust and confidence.

You want this, right? We all want this. Scrolling feels hard for some reason, and we don’t want our potential customer working any harder to find us than they already have to, so we want to be on top.

You’ll sleep a lot better at night knowing your business is showing up on Google Business Profile, Apple Maps, and high in the ranks on the search engines. It works and it doesn’t take an army to set it up (just a cool team of digital marketers who get it).

Better Targeting

As an HVAC company, SEO allows you to better target your audience by using keywords and phrases that potential customers are searching for. This can help you reach your target audience more effectively and increase your chances of attracting new business. For example, if you specialize in air conditioning repair, you can optimize your website for keywords related to “air conditioning repair.”

In a downturn, there may be some folks out there tempated to fix things themselves, and they’ll look to Google or even YouTube for tips and advice. This is where you can be a guiding support for them, build a relationship with them, and encourage them to partner with you so they can get the reliable help they need. There are limitless possibilities for targeting new audiences with different kinds of content.

Long-Term Benefits

One of the guys around the office always says that good SEO is like growing bamboo. It takes time, you have nurture it, but then it becomes a dense forest that continually provides water. SEO is playing the long game to build your audience.

Once your website is optimized for search engines, it can continue to rank well for years to come, helping you attract new business over and over again. And it’s not looking to change any time soon. Most 2030 marketing forcasts show that SEO will continue to shift and adapt to user preferences online. So if you haven’t started investing in your SEO strategy – now’s the time.

Increased Revenue

And finally the reason we’re all here: SEO can significantly increase your revenue.

When you keep feeding the content machine and putting intentionality into your SEO, you’ll continually have a steady stream of leads coming in so you can pivot your business based on your data and figure out how to service them better and earn more.

Good SEO takes lead generation off the table (in terms of needing your attention), so you have time to think and do what you do best to hit that next level.

The bottom line here is that SEO is an important business strategy to embrace regardless of what the economy’s doing – but a slowdown provides a unique opportunity to set yourself apart by investing in your digital presence. Reach out if you need help or have any questions! We preach it because we’ve seen it work and our clients love our proven frameworks that optimize your brand presence from the inside out.

Power Your SEO with Apple’s Map Pack

apple map pack

It’s finally here! It’s been a long time coming, and now you can finally list your business on Apple’s maps (instantly giving you another platform 45% of people use daily).

Apple’s Business Connect is simple to set up and essentially makes sure that people can find you from their iPhones or tablets. Like Google Business Profile, you can list your services and locations, upload photos and videos, create custom messages, and more that optimizes your SEO. In fact, there’s an entire Map Pack that we think will be huge for home services businesses over the next few years. Since it’s still new, it’s an amazing time to jump on and start using it to grow from the outset.

What is Apple’s Map Pack?

apple business connect map pack

Apple Map Pack is a feature of Apple Maps that shows your business’s information to potential customers. It includes a business’s name, address, phone number, website, and other relevant details that are pretty standard.

The reason we think Apple Map Pack is so huge is because it improves your local SEO rankings, as Apple Maps is an important source of local search results. If you’re a business that serves a local community – get on this!

The more visibility a business has on Apple Maps, the more likely it is to be found in local search results, which can lead to more customers.

One of our clients recently shared: 

I have been using Apple Maps Pack for a few months now, and I am incredibly impressed. The maps are incredibly detailed, and the directions are spot on. I have never had an issue finding my way anywhere, and the app is incredibly easy to use. The best part is that it is completely free, which is a huge plus. I highly recommend Apple Maps Pack to anyone looking for an easy-to-use and accelerated mapping app.

How Do I Get Started?

Apple Business Connect

To get started using Apple Map Pack, first, download and install the app from the App Store. Once the app is installed, open it and follow the on-screen instructions to set up the Map Pack. Depending on the version of the Map Pack you’re using, you may need to sign in with your Apple ID or configure a few settings before you can start using the app. Once everything is set up, you can explore the maps, search for places, and use the other features that the Map Pack offers.

Once you’re set up on Apple Maps, ensure you’re good to go on the Google local map pack too. If you’re not set up there yet either, here’s a quick process for getting started: 

1. Go to Google My Business (https://www.google.com/business/) and click the “Start Now” button. 

2. Sign in with your Google account. 

3. Enter the name of your business. 

4. Enter your business address.

5. Select a business category from the list. 

6. Enter a contact phone number and website URL (if applicable). 

7. Click the “Submit” button to finish the setup. 

8. Once your business is verified, you can add additional information, such as images, hours of operation, and more.

9. After verifying your business, it will appear on Google Maps and the local map pack.

Okay, that’s our local SEO maps schpiel of the day. I hope this helps you get a little more leverage, and you can always get in touch with us if you have any questions about digital marketing. We’re here to help!

The Content Marketing Ecosystem: Why it Works

Content Marketing Ecosystem - LMH Agency

When trying to build a brand, it’s important to be consistent with your marketing. In fact, digital marketing is more about communication (which is where content marketing comes into play). No need to spend a lot of time trying to recreate the wheel or think of stuff to write about.

Today, we’re going to teach you how to create a content marketing ecosystem that makes your life a lot easier and results from your marketing that much better.

What Is a Content Ecosystem?

Regardless of whether your business focuses on the automotive industry, home services, or legal issues, a strong content marketing strategy can increase awareness of your company while saving you hours of time spent creating.

You can create an individual blog post, social media post, landing page, and podcast or you can create one piece of content and turn it into 10 so it can be shared across platforms. That’s the beauty of a content marketing ecosystem. It’s more sustainable, way more practical, and keeps dollars for marketing lean while going the distance to hit your goals.

Building a content ecosystem strategy means that you get more intentional by using content across all of your media and marketing channels when you create something worthwhile to your community of prospects and customers. You might write an entire article about your latest services but use key points from the article to make posts on your social media platforms. You might then also decide to make a long-form video about that blog and share it on YouTube.

Additionally, it’s important to use unbiased data to direct the content you create. So be sure to pay attention to what’s resonating in your community and create more of that. Use the 80/20 rule (20% of your content will bring in 80% of the results so always double down on what works). Your personal opinions and experiences are awesome, and they can also prevent you from truly making content that attracts viewers and, ultimately, customers.

Why Is a Content Ecosystem Important?

Having a content marketing ecosystem is essential because it can increase your reach and give you back so much of your time. When you create content that you can use across all your media outlets, you save yourself time and energy of constant creation. Your viewers and prospects want consistency when they go to their social media platform of choice, and they also want to see similar content on your website. While quick and flashy might work for some media channels, many consumers today want to be well-informed on products and services. So our advice is to create content that actually makes a difference in their lives or gets them to think about something in a new way that could truly benefit them.

How To Make a Content Ecosystem

Content Marketing Ecosystem - LMH Agency

Here’s how to get started:

1. Support the User Experience

No matter where your customers or prospects see your content, you want to ensure that the content supports their experience and that they have a positive interaction with you. You want them to leave every interaction they have with you feeling a little more empowered, inspired, or confident in their choices. Consider the audiences of your different platforms, how old they might be, and how you can tailor what you share to reach a wider audience.

2. Optimize Content

Your audience goes to your website or social media account to search for specific information. Even if it’s just a few people coming to your digital space, make sure that your content is optimized so that viewers leave with the information they need to decide if they want to work with you or purchase your products or services. Keep it simple and make things you think can really help people. Another good way to look at it is to think about who you want to talk to and give them what you have to say.

3. Choose the Right Topics and Tools

Before creating your content ecosystem, analyze your business and your audiences across platforms. Think about what information potential customers might seek when researching topics connected with your company. If you use content based on what your clients want, they’re more likely to take advantage of what you offer. Take advantage of tools like Trello, Asana, or Notion to plan a few great pieces of content every month and hire contractors or a team who can break down every piece and funnel it into your website, email, advertising, and social channels. There’s a lot you can automate with a solid process and good tools.

To recap, creating a content marketing ecosystem simplifies your life, vastly improves your marketing, and offers useful content for your audience and customers. With each post you create moving forward, ask yourself how you can use the content across all of your digital marketing. Give us a call if you need any help.