A great way to get more visibility on the first page of Google for your online business is to submit your website and blog to a couple very powerful local directories.

Sites that can get your comapany on the first page of Google

These sites are also referred to as "Local Search Engines", and by doing these 5 things you will be able multiply the chances of someone searching for your company name or a specific search phrase about your product or service to finding your company on the first page of Google.

What this will give you foremost is "online credibility". By having your company appear more than just once on a search for your company name, this makes searchers a lot more comfortable about clicking your link. The other thing this will do for you is "pull" your website and blogs further up the search engines as well.

Here is the deal, almost anyone you speak to about search engine optimization, most think on a National or even global type of searches. There is a much more targeted approach that few people use, simply because they are not aware of them.

Sure, you can always write articles, submit lots of blog posts, produce videos, etc, but these are more long term goals to get your articles and such to the top of the search engines for a variety of different competitive searches. We are not saying not to have a long term plan and stick to it, keying on major search engines (Google, Bing, Yahoo!, etc), is a must. But local search engines should also be included in your efforts.  Doing this correctly will give you almost immediate results as well. So add the term Local SEM (Search Engine Marketing) to your vocabulary and this is how it works.

Local search engine marketing allows you to become more "Search Engine Friendly" for a specific product or service as well as being found easier for your local market. When most people search for something online in their local area they will search something like "company/product – city state". This is where you want to be listed.

It is also important to understand that what it is your doing does not really fall into the category of "SEO". Though the results may be be similar, the methods are very different.

SEO vs. SEM

We have watched countless videos and watched to many "Internet Marketing Gurus" and can't help to notice that almost all of them will use search engine optimization (SEO) in the same context as search engine marketing (SEM). There are countless differences between the two. For all practical purposes, these should really be two different topics, talked about completely separate from each other. Let us clarify this for you.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a learned talent and is a never ending learning process. What was working yesterday may be insignificant today. Knowing all the latest methods and techniques will be nothing more than a continuous, never ending process of learning and application.

Search Engine Marketing (SEM) is where you simply pay for the exposure provided by search engines or directories. There are plenty of directories that charge a fee to be on their list (like transworldnews.com) and there are several free ones as well. Even a "pay-per-click" campaign falls into the category of SEM.

One of the biggest differences between the two is the amount of time you will spend doing SEO versus what you can do with SEM quickly. If anyone is trying to pass on a product or course that says you can do SEO yourself in days, weeks or even months, you better get ready for a lot of up-selling and a long road ahead. It will never stop and you have just committed yourself to a full time job.

Starting with the basics of SEM however, like creating a blog, and creating all the other sites like Twitter, Facebook and who knows what's next is relatively simple and you will find most of this information available either on our website and on a lot of others. Of course you will never stop learning more about what you can do with them, just having them is a great start and more than what your competition may be doing, but most of these things do not require a full time commitment. Just doing a little can do a lot.

So, let's get back to the five things you can do to increase your companies overall visibility on the search engines. By submitting your "company bio" to the locations we listed below, when people do a search for a company or business like yours in your local market, your chances of them finding you on a major Search Engine are exponentially increased.

Before you spend any amount of time or money on a SEO course, know for the most part they are simply teaching SEM. SEO is a long term engagement and gets much more complicated whereas with SEM it takes much less time, is much easier to do and won't have the same continued level of commitment.

Though there are many more sites than we have listed below, here are our 5 favorite locations for you to create profiles and submit your website and blog links to start your SEM project. Before your start though, be sure that you have a physical address for your company and have a local telephone number that you can use as well.

Webdigity.com PageRank of 4. This site does require a little time to learn and use to it's full potential, but simply by taking the time to create a company profile will do wonders. Create your profile using your company name and do a search for it in 24 hours, chances are you will be close to if not on the first page of Google.

Merchantcircle.com Pagerank of 7. This site is extraordinary at getting your company extra online exposure. For Your Local Business, in less than 5 minutes, they'll get your business more exposure on the Internet.

Listorious.com PageRank of 5 This site will let you create your profile in minutes. By answering some questions through Listorious rather than directly on Twitter, your answers are organized, in depth, and have archive value. It's like a magazine interview.

Magicyellow.com PageRank of 5 The online Yellow Pages, need we really say more?

Superpages.com PageRank of 3. Superpages.com is the local expert and a top online resource for finding information and insights on businesses and retailers. Every month they help millions of consumers find valuable local business like yours with information about you from driving directions and hours of operation to web links and customer reviews.

Those are just a start, but great places to begin. Complete all 5 of these and you will surely see you at the top of the Search Engines tomorrow without knowing anything about SEO!

Happy Commenting!

SEO-Alien

About the Author:

The SEO-Alien is a project started in 2009 regarding all things online marketing. The site started out more of a diary of predictions, suggestions and references to things I frequently used for online marketing... before social media marketing was even an option.

I hope you find the information and tools presented here useful and something worth sharing with others.

If there is anything else about online marketing or any online advertising strategy you think would be helpful, please let me know.


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