Do I really need local SEO?

Raleigh-Durham has become among the fastest-growing markets in the country. These days it seems as if everyone is moving here! Let the hundreds of digital agencies in the triangle be a testament to the growing demand for SEO in the area. If you've been neglecting your local SEO then chances are your competitors in the area have been cashing in on that fact.
Studies have shown that close to 90% of all customers begin their buying process by way of some type of search engine. While roughly 75% of all clicks occur in the top 3 positions, only 6% of searchers will click beyond the 1st search engine results page! What does this mean for you? If you're not on the first page a typical local search, such as local "Durham" searches, then your business might as well be invisible to everyone in the area!

What can you do?

Firstly, you'll need to set up a Google My Business account and be sure to include the local service area your trying to rank for. You'll soon discover that your Google My Business listing, combined with testimonial automation, will become your most important local SEO strategy! Other than that, you can get started by making sure you have citations on any of the major local search engines that are applicable to your line of business such as Yelp, and TripAdvisor. Let's be clear, this isn't something you should be paying an agency for. It only takes a few minutes to set these up and you'll need access to message clients when they leave reviews. Please do not be fooled, although there is no value in low-quality citation sites, this fact will not stop agencies from selling you their listing services. For far too long SEO agencies have been taking advantage of the uninformed small business with their snake oil and overpriced white label SEO BS, but not anymore!

Integrity

SEO SEMPER is a result of years of our own frustration dealing with constant WordPress issues, unreliable hosting providers, and amateur "voodoo SEO" that downright handicapped our side projects. When we discovered we could do a better job than those in which we were hiring, we discovered there was still a niche to be filled in this industry.

"I only got into this industry out of necessity, the fact that it affords me the opportunity to spend more time with my family is the reason it's stuck. Being able to help others avoid the same common digital pitfalls; that's just the icing on the cake."

Derek Cummings, Founder of SEO SEMPER

We know it's challenging operating a business, we know you need SEO, and we know how confusing it can be trying to make sense of all the SEO sales jargon and snake oil out there. When businesses don't know where to start, they're often led down a rabbit hole of endless digital marketing scams and "sell-anything" digital agencies. As a result, small businesses can end up throwing away their precious marketing funds on false performance metrics and irrelevant adverts to unintended targets, while at the same time eating up their valuable time responding to unqualified leads.

Unfortunately, the penalty that comes from investing in the wrong SEO strategy will likely hit at the worst time. While it might not be today, the longer it goes on, the more investment is wasted. Luckily for you though, you have the opportunity to let your competitor be the one to fall down this rabbit hole, all the while you could be reaping the benefits of their plummeting rankings!

How to measure your SEO's worth

At the end of the day, if your SEO efforts are not converting more clicks into sales then where's the ROI!? 
This is what happens when an agency simply resells any all white-label SEO services they can get their hands on, they have no idea what's actually going on behind the scenes, which means they are not qualified to give you SEO advice. By knowingly or unknowingly participating in various link schemes, they're rolling the dice with your money, putting both their client's rankings and reputations at risk. If you try to confront them about this they'll simply sidetrack you with regurgitated sales jargon, senseless snake oil, and lame excuses that only leave you more broke and confused then when you started. As a small business, you can't afford bad SEO! We recommend you head over to Google's Quality Guidelines to see if your current SEO provider is compliant. I know we found that many of our own competitors were are participating in link schemes involving their site footers, and utilizing low-quality directory citations as not only part of their own strategies, but as part of their client SEO process. Worst of all, over half of them were reselling white-label SEO and thus charging customers an unnecessary premium.

Small Business SEO Rule #1: First do no harm

We know small business owners are busy people. You don't have time to micromanage your SEO provider, and you can't afford to undo their mistakes. This is why we built SEO SEMPER to not only be "white-hat," but 100% compliant with Google's quality guidelines. This way you'll never have to worry about Google Penalties or an embarrassing public relations nightmare. Choosing the right SEO provider early on can be one of the most important decisions for small businesses battling for top local ranking positions. With that being said, we hope that our honesty and relentless dedication to quality will convince you to give us a try, these clients were glad they did!

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