SEO for local business

Whatever line of business you're in, you've probably had someone call you up in the past month offering you search engine optimisation (SEO). They promise to get you to the top of Google. That all sounds pretty good, but what are they getting you to the top of Google for?

I've met a lot of very confused business people recently who have bought SEO but have very little idea what they are paying for. I thought I'd write a few posts to demystify this art, and hopefully get across that SEO is not one-size-fits-all. You need to start with a strategy.

If you are a local business, your strategy should be very different from that of a global or national brand. Think about it: if you are a physio, for example, you're going to be competing with every physio in the world for the search word "physio". If your specialism is in sports massage, you're still competing with everyone else in the world for the obvious search term combinations.

So, you should still optimise for those words, but don't expect to get anywhere near page one. You need to treat search like you would any other marketing strategy - by looking at your target market. And if you are a local service industry, your target market is people who live near you. It's that simple, but you wouldn't believe the number of local business owners I meet who are paying SEO "experts" to compete for the attention of people who live on the other side of the planet.

So, in order to drive the right sort of traffic to your site via search simply think what search terms your customers would use to find you. In the physio example it's pretty straightforward: "physio bristol"; "sports massage bristol". These terms won't be nearly as competitive as they would without the "bristol". I don't know how competitive your key words are where you live, but by narrowing it down to your locale you give yourself a very good chance of registering on the first page.

This is the basis of your keyword strategy. In the next post I'll do a checklist of the basic things every local business needs to do to start competing.

New content for science.TV

We've begun working with Bristol-based Null Hypothesis on an original series for science.TV called The Patronising Guide to Science.

The first episode explores the contoversial topic of Stem Cell Research and will be released early May.

science.TV goes Alpha

We're proud to announce the launch of a prototype of the video sharing network for the science community.

science.TV now supports uploading of content, embedding from other sites and basic social networking. This is just the beginning!

shootme moves to Spike Island

We're excited to be moving from our Clifton home into "Bristol's Bauhaus". Spike's a really good place to be as there's so much going on here: gallery, events, workshops. And the cafe does brilliant salads for 4 quid.
It's just little chance encounters (there are scores of artists, designers and creative companies here) that make the difference. There are new people moving in all the time so it just keeps getting better. I think this kind of development is the only way to prevent London sucking the life out of the rest of the country.
Here's the website.

Love/Hate the iPhone

So there's my headline. It's not very good, it's deliberately misleading, and it doesn't actually represent what I think about the device. But that, as I'll explain, is the point.

First, let me explain my position. I was the 11th customer in Carphone Warehouse in Bristol, England to buy an iPhone on the day of release. Now, that does make me look like a bit of a fanboy, but let me justify my decision:

1. My contract with Vodafone conveniently runs out in 3 days time;

2. I have made over 2000% trading Apple shares, so I thought I deserved one.

I have always wanted one device that does everything I need - simply and elegantly - and I've been looking forward to getting an iPhone since its announcement in January.

I'm now in the frustrating position of waiting for my PAC code to release my number from Vodafone. I can't use my iPhone (not even as an iPod) until I get that code if I want to hold on to the number that I've had for the past decade. The Carphone Warehouse chap misinformed me on this. But that's ok, I forgive him.

I know that me and my iPhone are going to get on just fine. I had a little play in the shop and you know what? The iPhone made me grin from ear to ear. It's even better than the videos make it out to be.

You're wondering by now: What about the hate? You're clearly pleased and a little bit smug about your purchase. Tell us about the hate.

OK, well the hate, as you'll have guessed is not about the iPhone. And to be honest, it's not even hate. It's annoyance at the nonsense that surrounds the device, in particular:

1. Lazy, irritating, cowardly, formulaic journalism

2. Misguided notions of freedom and choice

Here's what I mean by lazy journalism. Everyone that touches the iPhone has an experience which is unlike any other human/machine interaction to date. That's what I want to hear about, but no one wants to tell me about that. Instead, they pay lip service to the device and the lifestyle enhancements it offers, and skip forward to the "real" issues: the "fight" between the hackers and their once-beloved Apple; the other manufacturers and their "iPhone killers"; the guy from Manchester who's caught pneumonia by queuing in the November sleet.

In case you didn't know, the iPhone is only available on O2, and this is one of the things people are up in arms about. These hackers are fighting Apple for their freedom to choose. 2007's Berlin Wall / Tiannamen Square is the Apple Store on Regent Street, where a gallant band of computer programmers are fighting for the right to use an iPhone on T-Mobile; for the right to compromise the functionality of their phone by pissing about with it; for the right to be free.

And this is where I get a little annoyed. See, there are different kinds of freedom. There's the freedom to listen Kate Nash or Johnny Cash, and there's the freedom to listen to either in wma, mp3, AAC or Ogg Vorbis formats. The former I have no problem with - and it's the kind of freedom that is worth fighting (but not dying) for. The latter is a pointless kind of freedom, which brings to mind the song from Team America:

Freedom isn't free
There's a hefty fuckin' fee

What's true for the iPod, will also be true for the iPhone and this is why Apple succeeds where other fail miserably. People, normal people - not me and certainly not the pneumonic hackers - don't care about sim cards or networks. What they care about is calling their friends, organising their lives, having films to watch and music to listen to when they're stuck at airports. Apple start here and work backwards, unlike all other companies who start with the technology and try to shoehorn it into their devices.

3G is the perfect example. Apple's engineers decided that current 3G chips are too power hungry. I believe them, and I'd rather make calls, check stocks, listen to music for a day longer than have the "freedom" to run down my battery downloading a 30 page PDF while I'm in a GPRS-only region of Pembrokeshire. You know, if I'm that desperate to see it, I'll just head down the valley to the nearest wi-fi enabled Starbucks.

So, enough of all the tedious "balanced" news items about the iPhone and the obligatory and irrelevant negative points. Be brave and tell me how it makes you feel, how it will change your media consumption patterns, the effect it has on members of the opposite sex when you whip it out and play with it.

Half way through writing this, I took a break to call Vodafone customer services to see if there was any way they could expedite the release of my PAC. I thought it unlikely, but they just called me back with nine invaluable digits. It's given me the inspiration for my next blog: How to win friends and influence people at call centres.

I'm off to play (safely) with my new toy now. Full review to come after a week's use.