You've heard it from me. Now I'd like you to hear it from Small Business Expert, John Jantsch

Well, there you have it! If you're ready to dominate Google Places and other local search directories, check out my Local Search Profits package now.

Glennette Goodbread, Owner
Premium Web Design and Hosting

Are You Sure You Hired The Right Local Internet Marketing Agency?

This is a guest post by Lynette Chandler.

As local small business owners, you probably get quite a few calls, emails and even regular mail from web design agencies. Every one of them promising professional web site setup, design and maintenance. If you are seriously considering creating or re-working your business website, it can be a challenge figuring out who to hire.

Before you write that check to the design agency, pause and consider ... Why are you getting a website built?

This is perhaps the single most important question that will put everything into perspective. My guess is, you are doing this so you can generate more business using the power of the Internet which is not slowing down, gives you faster, highly measurable results at a lower cost.

The bottom line, you aren't looking for a pretty website but one that will help grow your business. In other words you should evaluate the agency you hire based on this goal.

Here's the cold hard truth. When it comes to design only, anyone you choose - even a student - can deliver a decent looking site. Whether they can build a site that can sell your products or services is a whole other story.

Getting the site built is only part of the picture. In order to sell, you need a web marketing agency who can do most if not all of the following:

* How to build a site that looks nice, with great copy to grab
visitor attention, elements to capture contact information and work to
convert curious visitors to warm, responsive prospects.
* Help get your business get found when someone searches for similar
businesses nearby on their cell phone or computer.
* Understand and know how to make the connection between your website
and the mobile Internet whose numbers are set to overtake desktop
computers by 2015.

Know how is one thing. Do they have experience? Does this agency have a record of successfully selling anything online to anybody? If they cannot market products online, how effective will they be for you?

There are plenty of freelancers fresh out of school, in need of work who will pitch you their services. There are also plenty of web design agencies who are just that. Great at web design. You'd probably fall in love with the gorgeous sites they build for you.

Unfortunately, the moment you get serious about marketing and leveraging mobile, you will find your site is far from adequate and probably have to spend more money and time re-tooling it.

The takeaway - hire the right people from the start. I've also dropped a few hints about mobile Internet. Mobile is crucial for local businesses because this movement is very real and all happening right now. So you definitely want someone who is capable or can work together with your web person to get your business mobile ready.

Want hard statistical facts how mobile Internet usage benefits your local business? Author Lynette Chandler invites you to grab a copy of her specially prepared report "6 Urgent Reasons Why Local Businesses Must Go Mobile Now" at
http://techbasedmarketing.com/local-business-go-mobile/

Who hasn’t been the victim of targeted email marketing, where someone has sold your email address and all of a sudden you’re the lucky recipient of things like “Try this little blue pill!” or “Use this credit card – you can’t live without it!” As a small business owner, you certainly don’t want to fall into the same category as these unwanted messages do: that category is Spam!

On the other hand, you can run an effective email marketing campaign that your customers will enjoy. Let’s take a look at what a good email marketing campaign is, and why it works so well for businesses of every size.

What Is Email Marketing?
Email marketing is a method for telling customers or potential clients about a product, service, or combination of the two, that you have. It’s a way to give them insight about what is going on with your business, and it’s a great way to build a good working relationship with them. This is particularly true if you have a consumable product or service. The fact is, people have a lot on their minds, and they are constantly barraged with a whole host of messages from every direction. Failing to communicate with your customers puts you at risk of being forgotten.

How Does Email Marketing Work?
While it is possible for a business owner to send out little reminders to a group of customers on a regular basis, doing it the old fashioned way is not the best use of your valuable time. Here’s the best way to do it:

1. Come up with a message, or set of messages. You might run regular sales or service specials, or want to promote a lunch or dinner special for your restaurant on a regular basis.
2. Remember, talk to people like they’re your friends, because in the end, they are. Customers can make or break your business, and you want them to love you. Make your message friendly.
3. Take advantage of an email autoresponder. Load your email contacts into the autoresponder, and get your message to your customers.

Just like every other aspect of online marketing for small businesses, using email marketing and autoresponders is something that requires a certain amount of finesse. Get together with your online marketing specialist, and create a specialized plan that will work wonders for your business!

Got a question or concern about your website?  Learn more about our website consulting service and how we can help you!

Glennette Goodbread, Owner
Premium Web Design and Hosting

PediatricianAlbanyGa.com is now for sale!

This website is ideal for a peditrician located in the Albany Ga area. The domain is keyword-rich meaning it includes keywords and will be easier to rank high in the search engines. You can always purchase drwhatever.com and point it to the keyword-rich domain name if you prefer to give out a different domain name.

This website will be sold first come first serve and we are contacting pediatricians in the area so you need to buy it before your competitor does.

Please call 229-869-1304 to purchase. I will meet with you to gather your information so that I can customize it to your practice.

Glennette Goodbread, Owner
Premium Web Design and Hosting

ChiropractorAlbanyGa.com is now for sale!

This website is ideal for a chiropractor located in the Albany Ga area. The domain is keyword-rich meaning it includes keywords and will be easier to rank high in the search engines. You can always purchase drwhatever.com and point it to the keyword-rich domain name if you prefer to give out a different domain name.

This website will be sold first come first serve and we are contacting chiropractors in the area so you need to buy it before your competitor does.

Please call 229-869-1304 to purchase. I will meet with you to gather your information so that I can customize it to your practice.

Glennette Goodbread, Owner
Premium Web Design and Hosting

Crissy over at Indie Biz Chicks is having a contest where you can win $500 from Apple.

Can you help promote it please?

All you have to do to promote it (and enter the contest while you're at it) is visit her site and leave a comment, tweet the post and then add a blog post like this one that says:

I’m posting this to enter a contest offered by Cashier Live, a point of sale software company, at Indie Biz Chicks. Enter to win here: http://www.indiebizchicks.com/wp/win-an-apple-giftcard/

She's drawing the winner on 9/26/11 at 5 p.m. EST so don't delay!

Disclaimer: I have not used Cashier Live but I will be checking it out!

Glennette Goodbread, Owner
Premium Web Design and Hosting

DentistAlbanyGa.com is now for sale!

This website is ideal for a dentist located in the Albany Ga area. The domain is keyword-rich meaning it includes keywords and will be easier to rank high in the search engines. You can always purchase drwhatever.com and point it to the keyword-rich domain name if you prefer to give out a different domain name.

This website will be sold first come first serve and we are contacting dentists in the area so you need to buy it before your competitor does.

Please call 229-869-1304 to purchase. I will meet with you to gather your information so that I can customize it to your practice.

Glennette Goodbread, Owner
Premium Web Design and Hosting

Your Press Release is Live, Now Get Some Readers!

Once you put in the effort of creating an SEO Press release, you want to make sure you can attract as many readers as possible to your news. There are multiple ways to spread your news over the internet, here are a few key methods:

Email your own list

Send a dedicated email to your email list, ezine, eNewsletter, etc. announcing your news, or sharing a link to your post when it is already live. It is typically better received if you share the link to the actual press release. Ask your subscribers to “Share the News” by tweeting, sharing on facebook, or bookmarking it.

Put the news on your own web site or blog

You should put your press release on your web site, in a news section. That way you have a record of all your news, and people can follow along with your new releases. Ideally you’ll have a company bio and bios for key people in your business and images journalists or others can use.
If you blog about the story, describe the news in a less formal, more conversational tone. Link to the press release (ideally with a keyword phrase).

Email journalists

Email a brief summary of your story to journalists. You can easily find them by searching web sites for the topic of your news. Find a writer who has written similar stories. Notice the types of things they write about and the angles they take. Web sites usually have an email address or contact form.
Contact the journalist to let them know about your news. Then link to your press release and give your contact info.

Social bookmark the page

Create a catchy title and bookmark the blogpost on a social bookmarking web site such as Delicious, Digg, Stumble Upon, etc. Send the link to friends, family and colleagues and ask them to do the same.
A common obstacle to keep in mind: some sites won’t allow you to link directly to the press release and most people on social bookmarking sites often do not vote for a press release. In that case, you may have to blog about the story and link to the press release in the blog post. Then submit the blog post instead of the press release.

Tip: Ask your network to vote on your submission on social bookmarking
sites. We’ve seen social bookmarking double the number of clicks your news gets!

Send your news to bloggers

You can use sites like Technorati.com or Alltop.com to find the top blogs on any topic. It’s similar to pitching a journalist. Get right to the point in your subject line. Then tell them a bit about your story.
Link to the press release and let them know you can arrange an interview. Ask if they would be
interested in writing a blog post. Let them know if you have video, pictures or studies they can use.

Contest! Win one of 5 great prizes from Publicity Spark!

• First Place: The Ultimate PR Distribution List (Value $47)
• Second Place: How to Create an SEO Press Release Ebook (Value $47)
• Third Place: How to use Keywords in Press Releases (Value $37)
• Fourth Place: Social Spark Service (Value $27)
• Fifth Place: Affiliate Marketing for Bloggers Ebook (Value $7)

To enter: Comment below with what has gotten you the best publicity for your business!

Winners will be contacted Friday, September 9th, 2011.

Hi,
We are Ponn Sabra & Janet Thaeler, founders of publicityspark.com. Our goal is to help small businesses and entrepreneurs increase their visibility using the online PR techniques we’ve used for ourselves and clients since 2005. Premium Web Design has graciously let us guest blog this week as part of our six-week Blog Spark Summer Tour. We will share a few of our SEO and online PR tips with you, thanks Premium Web Design!

To make our posts exciting, we’re hosting a contest giveaway on Monday and Wednesday and will announce our winners on Friday. We will also have one grand prize winner at the end of the Blog Spark Tour from all the blogs involved. To learn more about our six-week tour and where we’ll be each week, check out our schedule.

Which site should I use?

One question that we tend to get asked a lot is for our advice on the best free press release distribution sites. People also typically ask that the sites have:

• PageRank (http://popuri.us/)
• Are dofollow. (To checkif a site is dofollow: highlight the link, right click > view source. If you see nofollow anywhere then its nofollow if you don't then its dofollow
• Have anchor text
• Last of all they want them to be free or affordable.

First, here’s what to look for in a press release distribution web site

1. Is the site indexed by Google News?
2. Does the site have a Google PageRank of at least 3?
3. Is the site ranked in the top 300k web sites? (see Alexa to check)
4. Does the site allow anchor text as well as links to URL?
5. Can you include an image or video with your press release to increase views?

The benefits of press releases for SEO include:

• Getting links from high traffic authority news sites like Yahoo News can help increase your performance in the search engines for your keywords.
• News sites tend to rank quite well for press releases on their web sites. If you do effective SEO on your press release, you could get some top rankings for your news.
• You get a substantial amount of exposure online because news sites help you get thousands of impressions to your press release. They also have RSS feeds and some sites also have an email list, giving you even more exposure  your press releases

For tips on writing your press release make sure you check out Michel Fortin's article on how to write a persuasive press release.

Once you add search engine optimization to your press release, where do you submit it?

There are many online newswires and free press release sites. The problem is many free sites aren’t worth your time and do nothing to help you. Sometimes highly rated press release web sites get downgraded by Google for having too much spammy content. That’s why it’s usually a good idea to pay for a site that reviews all submissions for quality. It’s not always true though.

Avoid outdated lists and consult our Ultimate List of over 135 press release distribution web sites, including the best free and low cost options.

Here are a few of our favorites:

Free
1. pr-inside.com - PR 6
2. free-press-release.com - PR 5
3. addpr.com - PR 3

Both Free and Paid Options
1. prlog.org - PR 6
2. i-newswire.com - PR 5
3. onlineprnews.com - PR 5

Paid
1. prweb.com - PR 7
2. prleap.com - PR 5

Contest! Enter to win Publicity Spark’s Ultimate Online PR Kit (Value $97)!
Go here to enter.

Does your service business cater to locals? Maybe you're a Realtor so your market is residents in Albany Ga who are looking for a new home. According to Google, 73% of online activity is related to local content. That means about 3/4 of online activity has a local intent.

I am on a mission to help service providers claim and optimize their listings because you are missing out on a lot of customers if you aren't found in the local search listings. It's easy to do and a website is not even required!

Here's a video from Google that does an awesome job of explaining Google Places and the local search listings.

Don't take my word for it. Listen to what these business owners have to say
about Google Places in these Case Studies.

If you need help claiming your listing, contact us and we'll help you claim it and optimize it so you can increase your local customer base!

Glennette Goodbread, Owner
Premium Web Design and Hosting

There are several local search engine-ranking factors to consider when optimizing your website for local search. These include:

Proper page titles – Each page of your site should have a unique name. The name should include targeted key phrases and your location at the minimum.

Address on every page – Put your business address on every single page of your site, the footer is a great place for this. Don’t just put your address and contact info on the contact page. Let Google have no doubt what your local business address is!

Get inbound links – Ask complementary businesses to yours in your local area to exchange links. Ask your customers who have websites to link to you. Offer a widget on your site so that people who like your site can share their love of your site with others on their blogs, social media, and websites easily.

Links within – Use local terms as the anchor text to link to other content within your site on every page of your website. For example, if you have written a blog post on your blue widgets and a blog post on servicing the widgets, you should link to the other article at the end of each blog post.

Other incoming links – Try to have incoming links use local terms or location as the anchor text whenever you have some control of the text used. It helps if your website has these terms within the domain name.

Pick a great domain – Choosing your domain name is very important. If you can, try to have your geographic location in your domain name. Also a term that states what you do, with no dashes. It should be a .com for the best results.

Local Business Directories – Ensure you are part of any relevant local business directories that have to do with your business. Such as the chamber of commerce site, any industry membership sites and even on sites with services complementary to yours.

Local information – Include, when relevant, local information such as your country, state, address, telephone number, zip code, nearby neighborhoods, area codes, airport codes, metro areas, area names including slang terms or terms the locals use anywhere on your site.  For instance, it’s not uncommon for locals to continue using an old name for a street or area when it’s been changed.

Keywords and phrases – Use the words locals may call your product or service in addition to the technical terms. Do not try to reinvent the wheel because it can take a long time to educate many people.

And now I’d like to invite you to take advantage of our Local Search Optimization package. We do all the work for you. We even do keyword research to ensure your business description is keyword-rich. Click to learn more about our Local Search Optimization package.

Glennette Goodbread, Owner
Premium Web Design and Hosting

Next in our series of Featured Albany Ga Business Owners is one of my Local Search clients, Tim Thomas. To submit your own business, please copy/paste the questions below and email them to me at g@premiumwebdesign.com. Please send a picture as well.

(1) Tell us about your business and what you do.

My Agency is a local, Albany/Leesburg, State Farm Insurance Agency. We help customers protect their Homes, Cars, Life and other Assets from unexpected losses with the use of Insurance products, whether
that be Car Insurance, Home Insurance, Renters Insurance, Life Insurance, Disability Insurance, Long Term Care Insurance or other related products.  We also finance cars.

(2) Where are you located?

I am located at 1800 N Slappey Blvd, Albany, GA  31701 (corner of 11th Ave and N Slappey Blvd).

(3) Do you have any ongoing special offers?

No

(4) What makes your business special/unique? Why would someone in Albany Georgia choose your business over another one?

We are local and specialize in personal service.  You can always call and speak immediately with a live person or come by my office for help.  Of course, you can correspond by email also.  We offer
Insurance and Financial Reviews to customer looking to identify all their risk, discounts and ways to save for their future.

(5) What are your preferred methods of contact?

Email: tim@timthomas.biz
Telephone: 229-436-0847
Website: www.timthomas.biz

(6) Is there anything you want my readers to know about you or your business that we haven't already covered?

My office serves customers all over the State of Georgia.

If you want to be on page one for your chosen keyword phrase, then you have to pay close attention to how you build your website, what platform you choose, what keywords you use, and all the possible optimization that you can do. Skipping any of these can move you off page one. And as research shows, most people don’t even look at page two when doing an Internet search.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) encompasses much more than we are covering in this one article, but it behooves you to learn all you can about SEO or hire an SEO professional who is well versed in the field and someone that you trust.

1. Web Design – How you want your website to look is very important to consider when you are building your site. It is important however, that you listen to your web site designer as well. The architecture of your site can have a major impact on how search engine friendly yours website is.

2. Web Delivery – Another aspect of web design, that is often not mentioned, is delivery of your site or what site you’re going to use. The platform you are going to use to build your website is an important choice. One of the most SEO friendly platforms today is WordPress due to the clean code it produces and the fact that it's so easy to keep the site updated and fresh. It’s also easy for you to learn to use. This way you’re not always dependent on your web designer to do everything once you’ve had the site built.

3. Domain name selection – It is important to pick a domain name that is informative, that has keywords in it, and even local terms in it. For instance if you’re a Dentist in Enterprise Alabama, you could name your domain something like EnterpriseFamilyDenistry.com or something that makes it easy for locals to find you.

4. On Page Optimization – Ensure that every page of your site is optimized in terms of keywords, local keywords, and industry keywords, popular slang, has your address, and has appropriate content and page names.

5. Off Page Optimization – This includes directory listings, blog postings, article marketing, footer information, other website and webpage commenting, affiliate marketing, review posting and RSS feed submissions to name a few.

6. Original Content – Ensure that the content you put on your website is original and designed just for you. Sure, it is okay to use a bit of PLR (private label rights) content to get started, but it should be rewritten enough that is considered original to the search engines, has your voice and is relevant to your audience.

7. Internal back links – When possible, include internal backlinks in your post (like I did in #6 above). This gives your readers more to read, and it also encourages the search engines to index more pages of your site.

Glennette Goodbread, Owner
Premium Web Design and Hosting

Here is today's interview in our series of Featured Albany Ga Business Owners. To submit your own business, just copy/paste the questions below and email them to me at g@premiumwebdesign.com. Please send a picture as well.

(1) Tell us about your business and what you do.

I am a self employed REALTOR associated with REMAX OF ALBANY INC.  I can list your home for Sale or Lease.  I can also sell you any home listed on the market at any capacity.  It does not matter who sign is in the Yard call on Vickie Giles-Griffin to be YOUR REALTOR OF CHOICE.  I also deal in forclosures and short sales.  Any questions call on me.

(2) Where are you located?

2535 Lafayette Plaza Suite D Albany Ga 31707

(3) Do you have any ongoing special offers?

FREE Market Analysis of What your Home is Worth!

(4) What makes your business special/unique? 

I have access being a REMAX agent to lots of inventory having the top agents working in my office.  Why would someone in Albany Georgia choose your business over another one?  We have the most SIGNS out in the Albany and Lee Co area.

(5) What are your preferred methods of contact?

Email: vgriffin@remax.net
Telephone: 229-317-4134

(6) Is there anything you want my readers to know about you or your business that we haven't already covered? 

I have lived in the Albany area all of my life and know the area very well.  I keep up with all of the new areas and know what goes on statistically in each of our areas.

That's it for today's interview! Stay tuned for more.

Glennette Goodbread, Owner
Premium Web Design and Hosting

Here is the third interview in our series of Featured Albany Ga Business Owners. I hope you are enjoying these and invite you to submit your own business. Just copy/paste the questions below and email them to me at g@premiumwebdesign.com. Please send a picture as well.

1 Key Realty LLC

(1) Tell us about your business and what you do.

1 Key Realty LLC - Full service real estate company offering sales, rentals, property management.  It's our job to help you find what  you want to buy! Selling, it's our goal to get you top dollar as quickly as possible. Renting we provide a list of our available rentals as well as a listing of other property management companies to help you find a home.

(2) Where are you located?

1013 Pine Ave - just behind Krispy Kreme Doughnuts  "sweetest location in town"

(3) Do you have any ongoing special offers?

Current clients receive a 10% discount off our rental storage units. Chamber members receive the lesser of 10% or $50 off first months rent.

Examples are: $50 discount for Chamber members, 15% off on the 1st Friday of each month, Kids eat free on Thursday, Senior discounts, etc. If not applicable to your industry, that's ok!

(4) What makes your business special/unique? Why would someone in Albany Georgia choose your business over another one?

We have a unique blend of experience with a Broker of  years who is also a certified yoga instructor with a partner who is a CPA.  Combined experience and knowledge to help you get the most from your real estate needs - buying, selling, leasing, investing.

(5) What are your preferred methods of contact?

Email:              jackie@1key4me.com
Telephone:       229-883-6155 or 229-669-5004
Website:           www.1key4me.com
LinkedIn:  jackie@1key4me.com

(6) Is there anything you want my readers to know about you or your business that we haven't already covered?

We believe in customer service. Our clients are our best resource! Ask around about how we manage our property and how we service our clients. We offer 24/7 service. Call for a free consultation! Need to know what your house is worth, get a free Market Analysis.  Not sure how much house you can buy? We can estimate a mortgage based on what you feel you can afford to pay monthly.

Stay tuned for more interviews with Albany Georgia business owners!

Glennette Goodbread, Owner
Premium Web Design and Hosting

Here is the next interview in our series of Featured Albany Ga Business Owners.

The Albany Journal

(1) Tell us about your business and what you do.

The Albany Journal, Albany's 100-percent local newspaper, has been in continuous production since 1939. The Journal provides readers with an insightful, meaningful look into local government and community activities and events. And it still only costs 50 cents! Need to promote your business? We offer the best value for the buck with rates as low as $12 per week.

(2) Where are you located?

We are at 230 S. Jackson St. Suite 160. Our mailing address is P.O. Box 71371 Albany GA 31708.

(3) Do you have any ongoing special offers?

Subscribers who mention our Albany Area Chamber of Commerce member special receive a free 6-month subscription with the purchase of a full-year subscription. So, for just $39, Chamber members can receive The Albany Journal in the mail for 18 months!

(4) What makes your business special/unique? Why would someone in Albany Georgia choose your business over another one?

We tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. Our niche is hard-hitting news coverage, our comprehensive calendar of events, and the best lineup of contributing writers in southwest Georgia.

(5) What are your preferred methods of contact?

Email: news@thealbanyjournal.com
Telephone: (229) 435-6222
Website: www.TheAlbanyJournal.com
Facebook fan page: www.Facebook.com/TheAlbanyJournal
Twitter: twitter.com/#!/AlbanyJournal
LinkedIn: Yes -- via Kevin Hogencamp

(6) Is there anything you want my readers to know about you or your business that we haven't already covered?

Here are some additional features of The Albany Journal: Lots of local columns; school news, faith news, sports news, obituaries, "The Best Local Calendar in Albany", "Nite Trax," "A Health Albany," the New York Times Crossword Puzzle, TV guide, and our popular "Whatcha-Say Albany?" community forum. Got news? We'll get it in the paper. Just send us an e-mail or give us a call.

Stay tuned for more interviews with Albany Georgia business owners!

Glennette Goodbread, Owner
Premium Web Design and Hosting

This is the first of many interviews I'll be doing to feature Albany Ga Business Owners. Today, we're going to learn more about AddTran Motor Line, Inc.

(1)  Tell us about your business and what you do.

AddTran Motor Line, Inc is a motor carrier based out of Albany, GA. We transport freight across the Southeastern United States. We handle all types of non-hazmat, dry freight.

“I do not recall a time when AddTran was not able to offer a solution to answer our transportation needs.”

Alan Lowe
Manager – Revenue & Outsourcing
VF Jeanswear, LP

(2) Where are you located? Do you have multiple locations?

705 McCollum Dr
Albany, GA 31701

(3) Do you have any ongoing special offers? If so, please share them with my readers.

No.

(4) What makes your business special/unique? Why would someone in Albany Georgia choose your business over another one?

The transportation industry is saturated with unprofessional and inexperienced people. We hold our drivers and our company to a higher standard with greater requirements for hiring and more stringent expectations on our dealings with customers.

(5) What are your preferred methods of contact?

Email: aml@addtran.com

Telephone: 229-888-1480

Fax: 804-302-7951

Website: www.addtran.com

Aaron Herring - Terminal Manager - Aaron.herring@addtran.com

Wayne Cooper - Operations - Wayne.cooper@addtran.com

Linda Davis - President - Linda.davis@addtran.com

AddTran Motor Line, Inc. (These are transportation codes listed below to identify our company)

MC 730375
USDOT 2093728
SCAC AXMB

Our other company:

Addtran Logistics, Inc. is based in Albany , GA and has been in operation since 2002.

AddTran has a carrier base of 10,000+ carriers and adds new carriers daily.

Our main concentration of freight is in the Southeast but we do service the lower 48 states.

AddTran can help you with your LTL , export/import, or rail needs.

MC 441427

Company name: AddTran Logistics, Inc.

Docket number: MC-441427

Business address:

2610 Dawson Road, Suite 17 | Albany Ga 31707

Mailing address:

P.O. BOX 71946 | Albany Ga 31708

Business telephone: (229) 438-0141
Mail telephone: (229) 438-0141
Business fax: (229) 438-7876

Contacts for AddTran Logistics:

Phone: 800-745-1579
Fax: 229-438-8371

General dispatch: dispatch@addtran.com

Customer service: customerservice@addtran.com

Accounting: admin@addtran.com

For rate inquiries please use customerservice@addtran.com rather than individual e-mails. You will receive the fastest response this way.

Addison Davis - President - Addison.davis@addtran.com

Linda Davis - Vice President - Linda.davis@addtran.com

Teri Thomas - Customer Service - terithomas@addtran.com

Clara Griffin - Customer Service - Clara.griffin@addtran.com

Lee Tennyson - Customer Service - Lee.tennyson@addtran.com

Ruby Hopper - Dispatch Manager - Ruby.hopper@addtran.com

Stay tuned for more interviews with Albany Georgia business owners!

Glennette Goodbread, Owner
Premium Web Design and Hosting

While it can take a lot of work to improve your local search engine results, it is possible to do by making just a few adjustments to how you do things. If you’re not doing it yourself, speak to your web designer about how to improve your local search engine ranking on your chosen keywords.

Go mobile – Mobile device adoption is outpacing computer purchases two to one. Therefore, it is imperative that you create both a normal website and one that is viewable with mobile devices. Your web designer can make this adjustment by adding a mirror site that is mobile friendly.

Use Craig’s List – While many things on Craig’s list are spam, you can still place advertisements for your products or services for free. This will provide an incoming link to your website. In addition, since most people look for things local to them on Craig’s list, it will improve your traffic.

Content Marketing – Write locally targeted articles that are placed on various article-marketing sites. You can even offer your local content to other locally focused content websites. Simply find them, and ask them, and it’s more than likely they’ll say yes.

Check & use your metrics – Always read your metrics and use the information to improve. If you look at the keywords that Google says people are using to find your site, it can help you improve and offer more of what your audience wants.

Create local content – Ensure that your content is local in nature and mentions your area, as well as neighboring areas that you wish to serve.

Geo-target ads – If you place advertisements make sure that they are targeted to the location you want to serve. You can do this well with Google ads, Facebook ads and LinkedIn ads. Also, contact local websites and find out the price to place ads on busy local sites.

Join local communities – Today there are many local online communities in which you can be a part. Make sure that you have a listing, and then participate in a meaningful way that is not “salesy” in nature. You can localize Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.com, so don’t forget these social networks.

Promote coupons – There are a lot of opportunities today for promoting coupons. For example, you can use Google places, Yelp!, Groupon, Foursquare and many others. Just make sure that you put the right keywords and keyword phrases and localize your contents and coupons.

Encourage reviews – A lot of people who have locally focused products and services are afraid to open up their website for comments and reviews. However,  doing so will not only improve the trust you receive from people, but it will help you improve your products and services.

Add photographs – Use appropriate photos of your products and services. Where you can, ensure that you have the proper “local alt tags” included with the photographs for the search engines to notice.

Glennette Goodbread, Owner
Premium Web Design and Hosting

With the advent of Google, Yahoo, Bing and other search engines, you may wonder if the yellow pages are obsolete. The truth is, with proper care to website creation you don’t need to spend money or sign huge contracts with the yellow pages or the newspaper. You might even be able to let go of your radio ads. Here are a few tips to get you started on creating a website that will get you noticed without spending a continuous fortune with the yellow pages.

Address on every page – Ensure that your address of your business is on every page. The footer is a fine place to do this but also have a special contact page. This is what people look for when they are on your site. The footer is more for the search engines than for people, but make sure that address is there.

Internal links – Link to other information within your website at the end of blog posts, or articles or other pages that use local terms as the anchor text. Linking within your own site should not be overlooked as an important way to increase search engine results as well as readership.

SEO – Search engine optimization consists of everything on this page and a lot more. Therefore, make sure you know what it is and that you or your web designer knows and understands what SEO is. Blog about complementary services to yours – better yet ask people with local complementary businesses to provide the content for you that you will put in your blog for them. Offer it as a service to them rather than a favor to you.

Proper Meta tags – Some people say that meta tags do not matter anymore but many of them are crucial. There is a lot to coding a site properly when it comes to meta tags. These are tags that you do not see but the search engines see that identify a lot about your website.

Hire a good web designer – If you’re not doing it yourself, resist the temptation to hire your friend’s son or someone who is not a real web designer with a real business. Building a website is an art form that involves both design and delivery aspects. If you are looking for a web designer in Albany Ga who has 12 years experience, click that link and likely your search will be over. Contact me today and I promise you will be pleased!

Glennette Goodbread, Owner
Premium Web Design and Hosting

Optimizing your site for local search is very important when it comes to marketing your business locally. This is true whether your business is a brick and mortar or not. You cannot just stick up a website and expect people to come. You have to do what needs to be done to attract the specific traffic that you need. I know you don't have much time in your day so please know that you can outsource every tip on this page and we will take care of it all.

1. Add local content --  Create content that is locally targeted using local keywords, local slang, and local names for your product or service that are used locally.

2. Link locally – Ask complementary local services sites to link to you and you can link to them as well. While one way is better, it is also beneficial if you link to quality websites and services that are local to you. Just ensure that they are complementary to you and not competition.

3. Do local reviews -- You can list your own products and services and have others review them right on your blog; you can also review complementary sites and services as well. The important thing is use keywords that are local keywords and phrases.

4. Use rich snippets – If you use rich snippets on your site, Google will pick it up and then those snippets will be listed with your links. There are various kinds of snippets such as micro-data, icro-formats, and RDFa which are machine-readable data that will display in a specific way. To learn more about this you can ask your web designer.

5. Cover local happenings – You can also write blog posts and articles about local happenings and occurrences that have to do with your niche. Sometimes it’s okay if it doesn’t have to do with your niche as long as it’s interesting to your target market and includes keywords and keyword phrases that bring in your targeted traffic.

6. Have a community calendar – It is a nice touch to create a community calendar that your audience can add events to and that you can add events to. Make sure each addition includes local keywords and phrases.

7. Blog about local events – Each time an addition is added it can automatically be parsed to the blog, thus adding even more local content to your website.

8. Interview locals for vlogs – Add testimonials from your clients and locals that come into your store or use your services to your blog. These can be in the form of text or even video.

9. Enroll in placeblogger.com – You can find local bloggers who might want to blog about your business or whom you may want to link to there.

10. Ask for local contributors – Ask locals to contribute to your blog. Just ensure they are not your immediate competition. Ideally, you’ll find complementary services who will want to contribute. In addition, contribute to their blogs.

Action Plan: Start at #1 and do one each week. And now I’d like to invite you to take advantage of our Local Search Optimization package. We do all the work for you. We even do keyword research to ensure your business description is keyword-rich. Click to learn more about our Local Search Optimization package. I'm here to help you if you need some professional assistance!

Glennette Goodbread, Owner
Premium Web Design and Hosting