1 (3s):
Shake the room, Fire Nation. JLD here and welcome to Entrepreneurs On Fire brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network with great shows like the MarTech podcast. Today, we'll be breaking down how to dominate your local market on Google to drop these value bombs. I brought John Vuong and to EOFire studios. John is the owner and founder of a Local SEO Search. He works with small and medium-sized businesses to help them rank on Google and grow their business. And today Fire Nation, we'll be talking about SEO, the difference between local and global, how to optimize GMB, Google my business. And we'll talk about eat expertise, authoritativeness and trustworthiness.

1 (45s):
So much valuable stuff. In this episode, Fire Nation. When we get back from thanking our sponsors, easy to start and built to customize Thinkific enables thousands of entrepreneurs to run their training remotely, to learn more about their biggest deal of the year. Go to thinkific.com/firefriday. That's T H I N K I F I C.com/firefriday. Stories are what help us connect and relate, which is why hearing someone else's story to success can help us clearly map out our own. That's why I'm excited to share the female startup club podcast tune in for stories and insights from the world's most successful female founders today, listen to the female startup club, wherever you get your podcasts.

1 (1m 33s):
John say what's up to Fire Nation and share something that you believe about becoming successful that most people disagree with.

0 (1m 43s):
Thank you. JLD excited to be here. Time and wisdom provides a great perspective on success. And usually it is a 20 year overnight success story. So you got to put in that daily grind, hourly work training, harvesting great habits, growth mindsets to overcome hurdles on a daily basis to become successful. So

1 (1m 35s):
Fire Nation, as I told you the introduction, we're talking about how to dominate your local markets on Google, and we're going to get into that local market sooner than later, but so many people in my audience, John have heard these three letters for decades now, but I want once and for all to really break it down.

1 (2m 29s):
What is SEO?

0 (2m 34s):
For me, SEO is getting your website naturally or organically appearing on that first page of Google where prime real estate exists. It's not paid for, but earned naturally. And when you start earning real estate on that first page of Google, then users, your ideal customers will trust. You will click on site of yours and then we'll make a transaction. Hopefully that will lead to more revenue, sales and profit.

1 (3m 7s):
I love how you broke that down in a very easily understand and digest the bull type of maneuver. So appreciate that. And I do want to really spend a lot of time today on talking about the difference between local and global SEO. And of course, how those listeners of ours who are local businesses, how they can really dominate this. So what are the differences between local SEO and global SEO?

0 (3m 34s):
Oh, SEO is all about transactions with products and services that are within your region, city neighborhood and within maybe a 5, 10 20 mile radius, because typically your users and me included, we do a lot of research online. We search by keywords for any topics, any questions, any how to videos, but typically when they're ready to buy the shop locally with a signal at the end, that is a parameter of city specific or region specific. And I come to believe that yellow pages was really what Google came about with, they did it way better, more efficient with amount of content that was allowing them to be a global dominant player.

0 (4m 28s):
So yellow pages had a great business for over a hundred years. And Google took off with really just adding that local signal that allowed people to appear on the map where yellow pages dominated. And then they pretty much replaced that phone book to this global Google of local search results.

1 (4m 49s):
So I'm born in 1979. So I'm actually a seventies child. I'm basically either the youngest generation X-er or the youngest or the oldest millennial. I'm one of the two I'm right on that kind of transitionary point. So I'm either a gen X-er and on the super young side, or again, that millennial super on the old side. So I do remember the phone book. I remember my dad as a lawyer spending a lot of time just being like how much money do I want to spend to advertise in the yellow pages? Like how big is my ad? I want to be how many words can I use all this stuff? So it's really interesting how quickly we've evolved over time.

1 (5m 30s):
That's just going to continue Fire Nation. So let's talk about small businesses and how they have a leg up over large corporations. What exactly do you see in this area

0 (5m 41s):
With local small or medium sized businesses? We are much more nimble. We're actually able to pivot with trends, speaking to the real customers that engage with them on a daily basis. And that allows you a competitive edge to create content, to really address any of the current concerns that your customers have versus larger brands that have multiple locations across the world, where they have systems and processes, and they have to deploy it across many channels to finally make it work. So you probably have three to six months ahead of what larger brands can keep Lee do for the SMB market.

0 (6m 23s):
So running a, a lawyer, a law firm locally, you have that nimble competitive edge to provide content and address any concerns to position yourself as leaders in this new digital age that will give you that competitive edge to outrank the larger brands.

1 (6m 42s):
So, one thing that I really want to focus on before the break here is GMB and Fire Nation. That means Google my business. I mean, basically it's what happens when people Google your business and, or your industry. So let's talk about ways that we can both claim and optimize our GMB again, Google my business.

0 (7m 6s):
Yeah. Over half of the businesses today have yet to claim their GMB listing, which means if you are in a business that services a clients, locally service based or product based, you have a storefront or your service kind of industry, you have the opportunity to be on that map to then optimize it so that when people are looking, you will then be able to reach a larger radius. You will then be known in your market on that three pack for all the services that you offer. And you can optimize with reviews, images, categories, way more content, because you can add blog posts.

0 (7m 47s):
But first you've got to claim it. You have to reach out to Google, let them know you own the business that you're trying to claim. And it's very similar to a Facebook page, a Twitter page, Instagram page. You can claim your business, Google my business page to then optimize and have the opportunity to dominate that real estate of SEO for Google my business. And that's what I always address small business owners to do at least be ahead of what these 50, 50% of the other businesses aren't doing and then optimize for it so that you will appear on that local three pack where a majority of the people who are searching for their services start at, and that gives you a competitive edge and will generate you a lot more ready to buy customers.

1 (8m 36s):
I think that's a fascinating statistic Fire Nation. I mean, over half of businesses, haven't even claimed that their GMB, I mean, let alone optimize. And this is what John really wants you to understand is that there's a huge opportunity here to get way ahead of the curve. And so what people are actually using, not the past here, we're talking about today, the present and the future. So get ahead of this game. Momentum really counts. First mover advantage really counts here in Google. Now we're going to be talking about strategies to create content. That's our potential future clients actually want to consume. We talk about another acronym called eat and so much more.

1 (9m 18s):
When we get back from think an hour answers, it's hard to believe we're approaching the end of another year and now more than ever. It's so important that we as business owners are connecting with our customers. It's a busy buying time and the more touch points you can create the better. So how do you create these touch points with a HubSpot CRM platform, a platform ready to help you connect the dots with your business and your customers, whether you're just getting your business up and running or scaling to what's next, a couple of ways a HubSpot CRM platform can help you connect. The dots is with brand new custom behavioral events in their operations hub enterprise. With custom behavioral events, you can get into the details of what makes your customers tick track site behavior and understand customer habits.

1 (10m 2s):
So, you know, what type of messaging to use and when and their operations hub enterprise will give your operation leads. The ability to curate data sets for faster and more consistent reporting, keeping everyone on the same page at all times, learn more about how the HubSpot CRM platform can help connect your business@hubspot.com. One of the number one challenges, entrepreneurs face is figuring out how to scale. You don't want to trade your time for money because eventually you run out of time. And when you max out your time working one to one with clients, what do you do here at entrepreneurs on fire? We've been using Thinkific since 2017 to solve this challenge by delivering knowledge to thousands of entrepreneurs around the world.

1 (10m 43s):
With online courses, as a result, we've seen a huge lift in revenue without needing to trade time for money, but don't just take my word for it. Sarah Cordiner CEO of Main Training was also max out, delivering work for her clients. Her options were that she could hire more people, raise prices or introduce online courses to her business. With Thinkific. She has educated over 9,000 students in 131 countries. It has increased her profit margin 100% from previous years, all that without trading in her precious time. If you're ready to scale your business now is the time with biggest deal of the year. Visit thinkific.com/firefriday. That's T H I N K I F I C.com/firefriday.

1 (11m 26s):
John we're back. And one stressor that I get a lot from my listeners is okay. I know that I have to create content. And I knew I had to be consistent with this content, but what the heck do I create? How do I know that my time is being used most effectively? And I'm not wasting my time and what platforms and all these different things let's talk once. And for all about the best strategy to create content that our avatars, our clients, customers, whoever that might be actually want consume.

0 (11m 54s):
So first you have to determine where are they seeking out content in the first place, which platform and which medium, because there's different forms of media, audio, video images, and written. And on top of that, what channels are they consuming it in? Is it social media? Is it on a blog? Is it on podcast? There's a lot of information out there to then dominate for keywords that people are actually seeking out. But what I always advise people to do is speak to your customers who will give you the real answers of what they are looking for, what are their pain points and problems and challenges.

0 (12m 35s):
So you can address it with a great in-depth quality content, rich information that really supports your cause, right? To help transition and position you as a leader, when you start creating good content in a blog format, video format, it's all to address that. Trust the authority of you becoming that leader, that expert in whatever small business that you own, because that's what customers are really looking for. What is the problem that I have? Can you address it with a solution and why should I come to you in the first place?

0 (13m 15s):
Can I do it myself or will I pay someone to do it? Because I can't do it myself and I'm not interested in doing it. So I'd rather high up hire a service provider or someone to do it for them,

1 (13m 28s):
Fire Nation. I really hope you're understanding this real world application of how you can create, not just content, but consistent content that people in your industry will actually want to consume this, going to help you in this world that we're talking about. Now, John, I'm going to ask you to give us a real world example about this, about something maybe that you've done, the one of your clients have done in this arena, but to give you a second or two to think about it, I'm actually gonna give Fire Nation a specific call to action here, sit down, Fire Nation, sit down and write out 20 of the top problems that your ideal customers, clients that they have on a daily, weekly, monthly basis.

1 (14m 9s):
And guess what you creating the solution, the answers to those problems is your next 20 pieces of content. I mean, it really can be that simple. And then what I love to make people realize is solutions begets more struggles, more obstacles, more challenges, because once you solve one thing, guess what? Down the road, another problem crops up. So once you get those 20 written down, those you're not going to run out of things. By the end of those 20, you're going to have a lot of things coming up along the way. There's going to continue to add to your bank of this great content. So John, while I was talking there, what is that fantastic real-world example you thought of,

0 (14m 48s):
When I look at the SMB market, caters restaurants, people that really got disrupted during this pandemic, I'm here to service and help them more than ever, right? Because during this time of transition challenges arise. But for me as an SEO provider, I'm really looking to help real business owners that have real responsibilities to survive, to support their family, community, and their customers. And not only that staff. So when I was able to see all this unfolding, I addressed all their concerns. I really work with them. I listen, I had phone one-on-one conversations with them and came up with a plan to not only service them, better, add more value, but that now that things are opening, they've seen a five, 10 X amount of lead gen from our SEO campaigns, because we were able to address all their concerns and be more optimistic in the future because when things opened up, now I'm able to capitalize on all the other companies and businesses that we're not able to address and pivot and look at the trends that were going to be happening in not a local market, but global markets.

1 (16m 7s):
Well, so John, you have another acronym. I've kind of teased it already a little bit, actually did break it down in the intro, which is eat expertise, authoritativeness and trust worthiness. How can we position ourselves as an authority in Google's eyes using this acronym?

0 (16m 26s):
A lot of people don't understand is you've probably been in business for 5, 10, 20 years without even knowing it because you've have a really good, you know, history in terms of work experience, a lot of history in terms of actually dealing with customers. So put that story together, look at all your testimonials case studies, associations that you're a part of memberships. And even look at the content that you've been producing. Maybe you're a blogger or you've been guest posting in different sites, or you've been on podcasts because it's all about amplifying. What, what Google is looking for is someone they can trust.

0 (17m 7s):
And if you've done a lot of this work in the backend, that's what you should be putting out there, letting people in on why you should be that expert leader for the users to then want to click on your website because it is expertise, authority, and trust, and that's an acronym of eat. And what Google's looking for is the best websites to match the user's intent so that when you start positioning yourself on that first page of Google, you want people engage to trust that website, to not bounce off that website and press that back button. Instead, they want someone that knows what they're doing and then follow by staying on the website longer and taking action

1 (17m 53s):
User experience. And this comes with everything Fire Nation. How are you improving your customers' experience? Your users, experience your client's experience, the people who are consuming your content, their experience that's what's going to win out. So this is something that Google figured out way before other search engines, the best user experience wins. Yahoo had a terrible user experience. Infoseek Alta Vista, terrible user experiences. And guess what? Google won because they provided the best user experience. And it's going to continue to double down on that and that's across all different platforms. So John you've broken down a lot of really powerful things when it comes to SEO, you know, specifically in the local area, I think there's a lot of great takeaways here.

1 (18m 39s):
Anybody listening to this that has a local business, that doesn't go out and apply these things right away. Like what are you waiting for? But John, give us the final takeaway. What is the one big thing you want to make sure Fire Nation really gets from everything that we talked about here today. How can we connect with you in your company? Any call to action you have for us. And then we'll say goodbye.

0 (19m 2s):
SEO is a long-term game. But if you stay the course, you trust your business. You know that people out there are always looking for your product and service. And if you're not being known, you're not visible. You're not attracting the type of clients that you're looking to attract. There's a lot of different media choices out there. There's a lot of paid ad choices, but earning your way on that first page of Google gives you prime real estate to not just get unlimited clicks to your website, more traffic readied by customers, but not just that the best ROI for your investment.

0 (19m 42s):
Then of course, what I have to offer for all your audience members today, JLG is we are offering one free month to anyone that signs up on this episode, just referenced local SEO, search.ca/fire. We've created a landing page for all the listeners and we're looking forward to addressing and helping all the SMBs who are listening to this

1 (20m 8s):
Fire Nation. You're the average of the five people you spend the most time with. And you've been hanging out with JV and JLD today. So keep up the heat. And if you head over to EOFire.com and just type John, J O H N in the search bar, he's shown us page will pop up with everything that we've been talking about here today, John, one more time. What's that direct call to action,

0 (20m 29s):
localseosearch.ca/fire. It's one free month of that SEO campaign, a full service boutique agency style for all SMBs who are listening. Both.

1 (20m 44s):
John, thank you for sharing your truth, your knowledge, your value with Fire Nation. Today, for that we salute you and we'll catch you on the flip side. Thank you. Hey, Fire Nation, today's value bomb content was brought to you by John and Fire Nation. Successful entrepreneurs accomplish big goals, which is why I created the freedom journal to guide you in accomplishing your number one goal in a hundred days. And we're talking step by step. So visit the freedom journal.com and I'll catch you there, or I'll catch you on the flip side, easy to start and built the customize Thinkific enables thousands of entrepreneurs to run their training remotely, to learn more about their biggest deal of the year.

1 (21m 26s):
Go to thinkific.com/firefriday. That's T H I N K I F I C.com/firefriday. Stories are what help us connect and relate, which is why hearing someone else's story to success can help us clearly map out our own. That's why I'm excited to share the female startup club podcast tune in for stories and insights from the world's most successful female founders today, listen to the female startup club, wherever you get your podcasts.