Keyword research is the process of discovering relevant, traffic producing search phrases that people (potential customers) are actively searching for. People look to Google for answers to the questions they have, and companies that provide the goods and services that they want and need.

The Process

Without going into great detail on the keyword research process itself, essentially, we want to create a list of phrases that meet the following criteria:

• Good traffic potential – We want phrases that enough people are searching for to make it worth your while. Google Adwords offers a free keyword tool that is really helpful with this. It will even suggest additional keyword phrases based on your core list of phrases and website.
• Attainable – We use a keyword difficulty tool by SEOmoz.com that tests how difficult it will be to rank well for a particular phrase. This tool takes a close look at the sites currently ranking in the top 20 for the phrase and determines how much work will be involved to leapfrog those sites.
• Highly Relevant – It won’t do you much good to rank first for a phrase that isn’t relevant to your business. The whole point of getting increased traffic to your site is to convert them into leads or paying customers. The more relevant the phrase is, the higher the conversion rate will be.

Success Story

Unless you are doing something really bad, you should rank pretty well for your company name, and phrases that contain your company name. If people want to find your business, they will find you 99 percent of the time.

The key to a successful, traffic-producing website is to rank really well for phrases that don’t use your name. Here’s a real example of what I’m talking about:

Bench Solution, a client of ours, manufactures a really slick garage workbench that mounts to the wall, and folds down when it’s not in use–saving valuable garage space.

Naturally, a person who does a search for “folding workbench” would be a highly relevant visitor to their website, so ranking well a phrase like this is a great way open their virtual doors to these new, potential customers–who otherwise wouldn’t have found their site. Because this was a phrase we targeted from our initial keyword research, we were able to develop an SEO “game plan” to target it.  Check out how it’s doing:

If you are interested in learning more about the keyword research process, or are interested in a free website analysis, we would love to hear from you.

If you ask anyone here at Metro Studios, you’ll likely hear that one of the best parts of our job is the opportunity to work with such a diverse, interesting group of clients. A website is not merely a website. It is a vehicle by which companies and organizations can better meet and surpass their business goals. Each great website should start with the end-goal in mind.

There are several factors that come into play that help make a website truly successful. A well-optimized website and an ongoing SEO strategy can drive new, relevant and unsuspecting visitors to your website. Once they are there, a striking, clean, user-friendly web design combined with well-written web content can help turn those unsuspecting visitors into actual customers. Smart web applications (such as submission forms, calendars, etc.) can not only enhance the user experience—it can also improve productivity at your workplace by streamlining tedious, time-consuming paperwork and tasks.

When building a new site, or redesigning an existing one, we work closely with each client to create a website that helps accomplish their business goals, and hopefully saves them time and energy in the process.

Each web project that we are awarded presents unique and exciting challenges. We view each site as an opportunity to learn and improve, and we can then pass that knowledge and experience on to future clients. We are able to do what we are passionate about because we have amazing clients who instill trust in us, and for that, we’d like to collectively say “Thank You!”

We’d like to share some of our most recent projects. If you take the time to check out some of these websites and learn a little about each of these organizations, we think you’ll understand why the employees at Metro Studios consider our clients to be one of the rewarding aspects of our jobs.

Cedar Rapids CVB

We worked with the fine people at the Cedar Rapids Convention & Visitors Bureau to create a site as fresh and cutting-edge as the city they represent. This vibrant website offers an easy-to-navigate membership directory that allows people to find what they are looking for in a matter of seconds. It’s truly a great resource for anyone seeking information about the great city of Cedar Rapids, and what it has to offer.

Bench Solution

If you’re like most people, space is at a premium at your home. If that’s the case, you must check this site out! This wall-mounted garage workbench is seriously a great investment for those looking to add functional work space without sacrificing precious floor space.

IdealWall is the perfect compliment to the workbench. Learn how this high-quality, attractive slatwall system can help keep your garage clutter-free.

Infinity Contact

Infinity Contact provides cutting-edge contact center solutions to give clients an edge in today’s fast paced, competitive market. They collaborate with clients to Get Customers, Keep Customers and maximize customer lifetime value.

CRDR Homes

“Smart Homes. Smart Buyers.” That’s the tagline for CRDR Homes. We worked with them to build a smart website as well, befitting of a company who has earned a reputation as one of the most trusted new home builders in Cedar Rapids and throughout Eastern Iowa. CRDR Homes insists on a commitment to superior quality, design excellence and attention to customer service.

Take a look at their work.

EZ Web Contacts

EZ Web Contacts is a convenient online contact store with a social conscience. For every box of contacts ordered, $1.00 will be donated to the nonprofit, Spanda Inc., to further vision care needs throughout the world community.

EZ Web Contacts offers all your favorite brands and colors.

Hunter Companies

We worked with Hunter Companies to construct a website that showcases the quality and scope of their design build construction services.

At Hunter Companies, their goal isn’t to be the biggest contractor in town—simply the best.

Hiawatha Bank & Trust

When you step inside Hiawatha Bank, it feels like you are banking with friends. We worked with our friends at Hiawatha Bank to build a website that represented their personality, and incorporated the advanced banking tools and features that their customers can appreciate.

Three Hills Rodeo

Three Hills Rodeo puts on a show that generates fun and excitement for the masses. We worked with them to develop a site that incorporated the spirit of the rodeo.

If you haven’t been to the rodeo lately, check out the rodeo photos from recent events to see what you’ve been missing.

Ramsey Communications

Ramsey Communications provides a portfolio of business and technology solutions that enable their clients to improve their business performance. From structured cabling to wireless communications systems, you can rely on them for secure, high-performance network infrastructures.

Don’t just take our word for it.

Genova Technologies, Inc.

Genova Technologies, Inc. is a national systems, software, and IT services provider with specific expertise in the aerospace, defense, and health information technology segments. Genova builds enduring relationships by employing an engineering development methodology that consistently delivers on specification, on time, and on budget.

How do you get the look and feel of cinematic film at a lower video price tag?

Now that local TV stations are broadcasting local commercial breaks in HD, it’s time to take the visuals of your products or services to the next level.

Just shoot your next commercial or video with an HDSLR video camera (High Definition Single Lens Reflex).

With a great creative idea, Metro can produce your commercial or video to look and feel like a national commercial, without the time and expense of the large crew and equipment.  Take a look at this recent TV campaign produced by Metro Studios:

Shooting your next commercial or video with an HDSLR camera will make your business stand out from your competition.

So, how can it look like an expensive film shoot?

• The camera’s sensor reacts and feels like film.
• The sensor is 2 to 3 times larger than a typical video camera chip, so it captures light better.
• Varying frame rates give the professional photographer numerous options.
• The edges of the HD format are softened; they don’t look sharp and plastick-y.
• The camera utilizes many different film lenses. These lenses are higher quality than most video lenses, offering a more true reproduction of the image.
• Use a professional photographer who is very experienced with lighting and composition, and who understands and utilizes the short depth-of-field.
• It’s still a normal digital Photo Camera, so we can shoot digital stills for you, too!
• More reasons than you can imagine!

An HDSLR camera is basically the same as traditional professional movie cameras, which often cost more than $50,000. For this reason, prime time television shows have been using HDSLR cameras rather than traditional movie cameras.

View our equipment list

We’d love to take these cameras out for a spin for your next video project!

Here are some suggestions for encouraging more reviews of your business. Some come from my own experiences as a review site “super user” and some are just good old fashioned common sense. Your comments are welcome. Just no 1-star ratings please!

1. Participate in the best review sites. Not all review sites are created equal. Look for those that have features to reduce fake reviews and give business owners tools for responding to reviews. Activate your business account and optimize your business listing (it’s free). By claiming your listing you will receive notices when new reviews are posted and traffic reports on how many users viewed your business page each week.
2. Be proactive with all your reviews. Thank your reviewers for their feedback, both positive and negative, in a timely manner. Yelp.com, the largest review site, allows business owners to respond publically or privately to your reviews. A personal message is a great way to acknowledge a reviewer and it shows you’re paying attention as the business owner. Caution: don’t be rude or defensive in any way. I’ve seen this backfire big time when a reviewer publicly posted the business owner’s rude response with their updated (and even more negative) review! Be sure to see my upcoming post on how to respond effectively to negative reviews.
3. Take advantage of offers on your listing page. Some review sites such as Yelp allows businesses to post offers on their listing page. Since users of these sites are more likely to be active reviewers themselves, you are directing your offer to the top online “influencers”.
4. Link to review sites on your website. Include the site logo with your other social media links, “Follow us on…” Again, I would only link to the most responsible online review sites like Yelp.
5. Promote your presence on review sites. Add a link in your e-newsletter, include it in your advertising and social media pages. You can even blog about your reviews and link back to the actual review page. Don’t let a few negative posts make you want to run and hide. Your existing customer base obviously thinks well of you or they wouldn’t be doing business with you, so preach it to your choir!
6. Point-of-Sale signage. Many review sites offer point of sale materials, such as static clings and stickers that retailers can attach to their door or cash register to promote their site.
7. Be active in the Online Community. Be an active reviewer yourself. It’s a great way to gain understanding of the community and fun to do! Just don’t review your own business or your competitors. You’ll likely get caught at it and the penalty isn’t with the risk.

Lastly, it is considered bad etiquette to directly solicit friends and customers for reviews. And quite frankly, this tactic may not do any good. Some review sites have developed algorithms to filter out reviews from one-time reviewers or those with incomplete profiles because they tend to be less credible or even fake. However, promoting your business’s presence on a particular review sites is a good practice and will naturally lead to more and better quality reviews. As mentioned in my previous post, online reviews not only benefit your website’s search engine optimization, but your word of mouth advertising!

***

Speaking of word of mouth advertising–with Father’s Day right around the corner, here’s an awesome gift idea for Dad. This folding workbench by Bench Solution is a great way to add functionality and save garage space. He’ll love this garage workbench…and so will Mom!

When I sold advertising space the thing I heard most often from small business owners is “word of mouth” is their most effective advertising. Of course we all know this to be true. We’re more likely to try a new restaurant when it comes highly recommended by a trusted friend. When making important decisions such as choosing a family doctor or buying a new car we usually turn to others around us and ask who they use. The internet has made word of mouth easier than ever, even between strangers, with social media tools and user review sites such as Yelp.

Business owners have a vested interest in this online chatter. According to Kudzu.com, 86% of consumers read online business reviews before making purchasing decisions. While many businesses hate the idea of online reviews, they can no longer ignore them. Search engines like Google now considers numerous reviews a positive factor in determining ranking results for local searches. As long as you’re a reputable business, there’s no reason to fear customer reviews and there’s every reason to encourage them.

I’m an active user on a number of online review sites and my observation is that businesses that that have the most reviews also tend to be higher rated overall. The negative reviews can even give more creditability to the positive ones since it’s a sign they’re genuine. It stands to reason that customers with extraordinary experiences – good or bad, would be more motivated to write online reviews. But what about the broad middle ground of your customers who are quietly satisfied with your services? They might need some encouragement. See my post on “Seven Tips for Getting more Online Reviews.”

****

It’s pool season. Pool owners can save money, save time and save the environment with this ingenious floating swimming pool skimmer by Solar-Breeze. Check out the pool cleaner reviews.

If your company is like most, you would love to have increased traffic to your website. After all, more visitors to your website equates to more opportunities for increased revenue.

Adding a blog to your site, and writing strategic SEO blogs targeting specific traffic-producing keyword phrases, is a golden opportunity to drive new traffic to your site. Here are some key elements to keep in mind when blogging for SEO.

Do your homework.

Okay, let’s break this down a bit. It all starts with keyword research. Finding out what questions your potential customers are searching for is key. I’ll use Metro Studios as an example. I’ve been asked by a number of clients in recent months about what can be done to have their Google Place listing (the listing that shows up next to the Google Map in local search results) rank higher.

Does Your Website Address This Topic?

Our website didn’t really have a page that addressed this topic, and my keyword research indicated there were a significant number of people searching for variations of the phrase “tips to rank higher in Google places.” With this in mind, I utilized our blog to provide insight to this topic, and become a resource for our current and prospective clients.

Don’t Get Too Cute With the Title

One key element is choosing a search-friendly title to your article and preferably this should be used as the title tag to your page as well. I entitled my blog post “Tips to Rank Higher in Google Place Listings.” The closer your title matches the keyword phrase you are targeting, the better.

Content. Content. Content.

It’s important to provide unique, useful content when SEO blogging. Otherwise you’re defeating the point. Even if your blog article ends up ranking well, and people click on it to learn more–if there isn’t good quality information, they will end up leaving right away.

Google Loves Blogs

Blog articles historically fare very well in search results. Websites might only get crawled by search engines once every several weeks. However, blog posts tend to get crawled and indexed by search engines extremely quickly.

My blog post about Google Places was indexed almost right away, and the results speak volumes about how effective blogs can be for SEO and driving new traffic to your site. The article ranked first overall for each of the following phrases as well as many other variations:

• Tips to Rank Higher in Google
• Tips to rank higher in Google place listings
• Rank higher on Google place listings
• Google Place Listing Tips
• Higher ranking in Google listings

If you’re interested in driving new traffic and potential customers to your site, you can clearly see how effective it can be from an SEO-perspective. Contact Metro Studios to learn how to add a blog to your site, so can start reeling in those new customers.

***********

Featured Site:

EZ Web Contacts — Your source for: 2 Clear, CooperVision, Ciba Vision, Biomedics, Purevision, Frequency, Freshlook, Proclear Multifocal Toric, PureVision, Soflens 38, and Vertex Toric

“Why isn’t my site being listed on Google’s local business listings?”

It’s a question being asked more and more frequently—especially as Google is expanding the prevalence of local search results. Google Place listings typically show up when someone searches for something locally, such as video production in Cedar Rapids. Being listed in the magical top 7 local Google Place listings can produce excellent traffic to your website, but now the question is: How can that be done?

Unfortunately, it isn’t necessarily a quick fix to rise to the top, but here is a best practice “to-do” list to get optimal results out of your Google Place listing.

1. Claim Your Google Place Listing. This one seems obvious enough, but you would be surprised at how many business listings go unclaimed by local business owners. To claim your business, go to the Google Local Business Center and claim the listing that Google already generated, or create a Google Place listing.
2. List Your Business Phone and Address on Your Website. The key is to make your website as easy as possible for Google search engines to crawl the information on your site, and the physical location of your business is an extremely important ranking factor for Google Place listings. We encourage our clients to include the business address on the footer of each page of their website, as well as to include it on the “Contact Us” page.
3. Add Your Location to Your Website’s Title Tags. The title tag of a web page appears in the top left corner of your web browser window next to the Internet Explorer or Firefox icon. The title tag is defined in the HTML code, and this little page title is extremely important for organic search and for local search. If your goal is to rank high locally, be sure your site’s title tags list the city your company is located in or serves.
4. Get Reviewed. Another increasingly important ranking factor is the number of customer reviews. Definitely do not fake reviews. You will likely get caught, and the punishment is not worth the risk. Instead, encourage your customers to post reviews of your business to popular review sites such as Yelp.com, CitySearch.com, InsiderPages.com, and SuperPages.com.  How can you encourage your customers to write reviews? Include a call for action in your emails to customers, on your website, on receipts (if applicable) and on your social media pages. This might sound a bit tedious, but if you want to achieve high local rankings, it is worth it.
5. Add Photos & Video. You want your Google Place listing to be as complete as possible. Part of that is adding photos and video that help demonstrate what your company is about. The general rule of thumb is, the more photos the better, but make sure whatever you include on your page is of high quality. You have the ability to add 10 photos and 5 videos, and I encourage you to take full advantage of this opportunity.
6. Register with the Major Local Data Providers. Search engines rely quite a bit on local data providers such as InfoUSA, Superpages.com, Yelp, just to name a few.  Metro Studios can provide you a list of great sites to submit your business to. This will aide you on your quest for improved local search ranks.

Hopefully these tips can help your Google Place listing be much more visible, generating additional traffic, and ultimately leading to more business. If you have additional questions, or would like to discuss this further—don’t hesitate to contact Chad Gookin at Metro Studios.

When we meet with a client to develop a new website, one of the very first things we discuss is their keyword goals. Keywords are the phrases potential visitors type into search engines to find your site. Unveiling the right keywords and building a solid strategy to target those keywords are vital steps in the success of a website.

Selecting keywords might seem like a rather simple task. After all, who knows your company as well as you? However, important research is involved to uncover keyword phrases that offer the best opportunity to drive relevant traffic to your site. The key is to discover search phrases that produce good traffic, but are less competitive.  Metro Studios can assist you with this process.

There are certain things to keep in mind when compiling your list of targeted keywords:

• Use phrases. Statistics show that nearly 80% of all searches now consist of 3 or more words. Not only that, but it is extremely difficult and would take a long time to rank first for a single keyword such as ‘web.’
• What would your customers search for? Look past the business lingo, and step into your customers’ shoes. Try to anticipate which words or phrases they would use when they search for the products/services you provide.
• Local Keywords. Ranking well locally for your keyword is a great first step. Targeting specific cities or even states can be a terrific way to make your phrase more focused, relevant and attainable. It’s much better to rank first for a phrase that produces 1,000 searches per month, compared to ranking 50th for a phrase that produces 10,000 searches per month.
• 3 Keywords. Try not to target more than 3 main keyword phrases per page. If you try to optimize your page to target more phrases than that, it can work against you. If you have a long list of keyword phrases you want to rank well for, you want to be sure you have pages on your website that are focused on each of those. That’s why, at Metro Studios, we establish the client’s keyword goals before we create the sitemap (or site architecture) for the website. That way we know which pages will be necessary in order to achieve the desired search engine results.

If you’re struggling to come up with keyword phrases, try compiling a list of words using your business name and the services / products you offer. Then mix the keywords together, and add locations (i.e., web design Cedar Rapids).

Once you have generated a nice long list of keywords, it’s time to see if they are even worth targeting. It’s great to rank first for a phrase, but if no one is searching for that phrase—it does you no good.

At Metro Studios, we have advanced SEO tools and software at our disposal that help suggest and recommend keyword phrases, estimates the number of searches for each keyword phrase, and identifies how difficult it will be to rank well. We can also track your search engine progress, and the progress of your competitors along the way.

At this point, I look to identify the phrases that produce the most relevant search traffic, yet have a relatively low keyword difficulty score.

As you can see, selecting the most opportune keywords requires a bit of research, but the results can pay big dividends. You don’t have to go through this process alone. Metro Studios web services would be happy to guide you through this process, and you will be well on your way to driving new, relevant traffic to your website.

**********

Featured website: Bench Solution – A Space-Saving Garage Workbench
It can also be used as a:
Craft Table
Sewing Table
Wall-Mounted Table or Desk
Scrapbooking Table

Get organized with the IdealWall slatwall system and slatwall accessories.

Stand Out in the Crowd.

It’s a competitive marketplace. If your competitors aren’t currently blogging on their respective sites—that’s all the more reason you should be. Insightful blog posts offer a tremendous opportunity to establish credibility.

Invigorate Your Employees.

Not only does a blog present an opportunity to engage your audience, it offers a way to engage your employees as well. With your company blog, your employees can be a tremendous source for new ideas for content. People inherently want their voices to be heard. A company blog offers a productive way to accomplish this.

Be the Expert.

People utilize the web as their primary resource today more than ever, whether it’s to search for a new chiropractor, dining ideas, or to simply find the answer to some obscure question that’s on their mind. Wouldn’t it be great if they found the answer to their question in your blog?

Climb the Ranks.

Clients often seek our advice about what things they can do to help improve their search rankings. By consistently adding fresh content to your site, it provides a trickle down effect for not only driving additional referral traffic to your website, but it has the potential to significantly increase the number of links back to your site. And when it comes to improving in search results—quality links pointing to your website is a very good thing.

Get Social.

Having a blog on your site is a great way to tie in your social media marketing efforts. More and more businesses are creating Facebook and Twitter accounts, because well…they feel like they should be doing it. Yet, far too many businesses don’t utilize it as well as they should. By consistently adding fresh content to your blog, it presents a prime opportunity to link to the blog content via Facebook or Twitter, or whatever social media site you use. People love to share links to interesting, useful, or entertaining information. Why not be the source of that information?

Infinity Contact – Call Center | Outsourced Contact Center

Cornell College requested a high-end multi-media presentation for the culmination of their “Extraordinary Opportunities: The Campaign for Cornell College” project, a five-year, $92 million effort to enhance the college’s endowment and upgrade its facilities.

Planning Ahead for an 18 Video Presentation

To announce the final dollar amount donated, Cornell decided on using three huge video screens to stretch across the ballroom at the Marriot. Six videos were scripted for the 3-screen presentation, which translates into 18 videos total. The videos included interviews from students and donors, footage and photos of the campus, and photos taken around the world from students’ global experiences. We shot some of the footage during the spring, prior to students leaving for the summer, and spent a considerable amount of time editing the 18 videos.

Check out our blog from the spring about the aerial shoot.

The Big Night

Preparation the day of the show included choreographing a rehearsal with the dozen or so presenters, not to mention setting up the 3 screens, playback computers, audio equipment and projectors. Two of the rear projection screens were 7 ft by 12 ft, and the center screen was 9 ft by 12 ft. The photos do not do any justice to the actual experience!

$105.8 million donated!

The presentation went perfectly, and the approximate 400 attendees were up on their feet when it was completed! It was amazing to have some of them come up and thank us for the wonderful videos! Congratulations on a great campaign, Cornell College, and thanks for asking Metro Studios to be a part of it!

For More Information:

http://www.cornellcollege.edu/campaign/