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ormlacom · 7 years ago

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Free Local SEO Tools That Belong in Your Kit

Something every woman should know - WHY MEN LIE!

Posted by MiriamEllis

What a lot can change in just a few years! When I wrote the original version of this post in January 2014, the local SEO industry didn’t have quite the wealth of paid tools that now exists, and many of the freebies on my previous list have been sunsetted. Definitely time for a complete refresh of the most useful free tools, widgets, and resources I know of to make marketing local businesses easier and better.

While all of the tools below are free, note that some will require you to sign up for access. Others are limited, no-cost, or trial versions that let you get a good sense of what they provide, enabling you to consider whether it might be worth it to buy into paid access. One thing you may notice: my new list of local SEO tools offers increased support for organic SEO tasks, reflective of our industry’s growing understanding of how closely linked organic and local SEO have become.

Now, let’s open this toolkit and get 2018 off to a great start!

For Research

US Census Bureau Tool Set

Looking to better understand a target community for marketing purposes? You’ll find 20+ useful resources from the US Census Bureau, including population statistics, economic data, mapping and geocoding widgets, income and language information, and much more.

Client Onboarding Questionnaire & Phone Script

Onboarding a new client? Reduce repetitious follow-ups by asking all of the right questions the first time around with this thorough questionnaire and easy-to-follow phone call script from Moz. Includes helpful tips for why you are asking each question. As local SEO veterans will tell you, a missed question can lead to unhappy (and costly) surprises down the marketing road. Be sure you have the total picture of an incoming client in clear view before you begin strategizing.

Location Information Spreadsheet

Vital when marketing multi-location businesses, this free Moz spreadsheet will ensure that you’ve got all the info at your fingertips about each locale of a company.

*Pro tip: When working with large enterprises, be certain that the data you’re inputting in this spreadsheet has been approved by all relevant departments. It’s really no fun to find out six months into a marketing campaign that there’s internal disagreement about company NAP or other features.

Local Competitive Audit Spreadsheet

Now we’re really getting down to brass tacks. When you need to look for answers to the perennial client question, “Why is that guy outranking me?”, this free Moz spreadsheet will help you document key competitive data. The end result of filling out the sheet will be two columns of stats you can compare and contrast in your quest to discover competitors’ ranking strengths and weaknesses. Need more guidance? Read my blog post in which I put this audit spreadsheet into action for two San Francisco Bay Area Chinese restaurants.

Manual GeoLocation Chrome Extension

Watch Darren Shaw demo using this tool to show how a local pack changes when a user virtually crosses a street and you’ll quickly understand how useful this Chrome extension will be in approximating the impacts of user-to-business proximity. Works well on desktop devices.

Our industry still hasn’t fully recovered from Google removing the Local Search filter from its engine in 2015, and I still live in hope that they will bring it back one day, but in the meantime, this extension gives us a good sense of how searcher location affects search results. In fact, it may even be a superior solution.

The MozBar SEO Toolbar

Local businesses in competitive markets must master traditional SEO, and the free MozBar provides a wonderful introduction to the metrics you need to look at in analyzing the organic strengths and weaknesses of clients and competitors. On-page elements, link metrics, markup, HTTP status, optimization opportunities — get the data you need at a glance with the MozBar.

Google Advanced Search Operators

Not a tool, per se, but the best tutorial I have ever seen on using Google advanced search operators to deepen your research. Dr. Pete breaks this down into 67 steps that will enable you to use these search refinements for content and title research, checking for plagiarism, technical SEO audits, and competitive intelligence. Be totally wizardly and impress your clients and teammates, simply by knowing how to format searches in smart ways.

Google Search Console

Apologies if it already seems like a no-brainer to you that you should be signed up for Google’s console that gives you analytics, alerts you to serious errors, and so much more, but local SEO is just now crossing the threshold of understanding how deeply connected it is to organic search. When playing in Google’s backyard, GSC is a must-have for businesses of every type.

BrightLocal’s Search Results Checker

This popular tool does an excellent job of replicating local search results at a city or zip code level. In some cases, it’s best to search by city (for example, when there are multiple towns covered by a single zip code), but other times, it’s better search by zip code (as in the case of a large city with multiple zip codes). The tool doesn’t have the capability to recreate user-level results, so always remember that the proximity of a given user to a business may create quite different results than what you’ll see searching at a city or zip code level. I consider this a great tool to suss out the lay of the land in a community, identifying top competitors.

Offline Conversion Tracker Form

Give this handy Whitespark form to anyone who answers your phone so that they can document the answer to the important question, “How did you hear about us?” Submitted information is saved to Whitespark’s database and tracked in Google Analytics for your future reference and analysis. For local businesses, knowledge of offline factors can be priceless. This form provides a simple point of entry into amassing real-world data.

For Content

Answer the Public

One of the best-loved keyword research tools in the digital marketing world, Answer the Public lets you enter a keyword phrase and generate a large number of questions/topics related to your search. One of the most awesome facets of this tool is that it has a .CSV download feature — perfect for instantly generating large lists of keywords that you can input into something like Moz Keyword Explorer to begin the sorting process that turns up the most powerful keywords for your content dev and on-page optimization.

Buzzsumo

Another great content inspiration tool, Buzzsumo shows you lets you enter a keyword, topic or domain name, and then shows you which pieces are getting the most social shares. For example, a search for wholefoodsmarket.com shows that a highly shared piece of content at the time of my search is about an asparagus and broccoli soup. You can also sort by content type (articles, videos, infographics, etc.). Use of Buzzsumo can help you generate topics that might be popular if covered on your website.

OSHA Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) System Search

Another interesting resource for brainstorming a wide pool of potential keywords for content dev consideration, OSHA’s SIC search returns big, comprehensive lists. Just look up your industry’s SIC code, and then enter it along with a keyword/category to get your list.

USPS Look Up a ZIP Code Widget

Working with service area businesses (SABs)? Note the second tab in the menu of this widget: Cities by zip code. When you know the zip code of a business you’re marketing you can enter it into this simple tool to get a list of every city in that zip. Now, let’s not take a wrong step here: don’t publish large blocks of zips or city names on any website, but do use this widget to be sure you know of all the communities for which an SAB might strategize content, link building, brand building, real-world relationship building, social media marketing, and PPC.

Schema/JSON-LD Generators

Rather than list a single tool here, I’m going to take the advice of my friend, schema expert David Deering, who has taught me that no one tool is perfect. In David’s opinion, there isn’t currently a schema/JSON-LD generator that does it all, which is why he continues to build this type of markup manually. That being said, if you’re new to Schema, these generators will get you started:

http://ift.tt/2qJwwvl

http://ift.tt/2xOB9Zk

http://ift.tt/2ip7Wxf

http://ift.tt/1jT5LHX

For Citations

Moz Check Listing

I can say without bias that I know of no free tool that does a better job of giving you a lightning-fast overview of the health of a local business’ listings. On the phone with a new prospect? Just plug in the name and zip and see how complete and accurate the company’s citations are on the sources that matter most, including the major local business data aggregators (Acxiom, Factual, Infogroup, Localeze) plus key platforms like Google My Business, Facebook, Yelp, YP, and more.

Literally at a glance, you can tell if inconsistencies and duplicate listings are holding a business back. It can also be used for competitive analysis, defining whether a clean or messy citation set is impacting competitors. The value of the free Check Listing tool becomes most fully realized by signing up for the paid Moz Local product, which automates aggregator-level listing management even at an enterprise level with hundreds or thousands of listings, and offers options for review monitoring, ranking analysis, and more.

Whitespark’s Local Citation Finder (free version)

The free version of this cool tool from our friends at Whitespark will give you a sense of how the paid version can help you discover additional places, beyond the basics, where you might want to get listed. It also analyzes your competitors’ citations.

For Reviews

The Hoth’s Online Business Review Checker Tool

You’ll have to sign up, but this free tool gives you an overview report of a local business’ reviews on a variety of platforms. This is a smart thing to do for every incoming client, to gauge reputation strengths and weaknesses. The state of a company’s reviews indicates whether it has an offline problem that needs to be corrected at a real-world structural level, or if its core challenge is a lack of strategy for simply earning a competitive number of positive reviews.

Free Review Monitoring

Need to know when a new review comes in on a major or industry-specific review site? Signing up for this free tool will send you email alerts so that you can respond quickly. Watch the little video and pay attention to its statement that the majority of unhappy customers will consider visiting a business again if it quickly resolves a complaint. Good to know!

Review Handout Generator

Another freebie from Whitespark in partnership with Phil Rozek, this very simple resource lets you enter some business info and generate a printable handout your public-facing staff can give to customers. Active review management has become a must in even moderately competitive geo-industries. How nice to have a physical asset to offer your customers to get more of those reviews rolling in!

Google Review Link Generator

Google’s local product has gone through so many iterations that finding a link to point consumers to when requesting a GMB review has been foolishly difficult at times. Whitespark helps out again, at least for brick-and-mortar businesses, with this easy widget that lets you enter your business info and generate a shareable link. Unfortunately, SABs or home-based businesses with hidden addresses can’t use this tool, but for other business models, this widget works really well.

For social

Notify

Whenever your business gets mentioned on Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Linkedin, Reddit, and a variety of other platforms, Notify uses Slack or HipChat to send you an alert. By being aware of important conversations taking place about your brand, and participating in them, your business can achieve an excellent status of responsiveness. Social media has become part of the customer service environment, so a tool like this comes in very handy.

Followerwonk

A free trial is available for this app which acts as serious analytics for Twitter. If Twitter is a favorite platform in your industry, definitely give this resource a spin. Understand the characteristics of your followers, find and connect with influencers, and use data to improve your outreach.

Character Count Online

I use this ultra-basic tool all of the time for three specific tasks. Some social platforms either have character limits and don’t always have counters, or (like Google Posts) truncate your social messaging so that only a limited snippet appear at the highest interface. Just plug in your text and see the character count.

And, of course, you’ll want a character counter to be sure your on-page title tags and meta descriptions read right in the SERPs.

My third use for this counter relates to content marketing. Most publications have character count parameters for the pieces they will accept. Here on the Moz Blog, we’re not into length limits, because we believe thorough coverage is the right coverage of important topics. But, when I’m invited to blog elsewhere, I have to rein myself in and be sure I haven’t galloped past that 800-character limit. If you’ve found that to be a problem, too, a character counter can keep you on-track as you write. Whoa, horsie!

So, what did I miss?

If you’re saying to yourself right now, “I can’t believe this totally awesome free local SEO tool I use every week isn’t included,” please share it with our community in the comments. One thing I know I’d love to find a free solution for would be a tool that does review sentiment analysis. Paid solutions exist for this, but I’ve yet to encounter a freebie.

My criteria for a great tool is that it makes work better, stronger, faster… or is that the intro to The Six Million Dollar Man? Well, Steve Austin had some amazing capabilities (and a cool 70s jogging suit, to boot!), and I’m hoping you’ll feel kitted up for success, too, with this list of free tools in the year ahead.

Sign up for The Moz Top 10, a semimonthly mailer updating you on the top ten hottest pieces of SEO news, tips, and rad links uncovered by the Moz team. Think of it as your exclusive digest of stuff you don't have time to hunt down but want to read!

Reverse Phone - People Search - Email Search - Public Records - Criminal Records. Best Data, Conversions, And Customer Suppor

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johnclapperne · 8 years ago

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Bad Fitness: Why You Don’t See Results From Your Workouts (or Diet Plans)

33.

60.

92.

On the surface, the numbers mean nothing. They could be a lottery number, a gym locker combination, or the estimated age when all men mature. But if you look closer, these numbers are proof that fitness programs aren’t working the way they should. Or maybe more accurately, bad fitness has become the norm.

Approximately 33 percent of the population is now obese or overweight, and that number is projected to climb

More than 60 percent of people who visit gyms have trouble sticking with their plan consistently for more than three months.

Up to 92 percent of people fail at their fitness resolutions by the end of the year.

Some might find these numbers depressing. The reality is, the numbers—while disconcerting—are a sign of hope and improvement. Because while most experts continue to spend so much time stressing the search for the perfect exercise program or diet—research is finally uncovering why so many people struggle to get in shape.

And the reason is simple: an important variable is missing that significantly influences whether you see the type of results you want.

Good health and fitness books or good diet programs work because they provide information that has been proven to achieve a particular goal, whether it’s burning fat, building muscle, becoming more athletic, or just boosting overall health.

Whether a diet and training program works is not why so my people fail. Many diets work. Many types of exercise burn calories. But certain programs are effective for individuals because each person is able to crack the code and learn how to change behavior.

It’s time to flip the script on why certain people are fit and others struggle to fit into their favorite pair of jeans. It’s the secret in the fitness world that few people address because most never grasp why some people succeed on the same plan where others fail.

Beyond the calories in versus calories out equation, finding the perfect workout or number of sets or reps, the real breakdowns in body transformation don’t occur in the muscles or fat cells—they happen in your head.

Whether you realize it or not, your success is determined by your ability to adhere to a number of behavioral changes that make it easier for you to experience success on any type of program.

The two most common explanations for why fitness programs don’t work are:

1) The workout (and/or diet) was no good and full of nonsense

2) Your body sucks. Your genetics are awful. Everyone can lose weight and you can’t.

The reality is, the second reason—while valid (genetics do play a big role)—is not a reason for your lack of success. Anyone can change and transform. Weight loss and muscle gain are not restricted to the genetically blessed.

The list of why programs don’t work is missing two essential elements that make it complete:

3) You didn’t follow the program, weren’t compliant, and constantly made adjustments

4) The program was delivered in a way that gave you no option but failure.

It’s this fourth element that most people overlook and never even consider, which is why so many are frustrated because it is probably the most common reason for frustration and a lack of progress.

Unless you inherently love exercise and eating good foods, shifting to new habits takes a lot of mental energy. And if you don’t take the right approach, your brain can literally prevent you from making the changes you desperately want.

Instead of blaming yourself, you can arm yourself with some basic knowledge that will make sure you mind is strong enough to carry your body to its new and improved look.

Bad Fitness 101: Don’t Rely on Willpower…

The first rule of willpower is doing everything possible to not rely on it. Willpower is a real thing, and it can be the reason why you head to the gym and eat broccoli instead of lay on the couch and eat ice cream, but it’s also the reason so many people have trouble adapting to healthy behaviors that feel foreign.

You see, you have much less control over your behavior than you’d want to believe. That’s because stress and anxiety—emotions that are inevitable—can wreck havoc on even the strongest intent, and make it difficult for you stay focused and push yourself to stay consistent with new behaviors.

Which is why it’s important when taking on a new plan to be aware of the ways that your willpower might make it difficult for you to experience success. Instead of thinking, “I must avoid all of the candy in my pantry,” you need to throw out all the food you know you have trouble avoiding and replace it with the stuff you want to eat.

If you’ve noticed that you can’t make it to the gym consistently, hire a trainer and make a special request that they text you an hour before your session.

Willpower can be faulty, so building systems that guide behavior can ensure that when willpower breaks down failure is not the only option. The more structure and rigidity to the systems you build, the easier it is to program your behavior.

If you feel that you need to walk more, you can purposely park your car 15 minutes away from work. Sure it’s inconvenient, but it will get the job done, right?

All too often we over-rely on the belief that creating change will be easy. Instead, anticipate that it will be hard and simplify your job by making it easy for you to adhere to your new behaviors. After a while, you will change as a person, and you won’t need the systems any more.

…But Creating More Willpower Will Help (Yes, it’s possible)

The most frustrating thing about willpower is that we legitimately have limited amounts available. The area of your brain that controls your willpower is located in your prefrontal cortex. You might remember this from biology as the area directly behind your forehead.

It’s the same part of your brain that helps you with all your day-to-day tasks, everything from your short term memory (What did my wife tell me to buy at the store?), figuring out some simple tasks, and even staying focused.

The point is, the pre-fontal cortex is busy at all times. So whenever you take on a new behavior—especially one that is as big as getting in shape, exercising, and eating better—it’s like having a massive project dropped in your lap and being told everyone else in the office is too busy to help.

The result is that desired actions—if new—can be very (very) hard to execute. In fact, it’s more than your brain can handle, meaning you default to old or undesirable behaviors.

Here’s how manipulative your brain can be. In a well-known study at Stanford, two groups were given a number to remember. One group needed to remember a two-digit sequence, whereas the other needed to remember 7 digits (Both short-term memory tasks). Then the groups went for a walk. At the end of their walk, they were offered an option of snacks: Fruit or chocolate cake. (This type of dilemma might sound familiar.)

What happened? Those who had to remember the 7-digit number were two times more likely to dig into the cake instead of opt for the fruit.

Researchers refer to this as “cognitive load.” The more space you’re taking up in the prefontal cortex, the harder it is to make certain decisions. That’s why you need to train yourself and prepare accordingly so that you have enough willpower to take on new tasks.

This is one of the reasons why resolutions are such a flawed concept. If you’re trying to change 10 behaviors at the same time, it’s nearly impossible for you to succeed. Your brain won’t have it, and, as a result, you’ll be more likely to find yourself in December eating cake—and not because you’re celebrating your new body.

Instead of listing off many goals or taking on too many projects, it’s best to focus on one big effort and then break that down into habits. Researchers from Australia found that taking a step-by-step approach, such as building one habit at a time helps reduce cognitive load.

So rather than saying “I need to lose 10 pounds” it’s best to program simple behaviors that will help make this possible. This might be, “I will have an accountability team to make sure I go to the gym.” The habit is simple—building a team—rather than something more complex such as promising that you’ll exercise for 60 minutes five times per week.

The lesson: Be aware that your willpower is the most overworked employee in your brain. Make the job easier and you’ll see your habits change along with your body.

5 Ways to Boost Willpower

In order to make sure you create more willpower and don’t sabotage your efforts, here are five things you need to consider when trying to change your body, take on a new diet or fitness program, or accept a new behavior.

Create Hope

We all want to believe that we can achieve our fitness goals, but all too often “false hope syndrome” makes the process harder than it needs to be. You need to set realistic expectations of who you are, what you are capable of achieving, and want processes you need to set up to help you be successful. This goes back to building systems.

If you know that you fall victim to cravings, don’t tell yourself those days are over and that you can completely control yourself. Odds are, you’re lying to yourself and these positive intentions—while seemingly good—can be harmful. That’s because the moment you slip up you’ll not only revert back to old behaviors (not terrible when it happens once in a while—hey, we all screw up!) but more importantly it can crush your self-esteem. And once that happens, willpower becomes overrun and you fall off the wagon.

Therefore, it’s important that you start out confident, but also be realistic with what will be easy and what will be hard. Make a list. Separate it into two goals (easy and hard), and for everything that’s hard, plan certain systems that will help ensure that you’re not putting too much pressure on yourself.

Think Small (But Still Dream Big)

If you’re serious about your fitness goals, you need to determine what other areas of your life should be prioritized less. Go in open-minded and realize that making these changes will be tough; if they weren’t, you wouldn’t be in this position in the first place. So make sure you have the energy to take on the task and be prepared for the hard days. You can simplify this process by:

Creating goals that matter to you. This will make it easier to fight for them.

Setting up a plan

Creating Milestones

Trying new ways of living

All four of these elements have something in common: you’re creating new thought patterns. When brain scientists have looked at MRI’s they’ve found that our minds work off of old memories. It’s like a taking a particular route to work. After a while, it becomes you routine. But when it comes to behavior, oftentimes you simply try to tell yourself, “Don’t go that way!” That’s a recipe for failure. You need to find a new route. Don’t try to “not to do something;” that just strengthens a pre-existing behavior. Instead, create a new line of thinking, build a new neural pathway, and take that route enough times until it becomes your new habit.

Set specific Goals

This is a good lesson for anything in life: When you set goals, make them specific and tiny. You want to make it as easy as possible to succeed. We all are susceptible to a psychological concept called learned helplessness; fail enough and you come to expect failure. This is the foundation of bad fitness. And yet, all too often goals are set that increase the likelihood of failure. If you make your goals almost too easy to not fail, you’re on the right track. This builds positive reinforcement. And in no time, a series of small successes will have you feeling good and making more changes.

Set up An Accountability System

Speaking of positive feedback, having a team—whether it’s friends, family, a trainer, or workout partner—pays huge dividends for any fitness goal you’re trying to accomplish. In fact, research from the University of Chicago suggests that your likelihood of success is directly related to accountability and support. The ongoing lesson: don’t convince yourself you need to go at this alone. Build a team that can help you succeed. And the more that team is either invested in your goals—or are willing to be a part of your journey—the more likely you’ll succeed.

Create Incentives

If all else fails, bad fitness can be offset by building an incentive system that hacks your behavioral patterns and forces change. Research has shown that rewarding behaviors—especially with a monetary value—can help reinforce actions (such as going to the gym) that lead to long-term change. While it might be hard to find someone to pay you to exercise, you can invest your own money (in a trainer or gym) that might help make you less risk aversive. But if gym attendance shows you anything it’s that belonging to a gym is not reason enough to get in shape.

Your Move

“What is necessary to change a person is to change his awareness of himself.” –Abraham Maslow

Now that you’re aware of your brain’s role in the fitness plans, it’s up to you to execute. Build your own structure and systems to help improve the likelihood of success. Or find an option that considers all of those factors.

Whether it’s online coaching or any other proven tactic, you must start with awareness and then move to planning and action. Create a structure for psychological support. Doing so will change your mind, and soon after your body will follow.

Lose Fat…The Realistic Way

A weight loss plan doesn’t have to be a world of false promises and hype.

Now you can join a proven weight loss program with a personalized component of support and accountability with personalized online coaching.

Here you’ll learn how to eat, the type of exercise needed, and the actual plans to point you in the right direction.

How to Defy Genetics and Build Muscle at Any Age

Is Intermittent Fasting Right for You?

Want to Burn More Calories? Add This to Your Fat Loss Plan

The post Bad Fitness: Why You Don’t See Results From Your Workouts (or Diet Plans) appeared first on Born Fitness.

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#Bad Fitness: Why You Don’t See Results From Your Workouts (or Diet Plans)

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joshuabradleyn · 8 years ago