Welcome To Our Blog
Please read through some on our articles below. The goal here is to educate and inform you on internet marketing practices, news and strategies. Feel free to comment on any post you like!
How Do I Get A Facebook URL For My Business Name?
November 23, 2011
Getting your own Facebook URL is very easy. Also, having your own Facebook URL has several advantages:
- Branding
- Search engine coverage
- It’s easy to remember for you and your customers
Branding
If you look around, the companies that tend to really do well, are very good at branding. For example: Red Bull, Apple, and Virgin - are all great companies that have remarkable branding. So follow in their footsteps. Make sure you settle down on a logo, style guide and company mission statement first before you do anything. These are critical steps that are necessary to take any sized business into “legendary” status.
Your Facebook page happens to be yet another a place where you need to focus on a few branding issues. First is your URL. You don’t want the default URL that Facebook gives you (the one with the long string of numbers on it). What you want is:
facebook.com/yourcompanyname
The other branding issue on your Facebook page is your company logo. Be sure that it looks good and it is properly sized.
Search Engine Coverage
One often over looked, but very important advantage of having your own Facebook URL - has to do with more search engine coverage. By having a properly branded Facebook page, there is a higher chance that when someone looks up your business on Google both your website and your Facebook page will show up. The goal here is to cover the first page of Google with only listings that are owned by your business and no one else. You want to minimize the chance of someone else clicking on another listing that isn’t yours.
It’s easy to remember
It’s much easier for your customers to find you on Facebook and it’s also easy for you to tell people to “Like” your Facebook page, when you have a much simpler URL. It may not seem like much, but I’m sure there will be times when you’ll be happy that you took care of this minor detail.
How To Do It
The hardest part of this process is really just finding where in Facebook you go to do this. I noticed that Facebook pages have two types of account interfaces…and I really don’t know why. Their page system is very confusing.
Step 1. Login to the Facebook account that your Page is associated with
Many of us have personal and business Facebook accounts. Make sure you log into the account that you have set up for business.
Step 2. Click on the little arrow in the upper right hand corner. Select “Use Facebook as a Page”.
Note: If you don’t see what is shown below - listen up: Depending on how your account is set up, you may need to select “pages” from the menu on the left. Then select the page you want to create a URL for AND then click on edit page.
Step 3. Find the tab called “Basic Information” and select it.
Step 4. Click on “Create a username for this page?”
Step 5. Enter Your Desired Username.
Try to keep your user name consistent across all social networks. For instance, you should generally use the same username you use for your business Twitter account.
Step 6. Check to make sure you typed in the correct name, and click confirm
Pretty easy right. Now the next step is to learn how to use Facebook effectively for your business. Check our education section soon for more “Facebook for Small Business” articles.
Google+ Is The Best Free Business Collaboration Tool
November 10, 2011
How Can Google + Help Your Business?
There are more than fifty popular business collaboration suites available, most costing anywhere between $50 to $150 a month. Countless thousands of companies pay this amount gladly since it allows all of their far-flung staff to communicate in a categorized environment where projects can be implemented in real time.
Paying around $1,000 a year for this level of facility is not a consideration for major corporations, but to a small business operating in what seems to be a perpetually recessionary economy it can be a considerable expenditure.
How to Share a Google Analytics Account with Someone Else
October 10, 2011
It’s pretty common to need to share your Google Analytics account with other members on your team or with your SEO consultant. Here is a step by step recipe on how to do just that:
I’m over at KISSmetrics now
January 27, 2011
Hi everybody! I’m still around but I’ve put my search engine consulting business on simmer to take a position at KISSmetrics.
Hey Bing - Your Local Listing Center is Broken.
June 1, 2010
Bing Local Center Is Broken
I went to Bing today to fill out my local business listing info (which I recommend everyone to do). Unfortunately, I can’t fill out my listing because their CAPTCHA is broken. I have a feeling it’s been broken for quite some time.
Please Die Internet Explorer - Will someone make this a T-shirt?
May 20, 2010
Please Die
I’ve been doing a lot of web design lately and Internet Explorer has been giving me more trouble like never before. I mean, I’ve been doing web design since 1999 and I’ve never liked that browser. But lately, IE will just not behave. And it never has, but I’m finding myself spending more time than ever trying to figure out why it’s making weird gaps and doing all kinds of strange things…
Continue Reading…
If You Don’t Want More Business, Then Throw This Card Away
April 29, 2010
Is Your Business Card Working For You?
A couple months ago I started to run out of business cards. The last time I designed my business cards, I rushed through the process and they didn’t provide the greatest return. This time I wanted to really think about what the best way to market what I do would be:
A Flaw With Google Search? Casting Votes From The Internet Graveyard
April 23, 2010
Do Old Unattended Sites Break Down Google?
We have noticed in recent years that there is a bit of a flaw with Google search results (and maybe most search engines for that matter). It has to do with the fact the internet is starting to age. There are quite a bit of websites out on the web, that are rotting, wasting energy and inhibiting better search results.
Don’t End Your URLs in .0, .exe, .tgz or .tar
April 21, 2010
Say No To Dot Zero
Some of this is obvious, some isn’t. Particularly the “.0″ rule (dot zer0). This post discusses a few webmaster rules that your web team should be aware of.
Why You Should Get Your Website Listed In Business.com and Save $50.
April 19, 2010
Business.com Is A Good Link :)
Business.com is one of the few, “search engine respected” paid directories on the internet. Part of the reason is because it’s editorially controlled and they don’t list websites that are related to tobacco, adult or Rx subject matter. Notice that you don’t want your website links to be associated on the same site as these bad boys.
How To Calculate The Value And Worth Of SEO
February 21, 2010
How Much Is SEO Worth?
One of the most difficult questions a SEO professional can be faced with is when a new customer wants to understand how much SEO is worth. A fellow SEO friend of mine likes to say “How much is free traffic worth to you?”. Which puts a little comedy into the equation :). Most of this answer depends on what the client does with the traffic. In any case, we created a simple conservative formula to help small businesses and SEO professionals understand the value of SEO.
The Only People Who Read On The Internet Are Search Engines
February 17, 2010
Robots Read Everything, Your Visitors Don't
Well this is not entirely true. But if you run an ecommerce or business website, generally people don’t read all your on page text.
The point here is that most internet users do not read every word on a webpage. They scan the page and look for words and calls to action. Most importantly, all your attempts to heavily market to them will generally fail and they will ignore those marketing messages. Sometimes it can even drive them away.
6 Worst SEO Mistakes
February 15, 2010
SEO Should Be Done With Care
The reason why I am writing this post is because I still run into people that think they know what SEO is, but it turns out that they really don’t 
They find out that my job entails “Search Engine Optimization” and they start rattling off all these ways to “manipulate search engines”. Then I shake my head and sigh in disbelief.
Why SEO Friendly URLs Are Important
November 19, 2009
Why Should You Make Your URLs SEO Friendly?
A lot of people think that having keywords in your URLs helps with search engine rankings. I would say this true for your domain name. But for any part of your URLs after the domain name, the keywords don’t carry much weight (meaning if the search engines were only to rank your site by your URLs alone, keywords after the domain name wouldn’t count for much). However, there are few reasons why you want to keep your URLs “SEO Friendly”…
Do Not Use Directory Submission Services
June 24, 2009
Stay Away!!!
These services are attractive to the backlink fiend. Why not get 1000 backlinks for $99? The reason is quite simple: you will gain absolutely no value from these links. In this post we will discuss the four reasons why you want to stay away from these services at all costs.
A Powerful Robots.txt Technique
June 19, 2009
Stop Duplicate Content
If you use a content management system like Wordpress, Joomla, Drupal or OsCommerce you may be suffering from duplicate content issues. These can be really difficult problems to solve. Sometimes it requires complicated .htaccess rewrite solutions and endless hours finding links to nofollow. But now there is an easier solution for most of these problems.
The New Art of External Link Building
June 15, 2009
Link Building Is A Rollercoaster
One of the most critical SEO efforts is external link building. This simply means getting other websites to link back to your site. But before you go hog wild getting as many backlinks as you can, read our post on how to do this SEO art effectively.
Google XML Site Maps - Why You Must Sign Up For It.
May 15, 2009
Help Google Find Your Treasure
Since Google is the most popular search engine at this present time, it’s imperative that Google can properly search your website. The only way to know whether or not Google is crawling your site completely is by submitting a Google XML site map through Google Webmaster Tools.
The Power Of Youtube For Online Marketing
April 15, 2009
Add Youtube To Your Marketing Plan
Youtube is one of the most visited websites on the internet. It’s also a search engine. I suggest you put your business on it. Although this idea of using Youtube to increase your online presence is an obvious no brainer, it’s not always easy to get videos produced. If you have someone on board who can video edit, you should consider allocating some time for them to produce videos. Otherwise you can find decent videographers in your area who are relatively inexpensive (see craigslist.org). Here are the reason’s why you should go the Youtube route:
Don’t Forget To Do Guerrilla Marketing
March 6, 2009
Do you have a resistance force?
This morning I went to Target to pick up an expandable shoe rack. On my way out of the store there was a brand new Ford Mustang parked in the parking lot. It still had the information paper on the passenger side window, listing the fuel economy, engine size, and other features. Someone from Huntington Beach Ford had parked it in the lot of Target to attract eyeballs that would not normally stop by the dealership.
Free Website Statistics - Google Analytics
February 18, 2009
Do You Know How Many People Visit Your Site?
Some of you have just created your first website or blog. And I bet you want to know how many people are visiting your site. Thanks to Google, you can easily add a simple snippet of code to track the number of visitors that come to your site and learn how they got there.
The Simplest And Most Powerful SEO Technique
February 16, 2009
Can't Find Your Site On The Search Engines?
A lot of sites we run across just need a little SEO kick to get listed in the search engines. For some reason these sites just can’t be found anywhere on Google, Yahoo or MSN. We always here from the client, “We should be ranking somewhere for this term!”. After about 30 seconds of investigating, we usually spot the problem.
How To Add Your Business To Google Maps - The Right Way
February 13, 2009
If you are running a business that has a physical address, adding your business to Google Maps (Places) is IMPERATIVE. However, there is more to Google Maps than just adding your listing.
1. Don’t Spam
I know a lot of business owners who want to try to add their listing to multiple addresses all over town. DON’T DO THIS. You are not going to trick Google. In the end, you’ll get your business from never showing up on the map again! Besides, why would you want to upset potential customers with sending them to the wrong location? That’s just bad for business.
It’s worth so much more to play by the rules. Having your listing show up is far more valuable then never having it show up. We’ll show you why right now:
2. Have O.C. Search Complete Your Google Places and Business Directory Submissions
Why? Because we have helped many local businesses gain a far more valuable return because we know how to do it correctly. There is quite a lengthy process to doing the Google Map submission that goes beyond Google Places. There is also an order by which one should add their business to the correct directories. We specialize in this process and it will pay for itself many times over.
If your business is already showing up at position “A” on Google Maps for the city your business is in, then that’s excellent. You should contact us to make sure you stay there. We will also make sure you are getting to most out of your listing and improve the authenticity of your submission. Finally, we can drive even more traffic from your business listing submissions.
If your business is not on Google Maps, call us right now.
Here is a quick calculation of the ROI created by a top Google Map listing:
One of our customers now gets 15 new clients a month and 45% of those clients come from their Google Map listing. Therefore they get 6 new customers a month from Google Maps. This is provides an additional $25,000 of revenue a year for this particular local business.
Honestly, we hate sounding pitchy. If you read any of our other posts, we don’t try to get customers to call us. But we really believe that this service we provide for small local businesses is a “no brainer”. Give us a call and let’s get some business stirred up today. (714) 725-8101
You can get the process started right away by purchasing our Business Listing Service through Paypal right now:
This post has been updated. This is what we wrote last year:
This is a very important and often overlooked SEO technique for small businesses. It didn’t really occur to me how important this submission was until my friend who is a dentist asked me how he could get his practice to show up on Google Maps. After doing a little searching I found the submission link for this service:
Search Engine ABCs - Always Build Content
February 6, 2009
The ABCs of SEO
Another way to say it is “Always Bang-Out Content”. These simple ABCs of search engine marketing are really the only focus you need to worry about after your website is properly set up.
How To Add Your Website To Google
February 5, 2009
The First Step To Getting Exposed
This is step one to getting your site noticed. Google is the most popular search engine on the internet (as of 2009) and this is best place to start your online journey. From past experience we have noticed that you will get about 80% of your search traffic from Google, 15% from Yahoo and about 5% from MSN (Microsoft).
Communicate For Conversion
December 28, 2008
Get Their Attention In The Right Place
One of the hardest parts of running a business online is learning how to effectively communicate to your online visitors. This is because you know your product and service inside and out, so your offer seems clear as day to you. Generally what happens is that you leave out information that you think is obvious, but it is not so obvious to your customers.
Internet Startups - Success and Optimism
December 27, 2008
Keep those spirits up!
When starting a website/business the key ingredient for success is optimism. I have been involved in many instances where people have just said “Let’s build it and see what happens”. There is a huge problem with this mentality:
PPC - Why Conversion Tracking Is A Must
December 24, 2008
Getting The Goal Is Not Enough
Believe it or not, we run into a lot of businesses that do not have conversion tracking set up with their PPC campaigns. Here is a simple guideline if you can not have conversion tracking installed:
Turn off all your PPC campaigns until you can get conversion tracking installed!
10 Tips To Make Wordpress SEO Friendly
December 23, 2008
Let's Make Your Wordpress Blog SEO Friendly
The beauty of Wordpress is that it’s very easy to install, customize and blog with. The downside is that, out of the box, it’s not that SEO friendly. Actually, it’s sort of SEO friendly, just not SEO perfect. Here are some our recommendations in order to get the most optimal Wordpress blog: Continue Reading…
OC Search Consulting is Live!
December 22, 2008
OC Search is Alive!
Welcome to OC Search Consulting! We are happy to announce our creation today and we look forward to servicing all our current and future customers.
OC Search Consulting (OCS) is a venture between former Advantage Consulting Services employees. It consists of the same excellent talent that provided ACS clients with exceptional results. The owners of ACS have moved on to bigger and better things, and OCS is here to provide the same great service and to carry on the extraordinary legacy of ACS. Please feel free to contact us about any SEO or PPC service questions you may have.
Thank You,
Sean Work