Space is limited to a maximum of 10 students so sign up early!

Fri, Aug 19, 2011 

Class #3221T – Get Your Business Listed on the First Page of Google: Using Local Search  

How does a small business get onto Google (local), Bing,and Yahoo maps? If you have been approached by an Internet marketing company that has some version of ‘local’ in their name and promises to get you listed on the first page of Google for a monthly fee, then you need to come to this class before you sign on the dotted line. Learn tactics that search engine optimization companies charge upwards of $2,000 for to get you into “local search.” In most cases it takes a little knowledge, some elbow grease, and you can do the same thing yourself at little to no cost. After this class, you will know how to get your business on Google, Bing and Yahoo maps, listed on local directories, find places you never thought of to be listed, and have a road map of action items-even if your budget is $0.
From:  9:00a.m.– noon
Fees:   $57 Non-Member $45 Member $10 materials fee payable in class

Class # 3244AJ – Everything You Wanted to Know About Blogging

Discover how you can make your voice heard with a blog. Personal blogs and business blogs are great tools for sharing knowledge and expertise. Blogs can help build additional traffic to a website and can help you connect with potential new customers. A blog is a low cost alternative to having a full-blown website, and for small business owners blogs offer an inexpensive way to get out on the Internet. In this class learn about the difference between a business blog and a personal blog, the different blog creation platforms available, and which ones are free and which ones cost money. We will talk about the pros and cons of different blog programs. Learn about RSS feeds, categories, tags, trackbacks and other blog terms. You will leave the class with a complete plan on how to create your own blog and ideas on what to blog about for your business, hobby, or project.
From:  1:00p.m.–4:00p.m.
Fees:   $57 Non-Member $45 Member $10 materials fee payable in class
Sat, Aug 20, 2011

Class# 3590AM – Market Online: It’s Easy, Effective, and Affordable

In one power-packed evening get a solid overview of Internet marketing and how to grow your online presence immediately. The Internet provides a rich set of affordable options to help companies of all sizes and types grow. Learn what is available, what fits your business needs, and what can be implemented at little or no cost. Discover the tricks behind a form of marketing you can launch today with zero investment that delivers the highest ROI of any form of marketing, online or otherwise. Leave class with the knowledge to create your own online marketing plan. 
From:  9:00a.m.–12:00p.m.
Fees:   $57 Non-Member $45 Member $10 materials fee payable in class

Class# 2801BI – Google Freebies and Must-Haves  

Google offers a wide range of tools to help your track, promote and monitor your business online. Most of the tools are free and can offer valuable insight to your online marketing efforts. If you have a website or are planning a website for your business this class will show you the most valuable of these tools you can use to promote, find keywords and track your business online. These top 5 tools will help you make informed decisions about what your need to change, how to track your competition and how well your online marketing dollars are being spent.
From:  1:00p.m.–4:00p.m.
Fees:   $57 Non-Member $45 Member $10 materials fee payable in class

If you cannot make it in August we repeat the classes January thru June and August thru November.  Class content is updated regularly so the latest information is given.

If you would like us to add the +1 button to your site, just give us a call.

If you have been maintaining your own plugins then you can install the +1 button with a plugin on your site, Google +1.  However, before installing another plugin check to see if your current Social Sharing plugin such as SexyBookmarks has the Google + included.

The Google+1 button is similar to the Facebook Like button, it is part of Google’s efforts to advance in the Social sharing environment.  You can read more on it on Google’s page at +1 Button.

Dear Subscriber;

In the coming weeks, your search results and ads on Google will include a +1 button, which users can click to recommend your ads. You don’t need to make any changes to your account in order to take advantage of them. The final landing page URL of your ads can also appear on the Google profile of any user who +1’s your ad.

Here’s how the +1 button works:
Let’s say you own a hotel in Madrid. Brian had a lovely stay at your hotel last summer. When Brian starts researching accommodations for his next trip to Spain, he searches on Google while signed into his Google account, and sees your ad. He clicks the +1 button on the ad to recommend it to his contacts.

When Brian’s friend Ann plans her trip to Spain, she signs in to her Google account, searches, and also sees your ad – plus the personalized annotation that Brian +1’d it. Knowing that Brian recommends your hotel helps Ann decide where to stay during her travels.

Think of the +1 button as a way for fans of your business to recommend what you offer, for all their friends and contacts to see. By helping searchers see more personal, relevant ads, we believe you’ll see more qualified traffic. You can also add the +1 button to your site to give your customers the opportunity to +1 your site after visiting it.

• To learn more about what’s changing and how +1 works, visit the AdWords Help Center.
• To add the +1 button to your site, visit the +1 button tool on Google Webmaster Central

Sincerely,
The Google AdWords Team

All classes are held at CFU LOWRY: Near 1st & Quebec

If you have any questions just drop us an email to liz@maia-consulting.com.

Class Descriptions:

Get Your Business on the First Page of Google: Using Local Search
How does a small business get onto Google (local), Bing,and Yahoo maps? If you have been approached by an Internet marketing company that has some version of ‘local’ in their name and promises to get you listed on the first page of Google for a monthly fee, then you need to come to this class before you sign on the dotted line. Learn tactics that search engine optimization companies charge upwards of $2,000 for to get you into “local search.” In most cases it takes a little knowledge, some elbow grease, and you can do the same thing yourself at little to no cost. After this class, you will know how to get your business on Google, Bing and Yahoo maps, listed on local directories, find places you never thought of to be listed, and have a road map of action items-even if your budget is $0.

Grow Your Business on Twitter
Learn how to powerfully optimize your Twitter profile to drive qualified leads to your website. There are over 8 million Twitter users and it is expected to expand to 50 million by the end of this year! Discover how to become a center of influence using the micro-blogging features of Twitter, which is a goldmine if leveraged properly. Learn how to build a rock-solid platform, grow your list quickly with targeted, qualified traffic, create joint ventures and make money using Twitter.

Market Online – It is easy effective and affordable

In one power-packed evening get a solid overview of Internet marketing and how to grow your online presence immediately. The Internet provides a rich set of affordable options to help companies of all sizes and types grow. Learn what is available, what fits your business needs, and what can be implemented at little or no cost. Discover the tricks behind a form of marketing you can launch today with zero investment that delivers the highest ROI of any form of marketing, online or otherwise. Leave class with the knowledge to create your own online marketing plan.

Google Freebies and Must Haves

Google offers a wide range of tools to help your track, promote and monitor your business online. Most of the tools are free and can offer valuable insight to your online marketing efforts. If you have a website or are planning a website for your business this class will show you the most valuable of these tools you can use to promote, find keywords and track your business online. These top 5 tools will help you make informed decisions about what your need to change, how to track your competition and how well your online marketing dollars are being spent.

Everything you Wanted to Know about Blogging

Discover how you can make your voice heard with a blog. Personal blogs and business blogs are a great tool for sharing knowledge and expertise. Blogs can help build additional traffic to a website and can help you connect with potential new customers. A blog is a low cost alternative to having a full-blown website, and for small business owners blogs offer an inexpensive way to get out on the Internet. In this class learn about the difference between a business blog and a personal blog, the different blog creation platforms available, and which ones are free and which ones cost money. We will talk about the pros and cons of different blog programs. Learn about RSS feeds, categories, tags, trackbacks and other blog terms. You will leave the class with a complete plan on how to create your own blog and ideas on what to blog about for your business, hobby, or project.

Class Dates & Links for Signing Up:

Sat, Jan 15, 2011
3221P     Get Your Business Listed on the First Page of Google: Using Local Search
1:00p.m.–4:00p.m.

Thu, Jan 20, 2011
2802U     Grow Your Business With Twitter
6:00p.m.–8:00p.m.

The following dates allow you take in a full day of learning.  You can sign up for one or both classes.  Classes are designed to complement each other so it is a great opportunity to come away with lots of great info.

Sat, Feb 26, 2011
3590AI     Market Online: It’s Easy, Effective, and Affordable
9:00a.m.–12:00p.m.

2801BE    Google Freebies and Must-Haves
1:00p.m.–3:00p.m.

Fri, Mar 18, 2011
3221Q    Get Your Business Listed on the First Page of Google: Using Local Search
9:00a.m.–12:00p.m.

3244AG     Everything You Wanted to Know About Blogging
1:00p.m.–4:00p.m.

Fri, Apr 15, 2011
3590AJ     Market Online: It’s Easy, Effective, and Affordable
9:00a.m.–12:00p.m.

2801BF     Google Freebies and Must-Haves
1:00p.m.–3:00p.m.

Sat, May 21, 2011
3221R     Get Your Business Listed on the First Page of Google: Using Local Search
9:00a.m.–12:00p.m.

3244AH     Everything You Wanted to Know About Blogging
1:00p.m.–4:00p.m.

I advise students that they first need to work on organic search for their website – make sure that their website looks professional and then work on expanding into the social media outlets.  Many of my students worry about Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn and how they can manage so many sites and still run a business.  A recent report on Emarketer.com shows that in the B2B industries these mediums might not be as high on the list of sites to manage as making sure your own business website is bringing in organic traffic.

“While many business-to-business (B2B) companies have gotten turned on to the value of social media marketing and find it helpful for tasks like prospecting and lead generation, inbound social marketing for B2Bs may leave much to be desired.

A study by lead generation solutions provider LeadForce1 examined the behavior of visitors to B2B Websites who had been directed to the sites from social media, including Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Wikipedia. Visitors from the top social sites were generally uninterested in product or contact pages, suggesting they were not in the market for the company’s products or services.”

My feeling is that you should have a presence in all of these sites, I certainly see traffic coming from both Twitter and LinkedIn to the Maia Internet Consulting website and know that they have brought us business, however the most traffic still comes from our organic search results.

Read the full article at Emarketer.com

Here is a great blogging tool from Wordtracker.  You can compare words while you are editing your posts, see how many times you have used a keyword and do a little research without having to forget your train of thought.  It is quick an easy to add it to your Firefox browser.

Download it now – it’s completely free.

Here is a list of our upcoming CFU classes for 2010 – check with CFU to see that they are still going on and please register ahead of time as we have both a max limit of 10 and min attendance of 2 for the classes to run.

A Crash Course in Local Search
Understand why Local Search is different from General Search.  Figure out where to list your business and come away with lots of other directories to get listed beyond Google.
Saturday mornings from 9 am-12 am
Sat May 15th – Register / More Info
Sat June 26th – Register / More Info
Sat Aug 7th  – Register / More Info
Sat Sept 18th – Register / More Info
Sat Oct 30th
Sat Dec 4th

Google Pay Per Click
Learn how to write good ad copy, get your website in order to help get better results from your Pay Per Click campaigns and how to find your keywords.
Saturday afternoons from 2 pm-5 pm
Sat May 15th – Register / More Info
Sat June 26th – Register / More Info
Sat Aug 7th – Register / More Info
Sat Sept 18th – Register / More Info
Sat Oct 30th
Sat Dec 4th

Twitter
Understand what Twitter is all about, how to participate and how to optimize your Twitter account.  Grow your list quickly with targeted, qualified traffic.
Wednesday evenings from 6 pm-8 pm
Weds May 26th – Register / More Info
Weds July 28th – Register / More Info
Weds Sept 29th - Register / More Info
Weds Nov 24th – Register / More Info

Google Freebies and Must Haves
Google is a treasure trove for small businesses.  Learn how to  use the top five free Google tools and how to create revenue on your website.
Wednesday evenings from 6 pm-8 pm
Weds May 12th – Register / More Info
Weds July 14th – Register / More Info
Weds Sept 8th – Register / More Info
Weds Nov 10th

Online Marketing It’s Easy, Effective & Affordable
Discover some ideas about how you can market yourself more effectively online.  Starting with your own website we discuss how to make sure you are taking advantage of the basics on your own site then move onto Blogging, Social Media and Email marketing.
Wednesday evenings from 6 pm-9 pm
Weds March 3rd
Weds April 7th
Weds June 16th – Register / More Info
Weds Aug 11th – Register / More Info
Weds Oct 13th – Register / More Info
Weds Dec 8th

Blogging
Curious about blogging and if it can work for your business.  In this class we talk about free and paid options, why you might want to blog and how it can be fun as well as give you an advantage in the search engines.
Wednesday evenings from 6 pm-9 pm
Weds March 17th
Weds April 21st
Weds June 30th – Register Today
Weds Aug 25th – Register / More Info
Weds Oct 27th – Register / More Info
Weds Dec 22nd – unavailable for online registration until new class links are posted

If you have any questions about the classes please contact Liz@MaiaInternetConsulting.com – we look forward to seeing you in a class soon!

To register for a class click on a the link to take you to the register page for the class or contact:

Colorado Free University
7653 East 1st Place
Denver, CO 80230
(303) 399-0093

For those that are not really aware of what Local Search is here is a quick look:

• Local Search is any search made with the goal of finding something within a geographic location.  This is known as searching with local intent.
• Local Search is searching for something (what) in some place (where).
• Local Expert, Greg Sterling, defines Local Search as seeking information online with the intention of making a transaction off line.
• Essentially, anything that you would traditionally look for in the print Yellow Pages becomes a Local Search which it is conducted offline.

Local Search in Google shows up in the map when you search for something in an area.

Other search engines have a similar results and need to be submitted individually.  If you are on Google Local Search you will still need to make sure you are on Bing and Yahoo.

The client in the example above, Swim Otters, had claimed her listing on Google Local but was still not showing up in the results for Swim Lessons Westminster, CO.  We worked on her listing to help her come up for various swimming searches in her area and removed duplicate entries for data integrity.  Simply claiming your listing does not mean you will show in the results.  Working with a search professional can make a difference.

Learn about Local Search in an upcoming class I am presenting at Colorado Free University on April 10th, 2009 from 9am – noon.    Cost is $57 for non-members of CFU and $45 for members with a $10 materials fee.

Click on the following link to sign up:  Local Search Class

I get asked a number of times about adding video to a site, many clients want to stream directly on their own site.  This is possible with WordPress and can look really nice and will increase the ‘stickiness’ of your site, keeping people engaged longer.  However, to gain any kind of recognition for your video in the search engines they should be on YouTube.

Search Engines are not able to figure out what the video is about unless you tell them, so they are invisible to the search engines.  Most online video is converted to a flash video file when it is uploaded and the content within the video is unknown.  This affects the ranking of the video.

When you upload to YouTube each video is given it’s own page so it gives you the opportunity to let the search engines know what your video is about.

A recent article from Drew Hubbard on IMedia Connection goes into great detail about optimizing for online video.  Briefly his quick tips for optimization include:

1. Create a Profile Page
2. Include links in profile pages wherever possible
3. Include appropriate keywords in the name of the video and use the word ‘video’ when appropriate.
4. Write a unique, keyword rich description that includes the url, the url should be at the beginning.
5. Provide video transcripts if possible.
6. Take advantage of YouTube’s captions and annotation feature by adding notes, subtitles, descriptions, and links directly over the video.
7. Tag videos with keywords.
8. Encourage participation – using Broadcasting and Sharing.
9. Watermark your videos.
10. Try to get a compelling thumbnail for your video.
11. Take advantage of YouTube Insights.  The analytics feature of YouTube.

Read the full article with much more detailed explanations of these 11 tips along with examples of videos that get it right and the mistakes to avoid.

10 SEO tips for YouTube – iMediaConnection.com
Denver Video Production Company