The efforts and investment in your business having a well designed website that ranks well on Google, Bing and other search engines is mostly geared at generating leads and new business.  Consider that you also get a bleed of other benefits when your web design is solid and your site has search engine credibility.

4 Quarters Design & Build is a Five Tech client that witnessed this bleed first hand.  Their recently redesigned website earned them the opportunity to take part in a TV news story and gain valuable offline exposure for their business.

A recent deck collapse in the Twin Cities led the WCCO reporter to find a deck construction expert to contribute to their story.   A quick search on Google by the TV reporter and he had his expert, 4 Quarters owner Brian Jacobson.

Building Credibility
It’s easy to see that the key to a successful website and online marketing is credibility.  The right look and feel, helpful content and other elements all contribute to your website being viewed as a trusted resource.  That resource might be needed by a search engine or by a TV reporter, either way the benefits can be numerous.

Congrats to 4 Quarters and Brian on the air time, can we get your autograph?

I wanted to share one of the local search examples I shared while presenting at Local University earlier this month.  A small business can gain a solid edge by ranking well with their local listing as well as their general organic search ranking.

Here is one of our clients, a CPA firm with 2 offices that have earned top rankings in both the local and organic results.  Their positions are boxed in red.

Consider that the user not only has 2 links to click into to bring them to their website or more information on their business, but they greatly climb the user’s trust curve by being seen multiple times on the page.  Here are the results for their 2nd office.

Occupying more of the search results page real estate should be the goal of any business.  The first step is understanding that local search and organic search are two separate things with separate elements and ranking formulas.

Your local search listings are generated from how your business is registered with the engines as well as other online resources. A great step to start with for many businesses is using GetListed.org to verify if you have claimed your local business listings with the major search engines.

With the combination of local search and organic search results working together, you can greatly increase your website’s exposure.

The dust has settled and Local University Twin Cities is in the books.  Thursday was a jam packed day of Internet marketing information, tips, data, tools, how-to’s and more from a fantastic panel of local search, SEO, analytics and social media experts.

Two packed sessions of Minnesota business owners, marketers, web designers and more soaked up an incredible amount of Internet marketing knowledge from leading experts as well as staff from Google and Bing.  GetListed.org’s Local University delivered as promised with solid education, best practices, approach, tools and more that anyone can implement at some level for marketing online.

Personally, in helping bring the Local U event to the Twin Cities it was satisfying to hear so many of the positive comments following each session and read all of the tweets.  Below are just a few Twitter comments from the day:

This is one workshop that is only out to educate it’s attendees, not sell.

Thank you to all involved, local sponsors Deluxe & ReliaCloud, the attendees, speakers, promotional partners and friends that help me pull this together.

The amount of valuable local search and online marketing information that was shared is awesome.  Smart people that enjoy sharing their vast knowledge is what Local U is all about.  How great is that?  I’m proud to have been part of this great group and event.

Here are a few photos from the event ….

Learn more on GetListed.org and the Local University series, who’s next stop is Cleveland, Ohio in June.

In less than 2 weeks, Local University will descend on the Minneapolis and St Paul area bringing a wealth of SEO, local search and Internet marketing information.  You can still register for the May 13th event that features speakers from Google, Bing and other national Internet marketing experts.

Who is this conference for?

This has been a big question I get when talking about the event.  I thought I would offer a small summary of what I feel every level of business owner, marketer or SEO can get from this great opportunity.

Entry Level - If you are a business owner, running a business or a small business marketer you may very well get the most out of Local University.  A solid amount of the information and sessions are gear toward baseline education, do-it-yourself tips and giving you a clear understanding of how things work and how you can benefit.  Confusion on Internet marketing will be replaced by clarity.

Intermediate Level- Where some of the information covered might be a good refresher, you’ll still get some new angles and information.  There is no doubt that the local search expertise presenting will give you more insight into this exploding area of the web and business.  The Q & A sessions will also give you access to ask questions in some areas that might be of specific interest to you.

Expert Level- Here is a great chance to support the industry you work in.  The chance to learn may still exist within the local search presentations, but the chance to network with other great Internet marketing minds as well as business owners and other local marketers is fantastic.

This 4 hour workshop will cover fantastic information on search engine optimization, local search , social media and more.  It’s a jam packed line-up that can benefit all levels of Internet marketers.

• Register now and use the code five2010 to get $40 off, dropping your cost to just $89 for this event.

Thank you to the local sponsors helping make this event possible, Deluxe and ReliaCloud.

I had the pleasure of attending the first Local University put on by GetListed.org in Spokane, Washington on February 4th, 2010.  This one day event, provided a fantastic amount of local search, SEO, social media and other Internet marketing information to over 150 attendees looking to have a better grasp on how they can be more visible online.

Organized by GetListed.org co-founder David Mihm, the seminar featured a great line-up of experienced Internet marketers as well as Google and Bing representatives.  The Local University seminar will be heading out to other cities in 2010, bringing a fantastic wealth of information for any business or organization looking to improve their online marketing knowledge.

In just a 4 hour session, attendees took part in detailed presentations, real world case studies, Q & A sessions, how-to’s, do-it-yourself tips, resources and more.  Overall it was some incredible search, social and local/maps information, from talented presenters, all for $129. A complete steal to get a ton of  basics, the best practices and the baseline to market online.

The panel of speakers form left to right were Mikko Ollila of Bing, Ryan Hayward of Google, Matt McGee of Small Business SEM, Mike Blumenthal a local search expert, David Mihm of GetListed.org and Mary Bowling of seOverflow. Not pictured above was Spokane SEO expert Ed Reese.

Local University is a must for any business that wants real answers, real examples and access to grasp the opportunity to succeed online.

In addition to attending the seminar it was a chance for me to finally connect in person with other search marketers I have read, done business with and interacted with for some time.  I had a great time meeting a few new ones too like Mary Bowling, Mike Blumenthal (aka Professor Maps) and Mike Ramsey as the presenters took in dinner the night before.

Minneapolis In The Local University Future?
The one last piece that put me on a flight to Spokane was to attract the Local University offering to the Minneapolis area later this year.  The amount of information, the level of expertise and the complete offering would be perfect for the local business community here in the Twin Cities.

I can tell you that the event left Spokane buzzing, satisfied and hoping for another one.

Hopefully I’ll have some good news soon, but don’t hesitate to let your voice be heard with a comment below.