That’s before you even consider the difference between “local” and “regular” SEO, “paid” vs “organic” or “SEO” vs “SEM” (Search Engine Marketing). You find yourself asking questions such as:

• How are my competitors doing it?

• Why am I not ranking higher?

• If I need help, who should I hire?

• Will I ever reach my goals?

• What language are these people speaking? It sure isn’t English!

In short, local SEO can be a confusing, frustrating endeavor for any small business owner. You didn’t start a business to become a local SEO expert. Yet, suddenly you have to deal with SEO and content marketing like it is your job.

Now, before you just throw in the towel on this whole digital marketing thing, let’s take stock of what’s going right. You have a great business or at least a great business idea. You know there are people who want your product or service because you’ve had success and you have loyal customers. And it’s possible to create solid content surrounding any topic. So, you’ve got all those factors going for you. The fact that you don’t yet understand how to use content marketing

effectively – or even what it is – doesn’t matter. Just think of it like a puzzle you have yet to solve. This is why we wrote this book – to help business owners, just like you, develop the skills and knowledge you need to develop a local SEO content marketing strategy.

First and Foremost: Why Content?

If you’re going to get any use out of this book, you need a foundational understanding of what content is and why it matters. If you’ve spent any time at all in the past few years working on your marketing plan, then you've almost certainly heard the terms inbound marketing and content marketing – and you’ve probably felt the pressure to create more content. The reason for this is pretty simple: content is air in marketing these days. If internet marketing and digital

marketing are the circulatory system of any business’s advertising plan, then content is the oxygen that fuels its basic metabolic processes. The content you post on various channels and media will help your target customers find you when and where you want to be found.

We’ll take a deeper dive into the nature and use of content later in this book, but for now, let’s talk about what you can expect from this book.

A Complete Playbook to Content Marketing

Simply put, this book is a blueprint to promote your business through the intelligent use of content marketing, with the goal of showing up in local (and in some cases national) searches. In so doing, you’ll find the clients, customers and leads you need to make your company a success both in the short term and over the long haul.

Content marketing is one of the most cost-effective ways to help your business stand out from the competition. Our team of experts will break down the concepts of local SEO into manageable parts. Throughout the course of this book, each chapter scaffolds upon the next. Our goal is to provide you with a clear roadmap that demystifies local SEO. This will empower you to take the steps needed to succeed in a crowded online marketplace. In this book, you will learn:

CONTENT MARKETING FOR LOCAL SEARCH

• What content is and how to develop a content marketing strategy

• What search engine optimization means and how you can optimize your content

• What the SEO “ecosystem” looks like

• Why SEO matters to local businesses (and where Google comes in)

• How you can beat your competition with good content and a solid SEO plan

• The different types of social media and how to choose the right options for your business

Our team of authors has decades of combined experience in helping local small businesses grow through effective content marketing. We have broad experience helping businesses that want to target specific neighborhoods, towns, and regions. The content we’ve included in this book is geared toward getting you up to speed as quickly as possible on the concepts surrounding content marketing, the best types to use for your business, and how to make it work for you on a local level.