Are We Excited Yet?

Any time you push yourself out of the "Comfort Zone" into the "Learning Zone," you get at least a little excited. Once that new location becomes a bit familiar, however, the excitement can fade. Only the work remains, for the moment. Ahead lies the reward, tantalizingly out of reach.
    In a way, it's like ripening fruit, which is a bit bitter to eat right now, but will be sweet and juicy in time. Life is like that. The things which are sweet at first often become sour after a while, like cotton candy in the mouth. The things which are sour at first become not only sweet, but nutritious. It's a maturing process.
    Hammering out the kinks for the Scranton Front Door Pages is just such a chore. Each of the "placeholder" listings is bouncing around in the search engines like a superball thrown by an overeager 6-year-old. They are literally changing from moment to moment, which makes promoting them something for the near future, but not right now. The only stable references to the listings themselves are through blog posts from "seasoned" blogs like this one and the Wordpress blog that I left laying fallow for many months (but is now revivified and flourishing).
    The willingness to see past the present and envision the future is one of the measures of maturity. Positive consequences are an example of that kind of maturity. Indeed, those who are up to their rump in alligators (who set out to drain the swamp) have a pasture to look forward to. It's fending off the alligators that can diminish enthusiasm for the moment.
    Nevertheless, having the sure and certain knowledge that Bessie the cow will be thanking you (in her cow-like way) for the sweet grass your nascent pasture will provide is just one of the perks you can enjoy. Think of all those alligator steaks you can put in the freezer!

Finally! A Scranton Portal Website that Targets Profitable Local Search Traffic

I'd been examining the idea of doing a local business portal, but all the ones I saw didn't fit what I was planning to do in the local market. This was one of those times where it was either do-it-yourself or pay somebody too much for what you really don't want. Most local portal programs are pre-built with all kinds of things in mind, except one: targeting local traffic that's looking for profitable businesses and professions. I have yet to see anyone making portals for professionals, contractors and other local businesses that spend a ton of money on advertising to people with lots of money to spend. Further, these businesses and professionals spend major ad dollars with very little in the way of measurable results to show for it.
    The common lament from most businesses is, "50% of my ad budget is wasted. I just don't know which 50%! That's because Yellow Pages, billboards, radio & TV spots and the like are not trackable. Sure, you can put in a coupon on your YP ad, but how many dentists are willing to do that? Can you imagine a General Contractor offering a coupon? For what? A free ice crusher?
    Enter the Scranton professional and business portal for targeted local traffic. This portal doesn't have what all the others have -- tons of "feature rich" stuff that doesn't enhance the real value to users or the businesses they want to patronize. Instead, this portal has pre-built template pages that are keyword optimized for specific, profitable local niches where the only competition is business directories, YP listings and classified ads. These are laser-targeted niche pages with SEO techniques and methods that are usually reserved for highly competitive broad markets. In English, that means the pages show up near or at the top of the Search Engine Results Pages almost immediately as is, and will rise to the very top with just a bit of tweaking.
    Now comes the cool part. Those that wants to see what it's like to have that SPOT in the SERP's can see their own website show up there with a simple "call forwarding" change of code on my server (302 redirect -- temporary). It's that kind of result that "sells" the service. As soon as the business pays the extravagant rental fee I will charge, their own portal page will occupy that spot in the Search Results. I'll even throw in a free Google Local Listing to go with it!
    There will even be "metrics" for the performance of these landing pages as they are. Each one has a little poll the user can participate in -- which leaves a complete record in the server's stats for the site that SOMEBODY CLICKED A LINK ON THE PAGE -- and it wasn't me! When local businesses see that kind of measurable result, they rejoice -- or they ought to. Try getting that from a Sunday edition newspaper display ad!
    I'll even revamp their existing site (if they have one) so that they keep the good ranking in the search results. If they need a website, I have colleagues who do that sort of thing for me. The important part is my continuing support and maintenance of their sites' SEO -- Search Engine Optimization. I'm from the school of SEO that treats it as a blood sport!
    That whole Kevin Costner "If you build it, they will come" thing is wrong! In this case, "If you rent it, they will keep coming" is more like it!

Local Targeted Traffic for Scranton in the Search Engines

After a year and a half of slugging it out in the Search Engines for affiliate marketing and promoting my info-products, I realized something: dominating local search for targeted traffic is a breeze! In fact, some of the heavy-handed stuff we Direct Marketers do to cover all our bases can actually cover the whole first page of Google. It's like swatting a fly with a house!
    Naturally, there are very competitive niches that don't respond to a nudge or a tickle from a single, well-crafted keyword phrase on a landing page or a Social Networking site. Those broader niches need a bit more push, since they attract a lot of "browsers" who aren't looking to take local action. It's the motivated-to-act search terms that are so easy to get.
    For example, [ Scranton restaurants ] have a lot of good competition, but try going ethnic (see the post before this). Put up a blog post and you get on the first page in less than an hour! That beats Old School 1-hour photo developing and rush dry-cleaning!
    Even better, you can slide in a one-way backlink in your post for your intended target and give that domain a bit more authority. Going all out with classifieds on the "secret list" of Direct Marketing classified sites, Social Networking pages & bookmarking services, "geo location", additional blogs with posts, a press release and an article on ezinearticles.com and you've blown away all the Yellow Pages listings, business directories and local portals in one, fell swoop!
    I swear, I'm going to start giving workshops to the local professionals and show them how to use this stuff to drive motivated seekers of their services through their doors...