You are your brand - all entrepreneurs and business owners are representatives of their brand, online and offline. SEO branding is necessary for any business! Building brand recognition and trust online is the first step to generating leads, in the eyes of consumers, a high search engine ranking equals high quality. Build your brand online by improving your search engine ranking and take over the 1st page of search results! Key Takeaways: 1- How to optimize your website and rank higher on search engines, for both your brand and name! 2- How to understand the importance of social factors in search, don’t ignore Google+, and follow best practices. 3- How to outrank your competitors with Local SEO and citations 4- How to create quality videos and take advantage of YouTube, the 2nd largest search engine, and implement a video marketing strategy Why Bother With SEO Branding? •People do not make buying decisions based on impersonal facts. They rely on their perspective •SEO branding can help build recognition and trust for your company •In the eyes of most of your prospects, high rankings mean high quality •Not being in control of your SEO branding can become a costly mistake Build Your Brand Without Buying Billboards! Only take care of the first 10 results

1. @GreenLotus_CA
Search engine marketing strategist and speaker with
more than 8 years of experience.
Bassem has managed online marketing strategies for
some of Canadian’s largest corporations including
Canadian Tire, Toronto Star and Direct Energy.
Bassem Ghali
Founder & Head of Client Strategy at Green Lotus
GreenLotus.ca

2. What Does Your Brand Means to Consumers?

3. Your Name is Your Brand

4. Your Company / Product Name is Your Brand

5. Why Bother With SEO Branding?
• People do not make buying
decisions based on
impersonal facts. They rely
on their perspective
• SEO branding can help build
recognition and trust for your
company
• In the eyes of most of your
prospects, high rankings
mean high quality
• Not being in control of your
SEO branding can become a
costly mistake

6. Build Your Brand Without
Buying Billboards!
Only take care of the first 10 results

7. How to Rank Higher on Search Engines!
High Ranks = Popularity x Relevancy
- Inbound Links
- Text Links
- Domain Age
- Referring Domains
- Crawled Pages
- Press Releases
- Keyword Density
- Keyword Frequency
- Keyword Prominence
- Keyword Proximity
- Title Tags
- Image Tags
Back in the day
x Social Signals
- Likes
- Google +
- Shares
- Tweets / Mentions
- Views
- Fan Base
Now!
Google SearchBots are relying more and more on
humans to endorse relevant and useful content!

8. Traditional SEO is not going to disappear
any time soon.
But, as social factors become increasingly
integrated with search, it is now time to
add social media as a permanent tool to
your online marketing arsenal!

9. How Does Google Know you have an Appropriate
Local Business & Favor you?
Best Practices
1. Ensure you have accurate &
updated business info (Name,
Phone, Address, Bio) on Google
Places, Facebook, Yelp, etc.
2. Encourage your happy customers to
post reviews of your business.
3. Engage Facebook users to ‘Check In’
4. Encourage customers to ‘share’
pictures taken at your business.
Google uses the Web Citations of your physical address to verify location on Google Places,
and for local organic ranking, ‘check ins’ have become a key part of their algorithm.

10. You can easily
out rank your
competitors!

11. How Does Google Know you Have an Interactive Business
with Humans not Machines Responding to Customers?
Best Practices
• Make sure your content is sharable
• Create a free guide and helpful tips to
share with your social audience
• Stay connected to your fans and do not
let them forget you
Google uses a different Personalized – Social Ranking Algorithm for everyone, and this is
based on the information you have already agreed to share! … eg - Location, Search History,
Personal Shares, Social Circles
Facebook has a similar Algorithm called
“Edgerank” which controls which Facebook
posts appear in fan news feeds.

12. Why Should you Jump on the Google+ Wagon!
Organic
Though the Google+ social network is still a lightweight compared
to sites like Twitter & Facebook. Google+ is emerging as a
champion heavyweight in search results.
Paid
The Google +1 has turned
into an Internet-wide
Facebook like button.
Add +1 Buttons To Anything & Everything
Do not turn down this easy endorsement!
Place the +1 Button on your site, wherever you can.

13. Should I Create a Video for my Business?
Of Course, Yes .. But why?
 YouTube is the second largest online search engine
 Canadians watch more YouTube videos than any other nation
 Chances of videos watched online are 1:2 on YouTube
 Prime time is anytime!
Best Practices:
 Who is your targeted audience and what do they care about?
 Pure sales and “about me” videos usually fail
 Helpful tips, funny and interesting videos usually succeed
 Do not exceed 1:30 mins for your first video!

14. Organic
Take advantage of Google’s Universal
Search Results and make your video
rank on top of your competitors
Paid:
 Reach the right viewer at the right
price
 Pay only when users choose to
watch your ad
Facebook:
• Embed your YouTube video
• Run a Targeted Ad Campaign
• Interact with comments and
welcome new fans
Video Marketing Strategy

15. 51% of consumers said they are more likely to buy a product after
“liking” the brand on Facebook
55% of consumers follow companies on social networks to receive
general information
56% of consumers are likely to recommend a brand to a friend after
becoming a fan
61% of consumers interact with companies on their social networks
to receive discounts
Social Media Statistics

16.  Submit your website to Google Places, and any other
relevant social or local directory websites
 Place your business name, address and phone number on
every page of your website
 Connect your Google + with your Adwords account
 Display your social media “follow us” buttons on every page
of your website
 Make it easy for visitors to share your content on their
favorite social media websites, use “AddThis” or “ShareThis”
 Publish awesome content on your blog (and lots of it!)
 Create an interesting & optimized video about your services
Best Practices

17. Basic Online Marketing Rule:
Start Where Others Ended!

18. YWCA Donate & Learn Workshop
Tue. May28 at 6pm (Bay & Dundas)