Additional info on this YouTube video: Here
I hate talking about Search Page Optimization (SEO) almost as much as I hate doing it. I would rather talk about some really cool martial arts technique or some fun ways to teach a new program or anything other than this. We do not want to do SEO but we all know we have to do it. We know this must be done in order for us to get our martial arts school up at the top of the first page of a Google search. The top of the search page should increase the likelihood of many new students. Even if you are already on the first page, you still need to do maintenance to make sure you stay there. Whoever gets to the first page or even the top of the first page and continues to do proper SEO will stay there and you will not be able to beat them. If the person on the top is not doing their best at SEO you can do a better job and take that person’s place. I am going to give you a few things to do maybe every other month or so to help you get to the top of the search page. You should probably do more but I know most of you won’t. So at least do these Basics because like I said, you need to get to the top of the first page.
I will assume that if you are still reading this article you already have a web page. You need to create a good website where people want to stay once they get there. You need to take a good look at your website to make sure it is a place where a person will remain. Does it contain the information they may be looking for? The longer the person stays on your site the more credibility Google will give you in a search result.
The first thing you need to do is create a Google My Business page at https://www.google.com/business/. If you do not already have one then get one because there are many things that you can do with your Google My Business page that will help bring students to your door. If you do not have a Google My Business page then I will enclose a link to a quick video on how to create a proper Google My Business page (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r1y_0k06MPc). This Google My Business page is extremely important because it is weighted very heavily by Google as to how it ranks you, where it ranks you and why it ranks you. Plus customers are used to using it and they will contact you from it if it is optimized in a good professional way. I am also including a link to another YouTube video that will show you how to optimize and use your Google My Business page so it will help you gain more customers ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BvcdY_U-DAc&t=213s).
Once you have your Google My Business page created it will be time for you to go get reviews. Reviews are one of the most important things that can help you rank high in the Google Map area. It’s at the top of the search page and in the organic search which is the part of the search page that you do not have to pay for. What I suggest you do is to ask all your students to give you a 5 Star rating on your Google business page. Make sure that when they do a rating for you it is not done at your school. Google will recognize the IP address as being the same as the one for your school and it will actually give you negative points. So make sure your students do give you a 5-Star rating and that they do it at a different location. The more 5 Star ratings that you get the higher credibility Google will give you. The more credibility you have the better Google will rank you.
I know all this stuff is really boring and not what you want to do but it is necessary to improve your business. So watch the videos and get your Google My Business page together and you should see increased traffic flow to your school. As always good luck to you and your school.