This was an article posted by Examiner.com about Get Ads CEO George Avery detailing some of his views on Search Marketing, especially pertaining to local search. Hope you enjoy!
Innovation | November 14, 2012 | By: Dennis Wakabayashi
Over the last few months I’ve been following a new powerhouse in the world of Digital. George Avery has a cadre of insightful and pioneering digital media firms based in Denver Colorado and was able to squeeze in an interview with us to share the newest innovations they are bringing to SEO.
Here’s a background on George and his companies:
George Avery is a Digital Media and Performance Marketing Executive with more than 10 years of experience in the industry. He founded GetAds LLC., after building Affiliate.com (formerly CPA Empire) into a leading Affiliate Network with over $100 million in sales annually. He was also instrumental in the development of what has become the industry-standard affiliate tracking software.
George bought a leading technology company and with his executive staff reinvented it as Native Rank INC., a groundbreaking search solution company. Native Rank is a pioneer in the SEO space, offering a true ROI for their customers. In addition, he bought and is in the process of re-launching LocalSEO.com, which will be a leading provider of SEO services for the small business community.
George brings a unique vision, intensity, and team approach to every project he is associated with. Not content to sit on the sidelines; George’s management style has always been extremely hands-on. He has a unique talent for motivating people to be at the top of their game 100% of the time. His goal is to create success not only for himself, but also for those around him. In his free time he enjoys playing ice hockey, dirt biking, snowboarding, and wakeboarding.
GetAds LLC
GetAds is the leader in digital marketing solutions. Through our multi-channel online approach you can market clients directly to consumers over the internet. Society has morphed into a place where branding alone is not enough, it is the performance of the campaign that determines success. GetAds delivers unprecedented performance, while providing instant access to reporting metrics that allow you to spend your marketing dollars where they will be the most effective.
NativeRank INC
Native Rank is a full-service search and advertising solution for Ad Agencies, News Papers, Search Companies and Small to Large Business. We provide solutions for organic search rankings, pay-per-click advertising, goal and conversion optimization, social media, GPS, and web map integration, on-page search engine optimization, as well as search optimized web design.
LocalSeo INC
LocalSeo is a place for small business to truly put themselves on the map. Most small business have a huge problem with knowing what to do when it comes to digital marketing. LocalSeo fills that void, with LocalSeo we give the small business a real chance to succeed online. We work with each company to come up with a very affordable digital plan that can help their business grow and retain existing customers.
Q: Can you tell us a little about your current business, how it got started and how big it is today?
A: Native Rank was founded when my executive staff and I were looking at a technology company as a resource for GetAds. We quickly realized that the technology company would be a huge resource in the SEO space; I then bought the company and founded Native Rank shortly. Native Rank is a full search solution company. We handle any project that relates to search engines. We service top tier advertising agencies, newspaper groups, and large business.
Q: What made you start a technology company after a successful run as a professional Hockey player?
A: As I read this question, I am literally laughing out loud! I would call my Hockey career more of a life building exercise, in which I learned how to lead a team, inspire people, and developed a work ethic that would not allow anything less than success. What ended up happening is that a friend of mine that I knew through Hockey was launching an internet startup, centered on the Cost Per Action vertical. CPA advertising was in its infancy; my friend knew that I would not stop until I made it successful and that I had the leadership skills to put everything together. To be honest, when I started I could barely work a computer or type. I literally locked myself in that office for two years and relentlessly educated myself and made sales calls. Over time I built a team that pioneered the CPA business and helped change the way we market online. The character that Hockey instilled in me were the skills that allowed me to make this all happen.
Q: Can you describe what makes your company a leader of SEO innovation?
A: Our primary focus is on identifying, measuring and improving outcomes. What is your website doing for you? We know we can get our clients the traffic and we don’t shy away from developing an ROI metric for our clients. Many of our competitors don’t take the extra steps that are needed to insure that the increases in SEO also become increases in business. We do, and that makes all the difference.
Q: If you could partner with any company out there, who would it be?
A: In an ideal world, any SEO company would partner with Google. However, in essence we do by working in tandem with their algorithm and following their best practices. We have many valuable partners with Advertising Agencies, News Paper Groups, Non Profits and companies like Soft Layer and Vertical Response. We are always on the look out for strategic partners.
Q: I noticed you do a lot of work for car dealerships. What are the best kinds of businesses to benefit from SEO?
A: We get asked this all the time, the truth is there is no business we can’t help and we have lofty goals of helping them all. We believe that any business can benefit from our method because we build a true ROI for our customers and tailor a strategy for each vertical. We recognize that every industry needs a well thought out solution and we enjoy crafting these for our clients.
Q: What’s your take the different algorithms supporting “local” like Foursquare and Yelp?
A: These services are pioneers in the hyper local space and are currently bridging the gap where large search engines do not produce the best data. You can see search engines realizing the value in this as they attempt to buy Yelp, Zaggat and others in the “Local” space.
Q: What’s the best way to address Local SEO since there are some many different local search engines?
A: As a broad strategy, it is most important to focus on the big players, as they represent the majority of possibilities for success. Local search engines often base their results on the larger engines, so ranking well in the “big three” has a trickledown effect.
Q: Can you tell us how the definition of “local” is changing everyday and what clients should do to remain relevant?
A: Local continues to become more hyper local. Clients can continue to remain relevant by updating their content and strategies to display the exact geographic areas they service. This can be done through geo-modification for organic key words, place page optimization and using the zip code feature in Ad-Words.
Q: If you could advise any client on the best way to get started with SEO, what would you say?
A: The most important thing is to not re-invent the wheel. Look at your competitors, find what works and engage with a company like Native Rank to develop a long-term search strategy that incorporates a true ROI for your website and business. Make sure that whatever company you work with clearly understands and helps you illustrate your goals and develops a road map for how to achieve them.
Q: What are the top Search Engines to pay attention to and why?
A: Google, Yahoo and Bing. Google has 85% of the market share and Yahoo and Bing share the other 15%.
Q: What would you recommend to any other entrepreneur in entering the digital space?
A: Have a problem to solve. If everyone tells you that you are wrong, you are on to something.
Q: When it comes to providing strong service to your clients, what have been your best lessons so far?
A: Make everything simple enough that your grandparents can understand it. If you can’t explain it in a simple way, you don’t understand it well enough. When we founded Native Rank we made a decision to never talk down to clients because of technical terms. That has had a profound impact on our culture and how we interact with our clients.
Q: Can you name two of your contemporary inspirations or influences and how they helped you?
A: Steve Jobs, because he dared to dream and never let anything get in the way of that. He understood, defined crazy, and made a place for it in our society. Another inspiration for me is John D. Rockefeller, he constantly was told that he couldn’t do it but he held on to his vision and never wavered. He took everything and everyone head on!
Q: Can you name someone along the way you wish you could thank and haven’t yet?
A: What would you say to them? I would have to say my Dad. He passed away before I achieved success in business, but the work ethic he instilled and the drive he gave me allowed me to get where I am today. He passed away 13 years ago and it was with his passing that drove me to achieve success.
Q: What’s the next big thing for the Digital Economy in 2013?
A: GetAds, Native Rank and Local SEO. The amazing thing about the Digital Economy is that if you can dream it, you can achieve it and you can bet my team and I will do both.
Dennis Wakabayashi, Digital Innovation Examiner
Dennis Wakabayashi is a seasoned Digital Strategist with a deep understanding of digital media, extensive brand experiences and as a veteran advertising “creative” from TBWA led digital campaigns for national brands, such as McDonald’s, American Crew, Beck’s Beer, Boston Market and Sears.
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