INITIAL CHECKLIST

Complete Keyword Research

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Send Keyword Research

  1. Attach your PDF to the SharpSpring keyword research email template and send to client.
  2. Once you have received the focus keywords and locations from your client, add them to the notes section for your client in Sharp Spring.

Homepage Optimized

  1. Has your client selected the keywords and locations that they want to focus on?  If yes, see the next step below. If not, reach out to your client to get this information to move on to the next steps.
  2. Make copy the text on the client’s homepage and paste it into a Word document or Google Doc.
  3. How Many Keyword Instances Research: Do a word count to see how many words are in your document.  Multiply your word count by 0.02. The product will be the number of instances you need to include your keywords.  Now, multiply your word count by 0.01. The product will be the number of instances you need to include your location terms.  So for example, if you are optimizing for “sandwich shop Salt Lake City” on a homepage that has 400 words, you will need 8 instances of sandwich (2%), 8 instances of shop (2%), and 4 instances of Salt Lake City. (1%).  Keep in mind that some words may have “Google Synonyms”. One way to check for Google Synonyms is to search your term in Google to see if any other terms get bolded in the search results. So for example, when I search “sandwich shop Salt Lake City” in Google, I see that both “shop” and “store” are bolded.  This means that “store” is a Google synonym for our keyword “shop”. So, when trying to get your 8 instances of “shop” in your 400-word homepage, you can also count the word “store” to get to that total. When you have read this step and have calculated how many instances of keywords you need and determined if there are Google synonyms you can use, check this step off and proceed to the next step.
  4. Optimize Your Content: In your doc with the homepage text content, edit the content to include the keywords and location terms you need (see previous step to know how many of each you will need).  Make sure that:
    1. The edits you make still make sense
    2. The edits don’t increase the word count too much.  If you increase the word count too much, you’ll need to have more instances of your keywords to comply with the 2% and 1% rule mentioned in the previous step.
  5. Write the homepage’s title tag: A title tag is an HTML element that describes a web page’s content.  These tags are one of the few elements search engines look at to determine whether a page is relevant to a specific search term.  To a search engine user, the title tags are the blue links listed by a specific search engine. To effectively optimize title tags apply the following guidelines:
    1. The complete title tag should be 50-60 characters MAXIMUM.
    2. Keywords for the specific page should NOT be repeated within the title tag.  (If there isn’t room to include one of the keywords in the title tag, include it in the description).To see other guidelines on writing title tags or too see some good title tag examples, click this link
    3. When you have written your title tag, add it to the top of your document where you have your optimized homepage content
  6. Write the homepage’s meta description: Meta descriptions are a section of HTML code that summarizes the content of a specific web page.  To a search engine user, meta descriptions are the text that appear beneath the title tags. Search engines also use these descriptions to determine the relevance of a page to a specific search term.  The following guidelines are effective in keyword optimizing meta descriptions:
    1. Descriptions should be 2 sentences MAXIMUM. (~140 characters).
    2. Keywords should NOT be repeated in the description.
    3. Description should be formatted to include a strong message, offer, or call to action.
    4. See this link for examples of good meta descriptions
    5. Post this description beneath the title tag you just wrote.

Send Homepage Content to Review

  1. Send your optimized homepage content to the client: Attach your saved document to the “Homepage Optimization email” in SharpSpring and send to client.
  2. Make client’s edits:  If edits don’t mess up the optimization you just did, go ahead and make them.  If it does ruin the optimization you did, work with a client to explain why those edits could be detrimental to the optimization and work to find a compromise that keeps the client happy and the optimization working.  Once the client has approved their content, check this item off.
  3. Post the approved optimized content to the site’s homepage.  If you need help posting the content to one of the websites, just ask one of our helpful marketing team members.  We’ll be happy to assist you.
  4. Post the approved optimized title tag and description If you need help posting the title tag or descriptions to one of the websites, just ask one of our helpful marketing team members.  We’ll be happy to assist you.
  5. Send client the we’ve posted your optimized content email in SharpSpring

 

Analytics Setup

  1. Check to see if client already has Analytics set up.  If they do, contact one of your friendly marketing team members to help you check to make sure everything is tracking properly. If it is already set up, add their logins in Sharp Spring and then you can check off all the tasks below.  If they haven’t set up Analytics, follow the below steps.
  2. Log in to Analytics For i4 Clients, log in using the customercare@i4solutions.com username.  For Amplify clients log in using the amplifyjaimee@gmail.com username.  For logins, view the password master list.  
  3. Once you are logged in, click the little gear that says “Admin” in the bottom left hand corner. [[IMAGE]]
  4. Under Account click the blue button that says “ + Create Account” [[IMAGE]]
  5. Under Account Name, type in the name of the client you are creating the Analytics account for. [[IMAGE]]
  6. Click Next
  7. Click Web [[IMAGE]]
  8. Click Next
  9. In Property Details, add the following information
    1. For Website Name put the name of the company you are setting up analytics for.
    2. In Website URL, copy the client’s site URL.  Take out the http:// or https:// after you paste it and select whether the site has a http:// or an https:// in the little dropdown on the left.
    3. Select the client’s industry in the industry category drop down.
    4. Select the time zone of the client’s business location in the reporting time zone drop down.
  10. Click Create.
  11. Add the Analytics Tracking Code to the Site: 
    1. Check at the top left hand corner of the page to see if the name of the company you just made an analytics account for is at the top.  If it isn’t, ask for help. [[IMAGE]]
    2. Click on the little gear in the bottom right hand corner of the screen. [[IMAGE]]
    3.  Under Property, select tracking info. [[IMAGE]]
    4. Then click “Tracking Code”
    5. Copy the Global site tag code.  It will look like this. [[IMAGE]]
    6. Ask one of your friendly team members for help in adding it to the website.  Every CMS is a little unique, so it is important to make sure you add it the right way for your client’s specific site.  Don’t close out of Analytics...you’ll be right back in there in the next step!
  12. Test to make sure your site is tracking. 
    1. Back in Analytics, make sure that your client is the one selected at the top of the page.  If not, switch it to your client.
    2. Next, click on the clock icon on the left hand side of the page [[IMAGE]]
    3. Next, click on “Overview”
    4. Load a page on your client’s website in another tab.  Then return to analytics. Wait for a minute or two. If your analytics tracking code is working, you’ll see a little circle on the map in Utah and the name of the page you are on.  If this shows up, you can check off this item and move to the next step. If it doesn’t show up, get help from one of your pals here at i4. [[IMAGE]]
    5. Notify your client that their analytics has been set up using the Sharpspring Analytics Set Up Email

Analytics and Other Reporting Setup

    1. Get on the rank report software computer and load up rank tracker
    2. When it loads, in the upper right hand corner, press New
    3. Add the client’s URL and Press Next
    4. Press Next Again
    5. Add in your client’s kws that they want to track (one per line) and press next
    6. Press finish
    7. When the report finishes running, save the account by clicking the Save button in the upper right hand corner and save it to the cloud
    8. Update the client by sending them this Sharp Spring email
    9. For i4 clients, go to leads.i4.net and log in.  For Amplify clients, go to leads.amplifyonline.com and log in.
    10. Click on the Agency Name (i.e. i4 Solutions or Amplify Online).  
    11. Click on the accounts dropdown.
    12. Click on “Add Account”
    13. Type in the name of the company
    14. Follow this step by step guide to set up phone number and form tracking for your client https://www.whatconverts.com/help/docs/getting-started/step-by-step-setup-guide/
    15. Once form and call tracking is set up, and you have tested both to make sure they are tracking, give your client access to their leads portal by clicking the “Settings” dropdown under “Agency”
    16. Click on “Users”
    17. Under “Account Users” click on the green “+ Add Account User” button
    18. Enter the email of the client you would like to share the account with.  Then select the account name that you want to share with them from the dropdown.  Press the green “Add User” button
    19. Inform your client that this process has been completed using the Lead Tracking email in Sharpspring.
    20. Go to analytics.google.com and log in with your client’s Analytics credentials
    21. Ensure your client is the one selected in the top left hand corner.
    22. Next click on the gear in the bottom left hand corner.
    23. Under “View” in the third column, click “Goals”
    24. Press the button that says “+New Goal”
    25. Click the “Custom” radio button then click the blue “Continue Button”
    26. Name the goal “Phone Calls”
    27. Click the “Event” radio button
    28. Click “Continue”
    29. Next to “Category” select the “Begins with” dropdown option and type Phone.
    30. Press Save
    31. Press the button that says “+New Goal”
    32. Click the “Custom” radio button then click the blue “Continue Button”
    33. Name the goal “Form Submissions”
    34. Click the “Event” radio button
    35. Click “Continue”
    36. Next to “Category” select the “Begins with” dropdown option and type Form.
    37. Press Save
    38. Update your client that goal reporting has been set up via the Analytics Goal reporting email in SharpSpring
    39. ADD AGENCY ANALYTICS INSTRUCTIONS!!!!!!!!!!!!

Webmaster Tools Setup

  1. If your client’s Webmaster Tools has been set up already, add the logins to Sharpspring and check off all of these tasks.  If it hasn’t been set up, follow the below steps.
  2. Login to webmaster.google.com.  For i4 clients use the webmaster@i4solutions.com account.  For Amplify clients use the amplifyjaimee@gmail.com account.  Passwords can be found here.
  3. From the dropdown in the upper left hand corner select “ + Add property
  4. Under URL prefix, paste your client’s URL
  5. Press continue
  6. Verify ownership of the webmaster tools page.  Since there are several ways to do this, feel free to ask your colleagues if you need help.
  7. Send client the Sharpspring Webmaster Tools Set Up Email

GMB Setup

  1. If your client already gave you access to the Google My Business page, skip to the optimization tasks, otherwise start on creating the account in the next step.
  2. Go to business.google.com
  3. Sign in with customercare@i4solutions.com for i4 clients and sign in with jaimee@amplifyonline.com for Amplify clients.  See passwords here
  4. Enter the name of the business or chain. You can also select the company from the suggestions that appear as you type (if applicable).
  5. Enter the business’ or chain’s address. You may also be asked to position a marker on the location of your chain’s branch on a map. If your business doesn’t have a physical location but works in a service area, you can list the area instead. Then, click Next.
  6. Choose if you want your business location to appear on Google Maps.
  7. Search for and select a business category. You can also choose a more specific category as appropriate. Then, click Next.
  8. Enter a phone number or website URL for your chain, and click Finish.
  9. Select a verification option. 
  10. Inform the client via email or phone about the verification option and tell them what they need to do.
  11. Make sure all information is up to date in their profile.  Ask clients for any things you may be missing. Make sure you have the following:
    1. The business name is correct
    2. You take advantage of all the business categories that pertain to them, making sure the one that is most important to them ranks #1
    3. Make sure their address is correct
    4. Make sure their service area is correct (if applicable)
    5. Make sure their hours of operation are correct
    6. Make sure their special hours are correct
    7. Make sure their phone number is correct
    8. Make sure their short name is filled out
    9. Make sure their website is correct
    10. Make sure any other pertinent extra fields are filled out
    11. Make sure an optimized description is added to a business description field.
    12. Add photos if possible
  12. Inform the client that this process is done through the Sharpspring automated email

Checked Local Citations

  1. Go to brightlocal.com and login
  2. Click on the blue tab that says “Citation Builder”
  3. Click the green button that says, “Start New Campaign”
  4. Under Give your campaign a name:* put the company name.
  5. Under Select White Label Profile: choose whether it is an i4 Solutions or an Amplify client.
  6. Under Enter Business Name:* put the company name
  7. Under Select country this business is based in:* put the country the company is based in.
  8. Under Enter business zipcode/postcode:* enter the company’s location’s zip code
  9. Under Enter business telephone number:* put the company’s phone number in the format they recommend
  10. Under State / County / Region:* enter the state or county or region where the business is located
  11. Under Town / City:* put the town or city where the company is located
  12. Under Select business category:* select the company’s primary business category
  13. Press the green button that says “Done! Go to step 2”
  14. Wait Patiently While it Loads
  15. Check Manual Submissions with 25 citations
  16. Scroll, scroll, scroll
  17. Confirm and Continue
  18. Under Address line 1:* put the street address 
  19. Under Business website address:* put the business website address
  20. Under Description of the business:* add either their Google My Business description or a description from their website.
  21. Under Extra business categories:* put some other categories that apply to the business.
  22. Under List of services/products: add their list of services or products
  23. Under Working hours:* put their hours of operation.  Use military time
  24. Under Business Images add your company’s logo.
  25. Under Social Profile Links add any social profile links the client may have
  26. Under campaign notes, put any details the Bright Local people should know when creating the local listings.
  27. Scroll and click the checkbox that says I have read & agree to full terms and conditions (view full Terms & Conditions)
  28. Click the green button that says Confirm and Pay (Credits)
  29. Update client with the local citations sharp spring email

Checked 301 Redirects

  1. Log in to the client’s Google Search Console (Google My Business).  You should have set up their profile in a previous step.
  2. Under Coverage, see if there are any pages that have 404 errors
  3. If so follow the below steps:
    1. For a Wordpress site, install and activate the 404 to 301 redirects
    2. For a Titanium site do the following
    3. Log in
    4. Click on site
    5. Click the green plus button to add a page
    6. Click redirect page from the dropdown
    7. Name the page with the broken URL name and “Redirect”
    8. Put the website’s homepage as the Redirect URL
    9. Put the redirect type as 301
    10. Put the name of whatever comes after slash in the URL
    11. Press save
    12. For any other CMS, ask for help.
  4. Inform the client that this task has been completed via the Sharp Spring 301 redirect email

Checked HTTPS Redirects

  1. Does your client’s URL start with https?  If so, check this off this item. If not, work with the client to get them an SSL.
  2. Next, take off the s in the https://.  If it redirects, check off this item. If not, ask a colleague for help.
  3. Inform the client that you have performed this task with the automated sharpspring email

Checked WWW Redirects

  1. If your site, when it loads starts with a www, take out the www and see if it goes back to the www version you can check this off.  If your site, when it loads starts without a www, add a www and see if it goes back to the non-www version, you’re good to check this off.
  2. Inform the client that you have performed this task with the automated sharpspring email

Set Up Site in Link Analysis Tool

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Checked for Robots.txt File

  1. After your site URL, put /robots.txt.  If a robots file shows up instead of a broken page link, this step is complete.  If a robots file does not show up do one of the following things.
    1. For a Titanium Site: Email Sara (sara@i4.net) and ask her nicely to upload the robots.txt file to that site.
    2. For a Wordpress Site: Download and activate the Yoast SEO plugin
  2. Send your client the robots.txt email through sharpspring

Checked Sitemap

  1. After your URL, put /sitemap.xml or /sitemap_index.xml.  If a sitemap file pops up, you’re good to complete this step.  If it doesn’t show up or serves you an error page do the following:
    1. For a Titanium Site: Go to https://www.xml-sitemaps.com/ , put in your URL and press start.  After the sitemap.xml has generated, download it and kindly ask Sara (sara@i4.net) to upload it to your client’s site.
    2. For a Wordpress site: Download and activate the Yoast SEO plugin.
  2. Send your client the sitemap.xml email through sharpspring

Schema Markup Added

  1. Go to https://search.google.com/structured-data/testing-tool/u/0/ and enter your site’s URL.
  2. If you don’t see schema there on the right hand side or if there is no schema about the business’s contact information, proceed to the next step
  3. Go to https://graystonemortgage.com/schema/ and fill out the information required.  Make sure to follow the formatting it asks for in the form EXACTLY.
  4. When you’re finished filling out the form press the “Generate Code” button.
  5. Check your email for the code that got sent their and copy the code.
  6. Log in to the site you want to add schema to and add a code module to the bottom of the homepage.
  7. In the code module, paste the Schema Code you just optimized.
  8. Go back to https://search.google.com/structured-data/testing-tool/u/0/ and put your URL back in.  Now you should see a section that says Organization, Local Business, and Review.  Fix any code errors you find in those sections. When there are no more errors, you are done scheming (er...schema-ing)
  9. Send your client the Schema email through sharpspring

Image Sizes Optimized

  1. Go to seoptimer.com and log in.
  2. Put in your URL in the search box in the top left
  3. When the report has loaded, scroll down to the section on performance results (the section with all of the colorful guages.)
  4. If there is an “X” next to the section that says Optimize Images, click show details.  This will show a list of the images that need to be compressed.
  5. For WP sites, install and activate the WP Smush plugin.  Usually this will do the trick to compress image sizes. If that doesn’t work try the option for the other CMS in other steps.
  6. For other CMS, download the image, go to https://squoosh.app/ and upload your image there and download the compressed version.  Replace the larger image on the site’s homepage with the compressed version.
  7. When all the images have been compressed as needed, this step is complete.  Inform your client that this has been done by sending them the SharpSpring Image Sizes Optimized email.

Images Alt Tagged

  1. Go to seoptimer.com and log in.
  2. In the “Run a Quick Audit…” search bar in the top left hand corner of the screen, paste the URL of the site you want to audit.
  3. When the report loads, scroll to the bottom of the SEO section to the part that says “Image Alt Attributes” 
  4. If there is an “X” for that section, click “View Details”.  These are the images that are missing an alt tag.
  5. For WordPress sites there are several places to alt tag an image.  Sometimes you can do it in the Media Library. For this method, click on the image in the Media Library and fill out the alt tag field in the popup.  Another way is to go to the page and to add the alt tag in Divi (if your site has the Divi theme). Simply click the gear button on the image module that you want to alt tag.  When the popup comes up, click the “Advanced” tab and then click the “Attributes” dropdown. In the “Image Alternative Text” field, add your alt text and press the green checkmark button. After that scroll up and press the page update button.  These are the two most common methods. If these two don’t work, ask one of your colleagues for help.
  6. For Titanium Sites, log into the site, press edit page, and double click on the image you want to edit.  This will bring up a popup window. Click on your image again to highlight it. Then, click on the image icon in the toolbar. Put your alt tag in the “Image Description” field and press the “OK” button.  Then press the “Save” button in the popup. Then, press the “Save” button at the top of the page.
  7. When all of your images have been alt tagged, send your client the alt tag email via Sharp Spring.

Pass Mobile Friendly Test

  1. Go to https://search.google.com/test/mobile-friendly and copy in your URL.
  2. If your site passes the mobile friendly test, skip to the last step.  If it doesn’t, consult with the marketing department manager to determine what the next best steps would be to make the site mobile friendly.
  3. Once the site has passed the mobile friendly test, send your client the mobile friendly test email via SharpSpring.

Pass Page Speed Test

  1. Go to https://developers.google.com/speed/pagespeed/insights/ and enter the URL you want to learn the page speed for.
  2. If your page speed on both mobile and desktop is 50 or above, skip to the last step.  If it is below 50 for either, look at the “Opportunity” and “Diagnostics” dropdowns. Follow as many of Google’s recommendations to boost the site speed as you can until the site speed score is at 50 or above.
  3. Once the site speed is 50 or above for both mobile and desktop, send your client the site speed email via Sharpspring.

Pass Site Audit

  1. Go to seoptimer.com and log in.
  2. In the “Run a Quick Audit…” search bar in the top left hand corner of the screen, paste the URL of the site you want to audit.
  3. If the SEO circle ranks B+ or above, this task is finished.  If it is below, take the steps to fix the errors in the SEO section of the report.
  4. Email the client the pass the site audit report email in Sharp Spring

Checked Keyword Contamination

  1. Copy and paste your client’s list of keywords into a Word or Google doc.
  2. In an incognito window, go to Google.com.  In the search field, paste your clients URL, press space, and paste the client’s first kw. Press enter.
  3. If multiple pages from your client’s site show up in the search results, paste those into the Word doc beneath the kw you just searched.  Repeat the previous step and this step until you have gone through all of the keywords.
  4. Review the list of URLs that are competing for the same keyword. Go through pages that are competing with the primary page and make edits.  For local searches, take out the location in the competing pages. For nationwide searches, take out one part of that keyword phrase out on competing pages.  For example if your optimized homepage and the competing page both contained the term “spicy shrimp tacos” you would want to take out spicy, or shrimp, or tacos on the competing page.  Once you have made these changes for any competing page for all of your keywords, move on to the next step.
  5. Log in to the client’s Webmaster Tools (Google Search Console).
  6. In the URL inspect search bar on the top of the page, copy the URL of one of the pages you made any edits to.  This will pop up a white rectangle. In the bottom right hand corner of that rectangle click on the “Request Indexing Link”.  Repeat this process for all the pages you made changes to.
  7. Inform your client that you completed this task by sending them the keyword contamination email via Sharpspring

Unhealthy Links Disavowed

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Contact Client to Schedule a Time to Review SEO Results

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MONTHLY TASKS PER SEO LEVEL

 

Level 1(1 keyword, $100)

Level 2 (3 keywords, $300)

Level 3 (6 keywords, $600)

Level 4 (12 keywords, $1200)

Level 5 (25 keywords, $2500)

PRODUCTION INSTRUCTIONS

 

  • Video Creation/Submission
  • Guest Blog Writing and Submission
  • Article Writing and Submission
  • Social Bookmarking Orders

 

Video Creation/ Submission

Guest Blog Writing and Submission

Article Writing and Submission

Social Bookmarking Orders

 

EXAMPLES