First foray into MOZ

[Eric_Shew]

Hi there,

I'm getting started with MOZ and want to invest time and energy to make sure it works for me. I've watched most of the intro videos and have started poring over the reports. I'm signing up for the seminars and reading lots of stuff.

I'm confused about next steps - of course- there are so many ways to go. Our company is a small web and graphic design in a small town (shew-design.com). There are competitors who run very similar businesses to ours but are ranking higher. Results are all over the board in terms of analysis. Some of our competitors have thousands of back links, others have just a few. What I'm trying to do is look at at the numbers and build a strategy for ranking higher. I feel that with a little energy and strategy we could do a lot better.

What are the best resources available I can use to get from here to there.

[Eric_Shew]

Thanks, Miriam. I appreciate it.

Broad advice for a general question. I haven't checked out the local resources yet, but will later tonight. Thanks again!

[MiriamEllis]

Hi Eric!

Here are some resources that should get you off to a good start:

https://moz.com/beginners-guide-to-seo

https://moz.com/learn/local

https://support.google.com/business/answer/3038177?hl=en

As you're in a small town, your chances are very good of competing with the right efforts. I would advise focusing first on content, citations, reviews and links. Then, consider video, social and offline networking. That's very broad advice, of course, but it's a general outline of how it's likely to be best to approach strengthening your business, building your brand and then looking for things you can do that your competitors haven't yet done, or which you can do better.

Hope this helps!