Meet Samantha Higgins: Las Vegas SEO Blogger Outreach

Samantha Higgins is in charge of blogger outreach for Las Vegas SEO. She has created content strategies for casinos, surgeons, lawyers, and now the new clients under her guidance.

1. Your primary role for Las Vegas SEO is blogger outreach. What is that?

Well, here is the perfect example, ha. Blogger outreach is simply reaching out to people on a human level, connecting with them, and exchanging engaging, interesting content their readership would enjoy consuming for brand exposure and a chance to say, this is us…this is who we are. It's a win win for both the blog and website owner (their readership gets a new perspective), and for the client brand seeking to showcase their expertise and value to the community.

2. Do clients see the value in blogging or content marketing?

Luckily I don't focus on sales, but I tend to always hear feedback that the client was expecting boring results as they had experienced in the past through other article marketing or press releases. Once they start to see the time and quality and effort into their brand message and unique proposition, it really transforms their thought process from a necessary evil to--can we do more of this?

3. Forming relationships and reaching out to bloggers can be time consuming. Is this expensive?

Again, content outreach isn't for every business as it can certainly get expensive relative other inferior forms of advertising online. Some choose to do it themselves, but writing content, reaching out to contacts, and forming connections over social media is a full time job. We have systems in place, and my rolodex is insanely large and responsive because they know the quality of work I bring and willingness to help cross promote.

4. What are typical results from a large-scale monthly campaign?

We typically deal with three months to gauge the success of a campaign. Often we see Google love to see all the new content, and client's rankings begin to increase dramatically, and it makes sense. If you are a company, wiling to educate and inform potential clients of your expertise in your industry, Google and the search engines see this, and want to rank you higher. It's a sophisticated system which often gets complicated, but at the core it's about relevancy and popularity. Our outreach ensures both facets of digital marketing are addressed.

5. How is this better than competing Internet marketing agencies in Las Vegas Nevada?

The owners have been doing this for over ten years, and I've personally been writing and reaching out to press contacts for the last six years. It's just a really rock solid group of people that actually enjoy what they do, which can never be overstated. Client results are really the focus and it starts with a proper promotional strategy rooted in compelling content, which I'm happy to supply, coupled with massive outreach to website owners in Las Vegas as well as contacts worldwide based on your exact target market. To inquire about blogger outreach with Samantha contact:

Las Vegas SEO
321 N. Minnesota St
Las Vegas, NV 89107
(702) 518-0485
contact@lasvegasseo.marketing
https://goo.gl/maps/hYG1zACG1eE2

Meet Todd Miller, Realtor and Creator of the Homing In App

Todd Miller is a Las Vegas real estate broker. In 2009, he and his wife were the #1 team in the nation for real estate sales in the US, according to the Wall Street Journal. He is the creator of an app called Homing In, which gives people expert-sourced values of their homes. To use the app, a homeowner takes a couple pictures of their house and submits the photos with any relevant notes about the property; then, up to five real estate agents can respond with their opinion on the value of the house. Learn more at HomingInApp.com/.

1. What gave you the idea to create Homing In?

I came up with the idea to create Homing In after years of doing a few thousand Broker Price Opinions for banks during the foreclosure boom. The banks would use this information to price their homes before listing them. Often, they would ask multiple agents to do them and pick which one did the best job to give the listing to. I decided this tool should also be something that consumers have access to. So I created the Exactimate, which gives any home owner the same power a bank has: getting accurate values quickly from actual professionals.

2. How does the app come up with the "exactimate" for the value of a home--and how many real estate agents are currently sharing their expertise through the app?

Right now there are about 200 agents nationwide signed up. We've completed value requests in Boston, Las Vegas, San Jose, and Durham NC. Up to five agents can respond. The Exactimate is just the mathematically most likely number, so if three agents all come up with $250,000 for a house, that's going to be the Exactimate. Since they don't see each other's values, they are truly doing their work independently without bias.

3. Why aren't the guesstimates on other sites more accurate?

Online valuation tools like the Zillow Zestimate use lots of data, but sometimes that data is misleading. If a person buys a fixer upper, and then puts $50,000 into repairs, they may have added as much as $100,000 in value to a property. Zillow doesn't know that because the computer can't see the inside of the house and get that information from the consumer. It just knows it sold for X. An agent makes a qualitative decision and can accurately value it. The computers can't.

4. Why did you decide to give the app away for free?

I felt this was something people need to have. Consumers should just have more access to information, and agents should be able to share their knowledge quickly and in a meaningful way. The agent may end up listing the house for sale if they do a good job, and the consumer might just find a really good agent in the process.

5. For people who are looking to sell, do you have any favorite tips for increasing the value of their home before putting it on the market?

The best thing people can do it talk to their agent before they sell. Agents tend to know which things add value and which don't. It depends on the house, the features, and the condition of the inside of the house. The key is to only upgrade things that add more value than the cost of the upgrade. With Homing In, they can get those recommendations through the app.

Thanks, Todd!

Meet Jay Soriano, Entrepreneur

Jay Soriano is a serial entrepreneur and founder of SorianoMedia. He has consulted for various companies in Las Vegas including technology startups and small and medium sized businesses.

Jay Soriano's work has been featured by ABC, Startup America, Under30CEO and various technology publications.

1. What is the focus of your company, SorianoMedia?

I started SorianoMedia in frustration with other consulting companies in Las Vegas. I've watched too many local businesses get burned by bad web designers, unscrupulous SEO consultants, and exorbitant ad agencies that I thought I needed to start up a company that actually helps local businesses at a rate they can afford. I do this by staying small; I much prefer the relationship of a boutique marketing firm, rather than the firm with hundreds of clients in its portfolio, most of which are assigned to project managers.

2. Would you tell us a little bit about how you bring your own experience as an entrepreneur to your work with clients, especially in terms of providing them with an "investment" rather than a "cost"?

Great question! If you're a local business and you hire a web designer, that's a cost. Ongoing web development does little to increasing ROI, and if you're not A/B testing--you could be hurting your ROI. Conversely, I focus on helping clients generate a ROI through digital marketing and search engine optimization (SEO). Thus, money that they spend with me isn't a cost--it's an investment.

3. How long have you been living in Las Vegas, and what do you like about the area as a home/business base?

I actually just moved to Las Vegas about two years ago inspired by the growing entrepreneurial scene (#VegasTech). If you've never been here, or even if you have--Vegas is so much more that the Strip. It's not for everyone, but for some it's everything. Vegas is always growing, always evolving.

4. When it comes to indie businesspeople who want to expand their web presence, what are some things that people can do themselves, and what are some things that tend to require some additional help?

I turn down a lot of people who approach me for consulting, especially those on a budget. Instead I advise them of a lot of things they can do themselves, and when they reach a plateau, that's when they can talk to me. For example, I was recently approached by a realtor, who wanted to rank for the search term "realtor Las Vegas."

First off, you shouldn't care about rankings: you really want revenue. What she REALLY wants is more clients, and she thinks ranking for that term is synonymous with more clients. Well, that's an extremely competitive niche, especially in Las Vegas. And people searching for that term are more in a discovery phase, as opposed to people searching for "What are the safest neighborhoods in Las Vegas." The latter is known as a long tail phrase; it's a lot easier to rank for, and you're reaching people who are further along in the home buying process. From there, you can talk about a specific townhome community within one of the safest neighborhoods.

So the #1 thing indie businesspeople can do to expand their web presence is to create content that is useful to their market.

5. If you could give just three pieces of advice to someone who has always wanted to start a business but has never acted on their interests, what would you say?

1. Starting a business doesn't have to mean risking everything. Don't start the next Facebook; make your first $1 before trying to make $1 billion.

2. Connect with like-minded people, other entrepreneurs, others that have been successful in the niche you want to be in, etc. Cut out the people distracting you from your goals.

3. Utilize free advertising. Google ads, Twitter and Facebook ads all offer free advertising that startups can take advantage of. Use this to test the demand of your product or service.

Thanks, Jay!