The beaches are back - for now

Jacksonville made global news today by announcing that the beaches would re-open just a few short weeks after they were shut down. It happened to be that the opening was on the same day that the state of Florida announced its highest daily positive test number. That's right: More than 1,400 Floridians tested positive on the same day our Mayor, Lenny Curry, decided to reduce restrictions and increase public gatherings.

For now, officials have attached a laundry list of arbitrary and confusing restrictions to the right to be at the beach, so we can assume that the rules will also be enforced through the arbitrary feelings of whatever officer happens to be around at the moment.

The mayor has reserved the right to cancel this order and re-close the beaches if and when he deems necessary, so at least he's left himself an out if it becomes too obvious that this was a bad move.

Unfortunately, as mentioned above, this move has caught the attention of national and international journalists alike. While people in other states and nations look on at our slow response, high infection rates, and high mortality rates with horror, they're not waiting to see if this was a bad decision or not.

Even if individuals at the beach can show some restraint and follow the guidelines for social distancing, it's likely that this will be one of the negative facts that Jacksonville is known for outside of North Florida. It certainly won't be helping our image for tourist business, and it may even cause Duval natives to be viewed suspiciously if they try to travel abroad.

Hopefully the fallout is minimal and Friday's numbers stay at the top of the record books for a long time.

Things won't be back to normal soon

While stay at home orders have increasingly impacted the ability of local Jacksonville businesses to make money, they're unlikely to be lifted any time soon. Some are hoping for a swift resolution and quick return to normal, but this type of unfounded optimism can be dangerous if it fails to prepare you for the reality that is coming.

Estimates from the United Kingdom's top colleges suggest that waves of infection outbreak will continue for as much as the next two years. Our best hope for a quicker resolution will require a vaccine is rapidly developed, and the soonest we can realistically hope for that will be in about 18 months from now. At worst, we'll probably be close to herd immunity in two years - but that means a lot of people will be dead, too.

How will your business survive? It is clear now that many of them won't. The economy we have on the other side of this will be radically different from the economy we started with. Small and medium sized firms of all types will be radically disrupted and many partners, suppliers, and customers won't be there anymore when the dust settles. Even if your business does survive, the ecosystem it existed in will be forever altered.

One tactic for retaining sales figures is to increase the focus on online conversions. After all, if your customers are anywhere right now, it's probably online. Increased internet sales may help to offset a reduction in sales at a physical location, but it will still be subject to the pressures caused by reduced consumer spending, lost wages, and general economic uncertainty.

Not all businesses can adjust to an online presence as the primary form of sales, but those that do so successfully will have a huge edge against those local Jacksonville businesses that don't.

And if your business absolutely cannot adapt to a new world of social distancing and intermittent stay at home orders, it might be time to think about shifting gears and setting up a new spin off that does.

While we won't be locked up inside our own homes forever, there's no old normal to go back to.

Jacksonville and Florida under stay at home orders

As the coronavirus spreads throughout the globe, we've found ourselves in a unique situation here on the first coast. For the first time since perhaps World War 2, extreme government orders have reduced and eliminated all economic activity and travel that isn't deemed essential to our vary survival.

Businesses across Jacksonville are reeling - but none have been as hard hit as those that rely on tourism and social events. Schools in Jacksonville also remain closed, so parents have reduced their travel and aren't stopping off for random purchases on the way to drop off and pick up their kids.

The internet is still open for business

Just because life as usual has been disrupted doesn't mean people don't still need things from each other. While normal modes of business aren't as practical as they used to be, the internet is relatively unaffected by social distancing and stay at home orders. Websites can easily be updated from home and shipping channels remain open for trade.

SEO can be an important investment for businesses that are transitioning from walk in and word of mouth toward online sales. SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization - and it refers to the process of maximizing the amount of organic traffic that websites receive on a regular basis. SEO can be achieved through a combination of increased content output, analyzing the structure and readability of existing content, and optimizing the promotion of the content through social media and other earned media channels. 

Business across Jacksonville can benefit from putting their SEO strategy in to overdrive right now - largely because there isn't anything else going on in the economy right now. Many firms and corporations are likely to fail, but those who adapt will thrive!

The economic outlook is grim, but your customers are online if they're anywhere

While foot traffic is essentially down to zero, there are still plenty of companies operating online and plenty of customers making their purchases there.

Forget about the fancy new signage or locating to a hipper part of town, that's all budget that can and should be going toward online marketing and social media outreach. From targeted ads, to search engine optimization (SEO), to social marketing, online advertising provides a variety of methods to reach your customers. Depending on the type of goods or services you offer, each may offer a slightly different return on investment (ROI) but a well managed campaign will easily be profitable in the long run.

Targeted Advertising and SEO approaches both seek to understand the search behavior of potential customers. By anticipating the questions buyers ask and the types of information they seek out on Google, you can work to earn their traffic and optimize your site to make the sale. Targeted advertising can create nearly immediate effects, but it is also prone to diminishing returns and competition can quickly run the profit margins down to zero.

The SEO approach is a little bit slower to get started, but pays out much better in the long run. By building up authoritative content and creating a more usable website experience, you'll increase both the organic traffic coming to your site as well as the percentage of visits that convert to sales. SEO focuses on building up your website as the greatest source of information available on your topic, and that value lasts for a long time.

Social media outreach is also an important component of virtually any online advertising campaign. As people increasingly use the internet to keep in touch and learn about new things, it's only natural that they'd like to follow along with companies and organizations that provide goods and services related to their hobbies and interests. Social media can provide powerful connections - as well as valuable feedback from real people.

The future is uncertain, but one thing we do know is that the customers are online these days - if they're anywhere at all!

Jacksonville Schools Remain Closed for Coronavirus Pandemic

As Jacksonville and the world reacts to the deadly spread of coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19), schools have been one of the first essential institutions to shut down. While younger individuals and children are not at particular risk for death or consequences, they can still help to spread the infection to those older folks who are most at risk of complications and fatality. 

Duval County Public Schools Shut Down Schedule

As of March 19, 2020, the Duval County Public Schools are observing the following updates to the academic schedule:

• Spring break will continue as scheduled through this week
• All classes will be moved to home-based instruction until April 15 at the earliest
• New student registration continues as normal

Students who rely on school lunches will be able to pick them up from the school. Buses will also be delivering academic supplies for students to work on while schools remain closed, and students/parents can also pick up school lunches at this time from the normal bus stop location.

How Parents Can Help

Right now, the most important thing for parents is to stay calm and practice social distancing for the family. Children should be kept mostly indoors, although some outdoor activities can be enjoyed in open spaces.

Parents are also asked to complete the online technology survey to help the administrators at DCPS understand what resources are available for students at home. 

Also: stay tuned! This is a rapidly evolving situation and the people who run the schools are also still trying to figure out exactly what's going on and how they can best continue to educate our kids in the face of pandemic and crisis. 

Uncertainty Remains

Governor DeSantis has implied that schools may possibly remain closed for the entire duration of the current academic year. Final standardized testing has already been canceled, and parents will have the option of keeping their students in the same grade during next year's enrollment. It is yet to be seen how quickly the state's school districts can adapt to online learning modes, and it is yet to be seen how successful we will be in mitigating the spread of coronavirus. 

Online opportunities for Jacksonville business in 2020

While the effects of corona-virus COVID-19 appear to be devastating to the global economy, there is also a gold rush happening in the pursuit of online and technological solutions to the infection. There are many ways that Jacksonville businesses can adapt to reduce the negative impact this pandemic has on the bottom line.

Increase remote and work from home output

Many employers have resisted remote and work from home job arrangements because they fear remote workers will be inefficient or unable to communicate well with their coworkers. For many professional positions, the evidence consistently shows the opposite. 

Technical tasks and detailed administrative work requires focus and concentration that can be hard to achieve in an office environment. Firms that were once afraid to let employees work remotely found that their output and efficiency only increased when they tested it out. Communication and collaboration is facilitated through a suite of software and apps provided by Microsoft and Google, so teams are connected with the latest versions of organization and audio-visual interaction. 

While the competition stays at home under quarantine and worrying about backlog, your teams can connect online using technology that wasn't even available just a few years ago. 

Reach a global customer base 

As social distancing and limited live events take a toll on business revenues, there are opportunities to think beyond the local market to make ends meet. 

If your business relies on people dropping in to say hi, you're probably going to hate the next few years. On the other hand, you can act quickly and decisively to go beyond those geographical limitations. Around the world, customers are turning to their computers to do business they had once done locally. Those customers can be yours, with the right amount of online awareness and creative thinking. 

Initiative will also matter! Any new opportunities will be quickly identified and capitalized upon. Established firms will be harder to displace, so those who act quickest will seize the largest part of the new, shifted customer base. 

Coronovirus impact on Jacksonville business

As people reduce travel and spend more time at home, the economy is slowing. How much? It is hard to say, but coronovirus has clearly had an impact on the global economy, already.

Jacksonville won't be entirely immune from the effects of this pandemic, either. Although we haven't had any cases confirmed yet in Duval county, it is certainly just a matter of time before someone here becomes infected.

And in the best case scenario that no one gets infected, it means that we were successful in isolating ourselves and reducing travel around town. No big gatherings, no lingering around the local shops.

Most Jacksonville residents have probably already spent the last week preparing a kit of supplies not too different than what we stock up each year for hurricane season. We're ready to deal with disruptions like this, and we kind of know exactly what to expect. This virus is obviously different than a hurricane, but if we're stuck inside for a few days or even weeks we sort of know the score.

Businesses will surely be disrupted. If possible, it's a good time to send employees to work remotely, from home. Any job functions that can be performed online should be done online, and meetings can be arranged with video conferencing software and other connectivity apps that are available in 2020.

Conferences and exhibitions are already starting to cancel and postpone major events, as well.

But how does SEO help you, the Jacksonville business in times like these?

Well the important thing is to have regularly updated content that is relevant to your user's questions. Are you open? Have your hours changed? Is anything out of stock?

The more you can communicate your availability and business status to your customers, the more satisfied they'll be - and the more sales you'll ultimately close.

SEO can also help you stay safe by pointing you toward authoritative and relevant sources for the latest news. Search engines know how to direct these queries in a way that (hopefully) spreads knowledge and awareness, rather than just sensationalism and panic.

Until next time, stay healthy Jacksonville! We hope you and your loved ones are spared the worst of the coronavirus - and that your business efforts aren't too disrupted, either.

Content builds authority

The local Jacksonville SEO market is unique in that it is still relatively young.

For many economic sectors and interest groups, the potential remains for first page rankings without a single backlink. Simply building engaging content and updating periodically is often sufficient for outpacing the competition with their static websites and legacy platforms.

One quick content management system and a dedicated content production system is often all it takes to rise up above the rest in the Jacksonville SEO scene. If your competitors are bogged down with inflexible and inefficient content production procedures, you can quickly ramp right past with high definition photos of your process and finished product.

In some cases, competition is already fierce and established players have hundreds, if not thousands of backlinks.

Don't worry! In many cases, those low-quality backlinks from link and content farms can be more of a liability than they are an asset. We aim to create a large volume of engaging content long before we think about adding more backlinks to the queue. If someone finds it is useful, they can add and tag it themselves! We're just putting it out there, ya know? ;)

Jacksonville Businesses can Benefit from SEO

These days, when customers are searching for a product or service provider, they don't turn to the phone book. They go to their computers - or grab their phones - and Google the thing they're searching for.

In many cases, they'll even make their purchases right there on the phone or computer or tablet. Most physical products can be delivered in a few days, and many service firms also allow you to schedule and pay directly from their website (or app).

If your Jacksonville based business isn't getting quality leads from the internet, you're probably missing out on a lot of your potential customers.

While Search Engine Optimization usually refers to the specific goals of increasing organic rankings in Google, Yahoo, or Bing, it can also be expanded to include a full online marketing strategy:

• Paid Search (Adwords)
• Google Shopping
• Google Map / Locations
• Content Marketing
• Social Media Marketing
• Site optimization
• Outreach & promotion

A steady investment in your website and SEO can have a big impact - especially on local market businesses that provide services directly in Jacksonville. Showing up in the Google Maps can be essential for customers who might not even know what's in the shops at the block over from the ones they usually go to. 

While Jacksonville has the feel of being many small towns put together, it also has the advantage of having that critical mass of population that allows niche stores to thrive. While most people won't travel across town for their favorite grocery store, they probably will if it means getting a specific product for their hobby - or a chance to share some time and company with those who share that obscure interest. 

So if someone's looking for the goods or services you provide, you want to be sure they can find you online! It's also important to spread the word actively, because sometimes your potential customers won't even realize your goods exist in the first place. If you run a specific type of shop that specializing in hobbies or collectibles, the residents of Jacksonville may not even realize we've got those types of shops in town. Maybe you've even created a unique type of service that has no competition - but are people looking to buy if they don't know it exists? 

The internet provides a diverse array of powerful marketing channels, and just about every local business in Jacksonville would benefit from having some sort of online marketing and SEO strategy. 

What's old is new again - 2020 in SEO

It's been a long time since I've posted to this blog, but the fundamentals of SEO haven't changed. Sure there are some details here and there, but the same old lesson has never gone away: provide good content and a good user experience!

The primary reason for this used to solely be as link bait, but these days Google itself knows what a good piece of content looks like.

Structure of Good SEO Content

Machines reading content can attempt to analyze the words and structure of a page to understand if it is thorough, readable, and providing useful information. Here are some of the technical elements that a machine reader may evaluate while trying to study the quality of a given web page:

• Use of headers (h2, h3, etc..)
• Lists (ordered or unordered)
• Length of content
• Inclusion of pictures, video, and/or other media
• Correct grammar and spelling
• Varied sentence structure

Checking the boxes won't necessarily make boring content in to something that generates user enthusiasm, however, and links are still very important for a successful SEO campaign!

If you research your market and your keywords and provide a great user experience, you won't have to worry all that much about the SEO.

The Jacksonville SEO Market is Small.. and Strange

It's been a long time since I've posted to this blog, but 2020 has brought big changes and new priorities back in to focus.

While I've remained involved in SEO and web publishing more generally, I never ended up following through with building a local SEO firm in Jacksonville. I have, however, kept an eye on it - and I've worked on some local business websites either as a personal owner or as a favor to a friend.

SEO Companies and Marketing Firms that Offer SEO in Jacksonville

Dagmar Marketing and Thrive Internet Marketing are probably the two largest SEO firms in Jacksonville that actually have top organic results for Jacksonville SEO & related keywords. Since that's what they're selling, they're probably the ones you can trust the most.

Beyond that, there appears to be a significant number of small-time operations run out of someone's home. Now, there's nothing wrong with that - because that's all it takes to get results! In fact, some of those sole proprietorships seem to be outranking the big firms.

The State of Organic Search Results

Digging a little deeper in to the smaller sites that rank well tells an interesting story. The current top spots are held by sites using decidedly grey to black hat SEO tactics. While I'd normally argue for pure white hat techniques, it's also hard to argue against what works.

The niche doesn't look like a free for all, either, after all.

Several large firms have been kicked down 100 or 200 spots for what I would presume are search penalties. It's possible they tried to copy what appeared to be working, but flew just a little too close to the sun.

What do you think? Have you had any particularly positive or negative experiences with a Jacksonville SEO company that you've hired for a local or national or even global job? Let us know in the comments: Your advice could save someone a headache and help their business, too!