SEO for Local Businesses Using Virtual Lands, NFTs, Web3, Metaverse and AI

example of virtual land web3 NFT to be used as part of larger local SEO marketing efforts

At the time of this post (early August 2023) most local businesses couldn’t care less about anything pertaining to Web3 such as metaverse, virtual lands, NFTs, and AI (other than being scared of it). Most don’t even use or possess any cryptocurrencies or altcoins or digital tokens. Despite the rise of these new technologies, the average local business owner only cares about getting more phone calls, email leads, text messages, walk-ins or newsletter/social media subscribers to help generate new business.

Much like in the first part of the 2010 decade, most local business owners don’t understand the “WHY” they need to spend time, money, or other resources on those new technologies. “Decentralization”, “community”, “DAOs”, and other web3 topics are just nonsense words to them at this point in time… and that is fine! This is because no one yet has explained to the local business owner — all the way from a pizza shop owner to a criminal defense attorney to a plumber to a dentist — how these technologies generate a return on investment of time, money or other resources.

Back in the early 2010’s many local business owners didn’t understand why they needed Facebook business pages, Google Maps pages (even for directions and reviews), Yelp pages, LinkedIn business pages, nor other social media properties. Up until now, web3 topics have no relevance in the mind of the average local business owner. This is because the web3 enthusiasts haven’t yet even explained how such technologies even can do something as basic as boost existing search engine rankings.

That begins to change for you right now!


ice cream sundae - used for metaphor regarding web3 technologies and local business owner SEO and lead generation

What Does An Ice Cream Sundae Have To Do With Web3 And Search Engine Rankings?!?!?

Most people at least understand the concept of “fundamentals” and “nice to haves”… and one of the most universally-understood ways to show an example of this is an ice cream sundae!

If you owned a local ice cream shop then chances are you almost never have anyone come into your shop to buy JUST the “nice to haves”. Odds are that no one has ever come in JUST to buy sprinkles, hot fudge, cherries, or peanuts….

… but virtually everyone has come into your shop to buy at least a scoop of ice cream or a cake with ice cream as the main component!

In this case the “fundamental” thing people want from your shop would be the ice cream, and only a certain percentage of people want all the “nice to haves” or “add-ons” like fudge, nuts, whipped cream, etc.

In the case of using new web3 technologies to help any local business owner generate more business from prospective customers and clients, the main focus (as of August 2023) is to give that business owner the “fundamental” benefit of increased search engine rankings for main local keywords. In our example, increased SEO rankings are – for now – the “ice cream” because this can lead to new phone calls and emails.

The “nice to haves” or “add-ons” would be benefits in the future such as:

  • The ability to add a 3D building onto the virtual land plot
  • Adding Artificial Intelligence (AI) “avatars” to interact with prospective customers inside the 3D building
  • Tie-ins with AI tools for automation, local competition analysis, avatar creation, and other AI benefits
  • Other “metaverse” interactivity, including paying for local advertisements on 3D buildings for local landmarks
  • Increased value of the metaverse/virtual land (as mentioned in this April 2023 article from the Dallas Observer)
  • Selling digital t-shirts for metaverse avatars
  • Treasure hunts in the metaverse to “mine resources” and otherwise have a “gamified” experience
  • Ability to purchase metaverse digital assets with cryptocurrencies
  • Etc.

example of virtual land web3 NFT to be used as part of larger local SEO marketing efforts

Virtual Land For Local Business Search Engine Ranking Improvements

One thing the average business owner CAN understand is not ranking high enough in the search engines for desired keyword phrases; and, therefore, missing out on prospective phone calls or other leads. This post will introduce one of the first ways that a local business owner can see search engine ranking increases (aka “web 2” searches) by leveraging one of these new web3 technologies which any local business owner can begin to understand conceptually.

That method is virtual land in the form of a non-fungible token (NFT). All this means is that it represents digital ownership on the blockchain, much like the ownership title to your home or commercial property is registered with your local county.

Virtual land represents a piece of the earth where his/her business operates, much like one understands an online map which represents the location of the office or store. At this point in time, there are several “metaverses” which represents either fictional worlds or represent all (or most) of Earth. Our situation requires us to focus on the Earth-based virtual lands; and at this time there are four (4) main metaverse platforms which don’t require any Virtual Reality goggles or headsets of any kind:

  • Earth2

In order to help your local search engine rankings for the last part of 2023 and beyond, we are going to narrow your focus to the virtual land NFTs available in the last two options: Next Earth and MyLand

Why?

Solely for the SEO benefits, at least in the short-term.

Next Earth has partnered with another company in order to have a “1-2” approach:

  • The virtual land (NFT) allows for a description which permits links to your website and other web properties
  • Generate new “business layer” pages which can be indexed by the search engines AND help push up your local search engine rankings

Later in 2023, and into 2024, the business layer component also will allow access for 3D buildings, AI automation tools, and other “nice to haves” mentioned earlier in the section on ice cream!

MyLand doesn’t have the partner company, nor the AI integrations, yet. You can place a link, however, in the description of your land and begin the link building/SEO benefit. Integrations for 3D buildings, digital avatars and more already are available for the platform should those be of interest to you.

So What Is The Real Use Of Virtual Land, And How Does It Make My Phone Ring Within The Next Month Or Sooner?

Great questions!

When it comes to local search engine rankings, the search engines have their own algorithms for what they deem to be A.R.T. or R.A.T. or T.A.R. The combination doesn’t matter as all that those letters mean are:

  • A = Authoritative
  • R = Relevant
  • T = Trustworthy

Links from authoritative websites, surrounded by relevant and geographic-specific content, will help your search engine rankings improve in most cases. When you purchase digital real estate (virtual land) which represents the land where you operate some or all of your business, then you have to add important content to the pages which can be read (and crawled/indexed) by the search engines.

There are several steps to this, so if you aren’t familiar with the following then be sure to contact us for help (email us here):

  • NFTs and OpenSea.io
  • Web3 wallets like MetaMask
  • How to format links
  • Synchronizing one’s virtual land (digital real estate) NFT with a partner business layer for the SEO benefit
  • Link building to the NFT URLs in order to get them indexed by the search engines and pass along more authority
  • Formatting the SEO title and description tags properly

If done properly, hopefully you soon will notice an increase in your search engine rankings for keyword phrases most relevant to the SEO title, SEO description, links, and other content you added to your virtual land.

So How Does This Differ From Just Another Online Maps Listing Like Google Maps Or Waze Driving Directions?

Another great question!

At its most basic level, virtual land (digital real estate) which represents land where you operate a business is actually LESS functional than Google Maps. Some will permit reviews, some won’t, and you have less control and flexibility than Google Maps (aka your Google Business Profile listing).

Additionally, one of the prominent SEO authority websites (Backlinko) recently updated its list in 2023 to include roughly 170 ways to generate backlinks and traffic to a website.

So why would anyone spend money on this virtual land?!?

Yet another fantastic question too!

Your goals when it comes to online marketing, besides generating new business, are to accomplish any combination of the following:

  • Save time
  • Save money
  • Increase precision
  • Generate new revenue / profit avenues
  • Scale your business quickly
  • Reduce liability
  • Improve brand awareness and turn customers into loyal “fans” like a sports team’s loyal fan base

Unlike practically all of the 170+ current backlinking and traffic-generation methods mentioned in the Backlinko article, virtual land (digital real estate) and other web3 links (POAPs, NFT profiles, and even web3 websites) are the only ones which offer the “add-ons” like the ice cream sundae mentioned earlier!

These “add-ons” to virtual land/digital real estate NFTs and their associated SEO business page functions can help you achieve your “big picture” goals about saving time, increasing customer awareness and engagement, generate new revenues, being on the cutting edge of technology, and other benefits. In particular you either right now can, or very soon will be able to:

  • Get Artificial Intelligence (AI) content generation tools which can automate your blogging & content marketing efforts to save you time and/or scale the amount of content you can share with prospective customers/clients
  • Add in 3D buildings where you then can design a virtual office in whatever manner you want with interactive images, galleries, and more.
  • You can give prospective customers a better understanding of your business/office/store location such as proximity to major roads and highways, where to park, and more. That way the person can get a better understanding, using his/her digital avatar, of what is around your business location.
  • Soon you will be able to create AI avatars of yourself – or a spokesperson for the business – in whatever voice you would like. You then will be able to put that digital representative for the business inside a 3D building and answer commonly-asked questions, much like the “FAQ” pages you see on many websites.
  • You can convey information in a different format in order to make it easier for a prospective customer or client to understand the problem you are solving and/or to visualize and “experience” the final outcome. For example, a local tax professional can create a “relaxing spa day” in the virtual land metaverse — and attach that to his/her 3D office building — in order to convey the benefits of tax savings and deductions which the tax professional might be able to provide.
  • Soon people even will be able to place online orders for customized items, like custom furniture, after having visited the metaverse 3D building on your virtual land. The prospective customer can mix/match colors, flooring, wall colors and see his/her digital avatar sitting on the digital furniture in order to “test” how that person might look to others when he/she invited friends or family to the house.
  • Much more to come soon

All of the above are current, or soon-to-be-released, “add-ons” or “toppings” to the main goal (the “ice cream”) of getting increased leads coming from the search engines. No other existing SEO backlinking methods offer this range of additional benefits in the short-term and longer-term.

The associated business pages which are synchronized with the main virtual land page (NFT) also can be used to test new areas of town if you buy virtual land plots in new areas. This might work if you need to test an online market and want a lead generation website or other web property. Click this link for more on that topic.

This Sounds Great…. But Do You Have Any Proof That Any Of This Has Worked?

Yes!

In late July/early August 2023, a chiropractor in Dallas needed help. He wanted more search engine exposure for one the wealthy Dallas suburbs which was just under five miles away from his office. He ranked #10 (bottom of page 1) in Google for the keyword “chiropractor SUBURB TX” as well as #10 for “chiropractor SUBURB Dallas”.

Within 5 days he jumped up 5 spots in Google for both keywords as a result of the search engine optimization on the virtual land NFT, the business page and land page associated with the underlying virtual land NFT, and link building efforts to boost all 3 of those properties. Yes, he even got a phone call to schedule a consultation from the suburb he wanted when he hadn’t heard from anyone in that suburb previously.

This is considered a good “win” from the search engine perspective for several reasons:

  • Not only are there numerous chiropractic clinics in the Dallas area, each with their own websites, there also are potentially dozens of social media properties, local business directories, chiropractic / medical directories, Yelp and similar review sites, and blogs which all are competing to be #1.
  • There are many SEO professionals serving these Dallas area chiropractors who all want to be #1 as well!
  • The city has over 2 million people plus the neighboring suburbs, so the competition is fierce for first-time phone calls or emails for such a service.

Over time there will be more case studies added to this website and the LinkedIn page.

What Is My Next Step?

If you are comfortable taking action on your own then start with the Next Earth and MyLand links mentioned earlier, and use the promo codes if provided to save on your first virtual land purchase. Then learn more about how to format the links & SEO tags and then how to synchronize your land with any third-party business layer pages like Next Earth has. Once all are live and look good, then do your social sharing and link building (or even tiered link building) to the new properties in order to get them indexed in the search engines.

You then can study the mechanics and strategies for the “add-ons” such as 3D buildings, AI automation tools, and adding digital avatars. You also can join the various Discord communities or follow your preferred virtual land platform on the major social media sites + read their respective white papers.

If all of the above seems too daunting, or you just don’t have time, then schedule a consultation with us. We can discuss the real world situations you are facing including competitors’ recent online marketing actions, how your prospective customers think and what they need, and where you are in local search engine rankings for your most appropriate keywords. After that we then can customize a game plan which is appropriate for your specific needs, budget, and any constraints.

Thank you for reading all of this and feel free to contact us with your questions either via the email contact form or the LinkedIn company page.

SEO And Marketing Your Local Business On Patch.com

This page will use Dallas Texas as the example city for various ways in which local businesses can market their products and services on the Patch.com website. There are several ways in which a local business can see an increase in new customers or clients by using the features inside (and outside!) of Patch in intelligent ways.

First, let’s compare Patch with sites like Craigslist and NextDoor:

Craigslist

Service listings in Craigslist now typically require a monthly fee (roughly $5/month) for service business classified ads like HVAC, roofing, and even licensed professions like tax returns and real estate. This is different than it was in the past. However there is no targeted zip code/regional advertising other than the flat monthly fee.

Craigslist doesn’t permit reviews and it doesn’t have a “social” component to its features. You can list events for free, but you will have to pay to get exposure in other regions if your business crosses Craigslist’s regional boundaries.

NextDoor

Nextdoor has very basic free listings for businesses such as this Dallas-area business. Your business is allowed to add a logo, some pictures, hours of operation, a website link, and a small business bio. You will have to pay to get exposure outside of a small radius around your physical office/building/store location. Nextdoor users are allowed to leave reviews, but business owners have minimal option to reply to those reviews unlike Google Business Profile (Google Maps) business listings.

So Why Use Patch?

Patch, at the time of this post, is more powerful at the local level than most people realize. It has the ability to offer some nice benefits to any local business owner:

  • Free to join
  • You can have two listings -> one “personal” and one official “business”
  • Your services can be added as “Classifieds”
  • Your company’s events can be promoted locally
  • Paid advertising options within Patch exist (see more here)
  • The classified ad service listings, if optimized properly, can rank in Google on their own for local keywords
  • You are allowed to add an image with your classified listings (not all classified ad sites permit this)
  • The links inside your business profile and classified listings can help power up your main website, Google Business listing, YouTube channel and other web properties to rank higher in the search engines
  • You can follow other local businesses and like/share their postings, thus raising awareness of your business once they see you engaging with their content
  • Local news keeps you updated on happenings in your area
  • You can post local news (not just service listings) and start to build trust in your company from other local Patch users

Combining the above, you can increase the chances of your business gaining new customers/clients and building goodwill in your local market.

Examples Of This Working

This local Dallas sports bar offers a stage with large screen, DJ booth, microphone system, and more in case a private party wants to rent the restaurant for an awards event, live music event, or even a large birthday party. Their Patch listing ranks #1, even above Maps, in Google for those seeking such a venue:

If you post an event, the links inside the description can be used for “off-page SEO link building” to help send traffic to the inner pages of your website. The goal is to use relevant, authoritative and trustworthy websites to point links to these non-home page portions of your website in order to boost those pages higher up in the search engines.

Patch is interesting in that even after the event has concluded, it keeps the original listing live. This means that the power of those links doesn’t go away once the event is finished. This listing is still live even though the event concluded a few weeks ago (from the time of this post):

Your listing on Patch even can rank well when people go the search engines and look for a wider geographic area. In this case, local training classes for “Dallas Fort Worth” are ranking #1 in the organic listings (just under the Maps listings) in Google despite the Patch listing only being posted in the “Dallas” community:

Sometimes you need to increase your company’s brand name plus the city in which you are located for increasing search engine authority that your business is a legitimate local company. Here is one such example where this was done, especially for a business with office out of the home:

Some times you may be entering a niche within a highly-competitive local market. Bathroom remodeling in Collin County is highly-competitive with the County’s overall revenue potential for quality contractors, so this niche (shower glass doors) is using Patch to begin to enter that market and start getting phone calls:

Occasionally you get a unique situation such as this driving school located on the Garland-Richardson border. The main instructor also is approved by Texas DPS to be an off-site “third party” driving test location. This is so that people won’t have to wait for weeks to take their driving tests, especially in high-population areas like Dallas and Garland.

If you are expanding into a new region, you also can use Patch to test (probe) and see if you need to invest heavily in pay-per-click for a new niche. In this case, a video production company with a Downtown Dallas address wants to enter the niche (“podcast video recording”) in a suburb of Dallas – in this case McKinney. The Patch listing ranks #1 in Google after the “Sponsored” paid ad section of the search result.

What Else Can Be Done With Patch?

In addition to ranking in the search engines and using the description of your profile & classified ad service listings for SEO link building, here are some first step suggestions:

  • Engage with the local businesses and active people in your geographic area. Do this to start to build awareness and trust in your company.
  • Post any open-to-the-public event that you are hosting or promoting. Using the sports bar example earlier, they should use Patch to promote the nights when they have boxing, MMA, or major professional or college sporting event watch parties.
  • Test new niches and/or markets with an ad to determine if your Patch listing will rank in Google quickly (like the podcast video recording example above). If it doesn’t rank on the first two pages in the search engines after a week, then your “probe” indicated that you likely will need to invest more into SEO hard costs like link building, content creation, on-page SEO development and possibly something like a paid press release.
  • Do some low-cost advertising within Patch to reach neighboring areas. Using the sports bar example again, they are located on the border of Dallas and Irving/Las Colinas. Currently they are in the “Dallas” Patch community due to their physical address, so they should consider paying to get exposure in the “Irving” Patch community for their services and/or events.
  • ** An advanced technique is to consider any listing on Patch (your business profile or one of your classified service ads) which links to your website as a “Tier 1” web property. In competitive local markets you can boost both your Patch listing as well as your main website with intelligent “Tier 2” link building, CTR traffic, social sharing and other advanced off-page SEO techniques. Contact us for more details about your specific needs.

Finally, be sure to geo-tag your images with appropriate latitude/longitude, meta data in the Properties field and more to help your efforts. You likely spent time and/or money on your photos and graphic designed image files, so take a few extra steps to give each image file the best odds of helping you. Once geo-tagged you can use these image files where appropriate, such as on your Patch business profile and your individual Patch classified listings.

While Dallas Texas was used as the example in this post, the action steps mentioned are applicable to most areas of the United States. In some cases, you can reduce website costs if you only care about getting quick wins in the search engines; but please note that you can lose your rankings overnight if your Patch profile gets deleted. It always is best for you to have a fully-optimized website which you control all aspects: domain registration, website hosting, content, SEO optimization, images, other multimedia, and control the access as to whom can make changes.

Thank you and hopefully you found some benefit in reading this far! If you need help with your local internet marketing then Contact Us to schedule a call. We then, together, can customize a game plan to help you achieve what you would like to do in order to grow your business.

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