Google Places Blended Results

After 3 months, the effects of this change has become very apparent. In some ways this change created new challenges for those of us who succeed in getting our client’s websites on the first page of Google’s organic search results. Prior to this update, those organic results would be very visible below the Google Map and associated businesses. Now, to be listed prominently, you need to create a quality Places page that provides greater information to those who are interested in what you have to offer and continue to work your website SEO for organic results. Those businesses that do both very well will reap the benefits of this change.

How to achieve prominence on the “Map”

There are a few important factors for ranking well in Google Places.

The number of citations (mentions of your business name and address) for your business on business directories, news blogs or a social networking sites

To Google, citations are a vote of confidence in your listing and those from authoritative sites, such as your local Chamber of Commerce or Better Business Bureau, carry more weight. Citations have a positive effect on your Google Places ranking and should be considered an important element of a local Search engine marketing campaign. However, your citations must be consistent and contain the same information. Use the same business name, address and telephone number across all. Having your business listed as ABC Plumbing and Heating on one site and ABC Plumbing for another could result in them being considered different businesses. Search for your company name and see where it shows up. If you can claim and edit the listing to make it consistent, do so.

The number of quality reviews for your company on Google other review sites

It is important that businesses get customers to provide reviews through review sites in order to move their local listing up in the results pages. After you have created listings for your company on all those that are relevant to your industry, provide links to these profiles via your website. Put these links on your testimonials page so when you ask a customer for a review and point them to that page, they see what others have said and will be encouraged to do the same. Make sure your reviews are spread out across different sites for the best effect so encourage your customers to write a review on their preferred site.

A well written, optimized Google Places page

After you claim your page, attend to the details to create a quality Google Places page. Review Google Place’s Quality Guidelines to ensure you stay within their criteria and stay visible.

1. Accurately provide your name, address and local phone number. Don’t put your phone number or town in your business name. Although there are still some listings out there with them in the names, shortly those may be banned or buried in the results.
2. Provide an email account on your own domain.
3. Use a local phone number, not an 800 number.
4. Use all five categories available starting with relevant standard categories that Google provides and then create others using your important keywords.
5. Display your address if at all possible. If you list a service area, keep your address visible. PO Boxes are not allowed.
6. Add links to the “Additional Details” area of your listing to give people the opportunity to contact you. Any page that has a contact form is a good candidate.

This is just an overview of what you need to do to create a quality online presence that helps your business stand out.  Once you have your online properties established, you need to work on getting reviews and keep your information up-to-date. What have I missed that is an important item for ranking well locally?

©2012 Masterful Marketing. All Rights Reserved.

Google Places – Best Practices for Local Search Engine Optimization is an original post from Debra Murphy, Small Business Marketing Coach: Masterful Marketing - Marketing in the New Media World. If you enjoyed this post, be sure to follow Debra on Twitter, Facebook or Google+.

It’s the mantra of many involved in small business marketing and is important to those of us who need to deliver client projects while continuing to market our businesses. What marketing should your small business consistently execute that will deliver proven results? Here are my recommendations for where you should focus over the next year.

Online Presence

Make sure your online presence is the best it can be. Don’t take short cuts in this important area as people still judge your business by what they see online. Consider some or all of the following depending on your business and how much time you can spend.

• Build your site using WordPress (on a hosted platform, not WordPress.com) to benefit from the wealth of powerful plugins that make complex features easy to implement.
• Make sure you are in control of all the accounts that make up your web presence, including your domain, your website hosting provider and the owner of your local business listings. Do not let someone create them under their personal accounts. If your relationship with them falters, you will need to start all over again which will affect your business success.
• Provide up-to-date content that appeals to your target audience. If you blog, set a schedule and try to stick with it. If you need help with blogging, check out the Blogging Success Summit 2011 from the Social Media Examiner. There’s an early bird rate that expires soon.
• Create a comment strategy to drive awareness and develop credibility.
• Build your email list with an offer that encourages visitors to join. Having a strong list available when you have some special offer can be the difference in the success of a new program.
• Select your social media platforms based on where your customers hang out. Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter or some combination of the three in conjunction with your blog can create a powerful information network that makes it much easier for you to be found. Not all businesses will benefit from social media, but those who will, should implement a social media strategy.
• Create your local business listings on Google, Yahoo, Bing and on the directories that make sense to your industry. According to a Local Customer Review Survey from BrightLocal.com, 70% of people surveyed have used the Internet to find a local business. When it comes to the directories, research them and ask questions before you spend any money with them. Some are reputable directories, others are not. Unless you feel your time is better spent elsewhere, you do not have to hire someone to set these up for you. But if you do, make sure they are creating these listings under your Google, Yahoo or Microsoft Windows Live accounts, not their own.
• Investigate location based marketing if your business has a storefront. Retail businesses with a brick and mortar location benefit from using location based services like FourSquare, Yelp and Facebook Places for driving consumers to their stores. With the explosion of the adoption of smart phones, many consumers are now interacting with brands via these mobile devices, providing more opportunities for you to connect with them in ways that were previously unavailable.

Customers

Those who already do business with you should be one of your prime focus areas. Communicate with your customers and offer them special deals using social media where appropriate. Provide awesome customer service and quick responses to their questions so they can only brag about how wonderful you are. Happy and satisfied customers who understand the value you offer will not hesitate to refer new customers to you.

Word of Mouth / Referrals / Networking

Every small business should include word of mouth marketing activities as one of their focused areas because it will deliver results in the long run. With so much noise in the market, people don’t trust messages coming from your company directly. Notice how many sites encourage you to review your experiences and in fact, according to that same BrightLocal.com survey, 67% of local consumers have consulted online customer reviews of local businesses, influencing whether they contact your business.

The power of word-of-mouth marketing, both online and offline, is valuable for small businesses because it helps you develop your credibility and expert reputation. Through networking events and social media sites, you can establish a quality reputation by having your happy customers provide reviews and testimonials.

At this point, our online and social media strategies should go beyond the experimentation phase and become the foundation for our marketing action plan. You still need to stay aware of what’s new and test those that appear to be of value to your small business, but these tests should not replace any of your ongoing efforts until they have proven themselves.

Theses are my choices for this year’s marketing plan. Where are you focusing your marketing efforts this year?

©2012 Masterful Marketing. All Rights Reserved.

Small Business Marketing – Where to Focus? is an original post from Debra Murphy, Small Business Marketing Coach: Masterful Marketing - Marketing in the New Media World. If you enjoyed this post, be sure to follow Debra on Twitter, Facebook or Google+.

Most small business owners market their products and services to a specific geographic market and they most likely use a mix of local advertising, direct marketing, coupons and word of mouth marketing. Depending on your type of business, you may also use door hangers, flyers and site signs. These are all still relevant ways to get your name known in your geographic area.

But today’s consumer is using the Internet more often to search for and evaluate local businesses. Many consumers under 40 (and many of us over 40) never look at the Yellow Pages or telephone books anymore. Searching the Internet is much more convenient. According to Google, 73% of online activity is related to local content. And according to a study done by TMP Directional Marketing, not only is local search increasing, 61% of local searches result in purchases, still mostly offline.

What does this mean to your business?

It means you need:

• A quality web presence. People searching will form their first impression of your business by the quality of your web site.
• Customer testimonials that speak to the quality of the services or products you offer. These testimonials can be used not only on your web site but also on other sites that support reviews.
• Photos of your work, both the before and after images if possible. These can be used on your Web site and in the local search engines and directories where they offer that capability. 

And you also need to be sure you are listed in the local directories, and there a lot of them! I found a really good list of local directories and data suppliers on the Marketing Matador. Many of them are free and a few do have fees. However, the value of being listed in these directories is twofold:

• When you have a web site and you want to get inbound links that increase your ranking in the search engines, your local search profile is a good way to do it.
• When the consumer is searching for your business, even if your web site doesn’t come up, one of your listings may – resulting in them clicking through to your web site.

How to get started without getting overwhelmed?

• Create a profile that contains the following information: name, address, phone numbers (office and mobile if you want folks to know it), web site address, contact email, hours of operation if relevant, payment methods, description of your business, products, services, brands and specialties, certifications, company logo, and a half dozen photos of your work if relevant. Put the content in a document where you can cut and paste it as necessary and have your images available for uploading.
• Start with the big four: Google, Yahoo Local, MSN Local and Best of the Web. Go to the site getlisted.org and enter your business name. It will let you know if you are listed in the directory and whether anyone has claimed your listing. Claim your listings and update your profile with the information you gathered above.
• Next, register on a site called Universal Business Listings which for $30, allows you to create a profile and have it distributed to a long list of directories and data sources. Although they say they distribute to Google, Yahoo and MSN Live, I would make sure you take responsibility for those directly. Even if they do created the profiles for you, you should claim them and own the updates and edits. I just started using this service for my clients and I don’t have first hand experience on how their submissions work. But for the price they charge, it is certainly worth it. I also had a very good experience with them as I had an issue on the weekend and I emailed the only address I found and got an answer right away. They get points for customer service.
• Now look for niche directories. Most of the consumer services like plumbers, roofers and other contractor businesses will find a sites that are specific to their business. If they seem reputable, get listed there as well.
• Finally decide where you should pay for a listing. Some offer a flat annual or monthly fee for inclusion. Others are pay per lead. The choice you make is really up to your business, location and margins. I have seen good and bad results from these services so it really is an individual preference.

The goal is to get your business listed in as many places as you possibly can. It won’t cost you a lot of money, but it is time consuming to get listed in all the relevant directories. Take it one step at a time and go through the steps as listed. The more you can drive people to your web site, the more often they will call you.

©2012 Masterful Marketing. All Rights Reserved.

Is Your Business Listed in Local Search Results? is an original post from Debra Murphy, Small Business Marketing Coach: Masterful Marketing - Marketing in the New Media World. If you enjoyed this post, be sure to follow Debra on Twitter, Facebook or Google+.