How To Get Your Business Noticed In Google
Local Seo Systems is here to help get your business noticed on the internet using three of the most effective SEO systems available for local businesses.
- Your Website
- Google Places For Business (also known as Google Maps)
- Other citation pages – yellowpages.com, merchantcircle.com, local.yahoo.com, etc.
Click HERE for the top 52 Citation/Review websites you Need to use!
These days growing your business by using local search technology to your advantage may be one of the most cost-effective and long-lasting ways to continually promote your products and services – period.
- You don’t need lots of money.
- You don’t need to be an internet expert.
- You don’t need to be a computer whiz.
- You don’t need to hire an “expert.”
In fact – all you need to know is your own business and who your customers are!
Every business, from small local mom and pop stores to multi-billion dollar mega corporations lives or dies by two simple actions –
- Getting new prospects to make contact, and then –
- Successfully getting these folks to buy something.
That’s it.
Local SEO isn’t complex or secretive. It can be a bit confusing, initially. And it takes work and needs to be consistently performed over a period of time.
But the benefits far outweigh the costs and time invested and I’ll tell you what you need to know to get your own business optimized for local SEO in your industry niche.
Imagine that local SEO is a three-legged stool made from the following elements. Remove one leg and the stool falls over. Remove one element and your efforts will fail.
Keep all three legs strong and intact and you will see success.
- Your website – strengthen your online business “hub.” (look at cheat sheet image)
- Google Places For Business (also known as Google Maps or Google Plus For Business)
- Other citation pages – yellowpages.com, merchantcircle.com, local.yahoo.com, etc.
Website (must have one)
NAP: Name, Address & Phone Number on the home page (on every page is best). NAP is critical for businesses like ours.
Your Business Name
123 Main St.
Your City, State, 12345
(812) 867-5309
No other addresses or phone numbers (for a single location business). No tracking numbers. FAX number ok. No other websites for the business with different addresses and/or phone numbers. Your NAP MUST BE CONSISTENT across ALL internet properties.
- Expensive & pretty don’t count! Simple, minimal graphics (for fast loading), clear & concise product, service & contact information and easy navigation will win over big & beautiful every time. Think customer experience!
- Title Tags: Write for your customers (write for humans, don’t use too many keywords (2 – 4 ideal)
- Content: Well written 300 – 500 word pages
- Include About, Terms and Conditions, Privacy Policy, detailed description of products and/or services and any other applicable pages. Include a separate page for every service or product you offer.
- Inform & Educate. Robust, engaging and informative content for your customers will build up your website. Don’t over-optimize with keywords!
Be very, VERY careful about hiring an “SEO Expert” or company to “get your website on first page of Google.” Cleaning up mistakes is ALWAYS more expensive, and there are HUGE opportunities for screw-ups. I spend a large amount of time (and my client’s money) mopping up other SEO expert’s mistakes. This is not only expensive, there is a big opportunity cost due to the months of time your business is off the front page, and the corresponding business lost.
Self-proclaimed experts include the largest of online marketing companies. Size does not equal competence. For the most part, once these experts screw up your online presence there is really no way to hold them accountable for their ineptitude. And the recovery, while possible, often takes months (possibly years) and can be quite expensive. Some businesses never recover.
Why am I so harsh on these so-called “experts?” Because I have witnessed their incompetence first-hand when a client asked me to sit through a sales presentation with them. The friendly and accommodating sales representative promised the moon – only available with a 12 month commitment – and failed to deliver anything near the promises once the rubber hit the road.
While I won’t divulge the name of the “expert” company, you would immediately recognize the name – many millions of people throughout the world rely on them for telephone and cell phone service. I’ll leave the details up to your imagination.
And I witnessed the crash – when my client finally realized that they were getting taken to the cleaners and refused to pay the multi-thousand dollar monthly fee. Even though they were only halfway through a one-year commitment. Then the SEO company sent the unpaid bills into collections
Just say NO to the SEO expert!
Google Places For Business Page
Claim your Google Business page. You will need a Google account, get one – they’re free. If you can’t find your Google business page, Google your business name, click on “Google + Page.” If the page hasn’t been claimed, click “Manage this business.”
If no business page exists, search Google Plus for your business by name and phone number and follow instructions from Google to claim. If in doubt about anything, Google the question – it works!
Fill in ALL of your business information. Use EXACT NAP. Add your logo and a few pictures. Choose CORRECT business categories – what your business is, not what it does.
- Link to your Google Plus page from your website. Have the new page open in a new tab or page.
- GET reviews. ASK happy clients for a review. Do NOT have reviews posted from one computer or url (from computer in your store).
Other Citation Websites
Google increasingly looks to citation websites that it trusts to have correct information, reviews about your company and another verification of your accurate NAP.
- Manually claim and optimize your business pages on ALL major citation websites. The more pages the better.
- NAP – exactly the same as you use elsewhere.
- Fill in ALL information. Add detailed and unique business descriptions. Select all business categories that pertain to your business, what your business is, not what it does.
- Claim and correct pages for your business. Many times a page for your business has already been created. You must claim this page, correct any errors and fully optimize it with detailed descriptions, correct business categories, business hours and your NAP.
- Think about your customer. Write for your customer – not search engines. You know who they are – give them content and information they’ll need to choose you!
- Just say NO to “upgrading” your free account to a paid account. The benefits are seldom worth the cost.
Here is a short list of some of the most important citation websites you should be using. There are many more that you should be using, but the following are a great place to start!
- manta.com
- local.yahoo.com
- expressupdateusa.com
- chamberofcommerce.com
- yellowpages.com (yp.com)
- local.com
- botw.org
- superpages.com
- thumbtack.com
- kudzu.com
- yellowbook.com
- citysearch.com
- insiderpages.com
- hotfrog.com
- yelp.com
- angieslist.com
- merchantcircle.com
- brownbook.net
- magicyellow.com
- whitepages.com
- yellowbot.com
- bridgat.com
- citysquares.com
- localeze.com
Bonus
Develop a plan to get reviews. Ask happy customers in person. Email them (nicely and infrequently). Add links to your best citation websites from your website. Make a written or a video that explains how to leave a review. Mail them a nice letter asking for a review.
Most people will not leave a review if they are happy.
Note: This three-legged strategy is a long term process, the results of which will also stay with your business a long time. How long to see results? 3 month to one year – there are no rules and every situation is different. But you will still be in the same rut (or worse) a year from now if you don’t take action now. I have proven this strategy time and time again.
Click HERE for the top 52 Citation/Review websites you Need to use!