Category Archive: Local Business Results (Google)

Jun
05
2010

The Secret to Local Internet Marketing on Google’s Local Business Results

June 5, 2010

Almost every single week, one my students reach out to me and ask about that special little secret to ranking in the Local Business Results.

Now I’m providing some local content for Dan Thies and Leslie Rohde from SEO BrainTrust, and sure enough, their students was the same secret sauce.

Whether someone emails me, sends me a tweet, raises their hand while I’m on stage or one of our client from our Algonquin Web Development company, I get asked….what’s the secret?

Well, if you know anything about ranking a website on the Internet, it’s a process called Search Engine Optimization (SEO). A search engine looks a several factors, likely in the hundreds, to prioritize all the web pages it indexes. So, SEO is a skill that has many, many school of thoughts. You see, this special search engine never tells what they are looking for. So, us so called SEO experts learn the secrets and test and deploy.

Bottom line, to rank a website consistently on top you need inbound links and decent website. In the simplest form, the more high quality links you have with relevant, high quality content, the higher you’ll rank. Period. No money exchanged, no favorites, just a democratic ranking from Google based on what it thinks is value-added.

Now if you’re searching for [Chicago pizza delivery], in the last year on Google you’ve noticed a little map show up and shows you local businesses around your area. These results are called the local business results.

The BIG difference here is WHAT Google is ranking. They are not ranking website, but rather businesses. So how does Google decide what business should be shown when there is only a possible of 10 spots? We all know there are more than 10 pizza companies in Chicago worthy of being on this page.

So what’s the secret for the Local Business Results?

There is none! Really, no secret. The answer has been present even before the Internet existed. The answer is no different than what ranks webpages. No, it’s not links.

It’s a quality business that people are happy to recommend that provide a value-added product or service to the appropriate audience located in the right place for the largest target audience.
WHAT?

Alright. Imagine this. You’re an attorney in Edmonton, Canada. You hand your business card out to every car at the West Edmonton Mall. You hand out 1000. It takes you 3 hours.

The following week you attend the local chamber of commerce event and hand out 30 cards and you spend 3 hours networking.

Imagine now that each card you hand out is a like a link to your website. So in these two separate scenarios you have 1000 links or 30 links.

Now, in both of these scenarios and consider the success of this attorney in the real world, it’s likely that they’ll win or earn more business from the chamber event. The key here is networking. People don’t just buy attorney services and keep the attorney’s card for when they need. It’s a horrible way to market their business.

So, quality marketing is the secret? Well, I guess.

You see, that attorney is exposing themselves in different areas, the mall, the chamber, meetings. The attorney provides answers to questions, and the closer the answers are to helping solve their client’s problems, the better they’ll do.

I call this transparency and exposure. Therefore, the great transparency and exposure on the Internet yields higher rankings.

So the questions is, how does a business expose themselves and provide transparency on the Internet in order for the search engines to favor their business and rank it?

This one is simple.

Citations and Reviews.

A citations is merely a reference or mention of said business.
A review is merely a digital form of word of mouth..

Therefore the more the business is discussed and referenced, the higher it’ll do.

But it’s not just any review or citation. The authority and trust assigned to those reviews and citations make the difference, just like how 30 links can out rank 1000.

You need to have citations and reviews from highly trusted local and theme related sources.

If you want to learn more, whether you’re a business owner or online consultant, visit my online education portal for Local Marketing Education. Opt in for the free report and browse the site for a lot of free information.

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May
11
2010

Learn to Tackle Local Online Marketing in 7 Simple Steps

by Administrator

May 11, 2010

Local online marketing is an effective way to reach your local prospects if it is executed appropriately and consistently maintained. However, many businesses don’t have the first clue about where to start. We’ve made it easy, providing 7 simple steps to put you on the path to achieving your goal of increased local leads.

If You Don’t Have a Website, Get One…Now!

Today is a day of technology. The Internet rules and, though you don’t have to love it, you certainly do have to learn how to use it effectively if you want to keep up with your competition. Without a website, you are losing a lot of potential customers.

Your local customers will often refer to your website to find out your hours of operation, telephone number, and other general questions. Openly displaying this information on your website gives your business credibility with your potential customers.

Google’s Local Business Center Exists for a Reason…Use It!

Listing your business on Google’s Local Business Center is imperative for your local marketing efforts. Much like favorable word-of-mouth advertisement, this allows individuals to post reviews of your business for others to base their decisions on. However, it also lends exposure to your business online and the search engines will love that.

Have a Website, but Not Promoting It? WHY???

Promoting your website is one of the most important factors in achieving results. If your site is optimized appropriately, the search engines will be your best friend.

Let’s think about the reality of this: About 43% of the searches that are performed on Google are local searches. That means that if two million individuals Google something today, like courier service, roughly 860,000 will be looking for something in their local area. Think of the possibilities!

One thing to remember is that whether you are using SEO, PPC, E-Mail campaigns, social networking or link building, QUALITY IS KEY. Nobody wants to see a web page that’s written just for the search engine spiders, an e-mail that’s full of run-on sentences, or a PPC ad that doesn’t follow through on its promise. In addition, the search engines don’t want to see your link on a page that no one has visited in months.

Let’s Be Social

Social networking is a hot topic right now, and why not? You can build a fan base that likes your page and wants to see what you have to say. To do this, you will need the help of Facebook, Twitter, Linked In, and a good blog site like Blogster or WordPress. This will allow you to reach out to your audience and let them in on new developments, new products, sales, etc.

To E-Mail or Not To E-Mail?

The E-Mail campaign is still a great tool for the local business, which is why every business should have an opt-in form on their site for their visitors to fill in. All it takes is a few key points, a little creativity with words, and the click of a mouse and you can start building the trust of your audience.

Team Up!

It never hurts to partner with another business in your area for a promotion. By doing this, you have the opportunity to reach out to a completely different client base and vice versa.

Don’t Give Up!

One of the biggest mistakes a business can make is giving up on the techniques that work once they hit a certain level of success. The truth is that running a good business is all about maintenance. So, once you begin to harvest the fruits of your labor, don’t forget that those plants still need water!

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May
07
2010

Google Places – The Newest Development in Business Searches

by Administrator

May 7, 2010

Is your website not driving the amount of traffic you would like it to? Did you spend a healthy amount of funds getting the perfect website built and put hours into making it flawless only to get a hundred or so visitors a day? If this sounds like what you are experiencing as a business owner, it may be that you are missing one very important key element; exposure.

One of the newest developments in business searches today is the all new Google Places. As an upgrade to Google’s local business searches, this contemporary advancement has allowed businesses to advertise themselves in a whole new light in comparison to the typical search. Google Places is designed to take the stress out of getting results that may be either out of date or completely out of the range of what a person is looking for. Not only has Google Places become yet another extension of how Google blows its competition out of the water, it also serves as an example of how concerned they are with the success of their local businesses.

Most sites only provide basic information on a local company. With Google Places, a prospective client searching for say, Chicago courier service, can see photos of the courier business, locate exactly where they are in the city in relation to other businesses, download coupons for special offers and obtain information such as phone numbers, addresses and websites. Google Places is by far the best development in business searches that has taken place in a while.

So why is it that you are not getting the attention that you deserve as a business? Well, while a perfect website is a brilliant idea, it is merely a “second step” to the most important step in getting your business known. Yes, it is a great idea to develop flyers, send out direct mail and put your business in the local newspaper, but nothing compares to having your company accessible to the online world. You have your website and Google Places provides you with all the resources you will need to get the most amount of exposure possible. It is your responsibility to seize the opportunity. A successful business executes all avenues of publicity; each with a convenient and creative way of exposing their products and services. To keep your company a secret is to underestimate its potential. Why not triple or even quadruple your clientele in a short amount of time in a fast, easy, affordable way! All businesses should list on Google Places for successful exposure and website promotion.

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Oct
30
2009

Local Search Marketing

by Administrator

October 30, 2009

Local Search Marketing is the process of a local business who wants to acquire new customers utilizing strategic placement within the search engines.

Therefore, local search marketing is comprised of placing such local business in three separate areas of the search engine results page (SERP). These three areas are:

Paid. as in PPC or Adwords in the case of Google.
Organic. These are the mainstream results.
Local Business Results (LBR). This is when Google or Yahoo! shows the map of the physical location of the company.

Here’s a nice post on SEO vs PPC. Here’s a post on Local Business Results and Citations.

In order to place a local business in any of these area requires a specific skill set. Just like how different how a carpenter, plumber, electrician and artitect are require to build a home, to position a website in any of these areas require a different skill.

These skills are differents sets of online marketing skills. There are experts in each field of Local Search Marketing.

For example, being good at the paid results means you can double the traffic and cut the costs by 50%, from the numbers Google gives you. Perhaps the skills for LBR including knowing that citations are the driver along with public opinion. This skill is leaning more towards creativity than science. SEO, or organic, on the other hand, is a highly misleading concept today. Too many people chase the algorithm rather then focus on marketing, creating transparency and exposure.

I suggest you opt-in for our free report the help demystify the components of Local Search Marketing. If you chose, watch our 90 second video before opting-in at our Local Marketing Education portal. If you own or manage a local business and are interested in learning more, I suggest you get our free assessment of your campaign at my local internet marketing company.

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Jun
16
2009

Local Citations are key to Google Local Business Listings

by Administrator

June 16, 2009

Anyone that knows anything about SEO, your ranking authority is based on a variety of factors, the most important being links. You’ve heard me say for years now that it’s not only quantity, it’s quality of links.

Published in 2008, MLBO refers to geographical and theme based links. I never study PR, I don’t care about what the algos want, I simply conduct marketing on the Internet. Therefore, when referencing geographical and theme based links, I’m saying to get a profile, post or something that references your company on a website that is somewhat related to your business.

A citation is like a link in terms of how the search engine values that citation. The different is the citation does not actually link to the site itself, it merely references the site. This is an example, and intentional citation, for one of my national clients.

Chicago Courier & Rush Delivery – Naparex

27 N. Wacker Dr. Suite 878

Chicago, IL 60606

http://www.naparex.com/chicago-courier.html

There are a couple of things to note on this citation that you need to know. While there is a valid link to the Chicago page for this business, this citation is not about the link. That link helps SEO purposes, not the LBL’s in Google. The fact that the company name (with a keywords inserted, including inserted in the Google LBL) is present with the physical address, suite number and zip code. This gives authority and confirmation to Google that there is in fact a business at this location.

The more citations you have, with or without links, the better your LBRs will be.

The point is Google is trying to create authority that you are in fact at the physical address that you claim you are at. If you are listed, for example, on the local university site with your address, that domain has much more authority and trust than say www.localbusinessdirectory.com. If you read MLBO, 18 months ago I discussed how to get a University to link to you and endorse your site. I also said that this is paramount for Local Organic, prior to the LBR’s being listed in the mainstream results. Funny isn’t it, each algo update our rankings improve and now after hard data, we, the experts, are saying this is likely the single, most relevant factor in ranking in the LBR.

It’s still just old skool Marketing.

It just makes so much sense to me, but why not others? Why do these ‘experts’ keep chasing the algo!?! Expose yourself to relevant sites, local and theme sites. Don’t ever worry about the ‘nofollow’ links, put them up anyhow. Don’t worry about pages with high PR. Relevancy and trust are determined many more and different ways. Create transparency for your business on the Internet. Get your information out there.

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