I Have My Google Places Listing - Now What?

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Published on Thursday, 08 December 2011 10:58

What's Next? Three Step to Improve Your Google Places Listing

So you did as you were told and claimed your listing on Google Places. Great job! This is the single most important thing that a local business can do to help them get found via online search. (If you haven't done it yet, what are you waiting for? View the free video here to find out how.) But claiming and enhancing your listing is just the first step. If you really want to be found, here is what to do next.

Step One - Get Reviews

Favorably reviewed businesses place higher in the results, so ask customers to review you at Google Places. You can start out by asking friends and family, but don't neglect real customers. Offer an incentive (discount or freebie) for reviews. Don't ever stoop asking! A constant stream of high ratings will keep you near the top of the results list.

Step Two - Create an Offer

Once potential customers see your listing, they still need a reason to try you out. Google allows you to add a free offer to your Places listing. Do it! Maybe a coupon for $5 for first time customers. How do you know they are first timers? Don't wory about it. A few chiselers getting the coupon a second time  will be more than outweighed by all the real new customers.

Step Three - Keep It Up To Date

Once the Google Places listing is created, it's easy to forget about it. Don't! Set a reminder to check it at least once a month to see if anything has changed at your business that needs to be updated in the listing. In particular, make sure that you update any changes to business hours immediately! Nothing will get a potential customer turned off more quickly than showing up during your published business hours and finding you closed.

Website Choices

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Published on Friday, 06 January 2012 10:32

What Kind of Website Do I Need?

Not all businesses need the same things in a website. An obvious difference is whether or not you plan to sell products online. But there are other choices. I have laid them out for you here.

• Online sales?
  Do you need to complete the sale online, including processing of payments? 
  
  
• Online catalog?
  Is it enough to show products, but not actually offer them for purchase online? An example might be an antique furniture shop, which has many items but usually sells them at a local store.
  
   
• Community building?
  Is the ability of visitors to post comments and communicate a primary concern?
  
  
  
  
  
   
• Information only?
  The majority of small business websites exist to convey basic information (location, products and services, etc.) and as part of an online marketing program for local businesses. 
   

To Sell or Not to Sell?

Running an online store is a major commitment. The direct costs of the website are not the major issue, usually coming to less than $100 per month. However, the business owner must also commit the time and efort to add and update products, process the orders, answer customer questions, etc. Manylocal businesses will not generate enough additional revenue to justify this effort. Online sales can be very lucrative for the right business, but be preapred to invest the time needed to make it successful.

Catalog Only

The easiest way to display a large portfolio of products in a website is to use the same shopping cart software as for a full ecommerce website, but leave out the payement gateway. This make it easy to enter, organize and update lots of products. It also provides advanced search capabilities so that customers can find what they want easily.

Community Websites

If you have a large base of customers and your primary interest is to stay in touch with them, then a tool like Joomla's Community Builder may be ideal. You can let users register, post profiles and communicate with you and each other. Think of it as a private "Facebook". This type of website may be the best chooice for organizations such as clubs, non-profits, museums and magazines or other publishers. don't underestimate the amount of time to manage and moderate such a site, but the rewards in customer awareness and feedback can be enormous.

Informational Websites

The majority of small businesses just want to have basic information available online, often as a help for their local search marketing program. Informational websites are more than adequate for most local retailers, service providers and restaurants. Most of your online marketing effort in this situation should go into your local search marketing (Google Places, etc.), with the website providing more information that you can fit into a search directory listing.

Is SEM Worthwhile?

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Published on Wednesday, 28 December 2011 11:30

Is Search Engine Marketing Worth the Trouble?

After many years of doing SEM (Search Engine Marketing) on my own sites and many others, I can tell you that the answer is a definite MAYBE!

"Gee, Thanks John", I can hear you thinking. "That was really helpful". Unfortunately, it's the truth. But let's take a deeper look.

The Key Questions

To see if SEM is worth the time and expense for your business, you need to answer the following questions.

1. Can You Find Your Customers Via SEM?

The idea behind Search Engine Marketing is simple: Get your listing onto the first page of the search engine results. If customers are looking for your product or service online, SEM will definitely help your sales. But if they are not, other strategies are more cost effective.

"But you told us that 80% of people search online these days!", I hear you say. Yes, that's true. But, as usual the devil is in the details. Not all results involve "organic" search, which are the ratings for websites. There is also paid search (Google AdWords, etc.), directories (Google Places, UrbanSpoon, Manta, etc.) social media. For example, if you are a strictly local retailer, you are more likely to be found via a local listings directory such as Google Places or Yahoo! Local rather than traditional "organic" search results. If you are a restaurant, your potential customers are often looking in UrbanSpoon. These local directories need to be your first priority.

Even after getting your local directory listings, other strategies may be more effective than SEM. I am working with a new billiards parlor in my local area and we have done all the usual local directories, plus a website. But a more efective strategy for their next merketing dollars will be to advertise on several digital billboards located near a major college campus only 2 miles from their location. This will give them much quicker visibility than an SEM campaign, which would take several months to show results.

2. Can I afford It?

Good, effective SEM campaigns are not cheap, in money or time. They usually involve a lot of time researching keywords, posting fresh content, building landing pages, and monitoring results. A realistic SEM campaign will typically cost thousands of dollars and take several months to show visible results. It is a long-term commitment to building and maintaining online visibility. This is fine for large corporations, but small local businesses rarely have the budget or persistence for effective SEM.

Unless they do it themselves!

DIY Search Engine Marketing is usually the only effective strategy for small businesses. But you need to make time daily to do it. More in a future post.

SEM Scams

By the way, watch out for cheapo SEM scams. You've probably seen the ads: "Get a first page listing on Google for just $199." Sounds too good to be true, and it is. Oh, technically they will deliver what they promise. The catch is that they get to choose the keywords. If I choose "Giant Killer blog about online marketing" as my keyword phrase, I guarantee that I can get on the first page of search results. The fact that no one ever actually uses that keyword phrase to search is a minor technicality. The ad only promised first page placement, not that it would deliver any customers. As usual, Caveat Emptor!