Local Internet Marketing Tactics – 5 Essential Tips

admin    Google Optimization     Essential, internet, Local, Marketing, Tactics, Tips

Local Internet Marketing Tactics – 5 Essential Tips

Here are the top 5 local internet marketing tactics that you must employ in the local business market today.

Tips 1. Local internet marketing must be very focused on the customer’s needs. Make sure that your message is different from the other businesses. Check out their offers and better it! You can always add another offer when you get their attention but in this price driven marketing offer the best value you can.

Tip 2. Use Testimonials for social proof. Make sure that you have testimonials on your website that can be verified. Social proof is very powerful as people will follow others. If you have an empty shop people are generally wary of coming in however good your products are. Websites are the same..showing that you are popular is a great local internet marketing tactic.

Tip 3. Get customer emails from your site. Make sure that your website can capture emails so that you can keep in touch and build a relationship. People like to buy from people they like and trust so take the time to get the emails and send them a weekly newsletter with some valuable information, then offer them your service..

Tip 4. Use Facebook to keep your offers in front of your clients. Although Facebook is worldwide it is more popular than Google right now so get an account and create a page for your business. If you clients are older then this tactic may not be so useful but if your clients are below 50 years old, get onto it!

Tip 5. Get your Google listing. The best local internet marketing tactic I know is to get listed on Google places where your business will show up at the top of the page, it is free and works really well. Be aware that Google have their own criteria so you will need to do some research first or get a local internet marketing expert to do it for you.

These local internet marketing tactics will help you get your business in front of your clients online however there is so much more you can do with some effort. Choosing the right keywords for your website, article writing and more, you have the chance to drive traffic to your site with many methods but time is important so make sure that you research what will bring you the best return on your investment.

David Marshall is a local internet marketing expert in traffic generation, lead generation and website conversion. If you have a local business and are looking to create more profits, more quickly please go to http://localinternetma
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Local Marketing Tips for the Internet

admin    Google Optimization     internet, Local, Marketing, Tips

Local Marketing Tips for the Internet

Essential Research Tips for Optimizing your Google Local Listings

If you’re a small business owner who’s looking for a better way to get more new customers, leads, & prospects, then one of the best ways is to setup a “local listings” account on Google, Yahoo, & Bing.

The local listings directories have been around for only the last couple of years, and can provide you with quick, easy, and free direct response advertising for your business.

Best of all, after you setup your accounts, you’ll be able to include a direct link to your website or landing page, your direct email address, your physical address, your phone & fax numbers, and much, much more.

Before you get started, its always a good idea to setup a new & separate email address to use for these new accounts. to ensure your primary email account doesn’t get inundated with spam, etc. In addition, when you’re setting up your new email account(s), try to make your new email address include some of your business’ main keywords.

For example, if you owned a gym in Houston, Texas, you might try to make your email address something like “houston-health-clubs@gmail.com”, etc. Although the benefits of this customization are minimal, they can be, nonetheless, beneficial to your local listings rankings.

As a side note, I highly recommend setting up a Google gmail account as your primary “secondary” email address, as it has an excellent spam filter, provides you with ample storage space, and is very quick & easy to search.

Now to get started, you’ll definitely want to do some basic keyword research to find out exactly what your target customers are searching for online.

All you need to do is go to Google and search for “Google externalâ€Â, and you will find a great resource. It’s called the Google external keyword tool, and this is a free tool put out by Google basically to help it’s advertisers to find keywords that are related to them, to show them the volumes for which people are searching, and to show them how much it would cost to
advertise for those top keyword terms to get in the top three ratings for a listing.

When you go through this you should find 2 or 3 different keywords you think someone who was searching for your products or services would look for. For example, for a local gym it might be “health club”, or “Fitness Club”, or “gymâ€Â or even “gym membershipâ€Â.

All you need to do is just type in your words or phrase and click “Search.â€Â Your results will come back and you’ll want to make sure and click “global monthly searchesâ€Â to be descending.

After performing the search, you can see that the most popular terms are at the top, less popular ones are down on the page. Don’t lose sight of these lower traffic terms.

Even though some terms are low search volumes globally, they are generally very targeted people that are looking for your products or services and they are definitely worth going after. However, initially, for your local listings, we want to concentrate on getting you the “biggest
bang-for-your-buck”.

Finally, you’ll want to weed through the terms that are not specifically related to your business, or terms that may be related to a competitor’s business name. You basically want to do this two or three different times with different source keywords that are general and those will give
you some good ideas for different keywords that you should go after.

Keep in mind that for these local listings we’re not going to be going after all these different keywords. You should pick your largest ones and build everything in your campaign around those large keyword phrases because they are going to give you the best return on your time investment.

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What Is Google Local Business Listings

admin    Google Optimization     business, Google, Listings, Local

What Is Google Local Business Listings

What Is Google Local Business Listings

Would you like your Business appear at the top of Google Search Results, but are struggling to get there? The Google Local Search maybe the answer for you.
What is Google Local Listing
Google Local Listings is a service from Google that helps local business owners to get listed at the top of page 1 on Google for Local Search Enquiries.
With the assistance of Google Maps, Google Local Listing can help searchers find products or services of your kind in their local area effortlessly .
Google Local Search is a great way for your business to top into your local market, and to beat out your competition. Even Better you don’t even need a website to get found.
If you want to get listed you can do it yourself for free through Google Local Business Centre. Although a relatively straight forward exercise, care must be taken to ensure optimized ( Keyword Rich) description and titles are used. Let SEO Planet set up your local listing for you, and maximize your ranking benefits.
Registering your business is free through Google Local Business Centre, and reasonably straight forward to setup but also requires a Google Account. You could probably do it yourself, however, in order to maximize the ranking benefits, care should be taken that optimized ( Keyword Rich) descriptions and titles are used. Let SEO Planet set up your local listing for to maximize your ranking benefits.
By registering, Google Search not lists you at the top of the search page, but lets you add a variety of information about your business more like a mini website than a listing:
Information Such As:-

Your Business Name
Your Contact Details- Address, Phone, Fax, Mobile Number, Email, Website
When You Are Open
Payment Types Accept
Up to 10 Images and 5 Video Displayed

Its a great way to get found- and even if you don’t have a website, offers great exposure to your Business to your potential customers.

Let SEO Planet registering your business today!
SEO Planet can set up, submit and optimize your listing to Google Local Search only for $ 99. We will also create a new Google Local Search Listing for your business, and we will maintain your listing for one year on top of the 1st page without any charges for maintaining.
If you would like us to arrange your business to be listed as a Google Local Listing Business, then please email taslimali.seo@gmail.com
Once your order is confirmed we will submit your listing for you. It takes Google around 2-4 weeks to process and activate your listing before it will start appearing in Google Maps and Google Local Search Results.
So email taslimali.seo@gmail.com for your Google Local Listing, and beat out your local competition.
Note:- This doesn’t replace the need for Search Engine Optimization and shouldn’t be seen as an alternative to SEO, but as an addition to enhance your listings in Google and get found by local customers.
Further, Google Local Search is a relatively new offering by Google in India and with anything new, Google are constantly refining and updating their processes. For that reason we can’t guarantee your place in Google Local Search, but the quicker you respond, the better chances of getting listed. No-one absolutely sure of the long term effects or what changes Google might make which is why you should jump in and get the short term benefits now.

How to Rank Higher in Google Local Business Listings

admin    Google Optimization     business, Google, Higher, Listings, Local, Rank

How to Rank Higher in Google Local Business Listings

Google offers a free business listing to small businesses at the top of most local search results pages. Local Google Advertising is what we’re after when we talk about Google’s local business listing center. Anatomy of a Google search result page:

• Listings on the right side bar are paid advertisements, often called “sponsored links”
• The main body of a search result page are called the “organic” or “natural” search listings
• At the very top in a colored text box are also paid advertisements, sponsored links
• Above the organic listings are “Google Local Business Listings”

This wiki deals with only with the Local Business Listings

You will notice a map associated with each listing, this is because Google used the existing infrastructure of Google Maps to implement the free business listings. It’s generally thought that Google offered this free service, and gave its location on a search result page prominence above the organic listings because of the popularity of Google’s AdWords program.

AdWords is a PPC (pay per click) advertising system where keywords and keyword phrases are bid on in an auction like system. The immense popularity of AdWords priced smaller Mom n Pop stores out of the market due to the ever escalating costs of certain keywords. Google became fearful that it’s search platform would be return search results of the “rich and famous” thus reflecting only what the rich and powerful wanted seen on Google search results.

How does Google determine which website should rank higher than another?

Google uses a computer program algorithm based on hundreds of factors as the vast size of the internet precludes any human capability of keeping the listings accurate or current. That algorithm is a closely guarded trade secret within Google. Search Engine Optimization Consultants learn what Google apparently likes and doesn’t like from the observable behavior of search results.

Local Business Listings IS Googlemaps

Google Maps algorithm is different from the algorithm that anoints one site over another. It’s also slower to update. If your customers leave glowing reviews of your product or service on the link provided your site will climb in rank. You are permitted up to 10 photos of your product or service, use as many of those slots as possible. Fill out as much information about your business as space allotted provides, being verbose is better than being succinct when it comes to Google Local Business Listings

Many small businesses get leads and interested inquiries from a local business listing even if they don’t have a website URL. Still other small businesses find it unnecessary to have their company listed anywhere other than the top local business listings. If your listing falls in ranking or is bumped out of it’s spot by a newcomer and you find your company losing sales because of it, you may want to outsource your rankings management to a local search engine optimization firm.

The fees involved for a local business listing may be less than the fees for improving your company website’s organic listing.

What Determines Rank?

Ever wonder why your companies listing in Google does OK in the main body of Google’s search results page but is not in the top 10 of those pesky Google Local Business Listings?

Ultimately what you want is to be found in BOTH sets of listings, the net effect of which would be to drive home in your prospective customers Mind’s Eye that Google apparently thinks pretty highly of your company if Google is displaying YOUR company listing in the Local Business Listings and in the Organic Search Rankings.

Well, people’s perception and Google’s reality are far, far apart.

Google didn’t *pick* you to be #1 and your competitor to be #11

A computer program picked you over the hapless fella you compete with. A person did not visit your site, take notes, compare notes, make a decision, hear the belly aching and whining of the poor fool who got bumped off of his front page listed by a website that ranked better than his…

nope, an algorithm picked you over them.

Think about it… there are what? a Gazillion webpages already indexed in Google? And how many tens of thousands of new webpages being created as we speak? Some of those tens of thousands are being “generated” by a “bot”.

There is no way on God’s Green Earth a staff of humans could possibly keep up with that kind of volume. An algorithm did it. The robot that scours the Internet (in the SEO industry we call that “spidering”) is titled GoogleBot GoogleBot Can’t Really *Read*

GoogleBot can NOT read… but it CAN count

Googlebot counts the words on your webpage, it counts the keywords and keyword phrases you use in your copy. Is y0ur company website a little light on copy? Too bad for you.

It matters little to Googlebot if the fancy flash graphic and dramatic digital photos depicting your most important product are… well the damn thing can’t decipher a photo! but it CAN read text.

What ever makes your photos good, better or best and likewise your competitors photos crappy is subjective. Art is subjective, math is not.

Either the keywords are on your webpage (Prominently placed at the top of the page I hope) or the keyw0rds are not.

He who has the most keywords (elegantly, tactfully and deftly constructed with proper enough grammar for the spell checking programmed Googlebot to index). Wins that coveted top spot!

But… the Google Local Business Listings are a different story. The algorithm that runs it is different.

What Google is looking for and rewards when it sees it for the organic search results page (the body of the page) is one thing. What Googlebot is looking to see in the Free Local Google Advertising Listings is quite another.

I’m not about to reveal the entire loophole in a “Google Secrets Revealed” post, not even for a hefty 00 fee for an ebook (I’d do it for that price if it were ticket sales to a seminar and I got a couple dozen of you to buy 00 tickets to eagerly learn how I do what it is I do) (that’s in the works by the way)

No, I’m not telling, not the whole thing but I will give you a hint, and I’m giving said hint in the form of my own Maryland search engine optimization results. This is not theory, This is not alleged, What follows is battle tested.

I’m competing against the best of the best, the top guys and gals in Maryland: other SEO professionals. Link building technicians like me:)

If your customers leave glowing reviews… and they leave them USING a gmail account, and that Gmail account is associated with a Google Profile, and the person leaving the review has a picture or avatar uploaded to that Google Profile… Your Google local business listing will climb in ranking.

There are things you can do to improve your ranking

Many of you know you have to do something, you’re reading this to research if there’s anything you can do to “make the phone ring” in this challenging economy. More than a few of you will learn that you know you want to do something about SEO (search engine optimization) but simply don’t have the time… and you’ll hire me to get YOUR company website dominating the local Google search results!

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The 3 Components of a Google Local Search Results Page

admin    Google Optimization     Components, Google, Local, Page, Results, Search

The 3 Components of a Google Local Search Results Page

This article covers the 3 areas of a Google local search results page.

PayPerClick Advertising – A Double Edged Sword

It’s easy to do, but VERY difficult to profit with.

Any business owner can sign up with the Google AdWords program and be advertising on the first page of Google in just an hour or so. There is no easier way to have a business seen on the first page of Google. HOWEVER, it’s EXTREMELY difficult to achieve an acceptable return on investment with PayPerClick advertising.

It’s all but impossible for a novice to put together a winning combination of bid price, ad copy, and landing page. In most cases, a PayPerClick consultant is required. At the very least, tremendous time and work are required by the business owner to test and learn how to profit with

PayPerClick advertising does have its place and should be considered by every business owner at some point. But it’s not wise to implement PayPerClick before taking advantage of all the free options Google offers. Let’s get free local business and organic listings set up and working before spending money on PayPerClick!

Local Business Listings – Google’s Prime Real Estate

Nothing beats free advertising! Notice the Free listings above. The plumbers who have their sites and contact information listed next to the map pay nothing for that advertising!

Simply put, the plumbers who understand how to place their business on that search page are stealing customers from the other plumbers in Augusta every day.

Most searches for goods and services with the name of a city produce a Google map with adjacent business listings (see the above graphic). This is the most eye-catching and preferred listing location in the search results. If I’m a local plumber in Augusta, I want my business by that map! Best of all, it doesn’t cost a dime to be listed there.

First, I’ll address two very common misconceptions about the free spots in Google Local Business listings.

• Unlike the Yellow Pages, these great placements cannot be purchased for any amount of money. It’s not about how large a business’ marketing budget is.

• If a business does not show up on the first page, owners do not have to simply settle for poor placements. There are specific steps that can be taken to move any business up in the listing order to enjoy the profits of a first page listing!

Local Business Listings are the listings just to the right of the Google map. (Yahoo and Bing have their own version of Local Business Listings. But since Google is the most popular search engine, I’ll refer to Google first in this paper.) Again, these are free listings and the most clicked ads on a local search listings page.

Most local businesses are already listed in the business listings. These are seen by clicking the link “more results near…” which is found below the main listings. Although most businesses are listed in those pages, few are ever seen by potential customers. Most searchers never go past the first or second pages when looking for a local service or product.

How do businesses get Google to list them on the first page? There are 20+ criteria Google uses to filter the business listings.

Listed below are a few of the 20+ criteria Google uses to rank businesses in the local listings:

Proper keyword optimization of the business title. (Warning: Be aware that improper use of keywords in the title can lead to a keyword spamming penalty by Google!) If you have a listing now, do not modify it without this understanding.

Verification of the listing – This is vital for several reasons. During verification, Google telephones each business to supply a pin number which the business owner inputs into their business listing account. Verification gives Google more confidence in the listing and will quite often result in the business moving higher in the rankings.

Proper category selections. Setting up the listing is made easy by Google. However, there are a limited number of categories Google allows the owner to select. Understanding how to properly select the categories can make or break the listing’s success.

Customers are allowed to review their experience and provide testimonials within the listing. These reviews play an important part in the rankings. Google does not penalize for negative rankings; however, business owners can greatly improve their listings’ effectiveness by understanding how reviews fit into Google’s ranking algorithm.

Google places much importance on “validation” of the business. In other words, when Google sees a business listing with the SAME exact address, phone number and other specifics in other free online directories, the listing gains relevance\. Presenting the same business information in proper locations across the web provides that necessary validation.

It’s important for the business owner to understand the connection between their local business listing and their business website. Google often ranks business listings better if the web site associated with the listing also ranks well in the organic listings. Using SEO techniques on business web sites can positively influence the business listing.

I won’t spend more time going into all 20 criteria Google uses to rank business. My point is simply to demonstrate there is nothing mysterious or difficult about the process. Once a business owner understands what Google wants, it’s easy to make the necessary tweaks and adjustments to compete for those coveted first page listings.

Organic Listings – More Free Advertising!

Organic listings are another great method for attracting online attention…Plus, they are also free!

Organic listings are simply web sites Google found which they feel are relevant for a given search. Since many people understand the PayPerClick ads are advertisements, the organic listings are more trusted by most searchers. Web site owners who optimize their web sites in order to rank well in these listings enjoy plenty of free and targeted traffic from potential buyers.

As with the local business listings, the organic positions cannot be purchased. Google reviews and lists the web pages in the order they judge as most relevant. For example, when someone searches the term “Augusta plumbers”, Google will show the web pages they think will help the searcher most. Business owners must understand how to use SEO to create and/or modify their web sites in order to gain first page rankings.

There are two misconceptions website owners have about how first page organic listings are determined by Google.

Google does not care if the site is “pretty”! The best looking web site in the world could end up on page 20 of a Google search. Likewise, a “korny” looking web site could easily rank #1 on Google. (Of course the ideal situation is to have an attractive web site on the first page!)

Money cannot buy placement in the organic listings. The placement order for the organic listings has nothing to do with the size of the business or its marketing budget! Talk about an equal playing field!

As with the business listings, there are specific criteria used by Google for ranking web sites in the organic listings. Applying the criteria to web pages with the intent of ranking well is the definition of SEO (search engine optimization).

The following are a few aspects of applying SEO to web pages (Don’t worry if this sounds confusing. Even those brand new to Internet marketing can rapidly and easily learn and apply the process to their sites.):

The title tag used by the site owner is extremely important. Proper use of title tags can result in first or second page rankings vs. third, fourth, or worse rankings. For local search, it’s important to properly use the city and service keyword in the title tag.

Content is king with respect to ranking niche pages. (Local searches that use specific cities or locations are considered “niche searches”). Although the amount of content is important, proper keyword optimization must be performed.

Backlinks are vital when there is competition. If a number of sites for a given search have well optimized sites, Google will look at the number and quality of backlinks for a site. A backlinking strategy need not be complicated or time consuming. There are many free an

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How to Optimize a Google Places Local Business Listing

admin    Google Optimization     business, Google, Listing, Local, Optimize, Places

How to Optimize a Google Places Local Business Listing

 Introduced in March 2004, Google Local displays local business information at the top of many of Google’s organic search results accompanied by a map. As of June 2010, Google Places listings consist of 1, 3 or 7 businesses for most searches. Considering that most localized searches provide millions of organic search results, showing in the top 7 of Google Places can be invaluable to a business.

Breaking into the top 7 takes knowledge and time and staying there takes effort. It all starts with claiming and optimizing your Google Places local business listing.

Visit Google and search for Google Places. Register for an account. Follow the bouncing ball until you can click on the button that says “Add a Business”.

As a quick aside, it is assumed that anyone who would read this knows that Google Places only allows one listing per phone number. While you can in fact create multiple listings with the same number and reap the benefit for a short time, eventually you’ll find that all of your listings have disappeared into the void. Don’t play games with Google Places. It isn’t worth the time and effort it takes to undo the damage should you cross the dozens of arbitrary, invisible boundaries that Google has in place to try to make the entire process “fair” for every business.

The first page of the submission form is mostly fill in the blank, but there are 3 important opportunities to optimize the listing.

Company/Organization: Choose your business name wisely. No one audits the listings to verify that the company name matches your incorporation documents, but be careful. If you company’s legal name is “Paul’s Professional Services, Inc.”, you need to carefully tweak it for the purposes of Google Places optimization. Two common methods are to add a keyword descriptor or your primary city. For example: “Paul’s Professional Painting Services” or “Paul’s Painting Services of Dallas”. Monkey with your company name too much using obviously manipulative methods for cramming keywords into the field and you’ll eventually find that your Google Places listing has been relegated to a black hole by Google. Typically, this is the direct result of your competition reporting your listing to Google. Simply conduct a Google search for “locksmith google spammers” and you’ll find some insight on why you do not want to get on the bad side of Google Places.

Description: Carefully craft a 200 character description of your business focusing almost exclusively on your key products and services. Do not waste space here for marketing speak such as “Proudly serving the DFW area since 1974″. Do not waste space here by including geographic references. The geography is almost entirely controlled by the city you list for your address. Inclusion of additional cities does virtually nothing when it comes to optimizing your Google Places listing.

For our hypothetical painting company, Paul’s Professional Services, an optimized description would go something like:

Residential and commercial painter specializing in interior and exterior painting. Services include wall painting, ceiling painting, textures, faux finishes and color matching. Free estimates.

Note that the example include not only the company’s top services, but also includes multiple uses of the primary keyword in various forms – “painting” and “painter” are the top two keywords in searches according to Google’s Keyword Tool. In addition, “free” is a top search word for virtually any search phrase.

It is important to remember that the description is designed to reach a broader search audience – not win awards on Madison Avenue. Keep it simple and include your top keywords. 200 characters is not a lot of room, so make sure not to waste space.

Category: Google Places requires the use of at least one standard category. Begin by typing your top keywords and choose the most relevant category. Google Places provides the ability to include 5 categories. Use them. If your top keywords are not standard categories, then use one or two closely related standard categories and use the remaining three slots for specific keywords.

For our hypothetical company, the categories might look something like:
Painter (Standard)
Painting Contractor (Top keyword search / Custom Category)
House Painter (Top keyword search / Custom Category)
Commercial Painter (Top keyword search / Custom Category)
Handyman (Standard, but an extremely popular related search term)

NEXT. Page Two of submission form.

The Service Areas and Location Settings options are relatively new and are designed to allow a business to establish a service area if the company does not have a storefront of some sort. Initially, choosing a service area (“Yes, this business serves customers at their locations”) appeared to hinder the optimization process. While the jury is still out, Google continues to tweak this feature. If in doubt, complete the option accurately for your business.

Business hours and payment options are purely optional and serve little if any value to the optimization process. Potential customers certainly will find the information useful.

Google Places provides the ability to add up to 10 photos and 5 videos (from YouTube.com). Make sure you always use keywords to name your photos and take advantage of the “tag” functions provided by YouTube.com. The impact on Google Places traffic is limited, but any impact is good.

Additional details: Google’s examples are virtually useless and very misleading. To optimize your listing, create a table of your key products and services using as many keywords as possible. Each detail consists of two fields with a maximum space of 200 characters each. An example of an effective use of these fields for our hypothetical company would be:

Interior & Exterior Painting Contractor specializing in: Wall painting, Ceiling painting, Floor staining, Epoxy Floor coatings, Texture paint finishes, faux finishes, color matching, proper surface preparation

The colon is the separator between the two fields. Include as many additional details about your company, your products and your services as possible.

Feel free to include service areas as one of the Additional Details for informational purposes, but do not expect it to cause your Google Places listing to show in those cities.
SUBMIT.

The new Google Places local business listing will not be active until verified. Usually, verification can be completed by triggering a phone call from Google’s computers to the phone number of record for the listing. In some instances, Google requires verification via a postcard mailed to the address of record for the listing. Postcards can take up to 5 weeks to arrive. Once verified, the real work begins.

Paul Dumas has provided Internet marketing, website design and SEO services to local businesses for over 13 years. He is founder and owner of Optimized Local Search Services. Additional articles related to local SEO and Internet trends for local business are available on the blog: http://optimizedlocalsearch.com/localsearchblog

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Effective Google Local Search Strategies in Online Marketing

admin    Google Optimization     Effective, Google, Local, Marketing, Online, Search, Strategies

Effective Google Local Search Strategies in Online Marketing

Business owners are always looking for new ways to let their customers know that they exist and to offer their products and services to new customers. Placing posters, dropping flyers or even going to the cost of organising a local billboard may give you an edge over your competitors but is unlikely to be as effective, or profitable, as local online marketing.

It is a reality that most businesses start small and local. Few businesses are backed from start-up with large amounts of capital. Therefore organic growth is something that most business owners will have to oversee themselves. Historically few marketing channels have afforded business owners the ease of entry and cost effectiveness of owning and marketing a website. If you are a small business owner, you should hire an Australian web design company that will help promote your business locally. Consider starting your online marketing campaign in your immediate locality and maximise Google’s various online tools to boost your website’s local search potential. Even if you cater to a national or international audience you are likely to have significant competitive advantages in serving local customers at the beginning.

Unlike typical search engine optimisation, local search is different and relies on a different range of factors when determining which sites should rank highly in search engines like Google and Yahoo! For instance optimising your Google Places listing and thereby undertaking local search optimisation will require you optimising for a different range of factors than traditional SEO.

Google Maps Optimisation

Every time you search for a product or service within a geographical location you are likely seeing a small Google Map that highlights relevant businesses offering the service in the area. Indeed on some searches Google is now determining where you are located and showing local service providers regardless of your search query. By optimising your website for local search via Google Maps and Google Places you are more likely to tap into customers searching for your business type in your geographical location.

Google AdWords Management

Using Google AdWords’ keyword search tool will help you choose the appropriate keywords that will help put your business website at the top of paid local search results. In local search, you have to anticipate what your customers will type in the Google search bar when they are looking for the products and services that they want. When selecting keywords to target for your local search campaign, it is advisable to look at queries where geographic location is included. This will result in the highest quality customers and the lowest cost per click.

Google Places

Consider Google Places (formerly Local Business Centre) as a local business directory, a city map, and an advertising space rolled into one. You need to maximise Google Places’ untapped potential to grow your online marketing campaign. When developing your businesses listing you need to be careful to enter all of the data that Google requests. Google loves to see a local businesses engaging with it. As Google only provides broad categories, use specific phrases that best describe your business. Rather than entering only one category eg “builder,” enter numerous, “construction” , “residential builder”, “attic extensions” etc. Provided these are all real categories Google will reward the fact you are interacting with one of its key platforms. Most importantly, you have to verify your Google Places profile because it helps prove that the business establishment listed in Google Maps is yours.

Third-Party Site Citations

A citation is a reference of your business in third-party sites like Yellow Pages, Trip Advisor, and other online directories. Important business information from these sites include business name, address, phone number, and even product information, are cross-referenced by local search spiders to help complete your Google Places profile. In this way, a prominent presence in these supporting providers will help raise your standings in Google local search results.

An effective Google local search strategy is important for your online marketing campaign to attract prospective customers, develop your overall local presence and of course to slowly build your online exposure.

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Google’s New SERPs – Will Local Businesses Finally Get Off Their Butts and Get Google Places in Gear

admin    Google Optimization     Businesses., Butts, Finally, Gear, Google, Googles, Local, Places, Serps, their

Google’s New SERPs – Will Local Businesses Finally Get Off Their Butts and Get Google Places in Gear

When most people today assume of the Internet, they consider when it comes to the World Wide Web and all the content on all the pages from websites all over the globe that search engines crawl, index, rank and serve up in response to search queries from the millions and millions of people who carry out billions searches across the globe every single month.

But Internet search isn’t just for the benefit of persons seeking content from any source anyplace in the world. Quite a few individuals who use search engines essentially use them since they are seeking data about places close to where they live or work or strategy to go to.

The Significance of Local Net Search

Local Internet search has been alive and properly – and growing – for years now. Actually, based on data published on Google’s blog, about 20% of all Google searches have a local intent to them (that quantity rises to about 33% for Google searches by way of the mobile Net).

A Kelsey Group study kind May well 2010 observed that 97% of all consumers use the internet to find local company facts – of whom, 90% use a search engine.

Seekers of Local Details Take Action

Individuals who use search engines to uncover local enterprise info don’t search just for the sake of looking. They search for the sake of discovering. And when they come across, they take action, as a Nielsen Net Ratings-WebVisible study discovered:

70% will call the phone number on a web-site
60% have referred a business enterprise they found on the net to a friend
52% constantly or usually research on line very first, then follow up with an offline purchase from a local organization
14% will send a small business they found on-line an email
11% will fill out an on-line form
How do those conversions compare to your Yellow Pages listings, radio and TV advertisements, and direct mail campaigns?

Google’s New SERPs Display Integrated Search Results for Local Businesses

It really should be no surprise that search engine giant Google – ever obsessed with delivering a greater good quality search encounter for its end users – has been operating challenging on improving its local business search facility and outcomes for fairly some time now.

And this week, Google rolled a new version of its search engine outcomes pages (SERPs) that represent a important change within the way universal search results are displayed whenever the search engine detects implicit or explicit local intent to a search query.

The new SERPs have eliminated the Local Company 3-7-10 packs in favour of an integrated search result. The new search outcomes for local businesses now combine details traditionally displayed within the Net search outcomes listings (page title, page description, and URL) with facts previously displayed only within the Google Places Page listings (pushpin corresponding to locations on the map, buyer ratings, critiques, and link to the business’ Places Page).

The map that employed to appear to left of the Local Enterprise 3-7-10 pack listings has now moved to the right – directly above the vertical paid search outcomes. It has also been produced “sticky,” so it remains in view as you scroll down the page.

Consolidated Web/Local Ranking Algorithms Could have Implications

Importantly, according to a post on Search Engine Land, Google claims that the ranking algorithm for local/place search has been improved and refined. Moreover, the previously distinct local and Web search algorithms have now been merged or consolidated.

This could have important implications for businesses which have held, within the past, top rankings in Google’s local organization search outcomes and Google Maps.

Local Businesses Have Been Lagging Behind

Local businesses have been – to their detriment – slow to embrace Google Places (witness the fact that about 90% of the 50 million+ Google Places Pages that Google had designed in September 2009 had been unclaimed, according to the most recent obtainable information). As a result, businesses have forfeited top rankings – and Net and physical traffic that top rankings can drive – to competitors that have only had to create a modicum level of effort at Search engine optimization for their Places Pages.

Using the new SERP display, local company outcomes take on new prominence on the very first page of Google. No longer will they appear as some aberration at the top (or within the middle) of the search outcomes. Now they are the search results.

The Time is Correct to obtain Your Local Search Marketing Effort in Gear

If your business has enjoyed top rankings within the non-local organic search results – but has completed little or nothing with its cost-free Google Places Page – you could be in for a big surprise.

If, on the other hand, your business enterprise has been shut out of the top search outcomes – local or otherwise – the time is suitable for you to make some moves.

Discover: Social Media Local Search

admin    Google     Discover, Local, Media, Search, Social

How do customers find your company locally?  How does your market know where to find you?  How do you gain visibility online?  What is social media and what does it have to do with your business?  How do you use it to increase visibility?

There is a new site that answers all of these questions.

FourWhere.com combines Google Maps with FourSquare.com, showing users exactly where the businesses and places they check in are located. This site visually shows locations of checked in establishments.  In a sense it is the new Google local search, mapping out busines locations and including descriptions, tips, reviews, and recommedations.

This is the new local search, the way that people will be able to find your business socially.  It is the new word of mouth mixed with visual enhancements.

Say you are a own a Los Angeles acupuncture clinic, or you have give ACLS classes locally, people can check-in and site your business through FourSquare.com and it will show up visually on a map.  Users can then tell others that they highly recommend your business, that they visit it frequently, or use you location to builld points in their game which ultimately gives you more and visibility and exposure online.

Social media has become the way people get information instantaneously.  From the Cisco router announcement on blogs, to Tweets on Jeff Bridges and his new Tron re-make, social media is how people are getting news.   You can use it effectively to market you business in real-time, generate a buzz, and increase visibility.

Learning More About Google’s Enhanced Local Listings

admin    Google     About, Enhanced, Googles, Learning, Listings, Local, more

Depending on who’s doing the talking, Google’s new Enhanced Local Listings (currently available only in Houston, Texas and San Jose, California) are either a boon to small businesses with small advertising budgets or the end of organic search as we know it. Here is what all the heated discussion is about.

The Google Lat Long Blog describes it as “a new ads feature in local search that allows business owners to enhance their listings.” Apparently, it is not a matter of “buying position” on the SERP: “When the listing shows up in your Google.com or Google Maps search results, the enhancement also appears alongside it.”

The “enhancement” as you can see in the screen shot is a little yellow flag. Your listing will also have “sponsored” next to it. The enhancement is something you can click on to go to the business’s website, pictures, menu, or coupon. On the screen shot you can see that the flag will take you to the company’s website.There are plenty of people, though, who see this as a slippery slope to paid rankings. Some of them believe that as the program grows, it will become competitive (like AdWords), and the position will be determined by the highest bids. Others think that if the program is nationwide, everyone will pay $25 per month and the enhanced listings will no longer stand out in a sea of little yellow flags.

Then there are those who believe that now Google has its big toe in the door, eventually there will be a more complex structure for price and what it gets you and after people get used to it, paying for real estate on page 1 of the SERPs will have worked its way into the mix without anyone thinking its any big deal. Boom: the end of Google’s organic search results. With AdWords already putting a price on 10 to 20% of the space on each SERP, Google will eventually want the other 80 to 90% to be monetized too. Other conjecture for Google’s nefarious plan include offering something like number one placement with purchase of a “premium” package.

The most likely scenario is that the program will roll out nationwide, everyone will pay $25 for a flag, and therefore nobody’s listing will stand out (except, ironically, maybe the oddball who ranks and doesn’t buy the enhanced listing). Pay for rank? I don’t know. It seems as if Google has an awful lot to lose by doing that. I suppose it is possible that Google thinks it’s so big and dominates search engines so thoroughly that they could pretty much do what they want and get away with it.

But if that were the case, it would make the time ripe for a new or open-source search engine to bust out due to its simple interface and truly organic listings. Or else Google could separate their search into something like “New Coke” (where businesses can buy rank) and “Classic Coke” (where the results are pure and ads are either gone or could be turned off). That would allow those who actually care about relevance and quality to do their thing while the ones that were OK with buying ranking could have their own search universe too.