You can download a FREE template by Clicking Here.
When creating directories, listings and citations, it is critical to be consistent. Compile the following data elements to populate citations and directories:
| Business Name | Contact Name/Date of Birth |
| Street Name and Address | Contact Phone Number |
| City, State, and Zip Code | Contact Email |
| Primary Phone Number | Services, Products, and Brands |
| Secondary Phone Numbers | Payment Options |
| Email Address | Hours of Operation |
| lWebsite URL | Areas Served |
| Business Tagline | Images, Logos and Videos |
| Business Description | Year Founded and Years in Business |
| Keywords | Amenities and Special Services Associations and Affiliations |
| Category Selection | Certifications, Awards |
| Languages Spoken |
Notes for Special Elements
Images, Logos and Videos – Gather any digital photographs, videos, coupons or marketing material.
Business Description – Create a short (up to 200 character) description and a
SERP is short for Search Engine Results Page. It is the list of websites displayed as links any search engine picks up that have been discovered by crawlers, manually indexed by someone, or paid advertisements. Optimizing your keywords will allow you to have more SERP. The more results you have in someone‘s search, the more likely you are to get not only noticed but regarded as the authority on the subject. Think about it: If you were searching for something in particular and most of the links you saw were directed to one or two specific pages then you would automatically think that those two are the top authorities on the subject, wouldn’t you?
Map listings are more valuable and powerful than Adwords pay-per-click advertising.
Today, there are well over 10 billion unique searches executed monthly, and that’s just in the United States! Of those searches…
All of the major search engines return results from Local businesses. It is necessary, in fact critical to begin considering where your business appears in those search engines, and how to enhance your placement.
This eBook offers straightforward strategies available for you to improve your Google Places placement.
Individuals who do local searches are generally very ready to buy. Research has shown the local search market could grow almost 40% by 2012. The majority of consumers (97%) now use online media whenever researching -services or products in their local area, according to BIA/Kelsey‘s (www.bia.com and www.kelseygroup.com).
The Internet has definitely become an integral part of any consumer’s local neighborhood shopping process. The information suggests we‘re at a saturation point where the balance of power in local purchasing is shifting to online.
According to research by average, buyers are using 7.9 different media sources when looking for services or products within their local area, up from 6.5 sources in 2009 and 5.8 in 2008, revealing a significant increase in audience fragmentation.
Additional findings include:
Many small businesses think they can’t afford to compete with the big players in their local market or niche. That’s no longer true. Many are at a standstill, at a loss when it comes to understanding the smart way to build traffic.
The good news is……now there is a solution!
Google, Yahoo and Bing, who encompass more than 80% of Internet searches, now take into account the location of customers looking for products or services in your market and matching them to local business like yours!
This is a game changing technical breakthrough so for clear understanding, we’ll say it differently.
The Internet search engines take into account the location of the user to display relevant local business listings. In other words, the user (your customer) does not need to include the local terms to search locally and find your business.
Now is the perfect time to get aligned and be online…..When you have a presence on these sites, your chances of being found increase tremendously.
So hopefully you’ll see how the Internet is changing to your advantage, but only if you act now! In fact, if you don’t get online and prepare for this now it will only get increasingly more difficult to compete in the future. The first mover in any market is the one that dominates. Let’s create that for YOUR business!
When your prospects search online, they’re looking for a product or service using keywords used in your business. When you’re at the top of the page rank – in their minds – you’re also #1, preferred above your competitors.
You can save money by eliminating ineffective offline advertising and increase revenue with new customers through exposure only the Internet can provide.
You cannot afford to ignore this opportunity. This eBook contains instructions on how to claim your Internet business listings and enhance your position with as many directory listings as possible.
Local searches are growing annually. Studies have proven it‘s growing at least by 80% each and every year. Mobile search is growing to outstanding numbers and businesses need to appear in Google and other Internet search engines because mobile operators can choose the search engines their customers are using on their mobile devices.
What Does The Future Of Local Look Like?
Everyone, especially Internet users are utilizing the World Wide Web more and more often to search for service providers and different businesses locally. People today are trading in the traditional phonebook and using the Internet to help them in their local searches. As long as the heavy hitters, Google, Yahoo, and MSN continue to gain strength and roll out new local service offerings (which we all know they will) it is safe to say that this is an unstoppable trend.
Mobile Search Is a Major Factor
The mobile industry is currently taking this trend of using the top three search engines Google, Yahoo, and MSN for locally-targeted searches even further. Now you already are aware that everyone carries a cell phone or mobile device of some kind with them at all times, correct? Well what they don‘t carry with them all the time is a phonebook, so they instinctively turn to their mobile phones.
With all the new and fancy mobile devices that are each using versions of the top three search engines and combining built in Geo-targeting, the mobile industry is making local search incredibly accurate and just as reliable. The fact is that a huge percentage of mobile searches are local.
How Are Google, Yahoo, And MSN implementing local search?
The top three search engines are combining their use of local searches and maps to give an incredibly targeted answer to anyone who is searching locally.
Citations are mentions of your business name and address on other web pages. This works like back links. Back links are generally “votes” for your website. The same is true for citations, without the requirement for a hyperlink. An example of a citation is a directory where your company is listed, although not hyperlinked. Additionally, it may be an association where your information is found. You might have noticed the term “Web References,” a synonym for citations.
Citations are a key criteria used by search engines like Google. Once again, exactly the same can probably be said regarding back-linking; the actual “votes” you acquire will place your listing higher up compared to that of a company without having many citations.
Citations coming from well-established websites, e.g., SuperPages, help increase exactly how well your company gets listed. Citations help search engines confirm that any business is actually who they assume it is!
These citations and links drastically improve your Internet search rankings.
This is one of the most important steps to take to get your Google Places Page recognized by Google!
Download your FREE Google Places Template by Clicking Here for an update to list of citations.
According to the Kelsey Group, 97% of consumers now use online media when researching products or services in their local area.
Small Business Advertising
Smart small business owners are switching their focus from physical Yellow Page listings to web-based local search listings because shoppers choose the web over the Yellow Pages much more often.
Google Places
After a localized search, Google will show a map on the right side of the page from the listings web page, as well as Google Places Page listings on the left.
You get on the 1st website page of Google without the need of incurring fee-based advertising costs or the precious time and hard work required for localized Organic, as well as, natural Web optimization.
It is one of THE best advertising options available to you.
If you’re spending money on advertising with little or no results and wondering why, we’ll tell you in our free eBook. And we’ll tell you right up front there is a better, more cost-effective way that is very timely.
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Click Local Internet Marketing to download a copy of our eBook “How to Get Found on Google”.
Google Places Case Study
Click Google Places Case Study to see how we helped www.rozanz.com go from obscurity to Page 1 for Google for multiple keywords.
Internet Video Marketing gets you on the first page of Google for keywords your customers are using to look for the products and services you sell.
You can outflank your competitors, differentiate yourself and save money over alternatives like pay per click campaigns or continue to loose sales to your competitors.
For a limited time, we will create your marketing video and submit it to social media websites so your business is ranking on Google searches!
How sure are you that your web visitors are reading the text on your campaign ads and are getting the right information that you intended? Truth is, only a small percentage of Internet users and site visitors would care to read long articles that promote a product or service. This is a normal behavior considering that a normal person’s attention span is getting shorter these days and the liking for images and fast delivery of information has risen. This idea has prompted website owners to use video promotional in their sites.
What is video promotional?
Video promotional uses the principles used among television commercials in engaging, educating or convincing viewers for any purpose that can benefit the site. Behind that well-crafted video promotional is a structure, a script intended to relay the needed information intended to arouse the attention of an audience in a few seconds or within ten to fifteen minutes. These videos are usually made free for viewers and are posted in the most conspicuous in a website or in social networking sites. Video promotional can also be used in a conference or exhibition even with the absence of an actual speaker or promoter.
Why does it work?
Personal connection is one of the primary reasons why video promotional has become an effective in Internet advertising. An appropriate musical background, welcoming colors, high quality video and a friendly speaker in front of a screen can make a viewer comfortable and lets him/her start to pay attention. Google also gives a special place for videos as part of their much preferred mix content types. In other words, your site is more optimized if it contains textual content with target keywords and the video promotional. It has also been found out that video promotional with SEOs have higher chances in getting ranked first-page compared to keyword-enriched articles. This again is attributed to a viewer’s preference on getting fast information from videos than from articles. It has also been said that only a few business owners and companies are still using video promotional thus a low competition is expected but higher chances of being ranked among search engines!
How to get started?
Creating a video promotional requires video production skills, the right equipment and budget to execute the imagined script. You need not enroll in a film class to do it as there are video templates and scripts from other video makers. Basically, you need a story board that plots all visual, audio and textual elements in the right places. Decide whether you have to pick pictures from the net or take new shots from your product or from costumers with their testimonies. Previous images may not be that original but is less expensive than getting fresh shots that may need a good camera and other members of the production staff. When you are satisfied with your shots, then you are ready to edit them and piece all elements together. You have the option to buy a video editor or submit the video to a professional video editor. There are also websites that have video production packages. You can contact these sites and talk about your planned video promotional.
If your company is still resting upon the basics of e-mail marketing then you realize how difficult it is to get a solid campaign off the ground. In order to achieve maximum results the basics will longer work. Any savvy business owner realizes that in order to succeed you need to implement an advanced e-mail marketing system.
No matter how sophisticated your marketing system may be and no matter how skillful you are at the art of writing sales letters, you must include these three key components in order to be successful. This is known as the open, click and respond method.
So there you have it, the three corners of your advanced e-mail marketing pyramid. If you keep these things in mind whenever you sit down to write your sales letters your e-mail marketing success rate is gauranteed to increase.
The beauty of setting up an e-mail marketing campaign via auto response is the fact that it never gets tired and it never quits.After you set up your auto responder you can set the program on autopilot and simply test for success as you go along.
There are many-many advantages to having an e-mail auto response as a part of your overall marketing program.Here are just a few killer reasons for setting one up as soon as possible.
* It is unlikely that most people are going to purchase your product or service the first time they hear about it. By having them sent information from you regularly, you’ll be sure to get your product or service in front of them again and again.
* Placing your e-mail campaign on autopilot is going to free you up to do other more important things with your business.
* Some people will not need your product or service or have the money to pay for it the first time you offer it to them. Autopilot auto response sees to it that you will be on the top of their minds when the situation changes and they are ready to make a purchase.
* Many potential customers will want to take their time and compare different products and services. You can be sure that you won’t be forgotten when it is time for them to make the decision.
*Regular contact going to help you to build trust and create brand awareness.
How to maximize your auto response efforts:
There is a lot to be said about personalizing your autoresponder. The good news is, it is not that difficult, but it can increase your results by as much as 300%! When customers opt in on your squeeze page make sure you ask them for their first and last name.Then simply plug that information into your auto response system. So that when you send sales letters to that person’s inbox it will read like a note from friend.
Have you ever been out somewhere and had somebody walk up to you and say,” Hey Jim, I’m glad to see you, I wanted to talk to about something?” When they began to share their idea with you it felt comfortable and natural.The reason it felt good and the reason you probably listened to them is because they knew your name. That is the feeling you are searching for with your e-mail auto response system.
Permission based e-mail marketing is one of the most cost-effective ways to grow your business, but it must be done right.
E-mail marketing should be the central nervous system of your lead-generation-nurturing process. This is because it is the most cost-effective means of communication in a very cost-conscious world.
Consider sending 500 letters to prospective customers. This would cost over $200 dollars in postage, plus stationary, plus printing– not to mention the impact to the environment. Versus a few cents per prospect to receive and e-mail.
E-mail marketing is an excellent way to market to your customers. You’ve probably heard the old adage that it is 6-7 times more expensive to gain a new customer than it is to retain a new one– and they spend more. Repeat customers spend 67% more than new customers.
You can market to your existing customers for referrals. You’ve already paid for acquiring your new–your existing customers, why not turn them into a referral engine. After 10 purchases, a customer has already referred up to 10 people to your business. Marketing to new prospects also can be done with the email effectively. Especially when you consider that some prospects buy right away, others take more time. During that time, you can continually touch your prospect with additional information and motivation to purchase your product and services.
So regardless if you’re selling, if you’re marketing with e-mail to existing or new customers, three things you need to do right: 1. Make every contact count 2. Create valuable offerings and provide consistent and professional content with high deliverability rates. Making every contact count means to gather as many names as possible during your daily activities. Up to 57% of people will give you their e-mail if you tell them what you’re going to do with it, which is basically, providing them additional information and value in their daily work or life.
Also start collecting names in your blog, website, and any social media outlets you may be dealing with. Provide valuable content. Consider you value proposition: what is it that you do that relates to your customers and makes you different stands out. And then think about the tools that you can help create– that you can create to help them do their job better: Top 10 resource list, white paper, video screen casts, surveys, podcasts, etc. The list is endless.
Deliver consistent, professional, well thought-out e-mail with creative content is critical to your success. Provide professional graphic layouts that are grammatically correct and aesthetically pleasing. This applies to your entire flow of outbound email, including landing pages and whatever responders.
Practice good list hygiene, and zero error in managing spam or opt-out requests. Understand and comply to the Cam Spam Act, which among other things, insists the you provide prompt response to unsubscribe requests, and that people are taken off your list for further communication when they wish to be removed.
And provide high levels of deliverability, which is why they are so many e-mail service providers on the market today. They will help you ensure high rate of deliverable, deliverability, and avoid any
issues that would harm you and wind up getting you on a black list.
I hope you enjoy this article.
Aug 6, 2011 | Posted by | No comments