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Local marketing on Google
The document outlines a local search marketing event led by Yvette Adams, focusing on how businesses can improve their online presence through Google Places and other local SEO strategies. It includes practical steps for claiming and optimizing business listings, encouraging reviews, and leveraging social media for local marketing. Additionally, it highlights statistics underscoring the significance of local content in online searches and offers insights into emerging Google features to enhance business visibility.
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Local marketing on Google
- 1. Web Wednesday PRESENTEDBY YVETTE ADAMS THE CREATIVE COLLECTIVE Local search marketing
- 2. Format for theevening 6pm – Welcome 6:05pm –7.10pm – Speaker – Yvette Adams 7.10pm – 7.20pm – mysunshinecoast.com.au 7.20 – 7.30pm – handylocals.com.au 730pm – 8pm – Leg it home for State of Origin!
- 3. Our MC… YvetteAdams Award winning entrepreneur. Owner/director/franchisor of The Creative Collective. Works with start-ups through to large corporates locally right through to internationally to create online and offline success. Mum of 2. Career aspiration to be a DJ. http://www.thecreativecollective.com.au http://www.Twitter.com/creativecollect
- 4. Local Search Stats60% of activity online is one way or another ‘related to local content’ (Google 05/03) 73% of activity online is in one way or another ‘related to local content’ (Google 5/07) 70% of online searchers will use local search to find offline businesses. (Kelsey group) 43% of search engine users are seeking a local merchant to buy something offline (comScore Networks) 54% of search users have substituted internet/search for the phone book (comScore Networks) 35% of ALL searches are ‘local’ (DM news)
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- 6. STEP 1: Geton… How to position your business better to a local market
- 7. Why Google Places?It’s free! Google is the most popular search engine in the world Take ownership of your online presence You are the best person to provide details and information about your business Insights for your listing’s activity Was Google Local Business Center – changed April 2010 Many new cool features
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- 9. STEP 1 –Claim your listing Go to Google Places and claim your existing listing or create a new one if you don’t see your business listed already. Google collects data from sources like the Yellow Pages, so there is a good chance it’s already there. http:// www.google.com/maps
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- 12. A claimedlisting… (of course the Coast knows how to do it better!)
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- 14. STEP 2 –Flesh out your listing You’ll need to get a ‘Google Account’. If you have an email address with your business name in the domain, use it! For business with multiple people, use a Google account that can be shared. Once you’re in, make sure you fill out everything . The more information you include the better it is for your business.
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- 16. Categories (you canhave up to 5)
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- 18. Top tips forfleshing out your listing: Business name – Call it exactly the same as you use it offline – don’t add keywords etc Street address – Use EXACT address including suite numbers etc Description – provide users with the most helpful information relevant to this business since Business Names aren’t always descriptive Main phone – a local phone number, not a hot line. Phone number must be in numerical format Email – does not have to be the same as the Google Account. Only input if there is a publicly available email address that you don’t mind people contacting you on. Website – use the most direct website available
- 19. Photos & VideosUp to 10 photos Up to 5 videos Videos must be on YouTube
- 20. Coupons Add fullycustomisable coupons to your listings including: Images Show on mobile phones Apply to multiple listings
- 21. Verifying Via mail Via phone Via sms You must do it!
- 22. STEP 2: Makethe most of new features on How to position your business better to a local market
- 23. What people aresaying about (reviews)– the price, the service etc – these filter in from various sources that provide reviews (more later) Post to your place page – Allows business owners to post updates to their place page via short announcements i.e. ‘we’re closed this Friday’. It appears on Googles Place page within minutes Service areas – Google realises businesses may only service certain areas, where you are willing to travel to serve certain customers i.e. deliver pizza. Street view – Imagery collections are continuing to expand. People can check out destinations before they get there. 3D view now too. Transit features – Who is looking for directions to you and where are they coming from. Not in Brisbane or Qld yet… The new additions to Google Places
- 24. Specify Service Areas& Location Settings
- 25. Post to yourPlace (like status updates in Facebook and Twitter ‘tweets’) To post to your Place Page, simply follow the instructions below. Visit your Google Places account at google.com/places. Choose the listing you'd like to post to, and click View Report . In the top right hand corner of the dashboard, you'll see a box that allows you to post. Write your message and click Post .
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- 27. Example Place PagePosts Specials: "Free chips and salsa today from 4-6. We'll even throw in free guacamole." Posted 3 hours prior to the start of Afternoon Special Events: "Come to "Anything Goes - Poetry or Prose " Today from 7:30 pm to 9:45 pm." Posted 4 hours prior to the event, linking to the Facebook event page. New products: "Have you checked out our newest pastries? they are so tasty!"
- 28. Additional info onplace page posts Currently each Place Page will only show one post at a time. If you write a new post, it will override the one currently showing in your account. It can take up to several minutes for a post to propagate through to Google’s index to appear on the Place Page. If the post still fails to appear after some time, try deleting and re-posting. At this time, users cannot respond to your posts on Place Page.
- 29. *NEW* Viewperformance How many people viewed your listing What actions they took – clicks for more info on maps or clicks to your website Top search queries
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- 31. What’s possibly yetto come (it’s in the US) America already has: A new, simple way to advertise : For just $25 per month, businesses in select cities can make their listings stand out on Google.com and Google Maps with Tags . Business photo shoots : In addition to uploading their own photos, businesses in select cities can now request a free photo shoot of the interior of their business which Google willl use to supplement existing photos of businesses on Place Pages. They've been experimenting with this over the past few months, and now have created a site for businesses to learn more and express their interest in participating. Customized QR codes : From the dashboard page of Google Places, businesses in the U.S. can download a QR code that’s unique to their business, directly from their dashboard page. QR codes can be placed on business cards or other marketing materials, and customers can scan them with certain smartphones to be taken directly to the mobile version of the Place Page for that business. Favorite Places : Doing a second round of our Favorite Places program, and are mailing window decals to 50,000 businesses around the U.S. These decals include a QR code that can be scanned with a smartphone to directly view the mobile Place Page for the business to learn more about their great offerings.
- 32. Six key factorsdetermine ranking in Google Local Search Owner verified listing Keywords used in company title on website Keywords used in company description on website & in listing Number of reviews (more soon) Keywords in reviews – the more keywords used in the reviews will help your listing be found for these specific keywords Categories – relevancy is key
- 33. STEP 3 –Optimise your website with local terms if you are targetting a local market How to position your business better to a local market
- 34. Local SEO Youdon’t need to go overboard with this one. Having the name of your city in some page titles and headers on your website will certainly help though. The most important task is to make sure that you have your address listed on your website – no contact form only! Also include any relevant areas i.e. suburbs if you’re a location specific destination. (Like a clothing store or a restaurant with more than one outlet in one city.)
- 35. STEP 4 –Encourage reviews and mentions on other sites (also known as citations) How to position your business better to a local market
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- 37. Citations Citation buildingis different than link building because a citation may not always include an actual link. As long as the full address matches the address on your website, it’s counted as a citation and helps boost your position in Google Local search results. Check out Google maps results in a competitive industry (such as the Seattle hotel industry) and you notice top listings have more citations than lower listings – in most cases. Citations are not the sole deciding factor, but they definitely help. When you view a Google Map listing in its entirety there is a section called “More about this place”. This is a great place to find citations from people competing in the same local industry as you.
- 38. STEP 5 –Get listed in local directories How to position your business better to a local market
- 39. Local Directories Manyavailable – both free and paid Directory listings from websites specific to your city are a great way to help you achieve some local pull in Google maps. A quick and easy way to find some local directories is to search for {name of city} + directory on Google. I’ll be introducing you to two great local directories later tonight.
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- 41. Search ‘free businessdirectory’ or ‘free business listing’ or similar
- 42. Example of afree business directory
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- 44. STEP 6 –Encourage reviews How to position your business better to a local market
- 45. Places you canencourage reviews Google Places - All listings have an option to leave a review, so encourage some of your favorite customers or clients to leave a review for you. Industry specific – E.g. If you happen to be in the travel and tourism industry, gently persuade happy customers to leave reviews on popular review sites like TripAdvisor . When you take a look at the top Google maps results you’ll notice that the top listings will have a good amount of reviews.
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- 47. … but don’tfake it!
- 48. Global review sitesYelp City Search Bing Local BOTW Local Brownbook.net infoUSA Superpages Insider Pages Local.com iBegin Yahoo! Local Feel free to contribute any citation or local directory sources you’ve found to be useful on our Web Wed Facebook group or linkedin group. Sharing is always encouraged!
- 49. http://www.raveaboutit.com.au/ -Local reviews for all types of businesses, from hairdressers to plumbers, Australia wide http://www.handylocal.com.au – On later Hot Frog http://www.startlocal.com.au Aussie Review sites
- 50. Don't count oncustomers tracking down your listing on Yelp, InsiderPages, Ezlocal and others. Add links to your website for each profile and further encourage customers to go leave reviews. See the below picture in which a doctor integrated links to his Yelp profile on his own website: To encourage reviews…link your business profiles on your own website/social network pages
- 51. Encourage reviews offlineto online
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- 53. We don't livein a perfect world and no one expects your business to be perfect (okay some do!) In fact, if your business has nothing but 5-star reviews across the board it might strike consumers as a bit suspect, is anybody that perfect? Also, negative reviews offer a golden opportunity for you to prove yourself, to go above and beyond. There are some good case studies online dedicated to incidences where businesses stepped up and made things right after something went wrong. See: http://consumerist.com/customer-service/above-and-beyond/ Don’t discourage bad reviews
- 54. STEP 7 –More ways to market locally… How to position your business better to a local market
- 55. Yahoo & otherlocal search/listing options http://local.yahoo.com/ https://ssl.bing.com/listings/ListingCenter.aspx
- 56. Traffic Facebook FanPages are cited in Google Maps Facebook Fan Pages Rank in Organic Search Results Instant Credibility Build an Interested Local Following Facebook – Five reasons to create a Fan Page for your local business
- 57. Sign up localFacebook Fans Search users in specific location
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- 59. Sign up localTwitter followers Click on ‘Top Users’ Once in click on ‘twitter elite in a specific location’
- 60. Sign up localTwitter followers
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- 62. Social networking meetssearch marketing…
- 63. Social networking meetssearch marketing…
- 64. Don’t neglect organicsearch optimization and the long tail riches it trickles your way. Or PPC ads that help you pull a larger fraction of total available traffic (yes, even for same keywords you already rank well for in maps and organic). Experiment with social media marketing via Facebook and Twitter. Try the Pay Per Click options through Facebook. Advertise locally on relevant local websites. There is a lot more to can do besides just Google Places & Google Maps. A final word…
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- 66. NEW WEB WEDNESDAYVIP CLUB WHAT YOU GET Costs nothing! Receive your loyalty card – attend 3 Web Wednesdays and get 1 event free! Get a free copy of NETT magazine and a 3 month subscription upon sign-up! Discounts from partners
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- 69. Next Web WednesdayLikely 2 months time MAY be a venue change
- 70. P: 07 54511315 w: www.thecreativecollective.com.au Or connect to us…. t: @creativecollect f: www.facebook.com/thecreativecollective (Yvette’ profile) Or search ‘the creative collective on facebook for our company file L: http://www.linkedin.com/companies/the-creative-collective Questions? Need our assistance?
Editor's Notes
- #15 Now make sure you fill out everything. The more information you include the better it is for your business. This includes adding as many photos as you’re allowed and adding yourself to as many relevant categories as possible (up to 5). Also make sure the address you use for your Google Local listing is the same address you have listed on your website. Note (added April 21, 2010): Google Local Business Center has changed its name to Google Places .
- #16 Now make sure you fill out everything. The more information you include the better it is for your business. This includes adding as many photos as you’re allowed and adding yourself to as many relevant categories as possible (up to 5). Also make sure the address you use for your Google Local listing is the same address you have listed on your website. Note (added April 21, 2010): Google Local Business Center has changed its name to Google Places .
- #24 Google Places allows business owners to further refine how customers locate and use their services. If you travel to serve customers, you can now show which geographic areas you serve. And if you run a business without a storefront or office location, you can now make your address private. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eF6Myrky_Pc&feature=channel Google has finally added options for business owners to set their service areas, as reported a couple weeks ago by Matt McGee . Today it officially rolls out, again , along with a re-branding of the Local Business Center , now simply called Google Places. The service area is great for those businesses that work from a home address they would rather not display, or businesses that serve multiple areas from one physical location, which is very common in larger metro areas (think plumbers, landscapers, remodeling contractors, interior decorators, etc..). Up till now many of those businesses targeting multiple cities had to resort to obtaining unique addresses and phone numbers in those other cities, often through UPS box addresses, a practice Google now frowns upon. The question is , how are rankings influenced by these new service area settings? Will a business located in “ City A ” , yet services the adjacent “ City B ” to the north, be able to rank for City B search queries when all its citation sources mention City A? It ’ s too early to tell and for some of my clients that this is well suited too I ’ m a little hesitant incredibly hesitant to make any changes as they already rank well. Perhaps the next fresh client becomes the guinea pig.
- #56 Five Reasons to Create a Facebook Fan Page for Your Small Business Traffic Good SEO campaigns all share a common focus: improving your ranking in the Google search results. More generally, a good SEO campaign should seek to improve your rankings at whatever sites boast the highest traffic. At the moment, Google is by far the most used site for local searches. Ninety percent of local consumers use search engines and 65% of the time that search engine is Google. In fact, Google has consistently been the number #1 visited website since September 2007, when it passed Myspace.com . That is, until the week of March 13, 2010. During the week of March 13th, 2010 Google was the second most visited U.S. website. The first? Facebook. According the CNN, which cites the web analysis firm Experian Hitwise, “Facebook accounted for 7.07% of U.S. Web traffic that week, while Google received only 7.03%.” The article further notes: Facebook’s year-over-year growth far outpaced Google’s that week. The number of visitors to Facebook spiked 185% compared with the same period last year, while Google’s traffic climbed just 9%. It’s impossible to ignore Facebook’s explosive growth. With more than 400 million active users , half of whom log on to Facebook in any given day, Facebook is poised to play a substantial roll in the future of local business search. Structure your current SEO campaign for Google optimization, but make a Facebook fan page for your small business right now; it may become the focal point of your online marketing strategy in the not-to-distant future. Facebook Fan Pages are Cited in Google Maps Last week, our Local SEO Guru, Jorge , stumbled upon a Google profile for an Ace Hardware in Villa Park, IL that included detail citations for Facebook and Twitter links. The Google profile has not been claimed by the business owner, which means these details were deemed important and collected by Google’s web crawler. If Google thinks a Facebook Fan Page is important, it is, and you should too. Facebook Fan Pages Rank in Organic Search Results For a long time Facebook pages were private, hidden from search engine results. Now fan pages, and even many user profiles, are public and can be found in search queries: So, why is this important? Any website found in organic search results has been indexed, read and filed away by Google, if you will. When Google reads these fan pages, it sees your business name, address, description, links and keywords. Reaffirming these details on your fan page will raise your stock in Google’s eyes and give you a boost in the local search rankings. Instant Credibility At EZlocal, we provide a space on business profiles for a link to your Facebook fan page. When a prospective customer follows that link to the fan page, they will see you have an established fan base. They will see that you have tens, hundreds, maybe even thousands of fans. That builds instant credibility. Sure, having a normal website is helpful, but it only tells people what your business is about. A Facebook fan page tell people what your business is about AND that it is well liked. Build an Interested Following Perhaps the greatest reason to create a Facebook fan page for your small business is so that you can build a fan base, a contingent of people who like and use your product or service. These people want to hear from you. They are excited when you post a coupon or announce a sale. They may even recommend your business to their friends. Keep in mind, the average Facebook user has 130 friends . When a person becomes a fan of your small business, 130 people who like and respect them get an update in their friend feed. Perhaps of few of those people then become fans and your business’ name starts popping up in more and more updates. Does this snowball effect always lead to a large fan base of customers? No. But, if you don’t create a fan page, you never have the chance to find out.
- #57 Five Reasons to Create a Facebook Fan Page for Your Small Business Traffic Good SEO campaigns all share a common focus: improving your ranking in the Google search results. More generally, a good SEO campaign should seek to improve your rankings at whatever sites boast the highest traffic. At the moment, Google is by far the most used site for local searches. Ninety percent of local consumers use search engines and 65% of the time that search engine is Google. In fact, Google has consistently been the number #1 visited website since September 2007, when it passed Myspace.com . That is, until the week of March 13, 2010. During the week of March 13th, 2010 Google was the second most visited U.S. website. The first? Facebook. According the CNN, which cites the web analysis firm Experian Hitwise, “Facebook accounted for 7.07% of U.S. Web traffic that week, while Google received only 7.03%.” The article further notes: Facebook’s year-over-year growth far outpaced Google’s that week. The number of visitors to Facebook spiked 185% compared with the same period last year, while Google’s traffic climbed just 9%. It’s impossible to ignore Facebook’s explosive growth. With more than 400 million active users , half of whom log on to Facebook in any given day, Facebook is poised to play a substantial roll in the future of local business search. Structure your current SEO campaign for Google optimization, but make a Facebook fan page for your small business right now; it may become the focal point of your online marketing strategy in the not-to-distant future. Facebook Fan Pages are Cited in Google Maps Last week, our Local SEO Guru, Jorge , stumbled upon a Google profile for an Ace Hardware in Villa Park, IL that included detail citations for Facebook and Twitter links. The Google profile has not been claimed by the business owner, which means these details were deemed important and collected by Google’s web crawler. If Google thinks a Facebook Fan Page is important, it is, and you should too. Facebook Fan Pages Rank in Organic Search Results For a long time Facebook pages were private, hidden from search engine results. Now fan pages, and even many user profiles, are public and can be found in search queries: So, why is this important? Any website found in organic search results has been indexed, read and filed away by Google, if you will. When Google reads these fan pages, it sees your business name, address, description, links and keywords. Reaffirming these details on your fan page will raise your stock in Google’s eyes and give you a boost in the local search rankings. Instant Credibility At EZlocal, we provide a space on business profiles for a link to your Facebook fan page. When a prospective customer follows that link to the fan page, they will see you have an established fan base. They will see that you have tens, hundreds, maybe even thousands of fans. That builds instant credibility. Sure, having a normal website is helpful, but it only tells people what your business is about. A Facebook fan page tell people what your business is about AND that it is well liked. Build an Interested Following Perhaps the greatest reason to create a Facebook fan page for your small business is so that you can build a fan base, a contingent of people who like and use your product or service. These people want to hear from you. They are excited when you post a coupon or announce a sale. They may even recommend your business to their friends. Keep in mind, the average Facebook user has 130 friends . When a person becomes a fan of your small business, 130 people who like and respect them get an update in their friend feed. Perhaps of few of those people then become fans and your business’ name starts popping up in more and more updates. Does this snowball effect always lead to a large fan base of customers? No. But, if you don’t create a fan page, you never have the chance to find out.
- #58 Five Reasons to Create a Facebook Fan Page for Your Small Business Traffic Good SEO campaigns all share a common focus: improving your ranking in the Google search results. More generally, a good SEO campaign should seek to improve your rankings at whatever sites boast the highest traffic. At the moment, Google is by far the most used site for local searches. Ninety percent of local consumers use search engines and 65% of the time that search engine is Google. In fact, Google has consistently been the number #1 visited website since September 2007, when it passed Myspace.com . That is, until the week of March 13, 2010. During the week of March 13th, 2010 Google was the second most visited U.S. website. The first? Facebook. According the CNN, which cites the web analysis firm Experian Hitwise, “Facebook accounted for 7.07% of U.S. Web traffic that week, while Google received only 7.03%.” The article further notes: Facebook’s year-over-year growth far outpaced Google’s that week. The number of visitors to Facebook spiked 185% compared with the same period last year, while Google’s traffic climbed just 9%. It’s impossible to ignore Facebook’s explosive growth. With more than 400 million active users , half of whom log on to Facebook in any given day, Facebook is poised to play a substantial roll in the future of local business search. Structure your current SEO campaign for Google optimization, but make a Facebook fan page for your small business right now; it may become the focal point of your online marketing strategy in the not-to-distant future. Facebook Fan Pages are Cited in Google Maps Last week, our Local SEO Guru, Jorge , stumbled upon a Google profile for an Ace Hardware in Villa Park, IL that included detail citations for Facebook and Twitter links. The Google profile has not been claimed by the business owner, which means these details were deemed important and collected by Google’s web crawler. If Google thinks a Facebook Fan Page is important, it is, and you should too. Facebook Fan Pages Rank in Organic Search Results For a long time Facebook pages were private, hidden from search engine results. Now fan pages, and even many user profiles, are public and can be found in search queries: So, why is this important? Any website found in organic search results has been indexed, read and filed away by Google, if you will. When Google reads these fan pages, it sees your business name, address, description, links and keywords. Reaffirming these details on your fan page will raise your stock in Google’s eyes and give you a boost in the local search rankings. Instant Credibility At EZlocal, we provide a space on business profiles for a link to your Facebook fan page. When a prospective customer follows that link to the fan page, they will see you have an established fan base. They will see that you have tens, hundreds, maybe even thousands of fans. That builds instant credibility. Sure, having a normal website is helpful, but it only tells people what your business is about. A Facebook fan page tell people what your business is about AND that it is well liked. Build an Interested Following Perhaps the greatest reason to create a Facebook fan page for your small business is so that you can build a fan base, a contingent of people who like and use your product or service. These people want to hear from you. They are excited when you post a coupon or announce a sale. They may even recommend your business to their friends. Keep in mind, the average Facebook user has 130 friends . When a person becomes a fan of your small business, 130 people who like and respect them get an update in their friend feed. Perhaps of few of those people then become fans and your business’ name starts popping up in more and more updates. Does this snowball effect always lead to a large fan base of customers? No. But, if you don’t create a fan page, you never have the chance to find out.
- #59 Five Reasons to Create a Facebook Fan Page for Your Small Business Traffic Good SEO campaigns all share a common focus: improving your ranking in the Google search results. More generally, a good SEO campaign should seek to improve your rankings at whatever sites boast the highest traffic. At the moment, Google is by far the most used site for local searches. Ninety percent of local consumers use search engines and 65% of the time that search engine is Google. In fact, Google has consistently been the number #1 visited website since September 2007, when it passed Myspace.com . That is, until the week of March 13, 2010. During the week of March 13th, 2010 Google was the second most visited U.S. website. The first? Facebook. According the CNN, which cites the web analysis firm Experian Hitwise, “Facebook accounted for 7.07% of U.S. Web traffic that week, while Google received only 7.03%.” The article further notes: Facebook’s year-over-year growth far outpaced Google’s that week. The number of visitors to Facebook spiked 185% compared with the same period last year, while Google’s traffic climbed just 9%. It’s impossible to ignore Facebook’s explosive growth. With more than 400 million active users , half of whom log on to Facebook in any given day, Facebook is poised to play a substantial roll in the future of local business search. Structure your current SEO campaign for Google optimization, but make a Facebook fan page for your small business right now; it may become the focal point of your online marketing strategy in the not-to-distant future. Facebook Fan Pages are Cited in Google Maps Last week, our Local SEO Guru, Jorge , stumbled upon a Google profile for an Ace Hardware in Villa Park, IL that included detail citations for Facebook and Twitter links. The Google profile has not been claimed by the business owner, which means these details were deemed important and collected by Google’s web crawler. If Google thinks a Facebook Fan Page is important, it is, and you should too. Facebook Fan Pages Rank in Organic Search Results For a long time Facebook pages were private, hidden from search engine results. Now fan pages, and even many user profiles, are public and can be found in search queries: So, why is this important? Any website found in organic search results has been indexed, read and filed away by Google, if you will. When Google reads these fan pages, it sees your business name, address, description, links and keywords. Reaffirming these details on your fan page will raise your stock in Google’s eyes and give you a boost in the local search rankings. Instant Credibility At EZlocal, we provide a space on business profiles for a link to your Facebook fan page. When a prospective customer follows that link to the fan page, they will see you have an established fan base. They will see that you have tens, hundreds, maybe even thousands of fans. That builds instant credibility. Sure, having a normal website is helpful, but it only tells people what your business is about. A Facebook fan page tell people what your business is about AND that it is well liked. Build an Interested Following Perhaps the greatest reason to create a Facebook fan page for your small business is so that you can build a fan base, a contingent of people who like and use your product or service. These people want to hear from you. They are excited when you post a coupon or announce a sale. They may even recommend your business to their friends. Keep in mind, the average Facebook user has 130 friends . When a person becomes a fan of your small business, 130 people who like and respect them get an update in their friend feed. Perhaps of few of those people then become fans and your business’ name starts popping up in more and more updates. Does this snowball effect always lead to a large fan base of customers? No. But, if you don’t create a fan page, you never have the chance to find out.
- #60 Five Reasons to Create a Facebook Fan Page for Your Small Business Traffic Good SEO campaigns all share a common focus: improving your ranking in the Google search results. More generally, a good SEO campaign should seek to improve your rankings at whatever sites boast the highest traffic. At the moment, Google is by far the most used site for local searches. Ninety percent of local consumers use search engines and 65% of the time that search engine is Google. In fact, Google has consistently been the number #1 visited website since September 2007, when it passed Myspace.com . That is, until the week of March 13, 2010. During the week of March 13th, 2010 Google was the second most visited U.S. website. The first? Facebook. According the CNN, which cites the web analysis firm Experian Hitwise, “Facebook accounted for 7.07% of U.S. Web traffic that week, while Google received only 7.03%.” The article further notes: Facebook’s year-over-year growth far outpaced Google’s that week. The number of visitors to Facebook spiked 185% compared with the same period last year, while Google’s traffic climbed just 9%. It’s impossible to ignore Facebook’s explosive growth. With more than 400 million active users , half of whom log on to Facebook in any given day, Facebook is poised to play a substantial roll in the future of local business search. Structure your current SEO campaign for Google optimization, but make a Facebook fan page for your small business right now; it may become the focal point of your online marketing strategy in the not-to-distant future. Facebook Fan Pages are Cited in Google Maps Last week, our Local SEO Guru, Jorge , stumbled upon a Google profile for an Ace Hardware in Villa Park, IL that included detail citations for Facebook and Twitter links. The Google profile has not been claimed by the business owner, which means these details were deemed important and collected by Google’s web crawler. If Google thinks a Facebook Fan Page is important, it is, and you should too. Facebook Fan Pages Rank in Organic Search Results For a long time Facebook pages were private, hidden from search engine results. Now fan pages, and even many user profiles, are public and can be found in search queries: So, why is this important? Any website found in organic search results has been indexed, read and filed away by Google, if you will. When Google reads these fan pages, it sees your business name, address, description, links and keywords. Reaffirming these details on your fan page will raise your stock in Google’s eyes and give you a boost in the local search rankings. Instant Credibility At EZlocal, we provide a space on business profiles for a link to your Facebook fan page. When a prospective customer follows that link to the fan page, they will see you have an established fan base. They will see that you have tens, hundreds, maybe even thousands of fans. That builds instant credibility. Sure, having a normal website is helpful, but it only tells people what your business is about. A Facebook fan page tell people what your business is about AND that it is well liked. Build an Interested Following Perhaps the greatest reason to create a Facebook fan page for your small business is so that you can build a fan base, a contingent of people who like and use your product or service. These people want to hear from you. They are excited when you post a coupon or announce a sale. They may even recommend your business to their friends. Keep in mind, the average Facebook user has 130 friends . When a person becomes a fan of your small business, 130 people who like and respect them get an update in their friend feed. Perhaps of few of those people then become fans and your business’ name starts popping up in more and more updates. Does this snowball effect always lead to a large fan base of customers? No. But, if you don’t create a fan page, you never have the chance to find out.
- #61 Five Reasons to Create a Facebook Fan Page for Your Small Business Traffic Good SEO campaigns all share a common focus: improving your ranking in the Google search results. More generally, a good SEO campaign should seek to improve your rankings at whatever sites boast the highest traffic. At the moment, Google is by far the most used site for local searches. Ninety percent of local consumers use search engines and 65% of the time that search engine is Google. In fact, Google has consistently been the number #1 visited website since September 2007, when it passed Myspace.com . That is, until the week of March 13, 2010. During the week of March 13th, 2010 Google was the second most visited U.S. website. The first? Facebook. According the CNN, which cites the web analysis firm Experian Hitwise, “Facebook accounted for 7.07% of U.S. Web traffic that week, while Google received only 7.03%.” The article further notes: Facebook’s year-over-year growth far outpaced Google’s that week. The number of visitors to Facebook spiked 185% compared with the same period last year, while Google’s traffic climbed just 9%. It’s impossible to ignore Facebook’s explosive growth. With more than 400 million active users , half of whom log on to Facebook in any given day, Facebook is poised to play a substantial roll in the future of local business search. Structure your current SEO campaign for Google optimization, but make a Facebook fan page for your small business right now; it may become the focal point of your online marketing strategy in the not-to-distant future. Facebook Fan Pages are Cited in Google Maps Last week, our Local SEO Guru, Jorge , stumbled upon a Google profile for an Ace Hardware in Villa Park, IL that included detail citations for Facebook and Twitter links. The Google profile has not been claimed by the business owner, which means these details were deemed important and collected by Google’s web crawler. If Google thinks a Facebook Fan Page is important, it is, and you should too. Facebook Fan Pages Rank in Organic Search Results For a long time Facebook pages were private, hidden from search engine results. Now fan pages, and even many user profiles, are public and can be found in search queries: So, why is this important? Any website found in organic search results has been indexed, read and filed away by Google, if you will. When Google reads these fan pages, it sees your business name, address, description, links and keywords. Reaffirming these details on your fan page will raise your stock in Google’s eyes and give you a boost in the local search rankings. Instant Credibility At EZlocal, we provide a space on business profiles for a link to your Facebook fan page. When a prospective customer follows that link to the fan page, they will see you have an established fan base. They will see that you have tens, hundreds, maybe even thousands of fans. That builds instant credibility. Sure, having a normal website is helpful, but it only tells people what your business is about. A Facebook fan page tell people what your business is about AND that it is well liked. Build an Interested Following Perhaps the greatest reason to create a Facebook fan page for your small business is so that you can build a fan base, a contingent of people who like and use your product or service. These people want to hear from you. They are excited when you post a coupon or announce a sale. They may even recommend your business to their friends. Keep in mind, the average Facebook user has 130 friends . When a person becomes a fan of your small business, 130 people who like and respect them get an update in their friend feed. Perhaps of few of those people then become fans and your business’ name starts popping up in more and more updates. Does this snowball effect always lead to a large fan base of customers? No. But, if you don’t create a fan page, you never have the chance to find out.
- #68 Make hand out
- #69 Make hand out