When you are competing in your local area it is a good idea to sign up for as many of these directory sites as possible.  Consumers have different directory sites that they choose to use and being listed in all of them gives you the opportunity to be found.  If you recall, in other lessons, we have said that the key with online marketing is that you want to be everyplace that your prospect is.

Another reason for signing up for the directory sites is that they are given favorable treatment for some keywords in the search engines.  That means that many times, when a consumer is searching for a particular product or service, they could see one of the directory sites in the top ten search results.   Additionally, these directory sites help you gain ranking power for the Google Places local directory which we will talk about in a future lesson.  In the same vein, when you connect your listings to your website or blog, your ranking power is helped then also.

You may have used some of these sites as a consumer.  You will recognize some of their names: 1) Yelp.com; 2) Citysearch.com; 3) Insiderpages.com; 4) YellowPages.com and 5) Angieslist.com.  In all there are well over 100 local directory sites that a company could be listed in.   You’ll want to make sure that your profile is filled out completely in all of the directories; however, the best way to complete this task is to contact us and allow us to help you with them.  Because we work with the directories, we will know how to structure your listings, integrate them with your website and determine your best keywords to give you the maximum benefit for the listings.

In our next lesson, we will discuss the most important of all of the online business directories: Google Places.  Call today so what we can help you to start getting more customers from being found in all of the directory listings for your chosen keywords.

The post Lesson 17 – Local Search Engine Directories appeared first on wLw.

Search Engines: A Website and or Blog that can be found by your customers

Search Directories: An Account in Google Places, Yahoo Maps, Bing Maps

Multi-Media: YouTube, Podcasting and Pinterest (Images)

Social Media: Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and LinkedIn

Mobile: A Mobile Website and/or a Mobile Apps

Publication: Kindle and Traditional Publication

Public Relations: Online News and Press Releases

Online Communities: Online Forums and Bulletin Boards

The key is to be able to systematically establish these properties without them taking your time away from the business to maintain them.  Additionally, you want to make sure that they are integrated and working together in the most productive way possible.  Working through these eight basic methods will begin a snowball effect for your promotions.  Each one will work together to feed the other seven.

You may have heard that some companies were on the Google Search engine at some point and easily found by their customers and then lost their ranking almost overnight.  This loss of ranking for some businesses was devastating.  They lost a considerable part of their business in a very short period of time.  By working through this list and making sure each one of the different types of internet promotion is working for you, you will be immune to any one of the eight sources changing or drying up your traffic.

That is also why we talked about all of the other promotions before this.  Your internet promotion will take all of your other actions and super-charge them.  In our next lesson we will start by talking about being found in the search engines and what you can do to help yourself.  Call today so that we can start integrating your internet promotions, your offline promotions and your professional network.

The post Lesson 12 – Internet Promotions – An Introduction appeared first on wLw.

Because Google Places’ directory listings often show up first before the top ten web pages, it is an important opportunity for every local small business to participate.   In our last lesson we discussed the importance of making sure that you fill your Google Places profile out completely and carefully, so that you get the maximum advantage from your most productive keywords.

One aspect of Google Places that every business owner needs to be aware of is that consumers are encouraged to share their reviews of the businesses that are listed.  That means that if a customer has an exceptionally good experience at your business, they will have the opportunity write a review.  That review will show up in your actual Google Places listing.

However, the opposite is also true.  When customers have a bad experience, they will be empowered to leave a review about your site on the Google Places page.  This scenario is now amplified because Google has now tied their social network to their business directory.  Therefore, the customer who reviews your business will be potentially sharing that review with their personal or professional network.

The nature of reviews online is such that most of the people who respond tend to do so when they have a bad experience.  Those who have the experience that they were expecting or that they feel they paid for are unlikely to respond.  Therefore, you will need to make sure to either have a staff person monitor your Google Places listing, or you will need to make it part of something you do personally if you don’t have a staff.  One bad review on your Google Places listing could be enough to discourage a prospect from trying out your product or service.

When you do get a negative review there is no need to panic.  Google Places gives you the opportunity to answer the person who left the review.  Additionally, Google is taking steps to make sure that the review that is left is authentic by connecting the permission to write a review to their social network.

In our next lesson, we will discuss what you can do when you have negative information that appears in the other business directory listings as well as in the top ten search results.  Call us today if you have already noticed negative listings near your keywords or in your Google Places reviews. We will share the best practices of other companies like yours when they too have received negative reviews.

The post Lesson 19 – Google Places – Online Customer Reviews appeared first on wLw.

That means that if business owners are willing to take the time to create some content in a book, then they can expand their customer base to those who download books from kindle.  They are very likely to reach a significant number of new prospects in that way as people are interested in finding solutions to things that confuse them.

It is for that reason that businesses can and should think about how to incorporate a “how-to” part to their business.  In other words, they should take the portion of their business that solves problems for their customers and people like them and further educate them.  There are several ways a company can do this:

1)      Do a free talk in your community about the problem your product solves (not the product though!)

2)      Do a web seminar (webinar) for people online solving the problems that your products and services speak to.

3)      Create a multi-media online course on how to do something that is commonly a problem.

In all three cases, businesses have the option of selling the information or giving it away.  When giving away the information, a business can provide the education in exchange for the prospect’s contact information.  In this way, the business owner will be able to market to the people who decided to get the information.

Additionally, this marketing will be targeted.  Since the business owner knows what the subject of the talk was, they will be able to direct the right kind of offers to the prospects.  Of course, since the prospects are available in the business’s database the business will have the option(s) of selling products and services and selling more how to information to them.

In our next lesson we will discuss an additional source of income for those who decide to publish or those who decide to create education.  Call us today so that we can help you to create educational programs that will make you more profitable.

The post Lesson 10 – Establishing Your Expert Position through Education appeared first on wLw.

You may have been thinking, “What is Google Places?” when you read that.  Google Places (Places) is Google’s version of the online business directory.  Some say it is the online yellow pages for business (even though the Yellow Pages company has its own directory site).  ‘Places’ is most important when it comes to being visible in the search engines, because Google favors the directory when it is determined that people are searching for local businesses.  In other words, when consumers search for a plumber in Chicago they will see Places a listing of local plumbers before they see anything else.  That means that even the top ten search results are pushed down the page while Google Places listings display on top.

It is beneficial then to make sure that your Google Places profile is filled out completely and carefully in order to maximize your presence on your company’s most lucrative keywords.  You’ll also want to make sure you have integrated your social networking account from Google into the completion of your Places profile.  While this may be an involved process it is a very important one.  It can mean the difference between consumers routinely finding you or your competitors.

In our next lesson we will dig a little deeper into Google Places since it truly is an important component of marketing online.  Call us today so that we can help you maximize Google Places and all of the directory sites for your most lucrative keywords.

The post Lesson 18 – Google Places – Online Local Business Directory appeared first on wLw.

The corporate website tends to be used for official news and press releases.  The tone tends to be formal (if a company has a formal tone at all).  It is the showcase of what your company is and what it does. If you have hours of operations, if you have sale pricing or if you have news that you need to convey to your customers, this is the place where you will let them know what is happening.

However, that probably won’t cover all of the keywords that your customers are interested in.  In fact there will be 1) some keywords that are important for you to have a presence on and 2) some for you to have products and services ready to buy.  The keywords that indicate that customers are ready to buy tend to use covered by a business’ website.  Those keywords that customers or prospects search with when they are only at the ‘showing interest’ stage are typically best covered by a blog.

A blog will allow your owners, executives and staff of your company to offer unofficial opinions about the business, about the industry or about anything else that they might think is relevant.  On the one hand, a blog is a good site to give prospects a chance to connect with people in your business.  On the other hand it is a good way to capture prospects into a marketing funnel that may not be ready to buy.  Companies that use blogs tend to make them visual with lots of pictures that people would like to share through social media.  A blog is a great way to give your customer, contacts and clients updated opinions on what you think is going on in your marketplace.

In our next lesson we will discuss keywords and how they affect your blog or website being found.  Call today so that we can assess the potential benefit from your company starting a blog and what the best method is to implement it.

The post Lesson 15 – Can You Profit From Blogging? appeared first on wLw.