Your Local Search Engine Marketing Must begin with Google Places

First and foremost set-up or claim your business profile on Google Places.

·         Go to www.google.com/places

·         Click Get Started on right side

·         Create or login to your Google account

·         You can type in your phone to find your business

·         Either update existing profile or create new business profile

·         Complete your company details & information.

·         Use at least one keyword in your company description

·         Use keywords as “Category” listings. o Remember you must use one of Google’s suggested categories.

·         Add your listing and compare to any other possible matches.

·         Complete additional details for your business including: Service Areas and Locations; Hours of Operation; Payment Options; Photos, Videos and Additional Details. o See below for important information when adding photos and videos.

·         Verify your account by phone. You can do it by mail, but why? Phone verification is easier and quicker.

·         Enter your PIN to complete verification.

 Steps to Higher Rankings in Google Places

·         Put at least one keyword in your company description. You can put up to three but make sure it sounds natural.

·         Add at least 5 photos. You can use a picture of the front of your business, your logo, your staff, before and after pics, a display ad for a free gift, etc. o Remember the first picture you load will be the one also displayed at the top of your listing. So make it a good one!

·         Generate multiple reviews. The more reviews the better. Ask real customers to go to your Google Places listing and submit their review. Have business cards made up with your Google Places web page address and give them to customers as they leave. You can also email your customers requesting for their review.

·         Add a coupon. This can be of anything but you want to make it stand out and be of great value. A free appetizer, a free lawn mowing, a free hair cut, etc.

·         Add at least 1 video. Do NOT make this video about you. Instead make it about your customer and how you can solve their problem and why your better and different then all your competition.

Click here to learn more about local search engine marketing

Search Engine Marketing is must for any small business. However any small business has smaller marketing budget for advertising. Following are some tips to market your small business online on search engines and social media sites. This can be done by small business owner or by hiring a professional at a very reasonable cost as well.

Any small business must have a very professional website. Your website must speak to your customer base. You must take into account your potential buyers persona when designing a website. Your website must be search engine friendly. There are several hosting companies that offer inexpensive website designs or hire a small web agency who understands the marketing aspect of your website as well.

Blog: With emergence of new trends and how people interact, it’s very important that you keep up with your customers and potential buyers of what’s going on with your business almost real time. This can be achieved by creating a Blog for your business. Most of these blog platforms are free and is a great tool to feed information at no cost.

Google Place and other Local Business Listing now play vital role in search engine ranking and you must have your profile with up to date information about your business.

Social Networking Sites: Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Flickr, LinkedIn, My Space – Create business profiles on all these sites – IT’S FREE. Create followers and friends and let it take over your word of mouth Social Media Marketing.

Make sure to link your website to these online profiles and post your website address on all these profiles.