Optimize your Website for Local Search Results

Google Maps Listings are free and may be worth your time to acquire more business and is in my opinion the most important of all online directory available that is free.

If you have not heard the term “Citation Authority”, its definition is if any mention of your business name, phone number, email address, really any “mention” of your business on any web page, anywhere online.

So you may now have listings Yelp, Foursquare, and etc. And these services provide a structured listing in a business directory know as a citation listing that will link back to your business.

If you’re interested in more online exposure and better ranking, having a structured citation is important. Having listing everywhere can help for branding because it’s really about having the best structure and not the most business listings. Allowing Google to optimize your maps may result to your business possibly appearing on other directory listings that automatically crawls and lists businesses.

Also, something that is very important that has correlation to your listing is the right domain which we will not cover here in detail. But I will only say this: the domain should at least give an indication as to what you do. If this is not so, and you already have a domain and website published and listed everywhere, we have a workaround. Give us a call and we can help you with that.

Quantity is not the deciding factor that will create high rankings, but it is the authority that builds the ranking. The reality about emphasizing on quantity first before authority is like having a peanut butter jelly sandwich without the jam.

Citation and attributes go hand in hand. Let’s look at what attributes are considered: Quality, Links, Website Authority, Reviews and Ratings, Images and Categories. It is a combination of these categories that help determine your authority.

The main components that you want consistent on all of your business listings should be the: Name, Website, Address, and Phone Number.

How a business listing’s authority from one directory to another is measured is something we call
domain authority and page authority. It is a rating system developed by MOZ which is pretty well-known in the Internet Marketing industry.

MOZ has free plugins that you can install in Chrome or Firefox where it will actually identify what the domain or page authority of a web page is. It cannot only tell you what your domain and page authority is but also of your competitors.

Google takes into account about 200 different factors that goes into their ranking algorithm that determines page ranking and domain ranking authority.

If you have a low page authority you should be able to improve it, but it will not be likely that you will move your listing into the number one position immediately.  At any rate, any improvement is good. And this will help you rank better in Google maps and Google My Business search results.

Another factor that helps build your authority is your backlink profile. Backlinks are links to your website from blogs, social media, public relations, and business directories. Business listings that you have created will receive some SEO juice going to your website which will help your overall page authority.

Sign up with different business directories using the links from the business directories and share your links to social, blogs and public release websites.

Sign up for my monthly newsletter and receive a list of business directories by visiting my website through my profile below.

This will you get started with the idea of creating trust and authority for your website by having links to Google My Business that will help you get listed on Google Maps. This not a quick fix and it will take some effort and consistency to get on Google Maps. Good luck!

The post Optimize your Website for Local Search Results appeared first on Marketing Digest.

Local Marketing News: Grow Your Local Business with Local Marketing

Local businesses definitely do not have it easy. They have to compete with large, multi-national corporations and every other small company in their industry. Success cannot be achieved overnight, but how you start out plays a big role in the long run. Fortunately, businesses don’t need to travel far and wide to build a loyal customer base; they just need to attract the potential customers in their area. In a local marketing news article titled “Why Service-Based Companies Need Local Marketing” from Business2Community (@B2Community), marketing expert Laura Lake said that companies should have a targeted marketing strategy in order to make their mark.

Start with Local SEO

Nowadays, consumers can do plenty of things online from paying their bills to shopping for products. You can use this to your advantage; in fact, many businesses today focus most of their marketing on Local SEO in order to attract new customers online. Basically, what local SEO can do for you is make sure that you appear on the map through local keyword research. Your targeted keywords, complete with your geographical information, can help potential customers find you faster. An article titled “Understand the Importance of Local Marketing” from About.com (@aboutdotcom) says local SEO should also be combined with old school marketing techniques like distributing flyers, handing out business cards, putting ads on billboards, and others.

Build a Consistent Brand

Before your brand becomes a household name, it has to be built and maintained properly. Brand consistency is something that customers look for, and it’s not as simple as slapping on your company logo on every product. Local marketing is one way to control your brand’s image while you are still growing the company. This will include making sure that all marketing efforts are consistent at a local level across all channels.

Increase Reach and Revenue

Once you have established your business locally, you can build upon that and try to expand your reach both online and offline. With more access to different marketing materials, you can reach more of your target customers all at once. It would also make introducing new products or services to your target market a lot easier. With increased range, you will be able to improve your revenue as well, especially if you start to break into the national market.

Local marketing is not only beneficial but also essential to small startups. Get more useful local marketing tips from online resources like Marketing Digest to help you achieve success.

The post Local Marketing News: Grow Your Local Business with Local Marketing appeared first on Marketing Digest.

Local Marketing News on Marketing Essentials for Startup Businesses

Starting a local marketing campaign for your startup business is not easy, especially if you are competing against big brands that have already been dominating their respective markets for decades. While that may be the case for most startups, achieving marketing success locally is not at all impossible. You just need the right tools for a good start and a booming business. The latest local marketing news spill the beans on marketing must-haves for startups.

Know Your Consumer

According to a Mashable article titled “7 Marketing Tips for Bootstrapped Startups”, the first step that startups need to take is to know their target consumers. It’s easy to completely jump the gun and just focus on the campaign itself, forgetting to identify what your potential customers are looking for. Your business should not just attract any potential customer, but rather focus on targeting those that can really help grow your business. Identify your target market by understanding the goals of your business to your marketing strategy. From there, you can work on building relationships with your customers.

Increase Online Visibility

Once you figure out who will benefit from your services and products, it’s time to spread the word. One easy way to do that is through different online channels such as local business directories, social media, and even your own website. According to a Business2Community article titled “5 Marketing Must-Haves for Local Businesses Just Starting Out”, most consumers today rely on the internet to find just about everything. Making sure that you have a presence on these channels will do wonders for your business. Maintain your visibility by staying active online in order to build a good online reputation.

Encourage Word of Mouth

Satisfied customers naturally will talk about your business, products, or services to their friends and family, but there’s no harm in actively encouraging it. Just be careful not to make it sound like a shameless plug or an in-your-face advertisement. Instead, offer something for your customers to make them want to spread word about your business. It doesn’t matter how small it is; people like to get things for free, but just make sure it’s something your customers will appreciate (perhaps a discount or a free sample in exchange for a tweet or a like).

Keeping up-to-date with the latest local marketing insights from resources such as Marketing Digest can help your business take off. What’s important is to learn as much as you can about marketing first before executing a plan of your own.

The post Local Marketing News on Marketing Essentials for Startup Businesses appeared first on Marketing Digest.

What Local Marketing News Say About the Value of Customer Reviews

When looking at local marketing news or any informative article about local SEO, one can see that online marketing experts value customer reviews. This article will look at customer reviews and will discuss why they are important.

Why Customer Reviews Matter

The Digital Wheelhouse discusses in depth why local businesses need customer reviews. The foremost noticeable benefit to local SEO is both from the standpoint of search engines (machines) and users (humans). Google’s search algorithms are complex and their exact inner-workings remain a secret. However, it is known that the algorithms take into account customer reviews in ranking for local search. On the user side, the majority of online shoppers (77%) use reviews when making a purchasing decision. Furthermore, reviews also affect the overall online reputation of a business.

Tips on How to Effectively Use Customer Reviews

While customer reviews are indeed important, simply having reviews is not enough. A business must have positive reviews in platforms where they matter. Business 2 Community (@B2Community) points out the power of Yelp in this instance. The article mentions the result of several studies: having a Yelp account can potentially increase a business’s revenues by up to $8,000 a year. This is due in large part to 90% of Yelp users basing buying decisions from positive reviews, and 93% actually making purchases at the businesses they were searching for. The surprising fact here is that 87% of small businesses have yet to use Yelp.

Now, Yelp is just one platform and is a general listing. Google pulls listings from different review sites, depending on the industry of the business. Finding out what these review sites are can be done with some research and inquiry.

Of course, Google primarily fronts the reviews from Google+ itself. As such, Google+ should be targeted by local businesses for reviews. Google recently updated its presentation of local business results to feature ratings and reviews prominently so that users can immediately see feedback.

Encouraging reviews is just one aspect of local marketing. Once the reviews are coming in, they should be properly managed. Publications that provide local marketing insights dictate that reviews should be monitored, with each responded to accordingly. To stay updated with strategies on utilizing reviews, it’s a good idea to check local marketing resources, such as Marketing Digest.

How is your business faring in reviews? Have you attracted positive reviews lately?

The post What Local Marketing News Say About the Value of Customer Reviews appeared first on Marketing Digest.

Some Great Insights on Engaging Customers from Local Marketing News

Small, local businesses may have relatively constrained service areas but it doesn’t mean small business owners need not be smart about marketing. The competition is actually quite fierce and so, local businesses need to use effective techniques to draw in customers. The good thing is that local marketing news provide insights on how to do this.

The Five Touch Rule

Business 2 Community (@B2Community) discusses the Five Touch Rule in engaging customers. The strategy works on the concept that reaching out to customers too few or too many times over a certain period won’t be effective. In this context, each instance of reaching out is a “touch”. If a business makes too few touches, the prospect is unlikely to respond. In contrast, making too many touches triggers animosity in the prospect.

Studies show that the majority of consumers need to be touched at least three times before responding to a sales request. Then, if they don’t respond after the fifth touch, the chances of a response is too low. If a prospect responds and becomes a customer at this point, that’s great. Otherwise, a business should wait a few months before reaching out to that prospect again.

Local Marketing Ideas

Another article from Business 2 Community lists some ideas for local marketing, which would be useful in coming up with ways on how to make the “touches” to prospects and even existing customers.

Allot a budget. Passive presence is simply not enough but promotion needs money. Small businesses must base on ROI when choosing where to put that promotion budget.

Utilize free listings. It’s important for local businesses to be on all relevant local listings to be easily found online.

Use special offers. People are more likely to try a business if there are incentives.

Reward existing customers. Strengthening relationships with existing customers enhance loyalty.

Use photos. Google My Business allows businesses to enhance their profiles using photos. This way, they are more likely to attract and retain attention.

Augment with videos. Relevant and informative videos in an organized schedule highly increases customer retention.

Share wisdom. By sharing knowledge, businesses can become figures of authority in their respective industry.

Interact. Businesses can utilize social media and other online platforms to engage in personal interactions with customers.

The above provides great insights on how to engage customers. Do you want to learn more local marketing tips? Tune in to digital marketing resources, such as Marketing Digest.

The post Some Great Insights on Engaging Customers from Local Marketing News appeared first on Marketing Digest.

Go Mobile or Go Home: Local Marketing Insights for Business Success

Local marketing is a great way for small and locally-owned businesses to connect with leads and existing customers in their target market. As noted by Ben Gran in an article that appeared on Kabbage (@KabbageInc), “local marketing creates opportunities for small businesses to compete with big brands on a more level playing field.”   

Gran further notes that many leads and customers are looking for information about local businesses, and thus, are more receptive to seeing advertising that is tailored to their immediate location. Listed below are some of the top trends that will shape local marketing this 2015:

Consumers are Rapidly Adopting Mobile & Tablet

As reputable local marketing news sites like Marketing Digest have noted, consumers are adopting smartphones and tablets at an unprecedented rate. According to the latest data from comScore (@comScore), 190.3 million people in the United States owned smartphones during the three months ending in June 2015 (representing 76.7% mobile market penetration). Meanwhile, according to eMarketer (@eMarketer), 156 million Americans will own tablets this year.

In light of these trends, small and locally-owned businesses need to adapt their local marketing tools and strategies to meet the needs of both smartphone and tablet users. It’s also important to note that consumers are becoming more comfortable with making payments using their smartphones and tablets. These payments are coursed through a wide array of apps and tools.

Search Engines and Digital Consumers Favor Mobile-Friendly Websites

As noted by Priya Florence Shah in an article that appeared on Business 2 Community (@B2Community), websites are vital to establishing a dynamic online presence and inform potential customers that you own a legitimate business.

Business websites need to be optimized with high-quality content, as well as proper keyword and link-building strategies. With more and more digital consumers browsing online content on their smartphones and tablets, both the search engines and digital consumers now favor mobile-friendly websites.

Mobile-friendly websites follow the principles of responsive design. Such websites adjust and display seamlessly across an array of devices (desktop computers, smartphones, and tablets). Ensuring that your website is mobile-friendly will ensure that your web pages get displayed on mobile search results. Mobile-friendly websites will also continue to receive mobile-based traffic from local searchers.

For more actionable local marketing insights, subscribe to the Marketing Digest newsletter.

The post Go Mobile or Go Home: Local Marketing Insights for Business Success appeared first on Marketing Digest.

Local Marketing News: The Best Marketing Automation Software for 2015

Small business owners need to concentrate their energies on growing their businesses, which is why many are turning to marketing automation to drive their marketing efforts. According to a recent survey from Software Advice (@SoftwareAdvice), an overwhelming 98% of small business owners are looking into marketing automation for the first time. Moreover, almost half (47%) of small business owners are currently using manual methods, such as spreadsheets and one-off emails, to drive their marketing efforts.

In a nutshell, marketing automation refers to software platforms and technologies that are designed for businesses and marketing departments to automate repetitive tasks, as well as drive their marketing efforts on multiple channels (such as social media, websites, email, and blogs).

On the other hand, in an article that recently appeared in Kabbage, Ben Gran notes that many small business owners are looking for insightful local marketing tips as they’re struggling to identify the marketing automation software that best serves their needs. Not only are they struggling to make informed choices, but they’re also looking for marketing automation tools that offer the right scale and scope for maximum effectiveness.

Though the research process might often seem overwhelming, small business owners shouldn’t assume that marketing automation software has to be complicated or more suited to large-scale enterprises. While there are many comprehensive solutions that literally take repetitive tasks off their hands, many small business owners are better off choosing a la carte marketing automation solutions, which enable them to pick the exact tools and features that best suit their business needs.

Once small business owners have chosen a solution, they should ensure that the provider has extensive tech support and upgrade options. Also, all concerned parties in your organization should be introduced to the new system and be familiarized with its functions to ensure continuity and long-term success.

As for recommended local marketing automation software, Business 2 Community (@B2Community) contributor Ashwin Ramesh recommends Yext, Synup, and Moz Local, among others.

Yext (@yext) offers a set of tools that help entrepreneurs control their company listings across more than 100 global partners—including Apple, Yelp, and Facebook. Synup (@synupinc) helps entrepreneurs monitor their citations or local listings in over 190 local directories, and also helps monitor local reviews. Moz Local (@MozLocal), which was previously known as GetListed.org, enables entrepreneurs to submit their data to the most important aggregators (such as Factual and Localeze), as well as view how their listings appear on over 20 different local directories and search engines.

Entrepreneurs who want to learn more actionable local marketing tips and strategies should start reading local marketing news portals like Marketing Digest.

The post Local Marketing News: The Best Marketing Automation Software for 2015 appeared first on Marketing Digest.

Use Local Search Marketing to Drive Customer Retention and Acquisition

The major search engines have advanced to the point where they’re able to deliver highly contextualized and personalized search results to users. Local search techniques enable both the paid and organic portions of the search engine results pages (SERPs) to display results tailored to the user’s specific location. This makes local search marketing invaluable for local businesses that wish to provide accurate and actionable information to prospective clients.

Great—But What Exactly is Local Search?

In a nutshell, local searches enable users to make geographically constrained searches on search engines against a structured database of local business listings. Typical local search queries include information about what the user is searching for (such as a business category or product category), as well as where they’re searching for it (such as street address, zip code, city/town, or state).

Examples of local search queries include “hotels in Tokyo,” “best restos in Manhattan,” and “nail salon Springfield, IL”.

According to Neustar Localeze (@Localeze), over 350 billion Internet searches were made last year—a growing percentage of them on mobile devices. Mobile is projected to overtake PCs as the primary platform for Internet-based searches, and studies show that nearly half of all Internet searches conducted on mobile devices are local in intent.

Don’t Underestimate the Power of Local Search

Google’s insightful study about local search—Understanding Consumers’ Local Search Behavior—demonstrates how vital local search has become to driving customer acquisition and retention.

According to the study, four in five consumers use search engines to find local information. These consumers are using their smartphones, computers, and tablets to look for store addresses, business hours, product availability, and directions. Mobile users who engage in local search are particularly proactive: 50% of consumers who conduct local searches on smartphones visit stores within the day (in contrast, only 34% of consumers who conduct local searches on computers and tablets visit stores within the day).

Moreover, consumers prefer—and act on—location-based ads; four in five consumers want ads customized to their city, zip code, or immediate environment. Consumers also find location information in ads helpful, and more than half (60%) have used location information in ads. Consumers who utilize computers and tablets prize store addresses and phone numbers in ads, whereas consumers who use smartphones prize directions and call buttons in ads.

Getting Started with Local Search Marketing

While local search marketing is cost-effective and delivers great results, many novices consider it to be both daunting and complex. “Local search marketing encompasses a complex ecosystem that spans paid, earned and owned media. It is always on and continually evolving, and that need for fluidity and adaptability is a barrier to entry for even the most digitally savvy marketers,” stated Jon Schepke in an article for Advertising Age (@adage).

Schepke considers local to be a great way to build closer connections with consumers across search, social, and mobile, “in the moments where and when it matters.” He went on to list valuable tips to help marketers jumpstart their local search marketing initiatives:

1. Understand how to prioritize local search. Brands are advised to pursue local search marketing at a pace that is appropriate for them. The scope of their efforts should depend on the size of their local footprint and the degree to which their customers are mobile savvy. Hence, multi-location brands that have a large local footprint and a considerable mobile audience should ramp up their local search efforts quickly to meet the demands of this audience.

2. Identify your approach for adopting local. To help brands successfully embrace local, Schepke recommends embracing a local marketing adoption curve. This adoption curve stipulates the steps a brand should take depending on their stage in the process: (1) the crawl (getting the basics right with local listings); (2) the walk (search engine optimization and optimizing local pages); and (3) the run (hyper-local paid search and paid social targeting DMAs).

3. Asses the role of an automation tool set. Some marketers are unwilling to embrace local search marketing because previous attempts required lots of resources and manual effort. This inefficiency arises because such marketers are using non-local search tools to run local search marketing campaigns. In other words, to reduce frustration, marketers need to pick automation tools that are specifically tailored to local search marketing. “These tools offer automation capabilities that make local marketing more manageable and less complex in creating contextual brand experiences.”

Prioritizing and Managing Local Search Marketing

Successful local search marketing campaigns require customization, careful implementation, and continuous management. Depending on the nature and scope of the brand and target audience, a local search marketing campaign can encompass some or all of the following:

• Google, Bing, and Yahoo local listings optimization
• Optimization for maps on Google, Bing, and Yahoo
• Optimization for review sites (such as Yelp, Urbanspoon, and Zagat)
• Optimization for Yellow Page directories (such as Insider Pages and Superpages)
• Optimization for local directories (such as Citysearch and Localeze)
• Optimization for business directories (such as InfoGroup/InfoUSA and Acxiom)
• Optimization for niche- and industry-specific directories (such as Health Grades)

Marketers should further optimize their listings by ensuring that they are claimed/verified, accurate, and up-to-date.

Local Helps Marketers Transition into Contextual Marketing

As indicated in Forrester Research’s report—Uncovering the Benefits of Local Search Marketing—(@forrester) local search marketing produces various benefits. Among these are increased brand awareness, improved quality of leads, and more leads.

Another major takeaway from the Forrester report concerns local search marketing’s ability to initiate marketers steeped in traditional marketing approaches to contextual marketing. “Local can provide a straightforward inauguration into thinking more about brand interactions than campaigns and more about customer moments than about media schedules,” stated the report.

Lastly, marketers are advised to scale operations successfully by adopting an appropriate local marketing automation tool set. Tools that specialize in feed accuracy, content optimization at scale, as well as web and social media templates, can relieve otherwise manual effort while maximizing brand visibility.

The post Local Search Marketing Drives Customer Retention and Acquisition appeared first on Marketing Digest.

There are businesses that provide products and services to geo-specific markets. These businesses employ various means of marketing their products and services to their customers. According to local marketing news from Marketing Digest, while producing credible, high-quality content is a must, this alone is not enough. It has to be accompanied by effective local marketing practices—as noted by writer Jayson DeMers in an article for Forbes (@Forbes).

Pinpointed

One of the most important local marketing tips to remember is to make sure your NAP (name, address, and phone number) is consistent across every official online account or every listing for your business. According to another Forbes contributor, Neil Patel, your listing also needs to be visible in as many local directories as possible, including Google, Bing, Yelp, and Foursquare, etc. As DeMers says, not being in these local listings will mean failure for your local marketing efforts.

Tools to Use

Many online platforms can be used as marketing tools for local businesses, with social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram as notable mentions. You can use the sites to share links to your website and associated content landing pages. It is also advisable to have someone handle these accounts and ensure that they are updated and accurate, as many people often follow these accounts to keep track of new products or services, or make customer inquiries.

Facebook, in particular, offers many advantages. It is widely used in local searches, and as Patel says, has much better reach, engagement level, and impact than a business website. A Facebook fan page in the business’ official name can be set up, with a custom URL possible after garnering over 25 Likes. Take note of the fan page’s reviews function. Patel says positive reviews from customers are worth highlighting, particularly if your business has earned their trust.

Visibility

It may not be enough to let the customers come to you; you have to go out and participate in community activities to generate awareness. Consider building partnerships with local community organizations or media to disseminate information about your activities. A fun idea worth pursuing is to join the local county or state fair, with sponsorship possible if your budget and inventory have the capacity.

Local marketing is the way to go if you want to use your resources effectively by zeroing in on your target customer base. This should make up just one part of your efforts, though. Another critical part is ensuring that you deliver topnotch products or services so you get good word-of-mouth advertising in the community.

The post Local Marketing Tips: Visibility and Consistency Must Go Hand-in-Hand appeared first on Marketing Digest.

An effective advertising and marketing campaign, be it web-based or in print is only good if it reaches and engages your target audience. In today’s time there are countless options to choose from, however, some business owners make the mistake of thinking that search engine optimization (SEO) is the only and best choice. Yes, search engine is undoubtedly a highly effective and efficient channel, but leading local marketing news sites like Marketing Digest highlight the fact it is not your only option.

A MarketingSherpa (@MarketingSherpa) blog article entitled Local Marketing Chart: How do customers search for products and services? by Daniel Burstein discusses the different channels that people use to search for a product or service, and it is not shocking at all that the traditional methods, along with more modern ones have found themselves with a good standing.

Here are some local marketing insights and tips that you can use to create a better and more diverse marketing campaign:

• Yellow Pages Are Still Green And Go – More than 30% of the population still browses the yellow pages, both print and internet-based, which means that it’s still an effective platform for acquiring new clients.
• Company website – You may have a high ranking on search engine results pages, but company websites also play a major role in customer decision and acquisition. Take time to invest in good web design, optimized content, company press releases, and many more.
• Print – Some marketing sources are making claims that print advertising is now dead, but to undermine the effectivity of this traditional marketing method is a big mistake. In today’s highly competitive market, the best way to get ahead of your competitors is to make yourself available on as many platforms as possible.
• Mobile Search – Mobile search has played a key factor in recent search engine updates. Companies should make their websites available and visible in handheld devices through mobile commerce and apps. Many articles like those from Marketing Digest (@mktgdigest), has been steadily giving out content that points to the importance of small screens in the big picture.
• Ratings & Reviews – Another powerful promotional platform is reputation management. Client reviews can significantly affect a consumer’s buying decision, especially if it comes from a trusted source or page. A positive review can easily catapult your number of clients; on the contrary, a negative rating can immediately deter potential clients. Build a good brand image by maintaining a positive relationship with your customers.

Above all, the most important tip to remember is for you to allocate your marketing funds to various platforms that you think will benefit you. Be careful, however, of spreading yourself too thin, and risk minimal visibility on all platforms.

The post Understanding Your Market: Are Your Local Marketing Insights on Track? appeared first on Marketing Digest.