Online Marketing
Have you "Googled" your business lately?
Chances are, if you haven't already put in the effort to make it perfect, your business listing is loaded with inaccurate or old information that doesn't apply to your business. Sound about right?
It can be hard to show up the way you want to on Google. Google thinks they know everything, and it takes time to convince them otherwise! A lot of business owner's just don't have the time or the know-how to try and get it right. Not only will you have to research how to claim your listing, how to verify the listing (this generally takes 2 weeks), how to change the incorrect location showing up on the map, and the countless other things that could be incorrect, but then, once you've learned how, you actually have to put in the work to do it. And when I say "work," I mean it. Google is not fun to work with. It's a huge corporation with several departments and phone numbers that stay busy, and they actually don't provide a help line for Google My Business (this is what they call the business listings that appear on the Google Search Network.)
As web developers who provide ongoing SEO support for our clients, we are constantly thinking about and helping our clients with reputation management and search engine optimization. When someone types your name or your company’s name into google, you want to own as many of the results as possible. Your website, blog, facebook page, twitter page, linkedin page, Yelp listings, and other business profile pages should rank highly. We want the pages that we can control at the top, because the more search results you can control, the less likely and angry blog or questionable news article will show up on page one.
Wikipedia has become one of the most popular online reference sources, and many small business owners wonder if they can get a wiki-article for their business. After all, Coca Cola has one, Forbes Magazine, even smaller businesses like Roscoe’s House of Chicken and Waffles have their own pages.
Google Adwords has become one of the biggest assets for some of our clients, driving sales and phone calls instantly. It has become one of the most effective ways for some of our clients to advertise, targeting exactly who they want to target and getting the most out of their ad budget.
Related: Immediate Success in Google Adwords
But we know, having used Adwords for years, that it can be expensive if not handled correctly, and almost all small businesses make costly mistakes when they start using AdWords.
This is because the AdWords system penalizes you for mistakes you do not even know you are making. In some cases, AdWords even encourages these mistakes. The trick is to manage campaigns to get the highest return on investment.
A poorly managed Adwords account can cost more than it brings in, but a well managed accout can not only keep your company in business, but keep it growing.
In this post, we’ll discuss the 5 easiest mistakes to make with Google AdWords, and how to avoid them.
Yelp is local business and service search engine and social network that uses a rating system based on user reviews - and it is a major tool for small businesses to be found.
If you run a local business like a restaurant, or a dry cleaning service, Yelp should be an essential cornerstone of your online presence.
History
Launched back in 2004, Yelp continues to be the go-to resource for millions of visitors looking for information about local businesses.
In 2011, Apple's iPhone 4S introduced Siri with the ability to display results from Yelp. There were a few issues with the system, but a year later Apple solved the problem and now millions of Apple user are connected to Yelp Results on a daily basis. With over 60 million registered users and over 20 million reviews posted on the site, Yelp is still a dominant force when it comes to social review sites.
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