How Important Are Your Online Business Listings? Turns Out, More Important Than Ever.
Melih Oztalay | Local Listing Services | @smartfinds
Customers Decide To Business Based On Search Results
The recent search results change at Google not only displays the regular organic search results, but if there are local business listings that are relevant to the requested search they are showing up above fold and tend show more results than the organic website results.
The local business listings results are also interesting in that they show quite a bit of information to a local customer or consumer. Of course the basic information like business name, address, phone number, telephone number, website link and location on the map is pretty standard. However, the number of customer reviews and the average star rating is prominent to the person searching. Translated this means the local customer or consumer are very quickly see if they want to even click on your local business listing or call you.
Optimization Becomes Important
Businesses now have two marketing tools that need optimization: their website and their local business listing. Since the local business listing is effectively the interactive yellow pages of the 21st century, businesses need to stop passively watching and actively engaging with their local business listing.
The process requires that you first claim your local business listing, followed by your initial update, and then you have to consider monitoring and managing the local business listing just like your website.
You will find that the local business listing can actually be a website, but probably better to use it as a support tool to your primary website. In order for you to show up in the search results you have to be sure the local business listing has all the right information about your business, products and services.
That is then followed by adding photos, videos, coupons, offers, discounts, events and other information that will help the local customer decide to do business with you.
Managing your local business listing includes managing customer reviews and engaging with them not only to secure positive reviews from satisfied customers, but to insure positive public relations with any customers that are less than satisfied.
Finally, the optimization process includes watching the local business listing analytics (separate from your website) and making decisions about how to tweak your listing.
…and did we mention this goes well beyond Google? Variety of other websites are included such as Bing, Yahoo, Yelp, Local.com, Merchant Circle, Citysearch and many others that include search engines, social communities, 411 websites, GPS websites, and business directories.
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Valerie VanBooven RN BSN
Posted via email from Marketing Elder Care and Marketing Senior Services
