Search Tips for Local Businesses: Multiple Locations

Posted on March 16, 2015 by Laurie

This is part 3 of a 6 part series on search tips for local businesses

Multiple Locations, Multiple Pages

If you have more than one office or storefront then you will want to create a webpage for each physical address. Depending on your business you may choose to have separate websites, but that may not be necessary, or even desirable.

Is each business a separate entity? Does each office service different cities or areas? Then you may want to have multiple websites.

On the other hand, it can be helpful if someone learns of your business from a friend or associate that they can discover you have multiple branches. They can then choose the location that is most convenient to their home and the one closes to their office. This can actually help you get more business than if each location had its own website.

Whether you have separate pages or entire sites is up to you, but either way be sure to have all the location information for your customers. Maps and photos of what the specific office looks like are a big help, too.

Search Tips for Local Businesses: Your Home Page

Posted on March 13, 2015 by Laurie

This is part 2 of a 6 part series

Your Front Door AKA Home Page

When it comes to search tips for local business, your “home” page is vitally important when you are building your website. Compare it to your front door of your business. You can have a beautiful storefront, but if your number is not visible then important visitors won’t be able to find you. Sure your friends will know which door is yours, but how will the Fire or Police Departments find you?

Your entrance also gives other important data to people who stop by. You have signage that gives your name, your business hours, even a phone number so people can contact you. Either through your signage, or by peering through your window, potential customers can get an idea what your business is about and decide whether or not it is interesting enough for them to come in.

Your home page serves a similar function. It allows search engines to find you online, and that is how most potential customers will “happen by.” A good home page will let the customer know the most important part of your business, how to contact you, and when you are open. It will give people a peek into your store or office so they can determine if they want to enter.

Think about your home page like you were a potential customer. What information is most important to them? Is it easy for them to find it? Not everything has to be on that page—that would make for a cluttered page, but you want a customer to easily find how to get that information.

Social proof is an important part of marketing today. Make it easy for people to find your testimonials so they can see how wonderful other people think you are. Have you been in the news lately for a donation, a new service, or community involvement? Be sure links to these pages are up front and easy to find.

Social Proof is in the Pudding

Posted on February 5, 2015 by Laurie

Social proof is a common catch phrase these days, but what does it mean?

It is being suggested by many “experts” that social proof is something new, something that business people didn’t have to think about before.

Perhaps I just think of social proof more globally than some other internet consultants, but I think that idea is crazy. Social proof is not a new local business marketing concept at all, but how it works today is quite different from the past when it was neighbors talking over the fence or over a beer.

Businesses have always relied on social proof in one form or another. It is just that the form changes and now we have a convenient label for it.

Word of mouth advertising has long been the standard for social proof, and is most certainly not a contemporary construct. Businesses large and small have long known that if they can get their happy customers to tell other people about them and recommend them that it is the least expensive and most successful advertising campaign they have.

Social proof has always been about customers indicating their support for your business. That has not changed.

What has changed is HOW they demonstrate their support.

Today your customers are online every day. They get most of their information from the internet, more than the television or radio, more than print publications. And this trend continues to accelerate as we are seeing the millennials and younger folks ever more tied to their electronic devices.

Whether shopping locally or buying something across the globe, more and more people are relying on the internet to gather information before making a purchase.

Social proof has always been part of that research process, it is just easier to get these days. You no longer have to talk to lots of different people to learn their opinions and experiences–it is all there online.

What is social proof in current terms then? It is how your business is supported online. This can be done by customers posting a review on Yelp, Angie’s List, or any number of other review sites. It can be comments left on your blog or your Facebook or G+ page. It can even be that someone links to your business website on their blog or Facebook page, or that someone shares a post that you have written.

How do you get more social proof for you business?

Excuse me for stating the obvious, but you have to get social. Nope, you don’t have to do it all. Unless you have a lot more time on your hands then most business owners I know, you can’t anyway.

Learn a little bit about the various types of social media and pick one, give it a go and see if you like it. I’m a firm believer that if you enjoy it, you will have better results. If you find you aren’t enjoying it, you can try a different avenue.

If you are a visual person or you have a visual type business, then Pinterest might be a good choice for you. If you naturally talk in sound bites, you might try Twitter. If you are in a B2B field, or are looking for professional connections, check out LinkedIn. Facebook is gaining ground on the major search engines and gives businesses some more flexibility in their posts and pages. These are just a few of the many options that are available to your local business.

There is no one best social media, one that works for every single business in every single market. Find where your customers are online and start there. Then dive into that online “pudding” and get some social proof.

Internet Tips for Your Local Business Photos

Posted on January 29, 2015 by Laurie

Posting photographs online of your the work you do is a great idea.

But can it help you with getting more customers?

Yes, if done properly.

Here are some internet tips for using photos for your local business.

Use Original Photos

In other words, don’t use stock photos or rely on photos from “corporate” if you are part of a chain. Sure, include pictures of products as part of the items that you offer at your store–and those can be stock images–but be sure to include pics of your crew making a local delivery, a happy customer making a purchase (with their permission, of course), and even the items in your storefront or showroom.

Titles & Tags

Title and tag the photos to include what work was done and what City it is in. So if you delivered a new stove to Greeley, you want to be sure to label the photo something like “Greeley stove delivery.”

Spread the Wealth

Put your photos on all your different web properties. That means you should upload them to your website, your Facebook page, Google+ page, Twitter account, LinkedIn, and any review sites that you have built out such as Yelp and Angie’s List.

Tell the Story

Sure pictures are worth 1000 words…but be sure to include the words. Tell a little bit of the story of your business. Let potential customers get to know you and the work you do.

Mix it Up

When you are posting those images around the web be sure to use different wording. If you use the same titles and stories on all the sites you are at risk as being seen as posting “duplicate content” which can ding your results!

Be Real, Be You

Whenever you post photos or stories about your business, make sure it is accurate. Don’t try to be someone you are not. Let your personality come through. You want customers who will resonate with you, your staff, your products and services. That won’t be everyone–and that’s okay. Remember, there’s plenty to go around as long as we aren’t a bunch of Stepford Wives!

All Work Makes Johnny a Dull Local Business Owner

Go ahead and have some fun with some of your photos. Maybe you want to add shots from your company picnic or customer appreciation day–that’s cool. You can also include photos from things outside of work that you don’t mind making public. Do you love going hiking in the mountains? Does going fishing give you the peace of mind to be a better lawyer? Do you like restoring old cars? Are you an animal lover with a goofy dog or cat? Posting a picture that has nothing to do with work once in a while is just fine. People want to do work with those they know, like and trust. Don’t be afraid to let them know you–at work and away from the shop.

How YOU Doing? Do You Even Know?

Posted on November 14, 2014 by Laurie

One of the most important things for any business to know is where their customers are coming from. This is especially important for smaller, local businesses with limited marketing budgets. 2013-04-23 18.06.21

Truthfully, it should not be that hard to get this information, but sometimes you would think we are asking our clients to perform surgery without anesthetic on their customers. Now, isn’t that a comforting image?

Of course you don’t want to barrage your customers by asking them for lots and lots of personal information or hound them. We all want to be respected when we are doing our shopping. And certainly not everyone is going to be forthcoming with personal details–and why should they?

The simplest way to find out how people found you is to ask. Ask when you are ringing them up as part of the conversation. Even if they aren’t buying anything right now they may come back later. See if you can begin to build a relationship with them so they know you and your business. Make your place a fun place (or serious place if that’s your style…just make it THE place they want to come to for your product or service.) ringing up customers at your local business

I have clients who want me to advise them on the merits of X or Y or Z advertising media, but they have no data to provide me. I cannot honestly tell someone if that vehicle is worth the money if they cannot tell me if they have had any results from it. Guessing just doesn’t help anyone.

You have to know your own business and your customers. I love it when a client tells me they know some general information about their customers. At least that is a start!

As the business owner you must consider where your business is located when deciding how to spend your marketing budget. Pretty much across the board it is safe to say that you want to be found on the internet…but does that mean spending a lot of money on a website? Does it mean you have to make big online ad purchases? Maybe…or maybe not.

Is the phonebook dead? Are newspaper ads valuable? These are questions we get all the time. The answer is: maybe…maybe not.

Even if you never liked taking tests, sometimes we have to test the waters to figure out what works. With some basic information on how your current customers are finding you we can help advise on what makes sense…but there will still be some trial and error.

Don’t ignore what has worked in the past!

Have you used mailings in the past with success? Is your business downtown where an old fashioned sandwich board sign or colorful balloons have drawn in passers-by? Have you built connections through your Chamber of Commerce? These are all traditional methods that are great as long as they work for you.

Bottom line–you want your phone to ring or people to walk in the door, right? Then do what works for YOU and YOUR business even if it isn’t the what all the “experts” are telling you works today.

Ranking #1 in Google is Best: Myth or Reality?

Posted on October 17, 2014 by Laurie

It was common just a few years ago for business owners to insist that they want to be ranked #1 in Google search. And just a few years ago that was both more critical. And it was actually possible to achieve relatively easily.

Nowadays, not so much.

With all the changes in the world of internet search, updates to search engines (remember the cutely named, but not so cute in results Panda and Penguin?) this has become more of a challenge.

Especially for local businesses, we have seen the search results change dramatically month to month as the search engines change the way they deliver results to the customer.

So what should you do?

First, keep in mind that searching on the internet is organic–meaning that it changes and evolves.

Second, recognize that the search engines underlying goal is to make money. Sure this includes taking in money (a lot of money) in advertising. But if that is all they did they would lose the end user–the people who are actually using their service. For free. That means they will keep changing and tweaking their systems in an effort to give the best results for the person conducting the search.

Third, face the fact that people are placing more and more faith in on-line reviews and ratings.

What does this mean for the local business owner?

Be willing to keep learning about local search, or be willing to pay someone to do it for you. The old days of placing the same old ad in the phone book or newspaper are gone. Not that you can not or should not advertise there. For some businesses print media is still a very valuable marketing tool.

Know what works for you–know how your customers are finding you right now. We’re finding that this varies by region as well as by business type. And of course, it changes over time. You need to keep asking your customers or clients how they found you. Don’t assume that just because last year most of them found you on Yelp* that next year they will too, any more than you would assume that because the phone book worked for you in 1990 it is still the best bang for the buck today.

Ask your best customers if they will give you a review online. Don’t offer them a free service or a discount in exchange for a positive review. That violates most terms of service. Simply ask them if they are happy with your work if they would do you the courtesy, or a favor, by writing a review.

Don’t worry if you are not in the #1 position on Google. Look to see who else is in the results with you. Take your business owner hat off and try to look at the results like a potential customer would. Which listings stand out the most? Is it the #1 listing? Maybe not.

Current studies indicate that listings with more reviews and especially lots of positive reviews with stars get clicked on more often–even if they are lower in the search ranks.

Focus on making your current customers happy. Ask for reviews.

And if you need more help, call in a professional–just don’t let them tell you they will “guarantee” that you will be #1 in Google. Now you know they can’t and that isn’t the bottom line anyway.

Talk To Me: for Local Business SEO Communication is Crucial

Posted on September 10, 2014 by Laurie

You own a local business. You want more business. You have even hired someone to help you get more customers–AWESOME!

Of course you want people to call you or come to your store.

But this isn’t the only communication that is key to your success! It is also important for you to talk to the company you hired to get you more customers. This should be an on-going relationship, not something where you hire them one time and never speak to them again.

Here is MY call to you, to talk to your local business SEO or marketing company–whether that is us at Internet Advertising That Works or someone else.

We want to help you grow your business and flourish. After all, that is what we do! To maximize YOUR success we want to know what is going on in your business.

Have you received any awards lately? Be sure to let us know–we’ll plaster that around the web!

Are you donating your goods or services to a charity or as part of a fund-raiser? We want to know that, too. Of course you do good deeds because you are good people, but people to know that about you–and we want to tell them.

Is your store having an anniversary celebration?

How about your employees–any new faces? Is anyone retiring?

On a more personal level, are there any major milestones happening in your business “family”? Anyone recently have a baby, or a “baby” who is graduating from college? Wedding bells or a big anniversary coming up for the store manager?

Customers love to get to know the people they do business with, so we want to share with them as much as your comfort level allows. Of course if it is personal to an employee, we always want to be sure they are okay with it going public–we always respect a person’s privacy.

Give us a call and we can help you determine how or how much to spread the word.

We may be a lot of things, but we aren’t mind readers, so if you don’t let us know what is going on then we can’t help spread the word!

Talk to me!

Facebook Timeline Deadline Approaching

Posted on March 26, 2012 by Laurie

The new Facebook Timeline profile updates will be happening in just a few days. If you have not already changed your Page’s appearance, now is the time!

Updating your Facebook page to the new Timeline format is more than a click of a button.

Instead of just letting Facebook alter your page by default, we recommend you take a few minutes to think about your branding and how you want your page to look. Remember, your business is using Facebook to communicate with customers and fans–present and future!

The biggest change about the timeline style is the cover photo. Dimensions for the cover photo are 851 pixels x 319 pixels. Smaller images will be stretched to fit, so we recommend you start with the correct size so you get what you really want in a cover photo.

I know a lot of people are using beautiful photos for their cover image, but before you put up a photo of a fantastic sunset or the view from your office, think about this space. You don’t necessarily have to have a giant logo in that spot, but it is in essence a large billboard of free advertising space. Keep in mind this is a chance for you to have some branding. You can change the cover photo as often as you like, so one option is to have a logo that you “dress up” for the season, similar to the Google icon.

Other items could be a map to your store, a key image about your industry or company, a composite of photos about your business, a shot of your store front, photos from when you first opened or your founder…the possibilities are limitless!

However, Facebook rules state that your cover image is not allowed to have:

Price or purchase information, such as “40% off” or “Download it at our website”
Contact information, such as web address, email, mailing address or other information intended for your Page’s About section
References to user interface elements, such as Like or Share, or any other Facebook site features
Calls to action, such as “Get it now” or “Tell your friends”

Another change with the Timeline layout is that people will now be able to message you privately. Individuals have long been able to do this, but this is new for Pages.

Moving, editing, deleting and pinning items with the new Timeline layout

You may want to “Pin” a story or item to the top of your Page–to do that, hover over the story and click on the pencil icon. This will allow you to edit it, pin it, or hide the story. For example, you might not want to show that you updated your photo 5 times in the last 10 minutes, so you could delete all those notices–handy!

The other icon that shows up when you hover over a story is the star. If you click on the star it will make the story a “highlight” which means it will make it wider, filling both columns.

Play around with the new Timeline. It will be a little different looking, but the most important thing is to be responsible for your business page. Make it look the way you want. If you don’t have time, contact Internet Advertising That Works and we can help you with your cover photo, profile picture or arranging your page.

Local Business Tip: Keep Color in Mind

Posted on January 6, 2012 by Laurie

Color affects your clients and potential clients. It can be used to attract or to repel. Color is used to slow people down and to speed them up.

My friend Pat pointed out in a recent blog post some of the statistics about how color affects buyers.

Check out the full post from Kissmetrics on how color impacts the decisions of buyers.

One of the reasons fast food restaurants frequently use a lot of yellow and orange is these colors make people a little uncomfortable and so they get in and out more quickly. Clearly, these would not be the best choices for a business that profits more by having clients spend a great deal of time there.

Local businesses must pay attention to colors and what the color communicates. When you are looking at your colors, either if you are just establishing a business or if you are considering a new look, go beyond whether you like the color or not. Take some time and look at the psychological impact that color can have and make sure the color you choose is consistent with your marketing goal.

This color tip is true for your physical location and your website. If you want to have internet advertising that works, it needs to be consistent with your physical presence, and both need to appeal to your customers!

Local Business Marketing Tips: Consider Writing Articles

Posted on January 6, 2012 by Laurie

I know, I know, a lot of people don’t think they can write, but writing articles is one of the easiest, and least expensive ways to conduct local business marketing.

Article marketing is a way for you to let people know about your company, your brand, your products and services.

Articles do not have to be long essays that you dreaded during school. They can be short, and fun to write. The trick is to be yourself and write to your customers! Write as if you were talking to your customers. For example, if you are casual in your business, then be casual in your writing.

When conducting an article marketing campaign, know what message you are trying to convey before you begin to write. Don’t try to give them every important point in one article–you will either overwhelm them or they won’t have any reason to come see you because you already shared it all.

Always remember to include information in your article so the reader can find you! There is nothing more frustrating for a prospective customer then to be excited about something and then not know how to get more information.

If done correctly, article marketing can be used to expand your business and your bottom line while you are having a good time.

Internet Advertising that Works

helping local businesses thrive online since 2011

Tag Archives: communication

Search Tips for Local Businesses: Your Home Page

This is part 2 of a 6 part series

Your Front Door AKA Home Page