Friday, June 11, 2010
C.A.S.T. awarded $27,000 from Wal-Mart Foundation
AE Consulting recently won a $27,000 grant from the Wal-Mart Foundation's State Giving Campaign that will go toward supporting the Fishing Kids Program through the C.A.S.T. for Kids Foundation! This is wonderful news for the program and foundation. And as always, great timing. Thank you Wal-Mart Foundation!
Monday, June 7, 2010
Establishing an Online Presence for Your Small Business, Part 3 of 3
Americans conducted 15.4 billion searches in the month of March according to comScore, a company that tracks U.S. search engine market share. Approximately 65.1% of these searches were done through Google. These statistics further prove the necessity for businesses to establish their presence online to take advantage of the large number of consumers using the Internet to find products and services.
In parts 1 and 2 of our series we explained that the ideal form of online presence is a website, which you can have developed professionally or you can create one yourself. If your company does not currently have the financial resources or time to develop a website, your next best option to establish your company’s online presence is to claim your business using Google Places, a simple and free service offered by Google. Regardless if you have a website or not, every business should take advantage of this service. In this article we will go over the basics of Google’s local search and how you can use it to your advantage to attract customers in your area who are searching for the products or services your company offers.
Understanding Google’s Local Business Search
Here’s how it works: whenever someone uses Google’s search engine and looks up a business name or key words/phrases along with a geographic phrase (i.e. Italian restaurants in Spokane, Washington), they are provided with local business listings (LBL) and a map and phone number for each listing. Notice that the first results displayed are seven local businesses, which are known as the Google 7-Pack – the top seven listings for a local product or service. You can view all local results by clicking the link below the 7-Pack.
What makes local business results different than regular search listings is that they are derived using Google maps. This means that if your business has a spot on the map, then more likely than not it will be included in Google’s local business results.
The Benefits
Claiming your business is free, simple, and rewarding. As mentioned above, most likely your business is already listed through Google, but by registering you are able to edit and update your business listing yourself. Not only can you ensure that the information provided is correct, you also have the ability add more information about it such as your website, services, hours of operation, photos, coupons and much more. You can visit Google Places anytime to update your business’ information or to see how many people have clicked on your listing.
Getting Started
Before you begin you must have an account with Google (Sign up here). Next, check to see if your business is already listed with Google by searching [your business name in your city, zip code]. If your business is included, click on the listing and you will see a link titled, “Business Owner?” in the top right corner of the listing page. Click on this link and go through the process of validating your business, which can be done by phone or mail. Once you receive confirmation that you are validated as the business owner, you can proceed to edit and modify your business’ listing. If your business is not already listed with Google, visit the Google Places homepage and click on the link titled, “Add new business.” Go through the necessary steps as instructed. To learn more about this process and for troubleshooting, visit the Google Places User Guide. You can also learn more about Google Places by tuning into this helpful webinar.
Once your business is registered with Google Places, you can start modifying your places page to meet your company’s advertising needs. There are multiple factors that enhance your business’ ability to rank higher in Google’s local business results. David Mihm, a professional SEO consultant based in Portland, Oregon, has teamed-up with others in the Internet marketing field to compile an excellent list of these factors, listed by importance. To see his list, go here.
This concludes our 3-part online presence series. We hope that you have found this information useful and encourage you to contact AE Consulting should you have further questions on how to establish your business’ online presence.
In parts 1 and 2 of our series we explained that the ideal form of online presence is a website, which you can have developed professionally or you can create one yourself. If your company does not currently have the financial resources or time to develop a website, your next best option to establish your company’s online presence is to claim your business using Google Places, a simple and free service offered by Google. Regardless if you have a website or not, every business should take advantage of this service. In this article we will go over the basics of Google’s local search and how you can use it to your advantage to attract customers in your area who are searching for the products or services your company offers.
Understanding Google’s Local Business Search
Here’s how it works: whenever someone uses Google’s search engine and looks up a business name or key words/phrases along with a geographic phrase (i.e. Italian restaurants in Spokane, Washington), they are provided with local business listings (LBL) and a map and phone number for each listing. Notice that the first results displayed are seven local businesses, which are known as the Google 7-Pack – the top seven listings for a local product or service. You can view all local results by clicking the link below the 7-Pack.
What makes local business results different than regular search listings is that they are derived using Google maps. This means that if your business has a spot on the map, then more likely than not it will be included in Google’s local business results.
The Benefits
Claiming your business is free, simple, and rewarding. As mentioned above, most likely your business is already listed through Google, but by registering you are able to edit and update your business listing yourself. Not only can you ensure that the information provided is correct, you also have the ability add more information about it such as your website, services, hours of operation, photos, coupons and much more. You can visit Google Places anytime to update your business’ information or to see how many people have clicked on your listing.
Getting Started
Before you begin you must have an account with Google (Sign up here). Next, check to see if your business is already listed with Google by searching [your business name in your city, zip code]. If your business is included, click on the listing and you will see a link titled, “Business Owner?” in the top right corner of the listing page. Click on this link and go through the process of validating your business, which can be done by phone or mail. Once you receive confirmation that you are validated as the business owner, you can proceed to edit and modify your business’ listing. If your business is not already listed with Google, visit the Google Places homepage and click on the link titled, “Add new business.” Go through the necessary steps as instructed. To learn more about this process and for troubleshooting, visit the Google Places User Guide. You can also learn more about Google Places by tuning into this helpful webinar.
Once your business is registered with Google Places, you can start modifying your places page to meet your company’s advertising needs. There are multiple factors that enhance your business’ ability to rank higher in Google’s local business results. David Mihm, a professional SEO consultant based in Portland, Oregon, has teamed-up with others in the Internet marketing field to compile an excellent list of these factors, listed by importance. To see his list, go here.
This concludes our 3-part online presence series. We hope that you have found this information useful and encourage you to contact AE Consulting should you have further questions on how to establish your business’ online presence.
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