What’s all the fuss about Local Search Marketing and do you really need to participate in this new marketing medium? The answer is a resounding, “Yes” especially if you sell to a local market or to people who come to your community to make a purchase, and here’s why.
Results
We’ve been researching, testing and tweaking local business listings on the most searched sites on the Internet and the results have been nothing short of amazing. If you doubt us, read the testimonials provided by the people who have told us how their business has been transformed by local search marketing.
Here’s what we discovered.
- There is nothing in the newspaper that you can’t find at a better value online.
- There is nothing in a magazine that you can’t find at a better value online.
- There is nothing in the Yellow Pages that you can’t find at a better value online.
- There is nothing on the radio that you can’t find at a better value online.
- There is nothing on television that you can’t find at a better value online.
- There is nothing on a billboard that you can’t find at a better value online.
- There is nothing in the mail that you can’t find at a better value online.
- There is nothing offered by a telemarketer that you can’t find at a better value online.
And it’s important to note that “better value” does not mean cheap. Value represents everything you get in return for the money you invest including convenience, service, reliability, ease of use etc.
And that’s why
90% of customers who want to make a local purchase look online for the products and services you offer first before deciding if they want to contact you.
Today, if you’re company is not visible on the Internet, you won’t even be considered for the majority of purchases made by your customers.
Super Cool!
But here’s the really cool thing about local search marketing. You don’t need a website and you don’t need to spend money to attract the attention of highly interested customers when they’re ready to make a purchase. All you need to do is be where you’re customers are looking and it’s not that hard to do. This entire website exists to show you how it’s done.
If you’re a skeptic like I tend to be, do a search for the products and services you offer (just like 90% of the population does) and see what they see.
- Did you find your business?
- Was it the most prominent business listing?
- Was it the most compelling business listing?
- Did you find on all of the 7.8 sites (on average) where people look?
Watch the 10 minute video we created on Local Search Marketing and tell me if this isn’t the most exciting marketing concept you’ve ever seen. Just click on the video icon with my photo (which you will find at the top of the second column on every page) and be amazed.
There are more unethical people who claim to be local search marketing experts than there are sharks in the sea, and they’re all looking for a free meal from unsuspecting and desperate business owners. Here are five things to look out for to insure you don’t become a victim.
Not Everyone Is Dishonorable
To start, it’s important to understand that there are some very legitimate local search marketing companies who can help you generate tons of leads for your business. These people are generally in high demand and don’t go out soliciting new business on the telephone.
It’s also important to note that there are people in the local search marketing community who claim to be experts when in fact, they’re not. Some are just working with limited knowledge, while others are professional scammers. You want to avoid both and here’s why.
Do No Harm
If someone does not know what they’re doing, they can unintentionally destroy your reputation with the search engines by doing things that are not in accordance with their terms of service. Some of these things include adding keywords to your business name, placing your business in multiple locations where your business does not exist, keyword stuffing your category selections, using one telephone number at multiple locations and more. If the search engines catch you doing any of these things, they will remove your listing from their database forever. That can be a very, very costly mistake.
Scammers can do the same damage to your business listing but they do it with the full knowledge of the consequences. They will bend and break every rule in order to get you a couple of quick hits before the search engines discover what they’ve done. By then, you will have paid them and they will be long gone.
1. Givers Or Takers?
A good Local Search Marketing company is willing to show you exactly what they’re going to do to generate leads for your business. They know how much effort goes into doing local search properly and they know what their expertise is worth.
The very best Local Search Marketing companies will provide you with a Do-It-Yourself Guide on their site and give you the tools necessary to accomplish some, most, or all of the work depending on your ability. Look for a company that wants to help you understand the process first before trying to take your hard earned money.
2. Price Negotiations
The cost of having your business optimized and publicized on the Internet can range from a one-time fee of $100 to $1,000. Fees are based on the quality of the service and the extent your listing will be publicized on the Internet. Do your homework, compare pricing and know what you’re getting for the money.
Scammers will generally start high and continue to reduce their price until you agree to their terms. This is one of the most common pricing techniques used by scammers. If someone is willing to reduce his or her price quickly or give you a one time special offer, watch out. Their goal is to make you think you’re getting a great deal when the truth is; you don’t have a clue as to what you’re getting.
3. Monthly Maintenance Fee?
Local Search Marketing is a one-time event. Once your business is optimized and publicized, the only thing left to do is to generate local business citations and customer reviews. This is something a local search marketing company is not going to do for you because they don’t have access to your customers.
If a company wants to charge you a monthly service fee, make sure you find out what it’s for. Unless they’re going to generate additional local business citations, it’s a waste of money.
4. Check Their References
A reputable company should be delighted to showcase their work. Look for a list of their customers along with addresses and telephone numbers. If they can’t or won’t provide that information, hang up the telephone and put them on call blocking.
You can also check with the BBB and see if they have any outstanding complaints. Do a search for “their company name” + the word “scam.” If anything comes up, read the article and see what others have to say about the company on the Internet. It’s hard to hide from a bad review.
5. Don’t Provide Your Account Information
If the company you’re considering to do your local search marketing passes muster and you decide to hire them, there is one more thing to consider and it’s important.
In order to do Local Search Marketing correctly, you must have an account (user name and password) with all of the major search engines. The search engines need this information before allowing you or someone on your behalf to claim your business. Sometimes scammers will ask for your information, and sometimes they won’t. They can scam you either way.
Oftentimes scammers will claim your business using a fake account. It’s not only easier for them to access your business listing without your consent, but it gives them complete control over what goes on your listing. Don’t let this happen. There is nothing worse than to discover a scammer holding you hostage by threatening to destroy or remove your business listing unless you continue to pay them.
If you give a scammer access to your account information, they can also do major damage to your reputation and your pocketbook. If you have a Google Adwords account for example, your credit card is on file and easily accessible to the scammer giving them the ability to use your credit to promote their business at your expense. They can also upload any content they want under your name and abuse your email list if they choose to do so. The hurt can go on forever. Don’t give your account information to anyone you don’t trust.
A professional will explain the advantages and disadvantages of both and will suggest that they provide you with the optimized content for your business listing and show you how to upload that information to your account. This is by far the safest method.
Conclusion
Scammers go to great extent to hide their intentions. Follow these five simple rules and pay attention to what your gut is telling you.
Giving someone you don’t trust access to your credit card information can be troubling. Giving them access to your business listing can be devastating.
The Local Business Listing Category Selection Process
The quickest way to determine the difference between a professional local search marketing expert and someone who does not understand the process, is to watch how long it takes them to select the category or categories for your local business listing. If they complete the task in less than a few minutes, you’re working with a novice. If they follow the process I’m going to describe below, you’ve found someone who is going to put a lot of money in your pocket.
Don’t Assume Anything
Professional local search marketing experts don’t assume anything. They understand that category selection is way to important to flippantly take what is offered by Google and assume that Yahoo, Bing, InfoUSA, Localeze, UBL and others know what’s best for your business, they don’t!
Selecting the right category for your business takes effort. And, when you get it right, you will dominate your market. Here’s what you need to know.
There are three things you must take into account when selecting categories for your business listing.
1. Local Keyword Research
When selecting a category for your business, the first thing you want to do is determine what words and phrases you think your customers are using to find the services you offer. For example, if you own a flower shop you would start with words like: florist, flower delivery, flower shop, etc. Problem is, you’re only guessing.
Next I suggest you use a keyword research tool like Market Samurai or Google to see exactly what words and phrases people are using and how often they’re using those words in their search. I would also arrange them in order of the most searched keywords first. Here are the daily searches for each keyword I found using Market Samurai.
- Florist – 201,205 searches / day
- Flower Delivery – 40,110 searches / day
- Flower Shop – 32,877 searches / day
- Wedding Flowers – 32,877 searches / day
- Flower Delivery – 18,082 searches / day
Then do a search on Google using each of these “keywords + your community” to insure that Google shows a map with local results. Here’s what you’ll find if you search for “wedding flowers Kennesaw, GA.”
Notice how this search generated a local map. If your search does not pull up a map, discard that keyword from your consideration; it’s of no value to you in your local search marketing effort. It may still be a very good keyword, but not for this purpose. Drop it.
Note: You must test each keyword in each search engine to determine if it will generate a map in that search engine.
2. Competitive Category Research
The second thing you want to consider is your competition. What categories have they selected or what categories have been selected for them? If they’ve not yet claimed their business, the search engines will select a category on their behalf. How they do this is not important nor is it appropriate for this article, what is important is the category their business is listed under.
It’s also important to understand that when I use the term “competitor,” I’m not talking about your toughest, meanest most savvy competitor. I’m talking about the businesses that are listed in the top three spots for your keywords on Google, Yahoo! and Bing. Let’s go back and take a look at the florist example above.
The search results show A Pretty Petal in the top spot on Google for the term “Wedding Flowers Kennesaw, GA.” If you look at their Place Page (and you can find it by clicking on the link that reads … 1 review, directions, hours, and more, you will see that they’ve selected Florist and Wedding Store as their two categories.
Then look for the top three categories for the business in the second and third spot which include Marietta Florist and Gifts and Wedding Flowers by Village Green.
Here are the first three categories you will find for each of the top three results.
- A Pretty Petal – Florist, Wedding Store
- Marietta Florist and Gifts – Florist, Roses, Flowers
- Wedding Flowers by Village Green – Florist, Gift Shop, Silk Plant Shop
You will need to do the same research for the other highly search “keywords + community” on Google, and you will need to do the same thing when you select your categories on Yahoo! and Bing.
Note: Wedding Flowers by Village Green is spamming Google by placing the keyword Wedding Flowers in front of their business name which is Village Green Flowers & Gifts. This is against Google’s rules and they are taking the risk of being removed from the search engines completely. You don’t need to spam the search engines to get high placement. Don’t take this risk.
3. Selecting Your Categories
Google gives you an opportunity to select up to five categories. You must choose at least on of their suggested categories and then you can create up to four more of your own.
This is best understood though an example. Let’s start by looking at the five categories Google offers for someone in the florist business.
- Florist
- Wholesale Florist
- Dried Flowers
- Silk Plant Shop
- Artificial plant supplier
If you’re business focuses on dried, silk and/or artificial flowers, Google offers some very good category choices for you. On the other hand, if your business sells and delivers fresh cut flowers, there’s only one category that accurately describes your business; Florist.
Based on my keyword and competitive research, these are the categories I would choose for my Google business listing for a florist who sells and delivers flowers. Remember, I can select up to five categories in Google and only one of them has to be a Google suggested choice.
- Florist - Only category suggested by Google
- Flower Delivery
- Flower Shop
- Wedding Flowers
- Flower Delivery
My category selections were primarily chosen in the order of the number of searches for each keyword or keyword phrase I discovered from Market Samurai. Order matters so choose your first category based on the category that generates the most business for you. You don’t have to choose Google’s suggested category first, you just need to make sure that you select one of their choices. In this example, it just happened that Florist is the most search for keyword.
Yahoo! and Bing Category Selection
Yahoo! and Bing don’t give you the opportunity to create your own categories. Yahoo! allows you to select up to five categories and Bing six. Both search engines make you select from their list of standard category selections.
When choosing categories for Yahoo! and Bing, I encourage you to go through the same process. Start by doing your keyword research, and then pay very close attention to the categories chosen by your competitors on those sites. They are often not the categories you expect.
Conclusion
Selecting the most profitable categories for your business listing takes time. By doing the research you will know exactly what words and phrases the search engines promote and which words and phrases they ignore. Don’t hurry though this process. It’s to important and to valuable.
