local search: setting up your local business listings
"In many local search and directory sites, business owners can add in their data for free,
yet millions of companies have never taken full advantage of this free advertising"
With tight budgets who can't use a bit of free advertising? However, many businesses still have not "claimed or set up their business" on FREE Local Business listings such as Google Places, Bing Business Portal, Yahoo or Yelp. More so, they may not even know they exist! These are FREE potentially powerful listings — which when optimized correctly with quality keywords and images that are relevant to your business, can potentially shoot your business to the top of the page of a customer's Organic Search query on Google Maps! Taking the time to mindfully fill out these listings WILL serve you well and actually supports improving your rankings via SEO.
"Making sure your Google Places listing is being used to its fullest extent can make a
real difference for your business!"
Most listings allow for several images
as well as videos, so including your logo for branding and a few images of the products or services you offer is highly suggested. Most also offer some type of "social" aspect such as options for reviews allowing you to engage or interact with your customers. Some will allow you to just claim your business/set up an account — while others, you may need to request to be submitted. This may take a few weeks, but either way will be well worth your time.
These listings generally have a limited character count so be sure your content is
current and relevant to your business area and target audience.
Claiming & setting up your business profiles listings — use these links:
NOTE: Submitting your website to Search Engines is NOT THE SAME AS CLAIMING YOUR LOCAL LISTINGS.
geo-targeting & local searches from mobile devices
Geo-targeting means including your actual city or cities that you serve within your listing. With recent stats showing that 50% of browsing will take place by people utilizing mobile devices such as smart-phones in 2012 — folks performing local searches are those who are in essence "ready to buy". Thus geo-targeting your business listing can be a crucial element as part of an effective SEO strategy and an essential component in a strong and relevant listing to which in turn can boost traffic by better reaching your local audience!
One
caveat to keep in mind is:
YOU MUST HAVE AN ACTUAL PHYSICAL BUSINESS LOCATION TO LIST ON THESE LOCAL LISTINGS.
If you are a business with an actual physical location and your target audience is local
to your city or surrounding areas, then you are especially going to want to utilize these
free business listings to enhance your local search visibility.
Get found locally! Let future primitive graphics create a great local listing for you.
• Search Engine Optimization (SEO) — Increase your search visibility with a well-optimized website.
• Maintaining and Updating your Website
— Freshness counts to Search Engines and your customers.
• Website Design
— Creating a professional online presence.