Get More Google Reviews to Grow Your Online Presence

Positive Google Reviews can really impact your business.  These independent ratings of your business can increase your credibility and pique the interest of Google searchers when they see your high marks online. Research shows that 84% of people trust online reviews as much as a personal recommendation (Bright Local 2018). Because Google is one of the most utilized and trusted search engines, it’s more important than ever to utilize their Reviews.

As you probably know, when you perform a search in Google, the results page will show any businesses that have a Google My Business listing. In this listing, you can profile your contact information, photos, news and gather customer reviews.

One of the greatest benefits of Google Reviews is how they can boost your local search engine ranking. Google favors businesses that have frequent and positive reviews on their Google My Business listing. Additionally, there are no fees associated with leaving or responding to a Google Review.  Great reviews are positive endorsements or free advertising for your business.

How to Get Great Reviews

Come up with a strategy for collecting positive Google Reviews. Consider all the ways you create great experiences and outcomes for your clients and how you can be proactive about securing reviews from them.

Here are some suggestions:

1. Personally Request the Review

Did you just have a great client interaction in your store? Or maybe you’ve spent months on a client project that surpassed its goals? These are great opportunities to personally ask (in person or by phone) for a Google Review. 

2. Add a Google Review Link in Your Email Signature

If you regularly communicate with clients via email and feel confident that your reviews will be positive, add a request and link in your email signature. 

3. Ask Partners and Vendors for Reviews

Business partners and established vendors can attest to what it’s like to work with you. Exchange Reviews to help each other’s SEO and visibility.

Create Your Google Review Link

Clients may be willing to give you that great online review, but you need to make it easy for them. Here are the steps to create a direct link to your Google Review form:

1. Search for your business name in Google

2. Find your Business Listing on the right-hand side of the Google search results page and click on ‘Write a Review’

3. Once the Google Review box pops us, copy the url from the address bar.

4. This is most likely a very long url. Go to www.tinyurl.com to shorten it into a concise link.

Make it a strategic part of your sales and marketing processes to ask happy customers to review your business. Great Google ratings will go a long way in improving your digital presence.

Have questions or need help with your Google My Business Listing or Reviews? Contact Jocelyn Murray for help today. 

Amplify Your Business with Google Posts

Are you using Google Posts to enhance your Google My Business Listing on search engine results pages?

If you have your business listed with Google My Business (if you don’t, you should), you can add a content post to share additional information directly below your business listing. Users will see your Google Post on Google search engine results pages (SERPs) and Google Maps when they search for you.

Google Posts are a free and easy way to boost your business listing.  Posts let you provide information about your products, services or events for people who are searching for your business.  In your post, include an image, video, up to 300 words of copy and add a button (Sign up, Learn more, Buy, etc,) that will link the url you specify.

Posts expire after 7 days so be sure to create a new Google Post weekly.

What Should Post?

Your Google Posts can include any type of information that will promote your business or inform users:

Offers/Coupons- Post info about your weekly sale or promotion

Promote a Product or Service- Add a ‘Learn More’ button to your post that links directly to your product or service web page

Events- Offer details and a link to your upcoming event

Announcements- What’s new and what do you need to tell your prospects and customers!

How to Create Google Posts

Sign in at GoogleMyBusiness.com and click on your business listing

On the Menu, click ‘Posts’

Look for the ‘Create New’ or ‘Write Your Post’ prompt

See options to add photos, text, events, and a button to your post. Simply enter the relevant information in each field. Once you’ve created your post, click Preview to see a preview. If it looks good, click Publish in the top right corner of the screen..  

For more marketing tips, visit www.marketing-er.com.

Local Marketing Musts for Your Business

If much of your business comes from local customers, then local marketing should be a priority.  Even on a limited budget, targeted, local marketing initiatives can be some of the best ways to maximize your marketing dollars.  Here are some marketing ideas to increase your local marketing presence:

1. Online Business Listings

Make it easy for people to find you by listing your business with Google My Business. In addition to Google, be sure you're listed in all of the other significant online directories including Yahoo, Bing, Yelp and YellowPages (to name a few). Make sure your business listings are complete, correct and consistent on all these major sites.

2. Ask for Reviews

Let your fans sing your praises- they're your best local advertisement. According to BrightLocal, 88% of consumers trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations. Encourage happy customers to review you on sites like Yelp, Yahoo Local or Angie's List. 

3.  Connect with Local Journalists

If you regularly read the local newspapers, you're probably familiar with the reporters that cover your city or industry.  Make an effort to form professional relationships with these journalists and they may end up reporting positive things about your business.

4. Facebook Local Advertising

Local ads can help you reach your nearby target audiences. Facebook’s Local Awareness advertising is an easy and affordable way to get in front of people in your neighborhood, city or county. 

5.  Local Email Marketing

Target your emails and include messaging and an offer that local customers can take advantage of. Use a local subject line. Integrate social media to make your local email marketing even more successful.

6. Participate in Community Events

Be sure that your target audience will be in attendance at any local events you commit to. Plan your marketing strategy ahead of time.

For more marketing tips, visit www.marketing-er.com.

Local Marketing: How to Get your Business Displayed in the Google 3 Pack

When you do a Google search, have you ever noticed the business listings that show at the top of the page? The top three local listings that appear are called the Google 3 Pack.

As a business owner, you understand how vital it is to show up at the top of the first page when people are searching for your products or services in your area. Increasing your visibility via local search results can help you be more competitive. Being in the Google 3 Pack can drive traffic to your website and increase your SEO rankings.

           

How to Get Your Business in the 3 Pack

The following are some methods for increasing your ranking within a local search:

Local Reviews

            Google’s algorithm is tailored to rank local results, and it’s especially favorable to businesses that have online reviews, as this helps with decision making for buyers. Make sure to encourage your customers to give your business feedback on Google and other sites like Angie’s List, Bing and Yahoo, for example.

Links

            Links to your website can optimize your chances of ranking in the 3 Pack. For every guest blog or blog comment that you write, include a link to your website.  Link to your site from your published articles, interviews, press release and directory listings.

Google My Business

            Manage your online presence in Google Search and Maps by using Google My Business. This is a free tool that allows you to post all your relevant business information to help customers find you more easily in a Google Search.

Other Directory Listings

           

            Add your business to additional directories like Yelp and YP.com. Find out which listings are critical for your industry and location. Gradually add your listing to these sites and be sure all information is consistent across the board.

Upcoming Changes in the 3 Pack

            Will the 3 Pack soon be including ads? It looks like this isn’t just a rumor; indeed, the ad will soon show up above two other organic, local listings. This change will likely add financial strains to businesses that haven’t relied on pay per click in the past.

The new phase is still being tested, so it is unclear exactly how this change will appear when Google implements it. However, speculation has shown that paid ads could cause organic listings to have a weaker ranking.

            Appearing in the Google 3 Pack is valuable way to gain local attention. Keep these tips in mind and your chances of appearing in this coveted list will increase.

Free PR Tools and Tips to Grow Your Business

Publicity is an easy way to expand your business' visibility and drive sales.  For budget-conscious small business owners, here are some free tools and useful tips that can help you implement successful public relations campaigns in no time!

Google Alerts

Google Alerts can be a powerful tool to stay on top of your business' online presence.  Set up Google Alerts to monitor your business, competition, or any industry topic that's important to you.  Google will send you an email when there's any mention of your query in an online news, blogs, discussions, etc. 

HARO

If you want to share your expertise while getting free PR, check out HARO. Help a Reporter Out (HARO) connects journalists with sources or experts for their stories.  Sign up (for free) to receive a daily email with  queries from reporters from all types of media.  Respond promptly to any applicable requests for a possible interview or direct quote. It's an easy way to get PR exposure for your brand or business. 

Twitter

Follow relevant journalists, reporters or bloggers on Twitter.  Put them in a list so you can easily filter them in your Twitter stream.  Check their posts to find out what they're researching or working on.  Alert reporters by sending them a @ message with a link to more information. Or send a Tweet to follow up on emails you've already sent to a particular reporter.  To spread your news, politely ask journalists or key influencers to retweet(RT) your news.

Connect with Reporters

Build a relationship with journalists by engaging with them on social media. Show them you're interested in what they write or publish by commenting or sharing their posts, article links, etc.  Know the topics, industries or geographic areas that each reporter covers.

Build a Plan

Plan our your publicity ideas and pitches for the year.  Look at the holidays, seasons, events and trends that drive your business and create pitches using them.  

Developing and executing your own PR takes time and considerable effort, but the exposure it brings your business will be worthwhile. 

Create Business Connections on Google+

So you have a Google+ Account? Now what?
Be sure to create a profile including your name, occupation, and education, along with your interests and places you have lived. Having a complete profile will increase interactions for you and will make it much easier for other Google+ users to find you. Use the “Suggestions” found in the right hand column to discover more people you are likely to know or share similar interests with.

Create differentiated content – don’t simply post the same things that you post on Twitter and Facebook. Remember to play to your company’s strengths and do something different to gain the attention of other users

It is important to spend some time commenting and “+’ing” on the streams of people that you would like to create connections with. Become an active member of Google+. The more you partake in Google+, the most other users will “Circle” you and start sharing content with you.

Google+ Local Substitutes Google Places
Google recently announced that it is replacing Google Places with Google+ Local pages. Consumers now have the ability to view more in-depth local business data, along with Zagat ratings, for a richer Google search experience. It will also offer Google+ users the ability to submit their own reviews and view what places their friends are visiting.

This new version allows local businesses to upload photos that will show up on the Map, along with special offers to invite users to visit their company.

5 Tips for Using Google+
1.    Build circles, big and small
2.    Create a memorable “About” Tab (so that more people add you to their circle)
3.    Join as many Hangouts as possible
4.    Give attention-grabbing posts a “+1” (so you can meet new people who share the same interests)
5.    Honor your clients and customers, rather than only promoting your business

How To Use Google+ For Business

Is your business on Google+ yet?
Studies show that Google+ is the 2nd largest social platform with 359 million active users and has grown 33% in the past year. Google+ is becoming a social media giant, where users can share content and increase the chances of their information appearing on the first few pages of Google's "search results."

So where do you begin?
Use the "Find People" search box to explore names, companies, topics, and places to discover people you may know. Once you have connected with other users, create groups for your new contacts called "Circles." No one can see which circle you put them in; it is simply a way to personalize your stream. Create a "Bookmark" or "Favorites" circle to save preferred posts.

Most importantly for businesses is the +1 button. This is a great way to show your approval of a contact's post and effectively endorse their photo, video, or other content as a quality piece of information. This could also lead to more people adding you to their circles.

 
What are the benefits of having a Google+ Account?
You can use the Communities feature to interact with potential customers, people of interest, and influencers. This feature allows groups to form around common interests.

I like the "Hangouts" feature best because it is something completely unique to Google+ where you can create a panel discussion for business meetings or demonstrations by simply using your webcam. Save your recorded hangout videos and share them on your website, YouTube channel, or Google+ profile.

Any content that your business shares on your Google+ page will show up in related Google searches. This could dramatically boost your company’s online search ranking.