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Ethical Search Engine Optimization for Small Businesses

The big push online is for small business owners to join the program and start marketing their local businesses rather than using many of the old traditional marketing techniques.

1. Claim and optimize your Google listing

Google was nice and “gave” local business owners around the world free web pages to display their business information.

Google and local businesses, in numbers:

Over 4 million business listings on Google claimed by business owners (using Local Business Center, now Google Places)

Nearly 2 million ads have been claimed in the United States.

20% of searches on Google are related to location.

There are 50 million site pages.

These cover all kinds of places, from businesses like tailors, restaurants, and optometrists to places like dog parks, transit stations, and baseball fields.

Pages of places are viewed millions of times a day.

This was taken from the Google Press Release and what does it mean to you as a local small business owner?

MORE POTENTIAL CUSTOMERS!

Claiming your local business page is not difficult. Optimization takes more time.

2. How to optimize the Google Places page

Add all the information they are looking for.

NAP = name, address, phone number is a very important step when optimizing your page. Make sure this information is correct.

Categories: Google will allow you to have up to 5 different categories. Use them to your advantage and as close as possible to the services / products of your business that you have.

DO NOT use local words in the category area. If you are a plumber in Toledo, Ohio, do not put Toledo or any other city you serve in the categories.

This is against the Google Places guidelines. Sooner or later you will get “Google Slapped” and you could get your Google Places page banned.

If you are looking for an SEO company to take care of your online marketing, take a look at their places page and see if they added location-based information. If they have this on their Google Places page you may think twice before using them as it is not an ethical technique. If they are willing to do this for their own business, how are they going to market their business online?

3. CATEGORIES

When choosing your categories, use Google’s keyword tool to see what people are actually looking for when they search for your products / services.

Take your time with this.

Look at what your competitors have for your categories (if they have it).

4. DESCRIPTION OF THE COMPANY

Take your time with this too. Look at your competitors. Don’t use keywords, but give people enough information about your business to differentiate yourself from the competition.

5. COUPONS

Make some coupons for prospects. In this economy, people are looking for bargains. Give them something of value to get into YOUR BUSINESS. Because once inside, you can (hopefully) keep them as regulars.

6. ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Add additional information, do you serve or sell certain brands? Do you have off-street parking? Any additional phone number for your company? Think when potential customers call your business, are they asking the same questions?

Use this space to your advantage.

7. PHOTOS

Google allows you to upload 10 images. Find images of your brands / products / services, a picture of the front of your store, the interior and your employees, etc.

8. VIDEOS

You are allowed to have five videos. Make some presentations in Microsoft PowerPoint or make a video of the services you do, or even the interior and exterior of your store and upload them to YouTube and link them to your places page. Videos don’t have to be long. You can make them last 1-2 minutes just to get your message across.

If you are a small business?

Have you taken advantage of this online advertising for your local business? If you haven’t, you should.

Don’t forget to optimize your business information on local Yahoo and Bing as well.

I realize that there are not enough hours in the day to get everything done that needs to be done, so if you can’t, find a local search engine optimization company to help you with the online marketing of your business.

Not sure where to find one?

Take a look at Google Places.

Just type in Google Internet Marketing, your city, state and take a look at the maps tab and see which one you would like to work with.

Stop losing customers and let the Internet become your salesperson 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.