Use Local SEO.  A few adjustments may help.

First of all a definition: Local SEO is Local Search Engine Optimization.

There are two types of SEO: on page, meaning on your website, and off page, meaning on other websites that link to yours.  The local part is where you use a geographical identifier like Ann Arbor.

Nowadays, local business owners can take full advantage of the internet even though they are catering to a small percentage of the market. However, this may also be a drawback since the internet is full of big businesses that could overshadow a local’s rankings. The good news is that this usually only happens when a person looks for general keywords. With searches that include local areas by name, business owners have a big chance to be spotted by a prospective customer online. Of course, this means doing a few local search engine optimization tweaks.

Get Your Local Business Listed

There are various search engine listings that cater to the local business. Google Places is one we advocate.  Small businesses have to make sure that they are listed in each and every one by adding themselves to the service. One good local search engine optimization technique is to make sure that nothing is left blank and all characters available are used. The more information one has, the higher would a search engine place priority on it.

Social Media

Make sure to set up your twitter, Facebook page and Google plus pages with your business information. If you are planning to write articles on a regular basis you can have these pages update automatically with your new articles.  If not, do not worry.  There are plenty of business that can rank without living your life on the internet.

Upload Photos or Your Business and Include Tags

Pictures are very powerful especially when labeled correctly. The trick is to make sure that the image name is the keyword so that it would show up in the picture results. When possible use tags or keywords on the photo upload settings.  This is a local search engine optimization trick that not all people seem to consider. The fact is that people are more attracted to sites with images compared to those that don’t.

Ask for Reviews, both Good and Honest

Reviews let people know that a business actually caters the product or service that they want. However, a few bad reviews must also be included in the archive. This is because an all-good review makes people think that the information is made-up to give the site a good image.  By bad we don’t mean horrible, more like honestly neutral.  “I didn’t like the pink table cloths on Valentine’s Day.  They should have been red.” is much better than “the place smelled like a latrine”.

Before asking for a review, make sure your customer is happy.  If not, try and fix the issues first.  Perhaps then the honest review might be something like, ” I had a problem with the Brussel sprouts, but the chef brought out some Lima beans to replace them!”.

Backlinks

Some search engines rank a site depending on the amount of back links and keywords it has. This is a basic local search engine optimization technique that should never be ignored by business owners.  You get a backlink by posting content with links to your site on another website.  Deliberately placing backlinks is considered a no-no by Google.  But they own a good portion of the web so you need to figure out a balance and good way of doing this.  If you haven’t heard Google just de-indexed a bunch of sites over the last year.  Just make sure your site has useful content to appease to Google bot gods.

• 1. Get your business listed on Google + Local (formerly Google Places).  This is a free service from Google and if used properly can get your local business a page one listing on Google.  If you are really good, your business will also show up on page 1 of a mobile search also.  Make sure to claim you Google + Local.

• 2. Create a Facebook page for a particular service or class that you offer. This page will be highly targeted and specific and will solve a problem or answer a question that your customers have.  Don’t go hard core and start selling on Facebook.  Instead give them some good information and provide a way for them to contact you.  Get them to like your page and you’ll be able to send them and invitation to your next event.

• 3. Use Craigslist to post a community service or meeting or even an ad for your business.  Lots of people search Craigslist for service people.  I found my wedding photographer, a moving company and a trash hauler on Craigslist.  I also get tenants for the rental houses there.

With all these methods you need to provide lots of information to keep your readers engaged.  Include pictures if you have them. If not, get some.  Include directions, phone numbers, when to call, who to talk to.  Make it look nice.

Try to provide a lot of information about the service, class or product you are featuring.  Keep it focused on one thing, one subject and make sure to tell them what to do. Call now, come over at 9 am,  or go to my website and fill out a form (if you have one).

When they call, take all their information so you can contact them in the future.  If you have a website then you want to direct them back to it to your lead capture page.

So there you have it!  Three Free methods to get a small business website that attract customers.

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More effective than a fancy company website is a lead generation website.  A lead generation website has one purpose, get customers in your “door” so to speak.  You want to capture as much information as necessary to follow up with them at regular intervals.

The amount of information depend on many factors.  Things you want to capture might be name, mobile phone (to text them), email, mailing address, business name and more.  The more information you ask for the less likely you get the lead, but the better that lead will be.

To discuss your very own lead generation website with us either call Lana (734) 224-1804 or head on over to our other website, DotComSecrets Ann Arbor, and hear what Russell Brunson has to say about Lead Gen sites.  Watch the webinar to find out how to get 100 customers in 100 days.

DotComSecrets Ann Arbor Lead Gen Sites

Image via Wikipedia

One Way To Use Your Auto-Responder

It is reported that you’ll need to communicate with your potential customers at least 7 times before they become your customer.  What are you going to say to them?

The more information you ask for the less likely you will get the lead to fill out the form. However, someone who does is very interested in your products or service so they are a gem!

Capture their contact information using your auto-responder.   Ask for mailing addresses, telephone numbers, and email addresses for multiple methods  to follow up with each person.

With all this information you can follow up in many ways.  Send postcards using a personalized and automated card mailing system. You can call them directly, because they gave you their phone number.   You can mail your sales letters, new offers and coupons and other promotional pieces.

You could publish a price list of all the products and services that you offer in an insert, direct mailing package and put them in PDF documents that you can send using your auto-responder.  The best way to get them coming back to your site is to send them a link to your website where they can find this information online or be able to quickly download it from your website.

You could also include coupons,  order forms, product descriptions, and other sales material. Then send an email to your captured leads with monthly updates, announcements of new sales and products and services, and a request for referrals.

You could also send this to your list using mail.  If you have an assistant you could have them call first to talk to the person and then ask them if they would like to receive a copy by mail.

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The auto-responder I use is Aweber.

I also use Send-Out-Cards for sending cards and postcards.

We’ve got a way for you to get more paying customers to your business by attracting people who are searching the internet on computers and mobile phones. You know more and more people are using their mobiles phones to find things every day.  Heck people even sleep with their mobile phones nearby.

Fact: Americans search the internet 29 MILLION times per minute!

What if you could be in front of all the people looking for your business expertise right away?

Dentist, lawyers, plastic surgeons, painters, yoga instructors, beauty salons, lawn care service, restaurants … You name it …

Someone is looking for your service, probably right now.  What are they going to find?  You or your competition?

Let us show you how many people are looking for your business on Google every day.  And let us get those people inside your shop, your office, your phone, your email. This is not about using paid ads on Google, but you could.

Would 1 more customer help your bottom line? How about 10, 100?

We don’t make wild claims and to be honest until your business is examined we just don’t know what can be done for it.  But we’d be glad to take a look.  We can often “Guarantee Page 1 on Google” for your business.  Believe me!  This really helps.

Do you want to attract more customers for your business?

All you need to do is call (734) 224-8104 or email we’ll take a look at what your opportunities are for getting more customers.

We tailor service to fit your needs.  Call us or fill out the form on this page and we’ll talk to you and create for you a free Business Reach Report and tell you what can be done to get you more customers and more sales.

This quick research about Ann Arbor Lawyer revealed the following:

Google Places Ann Arbor Lawyers

Each month about 2400 people search for the term “ann arbor lawyer”.  Another 1600 search for “ann arbor attorney”.

The cost for a Google Adwords ad could be as high as $6.53 per click.

The 1 law firm advertising on Google Adwords doesn’t show up in Google Places for natural search.  You are missing the boat because it has been shown that when your site appears in the natural search results and the paid search results too your credibility goes up and your conversions increase!

Also, just showing up in the natural search results gives your business more credibility than showing up in the paid position only.  If this business is doing well with Adwords then there is a great chance that adding this site to natural search results will yield even better performance.

Only 11 Law firms or lawyers show up on Page 1 of Google.

There appears to be about 50 or more lawyers in Ann Arbor that haven’t claimed their Google Place page.

What Does This Mean For Ann Arbor Lawyers?

This means you are probably missing about 4,000 potential customers each month that are looking for an Ann Arbor Lawyer or Ann Arbor Attorney.  Not a big deal if you already have all the business you can handle.

One Possible Conclusion

Most of the lawyers and law firms in Ann Arbor have all the business that they can possibly handle that’s why they are not taking advantage of the free Google Places page that Google offers.

If this is a mistake perhaps some Ann Arbor lawyers  would like more business and want to take advantage of what local search can do for them.  Please give us a call 734 224-8104 and we can show you a few ways to get more customers using the internet.

You can also take a look at this handy-dandy, step-by-step guide to claiming your free Google local listing, your Google Places page.

Image via Wikipedia

Local Internet Marketing

Local Internet Marketing Helps Your Local Business Soar When People Can Find Your Local Business Online

The fact that most people nowadays resort to the internet when looking for service businesses can be a big help for local business owners. Currently, local internet marketing has been given a big boost by search engines like Google and their Google Places for business that allows for local entrepreneurs to list their sites locally and get better search engine rankings.

Putting a business on the local business directory online isn’t that hard. However, when entering information about a business, it is important to put in as much information as possible. For example, if there are ten fields to be filled, then enter good data  in all of them. This way, the search engine indexing the business in their site would place it in a higher ranking position because of the pertinent information. Not a guarantee, but it helps.

Of course, this doesn’t mean you should put in any old type of data regardless of whether it is related to the topic or not. Doing so would usually tag the site as a spam and may lower it further in the rankings. Hence, when using local internet marketing, provide as much information as possible without fabricating data.

A business owner can boost his or her site’s rankings by going back to basics. This means providing a website with a good layout, excellent articles and helpful information. Supply a map and directions to your brick and mortar business to make it easy for people to find you. This also reduces time spent on the phone giving directions to your store or shop.  A good website, combined with sufficient backlinks from reputable sites make local internet marketing effective for both new and established businesses.

By participating in local internet marketing, business owners will find themselves being available to anyone in their local area without being overshadowed by larger companies in the search engine rankings. This way, small businesses have the chance to compete in a bigger market, possibly getting better customer feedback without having to invest too much on their marketing strategy.

For the Best Guide on getting your business on Google Places, Google Places Revealed will show you step by step what you need to know.  There is more information in there that just filling out the Google Places listing that you’ll definitely want to know so that you can claim a prominent position in Google Places for your local business.

Local Internet Marketing: Plan and Do To Increase Your Exposure

Google Local

Most people who search for specific services do so with their local area in mind. They do this hoping to find a service provider that they recognize and can actually visit in their immediate area. This is why for local business owners, using Google local, aka Google Places, can be very beneficial. Not only does it allow a business’s site to come up in local searches, but it also provides various business details and offerings depending on the information you enter.

Google Local – Claim Your Google Places Page

Getting added in Google local is not automatic so a business owner would have to go there and enter their local business information. Simply type out Google local in the search box (or use this URL places.google.com/business) and the search engine will take you there. One thing to keep in mind is that every field provided by Google local must be filled out. Businesses with more information filled out are given higher priority in Google local searches so this part is very important. The business category will also be asked for and filling up all five fields with relevant categories to the business is crucial. Filling in the field even though it is not related to the business may be labeled as spamming by Google local and the penalty will be felt in the rankings.

After that, someone from Google will review the site before it is made active. Business owner will also want to start to make improvements on their own website, adding directions and additional information to lure customers who search online. Google local actually provides a report detailing the number of times the page came up during a search as well as how many times someone clicked on the link. These can be very important for business owners to see just how many customers are being driven by the local Google listing.

Keep in mind that the local business website linked to Google local or Google Places has to be as informative as possible. Creating backlinks from reputable websites is also an excellent way to boost up local Google rankings.  We offer a very powerful backlinking service that will push your listings to the first page of a Google, Yahoo or Bing search.

For help filling out your Google Places profile please give us a call.  W’d be glad to help.  We can also supercharge your local Google listing.  Why does this matter? If you are in a highly competitive niche or would like top placement of your Google Places listing to attract more customers, this really helps.  Please contact us to learn more.

Google Local

Increase your online presence.  Give us a call (734) A2-48104.  Get your Google local on today.