by on September 17, 2011

Does Groupon Work For Your Small Business?

The Big question I hear from small business owners lately is,

“Does Groupon Work?”

Groupon may not be all that you think when it comes to helping you grow your profits.

The Groupon coupon phenomenon has turned the small business world upside down. It seems that more and more smart shoppers are demanding a coupon for just about every business transaction they make.

People are searching online for coupons!

Heck, I do it myself. Whenever the wife and I decide to go out to dinner, I always go to Google and type ‘restaurant name coupon’ in the search bar. Usually something comes up. My wife loves Groupon! What I noticed was that she rarely goes back to pay full price once she uses a Groupon coupon. Why? Because there is an endless flood of offers coming to her email offering the same services.

The question is… is Groupon destroying customer loyalty? Are Groupon users more interested in the next deal and not returning to your business to pay full price? If yes, your offer better have some profit built into it or you will go broke fast!

Groupon has taken hold of the billion dollar coupon market and seems to have cornered the market. Small businesses are flocking to Groupon in hopes to increase business using a Groupon offer.

But… is Groupon really helping your business?

Recent studies are showing that Groupon deals may actually be hurting small businesses and if you are thinking about jumping in you better know what you are doing.

Here is an excellent article that talks about some of the possible shortcomings associated with doing a Groupon coupon. Does Groupon Negatively Affect How People View Your Small Business?

Here is some important advice if you are considering using Groupon!

As a small business SEO specialist I talk with businesses about Groupon quite a bit. The first question I always ask is, does your offer allow you to walk away with a win-win situation. I am not seeing that in many of the Groupon business transactions. Groupon takes quite a bit of money from you and if you do not structure your offer properly you almost always lose money.

Here are 3 things that can hurt the Groupon – Small Business experience:

Many business owners are not seeing the repeat business because coupon shoppers don’t return unless there is another coupon. The fact is, if your offer is a losing proposition you may never see the repeat business you hoped would make the offer worth the effort.
Some employees when they see a Group on coupon react negatively towards the patron. Service may suffer which may lead to the up surge in lower Yelp rankings. If the Groupon offer is not a good one for the business, employees may perceive Groupon customers as coupon mooches. They may treat these customers differently.
Many small businesses are not seeing a good ROI from the coupons which can lead to some serious cash flow problems. Sorry folks, but coupons should turn a profit even if it is a small one. If Groupon advises you to price your offer too low, it can lead to devastating results for your small business especially if you already have cash flow problems.

If you are a small business be very careful about how you position yourself using Groupon. The big repeat business you hope to achieve may not come, your employees my learn to hate Group on customers (calling them mooch on customers) and positioning your offer to lose money may hurt your bottom line.

Make Groupon work by structuring a win – win situation!

Be smart and only do it if you can make the business transaction a win-win situation. Remember, the Groupon rep you are dealing with does not know about your profit margins and will try to get you to fashion a deal that may hurt your bottom line. Do not assume that taking a loss in your offer will lead to repeat business. Studies are showing this may not be the case.

Before you sign on for a Groupon coupon!

Sit down and do the math first. Make sure Groupon works for your business. If the ROI is not there, walk away and find other marketing solutions to increasing business. Don’t jump into Groupon just because everyone else is.

If you are looking to attract more customers to your business, Local Internet Marketing is the one area you should not ignore. If you would like to learn how to put your business in front of more customers using Local SEO contact Jeffrey Taylor at 602-538-5661 or visit Local Goldmine and get a free web analysis and consultation.

by on July 23, 2011

Google Places Drops Customer Reviews

It’s happening again folks! Google is making major changes to its Places pages and it is affecting everyone.

If you are a small business owner you may have woken up July 21, 2011 and checked your local Google places page and found that all your wonderful reviews have suddenly disappeared!

Before you hit the panic button and think Google is picking on you, check out all the competition on page 1 of Google places and you will see this is an across the board slap by Google.

Google Places slaps third party customer review websites!

Google places is no longer displaying 3rd party customer reviews and are only showing Google reviews in the prominent review count section. Customer reviews from places like TripAdvisor, Yelp, City Search, etc… are now removed from the total review count.

One review vendor that has been hit particularly hard is a company called Demand Force that does a wonderful job for professionals like Dentists collecting reviews from patients and Google seemed to really like their reviews. I have seen Dentists with hundreds of reviews on their Google places page suddenly showing 1-5 reviews. I am sure the folks at Demand Force are scratching their heads wondering what just happened!

As you can see from the image above this Phoenix dentist saw its review count go from 163 reviews to 4 reviews overnight. Even though Google is still displaying links to the reviews from 3rd party sites they are no longer added to the total in the much used review link on the Google places page.

Does this big change to the Google Places review display affect local search rankings?

The jury is still out, but not one of my clients has seen a drop in rankings from this major change. It appears that Google has kept its local algorithm intact and has merely changed the appearance of their place pages.

I have been checking the blogs of some of the local search pros and have not read any reports of this affecting rankings. The general consensus is that Google wants to take control of what reviews are displayed and with their launch of Google + this is their way of sending a message to 3rd party review sites that they don’t care about them anymore.

Google has a reputation of loving and leaving companies and if you are a 3rd party review site this may have devastating results to your bottom line. Let’s face it, if people were using your service because Google was listing your reviews the perception among business owners will be, “Why do I need you anymore?”

My advice about review gathering.

Obviously you want to start placing more focus on garnering Google places reviews, but DO NOT ignore the 3rd party reviews or it may hurt you in the long run. Reviews are important to your business regardless of where they come from and there is no evidence that Google has changed their algorithm regarding reviews.

At this point in time until someone can show me proof that Google has done more then just pull 3rd party reviews from their total you need to continue gathering them from all sources.

Why did Google Places make this big change in review posting?

Why does Google do anything they do, because they can. There are several theories floating around but the most sensible one centers around complaints from companies like Yelp and TripAdvisor about Google stealing reviews and putting them on the Places pages.

The bottom line is, businesses that have been showing large amounts of reviews are now showing only Google reviews. In fact, I read that a restaurant in New York went from 3,000 reviews to 60 reviews overnight. The key is not to panic. I learned many years ago to not let Google ruin your day.

Keep building a diverse set of reviews from various sources until it is proven that Google has changed their algorithm. Try to focus a little more on getting Google reviews because they are now the number searchers will see.

Here are a few posts that you should read:

http://blumenthals.com/blog/2011/07/22/changes-in-google-places-and-reviews-what-does-it-mean/

http://www.upi.com/Business_News/2011/07/23/Google-adapts-policy-under-pressure/UPI-47861311428517/

Filed Under: Local Internet Marketing Tagged With: get more reviews, google local search, google places reviews, google reviews, local seo

by on January 1, 2011

A Google Local Top Ranking Doesn’t Mean More Customers

Why a top ranking on Google local search does not guarantee customers.

You just got your report from your SEO company showing your top rankings on Google Local and it looks great!

Yet, your phones aren’t ringing and your business doesn’t seem to be growing. In the back of your mind you are wondering, “Does Internet marketing work for my business?”

Where are your best customers looking on Google Local?

Internet marketing when done properly is a goldmine for your small business. If it is done right! Unfortunately, most small business owners are not doing it right and are showing up in the wrong places on the Google local search results. Yes, people are using Google local to find you, and they will, if you are appearing on Google local where they are looking!

Google Local is replacing the Yellow Pages!

As a small business owner it is important to get top rankings in the Google local search results. Why? Because that is where most people are looking for local businesses. The problem is, many SEO companies work to get you top rankings in Google local without looking at search volume to the keywords they are ranking you for.

It’s like having your carpet cleaning business listed in the Yellow Pages under landscapers. Showing up in the wrong place means no new customers. It is the same with Google local. If you are not showing up on page one for the exact keywords people are using to find your type of business, you are losing customers! That is why having a top ranking in Google local does not always mean more customers.

Why this Phoenix Dentist had 15 top Google local rankings and no traffic.

I recently sat with a local Phoenix Dentist that received a Rankings report from their current SEO company that showed them they had 15 page 1 rankings in the Google local search results. Looks great on paper. However, the report was very deceiving because it did not show how much actual traffic these search terms were receiving. The office manager was a little suspicious because they were not receiving any phone calls from their website.

Targeting the wrong keywords in Google local is a waste of money!

Well, I sat down at my computer and started to do some keyword traffic research and found that the keywords they were ranking for got very little traffic. No traffic means no customers! Every single keyword phrase they were number one for had extremely low search volume. The SEO company was very proud of the top rankings in Google local but the business owner was not bringing in new customers.

This is a common scam in the local SEO Industry and I am going to shed some light on how you can avoid getting burned and make sure your Google local search results are worth the money you are paying to get them.

The key to success in Google local is choosing the right keywords to target!

A real SEO specialist will do extensive research on your business and find what keywords people are using to find you. Inexperienced SEO consultants and scam artists will target the easiest keywords regardless of the actual traffic. They will guarantee you top rankings in Google local and take your money.

Here is a great example: This dentist had a top ranking in Google local for the keyword phrase, “north scottsdale dentist”. Sounds great! After doing some research I found that it receives extremely low traffic. However, the keyword phrase “scottsdale dentist” receives 5,400 searches per month. When searching in Google local using that keyword phrase this dentist was nowhere to be found. Just one word makes a big difference!

Proper keyword research is the key to success if you want to attract more customers in Google local.

It is so important that your SEO specialist give you a list of top keywords with the search volume reports attached to it. After the top keywords have been listed, we do a competitive analysis to determine how much SEO work needs to be done to achieve that top Google local spot. Highly competitive keywords mean more SEO work. In some cases we may decide to tackle a less competitive keyword phrase that has decent traffic.

The more competitive a keyword phrase the more expensive it will be to get that top Google local ranking. A small business on a limited budget may find it more cost effective to target easier keywords as long as they get decent traffic. Targeting keywords that get very little traffic is a waste of money regardless of your budget.

Success in Google local is simple if you use this simple formula.

Target high traffic keywords with low competition = more customers

Top Google local rankings for your business name.

Another common scam is when a local SEO specialist only targets your business name for top rankings. Unless you are a very well known business name that people will type into Google you will not receive much traffic. It does not take an SEO expert to get you a top ranking in Google local for your business name.

To attract new customers you want to reach people that have never heard of you. They are not going to type your business name in to Google. You absolutely want your business to rank number in Google local for your business name, but you should not have to pay big dollars to have it done.

Google local is now called Google Place Search!

On October 27, 2010 Google local released its all new Google Place Search. This major changed has left many inexperienced SEO consultants scrambling. It also pushed many small businesses off the first page of the Google local search results. The reality is, you must claim and optimize your free Google business listing just like before the change, however your website is now part of the the new Google local algorithm.

The new Google local search results are showing a combination of your Google business listing and your website in their listings. It is no longer enough to just have a local business listing. You need a well optimized website and a well optimized local business listing targeting your best keywords if you expect to get good results in Google local search results.

Make sure the SEO specialist you hire understands these major changes in the Google local search results. Beware of services offering you just local business listing optimization without looking at your website. A good SEO specialist will look at both and take action to make them work together.

Conclusion:

In today’s Internet age you absolutely need to have a solid online marketing plan targeting Google local. The Yellow Pages are dead and Google local is where people are searching for local businesses. Just remember one important thing.

Hire a SEO specialist that targets the right keywords and ask for traffic reports to verify their claims. You can get great results from Google local if you pay attention to the details and avoid fast talking SEO specialists making false promises.

Jeffrey Taylor is a 15 year SEO specialist that focuses on helping small businesses get top rankings on Google local. If you are serious about getting your business on page 1 of Google local go to Local Internet Marketing GoldMine.

Filed Under: Local Internet Marketing Tagged With: google local, google local search, google place search, google seo, local seo

by on November 10, 2010

Google Citations for Local Search Rankings

Are Citations important for gaining a higher ranking in Google Local Search?

One of the most asked questions I get from small business owners trying to get top rankings in Google Local Search results is;

I keep hearing that I need lots of citations to get better Google rankings. What are they, and how do I get them?

If you are a small business owner trying to get page one rankings in the new Google Local search, citations are a very important element to getting your business listing up on top.

First of all, what is a citation? If you know a little about SEO, you probably understand that back links are very important to helping your website get higher rankings in the Google organic results. A back link is simply a link back to your website or web page from another website.

If you receive enough back links using keyworded anchor text as the link, you can easily achieve higher rankings for those keywords, even if your on page optimization is not fantastic. A back link is considered by Google as a vote for your website by another website.

A citation however, while sometimes a link, is normally just a mention of a particular businesses name, phone number and address. Unlike a back link, a citation is not necessarily a vote for your business listing. It is more of a validation by the Google search spiders that you exist and your business information is accurate.

You must understand that Google is trying to build the worlds most powerful and accurate local directory. This is why they are always searching for information about particular local businesses that is accurate and consistent. The more accurate and consistent info about you they find the more they trust that you are a legitimate business in your particular industry and area.

A Back Link is a vote for your website or web page and a Citation is a validation that the information about your business listing is accurate and consistent.

So simply put, a citation is a mention on another website that lists your name, address, and phone number. (Also called NAP) . Google is constantly searching the internet looking for local information that matches the business listing on that appears on Google’s local results. The more citations they pick up about your business the more credibility and relevance they will give to your business listing.

Let’s say you are in the restaurant business, Google may pull NAP info from sites like Yelp, Urbanspoon, and open table. If you are accurately listed on these types of sites, Google will count that as a citation. The more citations you have the higher you will rank.

Here is where it gets tricky. If Google spiders a website and finds a NAP about your business, it must be 100% accurate to get credit for a citation. This is why it is so important to have consistent information on all your listings and your website.

Example: If Google finds your listing on another website and instead Street, you have St. it will not read it as the same. Even though humans know that St means Street, Google sees them as different and it will hurt your listing. 123 Main Street is different from 123 Main St to Google. Suite is different from Ste. Avenue is different from Ave.

Make sure that your website has your NAP exactly the same as your Google listing and create one standard listing for all your directories that you get listed in.

Using multiple phone numbers will also hurt your listing. If Google sees your NAP info on another website with a different phone number than what is on their listing, it will also hurt your results. If you have several phone lines at your business, pick one to use in all your listings.

Changing your business name in the heading can also hurt your listing. I had a client that was complaining to me that he had listed his business in dozens of directories but couldn’t understand why he was receiving no citations. Upon investigation, I found that in every listing he had changed his business name, adding different keywords in each listing. He thought he could capture more keywords by changing up his business name.

Google sees all these different business name listings and will not give him any credit. I repeat, Google is looking for consistent NAP info! You should always use your business name and if you do add an extra keyword, keep it the same in every listing. DO NOT stuff keywords into your business name or Google may penalize you for spam.

Let’s say you are an Italian Restaurant that also serves Pizza you can probably get away with adding pizza to your business name if it flows with the overall name.

Example: Joe’s Italian Restaurant could list as Joe’s Italian Restaurant and Pizza. But, be careful and don’t over do it.

How do you get Citations?

Google pulls citations form many different websites around the Internet. Our research has shown that there are some places that Google favors over others. It differs from industry to industry.

Your ultimate goal should be to get as many citations as possible, but you should make sure you start with the ones Google uses the most often for your industry. Here is a quick easy way to examine which websites Google favors for your particular industry.

1. Choose your keywords and add the local identifier. ex. Italian restaurant Phoenix

2. click on the place page for the top results in the Google Local results.

3. Scroll down the business listing page and look at where the reviews are coming from as well as the section that says More about this place.

Go through all of the top listings and take note of the different places Google is pulling citations from. You will start to see consistencies throughout each business listing.

ex. In the restaurant industry Google pulls a lot of info from websites like opentable, Yelp, and urbanspoon. If you look deep enough you will also find quite a few local website directories you may never have heard where you can get your listing included. Remember, make sure all your listings are consistent.

Your number one Citation!

The new Google local search is now including your website info with your business listing and you should make your own website your number one citation.

Here’s how you do it.

Make sure EVERY web page within your website has your NAP included exactly the way it is published in your Google local listing. Try to include your city, state and phone number in the title tags whenever possible. Instead of just putting contact us in your title tags for your contact page, include your full address and phone number. Google will pull every page from your website that has an accurate NAP and award you a citation.

To maximize your ability to build a huge arsenal of citations and raise your ranking in the Google local search results you absolutely must be continuously be building new ones. This is an ongoing task and requires time and dedication on your part.

We strongly recommend that you allow us to do it for you using our Local Search Domination System. Not only do we put you in the top citation sites for your industry, we also upload your listing to over 150 other local sites with one consistent listing. We than monitor your listing and continue to search for more directories and local website to help you keep building citations.

The best part is that citation building is only one piece of the entire Local Search Domination system. Our complete system takes your business listing from start to finish with only one goal. Get your business listing to the top of the Google search results for the keywords you need to attract new customers.

Go to Local Search Domination system and discover how we can help you dominate the local search results!

Jeffrey Taylor is a 15 year Search engine Marketing expert and the Director of Search Engine Marketing for Local Internet GoldMine a Phoenix Arizona based Local Internet Marketing company.

Filed Under: Local Internet Marketing Tagged With: google citations, local business listing, local search citations, local search results, place search

by on October 29, 2010

The New Google Place Search and Your Local Website

Do the Major changes in the Google Local Search results make having a website necessary?

If you are small business owner and frequent the Google Local search results, you probably noticed that the infamous Google 7 Pack has disappeared.

It has been replaced with what Google is now calling “Place Search”. I have spent the last 48 hours doing extensive research on this new local search platform and have read countless blogs from other Local Internet Marketing experts around the blog sphere.

Although this is so new it is difficult to make any hard predictions, one thing has become very clear to me as well as many other experts around the web.

First of all, if you have been fortunate to show up in the Google 7 pack without having a website, you may find yourself out of luck moving forward. In fact, when I promote my Local Search Domination system one of my selling points has been, “You don’t even need a website to get top rankings!”. I am currently working with my website designers to take that out of my promotional material. Why?

It seems that one of the major changes Google made, was integrating local business websites with their Google Local Business listings. I have noticed that fewer and fewer of the non website businesses are coming up in the new Google Place Search results. In fact, many of the small businesses that had strong locally focused websites and weak business listings are now ranking higher in the results page.

Why is Google placing a higher emphasis on you having a website and a business listing?

This may be because in Google’s attempt to eliminate Map Spammers, they have started to discount business listings that do not have a website. For years Google has been fighting these spammers that register multiple business listings with no website. For the time being these spammers should disappear. Unfortunately, all the small businesses that relied on traffic from the Google 7 pack without a website may be hurt also.

I think what Google is saying to small business owners is, you need to have a website attached to your business listing if you want to rank high in their local search results. It will probably make the title tags in your website more important than the title in your local business listing. Google hates when businesses stuff their business listing name with keywords and this may eliminate that problem. (This is just my theory based on 2 days of intense digging)

The new Google Place Search results show a much more detailed listing than the old 7 pack listings. Not only do they link to your website, they are including your website title tags as well as your meta description. There are also links to reviews, your place page. They have also grabbed an image and your address from your place page.

The New Google Place Search may have serious implications for small business owners that for whatever reason still do not have a website.

If you are one of those small businesses that does not have a website and were relying on the Google 7 pack for traffic and new customers, you may want to rethink your internet marketing strategy.

If everything remains as it is right now, it will be important to have a locally focused and well optimized website, as well as a optimized local business listing. It looks like many business owners that have a website are starting to show up in the Google Place Search results in much higher positions. The business listings that have been getting good traffic without a website may soon see their local business listing drop out of the Google results.

What should you the small business do next?

If you do not have a website, get one! Not just a website, a locally focused and search engine optimized one that targets your local market.

If you already have a website, take a good hard look at it. Is it designed for your local market? Is your address and phone number on every page? Are you targeting all of the cities in your local area? Is it optimized properly with the right title tags and keywords? If not, it is time for a redesign!

Claim your Google Business listing! Do not just do it on a whim, do it right! Go to http://www.findmyphoenixbusiness.com/localsearchfreereport.htm and download my Free Local Search Report. There is a lot more involved than just claiming your listing and my free report goes into great detail about doing it right.

Pay very close attention to reviews. Reviews of your business are becoming more prominent and you better be paying close attention. You need to encourage your customers to leave positive ones and you need to handle the negative ones professionally. If you are showing up in the Place Search results and have a slew of bad reviews, it could destroy your business!

I will stay on top of this major change in local search as things begin to become more clear, but you need to take action right now if you want to be ahead of the curve and claim your top position in the New Google Place Search results.

If you would like to discuss your options please contact Jeffrey Taylor – Director of Search Engine Marketing at LocalGoldmine.com

Jeffrey Taylor is a Phoenix Arizona resident and 15 year Search Engine Marketing expert specializing in Local Search Marketing for Small Business.

Filed Under: Local Internet Marketing Tagged With: google local search, google place search, jeffrey taylor, local search advertsing