July 8th, 2010
If you sell products or services in a local market, you absolutely must have a listing in the Google Local Business Center. It’s not hard to do, you don’t need to pay someone to do it for you, and it’s very quick to start.
The first thing you need to do is to actually claim your listing in the Google Local Business Center.
Follow the following steps to begin creating your own Google Places local ad.
1) Go to Google’s Local Business Center right here ==> http://www.google.com/local/add
2) Complete your profile completely – make sure you focus on the keywords you wish to rank well for.
3) Enter the proper categories
4) Confirm your listing
5) Tweak and optimize you listing
6) Get your site listed with the other major local directories and city guides to help increase your authority in Google’s eyes
7) You can see your listing appear in as short as 1-2 days or as long as 30 days. I wish I could tell you why this seems to vary so greatly, but I have no idea.
While this is a simple overview, it really is as easy as I just described to get started.
Like anything else, ranking in the coveted “A” position for your target terms is much more difficult than simple creating a listing. Email or call our team for help!
Tags: city guides, google, local business center, local maps
Posted in local SEO | Comments Off
May 12th, 2010
Many of the Atlanta attorneys at our law firm clients throughout the metro area are very keen on statistics. As a numbers geek myself, I thought I would share some recent stats published by Google.
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The below data, a rarity from Google, underscores the importance for local Atlanta businesses in defining and implementing an internet marketing strategy
Google and Local Businesses, by the numbers:
- More than 4 million business listings on Google claimed by business owners (using the Local Business Center, now Google Places)
- Nearly 2 million listings have been claimed in the United States
- 20% of searches on Google are related to location
- There are 50 million Place Pages
- These cover all types of places, ranging from businesses like tailors, restaurants, and optometrists to locations like dog parks, transit stations, and baseball fields.
- Place Pages are viewed millions of times each day
- We have mailed out Favorite Places window decals to around 200,000 businesses around the United States
Small Businesses, by the numbers:
Over a recent 15-year period, small businesses created approximately 65 percent of the net new jobs in the private sector, according to the Small Business Association‘s analysis of small business and jobs.
According to IDC, a subsidiary of International Data Group, small businesses are firms with less than 100 employees and midsize businesses as firms with 100 to 999 employees; small and midsize businesses (SMB) are classified as firms with less than 1,000 employees.
A study from Small Business Development Centers shows that small businesses create more than 50 percent of nonfarm, private gross domestic product (GDP) and are also employers of 39 percent of high tech workers.
• Represent 99.7 percent of all employer firms.
• Employ just over half of all private sector employees.
• Pay 44 percent of total U.S. private payroll.
• Are 52 percent home-based and 2 percent franchises.
• Made up 97.3 percent of all identified exporters and produced 30.2 percent of the known export value in FY 2007.
• Produce 13 times more patents per employee than large patenting firms; these patents are twice as likely as large firm patents to be among the one percent most cited.
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Tags: atlanta businesses, favorite places, google, local business center, small business administration, small businesses
Posted in Attorney - Law Firm Marketing, Audio Visual Rental Marketing, Chiropractor Marketing, Contractor Marketing, Heating and Cooling Contractor Marketing, local SEO, Physician - Doctor - Marketing, Search Engine Marketing | Comments Off
