Video Series on Google Plus Local Business Optimization

Google Plus Local Business and Google Places Are or Are Very Close to Fully Merged.  How Do You Optimize the New Google Local?

This blog is dedicated to providing you with clear, detailed, DIY instructions for getting highly ranked on Google Places, and now Google Plus Local.  Earlier I wrote on the 10 most important steps you should take to optimize your business on Google.  For those who would rather see a detailed analysis on video than read the information, here is the first in that series.  As such, it is the most important and critical strategic information for getting your phone to ring through positioning yourself on Google. 

Was this video helpful?  Do you have questions?  Please use the comment field.  You may want to subscribe to my video channel or to this blog to stay on top of the ever changing issues on Google.

Google Plus Local Business Expert On the Importance of Goals

When you start out to Optimize Your Google Plus Local Business Listing, Start with the End in Mind

We know it in our knower, but as marketers it is easy to forget.  Every marketing decision is going to cost time and treasure.  That time and treasure has many pulls on it, and not just within the marketing department.  Any time spent on finding the secrets to ranking on page 1 for Google Places or optimizing the effort on google Plus Local Business is time that could be spent with clients, employees, or, what a concept, family and friends.  

So what do we marketers forget?  Any serious analysis or review of goals.  Most entrepreneurs that I work with don't have clear goals laid out for their personal or business lives.  Assuming they do have business goals, they rarely have detailed goals for growth or profits or how to determine priorities.  Of course, just by stating that, it becomes obvious that my own personal observation of how decisions are made week-to-week or month-to-month within the context of companies having goals is almost non-existent.

Given this reality, most small business owners would do well to start at the beginning and think clearly about what they want for themselves and their family in general, and from and for the business.  If you'd like to consider that idea, please read the first of my new series: 101 Marketing Secrets from a Serial Entrepreneur one of my other blogs, http://www.Help4SmallBusiness.blogspot.com.

Whether or not you have goals for the business or even for the marketing aspect, you should truly stop before you begin any new marketing effort.  And given the importance, complexity and difficulty of Google Places Optimization and Google Plus Local Business Listings, being clear on the goal may be the most important thing you do.

What might such a goal set look like?

1. In our business, we consider a high ranking on Google Places to be equal to or more important than any other online effort, and about as critical as our email blast campaign in terms of ROI.
2. We must rank in the top 3 for Google Places under our top 3 keywords
3. We should rank in the top 7 for Google Places under our top 10 keywords
4. Our own city and zip is the most important, but half of our cost should be devoted to surrounding cities, in particular, Lincoln.
5. With an overall marketing budget of $3000 a month, we can afford $900 a month for this effort (Or about what our Yellow Page expense used to be).
6. With about 8 hours a week to devote to all marketing efforts, we can devote about 2.
7. The social aspect of Google+ Local needs to be addressed.  We should immediately devote ten hours and $200 to study what our goals and objectives should be.
8. Goals should be met within six month

With a goal set like this you are now able to wisely make decisions about what to do in house, and what to find suppliers to help with.  You are also able to measure results which will help to determine if the methods you are using are working or need to be changed.  Of course, often the goals also need to be reviewed and changed.

Does this help you think about how to prepare for a new campaign?  What methods do you use that might help others be better at setting goals?

Our next post will cover the strategies that might arise out of this goal set.

Profit and Loss Should Be Your #1 Concern

In Business, the Bottom Line Should be The Bottom Line - Are You Making a Profit?

This blog is dedicated to all things Google Local.  And believe me when I tell you that many businesses today rightly focus a lot of attention on Google Local, whether Google Places, Google+ Local Business, or Google Maps.

But step back for just a minute.  As I close in on 500 clients served, and another 2000 or so that I have consulted briefly on the phone, there is this notion that needs to be addressed.  Great stats on Google is not why you are in business.  You are in business to serve others which should result in them coming back and sending their friends.  And this should be done in a way that results in profits.  If not, why do it?

Profit Is Far and Away the Most Important Marketing Secret - Ask Your Wife and Banker

A prospective client calls a while back: "I'm trying to decide whether or not to keep my business open.  My wife is getting tired of supporting my hobby."

When we discuss the subject of Marketing, most business owners and their employees, managers, and even customers probably think things like advertising, store layout, packaging, product design, or distribution channels.  And the very astute would add distribution channels. It is the rare business owner or manager who  counts profit and it's negative twin, loss, as part of marketing.  But unless we make a profit, all of the good intentions, products, customer service, and promotion is eventually going to result in the doors being shuttered.  Then no one, not customers, employees, the community, or your family gets the benefit of all the good things you've done.

Have you seen your profit and loss statement lately?  Ever?  Do you know how to read it?  Do you understand how to analyze that P & L and optimize your business based on the information contained in that document?  Have you done regular inventories so that the P & L is accurate enough to provide you good data?  Do you take or give money off books so that you can't actually know the true results?

Are You Maximizing the Profit from Current Sales?

Recently I worked with a service business that was doing almost $500,000 in sales.  The owner was breaking even.  In two minutes I was able to tell her what needed to be done.  Two years later, after taking no salary and no profit for her work, she decided to take my directions to heart.  The company now yields $6000 a month in profit, and should move to about $9000.  Does your company have a gold mine just waiting to be taken to the bank?  Many, many companies do.

I recently wrote an article for Bicycle Dealer Magazine that laid out how a brick and mortar retailer should be able to take home $100,000 on sales of $800,000 (Email me if you'd like to see a copy of this article.  RandyKirk77@gmail.com).  Most retailers would be astounded by the assertion, and the truth is some retailers should do even better than that. 

 Definition of Profit - Gross Sales - COG's - Overhead

Profit is loosely defined as gross income less cost of goods and overhead.  Any analysis starts with the cost of goods.  What does it cost you to deliver the product or service to your client.  Is your cost of goods average or better for your industry?  Should you be buying better.  5% less cost on $500,000 in purchases is $25,000 a year.  Buying better might be worth some time and attention.

Selling price is another big issue.  Are you discounting too much?  Are you selling too many low margin items and not pushing higher margin items out with the sale.  Are your service employees paying their weight.  In most cases you should be paying service workers 1/3 of the gross income from their effort.

If the cost of goods is in line, attack the overhead.  Take it line by line and wonder aloud if you could eliminate that cost if it was necessary to save your business from bankruptcy.  A consultant once helped me cut $175,000 in overhead per year that was all essential in my mind.

I have put together the first 30 marketing tips of 101 that I will eventually write on.  These can be found in a post titled: 

30 Foundational Elements to Small Business Marketing - Secrets from a Serial Entrepreneur

Please Tweet, +1, Like or otherwise spread the news to your fellow business owners about this blog.

You also might want to catch my new video series on Google Search Engine Optimization
http://youtu.be/vy3GRXmOvsY

Critical Ranking Factors for Google Search - Video

Google+ Local Business and Google Places Are Very Important, but Which Google Search Engine Really Matters - Video

If you are a small business owner or a consultant to small business owners, you want to spend your energy and even your cash as effectively and efficiently as possible.  When it comes to internet visibility, you have many choices of places to be seen, just Google Places and Google+ Local Business.  What is the most important place to plant your seeds.

This video gives you my answer.  I'd love to know if you disagree.

Google+ Now on Hootsuite

The Useability of Google+ for Small Business Improves with Hootsuite

I woke up this morning and the very first thing I looked forward to doing was jumping on each social media channel and doing my updates - NOT!  And I'm a writer. 

In the four years that I have been helping small businesses to add sales and profits through marketing, I have been involved with well over 200 clients.  Out of those 200, I might have had 10 who were, or are, actively creating content in one or another online channel.  For the rest, if they are going to have any current media at all, it will be done by us. 

So, as of March, most companies would have been happy to have some Facebook activity, even though they didn't know if it created any ROI.  Some also thought it would be nice to have Twitter going on.  Almost all understood the benefits of blogging.  Linked In not so much, unless they needed to hire or they were in the professions.  And all of my clients get the benefits of YouTube, but none would be creating their own.

The world has changed since March.  Now we have Google+ and Pinterest to contend with.  Oh, you say, these have been around for a year.  Why March?  Since March, both of these media channels have exploded in users and fans.  Google+ for the men, and Pinterest for the women.  And recent studies show that the men are starting to get Pinterest. 

So what is a small business owner to do?  You can't spend hours a day creating great content for all of these sites.  There are ways to streamline your work, and while there are many tools like Hootsuite on the market, only Hootsuite is now hooked to Google+, arguably the second most important social media channel today. 

Through Hootsuite you can create your content all in one place, then schedule it for later publication.  Since Facebook, Twitter, Linked In and Google+ content rapidly disappears, all social media marketers recommend that you repeat that content at various times of the day and during the week.
With Hootsuite, you can do just that.  It is tedius and not fun, but it is fast, therefore efficient.  If you are creating the content, you might want to train an inexpensive helper to actually upload and schedule the content to go out. 

Google Places Address Change, Phone Number Change, Name Change

What Is the Process You Need to Follow for Any Change to Your Name, Address or Phone Number as These Changes Impact Google Places and Google+ Local Business

If you have decided to change any aspect of your NAP (name, address, phone), you need to make sure that you tell more than just your customers.  You need to let Google know, and this can be a daunting task. 

Google Places and your NAP

Google Places and the sisters at Google+ Local and Google Maps need accurate information in their listings, but also elsewhere on the internet.  Therefore, when you make a change to any aspect of your NAP, you have to quickly change the information everywhere on the web.

Start with the sites you own.  Websites, blogs, Facebook, Twitter, Linked In, Pinterest, YouTube Channel, and anywhere else you can think of that you have created a profile.

Then change your information on the dirty dozen.  Yahoo, Bing, City Search, Yelp, LocalEze, AolYellow, YellowPages, Superpages, HotFrog, Insider Pages, etc.

After you have completed these, search your company name with and without " " quotation marks, and see if there are other obvious places where you are listed.  Make these changes.

Now search for your old phone number and see what shows up.  Do the same with your old address.

This should provide enough of a base for Google.  Now go to your Google Places listing and make the change there.  Minor name changes will likely just be allowed.  Major name changes may require a phone verification.  Address changes may require a phone or post card verification.  Phone number changes commonly require a phone confirmation. 

It is best to try and do all of these changes within a very short period of time.  You don't want the Google Bot to be checking around and getting confused.  You might get a drop in rank. 

Give all of this a week to gel.  Now do a more in depth search for your old company name,  old company address, and old company phone number to see if they are still popping up.  After this second review, you should be ok. 

Pinterest - Google+ Local Business, Google Places, and Pinterest

How to Use Pinterest to Improve Google Places Ranking

The minute I laid eyes on Pinterest I knew it would be a huge hit.  And the eyes are the reason.  Pinterest is visually compelling on the laptop or tablet screen.  You can see a bunch of options above the fold with Pinterest compared to a blog, facebook, or even Google+.  Repinning is way more fun than liking, +1ing, retweeting, or any of the other options out there.  Result, Pinterest is growing like crazy and taking away market share from Facebook. 

Here is an example of a Pinterest Site we created for our Home Remodeling Client in Dallas

How does Pinterest effect the world of Google local business and the relevant tools of google+ Local, Google Places and Google Maps?  It is one more place for Google to see that you are serious and important in your little part of the universe.  Everything you do on pinterest is similar to what you might do on a blog or other social media.  Pictures have links, and as visitors repin your pictures, the link is now on their pinterest page.  With the ease of this process, you can spread your seed far and wide in no time at all if your content is compelling. 

Google+ Local or Google Maps or Google Places or Google Web Optmiization

One Stop Shopping for Optimizing Your Google Business Listings Including:  Google+ Local, Google Maps, Google Places, and Google Web Search

$39 a month for life and we will get you on Google Page 1.  Included in our package:

• We will set up all information under our accounts so we can keep control
• We will take down what we put up if you stop doing business with us
• We will say that everything we do for you is proprietary and never share methods
• When we get you on page 1 for the promised keywords, it might not result in more business, just a nice screen shot showing you that we have done as promised
• The $39 a month might be just a teaser
• Some of what we do may be black hat and you could be suspended by Google or worse

Most of the calls I get from local business owners start off with a pained plea for help.  They have seen my videos or my blog, and they figure I might be able to help them regain their previous high ranking, or they have had multiple bad experience with so called experts.  Commonly, they want to pay me some minimum amount based on what they have seen in the ads, and expect me to right all the wrongs.

The guy who answers the phone

We do things very differently.  Want proof.  Do a Google Search for Google Places Expert, or Google Local Expert or Google Places Optimization.  Anyone who says they are an expert in SEO should be on the first page for those search terms.  You will find press releases, blog posts, and YouTube videos created by my company on all three searches.  Sometimes twice.  Sometimes first on the page...or second.

What really sets us apart:

1. We don't recommend you rely only on Google Places or Google Maps or Google+ Local
2. We do recommend that you have tons of content of various kinds so that you dominate lots of keywords, both long and short
3. We create that content, and it doesn't go away ever.  Our clients have Youtube videos that still produce for them, and that are four years old.
4. The content and everything we do for you is placed on accounts owned an controlled by you
5. We create a Google Doc that lists all your accounts, id's and passwords.  You share that Google Doc.  It is yours for reference no matter what.
6. Our methods are designed with one goal.  More profit for your company.  We'll send you screen shots of your placement online, all kinds of charts and graphs, but we use these to help both of us figure out how to be more effective at getting CUSTOMERS and CLIENTS to spend money with you.
7. We are not limited to Web based marketing.  We are a marketing consulting firm with years of experience in print, trade shows, event management, promotions, advertising specialties, radio, and more.  
8. We are more than an SEO and advertising agency.  We can help you with signage, interior layout and design, product development, branding, logos, distribution channels, import, export, product launches, sales training and more.
9. We don't keep our methods a secret.  We have tutorials on all what we do, and we will share almost any of it with you.
10. We do the work that a $3000 a month consultant would do for under $900 a month. 
11. We have no contracts.  You can stop anytime with a week or so notice (courtesy)   

 If our different way of doing business sounds appealing to you, we will be happy to send you many samples of our work, a long list of references, plenty of testimonials. 

Oh.  Did I mention.  When you call 310-910-1848, I answer the phone.  Now that is different!!

Randy Kirk

Google+ Local Black Hat - Don't Do It! Number 10 Ranking Factor

Number 10 of 10 Google+ Ranking Factors and Google Places Ranking Factors - No Black Hat Ever

"What is black hat?" is a question that I get asked on occasion. But most who ask are really asking for a general definition, being novice in the SEO world enough that they haven't really heard the term at all.

For those who've been doing SEO for a while, and who know the general definition, most know in their knower what is and isn't black hat.  But as a ex-Missouri resident and a current California resident, I know a Missouri or California "roll" when I see it at the 4 way stop.  And those that do the roll know who they are. 

Why shouldn't you do black hat?  After all, you know somebody who used black hat and got a number one ranking in 13 seconds.  Check with them again in 90 days.  I've seen it all in my almost 20 years of internet SEO work.  The best black hat scams work for three or four months and then you can kiss your account good bye.

But just for giggles, let's run down the biggest offenders in the Google Places black hat no-no list.
    ✓    Do not add a bunch of keywords and city names to your company name
    ✓    Never use a fake address that you do not have a right to use
    ✓    Don't use a P.O. box or a UPS box as an address
    ✓    Don't use any geographic keywords in your categories
    ✓    Don't keyword spam your description
    ✓    Don't violate the general keyword density rules in any of your online sites
    ✓    NEW!  Don't spam your back links
    ✓    Don't use little tiny words or invisible words (dark gray on black) anywhere
    ✓    Don't put up phony reviews on your review sites
    ✓    Don't put up negative reviews on your competitor's review sites

I'm sure there are more that I'm not thinking of at the moment.  Please feel free to add some in the comments.

Top 10 Ranking Factors for Google Local July 2012 - Keywords

Category and Geographic Keywords Placement #9 of 10 Top Ranking Factors for Google+ Local and Google Places

Missing from my top ten is "address near city centroid."  I know this matters, but feel that it is unlikely that many businesses will move to accomplish the benefit, which could as easily disappear next week.  However, overcoming the specific address issue is a time honored way to improve rankings in the critical cities you care about. 

You want the primary category keyword and the most critical city name to appear in as many of the following places as possible.

Associated Website

•     URL - www.chicagoBankruptcyLawyer.com or chicagoBankruptcyAttorney.com or chicago-bankruptcy-attorney.com or bestbankruptcylawyerinChicago.com etc.
•     Title tag - Trusted Chicago Bankruptcy Attorney | Individuals | Corp | 312-555-5555
•     Headline - Chicago Bankruptcy Lawyer - 35 Years Serving Individuals and Companies
•     Use the term 5 or so times in the content of 5 or more paragraphs of content
•     Internal links - Link the word Chicago to an internal page about Chicago
•     Footer - Chicago Bankruptcy Attorney | Cook County Bankruptcy Attorney | Chapter 11 Bankruptcy lawyer in Chicago | Chapter 13  etc.
•     NAP - Name, address, phone number block.  At least one

   
Google Places and Plus

•     Reviews - Ask your reviewers to include your category keywords and geographic keywords in their reviews.
•     Google+ Page - Make at least a few mentions of these same keywords on the static content

Off Site

•     Back links - Have incoming back links that use these terms as anchor text.
•     Citations - Get local citations from directories.  Do a search for Chicago directories

If you are located in a suburb or adjoining city to the major population center, and you want to be found in that other city, and you don't want to move, then all of the above should be pointed at that city.  Use terms like lawyer near chicago or chicago area attorney. 

Side note - Google seems to be gunning for faux or virtual offices.  Latest statement is that any claimed Place that you show on your listing must have a sign designating that you have a true Place.  If you designate that the address is not a place where customers visit, then it is less clear how Google will deal with the location.  Unclear if this will be enforced, but we do know they are doing location video now, not just from the car or plane, but on foot.