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Posted By Janet on August 18, 2010

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Google Maps - The New "Sweet Spot" for Local Businesses

How is Your Business Ranked on the Maps?

Map search, or local search, is a growing trend online and the major search engines do a good job of displaying local businesses inside their Map products.  Yahoo, Bing and Google Maps are all extremely important for a local business’s online exposure, with Google being the forefront.  Google uses a different process for choosing who gets listed here and how local businesses are ranked in maps listings.

How do you get your business at to the top of the maps?

There are a couple tricks you can do yourself to help get on the first page or at least higher up on the Google Map results.  First, be sure to list your business in the proper category, then make sure you use that category in your description.  Second, the more reviews written about your company make your business stand out, which in turn brings you up higher.

There are numerous techniques for getting your business on the front page of the maps.  You can try it yourself, but if you want guaranteed results for specific terms, then you will need an SEO expert.  We found one service that actually guarantees 3 terms front page of the Google maps or your money back.  If this is where you want to be, then you might want to look into hiring MapTraffic.

Whether you hire or try it yourself be sure to claim your map listings.  This is one of the biggest mistake a small business owner makes is they set it up, but forget the final step of actually claiming the listing, then it never goes live.

First, get your business listed on the maps, then get on the front page and spots “A” or “B” of Google Maps.  By doing these steps your business will see a substantial growth in customers and that’s the goal of any business!

Category: SEO, google, internet advertising, local internet advertising, small business | No Comments »
Tags: google, google maps, local advertising, small business

Posted By Janet on August 17, 2010

Small businesses today must keep up with technology to survive in today’s economy. The internet and social media have been the trend in the past few years and still growing. Now, mobile devices are a huge trend that is starting to dominate society. So, including text messaging in a business’s marketing strategy is a powerful way to reach your audience and can give huge rewards.

Top 6 Reasons to Run a Text Message Marketing Campaign

1. SMS usage is surpassing email usage globally at an astonishing rate. Text messaging is no longer just a “Gen-Y” phenomenon but has grown in usage across generations.
2. In comparison to traditional print advertising, SMS is far more cost effective and has been shown to be 10 times more effective than normal print ads and 5 times more effective than standard snail mail.
3. Unlike traditional print, radio, or television ads, responses to SMS campaigns can be tracked with pinpoint accuracy. A mobile campaign ensures that advertisers have 100% control over messaging, targeting, testing and reporting. And if you’ve dabbled in direct marketing before, then you know that these four components of running a successful campaign can strain even the biggest advertising budgets.
4. SMS messaging is immediate and direct: by nature of the standard 160 characters, text messages are short and concise. They reach the person that needs the information quickly. And responding to or reading a text message takes only seconds.
5. Text messaging campaigns are available at the “height of interest”: savvy marketers know that it takes massive effort to engage a prospect and the timing must be perfect. A text campaign let’s a mobile subscriber respond at the emotional height of interest, and can be a “make it or break it” moment for conversion.
6. Text message advertising can augment your other marketing efforts: your email marketing, events, websites and really every marketing channel can be leveraging your mobile campaigns. I venture to say your mobile marketing segment will become your company’s most prized segment of all based on what I’ve mentioned above.

Category: Mobile, email marketing, local internet advertising, small business | No Comments »
Tags: Mobile, mobile texting, small business marketing, smart phones