Rise through the ranks: How you can improve your online presence

by charlene_voisin | October 1, 2014 9:00 am

By Steven Domingue

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In the early days of the Internet, there was a land grab within Google search results pages where ranking for generic, high-volume keywords led to riches for some and left countless others scratching their heads. Throughout all this, many businesses with the courage to go all in with organic search engine optimization (SEO) became wildly successful. Fast forward to the present and you’ll find a new frontier in the form of local search, one with less competition and ample opportunity for success.

The local search opportunity

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According to Google, 20 per cent of all searches performed on this site are related to location. This equates to billions of searches each month with local intent, meaning the search either contained geographic modifiers like a city, region, or area code, or the search term displayed an inherent local desire (e.g. Italian restaurants, jewellery store, watch repair shop, etc.).

Every day, people across the world use Internet search more than any other channel to find addresses, phone numbers, products, and services. Consumers are referring to the web more frequently. However, most of the time, they’re looking for information beyond simply a phone number or address. Specifically, they want to know who has the best service, largest selection, friendliest employees, and lowest prices. Further, they want to validate all this with other people’s experiences via comments, ratings, complaints, ‘likes,’ tweets, and photos.

Historically, if you needed a plumber, electrician, mechanic, or jeweller, for instance, you simply asked family and friends who they’ve dealt with—it was the only way to know for sure who you could trust. While word of mouth is still the best form of free advertising, Internet search is a close second. The overabundance of information on the web makes this possible. It’s often easier to Google search a business name or service type and locate 10 legitimate reviews than it is to call people for a recommendation. Each day, more and more people are realizing this. Now is your chance as a business owner to use this to your advantage.

Ranking is everything

Unless you operate in a very small community, you likely have dozens or even hundreds of local competitors. This competition exists in every aspect of your advertising and marketing—search is no different. The typical Google result for a local search features the top seven names or companies, with a handy map of the local geographic area blanketed with red dots that are indicators for the total number of results in the area. If your business does not appear in this list, the odds of anyone finding you diminish greatly. Thankfully, there are many things you can do to get your business listing to appear at or near the top of these results, and it is not as difficult as you might think.

Setting up and verifying your Google business listing

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The first thing you’ll want to focus on is getting your Google+, Bing, and Yahoo local business listings updated and verified. There are a variety of ways to take control of your listings. To set up your Google+ listing, start by entering your business name and location in Google. This typically results in a map listing. From there, you should be able to select the Google+ page link below your business name. Once you’re in, there is a small section near the bottom of the page that reads, “Is this your business?” Clicking “Manage this page” gets you started. If you’re unable to locate an existing page, simply visit Google.com/places and create a listing from there.

When taking the time to verify your Google business listing, there are several things you’ll want to ensure you include. Since Google provides a link to your listing within its map results, be sure to provide as much relevant information as possible about your business. The more quality information you include, the better your chances to rank in the results and ultimately convert a viewer of your page to a customer.

The most critical elements of your business profile include your primary business category, business name, address, phone number, and website URL. However, you should provide much more than that for a truly complete listing. Days and hours of operation, an e-mail address, alternate phone numbers, a fax number, additional categories (when applicable), photos, videos, and an introduction of your business, are all available fields. These should be filled out completely if you have valid information to put there. Let’s look at each separately.

Business category

When selecting categories, you’ll have the option of a single ‘primary’ category, as well as up to nine secondary options. If you’re a full-service jewellery store, your primary category should be ‘jewellery store,’ with secondary categories describing the services you offer. Google offers an in-depth list of default categories related to jewellery that appear as soon as you start typing keywords. It is highly recommended you use the categories Google provides for the best results.

Business name

This should reflect your business’s real-world title. Nothing more, nothing less.

Address

If your business address has a suite number within a physical location, include this information in the second address field to observe proper formatting. If you service a larger area outside your city of address, you may want to select, “I deliver goods and services to my customers at their location.” This allows you to designate a specific radius from your location to target. Alternatively, you can select specific cities or postal codes in surrounding areas.

Phone number

The use of local phone numbers with an area code is highly recommended. If you have a toll-free number, it should be used as your secondary phone number.

Website URL

Include your main website URL and make sure your address information and phone number appear on your page.

Additional information

The ‘introduction’ field offers another opportunity to provide information about your business beyond the use of categories. This is your chance to brag about yourself and sell visitors on why they should choose your store. If you perform services like CAD design or offer specific high-end brands, you should mention them. If you’re a member of the local chamber of commerce, Better Business Bureau, or a jewellery trade association, this is a great place to highlight those things.

Once you have filled out your profile completely, submit it for verification. Google will mail a physical postcard to the business address you provided. This postcard contains a PIN you will need to complete the verification process. Once you receive your postcard, sign in to your Google account to input the PIN and finalize your verified listing.

Beyond your Google listing

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Getting your business information verified in Google is a great first step toward better rankings, but if you really want to outperform your competition, you’ll want to repeat that process with Bing, Yahoo, and a host of other similar websites. While Google owns the lion’s share of the search market (67.6 per cent), Bing and Yahoo (at 18.7 per cent and 10 per cent, respectively) still represent hundreds of millions of searches per month.

The next key step is to provide search engines with multiple validation points of the data you have submitted. You’ll do this by building ‘citations.’ Each instance of your business information appearing across the web is considered a citation. The more citations you have from a wide variety of relevant and reputable sources, the better chance you have to rank well in local search results.

So, where does Google seek additional validation of your business information? The short answer is everywhere. When it comes to business information, the Internet is filled with national, local, and industry/niche directories, review websites, Internet yellow pages, social media platforms, and business data aggregators. Search engines scan these websites to confirm information you’ve provided, or use it to populate their own database. It is worth your time as a business owner to visit these types of websites and take control of your information to ensure it matches exactly what you’ve submitted to Google, Bing, and Yahoo.

Here’s a short list of Canada-specific websites you should consider getting listed on or validating existing information:

• Yellow Pages Group—YellowPages.ca[5];
• Industry Canada—ic.gc.ca[6];
• 411.ca;
• ShopinCanada.com[7];
• Canpages.ca[8];
• “¨HotFrog.ca[9]; and
• Weblocal.ca[10].

The following websites are also highly trusted sources of information for search engines and valuable places to submit your business information:

• Yelp.com[11];
• Facebook.com[12];
• Foursquare.com[13];
• Citysearch.com[14]; and
• Bbb.org[15].

One very helpful resource worth mentioning is the Whitespark Local Citation Finder (lcf.whitespark.ca[16]). This tool provides you with a list of citation opportunities across the web based on the keywords for which you’re trying to rank. There’s a free page that limits what you can see, while a paid version supplies you with a comprehensive list of targets for citation gathering. It’s not totally necessary to spend money on this, but if you want to get serious about building more citations, a tool like this can make the job much easier.

Here’s a tip: When submitting your business listing to websites, directories, or review sites, make sure your business name, address, and phone number match exactly what you have provided to search engines right down to the smallest detail (e.g. using Suite #245 in one listing versus Ste. 245 in another). Keep in mind a search engine is just a computer and it takes all information it scans literally. If it finds multiple versions of your business information with even the most subtle differences, it could negatively affect your ability to rank near the top.

Customer reviews and social media—boost rankings and trust

One of the most beneficial things you can do for your business is to build up your customer reviews and social media presence across the web. Doing so improves your ability to rank locally, while also providing endorsements of your business to would-be customers by the local community.

Building customer reviews and social media followers may seem like a difficult thing to do, however, there are simple ways to go about this and be very effective.

• “¨At closing—If you have just made a sale, hand out business cards with callouts on the back to review your store on Google+ and Yelp, along with following you on Twitter and Facebook. You’d be surprised how well this works.
• E-mail—Follow up recent purchases with a thank you e-mail to the customer. Encourage them to review their experience in your store. Don’t forget to imbed links in your message to your social media pages to give them easy access to your profiles.
• Social media—Anyone already following you on Facebook or Twitter is a prime candidate for reviewing your business online. Just ask!

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Be sure to spread the wealth when it comes to building up reviews. Google+ reviews are the only ones that show up in Google search results pages, so you’ll want to make sure your listing stands out by getting as many as you can. Reviews from Yelp now show up in Yahoo results, and they’re quite beneficial for times when customers are doing serious research about your store.

Monitoring these pages for new reviews is something you should do regularly. Nothing is more detrimental to your online reputation than a negative review that has been missed or ignored. If someone leaves a nasty review, respond publicly and resolve the situation. Google and Yelp display your responses as officially coming from the store owner if you’ve taken the time to verify ownership of your listing. Responding publicly shows potential customers you stand behind your work and are willing to rectify any unfortunate mishaps. This goes a long way toward establishing integrity in the eyes of the consumer.

In the coming years, Internet search will become even more engrained in our everyday lives—we’ll rely on it for things we can’t possibly imagine yet. As more and more consumers flock to the web for all phases of the buying cycle, getting ahead of your local competition in the realm of search is going to be critical to your business’s success.

It’s time to take control of your online business presence. You either care or you don’t. No doubt, implementing the tips and suggestions discussed here will absolutely take time, but they don’t have to cost anything other than that. The benefits of improving your online presence can outweigh the costs. According to Google, 97 per cent of consumers search for local businesses online. If they can’t find you, you may be missing out on loads of potential new customers. Can you afford to?

Steven Domingue is director of e-commerce at Stuller, Inc., a Louisiana-based jewellery manufacturer and distributor of jewellery supplies. He has six-plus years’ experience with Internet marketing and local search stemming from his prior position as marketing manager at a prominent web design and marketing agency. Domingue can be reached at steven_domingue@stuller.com[18] or (337) 262-7700 ext. 3558.

Source URL: https://www.jewellerybusiness.com/features/rise-through-the-ranks-how-you-can-improve-your-online-presence/

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