Local SEO Tactics and Digital Marketing Strategies

The Importance of Using Google Questions and Answers on Google Maps and Your GMB Listings

Have you heard of or viewed the Google Questions and Answers area in your Google My Business listing?  This is an area you should be paying attention to!  Anyone with an active Google account can post a question about your business.  Additionally, anyone can also answer that question!  This is pretty cool, but also pretty scary from the standpoint of the business.  Learn how to monitor Google Q&A, how to answer questions in Google Maps via the Q&A area, and how to leverage this to enhance your online exposure.  Learn how to take control of the questions, how to have the best answers, and how to make sure your business content is in your own control.

What You’ll Learn

• What is the Google Question & Answer feature in the Google My Business listing area
• Anybody with a Google account can ask a question about your business
• Anybody with a Google account can answer a question about your business
• It's possible for people outside of your business to provide price quotes and answer information about pricing
• There can be multiple answers to any question on Google Questions and Answers about your business
• If you are registered as the owner of the business, when you answer a question it is tagged with "Business Owner" so the public can distinguish your reply
• All answers can be upvoted and the answer with the most upvotes will be the answer that is shown for the question
• Make sure you monitor the questions that are being asked on your GMB so you can provide answers to them
• You can check to see if you have new questions by going through your GMB listing by clicking the "view in search" or "view in maps" links
• Leave answers as fast as possible to answer the customers questions and to be the first answer provided
• Upvote your own answers right away and ask others you know to upvote your answers too
• Ask your own questions so you can get the information you want up in the Q&A section
• You can answer your own questions too, to make it a very good FAQ type of area in your GMB

 

View the show notes, resource links, episode transcript, and watch the video version at https://www.localseotactics.com/episode33

Reasons Your GMB List Can Get Suspended and How You Can Get Your Listing Unsuspended You definitely do not want to get your Google My Business page suspended, since your GMB listing is such a crucial part of ranking high in Google for many popular local search terms. However, if your GMB got suspended, there is hope! In our first "Beer Friday" episode we'll discuss GMB suspensions, the reasons for getting suspended, and how you can get reinstated using the Google local businesses reinstatement requests. We'll also drink a beer. Cheers! What You'll Learn

• First Beer Friday episode - where we drink beer and talk SEO
• Beer is from Bald Man Brewing in Eagan, MN
• Reasons why your Google My Business listing can get suspended
• How to get your GMB listing reinstated if it gets suspended
• One of the more common reasons for getting your GMB suspended is because you check the box that says you have a storefront and serve customers at your location, when you do not have actually have a store front
• If your business category is one that Google considers risky, such as locksmiths or criminal lawyers
• If you deal with regulated goods, such as firearms, pharmaceuticals, or other controlled items
• Your Google My Business listing can be suspended for having multiple listings for the same business
• A good way to double check and see if you have duplicate Google My Business listings is to do a Google search on your address in Google Maps
• If you find a duplicate listing, and it's not currently claimed by you, you can claim it and then mark it as a duplicate or as closed
• Your can get a GMB suspended if you have incorrect information on your listing
• If you try and use keywords in your GMB business name, you run a high risk of getting your listing suspended
• If you make too many changes to the primary business info fields, such as your name, address, or phone number, you can get suspended
• Having a fake web address or a redirected website address listed on your GMB can get your GMB suspended
• If you have multiple business locations, you can get suspended for overlapping your service areas on multiple GMB listings
• If you do get your GMB listing suspended, it is possible to get your GMB reinstated by following the reinstatement process from Google
• It usually takes 24-72 hours for Google to respond to your reinstatement request
• If you don't get reinstated, you can try it again
• You can also send a Tweet to Google for questions or problems with your GMB
• Your individual GMB listing can get suspended, or even worse, your entire GMB account (and all listings) can get suspended

View the show notes, resource links, episode transcript, and watch the video version at https://www.localseotactics.com/episode32

Reasons Your GMB List Can Get Suspended and How You Can Get Your Listing Unsuspended   You definitely do not want to get your Google My Business page suspended, since your GMB listing is such a crucial part of ranking high in Google for many popular local search terms.  However, if your GMB got suspended, there is hope!  In our first "Beer Friday" episode we'll discuss GMB suspensions, the reasons for getting suspended, and how you can get reinstated using the Google local businesses reinstatement requests.  We'll also drink a beer. Cheers!   What You’ll Learn

• First Beer Friday episode - where we drink beer and talk SEO
• Beer is from Bald Man Brewing in Eagan, MN
• Reasons why your Google My Business listing can get suspended
• How to get your GMB listing reinstated if it gets suspended
• One of the more common reasons for getting your GMB suspended is because you check the box that says you have a storefront and serve customers at your location, when you do not have actually have a store front
• If your business category is one that Google considers risky, such as locksmiths or criminal lawyers
• If you deal with regulated goods, such as firearms, pharmaceuticals, or other controlled items
• Your Google My Business listing can be suspended for having multiple listings for the same business
• A good way to double check and see if you have duplicate Google My Business listings is to do a Google search on your address in Google Maps
• If you find a duplicate listing, and it's not currently claimed by you, you can claim it and then mark it as a duplicate or as closed
• Your can get a GMB suspended if you have incorrect information on your listing
• If you try and use keywords in your GMB business name, you run a high risk of getting your listing suspended
• If you make too many changes to the primary business info fields, such as your name, address, or phone number, you can get suspended
• Having a fake web address or a redirected website address listed on your GMB can get your GMB suspended
• If you have multiple business locations, you can get suspended for overlapping your service areas on multiple GMB listings
• If you do get your GMB listing suspended, it is possible to get your GMB reinstated by following the reinstatement process from Google
• It usually takes 24-72 hours for Google to respond to your reinstatement request
• If you don't get reinstated, you can try it again
• You can also send a Tweet to Google for questions or problems with your GMB
• Your individual GMB listing can get suspended, or even worse, your entire GMB account (and all listings) can get suspended

View the show notes, resource links, episode transcript, and watch the video version at https://www.localseotactics.com/episode32

Improve The Speed Of Your Website To Rank Higher In Google Searches And Get More New Customers

Website speed is a ranking factor, for Google. It's official, Google has confirmed it! So, if you're not paying attention to how fast your website is, then you're completely ignoring something that can easily help your Google rankings! In this episode we dig into what can cause your website to slow down, how to test the speed of your website, how to identify exactly how long each element of your website takes to load, and best practices you can implement to maintain a fast website today, as well as into the future.

View the show notes, resource links, episode transcript, and watch the video version at https://www.localseotactics.com/episode31

Improve The Speed Of Your Website To Rank Higher In Google Searches And Get More New Customers

Website speed is a ranking factor, for Google.  It's official, Google has confirmed it!  So, if you're not paying attention to how fast your website is, then you're completely ignoring something that can easily help your Google rankings!  In this episode we dig into what can cause your website to slow down, how to test the speed of your website, how to identify exactly how long each element of your website takes to load, and best practices you can implement to maintain a fast website today, as well as into the future.

View the show notes, resource links, episode transcript, and watch the video version at https://www.localseotactics.com/episode31

How To Survive As Local Business For Over 20 Years By Embracing New Marketing Strategies

You know Bob Brennan as the co-host to Local SEO Tactics. What many don't know is Bob's history as a successful brick-and-mortar business owner over the last 20+ years. For episode 30 of Local SEO Tactics, Jesse interviews Bob Brennan, discussing what it takes to survive as a business for over 20 years, and how continuing to seek out and embrace new marketing technologies can help grow your small business.

What You'll Learn

• Insights into what it takes to persevere in small business with an ever changing marketing landscape
• How inbound or "pull" marketing is so much more powerful and outbound or "push marketing
• Contrasting the traditional marketing techniques like direct mail, versus newer digital methods
• Focusing on SEO and digital marketing costs substantially less than cold calling, direct mail, and appointment setting
• Business owners need to shift their marketing to become a "service based business"
• Using digital marketing allows for very low cost test marketing to see if your ideas will fly or not
• It's much easier for a local small business to open an online store with today's eCommerce technology
• Local businesses can leverage technology to provide value and services that competitors are not
• What are the basic inbound marketing metrics that a business owner can easily pay attention to
• Developing a customer service script can help your team to convert more first time callers into customers
• Make sure you are researching your competitors to see what they are offering and how they handle new customers

View the show notes, resource links, episode transcript, and watch the video version at https://www.localseotactics.com/episode30

How To Survive As Local Business For Over 20 Years By Embracing New Marketing Strategies

You know Bob Brennan as the co-host to Local SEO Tactics.  What many don't know is Bob's history as a successful brick-and-mortar business owner over the last 20+ years.  For episode 30 of Local SEO Tactics, Jesse interviews Bob Brennan, discussing what it takes to survive as a business for over 20 years, and how continuing to seek out and embrace new marketing technologies can help grow your small business.

What You’ll Learn

• Insights into what it takes to persevere in small business with an ever changing marketing landscape
• How inbound or "pull" marketing is so much more powerful and outbound or "push marketing
• Contrasting the traditional marketing techniques like direct mail, versus newer digital methods
• Focusing on SEO and digital marketing costs substantially less than cold calling, direct mail, and appointment setting
• Business owners need to shift their marketing to become a "service based business"
• Using digital marketing allows for very low cost test marketing to see if your ideas will fly or not
• It's much easier for a local small business to open an online store with today's eCommerce technology
• Local businesses can leverage technology to provide value and services that competitors are not
• What are the basic inbound marketing metrics that a business owner can easily pay attention to
• Developing a customer service script can help your team to convert more first time callers into customers
• Make sure you are researching your competitors to see what they are offering and how they handle new customers

View the show notes, resource links, episode transcript, and watch the video version at https://www.localseotactics.com/episode30

Understand When The Google Map Pack Shows Up and How To Get Your Website Ranked In The Map Pack

We're all familiar with the Google Map Pack, right? Google map pack is the general term used to describe the location based results you see on a Google search results page, where it lists local businesses and identifies their location on a map with little place marker icons. Well, if you want your business to get in front of new customers, you need to be ranking in the Google map pack! In this episode we'll talk about how to determine which keywords will trigger that map pack to show up (not all will). We'll also dig into how you can optimize your website for the keywords that trigger the map pack, to make sure you are showing up here for local searches!

What You'll Learn

• You need to be in the Google map pack if you want to be found for local search results on Google
• The Google map pack is group of businesses that appear in a box at the top of the search results page
• The map pack does not show up for every search term you want to target
• You need to find out which search terms the map pack is showing up for, and optimize for those keywords
• Find the qualifier and superlative keywords that you can add to your services to trigger the map pack to show up
• You need to have a Google My Business listing to show up in the Google map pack search results
• Be sure to do Google searches from multiple IP's and from multiple physical locations to understand the differences by location

View the show notes, resource links, episode transcript, and watch the video version at https://www.localseotactics.com/episode29

Understand When The Google Map Pack Shows Up and How To Get Your Website Ranked In The Map Pack

We're all familiar with the Google Map Pack, right?  Google map pack is the general term used to describe the location based results you see on a Google search results page, where it lists local businesses and identifies their location on a map with little place marker icons.  Well, if you want your business to get in front of new customers, you need to be ranking in the Google map pack!  In this episode we'll talk about how to determine which keywords will trigger that map pack to show up (not all will).  We'll also dig into how you can optimize your website for the keywords that trigger the map pack, to make sure you are showing up here for local searches!

What You’ll Learn

• You need to be in the Google map pack if you want to be found for local search results on Google
• The Google map pack is group of businesses that appear in a box at the top of the search results page
• The map pack does not show up for every search term you want to target
• You need to find out which search terms the map pack is showing up for, and optimize for those keywords
• Find the qualifier and superlative keywords that you can add to your services to trigger the map pack to show up
• You need to have a Google My Business listing to show up in the Google map pack search results
• Be sure to do Google searches from multiple IP's and from multiple physical locations to understand the differences by location

 

View the show notes, resource links, episode transcript, and watch the video version at https://www.localseotactics.com/episode29

Discover The Easy But Hidden Way To Engage With More Customers And Get Ahead Of Your Competition We've noticed a shift happening - customers are contacting businesses more and more with instant messaging, SMS text messages, and emails, and less with phone calls than they used to. This is great, but it comes with a catch! It's super easy to know when your phone is ringing...but how do you know if you have a new message on Yelp, Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, LinkedIn, or any other 3rd party messaging platform? Don't let these customer inquiries slip through the cracks! In this weeks episode we share some tips and tricks to quickly engage with these customers, and win the sales that your competition is missing out on! What You'll Learn

• There is a rise in the ratio of non-phone call communications for customer contact from websites
• Phone calls remain the most popular method of contacting local companies for service requests
• Often times businesses are slower to reply to emails than they are in handling phone calls
• Customers can easily contact many businesses via email in short order
• If you can promptly reply to emails, you will stand out above the competition
• Customers can also contact you via Yelp, Facebook, Twitter, and other 3rd party messaging methods
• You can use screen recording apps (like Loom) to record a message, and link to it in your message replies
• Many customers choose messaging over a phone call so they can have a one-way conversation and avoid talking to a salesperson
• Strategically reply to messaging with smart and informative answers, communicating your points where relevant
• Emails and messages are easily shared by customers, so your replies should take that into consideration
• Instant messages are much more intimate and less likely to get lost in the shuffle, compared to emails or phone calls
• Messaging platforms like Yelp and Facebook will display your response (reply) time - a slow response time can turn customers away, and a fast response can gain you new customers
• Find all your communication inputs and understand how and where you are getting new leads from
• Use Google My Business to enable messaging (SMS) direct from your GMB listing
• Use Twilio or Intrycks Call Tracking to integrate SMS on your business phone numbers
• Integrate a live chat feature on your website to provide easy and immediate customer interactions
• Make sure you have a quote form or contact form on your website that is easy to find and easy to use

View the show notes, resource links, episode transcript, and watch the video version at https://www.localseotactics.com/episode28