Google Launches Additional Local Search Features

Haven't claimed or listed your business in Google yet? Do it today!
If you aren't there, Google AND your customers won't be able to find you. 90% of Web users go to the Internet to find a LOCAL business; no more phone books. And what about mobile users in your area? Can't find you if you don't create or claim your listing.What's stopping you? It's free! OK, enough lecturing. :-)

Google continues to update the features for local search so that your local business can have a rich listing. Soon they will drill down to search for city pages which is already active for many large cities across the nation. City pages will act as landing pages to help people find businesses within a certain area and category such as restaurant, office supplies, etc. It will be a local search engine for each city.

Additional features that have already been added to Places/Local Listings -

• Descriptive terms in listings:  Places Pages now have additional markup to indicate common feedback in reviews about a business. It's important to get consistent, positive reviews of your business. You don't have any control over what appears under your listing, so if there is negative feedback it could show here along with the positive.
• My Places tab in Maps: People can star and bookmark Place Pages of interest. Having a strong Places Page that stands out will increase your likelihood of getting bookmarked.
• New features in Mobile search: Mobile searches often have a local intent. Icons appear on the bottom of Google.com's mobile page for easy access to Places and for an increased focus on local. A similar interface for tablets should be coming soon. Expect to see more developments, as local and mobile (often referred to as “LoMo”), continue to be an area of high importance for Google.

Read the full article with screenshots of the features above.

Source: Nick Roshon is a natural search strategist at iCrossing (via Google Reader)

Help Your Customers Find You Online

Web site builders and e-commerce services are much more small business-friendly than they used to be. They are readily available, easy and affordable.

One that I use extensively is WordPress, but there are MANY more out there. WordPress was originally started as a blogging platform. They've made it easy to add pages and features to structure your content like a traditional Web site, but the with ease of a blog platform. It's extremely effective as a small business Web site. You have the ability to add, modify and delete pages and content without coding, which is cost-effective and keeps your site's content fresh.

I know for those of you that read regularly, I'm going to sound like a broken record. But the following things bear repeating because they are important and help make your site search engine friendly.

1. Think like your customer.
   - What terms ("keywords") do they use to find you?
   - What are the most common phrases? 
2. Your most important keywords need to be found on your home page - nor more than 2-3. 
3. Use your secondary keywords to link to internal pages, one keyword per page. An internal page should focus on ONLY ONE KEYWORD. If you use too many, you'll only dilute the impact. This confuses the search engines - remember they are trying to figure out what your page is about. Use a secondary keyword on both your home page link and on the internal page.
4. Use your local area name in your keywords - add your city, region, suburban area, etc. to your keywords. Use what's familiar for your customers. You don't need to show in a search result for New York if your business is in New Prague! Examples: antiques new prague, auto repair new prague, czech country bike trails
5. When you add new content to your site, link to it from other places you are on the Web - your Facebook page, LinkedIn profile, Twitter, local listing Web sites, etc. The idea is to increase your "Web presence" or Web footprint.
6. List or claim your local business listing in the major search engines like Google, Yahoo! and Bing. Local listings are dominant in the search results now. These results are also used in mobile phone applications.

Above all, remember that expanding your Web presence (footprint) is a continuing effort. Don't get lost deep in the search results somewhere by continuing the old mindset of "set it and forget it".  Work smarter, not harder.

Ciao for now, Paula