Miami Internet Marketing | SEO | Josh Nelson

Are you a South Florida business owner that is looking to learn more about internet marketing & to increase your presence online?  Then you have come to the right place. My name is Josh Nelson & I am an internet marketing consultant serving the South Florida Area (Miami, Fort Lauderdale & The Palm Beaches). Here at my website you will find valuable information about Internet Marketing as it relates to LOCAL BUSINESS. As you have probably already experienced, there is a TON of information online about “internet marketing” but very little of it pertains specifically to “local business”.  This site is dedicated to internet marketing as it relates to local businesses here in the Miami, Fort Lauderdale & Palm Beach area.Here you will find step-by-step strategies & tactics that you can implement immediately to improve your online presence and start to dominate the South Florida market for what you do.  The first resource I recommend you review is “The Ultimate Online Marketing Checklist For Local Business”. It takes you through what I feel are the most important things that you should do immediately that will have the biggest impact on your local presence online. You should also check out my post titled SEO Strategies for Local Business.

If you’d like to learn more about me and my roll as an internet marketing consultant just click here to learn more. Or better yet, call me directly at 786-325-6761 to schedule a free one-on-one consultation.

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Google is now allowing business owners to purchase a “Google Tag” for their map listing. This Tag helps to make your map listing stand out on the page. Below is an example of a Google Tag listing & how it appears in the search results:

The cost for this Tag is just $25 per month. As far as I am concerned, that is a small price to pay to differentiate your listing. You have the option to promote a specific feature of your place listing with this tag:

• Photos of your business
• Videos of your business
• Coupons for your listing
• Menu for your restaurant
• Reservations page for your business
• Posts for your business

Some of the benefits of a Tag Listing are:

• Easily and inexpensively highlight your listing on Google from Google Places.
• Potential customers in your local area will see what you think is most important or unique about your business.
• Track the effectiveness of your tag with your Google Places dashboard.
• You will be charged a low $25 flat monthly fee, with no bids and no keywords required.
• There is no additional work or ongoing management is needed.

To add a Tag to your listing, you just need to log into your Google Places account www.google.com/places and click “add a tag”.

If you haven’t already claimed your Google Places Map Listing click here for a Step-By-Step Guide To Claiming Your Google Map Listing.

As an Internet Marketing Consultant I help South Florida Businesses evaluate their marketing strategy as a whole and implement online marketing initiatives that drive increased sales activity and revenue.

You can reach me directly at 786-325-6761 or via email josh@joshnelsonimc.com.

1. Go to http://www.Google.com/places

2. Click on Create an account or Log-in using your Google Username & Password

3. Enter all of the necessary contact information

4. Then click on “List your business”

5. Enter your phone number so that Google can determine if you already exist in their database

6. If your company comes up, click “Edit” if it doesn’t, click “Add New Listing”

7. Fill in all of the necessary information

• Update Your Company Name to Read “Company Name – Core City + Main Service) – E.G. Heights Roofing – Miami Roofing Contractor” E.G. Reserve Dental Group – Boca Raton Dentist”
• Add your Website Address – This will create an important inbound link
• Upload PHOTOS – AS MANY AS POSSIBLE – Use personal Photos – Pictures of yourself (the owner), Pictures of Your Staff, Pictures of the Office, Pictures of Your Trucks, Your Logo, Coupons, Pictures of your work. People Connect & Resonate With People. Leverage that in your Map Listing
• Upload a Video if you have one (If you don’t – Get one made!)
• List your hours of operation & services offered

Press Submit

8. You will be asked how you want to confirm your listing – via Phone or Postcard.

• ALWAYS CHOOSE PHONE. It is much faster & will ensure that your complete the process
• The Postcard Option takes 2-3 weeks

 9. You will receive a call from Google’s automated system immediately. The automated system will provide you with a 5 digit code

• Make sure you or someone is available to answer the Office Line listed in your map listing.

10. Enter that code on the next screen & press “GO” in order to activate your listing

You will see a confirmation page indicating that you have successfully activated your listing.

That’s it! You have completed the 10 steps to claiming & setting up your Google Map listing on Google Places.

Here is what your Google Places Account Admin Area will look like once you are complete:

Here you will be able to edit your listing, add a coupon & check our your Google Places Page Stats 

• How many people are pulling up your Google Places Page
• What are they searching to get to you
• How many of them are clicking to your site, etc

Here is what you Google Map Listing will look like on Google once you are Complete

• Look for the “Business Owner Verified” check box in the top right corner
• GET REVIEWS – Getting reviews has been proven to increase placement in the map listing

Feel free to give me a call at 786-325-6761 or shoot me an email at josh@joshnelsonimc.com if you get stuck of if you have any questions. You can learn more about my Local SEO Strategies by clicing here.

Now that you have claimed your Local Business Listing on Google, Yahoo & Bing (click here if you haven’t) you need to take additional steps to improve your placement on the maps in your area.

• Establish a Consistent NAP – You need to establish a consistent NAP (Name Address & Phone Number) across the web on your website as well as on the major Data Providers (InfoUSA, Super Pages, Yelp, City Search, etc).
  • Consistent Name – Pick the format for your name & stick with it. E.G. Tiger Team Roofing not Tiger Team & Sons Roofing.
  • Consistent Address – If your address is 1267 SW 29 St, Suite 10 you want to be sure that it reads that exact way on and not 1267 SW 29 St #10.
  • Consistent Phone Number – You want to you the same number on each of these sites (if you don’t, it will hurt you).
  • Some of the Data Provider listings that you want to be sure that you are in include:
    • InfoUsa
    • Yelp
    • City Search
    • Super Pages
    • Insider Pages
• Get Reviews – Reviews are a key determinant of placement within the Map Listings.
  • The number of reviews of your local listing is a key determinant in placement.
  • As a practice, you need to request reviews from your customers in order to get them. A strategy that we use takes a three pronged approach:
    • Send an initial email to your client database asking them to write a review of your company on Google and provide them with the URL to your Google Places page.
    • Keep an open ear for Happy Customers and ask them if they would be willing to write a review. If so, get their email at that moment and let them know that you will be sending them an email with the link to write the review.
    • Have a “Review Us” card printed and give it to your customers after service.
• Build out your Places Page – You have the option to upload photos, videos & coupons.
  • Fill your Places page with Quality Content. Add all 10 photos with pictures of the office, pictures of the staff, your logo, pictures of your coupons / special offers, pictures of your trucks & equipment, etc.
  • Upload a video or two. These videos don’t necessarily need to be High Definition or Professionally Produced. Break out your digital video camera or even your iPhone and take a few choice shots. Record yourself (the owner or manager) explaining who the company is, what you do, and what your unique selling proposition is.
• Select the Right Categories – You have the option to choose upto 5 categories. It is very important to select the appropriate categories and/or add new custom categories as needed.
• Increase your Citations – All things being equal, Citations are a key determinant of placement. Just like in SEO where in-bound links determine placement with Local Listings citations determine placement. He who has the most quality citations wins.
  • Citations or listings across the web that contain your NAP (Name Address & Phone Number) with or without a link.
  • In order to build up your citations:
    • Add yourself to the local directory sites where you are not currently listed.
      • InfoUsa
      • Yelp
      • City Search
      • Super Pages
      • Insider Pages
      • Search for “your industry, Directory”
      • Search “Your City, Direcotry”
    • Look at the listings of the people who have Spot A, B & C on the Map for your services and look that their citations. In many cases you can go out and get those same citations!

As an internet marketing consultant I help South Florida Businesses evaluate their marketing strategy as a whole and implement online marketing initiatives that drive increased sales activity and revenue.

You can reach me directly at 786-325-6761 or via email josh@joshnelsonimc.com.

If you have a WordPress blog or are thinking of setting one up, here are some things that you will want to do to maximize its SEO Effectiveness:

• Install the “All-In-One SEO” Plug-in
  • This Plug-In is great for ensuring that you have updated your Title Tag, Meta Discription & Meta Tags on each Page & Each Post.
• Use a unique Post Title & Title Tag for each of your posts
• Update Permalinks to “%postname%
  • This will change the URL for each of your pages from www.yoursite.com/p-122 for example to www.yoursite.com/post-name
  • This is much more Search Engine Friendly and will give you a slight boost from an SEO perspective going forward
  • To do this go to Settings>permalinks>custom and enter “%postname%”
• Update your “Footer File” to include anchor text on each page / post that will point back to your home page.
  • E.G. Miami Internet Marketing. This anchor text “Miami Internet Marketing” is pointing to my URL www.joshnelsonimc.com. You should add this type of anchor text to your footer file. Pick the keyword that you are optimizing for and add it to the footer.
• Install the “Database Backup” plug-in  it will automatically backup your WordPress Database and email it to you weekly. This is a really easy way to prevent all of your hard work from being lost inadvertently down the road
  • To do this go to Appearance>Plug-ins>Add New and then search “WP-DB-Backup” and then click the “Install” link
  • Then click on the Settings & Schedule a Weekly Backup to be emailed weekly

To learn more about my strategies for Local SEO click here.

Give me a call or shoot me an email if you have any questions. You can email me at josh@joshnelsonimc.com or call me directly at 786-325-6761.