Miami Internet Marketing | SEO | Josh Nelson

Below you will find a step-by-step guide for checking, claiming & managing your Local Business Listings on Google, Yahoo & Bing.

Step 1: Go to www.getlisted.org

Step 2: Enter your company name and address.

Step 3: Check to See if your listings are active & if you have claimed them or not:

Step 4: Click on the Listings that you have not claimed and CLAIM THEM:

Step 5: Claiming your Google Listing:

Just follow the instructions from there. I would encourage you to add as much detail and multi-media as possible. Where they ask for pictures & videos – upload them! Add your hours of operation, contact info, payment options, etc.

***NOTE: You will get to a page that asks, would you like to confirm your listing via Phone or Mail. Choose the “Phone Option”. When you do it this way you will recieve a call from Google’s automated system with your PIN. It makes claiming your listing much faster.

Here is what your Local Listing will look like once it is claimed:

To learn about how to Improve Your Placement on the Google Map click here. 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.

The Ultimate Online Marketing Checklist for LOCAL Business

Online Marketing, the practice of promoting your products and services via the Internet is a comprehensive topic that covers Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Search Engine Marketing (SEM), Social Media, Online Video and many other avenues for exposure. With all of the information available about Internet Marketing it can be very difficult figure out where to start and what things you can do that will actually have an impact on your online marketing efforts as it relates to your local business. To help you get started I have put together a checklist of what I feel are the most imperative things you can do that will have the quickest and most tangible impact on your visibility online for your local business.

• Claim your local listings on the major sites (Google, Yahoo, Bing, Yelp, 4Squared, Best of the Web, City Search, Angie’s List).
• Set up a fan page on Facebook and a Twitter Account.
• Set up a blog on your site (www.your site.com/blog) and create a new post for each of your most frequently asked questions. ***Tip – push those posts out via your Facebook & Twitter account.
• Update the “title tag” on each of your website pages & make each title unique. ****Tip – use localized / keyword rich titles (E.G. “Miami Body Shop – Jorge’s Body Shop”, “Fort Lauderdale Roofer – Academy Roofing”). Click here to learn more about my SEO Strategies for Local Business.
• Make sure that your full company name and address are listed at the bottom of each page of your site along with a “text link” navigation structure.
• Create a simple video about your services & upload it to YouTube. *** Tip – Title the YouTube Video with those same localized / keyword rich keywords.
• Get Links! Be sure that you have a link to your site from any and all associations that you belong to (E.G. Trade Association, Chamber of Commerce, Networking Groups, etc).
• Set up a pay-per-click account on the major search engines (Google, Yahoo, Bing).

If you take care of these simple items your local presence will be more optimized than 99% of the sites in your market and you will start to see Your Company dominate the web in your area for what you do. If you would like to learn more about my SEO Strategies for Local Business click here.

Of course, if you need help or have any questions you can give me a call any time 786-325-6761.

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.