Amazon Tripadvisor and Fake Reviews

ARE REVIEWS IMPORTANT TO YOUR WEBSITE RANKINGS?

I just finished reading the reports on how Amazon and TripAdvisor have paid other companies to post fake reviews to their websites.  If these ONLINE GIANTS ARE WILLING TO FORK OVER BIG BUCKS FOR REVIEWS, IT MUST BE IMPORTANT!!

What about your business on the web? Do you have a place where your satisfied customers can go and rave about your great product or service?  If not maybe you should look into a couple of online search engines and directories which allow for this enchancement to your business listing.

Since GOOGLE is the largest search engine in the world; let's start with them.

Google has a service called Google Places, which allow any small business to create or claim their business listing.

Once you are all set up Google looks at your business and ranks it based on locations and business category. Google uses a ranking called the Local Pack 7 - which means when  a search is done for a product or service; Google returns it's top 7 results on the first page listed as local search results.

Take a Look At this Graphic:



A QUICK SEARCH ON YARD SERVICES IN BELTSVILLE, MD RETURNED ONLY TWO GOOGLE PLACES LISTING.

If you own a lawn service business this is a great opportunity for you to be listed on Google's First Page

Once you get your business listed on Google the real fun begins with asking your satisfied customers to go online and post great reviews about your product or service.  Google loves this and will push your business listing to the top based on how many reviews you have.

Go ahead type in a search term for you business and take a look at the results.  Is your business listed?  If not, get started today!

If you need help in setting up a Google Places Account - Local Business Consulting  offers this service.

Contact Us Today and let us help you STIMULATE YOUR ECONOMY







What Is Organic Traffic?

Organic Does Not Mean Fertilizer

How is everyone on this wonderful Memorial Day?

First let me give a shout out to our veterans who serve all over the world to protect and defend the United States from enemies far and near.  I have two sons in the military and am proud of their service to our country.

When most of us think of organic we think of all the health food proclaiming to be organic this or organic that.

My discussion today will about search engine traffic and what it means when you read or hear about traffic which is organic.

Organic Traffic is when people click on your website without you have to pay for it. This is good news for us small business owners with a very limited advertising budget.

So, then, the question I know you are asking is how do I get organic search traffic.  I am glad you asked.  One of my favorite ways is to make sure I am taking advantage of all the free online business listings that are available.

If you haven't added your business to online directories, here are a few: Just click their links and check them out

Manta

Merchant Circle

Yelp

Localeze

There are literally thousands of them out there - most of them are free with a premium service to those of us who have a little monthly cash to throw their way.

Here is a graph from my Google Analytics Page

Definitions:

 Direct Traffic: Traffic which comes when http://www.localbusinessconsulting.co is typed in the browser or clicked from a link

Referring Sites: This can come from many places and these can be both paid and free ex. I run Facebook Ad and if someone clicks on the ad this is considered a referral. Also is some clicks my link from my Facebook Fanpage this is also considered a referral.

Search Engine: This is the one I really love. Say someone is looking for internet marketing help; They might use this search term in Google and either my website link will show up or my Google Places listing will appear.

Run your own test and put  in a search term which describes your business? Is your company listed?  If so, you are making the right steps to ensure potential customers can find you.

IF NOT? Don't wait! Get started today implementing some of my strategies to get your company listed and found on the internet.

My best and most recommended way to get organic traffic for the local and small business owner is Google Places. Or course, Yahoo and Bing also have local listings for business, but since Google has most of the search traffic; this is the place to start.

If you need a little help and have questions, drop me an email.

For a free internet marketing report and a free consultation on your online marketing needs.