Are you listed?
- Lisa Dubino
- Apr 10, 2015
- 3 min read
Remember the days of reaching for the Yellow Pages to find a local business? Is it even still printed?? More than likely, if you’re looking for something you google it. And yes, “google” is now officially a verb. As a business owner, it’s a good practice to do a search on your business name periodically. And it’s not about merely checking for the correct spelling, address, hours, links, and photos. The most important reason is to check is for a review. From a 2013 survey from Zendesk, 90% of participants claimed that positive online reviews influenced their buying decision, and 86% said their decision was influenced by negative reviews. As stated in this Forbes article, “These days, a Google review can shape your business far more than a Google Ad.” And while reviews sites are intertwined with online directories, for now I’ll focus on the basics of being found online. The first place you need to be, and hopefully already have a presence, is Facebook. Facebook, at last count, has 1.393 billion monthly active users, 945 million mobile users, and 757 million daily users. So even if you might be thinking that your 15 year old daughter says “no one’s on Facebook anymore,” keep in mind the source. It may not be as visible for reviews as Google is right now, but I predict it will pick up in momentum soon enough, and the other social network sites will follow along. Everyone, and more significantly in the case of reviews, and their friend, is on Facebook. A review on a social network is arguably the most credible. Next up is Yelp. You’re probably already listed but with 42 million reviews of local businesses collected over the last 10 years, it’s a good idea to keep an active presence for your business. Yelp requires that you verify your account with your business phone, so be ready for the call after you enter all your info. And add pictures because image is everything. Photos might even help distract from a bad review. And then, in order of priority, are the top three business directory sites that you should take the time to claim, meaning set up a username and password. The trick is that you have to be by your business phone to verify when you’re done. And if you don’t get it right the first time, it seems to get progressively more painful to set up. 1. Google My Business: Without a doubt this is the most important site to be on with 67% of the market share for search (from October 2014.) After all, google is now its own verb - we don’t say, using an example of a competitor, “Let me ‘bing’ that.” Google My Business puts your business info on Search, Maps and Google+ so that customers can find you, no matter what device they're using. It also ties in with Google AdWords, which can be linked to your Google analytics account; Google+ for posts, media, and reviews; and Hangout which is great for conferencing. It’s all there in one place. 2. Bing Places for Business: Same idea as Google My Business. But with only 19.5% of the market share, just be sure you’re listed correctly. 3. Yahoo Local Listing: Ditto, with 10% of the market share. Other sites that are worth claiming are Citysearch, YellowPages, Merchant Circle, Insider Pages, Angie’s List, Foursquare, and local.com. There are so many more and they move up and down the list in popularity, so if your business has its own niche, go with it. Also, Foursquare appears to be ramping up its approach in an attempt to compete with Yelp, so it might be worth paying more attention to.
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“Marketing Consultant Lisa Dubino offers affordable marketing solutions to local businesses. For the best way to stay in the know, go to http://www.gosocialdigital.com.“
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