The Importance of Local Online Reviews

As a local small business, it is extremely important to be found locally online! There are many ways you can set up to be found (using keywords on your website, setting up your local listings, having social media, ect.), but what separates you from your competitors? 

Ratings and reviews on your Local listings (Google+ Local, Yelp, ect.) are a huge factor not only because they look good upon your company but they also help your ranking in local searches. Google recently updated their local maps search (both on their Mobile app and maps.google.com) to feature ratings and reviews more prominently. Now you can search based on "top reviewers" for your search or view based on "your circles'" reviews (showing info from your Google+ friends’ recommendations). 

This update has made reviews much more important on local SEO as people use these search options as a way to make quick decisions for a visit or purchase. Furthermore, the new Google Maps "features tour" flat out says that your search on maps will help you find the “highest-rated” businesses near you! 

A study done by BrightLocal (and quoted by Search Engine Land) found that "73% of consumers say positive customer reviews make them trust a business more (up from 58% in 2012)." Consumers are using reviews let's get out there and show them why they should contact our small business! 

Skol! 
Marty McTigue


Additional Sources:
http://www.bruceclay.com/blog/local-businesses-need-reviews-12-seo-approved-ways-get/
https://www.yahoo.com/tech/the-5-awesome-new-features-of-the-latest-google-maps-84933637494.html
https://plus.google.com/events/c6p2nlmujm1i7h3tmddadmvf2ko

Don't Let Your Company Facebook Page Become a Ghost Town

If your company is like most companies out there, it likely has a Facebook page set up (If not, Click Here and follow the instructions on Facebook). It is not uncommon to have created a Facebook page for your business. This can be a great place to start if you are a local business without a website. But what happens after you create it? Many businesses start it, maybe write a brief description but then they let it sit and never touch it again. 

Facebook, like other social media, is a place to build your brand. If a customer visits a brand page do you want it to be completely empty, no information about your company or posts reflecting your business? Hopeful your answer is NO! If I visit a company Facebook page and they have never posted or haven't in the last 6 months I immediately lose interest. 

With this in mind, it is important to post throughout the week and update with current content. By keeping the content fresh on your page you maintain your brand and will feel comfortable sending fans to the page. It can be a commitment but it will help your overall online presences and strengthen your brand! 

I know, you might be thinking "I don't have time to manage this." Don't let your company Facebook page become a ghost town! Send me an email (Here) and we can talk further about our cost effective options available to manage your social media.

Marty McTigue

Skol Marketing

The Importance of Video Content

If a picture is worth 1000 words what does that make a video? If done well a video can show who you are and how you can help your customers. Think of that statement, your customers will already know who you are and what you do? I know, sounds great!

Video can do a lot for you and even help you get found online. YouTube is the second largest search engine only to it's owner, Google. You might say that your business is not a video friendly business. If a kid singing Numa Numa is on YouTube you are likely more worthy of it. Think of it this way, if you are not on YouTube you are not connected to the second most searched platform in the world. Your video does not have to be high production quality as long as the message is displayed it will help you get found. So grab your video camera or smart phone and take your first video!

For information on setting up your YouTube page or to get in touch with a "Video Guy" contact me at marty@skolmarketing.com!

Skol!
Marty

Create Your Local Listing on Google

Today I am going to teach you about how to set up your Google+ Local listings. It is important to have a Google local listing (the red dots on Google maps) because the Google search owns 60% of the market share. In other words this is where people are searching.  Whether you are a small storefront, a large retailer or in the service industry people are looking for you locally and I don't know about you but I definitely want to be found.

Step 1: Go to google.com/placesforbusiness and click on the button that says "Get started for free."

This will prompt you to login to your Google account. If you do not have an account click on the link below the login that says "create an account" and follow the steps. Once you are logged in as a new user you will be able to start the steps toward creating or verifying a new listing.

Step 2: You will search for your business either by the name or by your address.
*note that Google may have created a listing for your business in the past but you have never claimed or verified it. 

If you type in your address and Google does not recognize it as a business address, double check the address you entered and select the button that says "I've correctly entered the business and address." That will bring you to Step 3.0. If you typed your business or address and the listing already exist you can claim it! Click on the listing that matches your business and you will be brought to Step 3.1.

Step 3.0: In this section you will be able to fill out all of your business information including Business name, address, contact info, as well as category and areas served. *note if you are a business that works out of your home you are able to hide your address by selecting "I deliver goods and services to my customers at their location" and deselecting "I also serve customers at my business address."

Step 3.1: Here you will be asked to verify your listing either by phone or postcard. If you are able to answer the phone number that is listed "Verify by phone" is the quickest, easiest way. If you select the "by phone" option, an automated message from Google will call your number with a 4-digit verification code that you will then enter to be verified. If you aren't able to answer or it isn't an option you can verify via postcard. By selecting the postcard option Google will send you a postcard with the pin number within 2-3 weeks that you will need to enter once received for full verification. *note that you will need to be fully verified to edit all info on the listing page 

Step 4: Once verified, you will be able to login at google.com/placesforbusiness and access reviews, insights, adwords express, and the Google+ page. By selecting the Google+ page you can post social content as your business to Google+, add and update your logo, cover photo, and additional photos. You will also be able to set your hours of operation, connect your YouTube page and edit additional business information.

I understand that this is not an exact science and not all businesses will have the same steps. If you run into trouble or have additional questions about Google+ Local listings comment below or send me an email at marty@skolmarketing.com.

Best of luck,
Marty McTigue

Make Your Web Presence a Gold Winner

Sports! A sport can be defined as an activity involving physical exertion and skill in which an individual or team competes against another or others. Sound familiar? This time of year it is hard to miss. We just saw a Seattle Seahawks demolish Peyton Mannings Broncos, the NBA season is well away, March Madness is around the corner and of course this year the Winter Olympic games are well away. But what does that have to do with enhancing your web presence?

When looking at your company online typically you might have a website, maybe a Facebook page, and, if you're a store front, Google probably made a listing on Google Maps (Google+ local page), but why? When the internet started it was the thing to do, right? Definitely! But like all things seem to, the internet has changed. 

Companies today are viewed less so as just a website and more so as a "web presence". A company's web presence team consists of your website, social media, local listings, and blogs just like this. But like a sports team your company's web presence team needs to be managed and updated. How do you think athletes make it to the Olympics? It takes years of practice (daily), coaching, and when new equipment or strategies come out that can help enhance your game, they use it!

Building a gold medal web presence online takes time and energy but it can be achieved. 97% of persons online search for a product or service online, out of which I want to know that yours can be found! Skol Marketing has a series of workshop that can help you learn what equipment is available and help coach you on how to make your web presence a gold winner. Visit the Skol Marketing Event page for more details on the workshops available. 

The Social World

I am an avid user of all things social. I interact and view my social feeds constantly and always seem to be left reaching. I typically start on Facebook.. get bored, move to twitter.. realize I already read most of that news already... move to Instagram, get frustrated of the same pictures I saw last week.. click on Google+ and dream of my past.. and click through all others aimlessly... Why is it that I am so interested in those that I am connected to in the social world? In all honesty, I am fairly uninterested in another lovey dovey couple adding another page to their lives or what that one guy I met at a camp in high school thinks about religious or political issues. Then why stay active on social media? I like to think of these applications as a memory bank. It's hard to believe that I have been on Facebook for 8 years now... EIGHT YEARS. And now that I am out of college a few years I find myself browsing the social world as if I will actually find something. I think I am still searching for the point of the social world or what it can really do for me.. Thanks for listening.. this blog may have accomplished almost as much as browsing my social feeds...

Marty 

feel free to follow me

Movies - the icing on the cake!

What a year for movies. First of all we capped off a few series some for better or worse however you see it. Second we started some new series'/continued a few that you can tell are going to grow into something huge. Finally, we end the amazing year with a splash.

I cannot believe the revived Batman series is over! The Dark Knight Rises was a great finish to the series and I believe has sparked a new genre, GOOD COMIC MOVIES. This was emphasized with the Avengers film. This movie somehow was able to pull together numerous stories/egos into one film and make it a success. I didn't feel that one superhero stepped on another ones toes and it had a natural flow, bravo! (good comic movies to come hooray!).

Another series also ended this year, Twilight. Some might say thank god, others might read the books, and others might cry themselves to sleep realizing Vampires and Wolfmen are not real. I will admit the series was entertaining, but I have yet to see the final episode of the Twilight saga... Speaking of teenage fantasy worlds, The Hunger Games is here! This series just expands the world of teenage boys and girls intrigued by a series of books that they make it into a movie series so the non-reading majority can see it. I will admit this is true for me too (thank you Harry Potter movies). I mean who really wants to read a book when they can sit through a movie in a lot less time! I guess we will just have to be stuck in a world of never-ending teenage box office smash hits.

With that thought in mind, I saw the real life Abraham Lincoln on black friday, or at least I thought it was Lincoln.. Thank you Stephen Spielberg and Daniel Day-Lewis for your amazing work, if only you didn't have to compete with The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 2. I was astonished how real the depiction of Lincoln was, historic indeed. Another historic event was also depicted this year, Ben Affleck's Argo. It is a great holiday season for history buffs, and Argo does a fantastic job. The suspense and "put yourself in their shoes" feel made you feel like you were re-living history (see it if you haven't).

Lastly, I'll finish with Skyfall. In the past 3 weeks I have gone to 3 movies (Argo, Lincoln, and Skyfall) and the new Bond does not fall short of excitement. Quantum of Solace was a step in the wrong direction for the incredible series, but Skyfall brought the series right back up to speed. Skyfall was able to incorporate the hip new Bond that Daniel Craig depicts but a look back at the old. With Bond having its 50th anniversary this year I feel like Skyfall was the icing on the cake this year!

If you haven't seen a movie this holiday season get out there and do so! I hope we can get a few more good ones yet (Killing Them Softly?)