This guide was created for busineses who want to manage their local listings themselves. Essentially this page is an electronic copy of the article Brigid wrote for Thinking Bigger Magazine so readers would have a place to click on the links in the article instead of having to write them down.

 

People have moved to using computers and smart phones to find businesses and people instead of phone books.  Your competitors are found in the search engines and with any luck, you are too.

How do you get listed with the search engines if you’re not already? How do you make  your listing one that comes up high in the search results AND that encourages people to do business with you?  This article covers all three topics as they relate to searches that are relevant to a town (known as Local Listings or Place Pages).  Having this article as a guide will save you many hours as well as any cash out of pocket. It will show you how to cover the vast majority of all online searches, for free!

The First Step
The most important and first thing you should do is write down the words customers use to describe what you do, where you do it, and some statement of value to potential customers.  Create a couple of good sentences in 200 characters or less (about 27 words).  Word selection is clear if you’re an “electrician in Kansas City.” But if you’re not sure if “Hair stylist” or “Hair Salon” is the best phrase, check out Google’s Ad Words Tool (it’s free!) to see which phrase is more commonly used (http://goo.gl/WIeDd).

Getting Listed
Often a Local Listing is created for your business as a result of search engine spiders scanning the internet. When this happens, it makes a significant and positive impact to claim your listing. To do that on Google, which is responsible for about 60% of all searches, find your business in a search and select “Place page” on the right. Once on that page, click on “Business owner?” in the upper right hand corner and follow the directions. Select the “edit” option and fill in the listing with the information as outlined in the “Enhance” paragraph below.

If a local listing in Google doesn’t currently exist for your business, start here  http://goo.gl/SW0U3. If you don’t have a Google account, you can create one there (it’s required to create a listing).  Do the same thing on Yahoo (http://goo.gl/c8x8M )  and Bing (http://goo.gl/YjxaG) and you’ll cover the majority of local searches, all at no cost to you!

Enhancing Your Listing
The best listings, the ones that both search engines AND potential customers prefer, have the following characteristics:

Every section in the listing is completed: the excellent description you wrote above, operating hours, photos, specials, brands…. everything. It should be 100% complete (check the percentage in Google when you’re reviewing it - not “editing” it – from your Places Page in your Google account). It will be in the blue bar on the right near the top.  

Complete the confirmation process. Each search engine is different – count on taking a phone call, writing down a code, and entering it into your listing for your Google account. .

Create a single listing for each real location. You not only work against yourself if you create more than one listing or falsify any information, you run the risk of being caught and banned!

The Final Step
Ask people who’ve had a positive experience with your business to write a descriptive review on your Google, Yahoo, and/or Bing listing. Prospective customers value real comments from your clients as much as they would a recommendation from a friend, so get more than one!