Alta Vista Business Services Blog

Or maybe I should say “Wake up Internet Professionals!”

When I started my business last year with very little start-up money, my first main focus became "What can I do to get my name out there for little or no cost?"

I would search the Internet for information, just like anyone would and found lots of opportunities if I pay money, but not much for free or almost free. One day I was conducting a "local search" for a nearby restaurant and it suddenly occurred to me, that my business should probably be listed on Google. I didn't think it was, since I have a home office. But just for grins I looked. Of course it wasn't there. BUT, I noticed a small link: Can't find what you're looking for? * Add a place to the map.

So I did. I was a little nervous about it since, who am I to change things on Google? But Google actually allowed me to do it. Creating my own listing on Google was easier than setting up phone service through the phone company! Google simply required that I verify my business location and information.

One thing leads to another. So, I say to myself, if I can do it on Google, can I do it on Yahoo? I soon discovered, Yes, I can! Similar process: Search..., not found, okay  login to (or create) account, then create listing, wait for verification letter, logon and verify with pin. Voila!

It is clear that many small businesses have not taken advantage of this free marketing opportunity. Much of the info among the many business listings is incorrect. Some owners may not be aware that their listing is not even there! I'm talking established, local restaurants, here. Search engines use spiders or bots to crawl the Web to get information for their databases. So, it is likely that some of the information is incomplete. We, as business owners, have every opportunity to rectify this, but it can be time consuming. So on to my next point.

Later, on one of my favorite sites, websitemagazine.com, I discovered an article posted that was all about taking advantage of free listings on search engines. They were highlighting a resource called getlisted.org which allows you to locate or create, and claim your business listings for four major search engines, all from one dashboard. That allows you to go back later and check on the progress of those listings, add or change information as needed, and best of all, take advantage of the great tools the search engines offer that let you add value to your listing. But I don't want to get ahead of myself, there will be more on that in part 3...

So for now, go ahead and logon to getlisted.org and see if you can find any listings for your business (or your Uncle Joe's pizzeria-- ya never know!). Go ahead. Why not? it's FREE!

According to getlisted.org, there are well over 10 billion unique searches done each month, and that's just in the United States! Of those searches, 40% of queries have Local intent.

What is "local intent?" Local intent means the entered search criteria specifies a locale in some manner.

Now this is where it can get confusing. Local search doesn't necessarily mean that you are searching in your own locale! It simply means that in your search you have specified A locale, any locale by using a zip code, city, state, neighborhood, country or any other criteria to narrow your results to a place in this world. (A note for those who cater to visitors or tourists.)

Why should you know this? Why should anyone care? Well, for a business owner, if you live and work in a location and want to attract people to your locale, you want to use all the necessary tools to do that. And if you are a Search Engine user, you may not be completely aware of how useful local search can be to help you choose the right company to give your business.

Most of the big search engines have a network, or for lack of a better term, sub-feature, called LOCAL. Google has it, it's called Google Maps (maps.google.com). Yahoo!'s is called Local. Bing has a local search category too.

How do you know which results are one of these networks? When  a person performs a local search in any of the above search engines, your first indication is that a map appears in the results. The map displays circles or balloons, and alongside this map are the referring circle/balloon business names. Click on this map and you suddenly have many opportunities to drill down and get lots of information about these businesses. This helps you decide who you want to do business with.

From the other perspective, if you are a business owner, how can you capitalize on this feature? Business owners can create a free account with any of the three aforementioned search engines and "claim" a business listing. Once they claim it, and go through the verification process, they have the opportunity to change or upgrade the data the search engine keeps for that business.

Features vary from search engine to search engine. For example, some allow you to list your business hours, leave a link to your Web site, post photos, create coupons, and they also have a review feature for customers to rate and leave comments on the quality of products and services.

To see if your business data is found in a search engines local network. There are instructions in our previous blog.

In the next installment  of this three part series, we will address ways to manage your listings with various search engines in one place. 

Did you know that according to Internet World Stats 220 million Americans now use the Internet? If people aren't already in the area, chances are they are planning their vacation by using the Internet. By looking for lodging, activities, and restaurants, and specifying a particular area where they plan to visit, they are actually performing a localized search.

One very important way to promote your visitor services is to make sure your online business listing shows up in those important localized searches like Google maps or Yahoo Local. For starters, perform your own search to see if your business appears in a localized search result.

Simply go online and use a search engine such as Google or Yahoo to emulate a search that a potential tourist might perform in order to find your business. Use words that fit your product/service such as 'lodging', 'restaurants', 'entertainment', (whatever your business provides) and put in your zip code, region, or town to create a localized result.

The result should include a display map with a list of businesses that fit that criteria. If your business appears, then that is good news! But there is more. Business owners have the opportunity to enhance that listing by providing more detailed information, such as business hours, and list correct phone numbers. In order to do this, you must first, register your business with each of the local search engines. Then follow up by changing or adding more information. Once registered, you can click on 'edit this listing' and follow the prompts to change or add information. You can add a link to your Website, provide coupons, and most importantly, make sure your listing is complete and accurate.

These are simple techniques. However, you may not have the time or staff available to perform these functions. We can help! Our very affordable services can help you get better localized listings with details. We specialize in helping local, small businesses get noticed on the Internet. Let us at Alta Vista Business Services (www.altavistabizservices.com)  show you how we can make Your small business BIG on the Internet. Give us a call! 603-630-1623 or e-mail us at business@altavistabizservices.com

• Powerful (and often free) Internet tools for businesses with or without a Web site.
• New, affordable, and user friendly apps for maintaining your Web site.
• An introduction to Alta Vista Business Services products and tools built especially for small businesses
• How your activity all over the Internet can positively impact your business.