Instead of the yellow pages, people go to their computer or their cell phones and search for what ever they require online. If you want to do business with them, you should put yourself on the results page of that search. You absolutely need to know how to get on Google maps.
Now there are a lot of challenges in doing that. Not the least of which is knowing which keywords or inquiry your customer would actually use in their search for you. If you're a plumber and only display when people search for the term "plumber" you're going to miss people searching for help to fix their "water heater," or "leaky pipes."
Probably the biggest mistake made by less experienced online marketers is a tendency to not spend enough time doing keyword research. This is particularly important for national campaigns, but also is applicable to local businesses as well. Ultimately, when you establish your Google Places listing, you can claim up to five categories for your business.
For some that will be enough, for others it won't begin to take care of the diversity of their product choices. You know your business better than anyone. Sometimes this can be a handicap with regard to identifying the keywords your potential new customer might use to find you. They don't know your business as well and may find some pretty roundabout method of finding you.
There are a number of paid keyword tools that SEO experts will use to help in this approach. But I usually use a free tool that Google makes available to do keyword research. It sometimes produces useful insights that amaze business owners, so I will outline how I use it in a moment. But first I would like to make a point about a main distinction about advertising online versus the old yellow pages days.
Yellow page advertising was often a bit costly and while you could possibly get your business listed in multiple categories doing so also multiplied the expense. As a result many businesses restricted their listings to one or two categories at most. It is not needed to do so online.
For organic search you can and need to have a separate web page for each major product line or category. For Google Places you are allowed to list five categories. Make sure you do your best to utilize all five. Doing so is part of the solution to how to get on Google maps when your potential customers search for any of these categories.
If you are a divorce lawyer and nothing else that you do, you should look into the major different keywords people might use when they search for a divorce lawyer. If you also do criminal work, or real estate planning, or adoption work, you should choose which five topics are most important to you and your business.
If you are a plumber as in my prior example you need to look at the major different causes a new customer might be looking for your services. If sump pump repair is a lucrative portion of your business you may well need to include that over say leaky pipes if they tend to be less profitable or less attractive line of business
These are just some of the key ideas you need to understand when learning how to get on Google maps.
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