Instead of the phone book, people go to their computer or their mobiles and search for what ever they need online. If you want to do business with them, you need to 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 learning which keywords or inquiry your customer would actually use in their search for you. If you're a plumber and only appear when people search for the word "plumber" you're going to miss people searching for help to mend their "water heater," or "leaky pipes."
Perhaps the biggest mistake made by less experienced internet marketers is a tendency to not spend enough time doing keyword research. This is particularly important for national campaigns, but also applies to local businesses as well. Eventually, when you establish your Google Places listing, you can claim up to five categories for your company.
For some that will be more than enough, for others it won't begin to cover the diversity of their product offerings. You know your business better than anyone. Sometimes this can be a handicap with regard to identifying the keywords your prospective new customer might use to get you. They don't know your business as well and may find some pretty roundabout means of finding you.
There are numerous paid keyword tools that SEO consultants will use to help in this process. But I often use a free tool that Google makes available to do keyword research. It sometimes produces useful insights that amaze business owners, so I will describe how I use it in a moment. But first I would like to make a point about a significant distinction about advertising online as opposed to the old yellow pages periods.
Yellow page advertising was often a bit pricey and while you could get your business listed in multiple categories doing so also multiplied the expense. As a result many businesses limited their listings to one or two categories at most. It is not needed to do so online.
For organic search you can and must have a separate web page for each major line of product or category. For Google Places you are permitted to list five categories. You should do your best to use all five. Doing so is part of the solution to how to get on Google maps when your prospects search for any one of these categories.
If you are a divorce lawyer and nothing else that you do, you should take note of the major different key phrases people might use when they search for a divorce lawyer. If you in addition do criminal work, or estate planning, or adoption work, you will want to choose which five topics are most important to you and your business.
If you are a plumber as in my previous example you need to look at the major different purposes a new customer could be looking for your services. If sump pump service is a profitable portion of your business you may well want 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 main ideas you need to understand when learning how to get on Google maps.
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