Have you checked your local business listing on the Internet lately? You should. Open your favorite search engine and type in the name of your company. This is what people are seeing when they are given a referral to your company. This is what your existing customers do today when they want to contact you again. Make sure you are looking good.
What are they seeing? Are they finding you? Does it look good? Is the information correct?
By the way, also see how you are showing up for your key themes in the organic pages. Which competitor is showing up? Do you need to find out what is going on?
The local market on-line market place is a huge battleground for business and you really need to pay attention here. Technology is changing quickly and those who stay up with it, will be ahead of their competition.
- Are you located correctly on the map?
- Does the website link work properly?
People you want to meet must have a clear image of who you are and where you are located.
Google and Yahoo and many other sites battling for market share in Internet world- scrape content where they can find it. Right or Wrong, they scrape it up, aggegate it and stick it on their maps.
There is a 10 million dollar company in Arlington, TX that is stuck somewhere south and east- out well past the burbs. I have a client in North Tarrant County who ended up with a location in Lancaster, TX.
Yahoo and Google and Bing have local business centers where you can correct your information. There are also a parcel of other strategic links that impact your local standing. You can take control of your local listings. If you find wrong information, you can fix it through the technology provided. If your online content is fine- it still makes sense to take control of it with each search engine to preclude someone else pretending they are you.
A local map listing is a data management tool that you manage. The account is free. You can edit it when the need arises. It includes your company’s general business information, telephone number, street address, URL, email address, directions, maps and anything else you would like customers to know about you.
If you need some help with this, let me know. I would be glad to offer some suggestions or give you a referral to help with this technology. It can be confusing. It can be frustrating. You have plenty to do already. You don’t want to be straddled with being a technology nerd.
Comments? Questions? Please leave a comment or feel free to call or email.
