Local SEO is a potent way to drive people to your physical business location. It also helps ensure that your business appears real, legitimate, and authoritative within the Google search results of nearby potential customers.

Consider these 5 things when optimizing your website for Local SEO in 2022:

Local SEO Thing #1: Optimize For Voice Search

No one thinks that customers always and only search for things with their voice (although 41% of users now search using their voice once per day). However, we strongly suspect that the way your customers search for your product or services is closer to the way they speak; people tend to search with natural language (phrases or meaningful sentence fragments) more so than with the keyword-only searches typical in the past.

When someone is out on the town and feeling hungry for pizza, they do not typically Google “Pizza.”

Instead, they will look for ‘Pizza Near Me’ or ‘Best Pizza In [CITY NAME].’

Optimizing your site and content for the way people actually look for things online will help you rank better for these localized searches. It will also futureproof your site for the continual growth of voice assistants.

For more talk on voice search, check out How to Optimize for Voice Search.

Local SEO Thing #2: Be Consistently Consistent

The little details matter when it comes to Local SEO. Presenting your business information consistently—especially the physical address—is crucial because Google assesses your legitimacy through such consistency.

It may sound like nitpicking, but if your business is located at 123 North Christmas Ave, then you should always refer to it as such—and never 123 N. Christmas Ave. Be consistent with your location information because it helps reduce issues with local listings, and it shows the bots you care about your local business data.

Local SEO Thing #3: Actually, this is Hyperlocal SEO

You don’t just live in your city, you live in a neighborhood. So do your customers.

When optimizing your content for hyperlocal SEO, make sure you include the neighborhood you are located in and also the locations your customers may live, work, or shop in. This helps drive local searches including those specific keywords, as the algorithms will understand the local nature of your content and deliver it to local searchers.

If you have a business in Bushwick, Brooklyn, your business is located THERE—not just the more general New York City. Optimizing for all three—Bushwick, Brooklyn, and New York City—will net you the best possible ranking potential.

Thing #4: Own Your Listing

Your Google Business Profile listing is one of the most important tools in driving local traffic online. Make full use of it.

If you haven’t already claimed your listing, do so. If you have, then optimize! Here are five easy to complete areas you can use to improve your Google Business Profile listing.

1. Flesh out your business description to include language that will drive a user to want to engage with your business.
2. Showcase your products directly within your listing.
3. Add photos. Photos help boost engagement on your local listings.
4. Use the Posts functionality of Google Business Profile; it’s like a micro-blog for your local listing page that gives information to users directly within the search results and allows you to promote sales and products to local searchers.
5. When it comes to your Primary Category within GMB make sure you choose wisely. If you are a pizza place, make sure you choose the category Pizza Restaurant and not just Restaurant. This attention to detail is necessary for Google to understand when to show your business over another location.

The more you put care into your business information online, the better it will likely perform in search.

Thing #5: Show Authority

It’s not enough just to rank locally. If potential customers have doubts that you are a reputable business, they are not likely to spend their money on your goods or services. To satisfy the need for credibility, you need a local review strategy.

Encourage your customers to leave 5-star reviews when they are satisfied with your business. Whether this is via a card you hand out to a customer or through a follow-up email, reviews are a major factor in convincing a local customer to make a purchase. They will have a big impact on your local performance.

Once you have reviews, show them off. Use plugins to feature the reviews on your website, and share every good review you get on social media. Respond to the reviews you get from customers on Google and Facebook. It is this attention to detail and care that may sway another customer to your side. And it shows local searchers that you are to be trusted.

When it comes to local SEO, no one of these tactics alone will bring your business success within the search engines; rather, a finely optimized and cultivated combination of the 5 areas above can help drive traffic with higher buyer intent.

At DOM, we’re local SEO wizards and more than ready to get you optimized for local traffic. Feel free to reach out today and let’s put together a plan that works for your SEO needs.

The post How to Do Local SEO in 2024 appeared first on Direct Online Marketing.

Imagine that it’s 1984 and you have just earned your business degree. Your father, Mick, owns a tavern and has always instilled in you the importance of hard work. Unfortunately, his tavern is on the verge of bankruptcy and you realize that maybe, just maybe, you can help!

Your first job, prior to college, was at a local pizza restaurant and you got pretty good at making a superior-quality pizza. So, you swallow your pride and sell your most-prized possession. A gorgeous 1971 Z28 Camaro for $2,800.00.

You use the money to buy used restaurant equipment and turn the broom closet at the back of the tavern into the perfect spot to make your pizza.

Fast-forward one year. Your pizzas are delicious; the locals love them: you are able to open your own space (close to the tavern, of course).

Do you know whose story I’m telling yet?

Fast-forward 15 more years to 2001, and now you are the first pizza chain to offer national online ordering. Fast-forward a further 7 years to 2008, and you have topped $1 billion in e-commerce sales and $1 million in mobile web orders.

Does “Better Ingredients. Better Pizza.” Ring a bell? If you haven’t figured it out yet, I am telling the story of John Schnatter, the founder of Papa John’s.

Why Is an Online Marketing Company Telling This Story?

Why is an online marketing company telling stories about a pizza chain?

Well, thank you for asking!

Tomorrow, Google will be joining us as we host an interactive digital marketing seminar in Louisville, KY. Before this event, we wanted to point out some of the online marketing wins of one of the major employers in the area. And who doesn’t LOVE pizza?

Headquartered in Jeffersontown (a suburb of Louisville), Papa John’s continues to be on the top of its game when it comes to technology and its website’s search engine optimization (SEO).

Local SEO Tips For Better Search Optimization

What Do Papa John’s Best Local SEO Tips Teach Us?

There are a number of key factors that should be considered when optimizing your website’s franchise location pages for local search engine optimization.

For the sake of this post, let’s take a look at the Papa John’s franchise located at 5709 Bardstown Rd., Louisville, KY 40291.

1. Search Engine Friendly URLs

The first thing that Papa John’s did right for local search engine optimization was creating a dedicated page for each franchise location. In such a situation, the URLs should include the country, state, town, zip code, and street address.

https://www.papajohns.com/locations/usa/ky/louisville/40291-1913/5709-bardstown-road/10

While this may be a bit long for some types of franchises to duplicate, it certainly helps your customers and search engines determine where each franchise is located. Keep in mind that when your customers do a search for your products or services, Google usually knows where they are located and will serve results that it believes to be most relevant to that user. Including location information in the URL can boost your local SEO efforts.

2. Meta Titles for Local SEO

While meta titles cannot be seen on your site itself, they are one of the first things that visitors will see in search engine results. Meta titles are the bold headings above each search result. Below, you can see the meta title for the page that we are reviewing.

The title includes the street address, brand name, city, state, and zip code. When optimizing for local SEO, keep in mind that you want to use the most relevant keywords for each page. You should also keep your title between 50 and 60 characters (although Google has been displaying up to 70 characters in the recent months). The more relevant your meta title is, the less likely Google will re-write it and the more likely it is to catch your customer’s attention!

3. Meta Descriptions for Local SEO

Like meta titles, meta descriptions are not visible on your site, but rather in the search engine results. You want to think of this as being the place to describe what the page is about while including relevant keywords ranging from 150 to 160 characters. Google will bold the words that match those in the user’s query.

We can see in the image above that Papa John’s included their top keyword “pizza” as well as the street address, city, and state in their meta description. They also let the searcher know that this page will give hours and contact information for the exact location being searched.

4. On-page Local Search Optimization

Let’s now take a look at some of the tactics that Papa John’s has used for on-page local search engine optimization.

Each page on your website should have one heading or H1 tag that contains your top keywords and one that tells your visitors what the page is about. Since this is a franchise location page, it makes absolute sense to include the brand name (Papa John’s Pizza) and the city and state (Louisville, KY). Directly beneath that, the street address (5709 Bardstown Road) is tagged as an H2, as well as the second mention of the address beneath that.

Mobile searches are popular. So it’s a great idea to have the phone number prominently displayed and coded so that a user can click on it and instantly be connected with the store to place an order.

5. Local Citation Link Building Best Practices

As an agency that offers local SEO services, we can assure you that local citation link building must be one of your first off-site tactics. Once you have your location pages optimized, you’ll want to then ensure that you list your NAP (name, address & phone number) consistently across all areas of the local search ecosystem.

In general, the top citation sites are the same; however, Moz has published a super helpful list of citations by city that links to each directory in the order of importance for that area. If nothing more, you would want to ensure a proper listing in each of these sites.

If you need to check the status of your local listings, Moz Local will show you where your listings are complete, incomplete, and inconsistent, as well as if you have any duplicate listings.

Using these resources as a guide will help ensure that you have a good basis for local link building by displaying exactly what is missing to ensure a complete profile on each site.

A Great Story Always Ends “Happily Ever After!”

Just like John Schatter’s “happily ever after” of having the world’s third largest take-out and pizza delivery chain AND getting his 1971 Z28 Camaro back in 2009 . . .

. . . we hope that these local SEO tips from Papa John’s will help you optimize your company’s location pages and have a “happily ever after” of your own.

PS – this post from our friends at DesignRush have even more helpful trends to take advantage of as part of your efforts to improve SEO for franchises.

The post 5 Local SEO Tips for Your “Happily Ever After” appeared first on Direct Online Marketing.

Google does not stand still for very long. Just when you think you have a handle on everything you can get from the Alphabet-owned search giant, they put out something brand new that you, as a good digital marketing professional, feel like you should know about. One of those things may be Google Analytics 360.

When you’ve been around as long as DOM, you learn to keep your eyes open and your ears to the ground. You never know what new tools you absolutely must start using in order to keep up with your competitors.

Luckily, we’re here to help you figure out when you absolutely should be using some fancy tool Google whips up (like this example, for example) and when you can safely go about your business of doing business. We’ll just tell you straight out of the gate: you do not have to start using Google 360 to keep up with your competitors. Note that we might have a different suggestion if you can easily afford the $125,000 yearly cost for these fancy tools.

No, we didn’t add an extra zero to make our point; that’s how much it is. And if that’s not enough to turn you away, then you have more money in your marketing budget than most. Great! There are plenty of guides that can tell you what to do with Google 360. That’s not what this post is.

We’re going to give you some reasons why you can happily and, with a clear conscience, go about your merry way without Google 360.

Google Marketing Platform – More Than Just Google Analytics 360

While Google still uses the nomenclature of 360 (Display & Video 360, Analytics 360, Surveys 360, etc.), it rolled them all together with its Doubleclick acquisition into a premium version of the Google Marketing Platform. When you see somebody mention a specific piece of the Premium GMP, like Tag Manager 360, it is easier to see it as just one arm of the Premium GMP octopus.

What am I paying for with Google Marketing Platform?

Great question! When you get GMP, you are buying access to the following tools which are unavailable to mere mortals:

• Display & Video 360
• Analytics 360
• Surveys 360
• Search Ads 360
• Tag Manager 360
• Optimize 360

You also get integration to tools that are available to mere mortals, like Google Data Studio. If you look at the above list and say to yourself “I can get all of these for free except without the number 360 after it,” then congratulations! You’ve unlocked the first and, as we told you above, the most pressing matter of all.

That said, it’s not like these tools are completely created equal. For instance, Google Analytics 360 has a smaller time window for data freshness (4 hours max versus 24+ hours), a 99.9% Data Collection S.L.A., and custom unsampled tables to help make your data less reliant on machine learning models.

Premium GMP is nothing you haven’t seen before or don’t have access to already, it’s simply souped-up versions of those products. The GMP you know and love is still there, with all of the free tools you’ve come to love.

How is Google Marketing Platform different?

When we say “souped-up,” that’s exactly what these products are: suped-up, as in super-duper.

For example, Google Analytics 360 will give you access to premium products like:

• Advanced analysis
• Unsampled reports
• Google BigQuery export
• Data-driven attribution

It also provides more detailed funnel and attribution information. With Google Search Ads 360, you can track pretty much every platform there is, using Floodlight and the good old reliable Doubleclick cookie. Speaking of Doubleclick, Google has rolled the old DoubleClick Bid Manager into Display & Video 360, “a single, integrated tool that helps creative, data, and media teams work together to execute end-to-end campaigns.”

In other words, Google 360 is more of what you need, but more than more, and definitely more than most.

What does it all mean?

Like we said before we started down this path: you don’t need Google 360.

Most companies are absolutely, totally fine just using the free products that Google already offers its customers. Don’t misunderstand the bottom line, though: the advanced tools provided by the 360 versions are definitely worth the money!

If you have that princely sum to spend on these premium digital marketing tools, then your brand is enterprise level enough to make the purchase worth the price. For the rest of us, Google Marketing Platform is all we’ll ever need.

Having trouble trying to determine the best Google Analytics solution for your business? Contact us today to schedule a strategy session with one of our analytics consultants or learn more about our status as a Premier Google Partner before you reach out.

The post What is Google Analytics 360 and What Can the Data Do For You? (Updated 2022) appeared first on Direct Online Marketing.

Google My Business is crucial to have set up and optimized for your business, especially if you are a local business who has customers in a specific geographic region. The best part is that a Google My Business profile is completely free. So why wouldn’t you set yours up? Keep reading for a list of reasons why your business should take full advantage of this resource.

Having and utilizing Google My Business can help increase your organic search traffic to your website, give potential customers an “inside” look at you and your business, and can also increase actions, sales, and leads.

On any given day, the vast majority of us use and make purchasing decisions through Google My Business whether we realize it or not. For example, looking for the best tacos around when it’s time for lunch. Say it’s 11:45 a.m. on #TacoTuesday. Your belly is starting to let you know that it’s “about that time” in the day. You and your coworker have decided that today’s lunch is most definitely going to be tacos. The only problem is that your company just moved offices to a new neighborhood you’re not as familiar with just yet.

No problem though, you have a smart phone that can figure that out in a second! You start by typing in “tacos” but realize that might be too vague of a search query, as you’re not looking for pictures, recipes, or definitions of what tacos are. You add “near me” to the search query to really find out which businesses are serving tacos in your current location.

About 5 different restaurant options pop up from your search. From these options, you can see their Google My Business profiles and locations via the map. 3 out of 5 of these profiles have customer reviews, menus, photos of the different types of tacos available, and links to the business’ social media platforms and website. You decide to make your choice from these three options, as they seem the most reputable. After some quick research into the 3 businesses profiles, you decide on the taco shop a couple blocks away with 120 5-star reviews and pictures from a customer of their mouth-watering beef birria tacos. You then click on the “call business” button from their Google My Business profile and place an order for you and your coworker to pick up. Mission Taco: Accomplished.

Although this seems like a straightforward search, there was a lot of internal decision making going on when choosing the right taco shop. This may be a small purchase comparatively speaking, but people use Google to research and “judge a book by its cover” every single day from Google search results and Google My Business profiles. From the taco example, the 2 businesses without a Google My Business profile were not even considered options throughout the hungry professionals’ decision-making process. The other 3 businesses were already ranked and pre-“judged” by the existing customer reviews, location details, photos, and branding showcased on their profile. This can all be viewed before a customer has even visited the business’s website or other owned platforms.

This example emphasizes the importance of claiming and optimizing your Google my Business profile. Although we were talking about tacos, the GMB profile is relevant for every type of business. From choosing a restaurant, to looking for a contractor, picking a car dealership, or a business solution partner; if they search for you or what services you provide, your Google My Business profile will be the first thing they see and judge you on. It’s crucial that you claim and optimize this as best as you can to showcase why someone should choose you.

Now that you know what a Google My Business profile is and why you should have one, we’d love to walk you through how to set one up. 

 Step 1: Sign into the Google Account that you would like associated with your Business Profile.

Go to www.google.com/business (or just google “google my business”). Click the “Manage Now” Bottom on the top right or middle of the window.

Step 2: Type in your business name

If you already have a presence online, Google may auto-populate and suggest a business. This is to see if your business or a similar name already exists on Google My Business. It’s important to not have any “duplicates”, as it will confuse users and search engines.

Step 3: Enter your business’s actual address where your customers or clients can go

If your company tends to service customers in a certain area (i.e. plumber, contractor, etc.), you can click the box on the bottom of the form (I Deliver goods and services to my customers).

If you do not have a physical location for customers to visit, you will need to specify your service areas. Add in your regions, cities, or zip codes that you work in.

Step 4: Choose the Category for your Business

Next, type in the category that is the best fit for your business. This is very important as it will affect how and when you show up when potential customers are looking for your services/products.

Step 5: Enter the best phone number and business website URL

For local search, the general best practice is to make sure your NAP (name, address, and phone number) is consistent on every platform you set up for your business. If you don’t have a website yet, you can add this URL later or use the option to “create” a website from your Google My Business profile.

Step 6: Verify and complete your Google My Business Verification

Obviously, you can’t just put anything on the internet (at least not on Google’s watch), and you will need to verify that your business is at real as you say it is. To do so, Google gives you 3 different options:

1. Postcard Verification
   1. The most used method of verification, Google will send a postcard to the address you entered for your business. Once you received it you enter an account code to verify your business.
2. Phone Verification
   1. You could also verify the listing over the phone. If the option “verify by phone” pops up while going through the verification process, click on this to receive an automated message that will prompt you with a code. Enter that code into your google my business profile.
3. Email Verification
   1. If you see the option for email verification, click on it to receive an email with the GMB code to the google email you set up your account with. Enter that code to verify your profile.

Step 7: Finish and optimize your profile!

Once your business is verified and official on Google My Business, you can start showcasing what you do and why customers should choose you. Follow the directions from your account to complete your profile to 100%. Google makes it easy to do this from their profile home screen.

Might we suggest a few next steps to keep in mind to make your Google My Business profile the best it can be? Keep these pro tips handy once you’ve finished the main details of setting up your profile.

• Add logos, photos, and videos to your profile
• Request for customers to leave reviews on your profile and respond to both positive and negative reviews
• Check out the “insights” tab to see how people are finding and researching your business
• Write out a great business description to attract and stand out to potential customers
• Add your services, menus, or offers
• Set up “messaging” that allows customers to send questions or contact you directly from your GMB profile.
• Post and create “offers” for customers from your profile, making it an easy decision to choose you instead of your competition

If you need more guidance in setting up your Google My Business profile, that’s what we’re here for. Reach out to our team at any time.

The post Why Your Business Needs a Google My Business Profile: Step-by-Step Walkthrough appeared first on Direct Online Marketing.

Okay, that’s a bit of an exaggeration. Hyperlocal results have been around for a few years, but with Google’s increasingly targeted search capabilities, we can get extremely specific about where our audience lives, works, drives, shops, and basically anything else they do that has a geolocational footprint.

Sure, Near Me is Cool, But What About “Extremely Near Me?”

If you spend any time looking at your analytics (and please say you do), you’ve seen a meteoric rise in the volume of searches that include the phrase “near me.” This is great news if you have a business that relies on a local footprint. Even the pressures of COVID-19 haven’t slowed the growth of local business listing opportunities. Well, maybe it slowed it down a little. The point is, the sooner you start implementing these strategies, the better positioned you’ll be when people start more freely moving around again.

Set Up Your Google My Business Profile

You probably already have this well in hand, but just in case you don’t, or just in case you’re new to local SEO, you should definitely 1) activate your Google My Business account and 2) claim your business. If it’s already owned by somebody else, let’s hope they work for you, or you have access to the email listed on the GMB page. If it’s already owned and you don’t have access, well, that’s a whole post by itself.

Make sure your business information is correct, up to date, reliable—all that stuff. After all, there’s not much point in trying to get people to visit your website for local service if they don’t know you’re just down the street from their dentist’s office (or whatever).

Optimize Those Hyperlocal Keywords

It’s not enough just to include the location of your business. Why not talk about your neighborhood, or mention the streets nearby, or identify some cool landmarks near you that might help searchers hone in on your home base. Hyperlocal is all about specifics, but you might have to get a little fuzzy, too, when it comes to where you’re hyperlocated.

Add Those Schema Markups

Dust off that copy of HTML For Dummies and roll up your sleeves. It’s time to add that delicious markup code to your <head> tags! You know what schema are, right? They’re little snippets of code that give Google some rich data to display on the SERP where your business appears. Google loves schema, and it will even recognize some cool restaurant-specific features like hours of operation, and some menu features you need your future diners to know about.

If you’d like even more help getting to the bottom of getting to the top of Google’s search result pages with Local SEO Services, get in touch with us today.

The post What is Hyperlocal SEO and Why Should I Be Doing it Right Now? appeared first on Direct Online Marketing.

Well, you are in the right place! In this article, we shall talk about how you can use Google My Business to your advantage. Before we delve deeper into the topic, let’s first talk about Google My Business and the benefits it can bring to businesses and companies.

What is Google My Business?

To begin with, Google My Business is a free tool designed to help businesses of all sizes to organize and manage their online presence. This includes Google Search as well as Maps. Upon editing and verifying your business information, customers can find your company with ease.

How can you use Google My Business to your business’s advantage?

The key is to have it recognize your social media accounts and add them to your Google My Business’s profile. This will add to your business’s credibility and brand authenticity.

Currently, Google supports the following social media account handles:

• Youtube
• Twitter
• Instagram
• Facebook
• LinkedIn

Having social media profiles on Google My Business comes with benefits. First, a business gets to benefit from having a wider audience if it has successfully gathered an audience on social media. A large consumer base means that it can ultimately lead to a huge clientele. This is because of the increased exposure that the business will enjoy as the audiences will get to communicate via different channels.

Having a presence on different social media channels will mean an ongoing flow of potential customers and, as a result, more sales and maximized profits.

Steps to add social media profiles to Google My Business

The following are the steps that a business can follow to ad social media profiles to Google My Business.

Step 1

Start off by copying the code mentioned below on a plain-text document.

Step 2

Next up, fill the “name” section of the script mentioned above with your organization’s name.

Step 3

Now, you need to fill the “URL” section of the script with the link that will direct your customers to your website.

Step 4

Then comes the turn of your social media channels! In the “sameAs” section of the script mentioned above, add the URLs of your social media profiles.

Step 5

This is an important step, which must go right.

Now, what you need to do is copy the edited script and paste it into the body of your webpage.

If you are using WordPress, then the script needs to be pasted where analytics are placed.

If you are clueless about how to do this, you can simply just send this over to your developer.

Step 6

This is the last and final step. You must run your script through troubleshooting with Google’s Structured Data Testing Tool.

Reach out to our team for any questions that you have!

The post How to Add Social Media Profiles to Google My Business appeared first on Direct Online Marketing.

What percentage of consumers find local goods and services on the web?

1. 1. A. 75%
   2. B. 97%
   3. C. 66%

I’ll give you a moment . . .
Take your best guess!

What percentage of business owners have claimed their local business listing on a search engine?

1. 1. A. 53%
   2. B. 45%
   3. C. 37%

Do you think you know the answers?

If you attended our Let’s Put Wheeling on the Map workshop, you already know the answers!

Previously we introduced you to Google’s GYBO program when we hit the road and helped Frederick, MD and Charleston, WV businesses get on the map. This time we took the program to our own backyard!

We love our hometown of Wheeling, WV and were eager to hold a Wheeling GYBO (Get Your Business on the Map) workshop to assist our local small business owners in getting on Google Maps.

We weren’t the only ones excited about bringing this program home. Several local organizations helped us spread the word and make this event happen! A huge thank you and shout out to:

• West Virginia Northern Community College
• Weelunk
• WTRF
• Wheeling CVB
• Wheeling Area Chamber of Commerce

Check out the rest of our photos from the event.

At the workshop, we shared some mind-blowing statistics!

97% of consumers find local goods and services on the web, while only a mere 37% of business owners have ever claimed their local listing on a search engine.

I’m not referring to just any search engine either; I’m talking about the big one! You’ve probably heard of Google once or twice before, haven’t you?

Direct Online Marketing is a certified Google Partner in their Managed Agency Program. We were thrilled to once again partner with them for this awesome program. With help from the above organizations, we reached several businesses and helped them claim and optimize their Google listing.

Some of the awesome non-profit organizations and local businesses included:

• The Vagabond Kitchen
• Wheeling CVB
• The Children’s Museum of the Ohio Valley
• Sandscrest Conference & Retreat Center
• Easter Seals
• Wheeling Country Day School
• Mmm…Popcorn
• King’s Daughter Child Care Center
• Comcast Spotlight
• Gabriel Project of West Virginia
• Engineered Foundation Solutions

Look them up!

The event began with our president, Justin Seibert, giving an overview of how search engine marketing can help small businesses grow. I then had the pleasure of speaking to the group specifically about Google My Business.

Moving forward, we plan on holding more of these events, not only in Wheeling but in surrounding areas as well. We also plan to hold open office hours in the near future where business owners will be able to stop in to our office to have our digital marketing experts assist with their listing.

Be sure to stop by often and follow us on social media to keep up with all of our upcoming events!

If you are local, please join us on Monday, October 12th for the Wheeling Area Chamber of Commerce Lunch & Learn. We will be presenting and exploring search engine marketing further.

Hope to see you there!

The post We Helped Put Wheeling on the Map! appeared first on Direct Online Marketing.

I’m talking about GYBO!

Still confused?

Well, let me introduce you to Google’s Get Your Business Online team (otherwise known as GYBO). This team was formed in 2011 with a single mission: to get every business (big or small) online.

The team has traveled to all 50 states and helped thousands of businesses. However, there is much more help to be had, as only 37% of businesses have claimed a local business listing on a search engine.

Did you know that 4 out of 5 people use search engines to find local information, such as business hours, directions, and reviews?

How often are you out and about and simply whip out your phone to check the hours of your favorite local establishment? Or possibly for directions to that great new restaurant you heard about?

We were shocked at the small percentage of claimed listings!

As DOM’s local optimization guru, I committed to partnering with the GYBO team to help spread the word and get your businesses “on the map!” Since DOM is already a certified Google Partner in the Managed Agency Program, we were eager to join hands with Google once again to help businesses grow.

Has Your Business Been Googled?

When was the last time that you Googled a business online?

Have you ever Googled your own business?

What do you see?

You would probably be amazed to learn that much of what is shown in search results is information pulled directly from your Google My Business (GMB) listing.

Here is an example of branded local search results for Direct Online Marketing. I have highlighted all the information that is pulled in from our GMB listing.

That’s some pretty important information. And we absolutely want it to be correct!

Is yours?

Can your customers find your information?

Here is an example of generic local search results for “online marketing companies west virginia.” Once again, I’ve highlighted the information that is pulled in directly from GMB.

It is imperative that you ensure your information is correct and optimized for local search.

Google actually bases its local search results on relevance, distance, and prominence. Businesses can’t pay or request for a better ranking because Google Maps and Google My Business are both free services. Storefronts and service area businesses can appear on Google Maps by setting up a free Google My Business account.

Where to Begin?

What if you have no idea how to do that?

What if you have a GMB page but it’s not optimized?

No worries, you are in luck! During our Grow with Google event in Frederick MD, you will have the opportunity to sit with me or one of my awesome teammates to ensure that your listing is claimed and up to date!

The really great part about this, we have a communication line directly into Google My Business. We can help get your listing verified within 24–48 hours, rather than the 2 weeks that it can take otherwise.

“Swag,” You Say?

As GYBO partners, Google has armed us with some awesome swag specific to each city!

We’re talking t-shirts, tote bags, note pads, pens, and much more! So not only will we be offering free expert assistance and advice, we’re going to give you free stuff to show some love for Frederick, MD!

Oh, and breakfast is included too!

Why would we do this?

Because we are passionate about helping companies grow their businesses online and we actually enjoy it!

The post Let’s Put Frederick on the Map! …Another reason to attend Grow with Google! appeared first on Direct Online Marketing.

I’ll be honest. I had no intention of using my golf game to persuade you to come to our Frederick event. My plan was to go golfing after work, but I completely took advantage of the situation at hand.

We specialize in driving sales on websites, and I also specialize in driving golf balls. If you have products on your website, a form that you would like users to fill out, or a downloadable e-book, we can help you increase the numbers.

How you may ask? Well, I am a Search Marketing Associate at Direct Online Marketing and proudly on the Organic Team. Our team is full of search engine optimization (SEO) experts ready to teach you all about content marketing, link building, technical issues, content optimization, local SEO, and whatever other search engine (or golf) subjects you would like to discuss.

Seriously though, reserve your seat. It is going to be fun, free, informative, and productive. The event will include the following:

• A delicious Digital Breakfast
• A presentation by Justin Seibert on how to grow your business on Google with Search Engine Optimization and Pay-Per-Click marketing tactics
• An inside scoop from official Google representatives about important trends in 2015
• A personalized one-on-one evaluation of your website and/or PPC campaign.

I know you would never miss your weekly golf outing to improve your game. So, don’t miss this opportunity to improve your business. Tee time at 8:30 a.m at the Delaplaine Visual Arts Education Center on Tuesday, August 25th.

The post Why You Should Attend Our Frederick, MD Event (Part 2) appeared first on Direct Online Marketing.

We took the same recipe from our Google Morgantown event, added some of this, left out some of that, and came up with the perfect dish for marketing directors and business owners.

We will satisfy your appetite for learning how to grow your businesses online.

Bam, indeed.

So What Am I Going To Learn?

Anything and everything search-engine related—specifically in four areas:

• SEO (search engine optimization)
• PPC (pay-per-click advertising)
• Local optimization (Google Maps)
• What’s next: the most important trends Google sees that will impact your business

Start off with a delicious breakfast and wake-me-up coffee. We’ll have a group discussion to learn the most pressing issues impacting Frederick-area businesses. Then we’ll get into the main courses (seriously, what is with all the food metaphors?).

You’ll hear from certified DOM experts as we give you 101- and 201-level instruction on SEO, PPC, and Google My Business local listings (Google Maps)—all the tactics you need to market your organization effectively on Google. True to our educational roots, these are lecture-style interactive classes where attendees are encouraged to ask questions.

Hear Directly from Google

Two of our Google representatives are flying out from the Googleplex in Mountain View, CA (hey, being a Google Partner in the top tier has its perks).

Hear directly from Google about the most important technological issues your company will be facing over the coming months and years. Plus like with us, they’ll take questions during and after their presentations.

If you’re looking to grow your business long-term, this session is essential.

Get One-on-One Help

At the end of the presentations, we’ll be holding one-on-one consultations. Use this time for any of the following:

• Getting your business information up, verified, and correct on Google Maps. Google My Business accounts are free, but any of you that have had issues with Google Maps before know how difficult making a change can be. Because of our status with Google, we have actual reps who can help and expedite the process. Plus for anyone who verifies their listing, you’ll get a Let’s Put Frederick on the Map t-shirt. Don’t like free t-shirts? Give it to someone else before your flight takes off for Stalingrad, comrade.
• Get a free review of your Google AdWords account. We’ll sit down together and give you tips for improvement and areas where we see opportunity.
• Learn how well optimized your site is for SEO. Find out what changes you can make to improve your natural (free) traffic from Google.
• Receive a Web Visibility Report for your company to see how well you’re being found right now.
• See how you stack up to your competitors. What are they doing that you’re not?
• Anything else you want to discuss. Well, about online marketing. Or beer, if I’m the one speaking with you.

Just be aware that these slots fill up quickly, so you should request your review when you register for the event.

Sign Up Now

Ready to do this thing? It’s a morning event, so you don’t have to give up your entire day (even though for the knowledge you’ll be gaining, it would be worth it).

If you’re in the Frederick area, I hope you can make it!

PS – It’s free. If I were smarter, we’d charge for it just so people wouldn’t say “it’s free – how much value can it have?” But I don’t want anyone to have any excuse for not attending, so we’re going the gratis route.

PPS – Here’s me riding a bike at the Googleplex letting you know what you’ll learn. Don’t judge my riding skillz; it’s hard to ride slowly for the filmer so he doesn’t have to sprint backward.

The post Heads Up, Frederick: The Googles are Coming appeared first on Direct Online Marketing.