How To Set Up Google Place for your Business

Simple ways to optimize your website for the best result.

1. Prior to going to your website, do you currently have a Website analytic package so you can see how many unique visitors come to your site per month? If you are unsure, ask your hosting firm. If you created the website through one of the online do-it-yourself tools such as register.com or godaddy.com it may have been part of the package. Ask customer support to set you up with weekly reports sent via email. If you do not have any analytic package, sign up for Google Analytics today.

http://www.google.com/analytics/

2. Have you created your salon’s places page? http://www.google.com/places/ If not, as a local business you are missing several opportunities by not using this FREE solution.

With your free Google Places account you can:

Be found? – – Verify your information to make sure people can find you on Google
Stand out?- – Engage customers with photos, offers, public responses and more
Get insights? – -Use info about your listing to make smarter business decisions
Google Places helps for organic listing in Google Search. Have your map, business hours, specials, directions, etc. Just another free opportunity to reach prospects in your community where your business is based.

3. Actually see how your website ranks organically (not paid marketing) through Google. Go to www.google.com and use the following to see how you rank (DO NOT USE your business name in the search) Hair salon in your zip code or town, i.e., “Hair salons in old bridge, nj” By doing so how have your ranked? Do you show up in the list? Remember the highlighted listings at the top are paid placements – this is done through Google keywords where you purchase specific keywords and pay to bid on them. By geo-targeting you can maximize your budget by just reaching people in your town/market. Here is an example of using “hair salons in old bridge nj”; In the map with all the redish orange dots – they are all salons in Old Bridge and the surrounding towns so competition is at its highest. Ranking and being a through leader in the area is vital to outperform your competition.

4. Content is King. In order to drive rank results, content that is on your website both the written words on the actual website and the meta tags (the content that is put in the website – under the page – the actual coding) is vital to a website and how Google ranks the page. To increase results with search, I would recommend having separate pages for categories within your service offerings. Having content (the written words on each of these pages) along with the meta tags (the words that are put in by your web developer) will optimize your rank in Google . For example, feather extensions have been very popular in New Jersey. So sticking to the Old Bridge NJ theme; in Google I used the search term “hair feathers in old bridge” Seems that The Art of Hair in Old Bridge they used the content correctly: you will see the listign if you follow these directions.

As always, if you need help or guidance, I am a click away. Please contact me below. I would be able to provide insight plus provide you with a free audit of your Website, provide guidance of Google Places and website analytics.