I can feel it! The business world around me is coming to life, business is rapidly waking up and looking ahead to what 2012 has to offer.
Many of my Estate Agent clients are asking: what can we do to get our marketing kick started and ready for 2012?
I often get asked: what is the best and most cost effective Internet marketing tip I can give an Estate Agent? No matter whether you are new or established….
My TOP marketing tip to any Estate Agent would be to claim their Google Places Page and to get it optimised, so that it ranks well in a LOCAL search.
Claiming your Google Places Page is FREE and could be an easy way for you to get 1st page rankings in a local search in your neighbourhood without having to spend a fortune on web development and paid marketing.
Google specifically created the Google Places Pages for LOCAL business and LOCAL search to replace and improve on the Yellow Pages, with more and more search queries including a place name e.g. “Cape Town attorney”. It’s Google’s sole mission to serve up more and more relevant and fresh results.
To claim your Google Places Page simply click on the image below and follow the instructions.
The latest statistics shows that only around 16% of businesses worldwide have claimed their Google Places Page thus far. As a marketing consultant I can only attribute this to indifference and a lack of understanding just how vital this listing can be for your business.
Below is a screen shot of a search I just did for “Cape Town properties”!
Notice that the Google Places listings is served up right at the top! You see some paid listings (PPC) above it BUT the 1st 7 listings for this very competitive search term belongs to the Google Places pages related to the search, only after that you’ll get the organic search results.
FYI! According to research, searchers are 8 times more likely to click on the FREE links on the page before they will click on the PPC and other paid advertising on a Google search page.
Here’s 5 tips on how to improve your Google Places Page:
Tip #1 – Make sure you complete your information 100%. There is an indicator in the back-end of your account that will tell you to what degree you have completed your information. Make sure you get this to 100%!
Tip #2 – Use your business address and phone numbers like they would appear in the phonebook. Because of GEO tagging and the focus on local business, the more accurate your physical address and phone numbers, the better your chances of a more effective listing.
Tip #3 – DO NOT load your business name or your description with keywords. Google WILL penalise and not list listings artificially manipulated with SEO tactics. They want your business address and info, plain and simple.
Tip #4 – Do make use of the place to load images and videos. It will make your places page more interesting and you will need some to get a 100% score.
Tip #5 – Google refreshes the Places database every 2 weeks so it could take that long for your listing to appear in search results. If it does not, you will have to look at the SEO and ranking of the website listed on the page. Of late this seems to have become more and more important.
There are a couple of other tactics we use when improving places pages ranking potential. That however is beyond the scope of this article and a bit more technical.
But without a doubt the best thing you can do for your Internet marketing in 2012 is to claim your Google Places Page. Use the comment section below for your questions and comments.
I leave you with this thought!
In 2012 and beyond, your market is getting younger and technology is growing exponentially as the MAIN medium of finding information and communicating. Print media and even broadcast media as we used to know it is shrinking rapidly. Where should your marketing for results FOCUS be?
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