I know, I know, we are all busy trying to make a living here, who has time to Google themselves, right? I am recommending you do it and do it now. How often do you check your online profile? If you are running online paid ads, hopefully you are on top of it. If you are not, when was the last time you checked your google My Business profile, or your Bing Places for Business account?
Things that you NEED to do NOW if they are not already done:
Claim Your Google Business Profile.
Here is a link with step-by-step instructions to claim your Google Business Profile. You need a G-mail account for this. Create one, they are free. Google Business
- Fill in ALL the information for your business including your hours of operation.
- Add photos of the inside and outside of your business.
- Get people to give you business reviews, or once you claim your business, reviews that were posted before you claimed the business can be linked.
Get yourself listed on Bing Places for Business.
You can log into Bing with your G-mail account as well! Here is a link to go directly to Bing Places
- You can actually sync your Bing and Google Business accounts with the push of a button in Bing Places dashboard.
- Update all addresses, hours of operation, check the related images section to see that the images you uploaded to Google transferred to your Bing profile, remove any images you do not associate with, as Bing sometimes pulls in social media images that are unrelated to business.
Check out Yahoo Localwork next.
Here is a link Yahoo Localworks
- You can fill out a form for a free report on your current business listings.
- Yahoo wants you to then use their monthly fee structure service to manage all of these listings, but you can actually go to each of these sites individually and update your business listings if there are errors or inconsistencies. You do not have to register at every one of these businesses, but a good chunk of them will help your organic search reach.
Create a Facebook business page.
Here is a link with tutorial on how to easily set up a page. How to Set up a Facebook Business Page
Become a member of your local Chamber of Commerce.
They usually have quite a robust search engine built into their website that includes all member businesses and a page to explain your business to the local community.
Register with the Better Business Bureau.
Their website database gets a lot of traction on Google searches.
Create a LinkedIn business page.
All you need to do this is a current LinkedIn personal profile and a verified email address. Here is a link to a tutorial. How to Set Up a LinkedIn Business Page
- Remember, there is more to securing your presence in search results than just listing your businesses in these directories. You must follow up within these spaces. Make Facebook and Linked In business posts on a regular basis, garner a fan base, get Google and Bing reviews from happy customers, and post regularly updated images that correlate to your business on all these spaces. A few more helpful hints as you begin.
- Ensure your information is consistent
- Add a detailed company description
- Include a link to your website
- Claim all listings
- Add pictures and videos
- Gather reviews
