You probably know what a Google Places listing is, but for a visual refresher, here’s an example:

For many (most?) brick and mortar businesses that are geographically focused, Google Places is their number one lead generator. Think restaurants, stores, lawyers, doctors, plumbers, locksmiths, hair salons, hotels day spas, ad infinitum. Google Places listings are golden because they drive quality traffic to your business and because at the price of “FREE”, there’s no financial barrier to entry.

So what should business owners do when their Google Places and or Google Maps listing disappears like they did for a Locksmith client of mine recently? That is, I mean, after the panic attack.

Here’s a quick list:

1. What Changed Recently? — Did you or your team make recent changes? One client had inadvertently unchecked the show address option, which had the effect of dropping the listing off Google Maps.
2. Take Screenshots — Document the issue with screenshots of the Search Engine Results Page (SERP). If you don’t have a screen capture capability, download a free trial of Techsmith’s awesome SnagIt product.
3. Check for Google Messages — Log into your Google Places for Business account and see if there are any notices. These range from technical error messages to account suspension notices. One client was getting a We do not support this location message recently — which came as somewhat of a surprise to them since they had top listing for the two previous years.
4. Preview your listing from within your account. If there are messages of any kind, document them. You’ll need specifics when you submit a support request.
5. Search the Google Places Forum. Did a preview of your listing return a message like “We do not support this location”? If yes, search the Google Forums for that specific message. Chances are you’ll find lots of other conversations about it, as well as some helpful replies from Google employees. The We do not support this location message turned out to be a bug that Google Engineers are working through as of this writing.
6. Be Nice & Bring Details — My mother used to say, the free tickets complain the loudest, which certainly rings true for a certain percentage of the posts on the forums. Granted a dropped listing has a direct impact on business and is therefore serious stuff, but we shouldn’t loose sight of the fact that an incredibly valuable service is being made available for free. Besides, yelling in the public square doesn’t usually get the results we want. Respect and details — as many details as we can muster — is often the quickest way to the desired outcome.

This list just scratches the surface. No doubt many readers can expand on it, and if you’re one of them, consider leaving a comment.

Finally, PIN, LIKE or PLUS me. If you’d like to support me and this blog, consider clicking one of the share buttons below. It’s free and it’s a really cool thing to do.

Best,
Stephen

Beware of posting fake positive reviews. Google will ban listings with fake reviews and it’s easier to detect then you might think.

The best approach is to implement a process for garnering real positive reviews from happy clients. It’s imperative due to the Law of Axe-grinding:

A happy customer will tell one other person. A disgruntled customer will tell 10.

Launching a review function on your website is one way to garner reviews that search engines can recognize and index.

Here’s an example: https://www.mtgcapital.com/customer-reviews/

Don’t leave your online reputation management to chance.

Here’s the take away: Don’t just provide good service. This alone won’t protect you. Instead, develop a process for documenting happy customers — and implement it persistently.

This post is an introduction to the big picture of online marketing. It is written for the non-technical reader. Like Dylan said, “You can say it fancy or you can say it plain”, and though I speak fluent geek, I hope you don’t mind that I say it plain.

Why should you read this post? Because it puts the whole inscrutable wedding cake of online marketing into perspective in an easy to understand way.

The online marketing universe is just 5 things

First, this post doesn’t assume you know ANYTHING about the web, though you probably know plenty. Secondly, it boils online marketing into 5 easy to understand categories. To be successful with your online marketing, you need to understand which of these categories are relevant to you (insider tip: all of them are) and execute your marketing strategy accordingly. And here they are:

1. Websites
2. Search Engines
3. Social Networks
4. Online Reviews
5. Customer Outreach

Successful Online Marketing

Here’s a recap of each category, along with a sprinkling of recommendations for creating online marketing success:

Online Marketing Success with Websites

1. A website that makes a good first impression.
2. A website that is well organized and intuitive.
3. A website that funnels visitors to relevant messaging quickly.
4. Website pages that display quickly and don’t get abandoned.
5. A website with strong Calls To Action, converting casual browsing to specific actions (buy now / contact us / subscribe / download / share / like / etc).
6. A website that search engines can easily index in a way that is optimized for your business. i.e. One that translates your content into search terms and descriptions that make it easier for your customers to find you by your products, services, and geographic coverage areas. This is commonly referred to as Search Engine Optimization or SEO.
7. A website with fresh content .
8. A website that’s easy to share via email, social networks or hard copy.
9. A website that performs well in all browsers (ie, firefox, chrome, safari, opera) and on any screen (Desktops, Laptops, Macs, phones, pads).

Online Marketing Success with Search Engines

1. Getting found by your target audience on Google, Yahoo, Bing, Ask, YouTube and the other search engines.
2. Achieving high placement in search results for search words and phrases that are relevant to what you offer, where you offer it.
3. Buying advertising on search engine results pages (Sponsored ads; Pay Per Click).
4. Placing display ads on other websites (e.g. via Google Display Network, YouTube, Yahoo Local, Bing, etc.)
5. Mobile advertising (text messages and display ads on phones).
6. Analytics reporting to measure results and maximize return on investment. (e.g. Google Analytics)

Online Marketing Success with Social Networks

1. Claiming your brand by building a page or setting up an account on important networks like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, Flickr and any others that are relevant to your audiences.
2. Getting people to become your Fans on social networks where you have a presence.
3. Making it easy for people to share content you post on the web.
4. Developing a clear, focused and consistent voice on social networks.
5. Leveraging the Coupon craze (e.g. Groupon, LivingSocial, etc.).

Online Marketing Success with Online Reviews

1. Getting found on review sites like Yelp, Google Places, Yahoo Local, Citysearch, Superpages, Insider Pages, Best of the Web and other specialized review sites for your industry or profession.
2. Achieving a positive business reputation, good ratings, and complete and accurate business information.
3. Getting alerted to any potential problems you might not otherwise be aware of.
4. Mitigating the axe grinders. (One happy client tells one person. Unhappy clients tell 10).
5. Protecting yourself from unscrupulous competitors.

Online Marketing Success with Customer Outreach

1. Making email address acquisition systematic in all interactions with customers and prospects, both off line and on.
2. Sending Digital newsletters on a regular basis.
3. Rewarding email subscribers with useful information, special offers and other things of value.
4. Blogging consistently to reinforce your reputation and brand.

Wrapping Up

For some, this was a lot of water to drink in one reading. And if you suspect that below the surface of each bullet point above is deep water to explore, you’d be right. But no worries because – being that this is HandpickedTomatoes.com – I’ll be wrapping up with the requisite and all unifying tomato analogy:

It’s impossible to grow ripe tomatoes in a day. Successful online marketing strategies get executed over time. Remember, commitment, persistence and patience will grow you where you want to go.

If you found this post useful consider sharing the love

To demonstrate, the link to our Facebook page is facebook.com/pages/HandPickedTomatoes/230129186836 and our vanity link is facebook.com/HandpickedTomatoes. I think you’ll agree that the latter is much cleaner and does a better job of branding.

A few caveats before going ahead: First, the vanity links are a little buggy as if this writing, and may not work consistently until Facebook fixes their app. Second, you must first create a vanity link (i.e. a username) for your personal Facebook account before you create one for a Page. Lastly – and could change at anytime – you must have a minimum of 25 likes to quality for a page username.

So let’s now get on with the simple process:

• Go to http://facebook.com/username
  Your personal Facebook account username will display in red at the top of page.
• Select the page you want the vanity url for, from the drop down box.
• Enter the desired username in the pseudo blank and click “Check Availability”.

If your chosen name is available, you’re the proud owner of a vanity url. Good luck!

Results will also depend on your industry, business model and how clients make the decision to select a product or service provider. Determining specific goals is key too. Is your objective to ring up a sale using an online shopping cart? Is it to be contacted (by phone email, chat, text message or fax)?  Or is the objective simply to build brand awareness? Search Engine ads will work in all of these cases but it’s important to measure your results and there are lots of tools to help you do that.

At HandpickedTomatoes.com our goal is to be contacted, since few new clients would choose a professional web consultant without first having a conversation. In contrast to the bulk of business that comes our way through referrals by trusted advisors, the search engine traffic we get arrives cold. In these cases, our website has to carry more of the burden of presenting a winning first impression. And that’s fine with us, but it points up the importance of presenting a professional online image.

Want to give Google Search Engine Ads (AdWords) a try? Now’s the perfect time. We’re giving away $100 worth of Google AdWords advertising free. No obligation to continue advertising after the coupon is exhausted. No requirement to spend a nickel more after you use your $100 credit. No hassles.

Some rules:

• You must have a website (no site? we can help with that)
• Be a new Google AdWords user. If you are already buying Google AdWords, the system won’t let you use our coupon. Sorry, Google said so.
• The $100 coupon code will be emailed to you by HandpickedTomatoes when you contact us and request it.
• Offer expires April 18th, 2011

Need help setting up your first AdWords campaign? We can help. Just ask.

Till then remember this post, money for nothing and your ads for Free.

Pandia was established in late 1998 by Per and Susanne Koch in Oslo, Norway, and their site has continued from that time to provide expert, easy to understand, intelligently written tutorials about all things Search Engine related.

This is just one — though a venerable  one — of the gazillion resources you’ll find on the net to help educate you about Search Engine Marketing. Another trusted resource is Google.  If you have another personal favorite, let us know.