Today’s highlighted blog post from the Council on Better Business Bureaus (CBBB)
Can Google Find You?
Here’s how to boost your Google Search Ranking in 2 easy steps.
A few months ago, I wrote about what Google+ was and wasn’t doing for small business owners. Here’s what it’s not doing: welcoming your social network marketing efforts with business profiles on the site. Here’s what it is doing: offering you an easy way to demonstrate your relevancy and increase your ranking.
It wasn’t long ago that we were all scrambling to add Facebook “like” or “recommend” buttons to main websites, blog posts, and product pages. You may very well have a half a dozen or more widgets allowing your fans to link to your pages via Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Reddit, StumbleUpon, Delicious, and other link sharing sites. Some link sharing sites have staying power, and others were temporary fads. Only time can reveal whether new sites will appeal to users.
So, why do you need a Google+ widget?
Because it’s Google, obviously. The same company on which you depend to summon up your link in response to relevant queries is offering you an opportunity to embed on any site an easy way for your customers to validate your page to Google.
Whether or not Google+ will succeed is still to be seen. There’s no sense in going ‘all in’ just yet, in the same way that you wouldn’t invest everything to base your entire business on HP Touchpads. But a small, inexpensive, and simple campaign based on Google+ can improve your local search results and drive traffic—virtual or physical—to your site.
A few easy steps:
* Create a profile on Google Places
* Identify customers with Google accounts—those using gmail addresses
* Create an email campaign asking for online reviews on Google Places
* Embed code allowing customers to easily give you plusses on Google+
* Ask customers to share your Google+ badge
Google has recently made public their intentions to help every business get online. They have been unrolling the program slowly, overseas, and beginning in the US in the state of Texas. Google wants to support small business owners online; this much is clear. So don’t worry about the latest fad. Instead, just make these two sensible changes. Get on Google Places, if you’re not already, and get your Google+ badge so you can claim your piece of Internet real estate and start collecting plusses.
DSEF and Council on Better Business Bureaus (CBBB) fosters honest and responsive relationships between businesses and consumers—instilling consumer confidence and advancing a trustworthy marketplace for all.
About the Better Business Bureaus
As the leader in advancing marketplace trust, Better Business Bureau is an unbiased non-profit organization that sets and upholds high standards for fair and honest business behavior. Every year, more than 87 million consumers rely on BBB Business Reviews® and BBB Wise Giving Reports® to help them find trustworthy businesses and charities across North America. Visitwww.bbb.org/us for more information.