What Are The Most Affordable Small Business SEO Services?
Offering affordable small business SEO services and creating solutions that are tailored and personalized, and thus efficient, is my area of expertise when it comes to search marketing. Understanding the power of Search Marketing for local businesses can help all types of business models and small-medium sized businesses obtain more ideal clients and overall more sales, while building trust and brand authority within the community.
With proper SEO and comprehensive research of your market online, small business owners who are looking to get the most out of their online marketing plan will want to specifically capture local searchers and customers, so there’s a specific approach to take here, from the copy craft to the analytics.
If you’re looking to enhance your marketing plan to attract local customers, an increasingly valuable way to do so is through optimizing your Google Maps listing. In this article, I will introduce you to the basics of Google Maps for marketing, why it’s important to rank favorably for local searchers, and how it is one of the most affordable small business SEO services that will efficiently bring you ROI and real local customers.
Affordable Small Business SEO Services | Google Places Optimization
To understand search engine marketing or search engine optimization, you need to have an understanding of Google. Google is the leading search engine. Therefore, it is the optimal place for you to find visitors searching for phrases related to just about every market imaginable. This extends to local markets for products and services that small businesses offer. If you are a local business owner seeking affordable small business SEO services, hiring a specialized professional to help you optimize your local search presence will and should start with your Google Maps Listing. Google Maps is the big game-changer when you’re talking about local SEO. Here is what it looks like when Google Places results are displayed for a search term: 
As you can see, when someone searches a local-relevant phrase like “gyms in ann arbor”, Google shows results for the most relevant and authoritative businesses in the city or the closest geographically. But it also displays many features on the Google Places Listing–including valuable information that is visible at first-glance right from the first page like your phone number. Specifically, just to the right of each listings’ title, website URL, description, star rating, and number of reviews, there accompanies the businesses’ physical address and phone number with a “pinpoint.” (The gray pinpoint turns red when hovered over.) 
Further to the right, you will find the Google Map. It remains at the top-right as you scroll down the page. This is where Google tacks each of the results’ locations, or “pinpoints,” on the Map. Each result corresponds with a letter A-G to more easily identify the different locations, in the order they appear listed on the page. The smaller dots you see are also listed results, but they are locations that are listed on the following pages, and as you flip through the pages of results the new set of A-G is the newly listed page. Before I get into how Google Places works and what make a listing an authority to Google (it is different than regular organic SEO), here is what a listing actually looks like when it is clicked and visited. There is much more to a Google Places Listing than what you see on the results page. For someone to visit your listings’ page, they must first click your listing as it appears listed in the search results. To make things easier to follow and for better explanation, I’ve broken the full listing up into multiple images. Let’s Take A Look! Just like on the results page, you will find the title, address, phone number, and website URL. Just below it there is a link for customers to enter their own address and get directions to your location, a search bar, and a link for customers to save your location as a favorite. There is the red button for customers to write a review of your business, as well as a button for them to upload a photo. Below the buttons, you will find categories listed, the best bus route you will need to take to get to the location, and number of Google reviews and star rating. Next is a short description of the business from the owner, which is of course a good place to take advantage of search engine optimization. 
At the top-right you will find a link to ‘Edit this place.’ Next to it is a check mark and indication that the owner has claimed this business as theirs. There is again the Google Map and also a few PPC ads. In this listing, there are no videos. If so, it would read ‘Photos & Videos,’ and it is here that all user and owner-uploaded videos and photos could be found. The picture next to the Map is the featured or first picture or video out of the group. Also, the owner could have added additional information, like hours of operation. Reviews And Their Importance The next part of the listing is reviews. Reviews are user-uploaded from Google Account holders. If you were not signed into Google, ‘Write A Review,’ would appear as ‘Sign In To Rate.’ Reviews have the option to be extremely effective or…pretty less than desirable. After you have received 5 or more reviews, you are able to have a star rating. Every review you receive effects your rating. Up to 5 reviews are shown, but you have the option to click ‘More reviews (11) >’ and see them all, just as you can do for photos. Reviews are shown in chronological order. 
As I said before, these are only reviews that are user-uploaded from Google Places. Links to reviews, press releases, other listings, etc. that are found elsewhere online on websites like Yelp.com and Yellowpages.com, are found here at the bottom of your page. Using reviews both on Google Places and from around the web are integral parts of optimizing your Google Places Listing. Taking the time to completely set up your listing with all of your business information is a wise decision, and optimizing for search engine results is an even better one when done correctly. Google Places has the unique advantage of quickly converting local visitors to your website or getting them on the phone with you. With proper SEO of Google Places, which is a special algorithm in itself, you can attain a ranking authority. With quick access to objective and trusted sources and reviews, enticing photos and videos, and info and links that are easy to navigate, Google Places Listings have an unparalleled ability to attract and convert customers–which is why having your Google Places Listing optimized is one of the most affordable small business SEO Services. In this article, I’ve included only the basics about Google Places and how it is much different than an organic listing (a regular search query result that displays a website). If you are a business owner, chances are that you already have a Google Places Listing. If you are serious about optimizing your Google Places listing to become an authority when your products or services are searched for online or if you have not set one up for your business yet, contact us today and we will be more than happy to make that happen for you. NOTE: we would like to ask that if your Google Places does not yet exist or is not already owner-verified, please refrain from doing so just yet! There are certain steps that one should take prior to verifying their listing that will make for quicker ranking and results, and will effect the way that Google “views” you. It’s okay if you have a bare listing, no existing foot-print across the web, or have poor reviews and have already owner-verified–however, if you haven’t and you are serious about ranking your Google Places listing, contact us before you do so!
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