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Google My Business Updates You Need to Know About

Last Updated: September 29, 2016

If you’ve been frustrated with how difficult it is to monitor activity on your Google My Business account, you’ll be relieved to hear about some updates that just rolled out.
Most notably, business owners are excited about an update that now pushes notifications to your dashboard. You can see in real time things like new customer reviews, location status changes (e.g. published, disabled, or pending verification), and NAP data updates.
In short, the new Google My Business API V3.1 makes it much easier to keep tabs on your listing.
Check out Mike Blumenthal’s write-up to learn more about other noteworthy updates. And be on the lookout for these new features of Google My Business, which you should start seeing in the next couple of weeks.

Enrich Your Local Business's Google Profile by Adding Images

Last Updated: September 22, 2016

We’re always harping on business owners to up their photo game. Websites with photos simply perform much better than those without. Plain and simple.
But did you know it’s just as important to have photos on your business’s Google profile, too?
This hasn’t always been the case. In fact, it’s only been in the last year or so that Google and Bing have been displaying images and logos in their local search results. They made this move as users increasingly want to see photos of whatever they’re searching for.
As of right now, images aren’t automatically displaying in search results for every business—only for businesses in certain categories. However, as images in search results are bound to become an expectation rather than a bonus, it’s likely they’ll be automatically generated for all categories before long.

Add Images to Your Google Profile

That’s why, regardless of your industry, your best bet is to set up your Google profile with high-quality images sooner than later. In his latest article on Search Engine Land, Wesley Young gives some great advice for optimizing Google profile images. Check out some of his suggestions:

  • Take control of which images appear on your listing. Don’t let Google set a default profile photo by selecting one of your images at random. Go to Google My Business yourself and select your own profile photo.
  • Make sure the image is cropped and sized to fit perfectly.
  • Make sure your profile photo is a high-definition image: no graininess, no visibility issues.
  • Don’t use blatant stock photos because they’re usually pretty easy to detect.

Want more? For Young’s full list of suggestions, head over to his article on Search Engine Land: “8 Tips to Make Sure Your Google Profile Images Boost Your Local Search Results.”

Why All the Smartest Small Businesses Have a Custom Domain

Last Updated: September 15, 2016

Here’s a word of advice you may not hear from other marketing teams: Own a custom domain for your small business. 
We’ve seen too many small business owners get burned by not having one. The best way to preserve your web ranking, presence, and overall marketing efforts is to purchase your own, custom domain that contains your exact business name.
In this post, we explain the importance of owning your custom domain and the hazards of not doing so. We also offer suggestions for what to do when you can’t get your own domain. Let’s dive in!

Domain vs. Website

First, what’s the difference between a domain name and a website?
A domain is another word for a web address, while a website is the collection of files and pages that appear when you visit that domain. For example, “bobsappliance.com” is a custom domain, which visitors type into the URL bar in a web browser to view Bob’s Appliance’s website.
Here’s a simpler way to look at it: Think of your domain as your street address and your website as your house. The street address tells visitors where they can find your house, but it’s not the same thing as the house itself. Likewise, the domain tells visitors where to find your website, but the website is an entirely separate entity. Make sense?

Owning Your Domain Is Ideal

Now that you understand what we’re talking about when we talk about domains, we can get into the nitty-gritty of how to handle yours.
The most important thing to know? Owning a custom domain is ideal. It provides protection from competitors and makes you look like an established, successful business.
And here’s the thing: You don’t even have to do anything with it! Just by owning the domain, you’ll keep others from taking it (which is especially useful if there are any other businesses nationwide with a similar name). You could also opt to just use your domain for your e-mail address so you appear more professional.
Or, if you’re already working with a marketing team that has created a separate website for you, you can simply redirect your custom domain so it leads to this preexisting site. No need to create a whole new website for your custom domain if you already have one!
If you don’t know how to register and purchase your own domain (although it’s simple to do online), have someone else do it for you. This person could be your marketer, a trusted employee, or a tech-savvy family member—as long as they’re competent and trustworthy.

PRO TIP: Have a custom domain but not sure if you own it? Check if you have a username and password for it. If you’re able to access and log-in to your domain, then it’s yours.

What If You Don’t Own Your Custom Domain?

We hate to sound like we’re fear mongering, but we need to emphasize how critical it is for you to own your own domain.
If you don’t own your custom domain, then it’s up for grabs. That means it could potentially fall into the hands of one of your competitors. Here’s what could happen as a result:

  • Your brand starts sending traffic to your competitors. People go to your domain (bobsappliance.com) looking for your business (Bob’s Appliance), but they don’t realize they’re actually connecting with a different business.
  • With control of your custom domain, your competitor can also pose as your business on Google Maps. Google will believe it’s you because the domain contains your business name.
  • If your competitor is particularly nasty, they’ll be empowered to write incorrect or overtly negative things about your business on the website attached to your domain. So people will visit your website looking for you, only to read bad things about you, instead. We’ve really seen this happen.
  • If you can’t regain control of your custom domain, you may have to start all of your marketing over from scratch. This includes getting an entirely new business name and domain, since your current one is now associated with a totally separate entity.

How to Prevent Domain Disaster

Want to avoid the nightmare scenarios above? Registering your own, custom domain name can save you a heck of a lot of stress, money, and lost business. Annual fees for custom domains can be anywhere between $10 and over $100, and they’re worth every penny.
However, what if, for some reason, you can’t have a custom domain? For example, some marketing companies may not let you have your own, or another business with the same name in a different state might have already claimed it. So what should you do?
When owning your custom domain isn’t in the cards, these are the next best options:

  • Get assurance upfront (in writing, ideally) from your marketing team that you will be permitted to take your domain with you after your contract ends. This is absolutely crucial if your domain contains your business name.
  • If you can’t take your domain with you and you cannot have ownership of it, then you must use a generic domain that does not contain your business name. A generic domain will look something like, “electriciantexas.com,” which you can easily move on from because your business name isn’t attached.

Act Quickly!

The bottom line? If you currently do not own a custom domain for your business, buy one now. Owning a custom domain not only makes your business appear more established—it also secures your business’s web presence.
If someone else does have control of your custom domain, they essentially have control of your entire web presence. You need to move fast and reclaim it before any damage is done. Reach out to them and try to work it out. If they refuse to return it to you, check with your state’s laws to see if there are any legal actions you can take. And if you cannot own your custom domain, make sure you take the necessary precautions to protect your business’s brand.
The longer you go without owning your custom domain, the more immediate the risks facing your online ranking and presence can become. You can’t afford to wait.

5 Quick and Easy Tips to Improve Your Site's Ranking

Last Updated: September 7, 2016

Your site’s ranking is important. That goes without saying. It’s not the be-all and end-all, but it’s definitely a top concern for businesses that want customers to find them.
So, let’s say you’ve already worked hard to fill your site with informative, relevant content and captivating images. It’s frustrating to discover that this isn’t quite enough to get your site ranking. Are there any other simple tweaks or adjustments you can make to improve your site’s ranking?
Absolutely!
In this post, we’ll take a look at five quick and easy ways you can improve your site’s ranking today.

1. Make sure your site loads quickly.

It might surprise you to learn that load speed has a significant influence on ranking.
Indeed: Google and other search engines actually factor your webpage’s load speed into your overall ranking.
Why? Because when a page loads quickly, the user experience is more pleasant. Therefore, the user is more likely to stay on your page, which increases dwell time and potentially the number of pages they visit on your site. This signals to Google that your site is worthwhile.
On the other hand, if your page is loading too slowly, the user is far more likely to get frustrated and move on to another site. This increases bounce rate, decreases dwell time, and stops the user from browsing other pages on your site. All of these are bad news for your ranking.

Slow load speeds will drive users crazy

Easy fix:

Use Google’s own PageSpeed Insights to see how efficiently your webpage loads. If your pages aren’t loading quickly enough, reduce the size of your images. This makes a huge difference. The best part? It’s super simple to do.

2. Don’t overwhelm users with big chunks of text.

If you have a lot of written content on your page, break it up into smaller paragraphs with subheadings.
When users see a giant wall of text, they get overwhelmed. In turn, they often scan the page quickly before they move on to another page or a different site altogether.

Too much to read is overwhelming

But with catchy subheadings that break up your text, you can draw the user in and capture their attention more immediately. At the very least, the user will read over your subheadings and skim the content under each one. Even if they don’t read your content word for word (and very few will), they’ll at least stay on your page for substantially more time. And, as we explained above, a higher dwell time will improve your site’s ranking.

Easy fix:

Create appropriate subheadings by using Heading 1 (H1) and Heading 2 (H2) tags. This helps your page appeal to search engines, as well. For SEO best practice, add at least one target keyword to each subheading.

3. Feel free to link to other pages on your site.

Do you have multiple pages of useful content on your site? Use them to your advantage! Internal links are a great way to boost your SEO value and improve your site’s ranking.
If there’s a logical way to link one page to another—i.e., the content is related with similar keywords or they offer supplemental information—then you should absolutely do so. Not only does this provide information to the user and keep them on your site, but it signals to search engines that your site contains valuable content. That’s a surefire way to ramp up your ranking!

Easy fix:

Give your site content a quick read and determine if you can make any connections between pages. Once you’ve decided which pages to link to each other, the rest of the work is a breeze.

4. Keep your outbound links in good shape.

When you want to improve your site’s ranking, outbound links are just as valuable as internal ones. But you need to make sure you’re following best practices if you want them to give you that extra SEO oomph.
One common mistake is leaving broken or dead links up on your site. Most websites are constantly updating, so it’s not unusual for a specific webpage to be taken down or for its URL to change entirely. However, it’s your job to make sure your site doesn’t link to nonexistent pages. Otherwise, users will get frustrated when they’re led to 404 pages, while search engines won’t trust you as a reliable site.

broken link

Easy fix:

If your site doesn’t contain all that many links, you can check them manually by sitting down and clicking on each individual one. However, if your site has lots of outbound links, it’s much more efficient to use one of the countless, free link-checker tools online.

5. Add a “Contact Us” page.

You already know search engines want to see that your site is trustworthy. That’s why you went through all the trouble of writing informative, relevant content in the first place. But did you know there’s a super-quick way to add legitimacy and trustworthiness to your site?
With a “Contact Us” page or something similar (like an “About Us” page), you’ll prove your authenticity by including verifiable NAP (name/address/phone number) information. NAP data is specifically for the search engines. But this page will also make users feel more comfortable with you, knowing you exist in the real world.
Bonus points if you add a contact form so users can e-mail you directly!

Let users e-mail you directly. Everyone's doing it.

Easy fix:

Hopefully, you already know your own contact information. That should make this a very quick project.

Consider user experience along with search engine preferences.

You might have noticed that all of our tips to improve your site’s ranking combine two things: users and search engines. Your ranking depends heavily on appealing to both.
This is because Google and other search engines are generally aiming to make user experience a ranking factor. That’s why Google favors mobile-friendly sites and will soon start docking sites that have pop-ups, for example. Simply put, Google’s long-term mission is to improve user experience, so they penalize sites that don’t cater to it.
So if you want to improve your site’s ranking, you must start by improving your site’s user experience.
Good luck!
Note: This is not a comprehensive guide to SEO or site rankings. These are just a few easy and quick things you can do to improve your site’s ranking.

How This Call-Tracking Feature Can Transform Your Marketing

Last Updated: February 15, 2024

You’ve heard of our CallTrax™ feature—our very own call-tracking tool that comes with every Starter, Core, or Premium program. But did you realize exactly how vital it is to your campaign?
By keeping track of all the phone calls that come through your CallTrax number, it transforms the way you interact with your program. If you take advantage of this powerful tool, we’re confident you’ll see remarkable results.
Here’s how our call-tracking tool is just what you need to achieve the results you’ve been looking for.

Call-Tracking Provides 100% Transparency

The numbers don’t lie. Not only do they keep us informed, but they also keep us honest.
First of all, looking at your call data and assessing how many calls per month you have will let us know if there’s an issue with your campaign’s performance. You can notify us if you see a drop in calls, which will help us diagnose a potential problem before it becomes more serious.
At the same time, your call volume will also tell you how effective your campaign is. Wondering if our program is delivering on its value? Simply check your call log and see how many calls you’re getting per month. The call log only records calls that come through your CallTrax number, so they’re directly attributable to our marketing efforts. We can’t fake anything.

Call-Tracking Keeps a Record of Contacts

Our call-tracking feature doesn’t just tally your number of incoming calls—it keeps track of contact information, as well. That means your call log is a virtual contacts list of all prospects and customers. Since losing track of missed calls and forgetting to follow up with certain customers can cost you valuable jobs, this feature can be a real lifesaver.
Plus, there’s also a way for you to rate your contacts and label which calls led to booked jobs. This way, your call log can give you a quick, at-a-glance report that tells you how many jobs you’ve booked this month. By using this, you’ll not only be able to see how many calls you’re getting, but how many calls are actually turning into jobs. Because booking jobs is your ultimate goal, this insight will help you stay on track.

Call-Tracking Helps Improve Customer Service

Did you know that our call-tracking feature also records all the calls on your LeadTrax line? There are many purposes for this. One of the main purposes is that it helps you assess your own level of customer service.
Getting lots of calls but not booking many jobs? Listening back to your conversations with callers may help you identify a problem you didn’t know existed. For instance, maybe you’re having trouble talking to or connecting with people on the phone. Replaying those conversations can help you figure out where you need to improve in order to book more jobs and keep customers happy.

Call-Tracking Keeps Team Members in Check

In addition to assessing your own customer service, call recording may also help you train your team members to answer the phone properly. You can make sure they’re answering the phone with a professional greeting, using appropriate language, giving out correct information and price quotes, and so on.
Of course you don’t want to feel like a helicopter boss, hovering over your team members at all times. However, it’s important to make sure your business’s service is up to your standards. You want to be certain your customers are getting a premium experience. Listening back to old conversations on occasion is a discreet, convenient way to do this.

Call-Tracking Helps Target Customer Needs

Do you feel like you’re hearing a lot of the same questions and/or requests from customers? Our call recording lets you listen back to conversations so you can take note of these specific concerns. Then, you can start thinking about adding them to your service offerings if you don’t already offer them. These conversations offer priceless insight into your customers’ minds, and you’d be crazy not to take advantage of it.
Once you’ve identified the customer needs and additional services you’d like to target, let us know right away. We’ll get right to work marketing those services so your campaign can reach the next level.
Having trouble accessing your call log through the Client Portal? Want to learn more about its capabilities? Don’t hesitate to reach out at any time.

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