In the United States today, many small businesses are currently suffering under the strain of the national economy as it attempts to recover from the financial crisis of 2008. Because a good deal of American families lost the equity in their property and were unemployed for a large period of time, citizens have less spending money available to them. This has placed greater strains on small businesses that rely on a steady flow of sales to stay afloat!
However, rather than sit back and curse the economy, business owners can increase traffic and sales by making their business more available on the Internet. Recently people are turning more and more frequently to the Internet. This means people place less stock in the businesses they know to be near their home, or those that are well-known in the community. Rather, when a person needs a certain product or service, they will simply search online for the best location for their needs. This gives the consumer a great deal of power, because they will be able to read reviews of the business and its location, view the hours of operation, and even make appointments online!
In order for local businesses to capitalize on this trend, it is essential that they make their business more accessible in Internet searches through Google Maps Optimization and Search Engine Optimization! Google Maps Optimization is extremely important and can help a business greatly increase consumer awareness and traffic to their location.
When a potential customer searches for “pet grooming Provo UT” in Google, the search engine will pull up a map of the Provo, UT area with a variety of different pointers on the map that show the user the locations of pet grooming businesses in their area. The user can then click on any of the locations to view the business name, location, hours of operation, a link to their website, a contact phone number, and even user reviews. This is an extremely fast and easy way for Internet users to find exactly what they are looking for and where they are looking for it!
Google Maps Optimization will continue to be incredibly important as the amount of cell phone users across the world continue to switch to smart phones. With smart phones, users can perform Google Maps searches right from their phone and access the locations that are nearest their exact coordinates. When a company is properly listed in Google Maps, the user will often be able to click the link provided by Google Maps to call that location directly! Without the information, however, the user will be blind to that company’s products, services, and location.
When a business decides that they want to capitalize on this market, they can hire a professional Internet marketing company to perform Google Maps Optimization for them. This will allow the business to be listed in the forefront of these location-based search results for their industry-related keywords. Business owners may also want to increase their search engine rankings in organic results with Search Engine Optimization.
Search Engine Optimization, or SEO, is similar to Google Maps Optimization in that it will make the business’ website more accessible to Internet users by elevating their rankings in search results. However, this is not a location based search and can apply to a better variety of search terms. For instance, rather than ranking highly for “pet grooming Provo UT”, the business owner will increase their rankings for “organic pet grooming” and “certified pet grooming”. This makes it even easier for consumers that perform a variety of searches to find this company’s information!
