introducing Offline Crash Course – Google Places Advanced

1. Our Comprehensive Step-by-Step Training Series to Help You Succeed with Local Marketing - Google Places, SEO, Facebook, and much more! introducingOffline Crash Course – Google Places Advanced A Collaborative Effort by Two Real World Local SEO Experts Brian Anderson Mario Brown

2. Transforming Your Offline Consulting Business 1 3 2 Business Foundations Technical Expertise Identifying and Selling New Clients Quality Content and Local Marketing Training to Guide You Every Step of the Way

3. 1 3 Technical Expertise Technical Expertise Laying the Groundwork For Your Success

4. Agenda • Intro • Optimized Listing • Photos • Videos • Citations • Reviews • Q&A

5. Keys to Success • THERE IS NO SILVER BULLET FOR SUCCESS!

6. Keys to Success • Focus on Basics • Strong on-page SEO for the clients website • External SEO (link building) is now relevant with Google Places • Content is King – now more than ever • Avoid getting too caught up in the latest changes – focus on the core elements that define who the specific customer is online. • Manage client expectation’s • Regular communication • The era of overnight rankings in the old 7-box is now gone. If your term still has a 7-box, then it’s a quick and easy success story. • Many factors come into play, including some that take time to generate results for the client. • Prepare them for a new Google Places that co-exists with the organic results, and in many cases, will be visible BELOW the natural search results.

7. Keys to Success • Citations are changing •  Google is reclaiming top positions in their SERPs from directory sites and local review sites. • Look to see many directory sites rendered irrelevant. While not irrelevant, the most recent change from February 26th has dealt InsiderPagesand others a blow. •  Continued rise of reviews as a core factor in a listings ranking • Customer reviews will gain prominence, as Google moves towards providing higher value results to online searchers. • Review spam will be cracked down on in an attempt to make review data more compelling to searchers. Expect to see more and more reviews consolidated onto the Google Places page as Google takes back real estate.

8. Optimized Listings • Keywords in business name – don’t play games here. If the business doesn’t have a name with rich keywords, don’t feel compelled to make it up to go after a ranking this way. • This will get the clients listing suspended, and will cost you the client. • Use only the real name – and…. Make sure it is the exact same name that appears on all the citations being created. • Be sure to use almost all of the 200 characters allowed in the Description. Work in 1-2 keyword phrases in a meaningful way. It needs to sounds good, yet this is a great place to work in our keywords. • Hours of business. • Make sure the hours listed on the Google Places page are also listed on the client’s website. I know it’s easy to skip this section, but spend the 45 seconds it will take to complete the hours of business option. You may be pleasantly surprised with these being highlighted by Google in a call-out box. • In the “Service Areas and Location Settings” – always choose “No, all customers come to the business location”. (see below image) • There are lots of thoughts and speculation on why this helps, but suffice to say, it really helps with ranking. This may change in the future, but for now, just accept this is true.

9. Optimized Listings • Don’t stuff keywords in the category section (no more commas!) • Be very careful to not use geographic terms in the category section – whether as prefix or suffix. Good Example: Personal Injury Attorney Bad Example: Atlanta Personal Injury Attorney • No toll free numbers as the primary number – only a local number in that city. • If the customer wants a toll-free, put it in as a secondary number. Offer the opportunity to list a mobile phone. • Avoid using tracking phone numbers – this will do serious damage to your listings. Stick with the NAP (name, address, and phone number) all the way through the listing and citations. • Use the businesses REAL address. If the clients company is not in the city center or more challenging yet, not even in the city itself, then consider having them rent an executive suite (not a UPS store mailbox) as a second address to supplement the primary location. This is a bit gray, but unfortunately is being done widespread. • Consider using a subdomain with the clients site to help create a keyword rich URL. • Example: AtlantaPersonalInjuryAttorney.JohnSmithLaw.com • Why? Google reads from Left to Right.

10. Optimized Listings - Categories • Categories should say what your business is (e.g. Hospital), not on what it does (e.g. Vaccinations) or things it sells (e.g. HP products or printer paper). • Only choose as many as are required to describe your business • As it is possible, keep these the same across 3rd party sites • If there are multiple categories that legitimately describe what your business is – then use them. Otherwise do not. • Even if you have to use a custom term, use it to describe what your business is. • No geographic terms and don’t spam the category list.Repeat – don’t spam the category list. • This means there is no longer a “requirement” to use all 5 to make a more complete listing. Read this again until it sinks in…

11. Optimized Listings – More Details Section • Continue to use this section for putting intelligent, keyword rich phrases. • Example: “With our attorneys, your loan modification case will be given immediate review to help you understand your options for modifying your mortgage.” • Another innovative way to leverage the More Details section is to connect it to the various citation/review sites you may have. Look at the example below:

12. Photos & Videos • In the “Pictures” section of the Google Places entry, use the “Add a photo from the web” option. • This is valid for most entries and will allow you to take advantage of keyword and geographic tagging for 10 pictures. • Select the URL to the 10 pictures you added into either Insider Pages or a photo sharing site. • If on a photo sharing site – we prefer Photobucket • Be sure to tag the pictures with your keywords • Videos • All 5 are important • Use NAP in the description area of the video • Geo-tag each video in YouTube and on other sites • If your customer doesn’t have videos - make them. • Use Microsoft Movie Maker if need be.

13. Coupons • Create coupons in each of your Google Places page. The idea is pretty simple…. • While helping improve your Places page conversion rate, coupons offer another chance to provide Google with an optimized phrase or two using your keywords. • The coupons are shown prominently on the actual Places page, and can be printed or displayed by cell phone. • Unfortunately these need to be updated every 30 days.

14. Citations • Before starting a new Google Places listing – always build the citations first. (assumes no existing presence) • You want these available for Google to find when you do the Google Places page. These are just “mentions” of your clients Name, Address, Phone Number and possibly website on local websites – directories, review sites, etc. • Always build Super Pages first. The reason is because they are the only service that makes sure the correct USPS mail is being used... All other citations need to match that address. And if possible, the GP listing • Here are Brian’s favorite “core group” - that get included on absolutely every new listing. • Yelp • Super Pages • Insider Pages • YouTube

15. Google Places Advanced Topics - Citations • Video sites • When adding client videos to YouTube, be sure to put your citation in the description box. • Beyond YouTube, we also upload to Daily Motion and Vimeo.

16. Citations • Linking to Citation Pages • The strategy here is to help the customer obtain multiple positions on page 1 for their keyword(s). • Choose the strongest 3-4 citations, and build backlinks to them. The number you need will vary; try building only 15-20 to each keyword ase. Use automated low-value profile links in bulk quantities in addition to ‘real’ links.

17. Citations • Article marketing and Press release marketing • As you do your articles and press releases, be sure to give your client a full citation – Name, Address, Phone Number each time.

18. Reviews • Reviews are critical to both getting the citation indexed and ranked strong in Google as well as propelling the Google Places listing onto page 1. • It is nice to have the client ask the customer to work in 1-2 keyword phrase(s) and the geographic term we are using. • For Google Places, it takes 5 reviews to get a “Star Rating”.

19. Reviews • Reviews on 3rd party sites (examples below): • Yahoo • Insider Pages • Service Magic • AVVO • Angie’s List • Judy’s Book • are known to be picked up by Google Places and sometimes included in the primary listing. This is will help the customer convert more calls from the listing. • Research shows that a review from 3rd party sites is weighed more heavily than individual reviews on the Google Places listings. • Be very careful trying to create numerous reviews using different login id’s. Your IP address is often monitored, and you could find yourself with a suspended Google Places account and a client whose listing has been taken down.

20. Questions & Answers

21. Our Comprehensive Step-by-Step Training Series to Help You Succeed with Local Marketing - Google Places, SEO, Facebook, and much more! introducingOffline Crash Course – Google Places Advanced A Collaborative Effort by Two Real World Local SEO Experts Brian Anderson Mario Brown