How do online business listings work?

When searching for local businesses or professional services, search engines help you by narrowing down businesses by location.

Say that it’s dinner time and you’re looking for somewhere to eat. When you search “restaurants near me”, Google creates a list of restaurants nearby for you to choose from. If the pizza shop down the street isn’t listed with Google, they might not show up in the search and you would be going somewhere else for dinner.

Being listed with popular online directories such as Google my Business can help drive leads by giving you a place to post your location, hours, phone number, website, menu, photos, reviews, and more. If you have a listing that’s not 100% accurate or complete, Google will push your business down the ranks. It’s important to keep your listing up to date and fresh so that it works for you. An accurate, complete, up-to-date online listing with positive reviews can work wonders for your business.

Not sure where to start? We can help! Unlike other companies who charge a steep monthly or yearly fee to keep you listed with these directories, we charge a one-time fee and offer free updates for one year. Request an estimate today.

What is SEO and why do I need it?

Search Engine Optimization, or SEO, is the process of enhancing website traffic organically (without paid ads). You could own a beautiful website but if you receive very few views, your site is not working for you as much as it could. Let us help you make the most of your online presence!

Your website should be a useful resource for viewers. If your website provides value for customers, you’re on the right track. Google indexes websites based on how well they answer search queries and how reliable your site is as a resource. We start by designing your site for your customers – not robots! Our SEO services are separate from our web design services in order to first focus on perceived customer value. It’s important to consider optimizing for both quantity of traffic and quality of traffic. That means not only working on attracting a significant amount of traffic but attracting viewers who are truly interested in the content you have on your website. Afterall, there’s really no point in having a large amount of traffic if the viewers who make it to your site are not interested in what you have to offer. In fact, that can hurt your search rankings.

When talking about SEO, your online reputation also factors in. Having an up-to-date Facebook page for your business or being listed with Google my Business can help Google vet your business, thus leading to improved search rankings. If you appear to be a reliable source of information, Google will be less hesitant to include your site in the search results.

There are also technical aspects of SEO that should be considered. Security, speed, and mobile responsiveness are three examples of things that search engines will consider when figuring out where to rank your site. Your ranking will suffer if your site is not secure because Google wants to direct viewers to the safest sites. If you have a slow website or one that’s not mobile-friendly, Google will direct viewers to other sites that are faster and mobile-friendly because they want users to have the best experience.

There are so many components of SEO and it takes a professional to make use of every aspect in a way that best benefits your website.  Ready to get your website out there with SEO?  Contact us today to talk about your project.