This article is a reprint of Wise Bread's contribution to OPEN Forum from American Express -- where small business owners can get advice from experts and share tips with each other.
Your customers are looking at your online business listings whether you’ve claimed ownership or not. In fact, they may be writing reviews and telling the world about how much they love your company, regardless of whether you are actively involved on Yelp, Google Places, Foursquare, etc.
This scenario is what Bob Young of ComputerTree encountered when he did an Internet search on his business. He stumbled upon Yelp and read positive reviews already posted by customers.
As a seasoned entrepreneur in the technology industry (his company is an Apple reseller and training provider), Bob knew that people rely on the Internet to get information needed to make purchase decisions. But reading The Referral Engine: Teaching your Business to Market Itself by John Jantsch reinforced the notion that he should take control of and manage information contained in online directories and review sites.
Claiming the listing was a first step. Building out a profile and adding content were natural next actions, enabling him to direct the flow of conversation and deepen engagement with interested visitors, prospects, and existing customers.
Many business owners are very involved in managing their virtual presences on multiple sites while others are still figuring out what to do. Here are a few tips for those just getting started.
Claim your online listings
Start by identifying the business listings and review sites that appear on the first page of search results for your company. Depending on your market, these are likely to include Google Places, Yelp, City Search, Insider Pages, and Yahoo! Local. Then, take these actions:
Build your profile
Review the information that is already posted on the business listing. Determine what information and categories to keep, remove, change, or embellish.
Take care of listing annoyances
Claiming your listing is generally a simple process. Problems arise when information contained in a main source is incorrect or outdated.
Business directories proliferate and tend to use one or two main sources. So, amending some listings does not seem to stop the spread of false data, such as a wrong address or old phone number.
To assure that the right information multiplies, pinpoint the source of any errors and correct information at its origin.
For example, I have found that updating Google Places was more effective than correcting off-brand listings, as the bad data kept reappearing until the Google info was corrected. In a webinar on local marketing sponsored by OPEN Forum, John Jantsch of Duct Tape Marketing mentions key sources that compile and disseminate data as infoUSA, Localeze, and UniversalBusinessListing.
Also, make sure that company information is consistent. If you have multiple phone numbers, websites, email addresses, etc., choose one to represent your business in online directories.
Engage customers and prospects
Both standard and advanced features on business-listing sites can help market your business as well as build and deepen relationships, online and offline.
On Bob’s agenda is the addition of video footage from an upcoming customer appreciation event. He plans to show the joy of interacting with his business and capture customer testimonies.
Have you experienced success by claiming your online listings?
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