Dear All,
Local listings are an extremely important part of your online marketing and advertising plan because they help customers locate your business and get in touch with you. Having inaccurate or outdated citations in your local business listing can severely hinder your online marketing efforts, but occasionally cleaning up or reviewing your information is a great way to prevent that from happening.
Staying ahead of the curve and your competition should be one of your top priorities. It’s important to do everything you can to make sure that your business listing consistently ranks well and remains visible on the first page of search engine results pages. So, how exactly can you do that? It helps to have a strong SEO marketing plan in place.
Outdated Information Leads to Lost Business
It’s very easy for local customers or prospects to lose trust in your business when your online information is inaccurate or misrepresented. Your potential customers could feel as if they’re being cheated or that there’s something “off'” about your business if your local listing is fraught with wrong information.
A recent study showed that about 93% of online users became extremely aggravated when they were presented with false, outdated, or inaccurate information about a company and rightfully so. On top of that, 80% of those consumers completely lost trust in the businesses that had incorrect information displayed in their local online listings.
Imagine searching for a piece of furniture online and thinking that you’ve found the perfect store that carries what you want. After you check out their business listing, you go to visit their brick-and-mortar location but find out that they are closed and have relocated half way across the city. What a letdown! No doubt, you’d be extremely disappointed, especially if you took the time to go to their physical location and discovered they had moved without bothering to disclose that in their online listing or web site.
It’s careless, a waste of time, and just plain bad business practice.
But, don’t lose all hope just yet! It is possible to bounce back from this blunder and even salvage at least some of your customer base. Here’s how:
Include Accurate NAP (Name, Address, Phone Number)
While ranking high will always be an essential component of any competitive SEO marketing strategy, it’s also important to maintain complete accuracy at all times. Your company’s name, address, and phone number should all be up-to-date and consistent across all of your online platforms and review sites to avoid any confusion. Along with your hours of operation and web site URL, it should all be prominently displayed in your local business listing. If any information changes, update it immediately.
Regularly Update Your Web Site Content
If your business has more than one location with multiple points of contact, make sure they’re all constantly being updated. Post content that’s relevant to each location in different sections of your web site so that consumers can easily find the information they’re looking for in their area. Location-based searches shouldn’t be overcomplicated; they should be simple and automatic. Most search engines already provide the platform for web developers to optimize web sites based on local searches. Use that to your advantage!
Build Credibility with Social Proofs
One of the best ways you can improve customers’ perceptions of your business is by actively showing them how happy and satisfied other customers (as in people they can relate to on a personal level) are with your online service. In other words, show them the receipts!
Address All Reviews, Even the Negative Ones
Striving to maintain a positive reputation when you’re forced to implement damage control due to negative reviews is extremely challenging, but necessary. With that in mind, be sure to address and answer all of your online reviews and comments frequently. That way, you can quickly work towards mending and turning around negative customer experiences and repair relationships with disgruntled customers, effectively de-escalating the situation.
At Numero Uno Web Solutions, we can help you achieve all of your online marketing objectives by optimizing and updating your local business listing with the most relevant information. As one of the most sought after and highly esteemed SEO companies in Canada, we’ve helped countless clients throughout North America and across various industries optimize their local listings and achieve excellent results.
Contact your Numero Uno account representative today to learn more about how we can help you build a positive and professional online reputation for your company.
Best regards,
Adrian Newman
Managing Director
Numero Uno Web Solutions
P.S. From our families to yours, we wish you a healthy and Happy Holidays!
