Google+ Local Pages are your new Landing Page

A search for "pilates easthampton ma" turns up Renew Pilates

Clients of ours surprisingly still question our focus, and insistence, on their participation in +Google+. We point them to reasons why their business should be on G+, run through their Google Analytics with them to show them the significant percentage of their traffic that is coming to them from Google searches and explain how this can be increased. But for many of them it comes down to 1) not enough time in the day and 2) why add more "social networking" when they're already busy on Facebook.

We think they're looking at it all wrong. But even if they don't use Google+ for the networking aspect, we insist that they at least claim their Google Places page.  To ignore that simple step is almost inexcusable.

But there is another big reason to take the extra step of setting up your business's Google+ Page when you're setting up your Google Places page, and the image above explains it.

In viewing that page no actions were required. Renew Pilates' information takes up over 50% of the SERP. And not only that, but it has almost every action item that, as a small business, you'd want to make accessible to your potential clients/customers.... address, phone number, directions, hours, links to images... it is immediately showing many of your website's capture points or action items before they've even reached your website.

So if that information, and those action items, can so quickly fulfill the primary role of your business's website, doesn't it make sense to think of that listing as your website's "splash" or "landing" page? Ideally your potential customer wouldn't even need to click to your website, and wouldn't consider clicking to a competitor's website.

You'll have accomplished the hardest step to a conversion.

So perhaps it's time to up the ante when it comes to your Google Places listing and your Google+ Local Page.

What is a RFP, where to find RFPs, and are RFPs relevant?

Requests for Proposals (RFPs) can be an invaluable source of new business for your company as long as you know what they are, where to find them, and how to make strategic decisions regarding them.

Has LinkedIn jumped the shark?

It wasn't so long ago that LinkedIn was an important part of my day. I actively engaged on it, cultivating connections, participating in Groups and answering questions in the Answers section. I even manage a group in the site for the RFP Database called The RFP Database B2B Forum which now has over 12,500 members in it.

I was a power user, and I used it to engage in conversations as an active part of my sales and marketing strategy.

But not so much anymore. I believe that LinkedIn has jumped the shark.

Timeliness matters for website visitors and search engines

Have you ever gone to a website and questioned if someone was still in business because nothing on their website looks like it has been updated lately? Have you checked out their blog and the last post was from two years ago... or worse yet, didn't have a date stamp?

As a website owner you probably have never looked at your website and wondered this, but we can assure you, potential customers have likely thought this. And what's worse is that search engines wonder the same thing!

Let me explain.

Why your business needs to claim its Google Places page

If you want to do just one activity that will take you approximately 10 minutes of your time and yield you the most customers for 0 cost, this is that one thing you should do. Immediately.

Some quick statistics to get our conversation started:

• 43% of all Google searches are local or location based
• Over 50% of mobile searches are local or location based

Now to explain: local or location based searches are searches whereby either you entered the location directly into the search parameters (search for "pilates in Easthampton MA") or you were in a location and Google returned search results based on your GPS coordinates (you were in the town of Easthampton, MA and ran a search for "pilates").