Add a Google Maps Listing!

If you've attended my class, you've heard this before.  I'll continue to be a broken record on the importance of this for your business.

Unfortunately however, these listings are really only relevant for literal places in which you only conduct business.  If you office out of your home, or primarily use a PO Box as your business address, you won't want to pursue this option.  PO Box addresses are actually deleted from a Google Places listing, so only put your home address (if you run your business from home) if you actually meet with clients there and are willing to have people show up unannounced at your house.

For all you retail, restaurant and businesses with an office location however, this is a great way to go!  A Google search likes to display a variety of results - normal search, images, video (thus the importance of a YouTube video if you can create one appropriate for your business), and maps!  So having your business listed in Google My Business will help you appear near the top.

Test this for yourself and open a new tab, enter in "dog groomer" and see the top few results.  Most likely the few near the top are Google Places listings.  Sometimes these results are pulled from other listings, but listing with Google Places is free and will assist you in achieving the same result.

So, get yourself on Google Maps!  Click here to start.

Then, click on "list your business" and enter your business phone number.  If Google has any information on your business, it will populate some fields for you. Otherwise, just enter the appropriate fields on the next page.

Keep your description short and to the point.  Don't get long-winded or push the envelope with keywords here.  Abuse of that field will likely get your post deleted by Google also.

You can also add up to five categories for your business and upload a photo.  Even uploading your logo works well here.  Don't have a logo or photo?  Proceed anyway, you can add this later.

When adding categories, remember to be a bit conservative.  Google has a lot of quality guidelines for adding a places listing.  They are all worth review, but I'll note the one's pertaining to categories below:

Provide at least one category from the suggestions provided in the form as you type. Aim for categories that are specific, but brief.

• Categories should say what your business is (e.g. Hospital), not on what it does (e.g. Vaccinations) or things it sells (e.g. Sony products or printer paper). This information can be added in your description or as custom attributes.
• Categories should not contain location-based information (for example, Dog Walker Los Angeles is not permitted).
• Only one category is permitted per entry field. Do not “stuff” entry fields with multiple categories.

These are particularly of note, because abuse here means eventually a deleted post. 

You can also add payment methods, hours of operation and service areas that your business focuses on.  When entering your service areas, try the "Distance from one location" method instead of adding all zip codes or cities individually.  It will be less work for you, and you'll have a map with a red circle around surrounding cities and suburbs, so you can decide how far-reaching you want your service area to be.

Finally, add any additional details about your business using custom attributes.  Read about how to use custom attributes here.  Too involved?  Just skip this part for now, and put it on your to-do list in a week or so, it will help your listing show up in specific search results, but don't let this piece overwhelm you to inaction.  Just getting your business listed with Google Maps is a great start.

End by clicking submit and you'll then have to verify your listing.  The nice thing about entering in your information is that you can see how your listing will appear in the preview pane on the right side of the screen.  So you have a live view of what you may need to think about improving.

Again, just get this going, and mark a follow up time on your calendar to upload a photo (if you haven't already), and get custom attributes added to the additional details section.

Also, you may have noticed a message on the top of one of your sign-in screens about Google Tags and Google Boost.

Definitely check into signing up for both of these programs.  Google Tags has a 30 day free trial and after that is a flat $25/month fee.  Google Boost is another way to increase your rankings in a search result, managed through your Google Places listing and is a bit easier than setting up an entire pay-per-click ad campaign in Google Adwords.  So, mark a day for Tags and a day for Boost as further to-do for your ongoing SEO efforts.

Creating your Site Content

Writing or developing your site content can seem overwhelming when you are sitting down at the computer.  Don't let this stop you from getting something going however.  You can (and should) adjust, tweak, and improve your site as you, your enterprise, and your marketing efforts evolve.


If you end up hiring out your web development, we have great marketing copywriters who will craft fantastic content for you with or without an SEO focus. 
But, if you are doing it all yourself, you can still create something to be proud of with these guidelines.

Start simple, with one to five pages.  A three page minimum can be a great start to get your site up and running, then add as you go along. 


Standard content pages can include:

• Home Page
• Product or Service Page
• How it works page
• About us page
• Contact us page

The “Basic Three” are:

• Home page
• Product or Service page
• Contact Us page

A caveat is that retail sites must include a Shopping Cart.  Please don't try to sell your wares on the net without an instant purchase method.  If someone has to fill out an order form, or call you to purchase your product, they likely won't.  Since so much of shopping over the web has become extraordinarily streamlined, ensure that your method is just as user-friendly for your site visitors.

Optional additional pages to add are:

• Success Stories
• Testimonials
• Press page
• Portfolio or sample page
• Newsletter page
• Company History
• Executive Bios

Developing your Home Page Content

When developing the basic business home page, you want to explain your business and the value you bring to your customers. A good way to do this is to lay out your homepage content with three catchy titles. 

Craft your titles by brainstorming a list of up to 10 key benefits.  Then, choose the best three and make them section titles on your home page.

Follow each title with a short paragraph of up to three sentences each, explaining what you do for your customers.  To develop these paragraphs, answer the following questions:

1. What is your main product or service?
2. What is the best reason for a customer to get excited about your product or service
3. What is the one thing that’s special about your business? i.e. customer service, fantastic products, vast experience…

Put the paragraphs together with your titles and now you have your home page!

Developing your Products or Services Page

On this page of the "basic three", stick to the three paragraphs of content model.  Feature or discuss three products or services max (if you have more than three, then use subpages w/ additional details)
Each paragraph should fully describe one product or service.  If you can, head each paragraph with a benefit from your original benefits list.

Products page, done! 

Pretty easy, huh?  It is just a matter of sitting down for a few minutes to write it all down.

An overarching thing to remember when crafting your content is to keep your pages as simple as possible. 

Yes, you want good content, for SEO purposes and just to convey the awesomeness of your business, product or service on  your site; but web viewers have a very short attention span.  So balance this with keeping your text to a minimum and writing your web content like any other marketing material.

If you are starting from scratch with your site and other marketing materials/strategies, definitely get your hands on The Ultimate Marketing Toolkit by Paula Peters for great tips on creating effective marketing materials and writing web content.  Chapter 12 is all about writing web site content, and will help you get all your content down, step by step.

SEO - Step 1

Once you understand what Search Engine Optimization is, and why it's important for your business, lots of folks can get overwhelmed with the seemingly daunting task of getting started.

So, let's break it down into some easy steps that you can do in a half hour or less, to get your site optimized.

Step 1: Submit your site to the major search engines:

Start with Google by going here:

www.google.com/addurl

On this page you'll find an easy place to submit your website and a line for comments or keywords. Just type in a general description of your website and maybe add a few keywords for good measure. Don't go crazy here, there are lots of other ways to get your keywords noticed. Google is rather picky about keyword stuffing, so I wouldn't put a bunch of excess information in here. Just keep it short and simple.

Take note of information on the follow-up page after you submit your site. There are a bunch of great webmaster tools for you to explore another time, and if you sell products on-line you'll want to dive into Google Product Search.

If you have any interest in pay-per click marketing and it seems like a good strategy for you, you can investigate Google Adwords also. Don't go too far down this rabbit hole right now though; just finish your site submissions and you can add these other tasks to your long-term to-do list.

Next, submit your site to Yahoo here:

www.search.yahoo.com/info/submit.html

Again, once you are on this page, you'll see a lot of other tools you'll want to take note of. Freebies include Mobile site submission and Media Content submission.

Submission of your mobile site is for Yahoo!Search for mobile phones. This submission services only includes xHMTL, WML or cHTML sites. Check with your webmaster (or me) if you are not sure what kind of site you have.

Media content submission can include audio, image and video content. If appropriate for your business or art, please consider making a video or having one made as a marketing tool; then uploading it to YouTube or Vimeo and submitting it here. This kind of media content is a great way to improve your search rankings.

The rest of Yahoo!'s tools are good to research and understand for the long-term, but all are paid services they offer.

Finally, submit to Bing:

www.bing.com/webmaster/SubmitSitePage.aspx

They are pretty straightforward, with no excess pre or post information.

So, for now, you are done! You have successfully completed your first step to optimizing your website, hopefully in less than a half hour's time! Congratulations, you are on the way to being found!

Choosing the right Domain Name

Once you have decided to get a web presence going to effectively market your business, the first step is to choose the right domain name for your company. Your domain name is the name of your site, e.g. www.mywebsite.com.

Although a seemingly simple task, choosing a domain name can be a little more complicated than you may have anticipated. Often the most simple domain name that directly reflects the name of your business has already been purchased by someone else.

So before you jump into the next steps of your site, I suggest a brainstorming session with friends, family or colleagues to come up with a list of potential domain names, thus guaranteeing one available for you to purchase.

A caveat here is that sometimes domain names have been purchased with the intent to re-sell them for a profit. So, if you have a domain name that is extremely important to you to have, but it appears it is not available, check the domain to see if there is a "live" site there. If the site does not appear to represent an actual business, organization or individual, it may be available for purchase, but it will most likely cost a lot more than traditional domain prices. So, brainstorming a long list of potential domains may save you a nice chunk of money.

In your brainstorming session, consider everything related to your business, variations on your business name, abbreviations and the like.

Come up with the most comprehensive list that you can, considering the domain name itself is an important marketing tool and reflection of your business.

Then, keep these three things in mind when crafting your list:

1. Keep it short and easy to remember.

Ideally it should be a name that you can relate to someone verbally and expect they will remember it when they next sit in front of a computer. It should also be easy for anyone to type into a browser address line.

2. Consider important keywords for your business.

You may want to invest your time and money into SEO/SEM efforts in the future, and a domain name that relates to the keywords pertinent to your business gets you off to a great start in this realm.

What are important keywords for your business? While in the brainstorming mode, develop a quick list of all possible words someone may type into a Search Engine to find your service or product. For example a landscaping company may consider words like: lawn care, landscaping, mowing services, yard design, yard care, etc.

Any of those terms that you consider to be an important search term for your business should be considered when creating your list of potential domain names.

3. Primarily consider .com or .net domains.

A .com domain is by far the most popular and the easiest to remember for any business.

Generally .org domains are reserved for organizations and not-for-profit agencies so stay away from those. You can certainly consider a .biz domain as it may make your desired domain available, but consider that most folks will think .com and type that into their browser and could be viewing your competition instead of your site.

Once you've whittled down your list of appropriate domains to 10 or 20 that you really like, contact me or your web host to find out which domain is available for you.

Your domain should be used in your signature line of all emails, and on every marketing material you create, so make sure your domain name is something to be proud of!

What about Government Contracts?

While all clients are good for your business, local, state or federal government contracts can be a big boon for your success. Federal, state and local governments spend more than $400 billion annually on various products and services. The federal government is continually looking for quality products and services at competitive prices.

Once you secure your first contract with a government entity, if you perform well, you can often be assured more business from said entity in the future. But, the red tape can sometimes seem daunting. How do you secure a contract with any governmental entity?

Thankfully, wherever you are located, there are agencies devoted to your success in this arena. Local Procurement Technical Assistance Centers (PTAC's) were created to assist businesses in winning government contracts.

To find your local PTAC outside of Kansas City, check out: http://www.aptac-us.org, but if you are in the Kansas City area there is a wonderful PTAC in your neighborhood. The Heartland PTAC (www.HeartlandPTAC.org) is located at UMKC and provides a plethora of assistance to help you win government contracts.

The Heartland PTAC will take anyone as a client for free, but I'd suggest attending their introductory class on "Winning Government Contracts: The First Steps" to get started in the government contracting arena. These classes cost $50.00 per person and are offered on the 2nd Thursday of each month.

Their class is designed to give you a 101 on starting the government contract procurement process. Once you understand what is required (it's not that bad, and that's what the class is for!), they have a great Bid Notification service that can provide you with daily potential bids from all levels of government that meet your capabilities.

So, check them out! It's basically a free counseling service offered for you to achieve success with government contracts. And, they are super nice. www.HeartlandPTAC.org or call 816.235.2891 (extension 1 will get you registered for their class). Happy bidding!

Signing Your Car

It is not hard to leave the house these days and in your travels spot a car magnet on someone's vehicle. You may have been thinking of it already, but is a car sign the right way for you to promote your business?

As a small business owner, you should always be thinking of ways to expand your marketing reach for the smallest investment. Seems like a car sign would be an easy to way to gain exposure for your business, while just driving around town running errands.

And of course you can write off that expense and consider writing off some or all of your vehicle maintenance and/or ownership costs as a marketing tool. Talk to your accountant, or look at Sandy Botkin's book for some guidelines on this.

But before you open a new tab and start browsing for car sign offers on the web, here are a few things to consider:

1) Is a car sign appropriate for your business?
Certainly don't invest in one if your market is so niche that marketing to the masses is just not good dollars spent. Catering only to specific departments within large corporations, or really any high-level business activity that executives have to sign off on as a cost expenditure, does not make sense to promote on your Saturn.

2) How's the condition of your car?
If you are planning to upgrade in the next year or two and your car is starting to reveal signs of well-used vehicle, reconsider advertising on it until you are really excited and proud of your car. Remember that in this case, people will be looking at your vehicle as an extension of your business and if it doesn't impress, neither will you or your company.

3) Attempt to pique curiosity, but deliver the necessary info to obtain new customers.
Don't let your sign get lost in super-fancy design or gimmick where people can't locate essential information like your website and/or phone number.

And finally,

4) Consider whether or not you really want that sort of ongoing attention.
This highlights something I teach in "Entrepreneurship 101" - when you are a small business owner, you are always essentially promoting yourself.

You of course should always be carrying business cards and be ready to tell people what great service or product you provide when you are anywhere from the gym to the dry cleaners. Thus is follows that walking around in a baseball cap and dirty sweatshirt can be a deterrent for new business.

So before you pimp your car out as a billboard for your business, consider whether or not you are ready to be promoting yourself every time you go to the grocery store. If you are excited about this prospect, then go for it! You will take that enthusiasm with you in most scenarios and be very attractive to prospective clients.

If you get a sign up that you are really proud of, send me a photo. I always love to see what all of you are up to. Happy signing!

Cash is King

Acquiring capital, stirring up some cash, getting your money mojo flowing into your business is obviously necessary at the beginning and at various stages of the growth game in your enterprise.

Sometimes however we can get so stuck in the middle of "how?" that pooling some cash can seem unattainable. Happily, there are more ways out there than you may think, so don't let the cash crunch stop you from moving forward.

I encourage you to explore as many financing opportunities as possible before moving forward on any one of them, so you can be confident you know which strategy is right for you.

Look at everything from personal, unsecured micro loans or promissory notes to traditional bank or SBA loans, and up to venture capital or angel investors.

According to Christine Comaford-Lynch in one of my favorites books, Rules for Renegades: How to Make More Money, Rock Your Career, and Revel in Your Individuality, there are four basic avenues entrepreneurs explore for financing:

1. Sales of the product or service
2. Loans from an individuals or institutions
3. Grants from the government or institutions
4. Selling equity in the company.

If you determine you require outside funding, I strongly suggest developing a solid capital acquisition strategy. Again from Christine, start to develop your strategy with with four basic questions: (four seems the magic number here...)

1. How much do you need?
2. When do you need it?
3. From whom do you want it?
4. What compromises will you accept?

These four questions are a good starting point, but really for a great in-depth 101 on capital acquisition, I recommend grabbing a copy of Rules for Renegades: How to Make More Money, Rock Your Career, and Revel in Your Individuality, and spending some time in chapter/rule 8 - "Work your Money Mojo."

Even if you are plugging along okay today, get a copy of Christine's book and start planning for growth. The last thing you want is to be caught in the middle of a great growth opportunity with no cash to take you to the next level.

Also, getting the brain juice flowing on this issue, just might encourage additional growth (or the kick in the pants you need to get something going at all) for your enterprise.

So, get out there and extract that cash! Your net worth will thank you in the long run.