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Google Maps – New Update for Business Listings

It used to be that if you did a business search on Google Maps you would only pull up 10 businesses at a time. Recently Google has improved on this highly annoying and barely relevant feature by adding dots to the map for ALL listings. Now you get 10 listings on the left hand side BUT all the listings they have are represented on the map with a single dot.

So why is this a big deal?

Well now you can immediately see the density of listed businesses on the map. In the past the search feature had been so incredibly poor that if you did a search for a web designer in Philadelphia you would pull up ten listings, randomly placed throughout the city. Now all you have to do is do a business search and then zoom into the are you intended to originally. Ignoring the 'top ten' results, which are vaguely ranked at best, you can click on any dot you like to get more information.

So you can now find all the businesses listed in a particular area.

You can see IF you're listed at all and you can sign-up if you are not.

I've been playing around with this feature and it's very cool. I can now find the density of coffee shops in my are with great accuracy as well as places to cut my hair. I can located 'dead spots' where no businesses are listed for a particular category, not just in my city, but at the state and national level as well.

Looking for a part of Pennsylvania that is devoid of insurance companies? Type in 'insurance' at google.maps.com and zoom in on PA. The dots will multiply as you zoom in closer and closer and so reveal an area of the state you may want to pitch your services to.

Company Blogs – Do's and Don'ts

If you have a website and you're considering putting together a blog there are a few things you should keep in mind when building it.

First, continue your branding techniques from your website to your blog. If your website is blue and gold, make your blog blue and gold. Include logos, catch phrases and similar navigation. Don't confuse people by thinking they've left your website. Don't settle for a 'template' blog if you can help it, because putting no effort into your blog design says you put no effort into the blog content.

Always link back to your main website and make reference to it in the blogs profile or about us page. I go so far as to include links in your sidebar that are the same on your website. Make it easy for people to travel back and forth between your blog and website.

When choosing a blog format, consider the ease of use for updating posts. If you've created a blog for someone but they have to know how to code or there are too many steps involved to make updates, you'll upset your client. Keep it simple. This is one reason I perfer Blogger over Wordpress, Blogger has a very simple, very easy to understand layout. For those of you who think Wordpress is just as easy, ask your grandmother to make an update and watch as she gets confused by the navigation.

Use images, to break up the constant stream of blocky text so that visitors are not overwhelmed by information. After all, a picture speaks a thousand words and will often be the factor that decides if someone will ready that post or pass it by without reading the title.

Use labels so that you can organize your blog posts by category as well as date. Most people are not going to be interested in what was posted on May 22, 2008 but a label like 'Knitting Tutorial of Doom” is descriptive and far more interesting.

Make sure that any widgets you use are user friendly and not terribly obnoxious. Avoid music widgets that blast songs at you as soon as they load, animations that draw the eye away from your posts or poorly designed widgets that don't fit the 'look' of the blog.

Allow Commenting, always. A blog is supposed to be a communication device between users and owners, use it. If you wanted to just post up info with no feedback, then create a newsletter on your website. This is a blog, let it live up to it's full potential. That being said, monitor your comments daily for spam and crazy people.

~
Alex Seigfried; Owner
Philadelphia, PA

Who's Talking About You Online

Everyone who depends on their business's reputation should frequently Google themselves to find out who is saying what about you, online. The problem is, this isn't something you think about on a day to day basis, so weeks and months may go by where you're left in the dark.

Google Alerts to the rescue! This tool is a very quick and easy way to setup a daily, weekly or monthly report on your business or personal name. What Google Alerts does is take a keyword you want monitored and scans every page that Google indexes on a daily, weekly or monthly basis.
*Note: You can also use this to keep track of your competition.

Example:

1. Say your business is named: Henry Automotive
2. You would go to www.google.com/alerts and monitor the keyword "henry automotive". Make sure to use " " around the keywords so that you're only searching that keyword combination and not 'henry' and automotive' separately.
3. Now you'll get a daily, weekly or monthly (you decide) email on links to articles Google lists on thier search engine.

Funky Results:
At first you will get a lot of older listings popping up over the course of a few weeks, but once they've been mentioned once, they won't be sent to your email again.

You may end up with other results for "henry automotive" that you have nothing to do with you, such as another automotive company or a sentences that are written like "... and I saw Henry. Automotive experts will..."

If you have a business or common name such as a toy shop I know called "Happily Ever After" or "John Smith", then results can seriously muddled. In those cases I would suggest adding several more alerts with additional keywords in them.
"Happily Ever After toys"
"Happily Ever After in Philadelphia" or
"John Smith" painter (notice how I left one of the keywords outside the " ")

~
Alex Seigfried, Owner
Philadelphia, PA

The Seigfried Designs Resume

Choosing how a web company can be something of a mixed bag for many people. It's one of the last businesses to be reigned in by competitive pricing and mega organizations, so that there is no clear set of 'standards' for consumers to fall back on. After all, you can go to any mechanic, plumber, lawyer, doctor or corner store and get similar prices for the same services. But websites, internet marketing and other online services are in a constant state of flux, and vary from business to business. How then are you supposed to choose the right company, that will get you what you need, when you need it.

The first thing you should do is ask a friend or a trusted coworker for advice, a trusted referral is the best way to find information. If none are available to you, then doing a search for local companies is your second best bet, making sure to do searches for reviews of those companies.

The idea is to figure out what kind of a company you want to do business with. Do you like a friendly face, a firm handshake, professional distance or are you looking for a good price? Everybody likes a different style, which is why we have mom and pop operations and corporate giants operating in the same field.

Often I suggest to people that they should periodically do a review of their performance and re-submit a 'resume' to their boss or clients. Because over time you tend to loose touch with the people you work with, and they forget what you provide for them and what you've done in the past. So that being said, here is:

The Seigfried Designs Resume:

About the Owner:
Alex Seigfried is a contractor that provides a personal and human touch to web services, whether it be web design, pay-per-click, marketing, social media or just talking on the phone. He is honest and up front about his work, always detailing exactly what he does and the steps he takes to do it. The phone is always open for questions, comments, suggestions and conversations for clients needs, fears or general understanding of internet technology. Up-front prices are fairly calculated to make sure that you only pay for the time spent working on your projects, to the minute not by the hour. He will always honor an agreement made and has built a reputation for iron clad reliability.

What We've Done:

• Provided dozens of small businesses and web professionals with unique and specially tailored websites, that meet the varying demands of each client.
• Always provide free and useful advice to clients on design, marketing strategy and whether a service is 'right' for their business.
• Taken clients from zero search engine ranking to the top spots on Google and Yahoo, for relevant keywords.
• Increased sales leads and overall business income for all of our clients.
• Providing comprehensive statistics and analysis, to craft an online business plan, where there was none before.
• Made every single one of our clients happy with our services... all of them... period.

~
Alex Seigfried; Owner
Philadelphia, PA

Why I Grudgingly Accept Twitter

Twitter is a service that let's you Micro-blog (140 characters or less) on it's website to keep your friends and followers updated on your current state of... whatever. The general idea behind it is that people can randomly shout out the tiniest minutia of their lives to an audience that may or may not be receptive.

But now that I'm researching it for a book ... I'm starting to see what everyone is yapping on about.

Some reasons that Twitter is something you shouldn't pass on:

1. It's a gigantic network of people, sheer numbers alone give it a high probability that you'll attract customers, friends and inquisitive clients.
2. It's quick and to the point, which is good for any announcement you may wish to make. Specials, Closing early, Questions, Reviews... it is a great way to sum up a short blurb without the hassle of emailing your entire mailing list.
3. It allows people to scan your posts and profile to get a first impression. Do they seem professional, friendly, do they frequently post, are you and expert about what your talking about. The open nature of a Twitter account can reveal more about what your business and you are all about, compared to a block of intro text on your homepage. It's more human.

Some reasons people fail at Twitter:

1. They don't post everyday. You just need to do this once a day, it could be anything at all, but you need to build the sense that you're a source of news that people want to check back with everyday. It's not hard! Write that the decaf is burnt today so your customers should go with a latte, tell people when the new shipment of dolls is coming, inform them you're thinking of green alternatives for powering your shop, keep people in the loop with what your business is doing.
2. Seeing Twitter as 'just some kid thing', like Myspace or Webkins. I learned this lesson, don't knock it till you try it. I've got five years of professional experience in dealing with new internet technology and ten more years of personal background. Twitter is a serious tool that can be leveraged to your financial benefit.
3. Not inviting your customers to join. Twitter is a lot like your website, you can't just build your profile and then sit on it, hoping that people will find you. Obama, FOX News... these people can sit on it and know people will go find them. More than likely, you're not that famous, so you need to be pro-active. Put a button on your website inviting people to join you on Twitter, put it in your emails, tell everyone you meet, even encourage customers face to face. You'll be surprised at the positive response.

~
Alex Seigfried, Owner
Seigfried Designs
Philadelphia, PA

The Importance of Creating a Web Presence Rather than a Website.

It used to be a very simple thing to say to yourself, “I need to get myself online, I'll need a website.”

Although that may not be the wrong idea, today it's not necessary for it to be your first step, and it certainly shouldn't be your only step. The creation of a Web Presence is far more important than tossing down thousands of dollars for a quality website. Let's define what a Web Presence is.

Web Presence is where a business has created multiple avenues, on the internet, for people to find and contact your company. This relates mostly to social media, websites, blogs, sales pages and professional profiles, each of which presents your business information to appropriate parties.

Plain Speak: Create a free blog, myspace page, linkedin profile, twitter account, plaxo, etc. Spread yourself around the internet instead of being boxed into just your single website. Your web presence should be viewed like peanut butter, spread it out across the wonder bread that is the internet, thickly and tastily.

One of the biggest problems a business can face in today's online marketplace is the ability to compete on search engines. Listing sites, junk blogging and Google selling the dictionary to services like bizrate or amazon have turned search engine results into a seedy swap meet for many business categories. Just try doing a search for “plubers” or “shoes” in your local area and you'll see what I'm talking about. It's nearly impossible for a small business to compete against such websites, since they are small and don't generate as much traffic. Despite being highly relevant your business isn't being listed because of companies taking advantage of Google's automated algorithm.

BUT if you create a Web Presence, spread yourself around, you can attack search engines from many different angles. You may never rank very well for “roofing wilmington de”, on a one to one level. JohnSmithCars.com simply isn't going to the pull that FindAutoMechanicsList.com will, but if John Smith has ten different places it's increasing it's presence, it's like having ten different websites working together to achieve greater search engine ranking.

Seigfried Designs can help you create a Web Presence as well as layout a complete game plan for updating and staying on top of your social media needs.

~ Alex Seigfried, Owner; Philadelphia, PA