Tips and Tricks – Page 24

Here's Why You Should Get a BBB Accreditation

Last Updated: January 30, 2015

In a recent blog post on LocalVisibilitySystem.com, Philip A. Rozek highlights several reasons why business owners should get accredited by the Better Business Bureau (BBB). Titled, “BBB Accreditation: Boring But Bumps Your Local SEO,” the post lists eight significant advantages that come with an accreditation from the Bureau.
Some of the advantages are more technical and have to do with the valuable, high-quality link that comes from your listing on the BBB website. Other advantages are easier for small business owners to wrap their heads around. For example, according to Rozek:

BBB accreditation adds credibility to your business (as many consumers put a lot of stock in the BBB as an objective resource).
Your BBB listing may serve as an extra platform for customer reviews.
The BBB website ranks very well for search terms containing business names.
The “BBB Accredited Business” seal is a symbol of quality that prospects will immediately recognize upon visiting your website.
The contact information on your listing serves as an accurate citation from a credible site (and good citations are key to local search rankings).

At Prospect Genius, we encourage all of our clients to get a BBB accreditation. We will happily add the accreditation seal to your LeadTrax™ site once it’s official. Our goal is to maximize your lead generation success, and getting this accreditation is just one small thing you can do to help us make that happen.

Actionable Lessons From 2014 That You Need to Know

Last Updated: February 15, 2024

Did you feel overwhelmed this year by what seemed like a constant barrage of Google updates? You’re not the only one. A series of new guidelines, new dashboards, and new search algorithm updates made it a full-time job to stay on top of Google in 2014. As a business owner with your own hectic schedule, you probably weren’t able to keep up with those changes as much as you would have liked. That’s okay. Prospect Genius is here to highlight the most important points to take away from all of 2014’s changes.

Person jumping over 2015 What’s the underlying lesson? As Google continued to refine its search algorithms, and search engine optimization continued to adapt, we were reminded that it’s just as important for your campaign to have a solid foundation as it is for your campaign to evolve with Google’s changes.

Here, we give you some of the actionable insights we gleaned from 2014 so you can have an even stronger campaign through 2015.

Oldies but Goodies

The more things change, the more they stay the same. This year, we saw firsthand that some of the old, tried-and-true ways for business owners to lay the groundwork for a campaign still work. Here are a couple of classic ways you can take initiative and make sure you’re primed for a strong campaign, no matter what updates Google throws your way.
GET REVIEWS
We’ve said it over and over again on this blog, but we can’t say it enough: Customer reviews are a crucial aspect of your online presence. When prospective customers see a significant number of reviews and a positive consensus about your company’s services, they will be exponentially more likely to hire you for a job.
In 2014, we saw many clients experience great success with their SEO campaigns after fortifying them with strong customer reviews. Take a look at a few for yourself:

Conner & Sons Repair — This Michigan-based appliance repair company has a 4.9 rating (out of 5.0) from 34 reviews on its Google listing. Its first year with PG, this company got approximately 65 calls per month; the second year, it averaged over 100; the third year over 200. In August 2014, it received a whopping 551 calls! That number hasn’t dropped below 300 since.
Ace Appliance Repair, Inc. — Based in New Jersey, Ace Appliance Repair has a stellar 5.0 rating from 23 reviews! Not surprisingly, these appliance repair pros went from around 75 calls per month last year to 120-160 calls per month this year.
Jimmy Gusky Heating & Air LLC — This D.C.-metro outfit boasts a 4.6 rating from 14 reviews. That’s a slightly lower number than the two clients above, but this company is already pulling in around 75 calls per month!

While there’s no way to definitively prove that the high number of reviews in these cases caused the high number of leads, we certainly don’t think it’s a coincidence. The takeaway? You should always be asking customers to leave reviews on your Google listing. Your company’s success may depend on it.
SHARE YOUR LOCAL BUSINESS LISTINGS
This is another topic we’ve written about extensively, and it still holds true: Prospect Genius—or any online advertiser, for that matter—needs access to clients’ Google My Business accounts in order to properly optimize and manage them. We need to keep tabs on your local business listing’s performance and update it whenever necessary to remain in compliance with Google’s ever-changing guidelines.
We understand the hesitancy to share log-in information in this day and age, but that’s why Google instituted the Google My Business platform, which allows you to name a manager of your account without requiring that manager to have your password. But if you don’t name Prospect Genius as the manager of your listing, then we’ll have difficulty tracking your campaign performance and making sure all of your online information matches. This could result in conflicting information (something Google will penalize you for) and poor visibility.
As we said in our April 2014 blog post, “Hand Over Your Google+ Local Listing to a Pro“:

If you’re paying for professional online advertising services, it’s wiser to let your money work for you. You’ve made an investment in an online advertising company, so why not facilitate that company’s job to the best of your abilities? Rather than complicating matters by actively interfering with your own listings, you’re better off relinquishing a little control and letting your hired specialist do the work.

You’ve trusted Prospect Genius to perform your online advertising, so let us do the job right.

Today’s Top Hits

So, you’ve laid a strong foundation. Your content is valuable, your online reviews are glowing, and your advertiser has access to your listings. Now, it’s equally important that you make the necessary upgrades in order to adapt to Internet marketing’s ever-evolving landscape. It’s imperative to keep up with Google’s changes, or you’ll get left behind.
In 2014, we were able to examine the latest algorithm updates and determine some of the most significant actions our clients can take to boost their campaign performance going forward. Here are the highlights.
USE PAID ADVERTISING
Paid advertising became even more prevalent in 2014. Pay-per-click, or PPC, is widely recognized as a valuable investment, and it’s even more effective when combined with SEO. (Read more about that here: “Optimize Your Site Before You Bid on AdWords.”) PPC and SEO complement each other, as a site with optimized content will have a higher “Quality Score” and therefore see greater PPC success. Having an optimized site will also allow you to pay less for bids on AdWords. The best way to integrate PPC with your existing Prospect Genius campaign is to upgrade from Core to the Premium package.
In fact, PPC has grown so much in popularity that Pauline Jakober, a leading paid search strategist, recently published a whole article on Search Engine Land dedicated to extolling its benefits. Titled “5 Incredibly Practical Reasons to Do PPC in 2015,” Jakober’s article cites PPC’s consumer-targeting capability and lightning-fast results as top reasons to start using PPC this year.
Paid advertising can be leveraged outside of search engines, too. Many social media platforms, most notably Facebook, offer some form of paid advertising. In Facebook’s case, a business can create sponsored posts, which are posts you pay Facebook to target at a specified demographic. The sponsored post will then appear in the news feeds of individuals within that targeted group. Ultimately, as your posts reach more and more people, you’ll see an increase in your number of Page “Likes.”
PUBLISH MORE CONTENT
These days, Google’s algorithms favor websites that have a continuous flow of fresh content. The way Google sees it, the more up-to-date content is for its users, the better. This doesn’t mean you have to add a new page to your site every week; it just means you have to make updates every once in a while.
The best and easiest way to do that is to add a few short blog posts every month. (Every Prospect Genius LeadTrax™ site comes equipped with a fully functional blog you can update at will.) Posts don’t have to be lengthy or detailed—they just have to show prospective customers that you care about them and that you’re passionate about your work. You can recount a recent job so prospects can get a glimpse at what your process looks like, or you can give a few handy tips to homeowners. An updated blog will show off your knowledge about your trade, and it will boost your site’s SEO value to boot.
TARGET YOUR CONTENT
Specificity has become hugely important with the latest search algorithm updates. To use this to your advantage, try adding a couple of pages to your LeadTrax site that are specific to one brand or product. This way, you can capture targeted searches for things like Maytag appliance repair, Trane furnace repair, and so on.

Your Participation Is Key

Prioritizing user experience, Google constantly seeks to improve the quality of its search results. That means Prospect Genius has to make a continuous effort to elevate the perceived (and actual) value of our clients’ websites. But while we’re hard at work on your site, it’s just as important for you to do your part. Take initiative.

Make a concerted effort to get more reviews from your customers.
Give us access to your Google (and Facebook) listing.
Let us display your address on Google+ Local.
Write your own blog posts.
Add more specific pages to your LeadTrax site.

No matter how many updates Google makes to its guidelines and search algorithms, there’s one thing we’ve learned that will never change: When you take an active role in your campaign, the results will grow exponentially.
Here’s to a prosperous 2015!

SEO Can Take Months: A Hard Lesson in Planning Ahead

Last Updated: February 15, 2024

Back in 2008, Bob got laid off from his full-time desk job during the economic downturn. Frustrated with the corporate world and itching for more independence, he decided to strike out on his own and do something that he loves: working with his hands. He always had a strong work ethic and often found himself cutting down trees and planting bushes for friends and family, so he figured, “Why not open my own landscaping business?”
The following year, Bob made a minuscule living while his wife’s nursing job covered the majority of their household expenses. That’s usually how the first year of owning a brand-new business goes. Over the next several years, he tried out some advertising on his own to boost his business. He made a small website and a Facebook page, posted flyers, and distributed his business card. Business picked up a little bit, but it wasn’t enough.
Four years later, in 2012, his wife told him that their finances were getting too tight and that they needed to be saving more money. After all, they wanted to be able to send their kids to college some day soon. Bob’s phone still wasn’t ringing much come springtime, when he should have been getting slammed with landscaping jobs, so he hired an online advertiser. The advertiser, realizing that Bob needed jobs immediately, fixed Bob up with an expensive pay-per-click (PPC) campaign and promoted Bob’s Landscaping on various business directories and social media. As a result, Bob’s phone did ring with more jobs; however, the jobs weren’t pouring in like he’d hoped, and he found himself having to book jobs with flaky customers who often cancelled their services at the last minute or wound up not being able to pay in full. Not only was Bob frustrated, but he was also hemorrhaging money.
Finally, at the end of 2013, his wife’s voice of reason chimed in. She told him that they couldn’t keep losing money every year: There was college tuition and a mortgage to think about. He would have one final year to turn the business around, or else they would have to shut it down for good. This agreement lit a fire under Bob, and that very same night he started researching other advertising options. That’s when he came across search engine optimization, or SEO.
The next morning, he found and called a reputable advertising provider, who explained that SEO usually takes about three to four months to start producing measurable numbers of leads. That meant Bob’s Landscaping would start receiving good quantities of leads right around April—the start of Bob’s busy season! He signed up and, sure enough, come springtime, Bob’s phone was ringing off the hook. This time, he was able to book contracts early in the season with reliable customers who actually planned ahead. This was the type of customer he’d always wanted but was rarely able to find. Even to this day, instead of having to take any flimsy job that comes his way, he’s able to cherry-pick those enviable customers and turn down jobs that don’t seem worth the service call. His company’s finances are on the upswing, and he’s been able to keep his doors open ever since.
In short, Bob is exceedingly glad that he set up his SEO during his business’s downtime.

The Early Bird Gets the Worm

That’s the moral of this story: If you want to become like Bob and be able to cherry-pick quality customers, then you need to plan your advertising well in advance. By giving yourself a good three months for your web presence and SEO to ramp up, you won’t miss out on those valuable, early contracts. Plus, those early jobs could easily become lifelong customers if they’re satisfied with your work.

The Sooner You Act, the More You Save

When you plan your advertising in advance, not only will you get higher quality leads, but you’ll get them for a much better price. That’s because you won’t have to go into an advertising frenzy at the eleventh hour in order to get enough leads to sustain you through your busy season.
For example, let’s say you want to get 50 calls per month from May through July.

If you sign up for SEO in January, you’ll be able to reach that goal and pay roughly $300-$500 per month.
If you sign up for SEO in February, you’ll be able to reach that goal only if you also add a small-scale PPC campaign for one of your services. This will cost you roughly $600-$800 per month.
If you sign up for SEO in March, you’ll be able to reach that goal only if you also add a full-scale PPC campaign for at least two of your services. This will cost you roughly $900-$1,200 per month.

Take a look at the table below, which shows how much extra you’d have to pay if you waited to start advertising in February or March.

In other words, if you sign up for SEO in January in anticipation of the coming spring’s busy season, then you’ll end up paying the lowest price—and you’ll probably land the better customers to boot!

Learn From Bob

This year, don’t go through the hardships that Bob went through. Take a lesson from his story and skip straight to your happily-ever-after.
Note: Though based on very real experiences of several of our clients, “Bob” is a fictional character presented here for instructional purposes only.

What Can You Do Now to Up the Ante of Your Campaign in 2015?

Last Updated: February 15, 2024

Around this time every year, we hear from a lot of clients asking us how they can add more oomph to their campaigns. They want to start off the next year strong. This year, of course, has been no different. We’ve already had several proactive business owners ask us what they can do to put themselves in a position where they will see even more leads than before. With that, we decided to dedicate this post to the numerous ways in which you, our clients, can improve and build upon your existing campaigns. If you’d like to maximize your online advertising success, read on!

For Our Starters

First and foremost, if you’re currently enrolled in our Directory Dominator or Starter program, you can upgrade to the Core program. Core is lead generation, instead of basic web presence management, so upgrading is a good way to get more calls and e-mails.

For Core Customers

If you’re already a member of our Core program, there are plenty of things you can do to make your SEO campaign even more effective.

Make sure your LeadTrax™ site has a page for every service you offer so you don’t miss out on valuable leads.
Make sure your LeadTrax site is not promoting any service(s) you no longer offer so you don’t have to turn down jobs.
Make sure you notify us if your contact information has changed. That way, you won’t miss leads because they went to an old e-mail address or phone number.
Update your phone package if you need to add more lines or route your calls to a different number. You can change the forwarding number yourself in the Client Portal if you have only one line.
Add brand pages to your LeadTrax site (e.g. “Maytag Appliance Repair,” “Trane Furnace Repair,” and so on). This will help you capture traffic from more specific searches.
Let us disclose your hidden addresses. If you’ve requested to have your business address hidden, let us display it, at least on some directories. Most directories require a physical location these days, so a hidden address means your business can’t be listed in those directories.
Add a second LeadTrax site if you’re expanding your business to cover a new service area. (This only works if you’re actually opening up a second physical location.)
Add SocialStream™ to your campaign and have our team create blog posts for you and share them on your social media accounts as many times per month as you’d like.

If you want to make a more drastic change, you can always upgrade to our Premium package and enjoy all the immediate benefits of pay-per-click when it’s combined with your existing SEO.

For Premium Customers

If you participate in our Premium program, then you’ve already done a great job setting yourself up for optimal lead generation. While Premium combines the best of SEO and PPC, there are still a few adjustments and additions you can make to maximize your campaign’s success.
As a Premium customer, you can make any of the changes in the list above. In addition, you can also kick up your PPC efforts by adding a remarketing campaign. Powered by Google AdWords, a remarketing campaign targets your ads at people who have recently checked out your website. This keeps your business at the top of their minds, building familiarity and trust in your brand.
(Note: Remarketing campaigns are also available for customers who use our PPC service exclusively.)

Climb the Mountain

The steps involved in search engine ranking depicted as a path up a mountain As we’ve said before, you can compare online advertising to the slow ascent up a mountain, with the top-ranked position on Google acting as the peak. But, just like climbing a mountain, you have to start at the foothills—which, in this analogy, are local directories and Google Maps. Then, as you climb higher, you’ll reach optimized website content, social media, and PPC. The higher you climb, the more competitors you will outrank.

At the end of the day, your goal should be to get closer and closer to the peak of this mountain. If you feel like you’ve been hanging out at the same altitude for too long, then it’s time to get out your grappling hooks and start climbing again. Prospect Genius has a wide variety of services designed to hoist you all the way up to the summit, so why delay? Call your account manager today to see what you can do to make sure you climb even further in 2015.

Want to Cut Back on Advertising Costs This Winter?

Last Updated: February 15, 2024

Each year, we hear from a handful of clients who wish to decrease their spending during the winter. Most often, it’s due to the overwhelming costs of the holiday season. We want to make sure small business owners are able to enjoy the holidays with their families without stressing about their online advertising, so we’ve put together a guide for cutting back on advertising costs without doing long-term damage.
Here’s what you should, and shouldn’t, do when you want to temporarily minimize your Internet marketing expenses.

Definitely…

Create a budgeting plan in advance. If you anticipate difficulty paying for advertising during the winter months—whether it’s due to holidays or your company’s slow season—you can actually plan ahead. Prospect Genius offers flexible financing, so if you’re expecting heavier cash flow during the spring and summer than in the winter, you can pay extra ahead of time. Instead of paying the same amount every month, regardless of your company’s fluctuating profits, you can choose to pay more while you have a surplus and pay less while you’re tightening your belt.
For example, if you’re signed up for our $299/month Core program, you could pay $50 extra per month from March through November while you have increased profits, and then you would only have to pay $75 in December and $75 in January. This allows you to keep your online presence strong, prepare for the seasonal increase in demand, and beat out your competition that didn’t made such a wise decision.

Feel Free To…

Pause your pay-per-click campaign (if you have one). This type of advertising program is designed to turn on and off very easily without causing damage to your overall web presence. Because you pay for clicks as they come in, you can choose to stop the campaign, and all that will happen is that you will stop seeing PPC leads and site visits until you resume payment.
If you’re serious about decreasing your spending and you don’t mind your business’s leads taking a hit, this measure could really help. We recommend it especially if you provide seasonal services like landscaping or junk hauling, which are naturally slow during the winter. You can save the PPC costs and campaign management fees while only missing out on a small amount of traffic.

Do NOT…

Stop your SEO campaign, under any circumstances. SEO is a lifestyle. Since search engine optimization is an ongoing, strategically tiered and integrated process, it must be kept consistently intact. There is no “pause” button. As SEO providers, we must create, update, and maintain many listings for your business. If we have to take all of your listings down because you stopped your campaign, then your web presence will take an enormous hit.
In fact, if you do toy around with your online presence by stopping and starting your SEO, you run the risk of Google perceiving your actions as spam. If that happens, you could be looking at a very long delay before you recover. For example, some people affected by Google’s algorithm update nicknamed “Penguin” took action to rectify their infractions and were left waiting 12 months to find out whether those changes actually worked! All those people just had to sit and wait, hoping that they would recover, because it took Google 12 months to roll out an update to Penguin’s accompanying filter. You don’t want to be like those unfortunate people and put your entire web presence in limbo for a full year just to save money for two or three months.

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Here's Why You Should Get a BBB Accreditation

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Prospect Genius

Oldies but Goodies

Today’s Top Hits

Your Participation Is Key

The Early Bird Gets the Worm

The Sooner You Act, the More You Save

Learn From Bob

For Our Starters

For Core Customers

For Premium Customers

Climb the Mountain

Definitely…

Feel Free To…

Do NOT…

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Contact Us

Business Hours

Let’s Connect!

What Drives Us?

Client Portal App

Helpful Links

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