newsletter – Page 7

Why You Need High-Quality Images on Social Media to Build Trust

Last Updated: February 15, 2024

It’s no secret you need photos and images to fill out your website. After all, who wants to look at a website that’s 100% text? This is one of the reasons we’re always asking our clients to send us pictures of their business. Whether they’re group shots of the whole staff, pictures of your storefront or office building, or photos of your company truck on various job sites, you need to populate your website with pictures so visitors are more likely to trust you.
However, pictures are equally important outside of your website. From Google Maps listings to Facebook pages, and all the business directories in-between, there are a whole host of places you need to display high-quality images of your business in order to attract customers.
You see, with the way local search operates these days, it’s not uncommon for people to find and call a local business without ever visiting their website. Often, they get all the information they need from Google, Facebook, or a directory like Yelp. Therefore, it’s critical to establish trust on all of these popular channels with an assortment of high-quality images.
So what kinds of images do you need on your directory listings and social media pages, and why? Keep reading to find out!

A Profile Picture Shows Customers You’re a Real Business

When someone does a local search and sees your company’s page or listing in the search results, one of the first things that jumps out is your profile picture. If you don’t have one, users are likely to look past your listing. Why? Because you won’t look as established or as credible as other businesses that have a professional-looking photo next to their names.
When people are searching the web for local businesses, they’re essentially searching for a company they feel they can trust. As we all know, the Internet has a scam or rip-off around every corner; people are rightfully wary. That’s why you need to prove your authenticity from the get-go with a recognizable profile picture (think: your logo, a company truck, a shot of your storefront, or a team picture). Right away, a profile picture helps you demonstrate that you are, in fact, a real business and not some fly-by-night operation.

A Logo Demonstrates Your Value and Professionalism

Ideally, you’ll have a logo to use as your profile picture. A logo acts as your company’s identity—a quick visual aid people will remember when they think about you. It also shows people you’re not some slapdash operation, but rather, a savvy business that took the time to think about its identity and presentation. As a result, customers will associate a higher value with your business.
So, if you have a logo for your business, use it for all of your profile pictures on listings and social media pages. Having it as your profile picture will demonstrate your value and authenticity right away. Plus, consistency across multiple channels will further establish your professionalism in customers’ minds.
If you don’t have a logo yet, have Prospect Genius’s talented graphic designer create one for you!

A Photo Gallery Makes You Stand Out From the Competition

Once users have actually clicked on your listing or social media page, they want to see what makes you uniquely qualified to meet their needs. This is where having an abundance of photos puts you above the competition. Show off previous jobs you’ve completed, share action shots of your team on the job, and “aww” us with adorable pets. In other words, highlight the unique personality of your company. Don’t be afraid to get a little personal.
As much as customers want to learn about your qualifications and service offerings, they also want to see the human side of your business. That’s what will distinguish you from other companies nearby that offer the same services.

A Cover Photo Acts as a Virtual Storefront

Lindsay Kolowich of Hubspot says, “Having a social media profile without a cover photo is like having a brick-and-mortar business without a store sign.”
The majority of social media pages and online directory listings now include cover photos. Cover photos take up a lot of space at the top of the page, so leaving this large section blank is not a good look. Instead, cover photos are a good opportunity to capture people’s attention and show off an important aspect of your business. Many times, a picture of your real-life storefront (if you have one) will work well here, because, again, it shows customers you’re a real place. However, you could also use this space to highlight your favorite service offering, a special discount, or a large group photo.
Bottom line: You need a high-quality image as your cover photo to captivate your audience and display more of your personality. Leaving it blank is not an option.

Photos Are All About Building Trust

Photos are especially crucial for local service providers like appliance repairmen, HVAC technicians, plumbers, and so on. In these types of trades, you travel to people’s homes and businesses to complete a job. This means people have to feel comfortable letting you into their building before they hire you. If your listing or social media page doesn’t prove to them you’re a real business, they’re not going to trust you. If they don’t trust you, they’re not going to call you for the job.
So, to recap, the ideal Google listing or Facebook page will have:

A professional logo as your profile picture
Quality photos of you and your team members on the job, as well as your completed work
A high-quality photo of your storefront
- Not a brick-and-mortar business? Use your company truck or van. It’s essentially your storefront on wheels.

Ready to submit more pictures for your website or off-page promotion? Need us to design a logo for you? Don’t hesitate to reach out! We want to set you up for the most success possible.

How to Arm Yourself Against Dangerous Phishing Scams

Last Updated: February 15, 2024

Have you gotten this phone call?
Caller: “Hi, this is Alan from Vandelay Web Services. We scanned Google for your business and, according to our report, your business is not currently on Google.”
You: “Uh… That’s weird because I work with an online marketing company that manages my Google listing for me.”
Caller: “Well, your business isn’t visible. Clearly, you need our service. If you sign up with us right now, we’ll put you on Google and hundreds of other sites. You’ll rank number one in a week.”
You: “Hmm. That doesn’t sound right…”
Don’t fall for it! It’s a scam.
We’ve had numerous clients call us with concerns about this kind of sketchy phone call or e-mail. Thankfully, they did the right thing by hanging up and notifying us. As soon as we showed these clients their claimed, fully optimized listings on Google (and elsewhere), they were relieved they didn’t fall for the scam.
However, we fear many others have received similar calls or e-mails in the past and never heard those alarm bells go off in their heads. That’s why we wanted to share some need-to-know information about this specific scam, as well as phishing scams in general, with you.
This blog post will arm you with the knowledge you need to protect your business, your money, and your personal information. So without further ado, let’s dive in!

The “You’re Not on Google” Scam

In this scam, a business owner receives a phone call or e-mail stating that their business is missing from Google and/or other essential online directories.
We know it’s a scam because our own clients are frequent recipients of these calls and e-mails. As our clients, they each have claimed, optimized listings on Google and countless other places on the web. We also routinely check all of our clients’ Google listings as part of our service. So when one of our clients receives a phone call or e-mail stating otherwise, we know right away it’s a scam.
However, the perpetrators are skilled at intimidating and manipulating innocent business owners. Their e-mails are aggressive and misleading; their phone calls are pushy and don’t take no for an answer. They regularly scare unsuspecting business owners into signing up and paying for services they don’t need.
For these unfortunate business owners, the consequences are brutal. They lose money because they’re paying exorbitant fees for services they don’t need. Moreover, their web presence crumbles because they’ve now given a scammer access to their Google account. It’s like they’ve handed over their keys to a car thief.

The Classic Phishing Scam

You’ve probably seen or heard of this before, but maybe you never quite understood what it meant.
First, you need to know the goal of any phishing scam is to obtain personal information from you so the culprit can steal your identity. It can be an account password, credit card number, social security number, or any other piece of sensitive information that will enable the scammer to commit identity theft.
You may think, “Well, duh. Just don’t give your credit card number to strangers.” But that’s where these scams get complicated. If you’ve ever received a phishing e-mail or phone call, then you know how sophisticated some of these scams can be. They can be pretty convincing and trick you into believing they’re coming from legitimate sources. Often, they’re posing as your bank, a government agency, or your favorite online platform. They provide a backstory for why they need your information, typically explaining that your account has been compromised or you have an overdue balance—something that will scare you into cooperating.
Most often, phishing scams occur via e-mail. However, phishing via telephone is not uncommon.

What Are the Signs of a Scam?

Whether it’s a generic phishing scam or a more targeted scam, the people behind it try to manipulate or intimidate you into sharing your information. Look beyond their story for the following red flags:

Request for sensitive information
- Username and/or password
- Social security number
- Bank account or routing number
- Credit card number
- Answers to security questions
In e-mails, poor grammar and spelling
Misleading links
- Hover your mouse over the link and check the URL. If the URL doesn’t look right (i.e. it has a fake-looking domain name, or it doesn’t go where the link says it’s going), do not click on it.
Reference to an action you know you didn’t take
- For example, you never signed up for their services, or you never entered a sweepstakes.
Statements that contradict reality
- For example, they say you’re not on Google, but you know you are.
Unrealistic threats
- For example, the “IRS” threatens to seize your assets if you don’t send them your bank account number via e-mail;
- Your Google listing will be deleted unless you pay for x service.
Bad gut feeling
- Trust your instincts! If something feels suspicious or not quite right, delete the e-mail or hang up the phone.

How to Protect Yourself From Scams

Be skeptical. First of all, keep in mind that no bank, government agency, or other reputable organization will ever call or e-mail you asking for account numbers, credit card numbers, social security numbers, or other confidential information.
Go back to the source. If you do receive such a request, google the purported organization before you click, reply, or give any type of response. Go to its website, find the customer service phone number, and call. Once you’re speaking with a representative, summarize the contact you received and ask them whether it’s a real communication from their organization. This will help you verify whether it’s a legitimate request or a phishing scam.
View e-mails in plain text. You can protect yourself by viewing all of your e-mails in plain text (as opposed to HTML). This will expose any hidden URLs that you might have accidentally clicked on if you’d only seen the e-mail in HTML.
Block shady phone numbers. You can download an app like Mister Number on your smartphone, and it will automatically block any phone number that’s been reported as a scam. Or, for Prospect Genius clients, you can use one of our CallTrax™ lines, which block scam phone numbers as soon as we’re aware of them.

Trust Your Gut

We said this earlier, but it bears repeating. If what the caller or sender is saying just doesn’t quite make sense, or the link in the e-mail doesn’t look like a normal link, don’t take any action. Don’t give them the information they want. Don’t click on the link. Don’t pay or sign up for any service. Just hang up the phone or delete the e-mail. Then, give us a call to get our advice. It’s always better to be safe than sorry.

Three Tools to Vitalize Your Prospect Genius Campaign

Last Updated: February 15, 2024

Want more add-on options for your Prospect Genius campaign? Looking for ways to get more bang for your buck? Then, keep reading—because we have some great options for you.
As you know, we’re committed to growing with our clients. We aren’t interested in quick fixes. Instead, we want long-term visibility and lead generation for you. That’s why we’re always evaluating our service offerings and updating them to fit our clients’ evolving needs.
As such, we’re excited to discuss three tools that can give your campaign a boost and take your business to the next level. Not all of them are new to our catalog of services, but they’re all increasingly relevant to today’s online marketing demands.
Ready to discover the new directions your online marketing campaign can take you? Let’s jump in!

1. Get More Jobs by Answering More Calls

Already seeing some success with incoming leads? Capture more of what’s already coming to you by taking advantage of our partnership with Professional Answering Service, Inc. Working with this business answering service will help you turn more of those leads into paying customers because it will significantly decrease the number of calls you miss.
As noted by an article in Forbes, close to 80% of callers won’t leave a voice mail if their call is missed, which likely means they’re giving up on that particular business and moving on to a competitor. The key is not to let your incoming calls go to voice mail. Professional Answering Service, Inc. will help you do this.
Prospect Genius recently announced a new partnership with Professional Answering Service, Inc. to help our clients win more customers. When you’re out on a job or you’re away from your desk for the weekend, the staff at Professional Answering Service, Inc. will be able to:

Answer calls on your behalf
Represent your business professionally
Take messages
Schedule appointments
Answer basic customer questions
And more!

Best of all, our partnership provides an exclusive discount for Prospect Genius clients! Professional Answering Service, Inc. will be reaching out to all of our clients soon to see if you’re interested in their help, so keep an eye out. And if you have any questions about their services, please don’t hesitate to contact us. We’d love to make it easier for you to land more jobs!

2. Increase Your Visibility by Thinking Outside the Search Box

What if we told you a substantial number of local business searches never even make it to Google? It’s true. People are increasingly crowdsourcing on social media before they ever turn to search engines. They’re asking their network of friends, family, coworkers, and acquaintances for personal recommendations for everything from landscapers to hair salons to pediatricians. They’d rather choose a business based on a recommendation from someone they know than take a chance on a business they’ve never heard of.
This is where having an active social media presence is crucial for your business. If people are making recommendations for local businesses on Facebook, for example, they’ll want to tag you so their friend can see your page right away. It saves prospective customers a few extra steps in the search process and makes it easier for them to discover you. And anything that makes it easier for prospective customers to find you should always be at the top of your to-do list.
To help you with your social media outreach, Prospect Genius offers a few different options:

SocialStart—If you don’t have any social media pages at all, we’ll set them up for you and create attractive profiles that will impress prospective customers.
SocialStream—We create compelling and valuable blog content on your behalf and share it across your social media channels. As a result, prospective customers will see you’re engaged with your audience and knowledgeable about your industry.
SocialBuzz—We keep you active and engaged on social media by posting weekly updates on your behalf. These brief posts cover your hobbies, interests, local news, and other topics that highlight the personality behind your business.
Paid Facebook Ads—We’ll target your ads according to specific topics and interests. Then, Facebook will display your ads on the news feeds of matching users. In other words, your ads will be placed right in front of prospective customers!

Interested in expanding your visibility with the help of social media? Give us a call for more details.

3. Improve Your Reputation by Getting More Customer Reviews

As we mentioned above, people almost always look for recommendations from previous customers before they commit to a business. And if they can’t find personal recommendations from people they know in real life, they’ll turn to online reviews. A 2016 survey by BrightLocal supports this. According to its findings, 84% of consumers trust online reviews as much as recommendations from friends.
Needless to say, most people do their research before hiring a business. So if you don’t provide your prospective customers with adequate information about why they should hire you, you’ll miss out on lots of potential business.
That’s precisely why customer reviews are so crucial. On top of that, your local Google listing is directly affected by your customer reviews. How? Google now displays your business’s “average” star rating as soon as the first review is posted on your listing. You obviously don’t want your star rating determined by just one or two reviews, so it’s in your best interest to accumulate as many reviews as possible.
To achieve this, we recommend signing up with a company like Customer Lobby. Customer Lobby is a service that will contact past customers for reviews on your behalf, integrate those reviews with your website and social media, and even help you add them to your Google listing. We use Customer Lobby for our own marketing efforts, and we’ve had a great experience with the automated process. We barely have to lift a finger.

Get the Biggest Bang for Your Buck!

Now that you’ve already invested in an online marketing campaign from Prospect Genius, why not get the most out of it that you can? By adding any of the above tools to your campaign, your business will take off in new and exciting ways.
Reach out to us today to find out more!

Which of These Online Marketing Strategies Will Be Your Next Step?

Last Updated: February 15, 2024

“What are the best next steps for my marketing?”
This is a question we hear a lot from our clients. As your small business’s online marketing campaign flourishes, it’s natural to wonder what you can do to multiply your success. Regardless of which online marketing strategy from Prospect Genius you’re currently using, there’s a way for you to keep climbing the ladder, if that’s what you want.
Of course, what you do next depends largely on what you’ve already done. You can’t just start hiking halfway up a mountain, right? You have to start at the bottom and work your way to the top.
So, in this post, we’ll explore your options for advancement based on which of our online marketing strategies you’ve already succeeded with. Let’s dive in!

First, the Bare Necessities

Before you can try any advanced online marketing strategies, these are your must-haves:

Basic website
Google Maps listing

Basic website: You’ve heard the old saying, “All roads lead to Rome.” Well, when we’re talking about your online presence, all roads lead to your website. An optimized website forms the basis of your online presence because it’s tied to every listing and gives your business the SEO fuel it needs. Find out more about the connection between websites and local search in this blog post. (And remember, a website must be optimized for mobile devices as well as desktop computers!)
Google Maps listing: Since Google Maps listings are tied directly to Google’s search engine and algorithms, having one is absolutely, 100% essential. You can’t have a local web presence without one. Read more about Google maps listing optimization on our website.
This is why the overwhelming majority of our clients purchase both a CoreSite and Google Maps optimization.

Now, Choose Your Own Adventure

Once you have these fundamentals covered, you can take your own path. Here are the online marketing strategies to consider:

SEO content writing
More directory listings
Paid advertising
Social media outreach
Paid social media advertising
Remarketing

SEO content writing (a.k.a. Ghost Writing): Add more pages to your CoreSite to target specific keywords. This boosts your SEO and, therefore, your local search rankings. More visibility means more visitors to your site!
More directory listings (a.k.a. Directory Dominator): Push your business’s information into all the right directories. The more your business info appears on quality websites, the stronger your SEO and local web presence will be. This option works great when you already have lots of website content, but it can be effective on its own as well.
Paid advertising (a.k.a. Pay-Per-Click): As we like to say, “Why walk when you can run?” Boost your visibility in local search by promoting your business in sponsored ads. They appear right at the top of the search results page. For best results, do this after you’ve optimized your website.
Social media outreach (a.k.a. SocialStream and/or SocialBuzz): Put yourself on the social media platforms where your customers are already spending their time! In competitive industries, it isn’t enough to be visible in Google results. You also need to interact and engage with your customers on Facebook and Twitter to demonstrate your accessibility. Since social media doesn’t add much SEO-wise, we don’t advise focusing on this until you feel you’ve fully optimized your website and directory listings.
Paid social media advertising (a.k.a. Facebook Ads): Get even more exposure on social media by sponsoring your own posts. This is next-level social media outreach for businesses that already have a well-established presence.
Remarketing: Go beyond sponsored ads on Google. Remarketing allows you to target ads at people who previously visited your site, so your business and brand stay top of mind. This is another next-level option, so be sure you’ve maximized your website’s SEO as much as possible before investing in it.

Consider These Outside Add-Ons

After you’ve achieved a certain level of success with our online marketing strategies, you may wish to add a service or two that Prospect Genius doesn’t offer ourselves. For example, you may want to leverage:

Customer review aggregators
E-mail marketing blasts
Professional answering services

Customer review aggregators: These services contact customers on your behalf and request reviews from them. Then, you can add those reviews to your website. In the past, we’ve had success using Customer Lobby for our own customer review needs.
E-mail marketing blasts: Want to keep your customers up to date on special deals and company news? Communicate en masse with the help of an e-mail marketing service. We like ActiveCampaign and MailChimp.
Professional answering services: If you’re too busy to answer the phone when customers call, enlist a remote answering service. They answer your calls with professionalism and record all your messages. We have a partnership with Professional Answering Service, Inc. that gets you a discount on their services!

Your Unique Circumstance Determines a Lot

Of course, your next steps will depend on several variables, including your short-term needs and long-term goals. For example, if you want to use paid advertising long-term, then you should only do so after you’ve completed substantial SEO work on your website. This ensures good ROI because it lowers your AdWords costs and makes your ads more potent. On the other hand, if you’re only looking for a temporary campaign to promote a special offering or discount, then you probably aren’t as concerned with long-term ROI.
Geographic location also influences which online marketing strategies will work for you. For instance, if you’re in a rural area without much competition, then you may only need a Google listing and a three-page CoreSite. However, if you’re in a densely populated area, then you’ll have to do significantly more work and narrowly target specific keywords to beat the competition.
Countless other quirks can dictate how each program works for your business. That’s why you should discuss your needs and goals with your Prospect Genius account manager. We’ll make sure you’re using the best strategy for your business.
Ready to make the next move for your online marketing? Call today!

What You Need to Know About Changing Your Business Address

Last Updated: February 15, 2024

When you change your business address in real life, what do you do? You probably start by submitting an address change to the post office. Then, you update any accounts you have with banks, credit card companies, insurance agencies, and so on. You also have to go down the list and notify all of your vendors, marketers, and important contacts. In a nutshell, it’s a big pain.
Unfortunately, that’s not all. It’s crucial that you also remember to update all of your business’s online listings. And we’re not just talking about on Google. Every reference to your business’s address on the web (commonly called a “citation”) must be updated—otherwise, your search rankings could take a serious hit.
We’re not being melodramatic. In this post, we’ll discuss:

Why it’s so critical to update all of your listings with your new address.
What goes into the process of changing an address online.
How a marketing specialist can come in the clutch to help.

Let’s jump in!

An Accurate Business Address Is Vital

Did you know one of the biggest influences on your rankings comes from the accuracy of your online information? Here’s how we explained it in a previous post about controlling your online presence:

Google and other search engines want to present the best possible information to their users, so they gather data from around the web to verify what’s on your company’s listing. And when Google sees conflicting details about your company coming from different sources, it flags your listing for having the wrong information: Google won’t want to display your business as a search result if there’s a chance it’s not a legitimate company. This results in poor rankings and, sometimes, suspended listings.

So if you update your business address on your Google listing while leaving up the old address on other listings, your local search rankings will suffer tremendously. When your business address changes, it needs to change identically across the board.

How to Update Your Business Address Online

Here’s where things get tricky.
You may have no problem thinking of places where your business is listed online. Google Maps, Bing Local, Yelp, Facebook, Manta, Better Business Bureau (BBB), and Angie’s List probably come to mind right away. However, these directories are only the tip of the iceberg.
You see, some online directories in the darkest corners of the Internet populate their listings by crawling the web for business information. You won’t be aware of them because you never created a listing there yourself, but they exist all the same. And they need to be updated, too.
What does this mean? Essentially, you have to spend hours searching the web for your business name and contact information in order to find every last place that mentions you. Then, you have to figure out how to update those listings, since you never created them in the first place. Sometimes, it’s as simple as claiming them on the spot. Other times, though, the process can present multiple hoops to jump through.
For instance, the BBB is notoriously difficult to work with in this context. It can take three to four weeks to update your information on their site because they want to get you to pay for accreditation (which comes with expedited processing, of course). Updating a Yelp listing may also be complicated if you don’t own your listing. At the end of the day, a lot of variables affect how smoothly and efficiently the update process goes.

Updating Your Business Address May Require a Specialist

If that all sounds like a lot of work… it is. We won’t sugarcoat it.
However, that doesn’t mean you have to spend all of your time and energy doing it. Internet marketing specialists like the ones at Prospect Genius are a great resource to lean on for these types of projects.
Our specialists do this every day. It’s their job. That means they know the most efficient, streamlined process for finding and updating every last one of your listings. Moreover, they’re familiar with the best ways to deal with the BBB, Yelp, and other difficult directories so they can update those listings as quickly as possible. They even know the most important listings for your industry that need to be double- and triple-checked before moving on.
Check out our WebFax® and CleanSlate™ programs for more details on how we can help keep your web presence neat, tidy, and working for you!

Consistency Is Key

When your business address changes, you need to update the entirety of your online presence. It’s not an easy job by any means, but it’s absolutely necessary if you want to maintain your local search rankings. Now that you have a better idea of how to handle your new business address, you can move forward without hurting your web presence!

Prospect Genius

Contact Us

Business Hours

Let’s Connect!

What Drives Us?

Client Portal App

Helpful Links

Sign up for our newsletter!