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Archive for July, 2010

Do Your Customers Know Where to Find You?

Thursday, July 8th, 2010

Yahoo Local Listings Basic Is Free

Yahoo offers a free listing with your basic information for free, but charges $9.95/month for all of the features that Google Places includes for free. I would still advise you to use their basic service. It is free and it puts you in front of people who are using Yahoo and looking for local businesses.

With your free business listing in Yahoo Local you can display your address, phone number and web site URL if you have one. As Yahoo says, this is just basic information, but you can put your business in up to 5 categories. This is helpful.

For example, at Ajalon we could be under printers and we could also put an entry into copying, graphic design, wedding invitations and letterpress. That would mean that if a person searched for any one of those terms our business would likely come up in a Yahoo search. You can do this for your business also.

You may sell flooring. But you could have listings under carpets, hardwood floors, floor refinishing and commercial flooring. All of these additional listings would be available to you if people were searching for these items.

Included in this basic listing is the ability to list the products, services or brands that you have. For example if you carried garden equipment who could list all the brands like Toro, Black and Decker, Stihl, Snapper and other brands. Or if you were a spa you could list all the services you offer such as facials, manicures, pedicures, massage and other offerings.

People from your area are searching every day for the products and services you offer. Yahoo knows this and has built a service to help them find what they want. Yahoo invites you to cooperate with them in meeting the needs of people searching. For free. This is really unprecedented. When was the last time the newspaper, tv or radio asked you to advertise your business for free, so that their patrons could satisfy what they were looking for or needed?

If you would like help in setting up this free service from Yahoo give us a call. 707.528.0288.

Written by David Walrath

Ajalon Printing & Design

Tags: basic, business, customers, free, free listing, Google Places, graphic design, lettepress, wedding invitations, Yahoo, yahoo local listings
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It’s Free, So Why Not Do It?

Thursday, July 1st, 2010

Sonoma County Businesses Can Get Free Listing on Google

The way people find businesses has changed, and now more people search online than anywhere else. I don’t usually promote something so blatantly, but I think the possibilities of being found in local business listings can benefit any business. Google, Bing and Yahoo all do it for free and I will tell you how each does it.

Creating a listing through Google Places takes a little bit of time, but it makes it more likely that you can be easily found on Google.com and Google Maps. And as I’ve said before, it doesn’t cost a thing.

Your business listing probably already shows up on Google, but by going into Google Places you can update information and verify that it is accurate. You can also add notifications, which can give you a fresh, current appearance to your listing. And you don’t even need a website in order to maintain your listing.

Customization is easy

One of the advantages of setting up your own listing is that you can add photos and videos. You can create custom categories, personalizing your information, adding things like business hours, parking and even offer coupons to encourage customer to make a first-time or repeat purchase.

Verification is valuable

Google collects information to fill your business listing. If you go in and verify that you are authorized to represent the company, Google then allows you to personalize your information. In addition to being able to add your own details about your business, Google will also begin to collect data that can be helpful to you in running your business. This can allow you to make changes that will help you increase your business.

Training Videos Available

Google wants to make this service accessible and useable. There are numerous online videos which explain how to set up your business listing. It is clear that the battle for people’s attention and search clicks is so intense, that the search engines are fighting for market share and your business can benefit because you can get great information out about your business onto the first page of a search.