Reviews – The Backbone of Searching for Businesses Online

We’ve been looking at social media and reviews quite a bit in recent articles. It is becoming much more important and if you don’t think about this you could find your business left behind. I recently found an excellent article by Trond Lyngbø that comprehensively discussed the link between social media, local search engine and public relations. I’ve pulled out some of the key information that is particularly relevant to people running small and medium sized businesses. “A major shift has taken place that alters the way you’re doing business online” Now that’s a powerful statement. What the author is referring

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Do I Really Need Google+ For My Business?

Last month we looked at the growing importance of online reviews to your business.  Now we’re going to take a look at one place where online reviews are becoming important – that’s in Google+. Do I Really Need Google+ for Business? Not everyone yet appreciates the significance of Google+, probably because so far it hasn’t gained the traction that Facebook and Twitter have as general social media sites. Like Facebook, Google supports both personal and business pages. While many businesses now have a Facebook page, not so many are bothering with a  Google+ Business Page.  It’s just one more thing

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How Google Places Helps Customers Find You

If your business has local customers then you can help them find you by getting listed in Google Places. Google Places is Google’s local directory. And it determines which businesses appear in the local map that Google often shows when you search for a local business. For example: www.google.co.nz/search?q=plumber wellington Set up your Google Places listing well and you can appear at the top of the Google Map. And even more importantly, because Google usually shows a map for local business searches, you can often get onto page 1 of Google. Using Google Places to increase your ranking puts your

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