January 2014
Merchant Newsletter

get OPTIMIZED!

     You always hear about making a New Year's Resolution.  How about this year you make a 

     resolution to get Optimized.  

 

     Optimization lets your customers find you easier on the web. When they find you they

     shop. Its easy as that.  Read on to learn why this is so vital!

 

     In this edition:

  • You will learn why getting seen on the internet is so important
  • How to Optimize your search engine results
  • How to set up and optimize a Facebook Page
  • How to set up and optimize a Yelp Page
  • How to get seen on Google Maps  

     Read on for 5 powerful tools to make your holiday campaigns a memorable success.
Is spending time increasing my presence on the internet really worth it?

YES!

 

WE ARE GOING TO SAY IT AGAIN

YES!

 

Some excellent research has taken place in the last few years that gives compelling evidence that consumers are overwhelmingly using the internet to find local businesses.

 

According to a study done in 2011 by ComScore

38% of people search for info about local businesses online

61% of smartphone users

search for local businesses on their devices

64% of tablet users

search for local business information at least once per week

60% of people

who search for things local use daily deals 

 

An ever increasing number of people searching for local businesses online want to find reviews.

More consumers than ever before are learning about local businesses on their smartphones/tablets and are using the internet to find local businesses.  

The importance of having an online presence is paramount an having that presence optimized throughout the web is even more important.

 

 

1.             Whats the deal with Search   
                 Engine optimization (SEO)?

 

  

SEO  is vital for getting seen online. 

The goal of SEO is to put your website in the top 10 listings on a Google search and other search engines.  Spending the time, effort, and money to make your SEO polished is definitely worth the effort.  

 

3 SEO Guides 

 

SEO is a lot of work.  You can also just pay somebody to do it for you:
2.                 
Yelp Ratings
 
 
Review sites come and go, but Yelp is here to stay.    
 
Yelp can be your best friend and drive customers in the door or it can take your customers and send them packing!

 

 

So your yelp site page has some bad ratings :( 

Maybe You just want to take your Yelp ratings to the next level :)

Yelp Trouble Shooting and Power User's Guide 

 

 
3.           Set up a Facebook Page 

 

 

It used to be optional to create a business Facebook page.  Now its MANDATORY!! 

 

Not to scare you, setting one up is actually very easy.  You ready? Lets go!

 

In 5 simple steps you can be on you way

Just use this GUIDE and a check out this VIDEO.

 

But all that posting takes so much time you say...

Its true, posting can really interrupt your busy schedule, so make your life easy by automating your posts.  

 

Use these 2 tools to make posting a whole lot easier.

https://hootsuite.com/

http://bufferapp.com/ 

 

 

 

 

4.                       Google Maps
 

 

Google maps is another important place for your business info to be listed on the internet.  Increasingly consumers use this app to find businesses of specific kinds near their current position.  This is a very important service that every business should register with to broaden the ways that consumers can find their business.

 

 

For example:

you can stand on Shattuck and University pull out your smart phone, open up the app and type in hardware.  You will get the all the local listings for hardware stores and where they are located.  The closest hardware store  to Shattuck and University happens to be Berkeley Ace Hardware.  Customers can rate this business as well.  This is as important as Yelp for a small business. 

 

Setting up a Google Maps account

 

Google has an excellent tutorial on getting your business listed.  

Here is the GUIDE.

 

 
5.    As usual: Let us post your content for you

 Just send us your:
  • deals
  • special items 
  • festive images 
  • wonderful stories about buying local.

 

Once we receive submissions they will be edited down to a single voice.  Not all submissions will make it, but many will.  In order for us to post your content you must be a member.  Membership benefits are many and with the offer from us and East Bay Express, now is a great time to become a member. J 
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