This just in over at Search Engine Land:
“A whopping 62 percent of total searches for popular national chain restaurants [in the US] on Valentine’s Day occurred on high end mobile devices or tablets.”
62 percent of all US-based national chain restaurant queries on Google came from mobile devices. Google focused on national restaurant chains because it could disambiguate and identify them as such. It could well be that the 62 percent figure extends across the entire restaurant category.
This is very impressive, powerful data that every local business (not just restaurnant owners) should consider, and it’s in-line with last April’s local smartphone research from Google. Among those findings…
- 95 percent of smartphone users have looked for local information
- 61 percent call a business, 59 percent visit a business and 44 percent purchase
- 88 percentof local information seekers take action within a day
From Search Engine Journal:
Hey doctors (that includes you dentists too) do you know where your patients’ first impressions are being made? It is not your telephone. It is not your waiting room. Often it isn’t even your website’s homepage. It is time for you to realize that most of the time your patients’ first impressions are made on Google!
Please take the time to claim your Google Places listings. I am going to show you some examples of what can happen if you don’t. Keep in mind that if you do not take the time to fill out your Google Places listing Google will take what it can from your website to fill in the blanks. Unfortunately, what they find is not always a good thing. Also, Google is allowing people to edit unclaimed listings and people can purposefully hurt your listing. So don’t wait another day! You risk the chance of losing potential clients if you don’t claim and update your Google Places listing. Don’t believe me?
Here’s what I found searching for a “Sarasota Plastic Surgeon”.
The first surgeon listed has not claimed their listing. Google filled in the blanks. What plastic surgeon, who includes breast augmentation in their services, would honestly utilize a before picture of a woman’s breasts as their main picture? I have to admit, it did get my attention! Just not for the right reason. That poor woman spent a lifetime (and a small fortune) to improve those and now you let Google use her (previous) breasts as your Google Places main image. At least I put a small black box over her chest.
OK dentists, stop laughing at the plastic surgeons! You need to claim your Google Places listings too.
Look what I found looking for a “Dentist in Houston”
Hands? No, not just hands, but one is missing part of a finger. Is this dentist trying to tell me he/she is missing a finger? Was this an in office accident? I really don’t know, nor do I care. I just know I won’t be seeing this dentist because I don’t understand the message.
Claiming a Google Places Listing is EASY!
Got to Google.com and click on “Maps”. Search for your business and click on it. If you haven’t claimed your listing you will see links above the map; see “Business Owner?” in the image below? You should click on the business owner link and begin the process. Once you have control of your listing you can add the images you want to be displayed and not be at the mercy of Google or those that choose to edit your business and add an images that could hurt your business.
Don’t risk losing potential patients and take control of how you want your first impression to be made by taking control of your Google Places listing.
As a “marketing tool”, your website has a job to do. Should it be “fired”?
It may look pretty – but is it increasing sales and leads?
If you’re one of the 54% of local businesses in the U.S. that have invested in a website, congratulations! 28% of consumers give more credibility to local businesses that have a website. You’ve taken the first step in “getting online” – and if you have any level of optimization or analytics your certainly ahead of the curve…
(source: www.blog.diyseo.com)
Increasing your local visibility and reaching new customers and clients is most likely one of your goals – so promoting that site via SEO, PPC and Social Media is the next natural step, but wait! Is your site built/designed to convert?
If promoted and optimized correctly, your attracting your most relevant, local ready-to-buy prospects, but what happens when these visitors get to your landing (or home) page? Do they call? Email? Sign-up? Buy?
From a content/design perspective, the most important elements to drive measurable action and conversions include:
- Clear contact information – this includes your phone number (local, not toll-free) on every page, as well as your physical address (and map/driving directions if your retail). Also, a “contact us” page is a natural place for much of this information as well; it also makes it easier for visitors to contact you. From a SEO perspective, it’s critical that this content be included and consistent with your local listings data.
- Call-to-action statement – or some type of special offer/discount to drive contacts (phone calls or emails). What’s your deal this month? Are you providing free consultations or estimates? How about printable coupons?
- Price/product information – a recent survey indicated that this is perhaps the most important factor in converting visitors into customers. Be clear in communicating your products or services…
Remember – successful local online visibility is dependent on your websites ability to communicate who you are, what you do, and where your located; but once your “found” – your site’s job really begins.
So is your site optimized for conversions? Here is SEL’s 8-point checklist:
8 Point Checklist For Your Local Business Website
If you can answer yes to the following 8 questions then you’re doing a good job. If the answer isno, then you have some work to do – but the rewards will be all yours.
- Do you have your physical address on every page of your website?
- Are your contact details – i.e. phone number &/0r email address – displayed near the top of your website?
- Do you have a full list of services & prices on your site and is there a clear link to them from your homepage?
- Do you have a special offer on your website and is it clearly visible on the homepage?
- Was your homepage updated in the last 7 days?
- Do you have a blog or ‘latest news’ section on your homepage?
- Does your website look better or worse than your top search competitors? (be honest here)
- Do you have at least 1 positive quote/testimonial from a customer on every page of your website?
