Do you reach for the yellow pages when looking for something? Or do you do same as everyone else and Google it? If you owned up to the latter you are not alone as this is now the preferred way for finding out about stuff….. including local businesses and services.

An interesting fact for you …. Google recently reported that 92% of all searches are accompanied by a local town, city or suburb to narrow down their search.

Did you know that if you list the physical location of your business in Google Maps you can get some free exposure from the Google Search Engines.

Thanks to Google Maps this is possible and not many people (read ‘your competition’) seem to know about it.

Here’s another interesting fact for you……Studies have shown a 42% increase in phone calls to your business just by having the top position compared to 18% for the second map marker. Visitor activity diminishes for the lower listings. Even worse is not being on the map at all!

Here’s a quick video overview of Google Maps

How to optimize your business listing for Google Maps

1. Choose the correct category

Enter the category that best describes your business ie web design, dentist, photographer, etc.

2. Create a captivating description

This is what customers will read about your business. Describe it in such as way that they will want to check it out. Include keywords customers would search on to find your business.

3. Make your listing stand out

Here are the things you can include in your listing:

* Description
* Payment
* Email
* Business Hours
* Categories
* Photos
* Reviews

Enter as much information as possible so it will stand out from your competitors (their business will be listed with yours).

4. Location

If your business location is in the center of the town, it is more likely that it will appear at the top of the list.

5. Get listed in other local directories

Google Maps gathers its results from other online directories and databases therefore submit your web site to online yellow pages and yahoo local.  Find other local directories by entering keyword+location in the Google search box.

6. Optimize your web pages

Include the city and state names on the home page of your web site. Place them in the meta tags and web copy.  This makes it easier for customers to find your business because you’ll have a top listing in the search engines.

7. Encourage customers to write reviews

You can improve the your listing by getting customers to write positive reviews about your business. The more stars you acquire the higher your position will be.

If you follow the 7 steps outlined above your web site will achieve a good listing in Google Maps, you’ll attract more customers to your business and make more sales.

There is no doubt about it SEO is an essential ingredient to include in your website if you want it to be found by the search engines. SEO Blogger for Firefox makes SEO easier and is a very affordable seo package because it is free.

The easiest way to include internet marketing seo into your blog pages an posts is to use the keyword terms that searchers are using.

SEO tools are usually quite involved however SEO Blogger for Firefox is a simple seo tool. And it probably won’t replace the need for professional SEO services or SEO copywriting services.

How Does It Work?

SEO Blogger is an application from Wordtracker for Firefox. You simply enter a “seed” keyword and do a search. [below is a screen shot of how it looks when being used]. Then you add the words you think would be good to include in your post. The application then counts how many times you have included the keyword term in your post.

Since discovering this application I have used it each time I post to my blogs. If you are looking to move up the search engine rankings I stronly suggest that you download the SEO Blogger for Firefox and start using it also. You won’t be disappointed.