Vancouver Internet Marketing Social Media Marketing Consultant Canada

Many consumers are learning more about their favorite businesses through social media networking sites.  What does this mean for your local business?  If you are not participating in social media, you are missing a critical way to engage with current and new customers and boost your online identity and visibility.  

In my “teenage internet marketing years” when I was first playing around with local listings, I experimented with many things that might not exactly be 100% down the whitehat trail of happiness. Now, I am much older, much wiser, much worse looking, and I have been able to determine a few practices that might be tempting for some, but to me they are 7 deadly sins that will ultimately lead down a path of destruction for your local listing.

1. Stuffing Your Business Title With Keywords
2. Putting Location Keywords in your Categories
3. Using a P.O. Box For Your Business Address
4. Using a call tracking number
5. Faking Reviews
6. Hiding Your Address
7. Stuffing your description with duplicate information

Need help with getting your business listed in Google Local listings? Contact Vancouver marketing consultant Brent Purves at http://www.brentpurves.com or email brent[at]stirgroup.com today

If you have a business where you want customers to visit in person, and you haven’t added and/or verified that business in Google Maps, you may want to consider doing so. You can do this regardless of whether you have a web site or not.

The Google Navigator system that Google has developed for mobile phones allows people to navigate to destinations in their cars

If you manage a Google Places account for your business in the U.S., you’ll now find a two-dimensional barcode - known as a QR code - on the right side of your business’ dashboard page. If you have just one business listing, this is the page you’re automatically taken to when you log in. If you have multiple listings, click “View report” to get to this page.

Your QR code is unique to your business, and it allows people with certain mobile Android-powered devices and iPhones to scan it and be taken directly to the mobile version of your Place Page.

The Suggest feature for Google Maps helps you find what you want faster and more accurately by showing search suggestions for the most relevant places, businesses and points of interest as you type.

Yahoo wants to remain the top display ad seller. Its strategy is to go local.

National advertisers spend more than $120 billion on advertising in local markets and Yahoo wants it.

This year the Sunnyvale, Calif., company's sales reps are going after big companies with outlets that advertise in local newspapers and on regional radio stations and Web sites. These marketers include Dunkin' Donuts, Burger King, Pizza Hut, State Farm Insurance and Home Depot. The list goes on and Yahoo intends to call every advertiser on it, offering them the opportunity to target regionally and reach millions of people online.