Attending Afrodigital’s Google For Business BootCamp today was really eye opening for me when it comes to some really simple things you can do to increase your online presence.
This is quite simple stuff… No seriously
A lot of local companies are not even listed on Google My Business which means people can’t find them. These are sales just passing by you, because you’ve chosen to diagnose yourself allergic to computers. It’s actually quite simple to sign your business up on Google My Business too. And this isn’t something I’m saying to sound condescending. Just try signing up for Google My Business and see if it’s not simple.
Anyway, signing up for Google My Business shouldn’t mean that you can fold your hands and start expecting money to come pouring in. I mean that could be what happens, but there is still a lot of room for you to take it a step further and get ahead of your competitors…
Ever heard of SEO?
SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization and to cut the long story short, SEO affects how high or low you’re ranked when people search for you on Google a search engine.
So this is obviously something that’s quite important and one way to rank higher when people are searching for a service you offer is to have as many citations as possible on the internet. “A what?” A citation. According to Trust Nhokovedzo (Co-Founder @ Afrodigital):
These are mentions of your business name, address or phone number or website (NAP+W) anywhere on the web, even if there is no link to your website
The NAP is supposed to be consistent across the web. This means if you list your business on local listing site Zimbabweyp.com (which you should if you haven’t) and Google My Business, the NAP should be consistent across both platforms. Google uses these when evaluating the online authority of your business.
How can you improve citations outside of ordinary listings?
Listings are a great way to get your NAP consistent but you can also try to look for industry specific directories and list your business there as well. Another reliable tactic you can rely on is to get local blogs to list these details when they write about you further giving you authority online.
One thing I think most of us can agree on is the fact that when people search for something online they tend to trust the results closer to the top. People rarely go beyond the first page and because that’s the case doing everything within your power to rank highly should be a priority once you’ve taken the step to take your business online.
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