How to Track Your Local Rankings in Google

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Let me guess: You set up your business, opened shop, did all the paper work, and even paid for a website.. but people still aren’t coming in? Well, you might have forgotten an important step, or maybe you just didn’t know where to start with it… You need MARKETING and ADVERTISING. Marketing your small business is the key to all business sales, unless your entire business model is based on impulse buys. With marketing and advertising, the saying that “the early bird gets the worm” really rings true. Here are 20 ways you can advertise your local business without any expertise, so you can increase sales and get more customers. Before you jump into the list, did you know that SEO (short for “Search Engine Optimization”) can help bring customers to your business naturally? Imagine being listed on the first page when people search for your services in Google. We can do that! Check out our SEO services here. Here are 20 affordable marketing and advertising ideas for your small business Submit your business name, address, and phone number to all of the local directories that cover your town. This means setting up profiles on websites like Yelp, Yellowpages, and Foursquare. ( Bonus : do SEO on your Yelp page to come up higher there, too.) Make sure your business is listed on Google+ for Business. If it is, make sure you claim the listing. If it’s not, make sure you set it up! (And then claim it.) Create an optimized Facebook page for your business. Invite all of your friends in the area, and run ads to people who might be interested in your services nearby. Put your vehicle in a vinyl wrap. This is like a mobile billboard that advertises your local business wherever you go! Establish your expertise on social media by creating posts about your professional/business accomplishments. Ask for referrals from past customers. You can even offer a referral free (like I do!) to encourage fee, word of mouth advertising. Submit for a local “coupon book” membership. Take out an ad in the local newspaper. Sponsor a local event, such as Relay for Life, or a community marathon. Run a contest. You can advertise this contest using any of the methods above. Consistently blog about topics related to your business, that your customers would find helpful. Retarget people who have already been to your website, but might not have contacted you on their first visit. Take out PPC ads. Optimize your website to rank organically in Google . This is called SEO, and it means that when someone searches for your services (for example, “roofing company in Las Vegas”), you’ll come up first! Advertise on local news websites. Place ads on Craigslist.org. Join your local Chamber of Commerce. Use press releases when there is significant news for your business to talk about. (A grand opening press release would definitely be appropriate!) Attend a BNI meeting for your local chapter Once you start using some of these tips, business will start coming in. From there, the most important thing to keep growing your business is to ensure customers come back , so make sure you’re providing the best experience possible after your advertising brings the customer in.  Best of luck!