When we search for businesses these days we no longer use the yellow pages or the phonebook, instead we turn to the internet. In the UK we make 135 million searches a day and Google is our number one destination of choice for finding anything or anyone.
Often we don’t just use the normal Google search. If I’m looking to buy a specific piece of furniture I’ll type it into the Google Image search to help me locate a photo of what I’m after. If I look for a local card shop I’ll open up Google Maps to my location and enter ‘greeting cards’. We don’t just search from our PC’s anymore either, now we use phones, tablets and other mobile devices.
For years it has been incredibly costly and time consuming to set up and develop your website using SEO (search engine optimization) techniques so that you show at the top of Google on searches. These days there are two simple steps you can take to get people to find you easily and you don’t even need to have a website. What’s key is to take control of your personal and business digital identity online using Google and other
social media tools.
Step 1 - Google Places
The first step you can take to get to the top of Google is to register your business with Google Places. You’ll need to set up a free account on their system if you have not already done so. They will post out a verification code to your shop to ensure that it is you. Once you’ve typed this in and registered with your shop’s key categories, your business will show up when someone searches on Google Maps in your high street for those category terms. Most importantly when someone searches for your shop name, your details will show up with opening hours, address, phone number, etc. When you control this info on Google (register for Google+ whilst you are at it) and other social media sites, you don’t even need a website.
Step 2 - Register on LinkedIn
Being found is so important in business these days. I know a paper supplier who recently had a graphic designer, that was starting a card publishing business, track her down through Google and LinkedIn. The supplier had moved to another company and they had lost touch. The opening order was over £5,000 and could easily have not come her way had she not been registered on LinkedIn. The lesson here is clear: You must ensure that you and your business are easy to find online.
Which leads me on to the second step: Register your name and your business name on
LinkedIn. LinkedIn is a directory / social media platform that I recommend all retailers, sales agents and industry pros register their details on. Search any personal name on the Google and you are likely to have a LinkedIn profile show at the top of Google. If you control your LinkedIn account you control what they find and ensure that people find you and your business easily. If you want to know more about LinkedIn read
How to Get Started on LinkedIn and
15 Tips for Using LinkedIn for Business.
It’s not just being found that is important when taking these steps. Digital identity is becoming very important as logins and even payments in all sorts of places are starting being made via Facebook and other social media accounts instead of current methods. Your digital identity is your presence online as a person and as a business. You need to control it, even if only by owning your web address and social media account names. Using them is great, but make sure that, at the very least, you register your name and business name for them as you don’t want anyone else using them to their own benefit.
Register your business on Google Places and on LinkedIn today. In two simple steps you will start rising to the top of Google when people look for you, your business and what your business does.
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