Newsletter #40

What to Call Your Google+ Maps My Business Places Listing Thingy

Whitespark's Monthly Local Search Newsletter

Local InsiderAugust 2018

 What to Call Your Google+ Maps My Business Places Listing ThingyYour business lising on Google, what's that called? We've heard it all: Google Maps listing, Google My Business listing, Google Local listing, Google Places listing, Google+ Local listing, Google listing, etc. So which is it? What’s the right way to say it?

Dani Owens explains the correct terminology, why it's imporant, how the listing appears in search results, and where/what you can edit. 

From the Blog

Get ready to put your reputation to work for you with the latest addition to the Reputation Builder, the Conversion Pop-Up widget. This feature was designed to convert more of your website traffic into customers by showcasing your best and most recent online reviews in an eye-catching small pop-up window.

Learn how the Conversion Pop-Up feature can help you market your reputation to potential customers on your website. 

The trick to getting more reviews on Yelp is to encourage customers that are already active on the platform. But how do you do find out which of your customers are active on Yelp? Darren has a way to determine this, and it works beautifully. Get his step-by-step instructions here. 

Around The Web

"Zero click query" is becoming more prevalent as Google continues to serve up answers directly within search results. For local businesses needing to draw customers, getting searchers to visit your website is not necessarily the end conversion anymore. In this article Carrie Hill discusses how to build a strong presence that supports zero-click searches in local.

Are you taking advantage of existing business relationships to help build links to your website? If you're not sure where to start with link building, then check out this 7 step process from the team at ZipSprout that outlines how you can use your existing network to build relevant links to your site. 

According to Shelly Fagin, Google is inserting links to a third party on GMB profiles. Are your competitors receiving your leads when when your customers submit service requests? Read this article and the Twitter discussion on this topic to arm yourself with knowledge on what to do, should you or a client encounter this issue.  

Google Local Services ads are pay per lead, and Tom Waddington has been tracking and following these ad types very closely since they launched in 2017. He's determined that depending on the vertical and market, the cost per lead can be anywhere from $5 to $90. Overall, the average cost per lead is around $21. 

Back in June Mike Blumenthal addressed the topic of reviews at the Q&A portion of a Local University seminar. Results from surveys he's conducted indicate that 40% of consumers expect a response to their review, and more than 50% expect it in less than 3 days. Read this post to find out Mike's recommendation for when business owners should respond.

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