Google My Business is a great place to start your SEO efforts for any business. It’s also a free and fairly easy tool to help your business be found in web searches.
There are two things that you need to keep in mind when setting up your GMB account. 1. You will need to have an actual address. You can’t be totally online for this to work. 2. When you list your address accuracy is crucial. For example, if you use ste. instead of suite, you will need to stay consistent in always using the same characters.
So let’s get started with the Google My Business tutorial.
Below is a quick and easy tutorial on how to set up a Google My Business account.
Step 1. Log into your Google account that you associate with your business. (or create one if needed)
Step 2. To start, go to google.com/business and click Start Now in the top right corner.
Step 3. Enter your business name exactly as you will always use it.
Step 4. Next, enter your business address where you are located. (remember, accuracy here!)
Step 5. In this next step, if you deliver or offer services to customer’s homes or locations, then check the box “I deliver goods and services to my customers.” You can also click “Hide my address, only show region” if you’d like.
Step 6. Choose your business category.
Step 7. Add your correct phone number and or website
Step 8. Time to verify. Choose which verification option you want. Options include postcard, phone, email, instant verification or bulk verification.
Step 9. After you receive your verification and your account is set up, you can add additional details such as your hours, profile photo, and any other bits of information to help someone find you.
And that’s it! You’re one step closer to being found by more customers.
Check out this tutorial video for a more thorough walk through of how to set up your business account. If you want more tutorials like this check out our facebook page and comment what you’d like to see next.
Every business should have a marketing plan in place- and a digital marketing plan is no exception. With so many directions you could go, especially if you are just starting out, a digital marketing plan can seem overwhelming very quickly.
The good news is there are a few steps you can take to get your business started on the right track. To give you a starting point, here are our top 5 must do digital marketing tips to help you get started.
Top 5 Digital Marketing Tips
1.BE PRESENT ON SOCIAL MEDIA: Facebook is one of the top 10 most visited sites in the world! You can’t afford not to have your business a part of that. There are a number of social media platforms- Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, LinkedIn, and more. Create a business account and connect with your customers. Ask questions, post behind the scenes, offer first looks- just post engaging content and be consistent!
2.MAKE SURE YOUR SITE IS OPTIMIZED: It’s not enough these days to just have a website. With over 1 billion websites now, you need to make sure your site is optimized to stand out, provide an enjoyable experience and reach your customers. Have your end user in mind when creating content and make sure your content is keyword rich.
3.START USING YOUR BLOG: Blogging is a great way to add fresh content to your site- and that’s great for search engines. This not only gives your customers a reason to come back to your site and see what’s new, but it will make search engines come back to your site to index your content.
4.START DOING VIDEOS: People enjoy watching videos. This is a great opportunity to be real and authentic with your customers about your brand. Don’t get tied down on quality and professional production. As long as you have a clear message with good content your videos will get results. *Bonus tip- use your youtube channel to brand your videos, add subtitles, links, or embed them on your blog.
5.BE EASY TO FIND: If your customers can’t find your information easily they’re likely to move on. Having your business information online is a necessity. Create a Google my business account to add your business number, location and hours online. When adding your business information to online directories, make sure you are consistent as accuracy matters to search engines. Example… If your business is 123 North Avenue, don’t use 123 N. Avenue on any listing, keep it consistent.
It’s no secret that most online experiences begin with an online search engine these days. Do you often wonder why some companies show up ahead of you in results? Or wonder what it takes to outrank your competition to land on the coveted page 1 of results? The answer to your questions would be SEO or search engine optimization. Having an SEO strategy in place can mean the difference of helping your customers and future customers easily find you online, and being hidden pages and pages behind your competitors.
Looking for a Little Rock SEO Company
Our services at Venture Media 360 help local business owners get found online. We employ SEO strategies that works for all major search engines such as Google, YouTube, Bing and Yahoo.
We pride ourselves on providing a clear mission on where our clients are today to where they want to arrive by dedicating our full attention and resources to help our clients dominate their niche. Our clients also enjoy complete exclusivity within their industry and area so they know we are truly working with their best interest in mind.
If you are searching for a Little Rock SEO company to take your business to the next level, we are the experts that can help make that dream come true for you.
Our Little Rock SEO and Digital Marketing Services
At Venture Media 360, our SEO and Digital Marketing Services can be custom tailored to the unique size and needs of your business in Little Rock. We are here to help you achieve your business goals by helping you be visible online to attract new customers and be easily accessible to your current customers.
SEO Services
Website Design & Development
Social Media Management
Social Media Advertising
Reputation Management
Lead Generation/ List Building
Google Maps Optimization
Pay Per Click Advertising
Copy & Blog Writing
Big or small, let us help you grow your business and find new customers. Contact us Here anytime to get started!
Digital marketing or online marketing is an ever changing and complex industry to say the least. But with customers increasingly taking to the web to begin their searches and purchases, it is a very necessary part of any serious business owners marketing strategy. Here we give you answers to common digital marketing questions we have received.
There is countless amounts of information online about digital marketing and you could quite literally waste your days away trying to find all the answers. So we decided we’d make it simple and give you some answers here. Short and sweet.
“What is SEO and does it really matter?”
The short answer is SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization, and YES, it does REALLY matter…that is if you want to be found on the internet. There are over a billion websites on the internet, so SEO is your ticket to standing out and being found by customers.
SEO includes strategies and techniques that are used to increase the amount of quality visitors to your website by obtaining a high-ranking placement in the search results page of a search engine like Google, Bing, or Yahoo. The ultimate goal is to organically rank #1 on page 1 of these results as most clicks go to the first few results. This is where an SEO strategy can make your website work for you and convert.
“Should I be on social media promoting my business?”
Absolutely. Social Media is where your customers are no matter what business you’re in. 74% of consumers rely on social media to make their purchasing decisions. Social Media allows you an opportunity to connect with your customers and promote your products and services to them virtually free, unless you count your time. Investing in a social media management strategy can create excitement around your brand and allow your customers to share their positive experiences with others. Consistent engagement is key here.
“What is Inbound Marketing?”
Inbound marketing relies on earning customer’s interest instead of buying it…..basically, customers come to you! With inbound marketing, it’s important to interact with customers via social media, provide value, entertain or educate, and be prominent on search engines.
“How can I put my business information online?”
Google My Business is an easy way to get your business location and contact information in Google search results. Plus it’s free! Accuracy is important here. Make sure your contact information matches exactly.
“Ok I have a Facebook Business page, what should I post?”
Consistent posting is key here. But be careful not to just post your products. Social media is just that-social. People want to learn about different things and be entertained. Share posts from other experts that offer valuable information. Post news and happenings from your company and don’t be scared to be personable and engaging. See something funny that’s related to your niche? Share it!
“I don’t have lots of time but I need to make a graphic for my business, what can I do?”
One word. Canva. If you’re not already using it to create graphics and content or scale photos, get it now and thank me later.
“How can I optimize my photos for my websites and social media?”
See above. Seriously Canva is great. Also, geo tag your images.
“What can I do to make people click on my posts and ads?”
Adding a call to action (CTA) such as “Click Here” “Learn More” or “Shop Here” will boost your chance of getting a click through. People respond to these directives strategically placed in prominent locations on your ads or emails
“What is reputation management?”
By definition, reputation management is the practice of shaping public perception of a business or organization by influencing online information about that entity. You know those reviews and stars you judge a business by when you look them up? That’s a part of reputation management.
A good reputation management plan takes a proactive approach in managing your online brand and could put out any negative review flames before they turn into a fire. How your reputation is perceived online will directly influence potential customers.
Making your online reputation management plan a reality is an investment in your business that takes time and effort. Customers expect interactions and a level of transparency when they are making decisions to buy. And people buy from people they trust.
“I usually do radio ads but haven’t seen results. Will I be able to measure the ROI with digital marketing?”
One reason that digital marketing can be a better marketing option for your business is the measurable ROI that is lacking in other methods.
Your digital marketing agency will be able to provide you with important metrics across different channels to show you the effectiveness of your campaigns. These insights can be invaluable to knowing how your brand content is performing and which areas of your business are working for you.
“How often should I post new content?”
While there’s no exact concrete answer to this question, a good rule of thumb is to post at least twice a week at a minimum. The more you post the more visible you will become.
“Can I just “boost” my Facebook posts instead of creating an ad account?”
We recommend you create ads in the Facebook ads manager versus simply boosting posts. You will get more in depth data and a better ROI.
“What does a webinar do?”
Webinars are online video based learning experiences that help educate your customers. Webinars are a great way to reach out to your customers via email, blogs, etc. Your webinar can be anywhere from 10 minutes to hours long, it’s up to you and what your customers respond to.
Hopefully we’ve been able to answer any burning question you may have had with these answers to common digital marketing questions. Don’t see your question? Shoot it to us Here , and we’ll get you a quick answer back!
In today’s world customers expect companies and businesses to have an online presence. Even if your company does not conduct business on the web, your customers and potential customers want to be able to quickly and easily find your information online. Just having a website isn’t enough to get your products or services in front of eyes, you have to drive traffic to your site to convert these people into customers. In fact, on any given day Google receives about 63,000 searches per second. Even more important, 75% of users don’t scroll past page 1 of those search results. So unless you’re on page 1 of the results you’re virtually invisible on the web. That’s where SEO (Search Engine Optimization) comes in to improve your rankings and even potentially beat out your competitors.
Your Trusted Baton Rouge SEO Company
At Venture Media 360, we help local business owners not only get found in Google, but all major search engines such as YouTube, Bing and Yahoo. Our approach to SEO or search engine marketing has afforded us the opportunity to help others duplicate our success.
Each client we partner with not only gains actionable insights, but also enjoys complete exclusivity of our services within their industry of niche. Unlike other SEO companies in Baton Rouge, we dedicate our full resources and attention to helping each of our partners completely own or dominate their industry.
Our Services
At Venture Media 360 we have everything you need to succeed online. Our suite of solutions can be custom tailored to meet the unique needs of your product or business. The type of Digital Marketing Services we provide are unmatched in the local market place. Our combination of skill, resources, and sincere commitment to our clients vision separate us from other SEO companies in Baton Rouge. When your brand needs to scale and attract more clients we will provide a tailored solution with a clear path to your ROI.
SEO Services
Website Design & Development
Social Media Management
Reputation Management
Lead Generation/ List Building
Google Maps Optimization
Pay Per Click Advertising
Copy & Blog Writing
Let us help you grow your business and find new customers. Contact us Here anytime to get started!
Online Reputation Management: Understanding how it impacts your business
Understand how Online Reputation Management impacts your business and why you should start managing this critical business component today.
Visibility- The highly sought after presence of being found online by general consumers. This is what all businesses are vying for on the web and in search results. Being visible on search engine results is so critical to being discovered that even landing on page 2,3 and 4 can make you virtually invisible to potential customers. The positive: if you have negative reviews they are less likely to be seen. The Negative: As a business, you absolutely need to be seen to reach customers and grow. So what if you have negative reviews but you still want to be found? Don’t worry, you’ll learn that answer below.
You’re Being Talked About
So why Online Reputation Management? And why do I need to know this stuff? Chances are if you are an entrepreneur or have a business your customers are talking about you. Even a small company has the potential to have a customer tweeting, blogging, or reviewing you right now. By managing your online reputation correctly, you will be improving your reputation and reach which can directly affect your rankings on search engines.
Perception Is Reality
In the world of the web, perception really is reality. How your reputation is perceived online will directly influence potential customers. Making your online reputation management plan a reality is an investment in your business that takes time and effort.These days you cannot simply have a basic static website with no social media touch if you plan to grow your reach. Customers expect interactions and a level of transparency when they are making decisions to buy. And people buy from people they trust.
Understanding How Online Reputation Management Helps You
Reviews: If you’ve ever searched for a plumber on Google or looked for a restaurant recommendation on Yelp you may have noticed rave reviews with five stars, or less than stellar stories from unsatisfied customers- and chances are these reviews influenced your decisions. These online reviews affect how search engines present your business to online searchers. To answer the question from the first paragraph, this is where a well designed reputation management plan can begin to repair the damage done from a negative review. Staying engaged and working with the reviewer to resolve their issue could potentially persuade them to revise their negative comments. Taking precautions to ensure reviews are checked and filtered before making their way to your website can deter any damage done and give an opportunity to fully assess the review before it reaches the public.
Transparency: Being transparent can be a risky concept for a lot of businesses. By being open to feedback you leave room for negative comments and reviews. On the other hand you give your customers a voice and better understanding of who you are as a company which leads to trust. Social Media is one of the first ways in which a company can increase their transparency by giving customers a direct channel to reach them and share their opinions. Failing to invest the time into communicating with your customers and addressing criticism head on is not worth the risk.
Proactive Approach: One of the big keys of managing your online reputation is not just responding to criticism and negative reviews, but about knowing when and what to respond to. Taking a proactive approach to your reputation management can mean the difference of a negative review an unhappy customer leaves being quickly addressed and resolved, and an unhappy customer being ignored and feeling like they are unheard. Having a professional monitor your social media accounts and search engines is one of the easiest ways to proactively guard your online reputation. Simply put, you want to satisfy the flames before they turn into a fire.
First Impressions Count: It’s been said that first impressions are so powerful that they can override facts. The first information that is presented to the consumer of you or your company will generally define opinions they form regarding your reputation and trustworthiness. This is where an SEO strategy is imperative for getting your search results showing positive content and reviews, which will ultimately help you rise toward your goal of page one results. An SEO strategy is even more important if you have negative reviews and bad publicity that has negatively affected your search engine rankings. This is where a professional can step in and address the reviews as well as creating an SEO strategy to repair the damage that will help your numbers climb back up in the results. Don’t think that by ignoring the problems that time will make them disappear. By not taking the steps to resolve your online reputation, you take on the risk of your website falling behind, reducing any traffic or even being permanently banned.
Want to know what your online reputation and reviews are? Get your free report by clicking Here. Just input your business name and number and receive your report instantly.
Learn 4 reasons why a digital marketing agency can help your business grow.
You have a business online and you’re wanting to grow your sales or customer base, right? Or maybe you just opened an online store and you want to drive traffic. Maybe you’ve even done hours of online research and know your options: SEO, PPC campaigns, social media, Facebook Ads, Google, Reputation Management….and the list goes on. But maybe you’re not quite sure how to piece this increasingly complex puzzle together.
Don’t stress. That’s normal. And that’s why digital marketing agencies (like us at Venture Media 360) are here to put that puzzle together for you and let you take a step back and do what you do best – run your business.
So what are some ways in which a digital marketing agency helps businesses? I’m glad you asked!
1. Get Measurable Results
One reason that digital marketing can be a better marketing option for your business is the measurable ROI that is lacking in other methods.
Your digital marketing agency will be able to provide you with important metrics across different channels to show you the effectiveness of your campaigns. These insights can be invaluable to knowing how your brand content is performing and which areas of your business are working for you.
2. You Get To Focus On Running Your Business
It’s no secret that digital marketing can be time consuming for business owners. Trying to focus on setting up campaigns and evaluating data can take up hours of your daily routine.
When hiring a digital marketing agency, they will work with your goals to determine a course of action that gives you back your time and energy to focus on running your business.
3. Cutting Costs
When debating on bringing in an in house digital marketer and hiring a digital marketing agency, most businesses are surprised to find that hiring an experienced agency will be most cost effective.
Besides cutting the cost of payroll, benefits, etc., hiring an agency instead of an employee relieves the burden of purchasing expensive soft ware and subscriptions, which most agencies already have in place as their tools.
4. Scalable Service
A good digital marketing agency will work with you to evaluate where you are currently as a business and where you would like to be once your goals are achieved.
By working with multiple services and plans, digital marketing agencies can offer options for where your business is and accommodate your needs as you grow. They can do this without your company having to add any resources.
How to choose a digital marketing agency
There are numerous digital marketing agencies all over the world. And chances are after a Google search or two you will be left spinning and confused on where to start. Not all agencies are the same and offer the same services.
It’s a good bet that any agency offering you a “get rich quick” sounding scheme will leave with less than desired results. Although after hiring a digital marketing agency you may start to see some results soon, it’s important to find a digital marketing agency that will work with you on a long term plan to scale your business. Digital marketing is not an overnight solution, but a slow continuous process that works to build your businesses online brand and bring you to new consumers.
The next step is to find an agency that will understand your needs and work with you to build a campaign that will help you achieve your goals.
Do you have a question on digital marketing or what we do as an agency? We’d love to help! Feel free to reach out to us.
