Sommers on March 23rd, 2011

This post will show you how to geocode your images using Google’s “Picasa Web” service. The reason you want to do this is to make your Google Place page listing even more relevant. By geocoding your photographs you’re showing Google that your photos are associated with your business location. This is just one more Advanced Technique we use with our customers to help them move up the Google Maps Listing.

Note: Click image to view in full size.
1) Go to: http://picasaweb.google.com/ and sign in with your Google Account.

Sign In With Your Google Account

2) Once signed in, click on “Upload”

Click "Upload"

3) Title your album and click “Continue”

Title Your Album

4) Click the “Choose photos to upload” button

Choose Photos To Upload

5) Browse to and select your photos.  Once selected, click “Open.”

Browse To Your Photos

6) Once your photos finish uploading click “Ok” in the bottom right of the window.

Click 'OK' When Done Uploading

7) Next, click one of your photos you would like to geocode. (Important!)

Click to Open The Photo

8) On the bottom of the right column, find and click “Add Location”

Click "Add Location"

9) Enter the address of the business (required).  You can fine tune the pin by clicking and dragging it to the correct location.  Click “Save Location” once the pin is in the correct location.

Enter Address - Move Pin - Save Location

10) Refresh the webpage.

Refresh The Web Page

11) On the right side of the photo, verify that the Latitude and Longitude are set.

Verify Latitude and Longitude Are Set

12) Add a caption to your photo.

Click "Add a Caption" Below Photo

13) Use your primary keyword and then click “Save Caption.”

Enter Your Main Keyword - Then Save

14) Download your photo using the Download link noted in the graphic below.  Save it to your computer where you can easily locate it.

Download and Save Photo To Your Computer

15) Rename your photos using your main keywords.  To separate words, use dashes (-) not underscores(_)

Find and Rename Photo

16) Lather, Rinse and repeat.  You’re all done!  The photos are ready to be uploaded to your business listing.

 

Your’re Done! Photo is ready to upload!

 

Sommers on March 4th, 2011

Professional Local Search Ranking Analysis by Bob Sommers

When it comes to placement on Google Maps, the three things that matter most are:

  • Relevance: Does your business offer the products or services being search for?
  • Prominence: How well known is your company … on the Internet?
  • Distance: How far is your business located from the area being searched?

Relevance

When it comes to relevance, the most important factors are your category selection, business name and business description in that order. You have control over all three of these factors … and it begins and ends with your local keyword research.

Prominence

When it comes to prominence, the most important factors include the quantity and quality of citations, number of positive customer reviews and the popularity and optimization of your business website. Prominence is the most time consuming factor to enhance, but it’s also the factor that will allow you to leapfrog past your competition … and stay there.

Distance

It just makes sense that distance would be an important factor, but it’s not the most important factor as you might think. Here is an example of a business that is located 11 miles from the city center and it still shows up on page one of results for its primary keywords. Regal Car Rental in Ft. Myers Florida

Why? Because Regal Car Rental is perceived as being both relevant and prominent on the Internet. Keep in mind that Regal Car Rental is/was a very small single location rental car business competing with the links of Hertz, Alamo, Enterprise Leasing, Budget, Avis etc. This is the power of understanding how Local Search Marketing works.

If your business is located way outside of Google’s map area, there are ways you can still get your business listed on the results page for that area, but you’ll need to do it with either Google Adwords or with a highly optimized local web presence.


Sommers on July 26th, 2010

How An Appliance Repair Shop Owner Went From Being Days Away From Going Out Of Business To Opening A Second Location In Less Than 2 Months.


PoseTek Service Technician


The story I’m about to tell you is true. The names have remained the same so that you can evaluate the truth for yourself.

These are the actual events chronicled over the past 60 days concerning an appliance repair company in Fort Myers Florida and their amazing transformation from a business on the brink of disaster to a company in the process of opening a new office in Naples, Florida.
__________________________________________________________________________
May 15, 2010
Joe Pose of PoseTek Appliance Services calls me at the request of Tom Kindelan, the owner of Regal Car Rental in Fort Myers, FL. A month prior, we worked with Tom assisting him with his local search marketing increasing his SPLY rentals by 400% for the month of July. After doggedly urging Joe to call me, he eventually did. We agreed to help Joe with his local search marketing.

May 18, 2010
Joe fills-out our comprehensive Local Search Marketing form and informs me that the most profitable aspect of his business is out-of-warranty refrigerator repair, closely followed by washer repair, dryer repair and dishwasher repair. With that knowledge and the information we acquired on the form, we went about optimizing his business listing for those terms.

May 19, 2010
With the keyword research completed and the copy written, we helped Joe claim his business on Google, Yahoo and Bing.

May 20, 2010
We spent the day garnering business citations for PoseTek Appliance on most of the major citation sites. We also taught Joe how to acquire additional citations on local and vertical appliance repair sites. Then we showed him how to generate 5-Star reviews from his customers. Now it was a waiting game to see if our efforts were going to pay off … which we knew they would.

June 4, 2010
I received a call from Joe. He was ecstatic. He received a call from a customer who hired him to do an out-of-warranty repair. She found him on Google. After taking the call, he went to Google to find that PoseTek Appliance was in the number one position on the map for all of the terms we targeted in Fort Myers, FL. You can see an example here.

June 17, 2010
Joe calls to tell me that he is generating an average of one new out-of-warranty customer every day. Each new customer is worth over $200 and he could not be happier. I informed him that Google intends to come out with a new paid service called “Tags” which I believe will help him generate even more business now that he’s on the front page of results. Cost $25/month.

June 26, 2010
Google keeps its promise and releases “Tags” for the state of Florida. We help Joe set up his Tag and wait to see what happens.

July 12, 2010
Joe calls to tell me that he had 6 new customers contact him for out-of-warranty service on that day alone and he received 3 new customers on the previous Monday. His business is doing so well now, that he’s planning to open a new office in Naples, Florida.

July 15, 2010
Joe gets his first new out-of-warranty customer from Yahoo and his 5-star customer reviews are showing up all over the Internet. He simultaneously uses the skills he learned and opens a second office in Naples, Florida

August 23, 2010
After sending me another referral, Joe informed me that he is now up to 30 New Customers a Week. He’s earning back his entire investment in our service every day. Now that’s an amazing ROI. Thank you Joe.


__________________________________________________________________________



Joe and Victoria Pose


“Once we get a new customer (that’s the hard part), they become a customer for life. So when I tell you that you’re responsible for PoseTek getting 6 New (Out-of-Warranty) Customers today, you can imagine what that means to us in terms of dollars and additional service calls. And we’re getting new customers at an accelerated rate.

Promise me that you won’t teach any other appliance service company in Ft. Myers what you taught me. Please?”

Joe Pose – PoseTek Appliance Service LLC
17030 Alico Commerce Ct. Ste 314 / Fort Myers, FL 33967 / (239)-200-6669‎

As long as you don’t own appliance repair company or a rental car business in Southwest Florida, feel free to call either Joe Pose (239) 200-6669 or Tom Kindelan (239) 566-3643 to hear their story first hand.

Want to put this same strategy that transformed Joe’s business to work for your local business? Give me a call here in Hawaii at 808-891-0449 today.