I’m a huge fan of the business review site, Angie’s List. I find it amazing that a company can charge a fee, and consumers will pay that fee to look at business reviews on their website, when they can see similar reviews on dozens of other sites for free. But they do, and we do too. And because of that, I have a concern for you the business owner.
Who’s Your Daddy?
I don’t know what the numbers are, but I have to believe that many, many more people look on Google for a local service provider than look on Angie’s List. If anyone has access to the data, please post them below. That being said, it’s important to note that many of the good and great businesses listed on Angie’s List are ecstatic with the results … especially if they have great reviews. Here’s the problem.
Business owners get great reviews on Angie’s List. Their great reviews encourage others with a paid subscription to Angie’s List to hire them. They do a great job and ask their customer to review their service on Angie’s List for others with paid subscriptions to see. More great reviews on Angie’s List generate more business from subscribers to Angie’s List and cycle goes on and on. So where’s the problem?
But Wait, There’s More
Did you know that customers can review local service providers on Google and dozens of other review sites too? And did you know that Google aggregates the reviews from those other sites and shows them on their local search page? Problem is, Angie’s List charges their customers to see their reviews and does not allow Google to post their Angie’s List reviews on Google. If they did, no one would pay to see the reviews on Angie’s List.
Because of that, the local service providers who generate great reviews on Angie’s List aren’t able to share those reviews with the people who are looking for their service on Google. Without knowing any better, these local business owners are becoming a big fish in the smaller Angie’s List pond, when they could become a big fish in the ocean of Google customers.
Solution
If you’re a local service provider who’s generating great reviews on Angie’s List, consider that those same great reviews could just as easily be posted on Google. Ask your customers to post their reviews on Google too, where other potential customers are looking for the service you offer. You can even ask them to write a similar review on one of the many other review sites … (which Google will eventually show in their results and I’m sure they would be happy to do for you.
Get Your Business On Angie’s List
If your business is not on Angie’s List, by all means, please sign up. You want your business on as many sites as possible, and Angie’s List might be one of the best places for you to be seen.
Just go to www.Company.Angieslist.Com and click on the “Register Now” button. They will walk you through the sign-up process and educate you on Angie’s List along the way. You definitely want to be seen here. As I mentioned earlier, Angie’s List is one of my favorite sites, but …
Google is the 800 pound guerrilla when it comes to local search. If you want to attract many more customers, let me encourage you to spend time with the guerrilla. No disrespect to Angie’s List, I’m a huge fan, but it’s hard to ignore Google when their results are front and center on every search result.
How Does Your Business Rank?
Now you can instantly see if your business shows up in the most highly search local sites on the Internet for the most popular keywords and phrases your customers use to find you. Our new Business Listing Ranking tool will not only save you a ton of time, but it will show you which of your competitors are garnering all the new business from the Internet … and what you can do to take it back.
Notice on the far right column of every page there’s a category entitled “Industry” where you can quickly see how you rank for your keywords in your community. (We’re adding new industries every day.) You can either do the search by city and state or zip code. If you live in a small to medium sized community, do the search by city and state. If you live in a large urban community, use the zip code feature as well, because this is a common way people in large cities search for local business services.
Where Do Your Customers Look For You?
The tool will show you how you rank on sites including Google, Yahoo!, Bing, Merchant Circle, Yelp, Super Pages, Local and Yellow Book. It will also show you how you rank for the top 6-8 keywords people use to find the services you offer in your industry. (If your industry is not listed, please go to the comment section below and make a request.)
For example, if you’re in the appliance repair business you can see how your business ranks for the following terms.
- Appliance Repair
- Refrigerator Repair
- Washer Repair
- Dryer Repair
- Dishwasher Repair
- Oven Repair
- GE Repair
- Maytag Repair
Search Trends Rock
We also added another feature that will help you promote your business. You can see the search trends for each term to help you decide the very best months of the year to get the most out of your advertising and marketing efforts.
Give it a try.
I’m hearing more and more business owners complain about their business not being seen on GPS devices like Garmin, TomTom and other in-car mapping programs. Not to worry. You can easily get your business listed on these devices. Here’s how.
There are three primary ways you can get your business listed on these GPS devices. I encourage you to do all three.
InfoUSA is a data aggregation company … among other things. They acquire business data from multiple sources and then make that data available to the world. Just go to InfoUSA and add your business information. If it’s already there, check for accuracy and allow them between one and three months to get the information out to the GPS manufacturers and mapping software companies.
It’s important to remember that once a GPS device is installed in a car, it’s up to the cars owner to update the data file. This does not happen automatically. All future devices will/should include your updated location information however.
My next stop would be the NAVTEQ Map Reporter site. Actually, if my only concern was getting on GPS devices, this would be my first stop.
Navteq provides their information to Garmin and other sites. They also make this information available directly to the consumer who wants to pay for and update their mapping software.
Go to NAVTEQ and follow their three easy steps. They will even keep you informed of when your POI (Point of Interest) location, your business, has been included in their software update.
My third and final stop would be TeleAtlas. They make it very easy for you to add a new business location or point of interest. Again, go to TeleAtlas and add your information. The process is quick and painless.
All of these sites will do research to insure that the information you provided is accurate. Expect a call from InfoUSA and a delay before hearing from TeleAtlas and NAVTEQ … if you hear from them at all.
If you provide your business location and information to all three sites, there is a very good chance you will start to show up on GPS devices within a few months. And as you know, visibility translates into profitability. Do it today.
