Lack of sleep

Instead of the telephone directory, people go to their computer or their cell phones and search for what ever they need online. If you want to do business with them, you have to put yourself on the results page of that search. You definitely have to know how to get on Google maps.

Now there are lots of challenges in doing this. Not the least of which is knowing which keywords or inquiry your customer would actually use in their search for you. If you're a plumber and only show up when people search for the keyword "plumber" you're going to miss people searching for help to fix their "water heater," or "leaky pipes."

Perhaps the biggest mistake made by less experienced web marketers is a tendency to not spend time doing keyword research. This is specifically important for national campaigns, but also is good for local businesses as well. Ultimately, when you establish your Google Places listing, you will be able to claim up to five categories for your organization.

For some that will be enough, for others it won't begin to cover the diversity of their product options. You know your business better than anyone. Often this can be a handicap in terms of identifying the keywords your possible new customer might use to find you. They don't know your business as well and may find some pretty roundabout ways of finding you.

There are a lot of paid keyword tools that SEO experts will use to help in this. But I normally use a free tool that Google offers to do keyword research. It sometimes provides useful insights that impress business owners, so I will outline how I use it in a moment. But first I would like to make a point about a major distinction about advertising online compared to the old yellow pages days.

Yellow page advertising was often a bit pricey and while you might get your business listed in several categories doing so also multiplied the charge. As a result many businesses confined their listings to one or two categories at most. It is not needed to do so online.

For organic search you can and should have a separate web page for each major product range or category. For Google Places you are allowed to list five categories. You should do your best to make use of all five. Doing this is part of the solution to how to get on Google maps when your prospective buyers search for any of these categories.

If you are a divorce lawyer and nothing else that you do, you should pay attention to the major different keywords and phrases people might use when they search for a divorce lawyer. If you also do criminal work, or estate planning, or adoption work, you will need to choose which five topics are most critical to you and your job.

If you are a plumbing technician as in my prior example you need to look at the major different reasons a new customer is perhaps looking for your services. If sump pump repair is a profitable portion of your business you may well have to include that over say leaky pipes if they are likely less profitable or less desired line of business

These are some of the key ideas you need to understand when studying how to get on Google maps.

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