Garage door companies have a lot of options when it comes to advertising their business. They can buy a billboard on a busy stretch or put up flyers around town. But there’s another avenue that many have overlooked: Internet Marketing.

Even though it’s been around for decades, SEO is still one of the most effective ways to catch potential customers’ attention online. With optimized keywords, images, and videos, you can increase your chances of being found by potential clients.

This post will give you eight golden tips to increase your garage door company sales.

1. Optimize Your Google My Business Page

Google My Business (GMB) is a free tool that helps companies find and rank their business on Google search results. A well-optimized GMB page can help your garage door company increase its visibility on the internet, which, in turn, increases your business’s chances of being found by new customers.

With just a few clicks, you can create a profile for your business on GMB. Accounts are free, and it only takes about 15 minutes to set up.

Take a look at the following aspects while optimizing your profile:

• • Business name
  • Address
  • Hours of Operation
  • Photos & Videos
  • Reviews

2. Use Long-tail Keywords

Long-tail keywords are the keywords with long phrases. Garage door companies should include long-tail keywords in their SEO campaign.

If you are using outdated, widely used words that everyone else is competing with, you’ll unlikely get any meaningful traffic. What you want are long-tail keywords — words that are specific enough to garner a decent number of clicks.

Take a look at the following examples to get an idea:

• • “Unlock my garage door”
  • “Replace garage door springs”
  • “Garage door repairs in Westchester County”
  • “How much does it cost to replace garage door springs?”
  • Can I install a garage door opener myself?
  • Do I need a permit to install a garage door opener?
  • How do I replace my garage door torsion spring?

Because these are specific queries, you are most likely to get high-quality leads.

3. Use Location Pages

As a garage door company, your company’s success depends on your visibility across different locations. Location pages are meant to target a business with more than one location.

One should optimize these pages with the company name and target location. With the vast majority of internet searches happening locally, it’s essential to make sure your garage door company shows up when prospective customers search for you by city or by zip code.

In many cases, location pages will rank higher than a generic webpage. This is because a location page has more authoritative information about that area.

4. Claim and Optimize Business Listings

Many factors play into the success of a garage door company. A critical factor in this is how visible you are on the internet. Although most local companies get addressed by word of mouth, having a broad online presence is crucial for running one.

If you have claimed and optimized the local listings on Google, Yelp, and other similar platforms, you will rank higher.

Also, the number of reviews/ratings a business has accumulated on these listings is important. For instance, a garage door company with ten reviews might rank higher than a business with five reviews.

5. Curate Localized Content

An average homeowner is likely to get bombarded with ads from several garage door companies, each claiming to have the best prices, warranties, and services.

Your company should use localized content to stand out. Localizing your content refers to tailoring it to the tastes and preferences of your audience by making sure they get the information in their dialect, culture, and preferred formats.

For example, a garage door company could create an article about how it has landed a new job in an area and tell the audience how it can help out those who need the service.

6. Earn Local Backlinks

When it comes to improving your rankings, backlinks are the most critical factor. Backlinks lead to your site from other sites, and without them, you will have difficulty attracting traffic. Google ranks pages with backlinks higher because they are considered more reputable.

These backlinks can come from press releases, or other external sources such as high-ranking sites. The more backlinks a site has, the higher its ranking.

7. Use Social Media

People are always on the go. When they have a moment to spare, they log onto their social media profiles.

Why not take advantage of this by posting something that will get attention? Your company can use social media to get links and mentions that can lead to higher rankings on search engines.

You can ramp up your social media strategy by making the posts more interactive, encouraging customers to post their favorite photos of the company’s work, etc.

8. Get Online Reviews

Search engines use customer reviews to determine rankings. Reviews affect SEO because they show Google the importance of the website and how popular it is among users. The more reviews, the closer it will rank to the top of SERPs.

Reviews provide an overview of your services, give insight into their quality, and show whether your company is trustworthy. However, be wary of negative reviews.

If customers are unhappy with your garage door installation/repair services, they will leave negative reviews, impacting the ranking on search engines.

The post 8 Tips to Increase Sales for Your Garage Door Company Using SEO appeared first on Kansas City Local SEO, Google My Business Optimization Services.

The post 8 Tips to Increase Sales for Your Garage Door Company Using SEO appeared first on Kansas City Local SEO, Google My Business Optimization Services.

There are certain mistakes that business owners make with their Google My Business profile. These mistakes can often lead to loss of leads, customers, and sometimes, even the GMB profile itself.

Mistakes such as closed business, wrong information, and unanswered reviews can prove to be too costly for your Google My Business Profile as it badly affects businesses.

In this article, I’ve identified seven common mistakes that business owners make with their Google My Business Profile. Read on to find out to avoid making these same mistakes.

1. Closed Businesses

Often, it is common to see closed businesses unmarked as ‘closed’. If your business shuts down, endeavor to mark that business as permanently closed especially if it existed online. Although you may no longer need the listing, the inability to mark your closed business as permanently closed could result in terrible user experiences.

For example, if you often buy groceries from a store in Kansas City and you get there one day to find out they’ve shut down without notice, you would be upset. Firstly because you wasted your time, and also because you would be disappointed at the thought of being unable to make your purchase at that time.

The same goes for your online business. If a potential client tries to visit you and discovers that you are closed, they will likely become upset about wasting their time.

When your business is closed, try as much as possible to make it known in your Google My Business Listing Profile. It presents your business as trustworthy and has the interests of potential clients at heart.

2. Wrong Information

Wrong information displayed online about your business is worse than having no information at all. Having a situation whereby your working hours are not updated and customers arrive at your location only to discover that you have closed will get them upset.

For instance, I once had to go to a logistics company to pick up a delivery package only to get there and discover that they were closed. I checked for their working hours and I realized that they were closed when they were supposed to be open. I was very upset because I had to go back the following day to get my package.

I told the sender not to make use of their services again and recommended their competitors. I also gave them a negative review online.

It is important to input any slight business change that might be relevant to your customers into your Google My Business profile, even if you moved about an inch away from your former location.

3. Inability To Include Photos

It is a common sight to see that photos are neglected on Google My Business profiles. Some businesses in Kansas City only include the street view while others sometimes include one or two pictures that were posted by a well-meaning customer. This is overly not recommended for your Google My Business profile because apart from presenting your profile as unattended, it can lead Google to pull in a picture from the wrong news article or even Facebook page.

It is recommended that you use about four to seven exterior photos without staff and another four to seven interior photos with the staff.

Pictures with people in them always look better for business than empty streets and storefronts or lobbies. It also gives your customer the feeling of comfort and transparency.

Utilize photos, show off the traits that make your business stand out from other businesses, and allow people to know that you have real people working at your business place. Take photos at different angles and different times of the day to see the one you prefer the most. You can also ask for the contribution of your staff members and friends to help you pick out the best ones.

Finally, if you want the best photos, hire a professional in Kansas City.

4. Unanswered Reviews

This is one major area that business owners neglect the most. It is important to reply to your business reviews, be it positive or negative. Answering reviews leads to customer engagement.

A research carried out by Bain and Company showed that engaged customers spend between 20% and 40% more than other customers.

Not replying to their reviews shows potential customers that you do not care about them but only about money. Always reply to all your reviews and if it is negative, ensure to ask how you can improve or help them.

5. Unclaimed Listings

Failure to claim your Google My Business Profile Listing will lead to skepticism of your ability to manage that profile. You will have access to suggest edits on your phone number, address, and website URL. You might even be able to upload photos but only from a customer and not you as the business owner.

Unclaimed listings will also prevent you from replying to customer reviews and prevent you from creating google posts. A user will also be able to suggest an edit to your profile and say that the business does not exist which might make Google delete your listing.

Other companies might also claim your listing by editing your information and inputting theirs and Google will not be able to inform you of any change. This can damage your business.

To claim your Google My Business profile listing easily, go to the knowledge panel and click on ‘own this business and follow the steps you see.

6. Wrong Map Pins

This feature is often misused. Sometimes, map pins end up in the middle of a parking lot or at the end of a field, this discourages potential customers. People want to be directed to the right spot and if they are unable to discover your location, they can assume that your business doesn’t exist and go somewhere else.

7. Wrong Location

Google now allows GMB profile users to edit their location features. To ascertain that your GMB profile shows the correct location, simply perform a Google search. You can also inform customers of your exact and specific location like a grocery shop in Kansas City to make it easy for them to locate you.

Finally,

You need to conduct an audit on your listing if you have Google My Business. Look out for any of the issues discussed above that might be affecting your business and make corrections.

These key ingredients will determine how your business functions and if your customers are happy to patronize you. It can also help you boost sales if you carry out proper procedures.

The post 7 Common Mistakes People Do With Their Google My Business Profile appeared first on Kansas City Local SEO, Google My Business Optimization Services.

The post 7 Common Mistakes People Do With Their Google My Business Profile appeared first on Kansas City Local SEO, Google My Business Optimization Services.

Optimizing your Google My Business profile in Kansas City is one major way to get increased success and influence in your local market. To put it simply, every business needs a Google My Business listing. This gives a great deal of information to local consumers and Google, offering your business a great deal of local search presence in Kansas City.

When creating your Google My Business Profile, the details you provide in your Google My Business profile are utilized in several ways by the search engine, from crowding the highly noticeable knowledge panel which emerges on the right side of the search results and fills out the local pack to crowding Google Maps, providing voice search results and aiding with Google app search results.

Optimizing your Google My Business Profile is very important. There are various techniques you can utilize to enable your Google My Business profile to get more leads. Below are eight strategies;

1. Ensure The NAP On Your Google My Business Profile Is Correct.

NAP is an acronym for the Name, Address, and Phone number for your business, getting these details right is crucial to optimizing your Google My Business Profile in Kansas City.

This might come across as trivial but your business could have changed over time, moved from place to place resulting in an address change, you might have lost the previous contact details which led you to get a new one, you might have even had to change your business name for one reason or the other.

Whatever the case might be, you need to ensure that all your citations for your online business are uniform with the ones you include as part of your Google My Business Profile.

Inconsistency with these details would portray your business in a bad light to your customers and prospective clients, making your business appear unattended to.

2. Ensure You Choose The Right Category And Subcategory For Your Google My Business Profile

The category and subcategory of your Google My Business profile is an important part of Search Engine Optimization and goes a long way in affecting how many leads your business gets, so you must get it right.

For instance, if you sell women’s clothing, you might choose ‘women’s clothing store’ as your category so that anyone looking for women’s clothing can discover your business in local searches.

The subcategory is equally important especially if your business sells more than one good or offers more than one kind of service. For example, if you have a women’s clothing store but also sell children’s clothing, “women’s clothing” will be your category, while “children’s clothing” will be your subcategory.

Choosing the correct category and subcategory often helps you in outranking your competitors.

3. Make Sure Your Business Description Is Compelling

Google allows you a seven hundred and fifty character space to describe your business, so you need to utilize it properly.

When writing the description for your profile, avoid including any form of a promotional statement as Google rules against that. However, try your best to inform people about your products and services, ensure you make them see what’s unique about you, about what you do, and about what you sell, the goods you offer, or the services you render.

Including a few details about your mission and business history, is also a good idea.

A compelling description will not only captivate your customers but will also bring in more leads for your business.

4. Use Photos And Pictures

Google allows lots of options to include photos in your profile.

You can choose whichever photos to use, either interior or exterior shots of your business, including 360-degree views. The photos you choose are very crucial for your Google My Business Profile because strong images are known to act as a spotlight for people.

According to Google, “businesses with photos receive forty-two percent more requests for driving directions to their locations from Google users, and thirty-five percent more clicks to their websites than businesses whose profiles lack photos.”

Nonetheless, do not overcrowd your profile with photos and images. Standard practice is about three images each of your interior, your exterior, your team, and the products you sell, or the services you offer.

5. Monitor Your Reviews And Respond To Them.

The reviews that customers see on your page are very important. Customers always want to go through your reviews before purchasing any goods or services and they trust these reviews sometimes even better than word of mouth from friends and family.

Do not wait for customers to write reviews, rather, be proactive about requesting for them especially if you are convinced that you’ve satisfied a customer and they are happy with your product or service.

You also need to monitor and respond to these reviews on time, for example, you can put in place a policy for thanking the customers who leave positive reviews and asking those who leave negative reviews how you can help them.

6. Fill Out Your Products And Services

One of the most visible ways to gain more leads is through the products section.

Even if your business only offers services and doesn’t sell products, you will still need to fill this out because of its visibility.

Google helps in ranging your product in a carousel-like design which will make the page more attractive and eye-catching.

You are also able to categorize your page, so use it to your own advantage.

7. Publish Posts Regularly.

This does two things; feeds the important keywords and phrases, drives up engagement.  Posts published within your GMB profile pages are essential mini blogs that give consumers and customers vital information about your business.

Good posts will increase your SEO rankings, improve your visibility, and drive more leads.

8. Ask And Answer Questions

Google offers this feature for GMB profiles. Answering customer questions may be the motivation for a customer deciding if they want to purchase your goods or service. However, you need to optimize this late because not only can anybody ask a question, anybody can also answer. This means if you’re inattentive, your customers might get the wrong answers or inaccurate information from somewhere elsewhere who might know nothing about business.

To avoid this, ensure you check this section of your GMB profile from time to time and answer the questions asked.

The post 8 Tips to Optimize Your Google My Business Profile To Get More Leads appeared first on Kansas City Local SEO, Google My Business Optimization Services.

The post 8 Tips to Optimize Your Google My Business Profile To Get More Leads appeared first on Kansas City Local SEO, Google My Business Optimization Services.

New Google My Business Reporting from G Map Pros

Do you ever get into your Google My Business account and when looking at the Insights say, “I wish I knew what this meant for my business.”?  At G Map Pros we give you analytics and data that comes from the Google My Business API, but we deliver it to you in a way that you can see measurable analytics to know what it can actually mean to your business. What this video as Kyle goes through the normal reporting you get in your Google My Business account vs what you see with G Map Pros reporting.

The post G Map Pros GMB Reporting vs. Google My Business Typical Reporting appeared first on Kansas City Local SEO, Google My Business Optimization Services.

The post G Map Pros GMB Reporting vs. Google My Business Typical Reporting appeared first on Kansas City Local SEO, Google My Business Optimization Services.

Google My Business is one of the most powerful SEO strategies a business can use to improve their local search rankings. It is also a great way to connect online with potential customers and clients. Since its beginning, Google has worked hard to provide new features to help local businesses. One of the more recent of these features id the use of GMB posts.

Posts on your GMB listing in the business’ Knowledge Panel. When a visitor clicks on the post it expands into a larger box to grab the users attention and increase your click through rate.

Some tips when creating a post that will overall help your GMB listing performance:

• Keep your posts clean and concise. 80-100 word posts are whats recommended, but if you use the full 300 words keep in mind that not all of the description will be displayed.
• Make sure to keep keywords and important information towards the beginning of the paragraph. This helps with Search Engine Optimization.
• Stick to images without text in them in case the image gets cutoff.
• 750 x 750 px is the recommended size for images and cant be smaller than 250 x 250 px.
• Make sure the landing page you’re sending your customers to is relevant to the post and meets the potential customer’s expectations.

 The knowledge panel of your listing takes up a lot of the page when users search for your business. Use this as an opportunity to create great, engaging posts that grab your viewer’s attention.

Your GMB post speaks directly to your viewer so make sure your message is worthwhile. Do not waste your post space with hashtags as this doesn’t help your listing’s SEO, and looks spammy to the viewer. Instead focus on good information that would be valuable to the reader.

Scheduling and Timing

Timing and scheduling are important when it comes to posting. By creating a scheduling plan you can ensure you are consistently adding content to your listing.

The timing is relevant for other posts like events or upcoming promotions. If for example, you’re having a Veteran’s Day sale, it would be a good idea to publish your post a week before the promotion to make sure you get plenty of attention before the promotion occurs.

Get Creative with Images

 If you have a design team, get them involved on creating content for your posts. Use your teams to create an eye grabbing product image. Out wow the competition by making your contact more than just a typical camera taken image. Set up proper areas to take great images, utilize proper lighting and use image editing software if you need to.

If you do not have a design team Google is there to help. Google’s Small Thanks with Google helps small businesses use reviews to create design materials you can download and use on your GMB posts and even social media.

Even though your posts aren’t active after 7 days, they will still be visible in a carousel format where viewers still see your awesome images.

Content Selection

Along with your images, your content is also important. Sometimes it is hard to come up with ideas for what types of content to post. Some quick ideas to get you started:

• Highlight one of your favorite employees and what makes them stand out.
• Mention upcoming trade shows or events your business is participating in.
• Highlight a new product or a product that has a special offer.
• Run a contest or giveaway and promote it in a post.

The possibilities are endless. The biggest component is staying relevant to your brand and building your business. Content can be awesome but if it is off the wall than it wouldn’t benefit you or your business.

Track Your Posts

Your GMB Dashboard is a good starting point to track to activity of your posts but its also a good idea to use custom URLs with Google Analytics to track deeper information and find trends between the types of posts you publish. Some types of posts or keywords could perform better than other and information like this is important in connecting with your users.

Tracking your posts can help you with finding how customers search for your business, actions they’ve taken on your page, where customers view your business as well as other information like how many views you have on photos.

Conclusion

All of these factors can help your business be more successful and benefit your SEO. Be sure to create great quality content and images to really grab your viewers attention. Always take advantage of the tools that are available to you. Always learn more about the importance of GMB.

The post Win Over Your Customers with GMB Posts appeared first on Kansas City Local SEO, Google My Business Optimization Services.

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