3 Tools to help you get found locally

Small Businesses Get Found

One of the keys to success with small business (and one of the challenges) is that your potential customers need to be able to find you before they can actually spend any money with you.

Of course you also need to have a product or service that solves their problem, presented in such a way that they get what you’re doing and they see the value (and how you’re different than others in your space).  And of course you need to be great at delivering that product or service…all the while developing that difference that makes you Remarkable (just like these 3 Kansas City Businesses have done).

However it all starts with being found – you have to be found first if you want more business.  And the best place to be found is where people are already looking…which is online!

The good news is that it’s getting easier and easier to get your business out there every single day.  At a minimum you should register with a directory like The Finder in Kansas City.  They have free listings or some low cost options that can really help boost your exposure.

On top of that – here are 3 other tools / strategies that can help you raise your online profile for your business.

Get Listed

The first one is a really helpful site called GetListed.org.  Get Listed allows  you to enter your business name and your location / zip code and they will do a local search and see if you are listed in the top local search directories (Google, Bing, Yahoo, Yelp and Best of the Web).  It takes all of 30 seconds to find out if you need to do anything with those directories.

On top of that, they have a lot of resources and information to help you understand how all of this local search stuff works.  Great site!

Get a Video for your business

The next site is Pixability.com.  Pixability has an interesting model for helping business owners get professional quality video for their business promotion (website, youtube, blog, etc.).  They send you a camera, have you shoot some basic footage of what you want covered in the video.  You send the camera back, they edit and combine the basic video with text, voiceover, graphics or whatever makes sense on what you want…and you get a professional looking video for a pretty reasonable price.

Video is a hot topic right now – because people want a quick and easy way to see what you’re doing – video is often a great way to quickly get their attention and make your case.  Especially if you have a business with some visual interest.

Get Found on Google

Google is the 800 pound gorilla of search engines.  If you’re only going to spend time or effort in one place – it should be with Google, they handle 60+ percent of all search engine traffic.

The good news is that Google is constantly innovating, adding new tools (for free) and they make it pretty easy to get up and running.  The first place to start from a local search perspective is Google Places, create or claim your business and fill out the profile.  Once you’re up and running, you can also use the analytics to see how many  people found you, how they found you and  what keywords they were searching for when they found you.

First step is to make sure you’ve got a quality website (doesn’t have to be expensive, but at least professional) and then make sure that you are giving people a real chance to find you online.

What tools or tactics are you using to get found online?  Are you where you want to be when it comes to this stuff?  Share your thoughts or questions below in the comments – I’d love to hear them.

Shawn Kinkade  Kansas City Business Coach