How to reach more clients in your area

How do you acquire new clients for your business? In addition to recommendations and returning clients, it’s important to rank in search results so that the motivated potential clients in your area will see your listing when searching for a specific product/service.

Ranking on the first page in Google search results is not a simple matter, as the algorithm used by the giant search engine is determined by a combination of about 200 factors. We-ll just focus on one today.

If your website is responsive, loads fast, is secure and regularly updated (if the answer is NO to one or more of these, send us a message today- we can help), it still will not be enough if it doesn’t show in search results.

You should start with creating a listing on Google my Business. Once your location gets verified (this only works if you have a physical location for your business), you can take advantage of the different features offered by this free service. Make sure to include correct contact information, recent and varied photos, and even a special offer. You can also post updates about your business here.

There are many other local search engines: Yelp, Bing, Yahoo & Yellow Pages are some of them. Should you list on all of them? I personally don’t know a lot of people using Yellow Pages or Bing, but the more places your contact details are at, it will help….

With a possible exception: Yellow Pages. For some reason, there seem to be a lot of scammers who are probably just looking for new businesses listed on Yellow Pages. This seems to be a common scam that circulates online, so let me detail it so you don’t get affected by it.

You diligently list your business on Yellow Pages, including complete details. In few minutes, you get a call from a person claiming to be from Yellow Pages, and saying they need to verify the details on your listing. They proceed to repeat at you all the details you just submitted online, and asking you to confirm it all. You may say: Yes, yes, for the different details.

A few weeks later, you get an invoice requesting you to pay for the listing on Yellow Pages (which should be free). When you call them to complain, that is construed as an acceptance to actually pay for the service.

Suffice it to say, I received about 10 different calls from “Yellow Pages” in less than a day. By the end, I just replied: NO. That cut the conversation short, as they probably realized I was aware of the scam. Should you still list your business on Yellow Pages? Make skip this one, but make sure you focus your efforts on Google my business and the other major players.