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Yelp Has Replaced Google Places on the new iPhone 5 Maps App – The Good and the Bad For Your Business

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The highly anticipated iPhone 5 has come with several new features; a bigger screen, faster operating system, lighter design, and a list of other new tools and gadgets.  As a business owner though, one thing you might of noticed has or will catch your attention sooner or later- Yelp is now the main source of business information on the new Apple Maps tool! Gone is Google Places, which has been the most targeted network for local businesses the last 10 years.  What does that mean? A lot if you never considered Yelp important, which no one has recently since Google Places launched a few years ago.

So how does this impact your business? Well, for starters, if your business is not listed on Yelp, you should do it now! When someone searches for a business address, phone number, or location information, Yelp is now fully integrated in the new Apple Maps app.  Google is now not only not integrated in Apple Maps, it is also not providing driving directions on the phone itself.

Is Yelp a good thing or bad thing for your business?? Well, for many business owners, including myself, Yelp is both a plus and a minus, depending on your experience. For starters, anyone can leave a review on your Yelp listing, good or bad, with no consequences.  I have had a lot of clients who had an ex employee or even a competitor write a damaging review and Yelp cannot remove it, as per their “guidelines”. Why? Well Yelp isn’t really a business directory, its a social network. Since people run Yelp, the company does not oversee or approve both good and bad reviews.  It has an automated system that regulates reviews and wants to show “balance”. So, even if you have 4 new customers write great reviews about your company, the bad review will still show on top in order to show the reader a fair analysis. But, as you have read, there is no filter for bad press, so if you run into this situation, it can be damaging for your business.

Now thats not to say Google Maps and Places was all fair. There was and still is a lot of bad practices and similar bad tactics used. But, unlike Yelp, Google has a special team that eventually hears and settles complaints from business owners. There has been no indication from Yelp that they are going to legitimize their business listings as of yet.

I see it as a personal attack on Google considering the current Apple vs Samsung patent lawsuits going on.  As you may have read, Apple is suing Samsung, which has smartphones running on the Android OS, the arch rival of the Apple OS, over similar features found in their phones.  I have to suspect that alienating Google from one of the most used iPhone apps is a direct hit to Google in order to strut their muscle. For business owners, it may be a time to either panic or become more active in this new trend that is surely going to affect every local business.

What can you do? Well, taking a strong and new approach to Yelp is key.  Regulating and cleaning up your Yelp page is the number one priority.  Many have said that if you become a paying Yelp customer, it is easier to get the Yelp team to help you with negative reviews. That, to me, makes sense. The first step is to CLAIM YOUR LISTING. you do this under a free Yelp business account, not a regular account. Go to http://biz.yelp.com to set it up.

You must monitor your Yelp account constantly now, as much as your Google Places accounts.  Yelp is now positioned to re-emerge as a strong local search player, so stay up to date on new tools that they are surely to deploy soon.  Most importantly, get new clients to write positive reviews, because sooner or later you are going to run into a situation and you do not want the negative marks to hurt the ability to product business!

Contact us if you need help setting up your Yelp Action Plan today.

Top 10 Reasons to Create Micro Websites for your Business

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Business exposure is so crucial nowadays, especially in todays economy. I see so many businesses cram soo much information on their websites with the intention of exposing all of their products and services to their customers. With their online marketing and advertising budgets lower than before, it has become crucial for businesses to sell as much as possible to each web visitor all the time.

They also have the intention of becoming optimized and listed for all their web services on Google and other search engines. But, since their website is so full of different information and services, it is hard for them to become specialized in a specific service or product… hence, they have a low page rank and do not appear on the 1st page of their product keyword searches! This is huge dilemma and alot of businesses do not know what to do. They cannot afford to remove information, they have no time to redesign their site… and their budget is small. What can they do?

Creating micro websites is the answer! A micro website is a mini website that is specific to a product or service. You have 10 products? The key here is creating 10 mini websites (3-4 pages) that are keyword dense and specific to theis product/service, with a powerful keyword based URL. The goal? Get optimized and listed faster for this product/service keyword, thus having another “branch” in your online marketing tree of offerings.

Here are the top 10 reasons this will work:

  1. You can keep it specific to a keyword phrase only! You do not have to worry about Google or another search engine not knowing about what your site is about. The content and keywords will be very specific and direct.
  2. You can buy a keyword based URL for your product or service. As you all may know, your URL is the most powerful SEO tool in search engine optimization. Adding your keyword to your domain name can work wonders.
  3. You can show your company specialization for this particular product or service. As you know, many web visitors do not take the time to really familiarize themselves with your different offerings. A micro website gives you the chance to show off your expertise and uniqueness of your company as it relates to the product or service.
  4. A micro website will get you ranked faster. Creating a micro website that is specific to a keyword phrase gives you up to a 40% faster optimization rate, thus getting you ranked higher much faster than your main website would.
  5. Saves you money in online advertising. As you know, SEO takes alot of time. A micro website can save you tons of money in the long run since it can get listed faster than your main website.
  6. Gives your company more exposure. Imagine having your micro websites appear for all of your products or services, along with your main website? This is called web dominance. Why not give it a try?
  7. Are affordable. Micro websites cost considerably less than adding the amount of pages to your website, both in design and advertising costs. Why not save money and get more exposure on the internet with another website?
  8. Great regional strategy. Does your business have multiple locations? Are your services offered in different areas? Micro websites can also help you target geo specific customers with the same keyword strategy!
  9. Create backlinks to your website to boost it’s page rank. Micro websites can also boost your main website traffic and ranking too. Linking your micro websites to your main website will give your main site considerable web traffic, thus boosting its page rank and backlinks considerably.
  10. It works. Thousands of internet savvy businesses have been implementing micro websites to their online busness model. Try typing in a city based keyword, check Google local listings, and see how many websites are the same company. This gives companies who implement it more exposure, better SEO results, and a competitive advantage… all the while saving them tons of money. Try it!

If you would like my company, www.RGPacific.com, to work with you to implement this strategy, please give me a call at 323-314-2127. We are located in Los Angeles and offer the best and most affordable web design, development, and internet marketing services.

Please do not hesitate to post some questions!

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