Steps guide to setting up your Google My Business Profile:
- First you need to create a Google Account for your business, if you don’t have one already. You can do this by going to the Google Business Webpage then click Manage Now. Search the name of your business to see if it has already been added to Google, and if not, manually add it yourself.
- Select add a location and enter your correct business address, so it can be connected to Google Maps, and you can start showing up in search results.
- If you have a service-based business, as opposed to having customers visit you, you can add the service area you cover.
- Now you need to choose the category that fits your business best, from a drop-down list of terms Google displays. Have a good look through, as this will affect the search terms you can rank for.
- Remember to add your business contact numbers, including your phone number, website, and social media. This is important for your backlink strategy, and also so as many people can find you on as many different platforms as possible.
- The final step is to Verify your business and Google gives you several options to do this, depending on what type of business you have. You can verify by postal mail, or, if Google allows, by email, or by phone. Some businesses can instantly verify but this only happens if you already have a Google My Business profile, and you are updating it.
Once you’ve set up your Google My Business profile, you need to flesh it out, by telling potential customers all about your brand, and what you do. If you have a business with a physical location, make sure you mention your opening hours and include images and video content that show off your brand and your location on your profile. To score as high as possible, you should try and keep your profile regularly updated by posting weekly news and updates.
Steps to a flawless Facebook Business Profile
- To create your profile, you need to do it from a personal account, clicking create on the navigation bar at the top.
- Then you need to select whether you are a brand, business, community, or public figure, add your brand name, and then select the category your business best matches.
- Upload a high-quality profile and cover image, making sure they fit within Facebook’s recommended dimensions. Your profile picture should be minimum 360 x 360 pixels while your cover image needs to be minimum 960 x 360 pixel.
- Now you need to fully complete your About section, remembering to add your contact details, phone number, and of course your website. You should also add your opening times, as well as a short description of your business.
Facebook is another key site you need to be on in a business capacity, and you can snag a handy backlink here too, through your Facebook Business Profile.
Niche Specific Directories: Sector specific directories are listing sites that only link out to websites and services related to a particular subject, like Gyms in Hampshire, or Cloud-based software companies. They are an excellent way to promote your site to a targeted audience and pick up backlinks that are looked upon well by Google, as long as you take the time to evaluate the site you’re submitting to, to make sure it ticks the right boxes. Whatever sector your website is in, if you want to submit to a niche-based directory, you should always check to see: The site’s Domain Authority - use Moz’s Domain rating tool to gauge this The site’s Page Authority - use Ahref’s URL rating tool for the specific page your link will appear on, The site’s relevancy - how closely related is it to your site and content, Link placement - where do links appear on the site, You can find niche specific sites by Googling and using the following search strings: “YOUR NICHE KEYWORD” + inurl:links, “YOUR NICHE KEYWORD” + “useful resources”, “YOUR NICHE KEYWORD” + “helpful resources”, “YOUR NICHE KEYWORD” + “useful links”.
Don’t underestimate the power of offline marketing: Even though most of your link-building strategy will be conducted online, you shouldn’t overlook your offline interactions entirely. You never know when you can score a handy link from a conversation with someone, whether that’s a colleague, or a person you just happened to meet. With this in mind, you should keep a stack of business cards on hand, so you can give them to people who might be interested in linking to you. You can also display stickers containing your link on your car, or your laptop, or give away flyers with your information on.
List on your Retailers Pages: Do you have an ecommerce store or do you retail your products online? If so, there’s another way you can grab some high value backlinks as well as some Name Address Phone Number (NAP) Citations, which will really help your brand’s SEO. First make a list of all the manufacturer and supplier websites associated with the products you sell. Once you’ve got your list, send each one a message to let them know you retail X product, so would they like to add you to their links.
You can personalise this short script:
Hi there,
I’m [INSERT YOUR NAME] owner of [YOUR WEBSITE] store, and I’m getting in touch to ask if you would add our brand to your [NAME THE PAGE] page as we are stockists of [PRODUCT LINE]. You can check out our ecommerce store here to see the products: [INSERT URL]. If you’d like to link to our product page, the link text should be [INSERT YOUR LINK TEXT]. Our business details are as follows: [YOUR BUSINESS NAME ADDRESS PHONE NUMBER]. If you need any more information, or would like a link on our brand website, please do let me know.
Thanks so much for considering my request,
[INSERT YOUR NAME]
[INSERT YOUR WEBSITE]
Turn your content into downloadable PDFS: Have you got content already published? If so, you should definitely consider turning your most popular lists and guides into PDFs. People LOVE downloadable content because they can refer to them offline and can even print them out if they need to. You’ll definitely pick up a few more links this way, as it makes your content higher value, so more people will share your stuff. It’s quick and easy to do and you can use most word processing software to do it. If you don’t have Word or a similar program, you can use Google Docs, or even do it online for free. Just search “free online PDF creator” to find plenty of links, if you don’t use Google Docs or have software already installed.
Ask a question websites: When you’re embarking on your link-building strategy, you don’t want to forget question and answer websites like Quora, as although you won’t always be able to post dofollow links, you can quote your website as a source. Even though most of your links will be nofollow, you can benefit from some traffic too, as people on these types of sites will be interested in the subject matter, and so they may well click through. Make sure you’ve taken the time to answer at least 10 questions before you jump into promoting though, as otherwise you will come off like a spam account and people will ignore what you post. Reputation is everything on these types of sites, but if you put in just a bit of effort, they can pay off well in the end.
Push people to your pages with Scoop.it: If you’re looking for a good way to attract more visitors to your website and you have some quality content, you can use Scoop.it to raise awareness and encourage more traffic. Scoop.it users select content they want to share with others, and some of them have fairly large followings, so it can be a great way to boost your visitor count. You can even pick up some links, though be aware they will be no follow, so they won’t count towards your Google Page Rank. Still, by boosting your traffic to your pages you’ll be sending all the right signals to Google, which will help to boost your Page Rank. Pulse, if more people come to your website, after having discovered you through Scoop.it, there’s a good chance some of them will link to your content, which definitely will boost your Google ranking.
How to use Scoop.it to help boost your traffic
- First look for relevant Scoop.it pages in your subject area. These should be pages that post similar content to yours or publish content on a topic you cover.
- Make sure the page has a lot of views - otherwise it won’t do much for you and so it isn’t worth your time.
- Found a popular Scoop.it page on a relevant topic? Get in touch with the page creator and ask them if they’d like to share your related content!
Obviously, you shouldn’t spend too much time on this strategy as the goal is to focus on getting do follow links but it can be another way to get more visitors and so help your SEO.
Become a sponsor of events: Sponsoring events or venues where events are being held is an excellent way to guarantee yourself some solid backlinks, as the organisers will normally always link to you from the official event website. They’ll also be likely to mention you at the event, and if you pick an event related to your niche, this can be a super relevant way of getting some good promotion. Organisers are nearly always in need of sponsors, so if you have some spare funds, it’s a great way to raise your brand profile. You can sponsor local or national meetups, conferences, festivals, or fairs - the only limit is your budget and how relevant you feel the event is to your brand.
Create Product Testimonials: Have you bought any products or services lately? If so, you should definitely contact the brand you purchased from and let them know what you think, especially if you had a great experience. Companies are always interested in hearing from their customers, and if you love their product then it’s so much the better for them. Just send a quick email stating what you loved and why, and remember to state who you are, what you do, and include a link to your website. A lot of companies will run your testimonial and they’ll often include a link back to your website too.