Have you Googled your business lately? What you discover might be surprising.

by Greg Milner | Nov 20, 2023 | Uncategorised

Have you googled your business name lately?

Just recently I ran a Google search for a client’s business, just to see how and where the business showed up online.

Just in the first two pages of search results, I found the business mentioned in 28 different places. I told this client – he had no idea!

Worse, on most of the directory sites, the details of the business were either incomplete, or just plain wrong.

And that’s bad, for a whole lot of reasons.

HINT: enter your business details in our FREE Rankrr tool and see how your business shows up online. You’ll find it here.

Inaccurate business details on directories can significantly impact a website’s SEO (Search Engine Optimization) in several ways:

NAP Consistency: NAP stands for Name, Address, and Phone Number. Search engines like Google prioritize consistency and accuracy of this information across different directories. When there are discrepancies in these details (e.g., different addresses, phone numbers, or business names), search engines may struggle to determine which information is correct, leading to confusion and potentially lowering the website’s search ranking.
Trust and Credibility: Search engines aim to provide users with accurate and reliable information. Inaccurate business details across directories can undermine the trustworthiness and credibility of a website. Users may hesitate to engage with a business that has conflicting or incorrect information listed in various directories, affecting the website’s traffic and conversions.
Local SEO Impact: For businesses targeting local customers, accurate directory listings are crucial. Search engines rely on these directories to validate a business’s location and relevance for local searches. Inconsistent information can harm local SEO efforts, causing the website to rank lower in local search results or even be excluded from local pack listings (the map-based results shown for local queries).
Duplicate Listings and Confusion: Inaccurate details might lead to the creation of duplicate listings for the same business across directories. This duplication can confuse search engines and users, diluting the website’s authority and potentially leading to penalties by search engines for having duplicate or inconsistent information.
Impact on Citations: Citations are mentions of a business’s NAP details across the web, and they play a significant role in local SEO. Inaccurate information can result in inconsistent citations, undermining the website’s authority in local searches and impacting its ranking.
User Experience: Beyond SEO, inaccurate business details can affect the user experience. Visitors might encounter difficulties contacting or locating the business, resulting in frustration and potential loss of customers.

To mitigate these negative impacts, businesses should regularly audit and update their information across various directories and ensure consistency in NAP details. Maintaining accurate and consistent information not only improves SEO but also enhances the overall user experience and credibility of the business.

HINT: enter your business details in our FREE Rankrr tool and see how your business shows up online. You’ll find it here.

Understanding Google Business Profile Suspensions: What You Need to Know

by Greg Milner | Aug 9, 2023 | Latest News

Why Was My Google Business Profile Suspended?

What you need to Know?

In today’s dynamic digital landscape, maintaining a robust Google presence is essential for businesses striving to succeed online. One invaluable tool in this pursuit is the Google Business Profile, formerly known as Google My Business (GBP). Tailored to cater to businesses engaging with local customers in person, this service empowers you to efficiently manage crucial public information on Google Search and Maps, encompassing vital details like operating hours and contact information.

However, the occasional suspension of your Google business listing is a challenge that many businesses encounter. This situation can arise due to a range of factors, including ineligible addresses, keyword overuse in business names, and complications related to profile types and duplications. Understanding the dynamics of Google Business Profile suspensions is pivotal in effectively addressing and resolving these issues.

Understanding Google Business Profile Suspensions: A Comprehensive Guide

A Google Business Profile suspension entails the removal of your business listing from both Google Maps and search results. While your profile continues to exist, it becomes unsearchable, and the ability to edit or manage it is temporarily revoked.

It’s important to recognise that suspensions are an experience that many businesses share, and they can occur even without deliberate misconduct. Instead of reacting with frustration, let’s delve into the underlying causes of these suspensions and explore viable solutions.

Differentiating Between Suspension Types

Google Business Profile suspensions come in two primary types:

Hard Suspensions: A hard suspension leads to the complete removal of your business listing. Typically of a permanent nature, resolving hard suspensions often involves appealing directly to Google support for potential reinstatement.

Soft Suspensions: In a soft suspension scenario, your listing remains searchable but is tagged as “unverified,” restricting content management. Following instructions available on the Google Business Profile help page can lead to the resolution of this type of suspension.

Triggers for Suspension

Various factors can lead to the suspension of a Google Business Profile. These include:

Utilisation of ineligible business addresses
Excessive insertion of keywords into business names
Creation of multiple profiles for a single business
Association with high-risk business categories
Presence of multiple entities at a single address
Incorrect selection of profile types
Designation as an online-only business
Usage of PO boxes or virtual offices as addresses
Discrepancies in business information across diverse platforms
Incorporation of fake reviews within the profile
Use of fabricated business details
Misalignment between email and website domains
Implementation of unverified changes to profile data
Listing of non-existent business addresses
Misleading 24/7 business hour claims
Unnotified transfers of profile ownership
Impact of suspended profile managers on your profile

Addressing Google Business Profile Challenges

The evolving search index algorithms of Google can introduce unforeseen bugs that impact profile suspensions. These may involve unexplained suspensions or issues related to the visibility of reviews. Around 1% of reinstated profiles may experience reintegration loops, while others could encounter disparities in the services listed.

Navigating Suspension Resolution: Step-by-Step Approach

To reinstate a suspended Google Business Profile, consider the following steps:

Thoroughly Review Google’s Terms of Service: Carefully examine suspension notification emails for potential insights. If uncertainties persist, refer to Google’s terms to identify potential violations.
Rectify Compliance Concerns: Make essential adjustments to your profile to ensure compliance with guidelines, particularly focusing on addressing common suspension triggers.
Initiate Reinstatement Filing: Once your profile is in compliance, submit a reinstatement form. In cases where errors are suspected, consider appealing the decision without making alterations.
Seek Support: If necessary, reach out to Google Business Profile support, furnishing relevant information for verification.
Supplementary Measures: Tackle issues related to duplicate listings and adhere to Google’s guidelines, with a focus on maintaining a singular verified listing per business category at each physical location.

Endurance Yields Results

The process of reinstating a suspended Google Business Profile requires patience. During the review period, consider updating your website and online profiles. In instances where challenges persist, the option of appealing decisions or seeking expert assistance remains viable.

It’s crucial to bear in mind that while Google Business Profile suspensions are a commonplace occurrence, proactive measures can lead to reinstatement, fostering continued business growth. For dedicated guidance in overcoming these challenges and reclaiming your Google presence, don’t hesitate to reach out to Worldwide Salon Marketing. Your online success story awaits!

Need Help?

Book a FREE consultation with Worldwide Salon Marketing founder Greg Milner.

Click here to book a call in Greg’s calendar.

Online ads that work – sometimes TOO well.

by Greg Milner | Jun 8, 2023 | Uncategorised

Want help with your digital advertising? Click here for more info!

You can post like a man (or woman) possessed in social media. You can network like crazy, you can post videos on Tik Toc till you’re blue in the face.

You can run yourself ragged using all these ‘free’ platforms in an effort to generate leads and sales for your business. But if you’re really serious about marketing your business, then sooner or later you’re going to have to use PAID advertising.

And if you’re trying to attract new customers, there are really only TWO digital platforms worth spending a lot of energy on; Google, and Facebook/Instagram.

You can post like a man (or woman) possessed in social media. You can network like crazy, you can post videos on Tik Toc till you’re blue in the face.

And if you’re trying to attract new customers, there are really only TWO digital platforms worth spending a lot of energy on; Google, and Facebook/Instagram.

For the purposes of this exercise, I’m going to concentrate on Google.

Because Google is the default go-to platform when people are searching for a product or service in their area.

Unless you really know what you’re doing in the back end of the Google ads dashboard, you can waste a lot of money and time. Yes, it’s complicated, it’s easy to make mistakes, and mistakes can cost money.

But if you get it right, you can really knock it out of the park.

The first metric you want to pay attention to is something called the Click Through Rate, or CTR.

That’s the number of clicks the ad gets as a percentage of the number of times the ad is shown when people search.

Now, according to Google’s vast knowledge-base, the average CTR for all the billions of ads shown every day is somewhere between 4% and 6%.

This is the AVERAGE click through rate for Google ads

So how would you like to get a CTR of twice or even three times that?

Here’s an ad my team devised for a new gutter-cleaning business:

In a little over 3 weeks since the ads started running, they’ve been shown just under 300 times, and 52 people have clicked on them and gone through to the business’s website.

That’s a click through rate of nearly 18%, three times the Google average. Each click has cost the business $7.68, which is fine, because each sale made is worth many hundreds of dollars.

Here’s another example. This is a liquid waste management company. One of their main revenue sources is pumping out septic tank systems.

Their average CTR for the past month is 10.66% – pretty good. But some of their keywords are producing huge CTRs, up to 44%:

Of course, there’s a LOT more to it that just click through rates. What you’ll pay for each click depends on many variables, for example how much compeititon you face in your target market.

Another crucial thing:

Simply setting up a series of Google ads and sending clicks to the home page of your website and hoping for the best isn’t really going to cut it.

It’s usually best to have a dedicated landing page designed specifically to take traffic from the Google ads.

For example, the ads for the liquid waste management company above send people to a specific page on their website that ONLY talks about septic tanks. You can check it out here: https://shepvts.com/septic-tank-pump-out/

Need help with your digital advertising? Click the button below and book a FREE one-on-one Zoom call with Greg.

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The right way, and the dumb way to market anything

by Greg Milner | May 29, 2023 | Uncategorised

In my home town, Dunsborough, a coastal holiday destination in the south-west of WA, there’s great community concern about developers and their plans to build multi-storey blocks of million dollar apartments. Both the townspeople and the local council are against it. Recently we held a public rally to demonstrate support for the council’s proposed amendment to limit heights to three storeys or less.

No fewer than 1,000 people turned up at that rally, a huge turnout considering the entire town’s population is less than 9,000.

The reason so many turned up was simple: a well coordinated, multi-media marketing campaign launched ten days before the event. We ran ads on Facebook and Instagram, volunteers delivered thousands of hard copy flyers, we had mainstream media coverage and an ad in the local paper, as well as widespread viral comment generated on Facebook.

People turned up with home-made posters, we had the local radio station board, as well as TV coverage.

The rally had a big impact. It drew comment from the state Minister for Planning, and wide support from the local council.
It took an enormous effort, with the resultant big payoff.

Yet it’s remarkable how many businesses never figure this out.

Last month, a development company proposing to turn acres of local farmland into housing estates decided they would do the right thing and hold a ‘community consultation’ session about their plans.

They sent an email – one lazy email – to 1,000 people announcing the date and location for the information session. That was ALL they did.

On the day, just ten people turned up. Ten. And self-righteously, the developer claimed they’d done their job, and the community clearly wasn’t interested. No, they didn’t do their job. If they had, they would have had people queuing up.

Here’s the lesson:

If you want to make an impact, you have to get the attention of the market.

And that means taking Massive Action.

And repetition.

A single email just doesn’t cut it. More than half will end up in junk folders. Of what’s left, 80% will be ignored. And most of the small number of people who actually read the email will have forgotten about it within half an hour.

No follow-up, no result.

Successful marketing isn’t about doing one thing – one email, or one Instagram post, or one text message, or one of anything, for that matter, then sitting on your hands and expecting a stampede of customers beating down your door.

Neither is it about doing one thing now, waiting a month and doing something else next month.

Success requires a hundred different things, all done simultaneously.

In business, less is not more. More is more.

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Scammers, Liars and Thieves Online

by Greg Milner | Apr 6, 2023 | Uncategorised

I don’t email much these days, mainly because people get enough junk trying to sell them something. And to be fair, some of it is good stuff. But sometimes I’m compelled to write when something as egregious as this pops up in my own online world.

I suppose there might, just might, be a tribe of pygmies somewhere deep in the Amazon forest that hasn’t yet been the target of online scammers.

But for the rest of us, it’s a daily battle to decipher truth from fiction. And dangerous fiction at that.

So here’s a head’s up: if you get a notification from Meta in your Facebook account that looks like this, DO NOT CLICK ON ANY LINKS!

Have you received this scam on Facebook?

This screenshot was emailed to me this morning by one of our long-term members in Queensland, alarmed that her Facebook post wishing clients a happy Easter had somehow violated Meta’s policies.

It was suspiciously similar to “alerts” that had popped up in my own feeds, as well as those of several other close colleagues, so I ran it by Worldwide Salon Marketing’s specialist social media guru, Samantha Buckley.

“Definitely a scam. Delete and don’t click!” she said.

These frauds look legitimate because they use a post on a Facebook Page as the landing page for the phishing scam, which then redirects users to another site.

Another one looks like this: