If your business serves clients locally in Brisbane or perhaps a smaller part of Brisbane then you’ll notice that the Google map listings feature prominently in search results related to your business.

For any business, but particularly for a small business serving local clients, the Google map listing is an important signal for location and relevance to a local search.  These listings are managed in Google My Business (GMB).

It’s actually pretty easy to follow along the steps that Google provides to claim and set up a Google My Business listing but here is a quick ‘how to’ with pictures so you feel a little more familiar with it.  You can then ask someone to help you claim your listing or have a crack at taking care of it yourself.

You might also want to take a look at the Google My Business app which makes ongoing management a breeze. Continue reading →

Your business goals may be well supported by a search marketing strategy … or,  they might not.   But how do you tell and why does it matter?  Well, it matters because small business digital marketing budgets demand efficiency and with that comes the need to focus on what will deliver results.  You need to know the size and competitive nature of your ‘search market’ because this informs your strategy and determines both the level of investment needed for online advertising and the time you might need to spend chasing top of page one results in Google.

Let me explain what a search market is, where to find the information on your search market and how to use this information when planning your digital marketing.  A single keyword phrase will be used to demonstrate.  Please be aware this is not an actual plan because there’s a lot more that comes into play.

So let’s get started. Continue reading →