I am a link builder and one of my client want to me to do this citation task. May I know what is my first step on doing this strategy? is there any full tutorial video for free? I am just very confused on how this citation thing works. I am very glad to hear any positive reply on my problem.

Thanks

Roldan

Rick

I like Yelp. It shows up quickly and seems to have a lot of promise. If you are picking one, that would probably be my first choice. I would start there and see how it goes.

The whole review situation is very fragmented on the internet so there is no clear path yet…so you need to pick a site that 1)that is used by your clients, 2)used by google and 3)one where you might not mind spending some time if a year or two down the road there are a significant number of unsolicted reviews that need a response.

Mike

I have deleted the two extra listings in Google.
Great idea to replace the Inc. with words that describe what I do. That is also done in Google. I can modify other listings as time goes by. Still thinking of which site to send Susan. She wants to write a testimonial for me. Maybe Yelp. Any suggestions?

Cheers, Jim.

there are three possible criteria when choosing a name for local-
1)To be consistent with previous phone listing entries
2)To be consistent with some branding initiative
or
3)To go for customer education and ranking
(or some combination of the above)

Clearly you need to realize that in the post yellow page era customers are going to find you in a number of different ways….those that don’t already know you might be looking by function or geography or both…you might want to think about an “internet yellow page” name like “JBS Partners – Web Hosting & Design” and standarize it across the internet as best as you can…if it is not the same as your current phone listing this might be more work than you want.

I don’t think having more listings in this situation is better unless you have offices or some other presence in other cities.

The unverified listing is the one with all of your web references…I am not sure which one to pick…my inclination is to pick that one and can the other two…sooner or later Google will associate the web pages with your business and you will show up better.

Mike

Cool project. Thanks very much for letting me join in.

Three records in Google, yep, an accident really; one includes Inc., my new official name, one has the zip code and one does not have the zip code. I am not sure which one is the best to retain. The Inc. is the most accurate, but it shows “unverified listing”, and I don’t know what to do about that. I got the postcard and entered the codes for all three. I was thinking that the oldest one is best to retain, but I don’t know which one is oldest or how to find out. Ideas?

I guess I thought having three was better than one, but it is sensible to just have one and not play around.

As far as the web page missing. Stumped. I instead searched for the book store in town, Book Ends. They have no web page listed either. My assumption is that they don’t show web pages in the side bar of Map searches. If you click more info” you can get to the web page. How can I make the web page visible?

Actually, two new ideas here. I just looked again. One, in my Google Local account I had listed my web address without the http://. I just added it. Think this is relevant?

Two, the first listing is the Google add and the second listing for the same company is their web site, which shows the web site address. Each of the
listings here have two entries. Am I on the same page with you, or is there something else I need to do to get the domain name listed with the ad?

Adding to the link text is a great idea. I hesitate imposing too much on client real estate. I don’t think they would mind though.

Google Coupons is a great idea. I was stumped on coming up with what to offer. I guess the old free one year domain name with a new web site is one to consider. These coupons need to be compelling to be valuable, unless it is just another free link.

One of the reasons for my speedy response is the recognition that this project really only can work with the collective brain power of all interested parties. Only by making sure that everyone feels welcome to contribute and hoping that they do can we gain understanding.

You have the most unusual records at Google Maps…in that 1)You have three listings (you probably should consolidate them) and 2)They show NO “Web Pages” references in the local record.

Thus while you are listed 2 and 3 in Maps on Web Design Winchester MA you are not showing in the OneBox for the same search.

You obviously have a number of links into your site from Local sites as well as the sites that you have designed. One suggestion might be to add your location to the small link text that you put at the bottom of the sites you design: ie web site maintenance by JBS Partners, Winchster, MA. (as part of the link text)You might also consider adding a coupon at Google and see if those start showing up in your local record. I found Yelp & InsiderPages both show up quickly in Google Maps.

Mike

I appreciate your speedy reply. I should not have waited so long to check for a reply.

I have listed my own business in yellowpages.com, superpages.com, localeze, true local, Yahoo Local, Merchant Circle, Google Local and a couple of my town directories to learn what works. Yelp was on my list, but not completed.

This is my first foray into local search due to reading Graywolf’s interviews and many other’s articles on this subject recently.

After creating the listings mentioned above, Merchant Circle ranked right away (in 2 days), as did the americantowns site. I had been in MarketingTool for quite a while, so no surprise that this site shows up. The above is based on searching for jbs partners winchester ma in Google.

Yahoo produces a different result profile. They rank listings at the chamber of commerce, local library, Yahoo local, and americantowns much higher. MerchantCircle is in the index, but does not show up in the first pages of results.

Also, I suppose LinkedIn is another option for a review/comment. I always think of LinkedIn as B2B, but client comments would be useful there as well. However, searching Yahoo and Google, my listing is not in the indexes. I only just made my profile public in the last 2 weeks.

Merchant Circle is interesting because it allows you to keep track of activity at other sites.

I have customers that would be pleased to write a few reviews, if I tell them which site to visit.

It seems that Merchant Circle might be a great choice to add reviews to since the listing there ranks in Google. Would you agree? Other considerations? I am happy to keep you updated.

Many thanks,

Jim.