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02
Aug 2011
Posted by Jasmine
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Networking This Week: August 1

Since this is our first post in this series, we wanted to give a quick explanation. Earlier this year, 910 West switched our entire company focus to local marketing. Local marketing involves using online marketing to drive clients to your business in the real world. It ties in nicely with our belief in supporting small and local businesses. The best dollar you can spend is right in your back yard. With that in mind, we will be using the blog to share community news specifically the business and networking opportunities available in the East Valley (and to some degree all of Phoenix Metro). This is the first installment.

ASBA

910 West recently joined ASBA (Arizona Small Business Alliance) and are currently participating in their July membership drive. We are looking for businesses who want to grow their business by joining a very powerful and active support network. Learn more about the benefits in our Post “Get Support for Your Local Business from ASBA (and a Great Deal!).” If you are looking for funding for your business or thinking about joining ASBA we’ve got a great deal for you:

  • Join ASBA this week (click here to join, and when you get to the last page, use my special promo code jasmine711 to join for only $100!) and receive 2 FREE tickets (a $70 value) to the August 10 Meet the Banks that are Lending seminar being held here at ASBA from 1 to 2:30 p.m. The non-member registration price is $35 and the member price is $15. Save yourself the extra $20 and put it towards your membership (that’s 1/5 of the cost). Pair that with their amazing Staples discount program and the membership pays for itself.

Gilbert Chamber

There are a couple of cool events this week and later this month at the Gilbert Chamber.

  • It is kind of short notice but a fun way to support the Gilbert 9/11 Memorial. Networking for a Cause presents Casino Night to raise funds to benefit the 9/11 Memorial being constructed here in Gilbert. The event is Thursday, August 4 from 6 to 7:30 p.m. at the House of Brews Neighborhood Sports Grill, 825 S Cooper Road (on the Southeast corner of Cooper and Warner Roads). Come meet your Gilbert firefighters, try your luck at Blackjack, and win raffle prizes, including an Apple iPad! Learn more about the event or register to attend»
  • Referral Strategies: Building Your Power Team is a don’t miss event and since it’s not for two weeks you have plenty of time to clear your calendar. Referral strategist, Victoria Trafton,provides training and tools to help business professionals gain financial success through relationship-based referral marketing. Jasmine has taken several of Victoria’s courses and they have completely changed how we approach networking and referrals. In fact, 910 West saw results immediately upon adopting Victoria’s techniques. The workshop is Wednesday, August 17 from 7:30 to 10 a.m. at the Val Vista Lakes event facility located on Val Vista Drive, just south of Baseline. Get details or register to attend»

MidFirst Mixer

The MidFirst San Tan branch is hosting a Business Mixer Thursday, August 4 starting at 5 p.m. If you are not banking with MidFirst you should be (we just moved our business accounts and are so happy—bye, bye fees). Take this opportunity to meet the staff and some local businesses. We will be there so hope to see you too! The address is 2849 S Market Street, Gilbert, AZ 85296. (It is just off the 202 near the San Tan Village mall.)

Posted in: Blog, Resources

07
Jul 2011
Posted by Jasmine
0 comments

Get Support for Your Local Business from ASBA (and a Great Deal!)

It has been a while since we have posted to the blog. It is not due to laziness but rather a new focus. Being a small business owner myself, I have quickly come to see the importance of buying from other local businesses. What really excites me is that I have found a way to use my business to promote other local businesses. We have been working in a lot of directions and there will definitely be more to come about it. For now, I want to tell you about a awesome business organization that I recently joined, Arizona Small Business Association (ASBA).

ASBA is all about supporting local and small businesses in Arizona so the group is a natural fit for us. I have also agreed to be a part of their effort to help the small businesses of our area become more successful.  During the month of July, I have committed to share the benefits of ASBA membership with you and to personally invite you to join me as an ASBA Member.

Joining is easy!  Click here to join, and when you get to the last page, use my special promo code jasmine711 to join for only $100! That’s an $85 savings.

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Posted in: Blog, Resources

23
Sep 2010
Posted by Jasmine
0 comments

Optimize Your Business with Local Search Slideshow

Optimize Your Business for Local Search on Prezi

Posted in: Blog, Marketing

22
Jul 2010
Posted by Jasmine
0 comments

How to Create a Google Places Listing

In a previous series, we covered how to Optimize Your Business for Local Search. Creating a strong Google Business listing (using Google Places) is an important part of that process. We created this quick presentation, to show how to make the most of your Google Places Business listing. It is a short video and the process is pretty easy. The whole thing should take you less than an hour—happy optimizing!

Posted in: Blog, Marketing

30
Apr 2010
Posted by Jasmine
3 comments

Optimize You Business for Local Search Step 4: Tips for Success

Congratulations! You’re well on your way to an awesome local search listing. Below are a few tips to make sure you are the first listing in the search results: (Read the post Optimize Your Business for Local Search for a basic introduction to local search.)

  1. Claim your listings! Do not orphan your business listing or let your competitor hijack it. They are really hard to get back.
  2. Choose your keywords wisely. They should be relevant, appropriate, and specific to your service and service area.
  3. Ask for reviews. Get a lot of and split them between your Google and Yahoo accounts for the best results. Don’t worry about negative press. Simply respond and address the concerns. Prospects love to see that you are participating on the conversation and responding to comments.
  4. Add a street address and local phone to every page on your website. The address and phone must match your local listings but help reinforce your localness.

Posted in: Blog, Marketing, Marketing tips

28
Apr 2010
Posted by Jasmine
1 comment

Optimize You Business for Local Search Step 2: Beef Up Your Listings

To really stand out in the crowd and get the best ranking possible, you must add more than the basic info to your profile. A strong profile should include: (Read the post Optimize Your Business for Local Search for a basic introduction to local search.)

  • Basics: company name, phone, address, hours of operation, email, and website
  • Keywords: choose specific words that describe your business and services to include in your description and listing categories; they should be the same keywords that you use on your website
  • Media: At least add your logo as an image, ideally you’d also add photos of your staff and location, and even better a video (Google places a lot of emphasis on video content)
  • Reviews: Yahoo places a lot of weight on reviews and they are a great way to build trust with potential customers; split your efforts and have customers alternate posting reviews on Yahoo and Google
  • Coupons: They don’t affect your ranking but are a great way to entice customers

Check back tomorrow for Step 3:Yellow Pages Listings that tells you how, why, and which internet yellow pages to list your business.

Posted in: Blog, Marketing, Marketing tips

27
Apr 2010
Posted by Jasmine
1 comment

Optimize You Business for Local Search Step 1: Create Listings

Don’t worry about getting listed on every search engine. There are four top players in the local search game. Focus on them and you’ll be set. (Read the post Optimize Your Business for Local Search for a basic introduction to local search.)

  1. Google Maps http://maps.google.com/
    Search results are shown in the local one-box also known as the local 7-pack or 3-pack depending on the number of business listings available. Google pulls data from online yellow pages and business listings so there is a good chance that you already have a listing. If you don’t claim your listing then a competitor could and steal your business. Use the Local Business Center to claim or create your listing and add goodies about your business.
  2. Google Mobile Search http://www.google.com/mobile/
    Uses your cell phone to triangulate your location so search results are relevant to your immediate area. Since it’s a Google product, some of the data from your Local Business listing will be included but you should still make sure it is complete and accurate.
  3. Yahoo Local http://local.yahoo.com/
    Search results are shown in a 3-pack. While Google listings are totally free, Yahoo offers a free basic listing but charges a small fee of $9.95 per year to add extras like photos and videos to your profile. It is worth the 10 bucks to have your business stand out in the crowd. Yahoo also places a lot of weight on the number of reviews for where a listing ranks.
  4. Bing Maps http://bing.com/maps
    Use the Bing Local Listing Center to fill-out your profile. The algorithm is murky so don’t focus too much on Bing. A complete profile should be sufficient.

Check back tomorrow for Step 2: Beef Up Your Listings which includes suggestions on how-to make your listings stand out in the crowd.

Posted in: Blog, Marketing, Marketing tips

26
Apr 2010
Posted by Jasmine
2 comments

Optimize Your Business for Local Search

You may already know something about search engine optimization and rankings, SEO, or what page your site is on Google. For the absolute newbie or someone who is a little confused all you really need to know is that they all mean one basic thing—where your website appears in the list of search results for a relevant query. In every list of search results, there are 3 types of listings: organic, paid, and local.

Organic search results (see image below) are determined by your website content and links to your site. A good organic search listing (the 1 to 3 slot) used to be the golden spot for businesses.

Paid searches appear above and to the right of the organic and local search results. They are driven by pay-per-click ads (Adwords in Google). Paid search results are often ignored because they are viewed as ads and can be expensive.

As the new kid on the block, local search the internet’s answer to the phone book (and way beyond). Local search results (see image below) are shown before organic listings and offer a huge opportunity for traditional, brick and mortar businesses to win in the search arena. It’s easy to optimize your listing and get that top spot and since local search is relatively new your competition may not be taking advantage of it yet.

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Posted in: Blog, Marketing, Marketing tips

16
Mar 2010
Posted by Jasmine
0 comments

Promote Your Local Business with Foursquare

Local search is a hot topic for 2010 and it is perfect for helping small service businesses to attract more customers. Some products translate easily over the web and can be sold to virtually anyone anywhere in the world. Service businesses don’t share that universal appeal. You may hear about a great vet in Texas on Twitter but if you are in Arizona, that does not help. You aren’t likely to drive to Texas to get your dog treated.

To meet this need, a bunch of new websites and technology has cropped up. Google has vastly expanded their business map features—you can post photos, videos, and it pulls reviews from all over the web. Foursqaure also presents a great opportunity to reach out to customers and reward your loyal followers. If you’d like to learn more about using Foursquare to promote your local business, then read on.

This is the action plan excerpted from a longer article “How to Drive More Customers to Your Local Business With Social Geotagging” from the Social Media Examiner blog.

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Posted in: Marketing, Resources, Trends

26
Jan 2010
Posted by Jasmine
0 comments

5 Days Left in the Intuit's Love a Local Business New Year's Resolution

Only 5 days left to promote your favorite business and possibly put $250 in your own pocket. Nominating your local business puts them in a drawing for a grant worth $35,000. I know EXACTLY how I’d spend in on 910 West if I won. Here’s how you can join in:

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Posted in: Blog, News