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Here are some Articles from the Blog Subject - SEO -

Check your online identity - tip

POS SOFTWARE

Search google your business

Running a retail business in 2024 means having an online presence even though you have little control over that presence. It's important to regularly check what information comes up because potential customers often search for your business online. 

Search Engine Results

Go to your browser eg Chrome and enter its private browsing mode, it's called incognito in Chrome and in Edge InPrivate. This is because your account and previous search history may affect your searches. Now in the private mode check the major search engine - Google. Google dominates search in Australia with a 95% market share.

For these do a search for your business name, address, and any common search terms customers might use to find you. For example, "lotto  Richmond" or "stationery near me."

Focus on the first page of the results. Anything on page 1 is what most people will see. Page 2 and beyond generally get little attention.

Now do not do this search with an ad blocker in place as you want to see both organic results and paid ads. A competitor buying ads in your name is something to watch out for.  This happened to us when our biggest competitor made what I consider a dishonest ad that pretended to be us and gave their telephone number as our number in the hope that our customers would ring them. 

I would suggest also after looking in Google that you look up the search engine Bing - it holds most of the remaining 5% of the market.

What To Watch For

  • Incorrect business information - If an old address, phone number, or other outdated info shows up, take steps to update or remove it.

  • Negative reviews - Even if you can't remove them, you can respond professionally with your side of the story.

  • Competitor ads - Consider complaining if a competitor buys ads on your brand name. Google and Bing in my experience will put a stop to it in some circumstances.

  • What people are getting - This is the information that the public looking for your products is getting. You can only address it if you know what it is. 

  • Local SEO optimization - I will discuss this in detail soon, but just get a feel of what people in your local feeder area are finding out about you. 

Reputation management

  • Responding to negative feedback - Answering by responding with your point of view politely can help. Offer online to fix the problem eg "Hey Frank, I am extremely sorry to hear about this poor experience. We would like to be able to help you with this........." 

  • Encourage positive reviews - Ask good customers to write a nice review of your business.

  • Claim business listings - Register your Google My Business and Bing Places profiles, this is free and lets Google and Bing know you exist.

  • Report issues - Use Google and Bing tools to report inaccurate, outdated, or harmful content related to your business.

Checking your online identity regularly is key for today's retailers. 

Monitor search engine results to know what customers see and take action to improve it. A small time investment here can pay off in spades through better connections with customers.

Conclusion

This is a huge topic with much importance to retail in 2024. If you feel the need please call me and I can help answer your questions. If I cannot help, I can certainly put you in touch with people who may be able to help.

Reach customers on Google for free

POS SOFTWARE

Google my business!

People today often ask Google for the closest one and directions when they want to go shopping for their goods and services. These people are good customers as they are going now to shop.

Here is a report of Australian searches done now per month of people asking for directions to some of our popular customer types.

Now people that search are not looking for something small like a chocolate bar. The odds are they are looking at something of reasonable size with a need.

Now pick the line that applies to you and do some calculations. For example, there are 3,000 newsagents in Australia, so we have (10,040+10,000 searches)/(3000 newsagencies) monthly. That is about seven people per newsagent monthly.

Check on Google and see what happens when you search "<your business type> near me" and who comes up.

Now there is no cost, and it takes little time. To put yourself into this equation now, click here.

There are several others, but consider that Google has 93.3% of all searches, Bing 4.7%, and many share the rest.

So I would, since it is free and quick, consider putting yourself in Microsoft Bing, too; click here. I doubt I would worry about the rest of them.

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How Important Is Local SEO today for your shop?

POS SOFTWARE

 

Local SEO is the term we use to use for online searches. This gets people to come to their business in a local area - this includes newsagents, pet shops, chemist, etc.  

So, how important is it? Today, the answer is significant: today. 60% of Australians, before they buy something, search at least once a day online. If you do a search as my sample above, you miss an opportunity every time you are not there.

Today Australians do not go on shopping trips, they go on shopping missions. So it is imperative to improve your local SEO if you want to increase your shop sales.

Say I am looking for stationery as above, where you want your business to sit.

It is not only for big businesses. Small local business can do a lot to get good results from an online search. 

What Google does is look basically at three things. Proximity, prominence and relevance.

Note two of the factors, proximity and relevance, do not depend on your business's size, 

Prominence is only partly dependant on your size.  If you are active online, your prominence goes up. 

As a guy who has helped many SMB with their websites, I can assure you that it is not that hard to rank well locally for your product.  If you are in a niche market, it is often not hard to rank well nationally either.  

If you want to see where you stand currently, you can check through a Google and Bing search.

-Put in your business name and see what comes up. 

-Then put in your main products and see what comes up.

Note the business that crops up and record their name. Now, look at their websites.

If you want something better and feel that you have better than average software knowledge, I use this product. Give it a try as it is free on the demo and that demo is quite useable.

Please have a run on it first, learn to use it a bit and only then give me a call, and I can take you through some stuff.  

The full product itself is here again. let me know first before buying as for our clients. I can get you a good discount.

 

 

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Free SEO ketyword list

POS SOFTWARE
 
If you are a supported client of ours, POS Solutions can create an extensive Keyword list for you to consider for SEO FREE. 

As always, we offer you a quality list that will help you maximise your business success. With our vast experience and expertise over many years, our company can only guarantee you of a comprehensive database that you can use for your business.

 

Keyword research will provide you with specific search data that can help you answer questions like:

  • What are people searching for when they look for products and services you offer
  • How many people are looking for them in your area?
  • When are they looking for it?

Even if you are not online yet, its something worth finding out.

 

 

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