Community Involvment and Your Business

By Tammy Wood

Local marketing can be extremely powerful, especially for a niche business; it can help you build a loyal customer-base and build your business through word of mouth. By developing and implementing a pre-planned local marketing strategy you will be better able to assess the success of your marketing efforts.

IE: This search was “Sacramento Area Blogs” http://www.sacramentotop10.com/Entertainment/Websites.html

IE: I live in a town called Lyman- but the locals call the area Skagit Valley, Woolley or even Punkin Center so I would do a search for those words and see what google gives me. More than likely what I am going to get is forums, community blogs, mom blogs and other local area connections, where I can join in and build a reputation in the local cyberspace.

• Become a part of your "community" in cyber space.
  
• Get external links to your site from other local professionals and associations- Just ask!
• Blog about local issues, interact with people who are writing letters to the editor, did you read an article about construction picking up in your area? Write in about the necessity of drug testing construction workers for the safety of the public and the workers themselves.




Include your website, blog, and email address in all your marketing materials no matter how insignificant it may seem.


Create local distribution lists and create email newsletters to update the community on your business. Offer your newsletters on your counter top in your store front. Be sure they are branded exceptionally well, your name, your phone number, your hours - it's all about YOU!

• Going on a mobile collection? Leave a newsletter/ brochure/ stack of business cards with whomever you come across. Drug testing is a necessity and you are the best choice for your local business'.
  

Where to Begin With Community Events:

1. Locate an upcoming fundraising event for example: visit www.cancer.org and search for upcoming events in your area.

2. Put together a team or volunteer your time at the event.

3. Purchase wearable advertising materials, a pin, a hat, a t-shirt, a lanyard that has your name on it

4. Contact the organizers of the event and see what you can do to raise funds.

5. Send a press release to local newspapers about your upcoming participation and your level of excitement in interacting with your community peers.

6. Take pictures for your site/ blog/ marketing materials

7. Another press release to local papers with images of you at the event and the total amount walked, raised, volunteered etc.

It doesn't have to be Cancer Fundraising, it can be any charitable organization that will get press in your community. While we would like to donate all our time to good causes, I realize it isn't possible- but at least one HUGE event a year will draw attention to your business, in a positive way.

Warnings:

1. Do Not SPAM the forums - It may be tempting to have every post that you make an advertisement for your business, it will not build a reputation for your success. Interact with the forum moderators, and active participants, become part of an online community in your own community.

2. Your signature line is a great place to advertise your business without being spammy.

3. Always check the guidelines with the community event organizers.

I am here to answer your questions!

Local Search on Big Three Engines

Using local search in search engines is an important item to keep up with. Everyone has a google account, but it needs to be located. So do this by doing a search in your local area for your location. See below for a breakdown! And as usual please let me know if you have any questions!


Bing!

So let’s do it.

To list your local business in Bing, head to the Bing Local Listing Center. From there, you’ll be able to check to see if you already have a local listing set up. If you do, you can modify it. If not, now’s the perfect time to create one.

Once you start creating/modifying your account. Bing will ask you to log in using your Windows ID. If you don’t have one, you’ll have to create one. From there, you’ll be asked to enter in your contact and business information, as well as a laundry list of supplemental information like additional phone numbers, Web pages, email address, hours of operation, payment methods, photos, etc.

There’s also a long section for additional information like your name, business description, specialties, affiliations, languages spoken, parking options, etc. It’s always in your best interest to create as complete a profile as you can.

From there, you can select up to six prioritized categories to place your business in based on associated keywords. You’ll also be able to supply information about features, hours of operation, prices, atmosphere, etc.
Make sure you fill these out the best you can so that you can take advantage of Bing’s great local search refinement options. If you list it as an option, you won’t show up for it when a user looks for it!

Google
Do you want your business to appear in the results for free? If so, sign up and get your business listed.
Create Your Google Maps Listing

In order to create your listing, you will need to have a Google account. If you do not have one, select “Create a new Google Account” on the sign in page.

Sign in to the Google Local Business Center to begin.
Once you are signed in, select “Add new listing”

1. Fill in the general information about your business. Select “Next”
2. Add a category for your business. Example: Restaurant

You can also add some optional features like:

* hours of operation
* payment options
* add photos
* add videos
* brands carried

You can also add Coupons by selecting the Coupons tab.
Once you are finished, select “Submit”
Verify Your Listing

Now that you have all the details of your business in place, you just need to verify your business listing. You have two options for doing this.

1. Validate by phone
2. Validate by mail

Validate by Phone (Fastest Method)

Choosing this method will allow you to choose a time (immediately or 5 minute delay) for an automated call to the number you specify. You will be prompted to enter the pin number provided on the screen.
Validate by Mail

If you choose this method, you will receive a letter in the mail (usually 10 business days) with your pin number so you can complete the validation process.

The process is complete. The listing should appear within 48 hours. It may not be on the front page so expand the map to find your listing.

Yahoo Local
To submit your site to Yahoo! Local, just click the Sign Up button, then follow the instructions to enter details about your business, such as your contact information and business category. After you submit your business information, please allow at least five business days for your listing to appear in Yahoo! Local.
Local Yahoo

Local SEO Using Classified Ads

By Tammy Wood
Promoting your business on Craigslist is very effective if you are on a tight budget or have no budget at all. Craigslist provides nearly everything you could want to find in any specific area. It is highly categorized by products and services. There are excellent search capabilities making it very easy to locate specific products or services.

Craigslist was created by Craig Newmark in 1995 to serve the San Francisco Bay area as a free classified ad service. By the year 2000 it had grown to nine cities. By 2009 it had grown to approximately 570 cities.
Commercial posts are only accepted by craigslist under the “Services” section. Here it is OK to advertise as a company that provides services.

Businesses can place an advertisement for an individual piece if they don’t make it sound commercial. Get the customer to call you. Be sure to categorize your advertisement correctly to reach your intended audience. Use specific descriptions, so your product can be found in a search.

Because craigslist.com has suffered at the hands of spammers the regulations for posting have become tedious. You can only post in your geographical area, confirmed by craigslist via cell phone or IP tracking, after you have created an account.

Where to begin?

• Visit: www.craigslist.com (locate your state and city)

• Create an account

• When advertising your business you must use “Services”- under services choose “Small biz ads” on the right hand side up near the top, click “Post”.

• You will be prompted to create or login to your account.

• Fill in the Posting Title (this is what will set your ad apart)

• Specific location- List your location

• Reply to: radio button, show your email address- use your domain (accudiagnostics.com or arcpointus.com) This will add a link online and show that you are a reputable organization.

• Posting description- Add your ad content. Be sure to spell check your content. Where it offers to insert an image, insert an image of your location. This also establishes that you are a real organization and legitimate resource for drug testing, dna test, or whatever you are writing the advertisement for.

• Once you submit your ad to craigslist, you will receive a verification email. This email contains a link. Click on that link to verify that you indeed intended for that advertisement to be placed.

Your ad will appear generally in fifteen minutes.

Warnings:
Double check your ad for errors or omissions.
Add your phone number within the advertisement
Do not cross post the same advertisement ( craigslist will call it spam and possibly flag you).
Use this tactic in general once every 7 days. Vary your topics depending on what you are hoping to promote (drug tests, dna tests, alcohol testing etc.)

*Bonus:
*After you find ad copy (wording) that works in attracting new business- copy and paste it in a separate document. This will speed up future postings.
* In Spanish speaking communities, be sure to mention you are able to communicate in Spanish
* Ask in your ad- be sure to tell us you found us on craigslist! You don’t have to offer anything for that, but it might be an idea in the future.

Let's Talk About Offline Marketing

By Tammy Wood
In our recent discussions I have introduced a few creative ideas for marketing that you can do on your own. I am going explain the benefits of one of the suggestions in this post, specifically WikiAnswers.com. Within that format there are 'categories' one particular category is called "Drug Tests", any questions pertaining to drug tests ( for this example) are in that category. Click here to view that page.

Using question and answer websites will provide three benefits:

1. It adds a link to your website on the internet, this link builds valuable 'link juice' on the internet. The more links you have to your website the higher organic ranking your site would be within the search engines. 2. Search Engines will now see your link in a different format. The format is using tags and keywords. The tags and keywords are 'anchor' text on the internet. This anchor text is also on your sites, these feed off each other and increase your page rank.
3. Answering questions in this format gives you the level of expertise in your professional field & drives traffic to your site.

So how to begin?

• Visit www.WikiAnswers.com
• Set up an account- use your domain name email address ( accudiagnostics or arcpointus) whichever you prefer.
• Search questions- using your keywords IE: drug testing, paternity testing, DNA testing etc. You do not have to be super explicit.
• Answer questions that are relevant to your field of expertise, without looking like an advertisement.

Here is a real question located on the site:

"If I did meth on feb 11th and on april 5th will you flunk a hair test by alot or is there a legal cut off limit that would make you safe"

Answer on site: "Stop doing meth and then you wouldn't have this problem! "

While accurate, it isn't a good answer and didn't assist the person at all. Let's look at another question located here: WikiAnswers.com

Question: Can Klonopin be detected in blood tests?

Answer: Yes, Klonopin® (generic: clonazepam) can be detected in blood tests, if the test includes a benzodiazapine panel.

If the blood test is being used to determine medical problems and treatment, it may or may not include this assay. If the blood test is being used for employment or other types of drug screening, it will almost certainly show up.

Sometimes labs report the presence of benzodiazepines (the class to which clonazepam belongs) as Valium® (generic: diazepam), another drug of the same class.

If a doctor has prescribed Klonopin® for treatment, take your prescription or your prescription bottle with you to the test, and the presence of the drug on your blood test should not be a problem.

This is a good informative answer, the only modification I will make to this is: "As the owner/ operator of AccuDiagnostics in Lancaster, I get this type of question all the time. " And of course in the "Reference Section" enter YOUR URL.

Throughout the site you will see both unanswered questions and answered questions. You can answer both- the availability on the site is to "improve" an answer. In the case of our meth question, there is a link ( on the right hand side of the question) when you click on it, it opens the question and the previous answers. You are than prompted to update the answer.

* BONUS
Once you have created an account, logged in and ready to start answering questions on the left hand side in blue are navigational tools for use throughout the site. The important one for us to focus on is " related links" clicking on that will take you to a form to insert YOUR link. This is because all your content on your site is relevant to the question. You can direct these to a particular page on your site or just to your www.AccuDiagnostics.com/location page, either way it’s a great way to add value to your search engine rankings.