Claim Your Spot on Google Local

I start this blog post by admitting that Terrapin is decidedly Google-friendly.  Many times a day we use a Google website or app to take care of business.  But with all of the tools that they offer, there’s one in particular that I think small businesses need to put more effort into.


Google Local - A Powerful Tool that’s Often Overlooked
Think of Local as Google’s version of the yellow pages.   They list all of the basics:  company name, address, phone, fax and web address.  This gives Google just enough to create a profile of your business for their directory.

More and more these Local accounts are showing up in search results.  Why? Google’s #1 mission is to provide you with relevant information.  Besides websites & pay-per-click ads, Google can now share local businesses in the area as part of your search results.  If you came from the yellow pages generation, then these types of listings are a familiar site for you..

Along the way you’ve probably seen the red Google Maps markers.  Ever try clicking on one?  That will pull up a “balloon” on Google Maps with some of that basic profile info I mentioned above.  For those entrenched in the yellow page way of thinking, a phone number for a business may be all that is needed to reach out.  And you as a business owner can sleep at night knowing Google has probably already created a basic profile for your business.  

Wait... don’t you feel like you’re missing out on something?  You should!


From Shanty to Palace, Without Breaking a Sweat
The biggest search engine on the planet has created a very unique way for you to provide them with more information on your business.  It’s completely free and they have started you off with a basic profile.  All you have to do is claim your spot on Google Local.  Chances are you didn’t know you could, but it is definitely worth your time & effort.

Once you’ve claimed your business on Local, there is a lot more tweaking that you can do to improve your profile and improve your chances of attracting visitors to your site:  

1. Add your logo - Helps to create consistency and a professional look
2. Add your business to more categories in the Google Local directory - This is important if you offer more than a single service or type of product and may help your visibility for a wider range of search terms.
3. Set your service area - Tells Google who are potential customers based on their location.  More on this in a minute...
4. Upload photos & videos of your location, products or services, staff and more to add credibility to your business.  
5. Create special offers - Add incentive for potential customers to reach out to your business.  Make sure the offer is unique, so that you can track the response.
6. Respond to reviews - Google users can review businesses that they find on Places.  This is your chance to interact with customers directly.  So feel free to thank positive reviewers... and offer great customer service to address any negative reviews.

With literally an hour of your time you can not only spruce up your Local profile, but you can also spoon-feed Google a great deal of text & visual information... all linked to your physical location.... all linked to the products / services you offer... all linked to your business name.  

Why is this so important?


Google Knows Where You Are....
WARNING... This next part has some apocalyptic overtones.  I am sure there is some debate as to when exactly Google will go Skynet and become self-aware and have a bunch of Terminators running around wiping out humans.  Let’s just say that in the past few years Google has taken another step towards that - Google wants to know where you are, when you interact with one of their tools.

Thanks to our lack of robotics technology, I don’t consider Google knowing where I’m located a bad thing.  As a matter of fact, they use that information, along with what I am searching for to help connect me to relevant information.  How does Google do that?

1. I have an Android (Google) powered smartphone.  Everything from internet searches, to phone calls, to Google+ posts, to snapping a photo can be locationally tagged thanks to GPS.   
2. Any time one of my computers accesses the internet they use an IP Address to make the connection.  IP Addresses are like phone numbers that can be traced to a city/town level.  This may not be as accurate as GPS, but it’s still in the ballpark.
3. I use Google Chrome as my internet browser on my computers and I allow it to share my location with Google.  I’ve shared my work & home address and using the IP address I am connecting with, Google can tell you if my laptop is at work, at home... or somewhere else.

Coming Full-Circle
As smartphones & mobile computing continue to grow, Google will undoubtedly leverage a person’s location to retrieve relevant information and search results.  Google Local provides you with an easy way of expanding the visibility of your business on the internet - by linking your physical location to the products & services you offer.

Email The Ultimate Miscommunication Tool

When we started Terrapin 13 years, ago e-mail was still in its infancy. If you worked in an office on a computer, you may have had an e-mail account.  If you had a personal email account chances are it was with either AOL or CompuServe. E-mail has come along way since then - now you’re probably checking email on your computer, your tablet or your smart phone and doing so many times a day.  

That got me thinking - it’s amazing how the 30-something and over crowd never really had any formal e-mail training in school or from their employer(s).  The only way we knew we were doing something wrong is when somebody told us:  don’t open an attachment from someone you don’t know, don’t type in ALL CAPS because that’s shouting, etc., etc..  

With that in mind, it’s amazing how e-mail has become the ultimate miscommunication tool.  In corresponding with our clients, vendors, friends and family we often see bad email practice,  so we’ve taken some time to assemble the Top 3 common mistakes people make when using e-mail.  With our help, hopefully you can become the ultimate communicator through e-mail.


1. Who the Heck are You?
Whether you are using desktop software like MS Outlook or an online service like Gmail - each allows you to customize what recipients see in the “from” fields on the email.  The from is frequently the first thing someone look at when your email arrives.  

Not sure what yours says? Simply send yourself an email.  If your from field is set to your email address or just says something like “Sales” or “Accounting” its probably worth updating.  Personally I use my name, a dash and then my company:

David Michalenka - Terrapin Art & Design

This makes it easy for someone to know I’ve sent them an email, what the name of my company is, and because this info is the same every time - it makes my emails easier to find later on.


2. What Could You Possibily Want?
I cannot count how many times I’ve gotten an email with a subject of “Hi”, “Hello”, “Website”... or better yet, nothing at all.  The whole purpose of the email subject is to tell someone what the email is about.  Like most people, I spend the day prioritizing what emails to respond to first - chances are “Hi” won’t get my attention, since it almost seems like a personal email and not a work email.  

As a general rule of thumb here at Terrapin we always put the client’s name, followed by a dash  and then what the email is regarding. For example:

Daniele Foods - Remaining Items We Need From You Before Website Release

When the email arrives in our client’s inbox there is no guessing what it’s concerning.  When other Terrapin team members see the email  they immediately know which client it’s for and again, it’s easier to find search through our old emails to find information later on.


3. Forget the “Reply” Button Exists
That probably got your attention. The fact is you should stop using the “reply” button, and instead get in the habit of clicking the REPLY TO ALL button. Why? This make sure everyone who’s been involved in the conversation (on To, CC or BCC) stays in the conversation.

An email from Terrapin during a website project typically gets sent to 2-3 people at our client plus 2-3 members of our team.  The chain of emails can get quite long as everyone adds their 2 cents - but since new replies get “added” onto the email it’s easy to follow the conversation.

If during that process 1 person hits the Reply (instead of Reply to All)... then a bunch of people “miss” an email and are out of the loop, potentially missing an important piece of imformation that’s being passed along.  What’s worse is that if the person receiving the email doesn’t put everyone back on CC - the entire email chain gets broken, making it impossible for all the correspondence to be in one place.


In Review...
If you take a few moments and start putting these 3 suggestions to use - you will become a more effective communicator through email in 2012.  So remember...

1. Make sure people know who you are
2. Make sure they know what the email is about
3. Make sure to keep everyone in the loop

Our Very First Blog Post

Hello out there in Terrapin land... and welcome to our blog.  Here you'll find our musing on the web, technology, business, marketing - and anything else that may comes to mind that we think would be helpful to you.  All we ask is that you do your part and provide us with feedback as we get things rolling.