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What You Need to Know About Changing Your Business Address

Last Updated: February 15, 2024

When you change your business address in real life, what do you do? You probably start by submitting an address change to the post office. Then, you update any accounts you have with banks, credit card companies, insurance agencies, and so on. You also have to go down the list and notify all of your vendors, marketers, and important contacts. In a nutshell, it’s a big pain.
Unfortunately, that’s not all. It’s crucial that you also remember to update all of your business’s online listings. And we’re not just talking about on Google. Every reference to your business’s address on the web (commonly called a “citation”) must be updated—otherwise, your search rankings could take a serious hit.
We’re not being melodramatic. In this post, we’ll discuss:

  • Why it’s so critical to update all of your listings with your new address.
  • What goes into the process of changing an address online.
  • How a marketing specialist can come in the clutch to help.

Let’s jump in!

An Accurate Business Address Is Vital 

Did you know one of the biggest influences on your rankings comes from the accuracy of your online information? Here’s how we explained it in a previous post about controlling your online presence:

Google and other search engines want to present the best possible information to their users, so they gather data from around the web to verify what’s on your company’s listing. And when Google sees conflicting details about your company coming from different sources, it flags your listing for having the wrong information: Google won’t want to display your business as a search result if there’s a chance it’s not a legitimate company. This results in poor rankings and, sometimes, suspended listings.

So if you update your business address on your Google listing while leaving up the old address on other listings, your local search rankings will suffer tremendously. When your business address changes, it needs to change identically across the board.

How to Update Your Business Address Online

Here’s where things get tricky.
You may have no problem thinking of places where your business is listed online. Google Maps, Bing Local, Yelp, Facebook, Manta, Better Business Bureau (BBB), and Angie’s List probably come to mind right away. However, these directories are only the tip of the iceberg.
You see, some online directories in the darkest corners of the Internet populate their listings by crawling the web for business information. You won’t be aware of them because you never created a listing there yourself, but they exist all the same. And they need to be updated, too.
What does this mean? Essentially, you have to spend hours searching the web for your business name and contact information in order to find every last place that mentions you. Then, you have to figure out how to update those listings, since you never created them in the first place. Sometimes, it’s as simple as claiming them on the spot. Other times, though, the process can present multiple hoops to jump through.
For instance, the BBB is notoriously difficult to work with in this context. It can take three to four weeks to update your information on their site because they want to get you to pay for accreditation (which comes with expedited processing, of course). Updating a Yelp listing may also be complicated if you don’t own your listing. At the end of the day, a lot of variables affect how smoothly and efficiently the update process goes.

Updating Your Business Address May Require a Specialist

If that all sounds like a lot of work… it is. We won’t sugarcoat it.
However, that doesn’t mean you have to spend all of your time and energy doing it. Internet marketing specialists like the ones at Prospect Genius are a great resource to lean on for these types of projects.
Our specialists do this every day. It’s their job. That means they know the most efficient, streamlined process for finding and updating every last one of your listings. Moreover, they’re familiar with the best ways to deal with the BBB, Yelp, and other difficult directories so they can update those listings as quickly as possible. They even know the most important listings for your industry that need to be double- and triple-checked before moving on.
Check out our WebFax® and CleanSlate™ programs for more details on how we can help keep your web presence neat, tidy, and working for you!

Consistency Is Key

When your business address changes, you need to update the entirety of your online presence. It’s not an easy job by any means, but it’s absolutely necessary if you want to maintain your local search rankings. Now that you have a better idea of how to handle your new business address, you can move forward without hurting your web presence!

HomeAdvisor Isn't Doing Enough for Your Web Presence

Last Updated: February 16, 2017

Are you one of the countless small business owners who pay a directory like HomeAdvisor, Angie’s List, or Thumbtack? We don’t blame you. When you’re actively using them, paid directory services can be super helpful in producing leads for your company.
Because you’re getting leads on a somewhat regular basis, some business owners make the mistake of only using a directory. They never end up investing in any other form of web presence, like their own website. Unfortunately, not owning any type of permanent platform for your business outside of a paid directory is a bad move.
One listing that’s essentially a landing page is simply not enough to sustain your business’s online marketing needs. Here’s why.

There’s No Other Way to Find You

If your HomeAdvisor listing is the only place someone can find you online, then you’re literally paying for any lead coming from the web. It’s fine to pay for customers who discover your business for the first time on the directory. But what about those customers who already know about you? They google your business name to find your website, but all they can find is your HomeAdvisor listing. So they call you via your listing, and you end up paying for this lead—a lead you would have gotten on your own anyway.
Doesn’t it make more sense to have a permanent place (your own website) where people can find you outside of that one directory? Otherwise, you’ll be stuck paying for all of your leads until whenever you end your enrollment—which begs the question: Then what?

You’re Stranded If You Quit

When you end your working relationship with an online directory, one of two things will happen:

  • The directory takes down your listing, OR
  • The directory leaves your listing up

Neither of these scenarios is great if your paid directory listing is your business’s only online platform. If your listing is taken down completely, then there won’t be a trace of your business anywhere online. Obviously, this is a problem because you want prospective customers to be able to find you when they’re searching for your services.
On the other hand, if the directory leaves your listing up, then your business will continue to attract prospective customers. However, because you no longer pay for the directory’s services, leads from your listing won’t actually come to you anymore. Instead, they’ll be forwarded straight to your local competitors. This is an extension of the typical directory model, which is to send incoming leads to multiple businesses at the same time and essentially have them compete for the job. So if you end your program and are no longer paying for leads, the directory will just forward your leads to other businesses in the same location and category as you. The only difference is that you no longer get the opportunity to compete for the job!
To sum it up: When a paid directory service is your only web presence, and then you eventually quit that program, you’re left with no presence at all or one that only helps your competitors.

Your Own Website Gives You Control

We want to be clear: There’s nothing wrong with using a paid directory service like Angie’s List, HomeAdvisor, Porch, and so on. Lots of businesses have great success with these types of services.
However, you must have your own website outside of the directory service. Owning a website means you have full control over all the information you put out there. Plus, you don’t need to pay anyone else for leads that come from basic Google searches for your services and/or business name.
Additionally, a website allows you to branch out and expand your online marketing to other, free directories like Yelp, Foursquare, Citysearch, Google Places, and Bing Local. You can link to your own website from your listings on these directories and increase your overall web visibility that way.
The bottom line? Don’t put all of your eggs in the paid directory basket. Make sure you own your web presence outside of paid directory services so you can control your own destiny.

How Local Search Empowers Small Businesses to Compete

Last Updated: February 9, 2017

How can a small business like yours compete with big brands? Four words: Focus on local search.
The fact that you operate on a local level can be your biggest strength in the battle against large corporations. Many big names rank nationally in organic search results; however, they don’t necessarily have the upper hand when it comes to local search. So if you leverage local search the right way, you can stay competitive with larger brands and come out on top. Here’s what you need to know.

Local Search May Be Replacing Organic

First of all, what do we mean by “organic search” and “local search”? Maybe you’ve seen these terms tossed around but you aren’t quite clear on what they mean. Here’s the gist, without putting you to sleep:

Organic search gives you results based solely on their relevance to your search terms. The opposite of organic search is paid search, which promotes paid advertisements that match your search terms. Learn more about organic vs. paid search here.

Local search, on the other hand, is a search that targets places in a specific location. On Google, you’ll see local results on the first search results page in what’s called a “local pack,” which shows a nearby map and several local businesses. Local searches can also be done on Google Maps itself.

Historically, organic search has been the cornerstone of search engine optimization (SEO). However, organic search rankings are now slipping in value. In 2016, the top two organic search results received, on average, only 25% of the clicks on search results pages, as compared to more than 50% in 2006.
This trend is significant, and it makes sense. Typically, when people are on the hunt for a nearby store, restaurant, or service provider, they’re not looking at organic results. Instead, they’re perusing local Google listings to see which businesses fit their needs, have good reviews from past customers, and are closer in proximity. The days of people walking down the street and exploring their neighborhoods for good businesses are, by and large, over. Now, people do a quick search before they leave home so they know exactly where to go.

Mobile Devices Are a Strong Force in Local Search

The uptick in local searches applies to people who are looking for local businesses on the go, as well. Instead of wasting time driving around aimlessly when looking for the closest gas station or coffee shop, they search their phones to find the nearest one.
As Jayson DeMers writes for Forbes,

In general, I suspect local search will rise in importance, and more local businesses will step up to take advantage of this. Mobile technology will become even more mobile with wearable devices and similar technologies, and cumulatively, user preference toward local results will grow. As most “local” businesses are small- to mid-sized businesses, these trends will work in their favor.

Here, DeMers draws a clear parallel between local and mobile. And it’s supported by Google’s own data, which shows that an entire one-third of all mobile searches are for local places. With more people using their mobile devices for local searches on the go, your small business’s Google Maps listing is increasingly likely to become visible.

Optimize Your Local Search Listings

Here’s the main takeaway for you: Corporations don’t have the monopoly on proximity anymore. Local search is a more democratic platform than organic search, giving small businesses a fair shot at appearing in local results—so long as your local listings are optimized.
Here are some ideas for making your Google listing as strong as possible:

And if you need any guidance on local search strategies, please don’t hesitate to reach out! Prospect Genius is always happy to help. Good luck!

3 Ways HomeAdvisor Is Unfair to Small Businesses

Last Updated: January 25, 2017

There’s one complaint about HomeAdvisor that we hear over and over from our clients: It feels like the game is rigged against small appliance repair companies in favor of larger companies with greater resources.
We’re here to tell you you’re right. Here’s why.

1. You Miss Out on Too Many Jobs

We’ll start off with the most obvious pain point: You can’t possibly respond quickly enough to leads.
The only way to be successful on HomeAdvisor is to respond immediately to every single lead that comes your way. This is doable for larger companies that have a receptionist answering the phone and responding to e-mails all day. In fact, they find a lot of success with it. But what about smaller operations like yours?
If you’re only a one- or two-person operation, you don’t have the luxury of a receptionist. Instead, you have to balance your work with answering the phone and tracking down leads yourself. Unfortunately, as you know all too well, it’s virtually impossible to capture a lead while you’re on the job. After all, how are you supposed to pick up the phone with your hands behind a dryer or squeezed underneath a garbage disposal trap?
To put it in more frank terms: A small appliance repair company like yours isn’t going to land a job unless you happen to be free at the exact moment the call comes in. This is just one way big businesses get a huge leg up on you.

2. You Pay Too Much

As if the unrealistic demand on your time wasn’t enough of a hurdle, here’s another one: the cost. Of course, you agreed to pay a certain amount per lead when you started working with HomeAdvisor. However, we’ve heard from many of our clients (who are small business owners like you and former HomeAdvisor customers) that leads are often shared with as many as 5 or 10 other businesses. Think about what that means:

If leads are shared with 5 different businesses, then that means you have a 1-in-5 chance of closing each one. In other words, you’re actually paying 5 times as much for every lead you finally do close.

In addition to that, clients have also told us that HomeAdvisor occasionally charged them more than the agreed-upon price per lead. Has that ever happened to you?
Again, if you’re a big business with a big budget, unpredictable costs may not be an issue. However, smaller companies like yours can really feel the burden.

3. You Get Terrible Leads 

The high cost might be an easier pill to swallow if you knew you were getting quality jobs out of it. But you’re not, are you? Even when you’re miraculously able to capture a lead, there’s a good chance the prospect on the other end is looking for a service you don’t even provide!
This is because it’s in HomeAdvisor’s best self-interest to send you as many leads as possible, quality be damned. You’re paying per lead, so the more leads HomeAdvisor sends you, the more money it makes. It doesn’t matter that those leads are barely relevant to your business.
So, just to recap:

  • You have to take time away from work to track down leads.
  • Leads are not cost-efficient or reliably priced.
  • Some of the leads you get return zero income.

Doesn’t that sound like you’re losing money?
It’s easy to see why only larger companies can use HomeAdvisor without worry. You, on the other hand, really feel the costs of HomeAdvisor’s services.
No wonder HomeAdvisor has received more than 1,000 complaints with the BBB in the last three years alone!

You Can Get Online Marketing That Matches Your Needs

Prospect Genius created an online marketing approach that avoids all of the above pain points. We treat your goals as our goals, and your success as our success.
Unlike HomeAdvisor, which just gives you a small listing in their massive directory, we offer flexible options that can provide top-to-bottom online promotion for your business. With a CoreSite, we’ll build you a fully functional website that’s yours to keep. With Directory Dominator, we’ll promote you on countless different online platforms. With SocialStream or SocialBuzz, we’ll post for you on social media. The goal is to help ensure you’re discovered in every corner of the web.
With Prospect Genius:

  • When someone discovers your website or Google Maps listing and dials your phone number, they’re calling you directly.
  • The whole transaction is just between you and your customer—we don’t interfere.
  • You don’t have to race a handful of other businesses for the same job.
  • You can respond as soon as you’re able to without worrying that you’ve automatically lost a job.
  • The best part? Our approach doesn’t favor big businesses over small ones. Everyone has an equal shot at success.

An adviser is just someone who tells you what to do. Why not play by your own rules? Prospect Genius offers you all the tools you need and puts you in the driver’s seat. We offer a cross-section of online marketing tools that will match any budget. See what other business owners are saying about us—or better yet, give us a call for a free assessment from one of our representatives! If you’re willing to give us a few minutes of your time, we’ll happily listen to your company’s needs and figure out if we have a solution that fits.
Stop feeling powerless against the big guys, and start taking matters into your own hands!
Call now at (800-689-1273).

How to Keep the Holidays From Ruining Your Online Marketing

Last Updated: February 15, 2024

It’s no secret that most of us stretch our budgets a little thin over the holiday season. With parties to host and gifts to buy, money disappears quickly. And for many small business owners, the slightly blurred line between personal and business finances means the holidays can impact some of your company’s operations—like online marketing.
If you’re feeling the squeeze of the holidays on your small business’s budget, it’s fine to tighten your belt—but don’t let it affect your online marketing. Canceling your marketing campaign temporarily or skipping a payment may reduce your expenses in the short term, but did you know there can be seriously negative consequences? The fallout will outlast the holiday season and your savings may turn into losses.
How can that be? Keep reading to find out.

Canceling Your Campaign Sets You Back for Months

Canceling an SEO-based campaign, even just for a month, can jeopardize your future profits. To explain how, we’ll use the way Prospect Genius works as an example.
When a client cancels their campaign with us, it’s our policy to immediately take down their website, pull down their listings, and halt all lead generation services. (Most advertisers have a similar cancellation policy.) Your business will stop receiving traffic and leads right away. So canceling your campaign for the holidays will likely cause you to stop getting new customers for at least a month, or however long it takes for you to restart your campaign.
There’s more. Now, whenever you decide to restart your online marketing, you’ll have to wait another few months for your web presence to ramp up again. Why? Because SEO is not something you can drop and pick up where you left off. As soon as you stop SEO, everything goes back to zero.
As Prospect Genius clients may recall, there’s typically a 90-day buildup period after you start a new campaign. This ramp-up window is unavoidable, regardless of how many times you’ve started and stopped your online marketing. So after all is said and done, you lose several months of business even though you only canceled for one month.

Skipping a Payment Is Hard to Bounce Back From

Another thing that some business owners do is let their marketing payments slide for a month. They think it’s the harmless alternative to canceling entirely. While it’s true that making a late payment is better than canceling, it’s far from harmless. For example, when you miss a payment with Prospect Genius, your account is partially disabled until payment is received, causing a dramatic decrease in leads received.
But the real kicker comes later: After delaying one payment, most business owners find it difficult to get back on track with their monthly billing cycle. This is because they now only have a couple of weeks, instead of a full month, to save up for the next payment. Often, this begins an unfortunate pattern of falling behind that’s difficult to stop.

What Can You Do?

We aren’t trying to scare you. We understand there are peaks and valleys in every fiscal year and that the holidays can be especially trying. If money is tight, here are some things you can do that won’t hurt you in the long run:

  • If you’re doing AdWords or any other PPC campaign, pause it. While you can’t turn SEO off and on again easily, PPC can be started and stopped with ease.
  • Budget wisely. Plan out all of your income and expenses for the month to see how much money you’ll realistically have for gifts, decorations, food, and, yes, marketing costs.
  • Pay in advance. If you think there’s a chance you’ll overspend on holiday goods and not have enough money at the end of the month to pay your bill, be safe and pay your bill ahead of time—before your money runs out.

Remember: You’ve invested a lot in your online marketing. Don’t let your web presence come crashing down by canceling your campaign or not paying your bills. You might save a monthly payment, but it will cost you much more down the road.
Questions or concerns? Please don’t hesitate to reach out for help.

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