"Quick Start Guide"

for Small Business Website Owners

Welcome. I made this page as a "go-to" resource for friends and customers who own a small business and were having trouble knowing where to start when it came to getting their business on the web. Many of them were tired of paying $500 per month for a simple Yellow Pages listing and wanted to explore the Web as a new way of attracting customers.

Guess what? They found that they could get far better results with less money by listing their businesses on the web properly. The resources below will start you on your way to listing your business on the web correctly, setting you up to attract more customers to your business than possible with only print advertising.

Note: Many of you visiting this page came from viewing my presentation - Are You Getting New Customers From The Web? If not, I've included that presentation below in case you haven't seen it yet. It's very short and worth watching if you are at all interested in this topic. Click here to watch the presentation first.

Here are the resources promised at the end of the presentation:

1. Links to Google, Yahoo and MSN Local Business Centers

Here are direct links to the Google, Yahoo and MSN Local business centers. You can sign up and add your business information here for free. Be sure that you fill out as much information as possible. Follow the tips below - we've learned by experience which profile elements help you the most in moving your listing to the top.

	Google Local Business Center
	Yahoo Local
	MSN Local

Here are some Google Local, Yahoo Local and MSN Local Tips. We've found that the more complete your profile, the better you will rank in Google Local search results. Specifically:

• Make sure to include your business hours
• Include photos of your store front, staff and products if possible
• Include a coupon (if approprite for your business)
• More reviews = better, so get your best customers to fill out reviews on Google Local for you
• For more tips go our Squidoo Google Local page

2. Links to Local Search resources for your Business

There are a ton of great resources on the web. Here is a feed from a few of the Local Search blogs that I've found extremely useful, some of the thought leaders that specialize in local search. There are many more that I'm leaving out, but these are a good start.

At Expand2Web I follow these blogs and about 80 other feeds online to stay absolutely current on local search trends. We offer services for small business owners to get new customers from the web:

• The Expand2Web Blog :: Learn the insider secrets of exactly how to get your small business online and start attracting new customers from Google, Yahoo and MSN searches for local products and services in your area.
• The Expand2Web SmallBiz Theme helps small business owners get a professional looking website up and running quickly. I designed it based on real world experience with hundreds of businesses and optimized for top-notch Google search results.

3. Stay on the leading edge of local search with my FREE newsletter.

Did you know that Google changed its search algorithms over 100 times last year?

Local search results in particular are changing constantly. We attend the conferences, talk with the product managers at Google and Yahoo, and do our own research and testing so you don't have to.

Sign up for my weekly newsletter and I'll keep you current on the trends in local search and show you how to stay ahead of your competition.

We will never rent, sell or trade your contact information to anyone for any reason.
I respect your privacy and hate spam as much as you do!

© 2007-2008 Expand2Web, LLC

Expand2Web Presentation - Are You Getting New Customers From the Web Yet?

This brief presentation describes the "Local Search" opportunity and recommends three actions that every small business owner should take to take advantage of this trend.

Click here to go back to the Tips section.

Questions?

Contact me and I'll answer them right away!