Blog - Local Splash

If you are new to Facebook, it may be hard for you to understand the difference between the Facebook profile and the Facebook page. The key is to always remember that Facebook profiles are for people, Facebook pages are for artists, businesses, organizations or any other commercial use. This is a very important fact to remember because Facebook has openly stated that it will remove profiles that are acting as business pages.

One of the reasons why many people get confused when they’re trying to establish an online presence using Facebook is because Facebook users must create a profile before they create a page. Although pages and profiles look very similar, there are some big differences between the two. It’s important that when you’re joining Facebook as a business, you create a Local Business Facebook page and use your profile only for your personal use.

Here are some traits of Facebook pages that profiles do not have:

1. People “like” a business page, but “add as friend” for personal profiles. People who “like” your business page are referred to as “fans.” When using a personal profile, people who interact with your page are your “friends.”

2. Your business can “like” other pages but not individual personal profiles.

3. With a business page, you can view statistics about your users and posts from the “Insights” tab. This will help you determine the demographics of your users and what they like so you can keep them engaged.

4. Once you get 25 people to “like” your business page, you can get a custom URL for your page that is easy to remember and promote.

5. Your Facebook page can have more than one administrator. This allows both you and your employees to contribute to the Facebook page (if desired).

6. As an administrator of your Facebook page, you can suggest the page to all of your Facebook friends.

Facebook pages are meant for interacting and connecting with your fans (who are also your current and potential customers). Remember to save your personal posts for your profile and your engaging business-related posts for your page.

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Google Places received a recent facelift that left it with a few noteworthy changes. Although there are no changes in ranking factors, the detail citations are no longer shown and the review results have changed. Here is an overview of the important changes to Google Places.

1. The “Write a review” button is now found in two places. It is also larger and red.

2. Any Google user can now upload a photo to the business listing.

3. Detail references and attributes are not displayed or linked to. However, since rankings appear to be holding steady, the details are most likely still working behind the scenes. It is our speculation that the loss of the detail attributes is only temporary.

4. The reviews found on the listing are only those left by Google users as opposed to ones pulled from Yelp, Citysearch and other review sites Google used to show in results.
The changes to Google Places does not appear to be currently affecting rankings. However, Local Splash will continue to monitor this and report any further findings. For more information, read Google’s statement on the changes to Google Places on this Google Blog.

Screenshot of the changes made to Google Places

Video search engine optimization (SEO) is becoming increasingly popular and if you have a business and haven’t taken advantage of this tool, there’s no time like the present. Did you know that 2 billion videos are watched on YouTube every day? The popular network has the power to give your business massive exposure and if your video happens to go viral, your company could become the next overnight sensation. Video SEO can help increase the visibility of your video, making it more likely to be seen by your target audience. Not sure if making a video for your business is worth it? Read these top advantages and you’ll be yelling “action!” in no time.

1. There are not as many videos on the Web as text content. For this reason, your video is 53 times more likely to show up in the Google search results than your text content, according to Forrester Research. Optimizing your video with keywords will ensure your video shows up in the search results to be seen by your target audience.

2. Making a video can help you stand out among your competitors. If a potential client is choosing between two companies, both with the same services and pricing, which is he more likely to do business with, the company that created the entertaining video he loved or the one that didn’t?

3. If your video is memorable and entertaining, potential customers are likely to share the video with friends. Suddenly, you have a whole new world of fans who are likely to become customers. Making sure this video is SEO-friendly helps get it found in the first place.

4. You already have a great platform for sharing your video, YouTube. Billions of videos are viewed on the network daily and the site makes it easy to add keywords to your title and description as well as in the keywords tag.

5. Videos help increase brand awareness. Sharing a funny video on YouTube that lets people know what your company does, without force feeding them blatant advertising, will give people who were unfamiliar with your business a great first impression. People who previously didn’t know your company existed may suddenly find themselves standing in line at your local business location or calling you to inquire about your services.

The bottom line is, if you haven’t tried making a video for your business and optimizing it for search engines, you are missing out on some great opportunities to attract new customers, connect with your target audience and show people that your business can be fun and entertaining while still keeping the level of professionalism that is expected by your current customers.

Google Places Gets a Makeover

5 Advantages of Video SEO for Your Local Business