MacDonald on Marketing

Archive for June, 2008

On Saturdays I’ll be sharing great posts from other bloggers — fresh perspectives on online marketing for small businesses.  Today’s post is about the value of a custom 404 page for your site, with a tutorial that shows you exactly how to create your 404 page.

What’s a 404 page?  It’s the file not found page that comes up when you click on a broken link.  Ideally, your website will not contain any broken links, but hedge your bets and create your own 404 page to help your site visitors get back on track.  ConversationMarketing.com writes “How To:  Create a Great 404 Page Not Found Error Page”.

Photo credit: raster

This is the first post of a weekly feature, Five Minute Fridays, in which I’ll suggest something to boost online marketing for your small business in just five minutes. This week we’re talking about your email signature.

Do you have an email signature? An email signature is the block of information that your email program can automatically insert at the bottom of every email you send. Just think of how many times emails are forwarded and you’ll realize that this is a free marketing opportunity you should not miss.

A good email signature should contain the following five lines:

1. Your full name.

2. Your website URL (make sure this starts with http:// so that it will be clickable in every email program.

3. A brief description of what you sell or offer.

4. Your telephone numbers (this is optional of course — depending upon whether you want to encourage telephone leads).

5. Your email address (make it clickable by prefacing your email address with mailto:).

Here’s an example:

——————————————————————-
Catherine MacDonald
http://www.MacDonaldOnMarketing.com
Internet Marketing for Small Business: Tutorials, Tips, Fresh Ideas
Office: 555.555.5555 Cell: 555.555.5555
mailto:catherine@macdonaldonmarketing.com.
——————————————————————-

There you have it, a five-minute way to increase your online visibility.

Have you seen a particularly creative or effective email signature? Please comment!

Google Maps information is now frequently showing up at the top of the Google search results page for user searches that include place name keywords. This post explains how to get your business into these Google search results.

Ever do a search on Google and get images, news, YouTube videos or maps at the top of the results? This is thanks to Google Universal Search. The pictures to the left (click to enlarge) show examples of these results.

If you’re a small business owner with a bricks and mortar location, here’s how to get your site into the Google Maps results for searches that include local keywords.

Go to Google Maps Local Business Center and enter your business information (name, address, website, etc.) into the form. Then you will be able to upload photos, videos, select categories, tell customers your payment options, business hours, and more.

How does Google make sure that your location information is accurate? Google will actually mail you out a postcard containing your PIN: your listing will not be activated until you log in again and enter your PIN.

One of the most exciting new features (see the second thumbnail) is the way Google indexes reviews of your business from many different websites. Soon we’ll be talking about social media and ways to turn your most loyal customers into evangelists for your small business.

Did you find this tutorial helpful? Make sure to add our RSS to your reader so you don’t miss future posts.

Have you added your business to Google Local Business Center? Please comment below to let me know the results.