Google Business Listing Secrets – Picking the Right Keywords for Categories

Since April 2009 Google has been serving local listings in its search engine results pages. Although the layout has changed a bit and the number of business listings it provides has varied, what has remained consistent is a local Google map and listing of local businesses that are relevant to the keywords entered by the individual searching on Google.For local small businesses this has been a tremendous boost when it comes to competing with large national franchises since it gives precedent to the small business in local markets. And the price is right, too! Google provides a business listing to small businesses for absolutely no charge. However it is important that the small business know a few key points so that it leverages its business listing to the fullest.Choosing the right categories for your Google business listingOne of the most important factors to a successful business listing is choosing the right categories for which your business appears in the local search results. To date, Google allows businesses to choose five (5) categories. One of the categories must be a current Google category, and the other four (4) can be categories that you choose for your listing.The categories typically correspond to keyword phrases that an individual searching for your type of business would enter as a search term. For instance, if you are a plumber, typical keywords that someone searching for your business might use would be “plumber” or “plumbing.” To determine the existing Google category all you need to do is start typing the keyword in the Category section of the Google Business Listing (called Google Places) and Google will automatically suggest keyword terms that are relevant to your business. Just pick the one that suits your business best. That satisfies their requirement for using one of their existing categories. Now the other four (4) are up to you…and it’s important that you get this right as it can mean the difference between receiving multiple leads for your small business…or none at all.Choose Popular Keywords as CategoriesAs mentioned before, you want to use keywords and keyword phrases as your categories, but which ones do you choose? You’ll want to choose the ones that people search for the most, of course. Those most popular keywords will put your business in front of the most prospective customers and give your business the most visibility. And, guess what? Good ‘ol Google helps you with that, too. Just go to the Google AdWords Keyword Tool, enter a keyword in the “Word or phrase” box that describes your business, enter the letters displayed by the “captcha” security code and hit the “Search” button to get the list of keywords Google suggests. Pick the keywords with the most monthly searches that are also relevant to your business.But don’t stop there…Unfortunately for many (but fortunate for you), many businesses pick the four most popular keywords that are relevant to their business from the Google Keyword Tool, use those as their remaining categories and stop there…but that’s where they make a critical mistake because not all of those keywords result in a local search.Now this is a very important point so let’s be very clear. The key to identifying optimum categories is to make sure that the keywords that you pick are popular plus they must also produce a local search, too. Let’s look at an example -Let’s say you are a piano teacher, and you use the Google Keyword Tool to find the most popular keywords associated with your business. Google suggests the following keywords as popular keywords – “piano lessons”, “play piano,” “lessons piano,” and “how to play piano.” That sounds reasonable enough, but it isn’t until you check Google Search that you find some very important information. Only two of the keyword phrases produce a local search – “lessons piano” and “piano lessons.” The other two keyword phrases do not. Interesting!Keyword Lessons LearnedSo the lesson to be learned to get the most visibility for your local business is to choose popular keywords that are relevant to your business but also make sure that those keywords deliver local search results. If they don’t, you are wasting opportunities for your business listing to be shown and not fully utilizing the the visibility that Google wants to give you and your local business.

Top Marketing Methods for B2B and B2C

Need some inspiration for marketing your business? The recent age of technology has continuously exploded over the past few years, and different marketing methods have come and gone. A business needs to stay on top of the latest statistics regarding strategy if it wants to compete in its respective market. This research has been compiled here for precisely that purpose. In this paper, some of the top marketing methods of 2021 are highlighted for B2B (Business to Business) and B2C (Business to Consumer) marketing. In addition, the pros and cons of each are laid out to help give more depth to the general idea of B2B and B2C. Hopefully, you will find inspiration to adopt these methods into your marketing strategies.B2B (Business to Business) vs. B2C (Business to Consumer) MarketingThe concept of B2B vs. B2C marketing is self-explanatory; it is simply a difference in the target audience. However, the differences in their marketing methods are not self-explanatory, so an easy way to visualize these statements is through an example. Let’s say you are a grape farmer, and harvest is approaching. You could go the B2B route of selling to a grocery store or vintner(winemaker), or you could go the B2C route of setting up an online store or stand at a local farmers market. It’s no easy choice. Do you sell to a lower price per grape to the store/vintner while buying in bulk? Or do you sell at a higher price directly to consumers, but you must go through the effort of reaching the consumer, and you risk not selling all your product? It is also not as simple as just selling your product. You must market it. This brings up the central question inspiring the following two sections:Two B2B Marketing MethodsSEO:Search engine optimization, or SEO for short, is an essential strategy to implement into your marketing if you are working B2B. Out of other marketing methods, SEO is the best strategy to generate income for your business, but what does implementing SEO entail? The goal of SEO is to optimize the content on your website (Onsite SEO) and promote it (Offsite SEO) to more frequently place your website at or near the top of user searches within search engines such as Google Bing, Yahoo, and you name it. The key is to understand your target audience and what keywords will go into their search bar. Search Engines like Google are automated. You cannot tell Google that your website is selling grapes to businesses. Your content must reflect that. Try searching “buy grapes in bulk.” Keywords from each website are displayed in the search. This part of Onsite SEO is relatively intuitive. Still, you must go beyond including all kinds of keywords in your content because your audience isn’t as predictable as you might think, and they may not necessarily be looking for your business. For your grape business, maybe the audience will search more generally, perhaps “fruit in bulk” or something along those lines. Consideration is a must to ensure your website content matches as many possible searches as possible.Social Media Marketing:Social media is the home to many, and that is precisely why it is an excellent platform for you to promote your business. Social media marketing is a great strategy to implement into your marketing and works great in tandem with other marketing efforts such as Offsite SEO. This strategy has incredible influence over B2B conversion rates resulting in increased traffic to your website and profit for your business. It is challenging to master and potentially dangerous if you outsource and entrust the work of Social Media Marketing to someone reckless since one bad tweet could get your business in trouble. However, the humanization your brand gets trust and the free feedback you receive from those online is worth the effort. Whether it’s a short video, an image, a tweet, a comment on another post, this kind of content, while seemingly worthless, is excellent for your business. These little bits are easy to digest for other users, and they are tricked into digesting it in some cases as although they may not be actively looking to spend their money, seeing these social media posts gets them to think about your business even if its subconscious.Two B2C Marketing MethodsPPC (Pay Per Click):”Pay Per Click” refers to the monetization method where each click comes at a price. For example, should Pay-Per-Click advertisements be used on sports articles, readers may be drawn to click on ads regarding the teams mentioned in the report, such as apparel, other articles, or activity-related products. This uses the reader’s interests to help target advertisements and can also spread awareness. Search ads can boost brand awareness by up to 80 percent instilling memories into consumers, thus showing the importance of targeted marketing having a profoundly positive effect on the advertised product through exposure. Similarly, the widespread use of the internet with Google’s 160 billion searches per month showcases the potential monetary profit of Pay-Per-Click advertisements. Thus, not only do the advertisers receive payment for clicks on their advertisements, but the likelihood of users buying the advertised product increased due to the increased website traffic and appropriate placing of the ad.Cobranding Marketing:Co-branding is an essential strategy used by several top brands to keep their product or service new and different. It is a partnership where two companies create a unique third product using their brand name to draw in consumers, resulting in monetary or publicity gains for both parties. There are several benefits to co-branding: a broader audience as this method brings two brands together, which includes their respective following. An example of this occurred recently when the South Korean pop group known as “BTS” partnered with McDonald’s to make their signature meal. Fans of both McDonald’s and BTS came together, resulting in this co-branding deal boosting McDonald’s worldwide sales by 41% during the agreement and the pop group making a reported 8.89 million USD from the partnership.Any competent business owner knows to seize every opportunity to promote and expand where reasonably possible, and what’s the harm in reaching out to another company with an idea if you truly believe it will work?The following contains some short summaries detailing the basic pros and cons of each marketing method.B2B Pros• Profit Margin – The nature of B2B sales is generally far more prominent than most B2C sales. B2B sales often are in bulk with small items with perhaps scheduled re-orders or other cases like contractors the sale is always going to be significant. In addition, the market potential for B2B feeds into this profit margin well. Something such as grapes going B2C at a farmers’ market is limited in that it targets consumers who want to eat the grapes or perhaps use them for a recipe. However, grapes going B2B have various options like selling in bulk to vintners, grocery stores, companies that make grape jelly, you name it.• Location of Sales – A large majority of B2B commerce is done on the web. This is a good thing as it is far easier to manage an online presence than to maintain something like a storefront. The location for your selling also benefits the audience you sell to. It is more convenient for them to shop online rather than require physical effort to purchase a product. The ease of a good online website and the smoothness of the transaction go a long way for getting sales.• Security – No part of B2B is easy, but once you secure some contracts or ongoing deals, there’s good stability to be had from that. B2C is scary in that you could have your products go from flying off the shelves to forgotten quicker than you may realize. Any stability in the business world is something to be desired.B2B Cons• Competition – This con applies to both B2B and B2C, but in a scarier way. If you aren’t already a big name in your respective market, it is going to be extremely difficult to secure any contracts, deals, or even just one-time purchases. Even if you manage to secure one deal, you run the risk of your business flopping if you rely on just that to stay afloat. It is also harder to compete in marketing against more prominent names as they are already out there, so it is relatively easy to stay out there. Still, you must work on both getting out there and maintaining whatever position you hold. Other problems with the competition are the monopoly many places have. Big names can survive simply undercutting your price to whatever consumer while you might not be able to. You must be very careful when entering markets and avoid being shut out.• Difficult Entry – Given the vast majority of B2B commerce taking place online and the quick judgment by consumers, you need to have a robust online presence and a good website which can be expensive and difficult to set up initially. Extensive research must be done to understand the customer’s desire and streamline that experience for them.• Negotiations – You, a business trying to min-max profits, are selling to another company trying to accomplish the same. A big part of B2B commerce is negotiating with customers to reach a deal that both parties are happy with, especially since prices you may list on your website are likely not as low as you are willing to go.B2C Pros• Sales Cycle – Sales cycle is essentially the stage at which a purchase is made. There is a significant benefit to B2C commerce in that the sales cycles are much faster and easily influenced by provoking certain emotions. B2B sales take an immense amount of time as they are often big purchases for big projects, and so the buyer will take their time to ensure they find the best deal with a high-quality partner. B2C commerce can happen in seconds with someone thinking, “Oh, these grapes look good, let me buy them!”. If you can cater your product towards the quick decision-making of buyers, you can generate good sales.• Discounts – One great thing about B2C is the ability to offer discounts. This partly feeds into the sales cycle, but having values makes customers feel like they are getting a good deal and may buy a product they don’t even need. Or in some cases, loyalty programs offering discounts or free items after certain purchases can be geared towards your profit margin when set up correctly. Loyalty programs are great as it gives the incentive to create a relationship with customers like that in B2B markets. Still, here you can get repeat customers to provide you with business continuity.• Customer Base – While B2B markets directly to a business, B2C calls to a consumer. Everyone in the world is a consumer and is thus a potential customer, while B2B does not have that liberty. This, of course, does not mean your product appeals to everyone and will mean you have an infinite customer base, but the percentage of people potentially looking for a product like yours is massive. This can be of big help to any B2C business, especially those that sell “occasional” purchase products like furniture in that a large customer base means you do not need to rely on repeat customers.B2C Cons• Slow return on investment – The high upfront costs of starting your business with storefronts, websites, marketing campaigns add up quickly. With the generally low price of B2C products and usually prolonged initial start to new business, one should expect profits to be in the red for a while.• Quantity of sales – With large sales comes to the downside of an increased number of issues customers may have. If one wants to get good ratings and maintain an excellent reputation, one must deal with problems that arise well. It is easier said than done since many issues can be hard to resolve in ways that don’t overeat out of profit.• Marketing – This applies to any business, but it is especially hard for B2C commerce. Like how big-name B2B companies can undercut you and shut you out, B2C companies do that on a more complex scale. The profit margin on a majority of B2C products is already low given the generally low price anyway. So it is hard to compete for customers looking for a reasonable price. When you cannot afford to lower your cost further, how do you market your product as “worth the price” in the face of competitors? It is hard enough to get your product on the shelves or in the market, but you also must market that to large numbers of customers.Which is better? B2B or B2C?The simple truth one, as an aspiring business owner likely knows, is it depends. It truly does not matter which one is better, and depending on your business, both might even be an option. This paper is not meant to sway a business owner to go down a specific route but rather inform one about the way they plan to take already. There is no easy method in the business world, and as someone without any business experience, I am not in a position to dictate where one’s business should go.

Cost Effective Sports Wear for Your Team

When it comes to sports, all teams wear their specifically designed outfits as this makes them easily identifiable. You can also choose from a plethora of new designs and colors that complements the style of your team.Every sport has its own different style, whether it is soccer, baseball, softball or basketball, players are dressed to make a style statement. Sportswear may differ on the basis of the design, color, fitting or simply the style and appearance of the material. Sports uniforms should be comfortable and supportive so that you can perform at the highest level possible. The selection of these uniforms, gloves, cleats and others should be done with suitable care as they should be top notch in performance, quality and durability. Uniforms must come with excellent quality, should be high in durability and low in pricing. You can even have your uniforms personalized in a variety of sublimated designs.The Jersey is the essence of a team as it distinguishes them from another team. It is a shirt worn by each member of a team, depicting the name of the player along with a number as well as the logo of the team. Jerseys are usually made of micro fiber material to help absorb sweat from the body and allow it to evaporate. These fabrics are mainly cotton, nylon or polyester which are light in weight and allow proper movement to make them comfortable and stylish. These are available in various designs, patterns and colors, usually with a single dominant color. A Soccer jersey has an accent stripe on the sleeves and sides. These short sleeved jerseys have the neck either rounded or v shaped. Some of the soccer uniforms have a flashy look because of certain knitting on the fabric. Jerseys should be light in weight, stable, durable, breathable and be able to hold their color without fading. Softball jerseys sometimes exhibit a buttoned up round neck. The shoulders of many jerseys are reinforced with cotton tape to add stability and prevent stretching.Sports shorts should have loose weaves offering the player good support without curbing the motion. Shorts should be manufactured with great caution and be a perfect fit, allowing sufficient airflow. These shorts are either woven or knit and usually made of polyester, determining the durability and flexibility of the uniform. The basic inseam of youth sizes is 3 to 4 inches which allows players to run around actively and freely. The high quality fabric used in shorts provides a more comfortable and richer look. The binding around the leg holes is set on with a machine to help stretch without cracking the stitches.Sport shoes, generally known as cleats, are an integral part of a soccer uniform. While choosing cleats, just ensure that they are well fitted and comfortable, allowing perfect movement of the feet and assisting in rapid changes of direction. Poor fitting of the cleats may lead to sprained ankles and falls. They should fit comfortably even with the shin guards in place and be able to provide additional traction to the players on a soft surface. Cleats generally must have large studs on the bottom to assist in gripping the surface and preventing sliding. You can choose shoes from various styles like madrid, roma, classic, cope turf and many more that give you comfort and enhance your performance. Cleats should be teamed up with a good pair of socks. As insignificant as it may sound, but socks manufactured with quality fabric are useful in keeping the player’s feet dry and warm. Socks can make cleats more comfortable and protect the feet from the damages which might be caused by running constantly.If you are looking for sports wear which will help you create a distinguished look for your team, you can search the Internet and find a few companies providing a variety of cost effective softball uniforms to keep up with the changing pace.

Opt For Preventive Care To Reduce The Cost of Healthcare

People often do not prioritize their health and visit the hospital or their doctors while detecting some disease-causing symptoms in their bodies. However, preventive care is the best possible way everyone can undertake and cease the risk factors before the symptoms become dangerous and life-threatening. The following article will focus completely on preventive health care and how it helps reduce further costs involved with healthcare.

Suggested article: Preventive Dental Care In California

What is Preventive Care?

Preventive health care or prophylaxis involves the measures that people consider for preventing any diseases. The form of healthcare includes utilizing medical services or precautions that fight against the potential health crisis. It is the most important step that people can adopt in better management of their health.

Several factors such as genetic predisposition, lifestyle, environmental factors, and disease agents affect people’s health. Hence, everyone must undergo periodic health check-ups and screening tests from the doctors.

People opt for preventive health care for maintaining better health, and eliminating the disease becomes serious. Preventive care in conjunction with medicines will save a patient from health breakdown and save money from future expenses, especially if the patient is suffering from a chronic disease.

What are the Preventative Care Services?

Here are some of the examples of preventive health care services, along with their frequencies. ·

Annual Check-up (1 per calendar year): During the annual check-up, the doctor or Primary Care Provider (PCP) checks all areas of a person’s health, including physical and psychological. Examining the patients in detail helps in detecting any health care concerns in the early stages.

· Flu Shot (1 per year): Most health plans include flu shots and protect the patients from all strains of flu viruses.

· Mammogram (1 calendar year, after the patient attains the age of 40 years): Patients over the age of 40 must undergo routine x-rays of breast tissues and check for signs of cancer and other abnormalities. Some health plans might cover the costs of 3D imaging. ·

Colonoscopy (usually once in every decade after the age of 50) for detecting colon cancer.

· Vaccinations, including boosters for such as measles, rubella, polio, etc. administered during childhood.

Preventive health care helps keep people productive and active, enabling them to earn well during their senior years. Studies show that approximately 35% of people have to consider early retirement, even before they are financially ready. Opting for affordable, preventive care helps in reducing the numbers.

Why Should Patients Opt for Preventive Care?

Access to preventive health care helped reduce healthcare costs among Americans, as the physicians can prevent or treat the disease before the patient needs emergency room (ER) care. Almost one-third of costs in America include hospital care, which is undoubtedly very expensive. In 2010, 21.4% of adults paid at least a visit to the emergency room, which reduced to 18.6% in 2017. Adults not having affordable access to preventive care are more likely to pay a couple of visits to the emergency room.

Statistics show that 7% of the adults in the age group of 18-64 paid visits to the ER in 2014, as they had no other option, regardless of their health insurance status. About 77% of Americans went to the emergency rooms due to complications in their health, including those whose doctors advised them for emergency room care. Approximately 15.4% of uninsured adults in 2014 are more likely to use the emergency room, as they lacked other providers.

Undoubtedly, the cost of ER care for uninsured patients was extremely high. Hospitals provide care, even if the patient fails to provide fees for their services. As hospitals must recover the cost, they shift to Medicaid and health insurance premiums, which increases the healthcare cost for everyone.

Impact of Preventive Care Cost on Health Care Costs

Chronic diseases are the major leading cause of death among people, either preventable or manageable with regular visits to health care. These include:

· Heart diseases

· Cancer

· Stroke and

· Chronic lower respiratory diseases

Poor nutrition and obesity are the leading cause of heart disease and stroke. Genetics and smoking lead to lung cancer, which is the most common type of cancer. Obesity also risks several other forms of cancer.

Treating these chronic diseases is expensive, even before they reach emergency room status. Approximately 90% of the 3.5 trillion USD includes health care expenditures for people suffering psychological problems and chronic diseases. Patients who never went for preventative care or did not have any prescription coverage failed to afford the treatments, screenings, regular check-ups, and medications that would manage the underlying conditions of the disease. Instead, they head up to the emergency rooms with cases of strokes, heart attacks, and other complications.

However, with regular access to affordable, preventive care, the patients were more likely to discover and manage their chronic conditions. Doing so lowers the chances of visiting the emergency rooms and investing more into expensive treatments for those diseases, which passed regular management. With the decrease in the expenditure for treatments, the overall healthcare cost also decreases for everyone, as the hospitals no longer try to cover the treatment cost of the uninsured patients.

When and What Preventive Health Care is the Most Suitable?

A patient’s primary health care provider will help him or her coordinate the most suitable shots and tests. While analyzing the beneficial shots, the health care provider will consider certain aspects such as family history, age, sex, current health status, and several other factors.

Conclusion

Preventive health care often covers 100% of health plans and offers the patients several benefits both in cost and health. However, if the patient experiences doubts or are in dilemmas about the things covered and tests conducted, he or she must communicate with the physician at the earliest.

Everyone knows, “health is wealth.” If a patient is healthy, he or she will perform the best. However, it is also important to adopt a healthy lifestyle, reducing the risk factors and saving the patients from spending money on medicines.

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