Changes to Google’s Local Search Results and Its Impact on PPC Advertising for Small Business

If you are running a business with a physical ‘brick and mortar’ location, it is important that you get good search engine results when someone looks for the kind of thing you offer in your area. Unlike businesses who can sell to anyone in the country or even the world regardless of their own location, businesses like restaurants, small retailers, salons and clinics need people in their area to be able to find them, and don’t necessarily benefit from being found in searches by anybody else.

Google is Testing Ways to Show More Paid Ads before Organic Results

Google is always developing its products, and at the moment, they are focusing a lot on a product called Home Service. This is a new way of advertising in highly coveted spaces on search engine results pages (SERPs, as they are known in the internet marketing industry). They have also implemented some changes to what is called the ‘local pack’ – that is the part of your search results when you search for local places or businesses that shows a map with locations pinpointed on it. Previously, this showed the top seven applicable results, and their street addresses and phone numbers, as well as a link to their Google+ page. Now it shows just three businesses, but more information like opening times. There is also no longer a link to Google+, perhaps because the social network is one of Google’s few failures, and they no longer plan to force businesses to have a Google+ page to take advantage of the local pack.

3 Ways to Save Money When Doing Business Overseas

International expansion is one way to grow business for many small business owners. After all, there is large untapped potential in countries such as India and China with their growing middle class population. These people are earning significant disposable income is are ready to use it on items imported from developed countries.

International expansion, however, comes with its own risks and stress. It is neither comfortable nor cheap to travel internationally – a necessity when you are trying to find partners, customers or vendors in those countries. You have to deal with significant expenses for airfare, hotels and other travel necessities. Dealing with jet lag and the unknown hassle of foreign countries adds to the headaches. The three tips provided below can to some extent alleviate your concerns about cost of international travel.

1. Plane Tickets. This may sound like an old cliché, but saving on airfare is one of the best ways to make an overseas trip affordable. This is usually achieved by keeping a close eye on airfare deals, months in advance. If you have to book travel at the last minute, newer airlines like WOW can provide discounted rates. But if none of this is an option, see if you can leverage the importance of your business to secure a free flight. If you are obliged to go overseas to do consultation or a speaking engagement or something of that nature, it’s possible that you may get your overseas contact to comp your flight cost.