Getting above the Crowd of Interior Designers on Google Local Search

Ten Days ago, Karen T. called me asking if I could help her with marketing her Interior Design company, Beyond Words Design. She worked with Mechele from San Diego Kravet and Mechele referred Karen to me. We agreed that as a local business getting on the first page of Googles Local Search was job #1. If you are not familiar with the concept of Local Search, review this article before you move on.

With over 100 interior designers listed in Google Local Search for "Interior Design Encintas, CA" it looked like it may be a challenge to get on that key top 10 list. I am happy to report that within 10 days using the first Two of my Five Step process Karen was on the first page of Google. We started with the companies below coming up on the search term "Interior Design Encintas, CA".

A. Rustic Rooster
B. J W McCarter & Associates
C. Stems & Co.
D. Sensible Chic Interior Design
E. Id Studios
F. Designcorp
G. Cedros Design
H. Polinara Interiors

After these top local business were six more pages of interior designers based in the Encinitas area. Karen and I created her Blog / Business Website on Google, took control of Beyond Words Design local business listing and then researched why the Top 10 businesses on Google's Local Search were in the Top 10.

After establishing Beyond Words Design as a business on Google Local Business Center and taking ownership of that business idenity we started on moving Karen's company up that road of search pages. The next step was examinining the business that were already on the top ten list and looking at the information that Google had gathered and deamed of value for a Interior Designer from Encinitas CA.

Google and other search engines look to other business databases for information about the validity and value of each business. When prioritizing your plan for moving up the Google Local food chain, you must make sure that your business is in databases that Search Engines use to gather business listings. Google is known to use superpages.com as one of their basic sources of validating bussiness. It is always the first step on your road to the first page of Local Searches.

Another prime strategy is to find business listing data bases that Google may use for specific industries. For example Rustic Rooster and several others in Interior Design were referenced as a business on www.interiordesignersusa.info. With that info in hand we entered Beyond Words Design into the InteriorDesignerUSA data base. The results after 10 days of waiting for the data to be pushed around the internet was:

A. Rustic Rooster
B. J W McCarter & Associates
C. Stems & Co.
D. Sensible Chic Interior Design
E. Id Studios
F. Designcorp
G. Cedros Design
H. Polinara Interiors
I. Beyond Words Design

The next step is getting a similar position on MSN and Yahoo. The other direction is to broaden the Local Search Value of Beyond Words Design to cities close to Encinitas, CA.

Good or Bad - Reviews are Important

Reviews are one of the most important ways to insure that your Local Search Listing is on the first page of Internet Searches. Jeff Saxon does a nice job of showing that there is not much you can do to control the negative reviews that may occur.

You Can’t Edit Your Way Out of Negative Reviews by Jeff Saxon

....Very simply, reviews increase conversion rates. And several studies point to the fact that, yes, even negative reviews help.
It all boils down to credibility. Customer reviews simply have more credibility than your sales copy, so they inspire more confidence in the buyer. And negative reviews lend credibility to the review process itself, standing as visible proof that the reviews are not edited....

...The point: Your brand and product perception is not what you say it is anymore but what Google says it is....

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