Websites Under Your Control Blog

Interested in being at the top of Google when your local customers search for what you offer?

Here, we typed "home cleaning frisco" into Google, and were presented with listings with a map, labeled "Local business results," showing nearby services.

Google's local search results -- which happen automatically when Google detects that people are searching for something in a specific geographical area -- will display the closest matches on a map on the first page, before even the top-ranked "organic" search results.

Where do they get these matches?  Google gathers all sorts of information to populate this portion of their search results, and they may already have your business listed. Business owners can also list their businesses.

Whether you are listed or not, go to Google's local business update page and add or update your information. There, you will be able to add your contact and business details, links to your website, a description, images, videos, key words, categories in which you want to be listed, and much more.

You will have to do this yourself, because Google will "robo-call" your listed phone number to verify it is really you making the updates, but it is easy.

The best part?  It's free! No need to pay anyone, since all you do is fill out a form, and you are done.

Our brokerage client wanted to allow his customers to search online for the basics of the listings he had for sale, but his clients did not want their addresses or details made public.

We set up a site with a searchable directory so that site visitors could find listings that matched their interests. The site visitors then request access via an online registration form.

Our client's office staff receives such requests, and with about three mouse clicks, can enable that specific visitor to have access to a specific listing for a specified duration (or forever). In addition, if a request is not acted upon within a specified period of time, the office manager gets notified so the visitor's request never falls through the cracks.

Our client wants to be able to respond instantly to certain types of inquiries. Our Online Business Partner™ sends a text message to his cell phone immediately when those inquiries are sent, so he can have a deal already locked up before his competitors get around to reading their email.

The Frisco Bar Association's website includes a list of all its members, as well as a facility for visitors to the website to find members of the Frisco Bar Association who specialize in specific areas of the law.

To allow Bar Association members to keep their information up to date, we developed an option to allow each member to view and edit their own directory information by logging in to the secure "members only" area.