There’s certain criteria you have to meet to have a GMB. You can read the detailed guidelines here.

Eligible businesses must make in person contact with customers during working hours at the business or at the customers location.

Non Eligible businesses are operated primarily by phone, email or web.  Businesses must have an address no PO Boxes or UPS mail boxes can be used.  You can read more about ineligible businesses here.

Download this guide to help you start the process of claiming your google My Business.

If there is a listing for an old business at the address your business is now in, do not claim that. Instead, suggest to have the old business marked as closed and then create a new GMB listing. I had this happen to a client of mine and we requested the old business listing be removed and provided a picture where the business no longer existed.

Once you have created the listing you may add hours, description and other information. Make sure you have read and follow their guidelines! Google wants to ensure you are a real business and they will suspend a listing if they suspect you have broken some of the guidelines. Visit the link above if you have ANY questions!

There are tons of helpful links that explain most scenarios you may encounter.

If you would like your GMB set up properly and professionally from the start, you can contact us to assist with that.

Quick How Do I Links:

Looking for troubleshooting help? Reach out to support at twitter.com/googlemybiz or facebook.com/googlemybusiness.

You can also visit the forums to get more help: https://support.google.com/business/thread/new?source=need_more_help

The post Google My Business appeared first on Anchored Media Marketing.

Since we have operated a work from home company for many years, I was asked by the local Valdosta Chamber of Commerce & Seeds Business Resource Center to create a video on productivity and how to stay focused while working at home. We hope these tips will help you if you work for a company that has recently decided to have their employees work from home.  Watch the video below and let us know if there’s anything we can help you with.

And today I would like to share with you a few tips about working from home how to stay on task and how to be more productive.

I’ve been working from home for well over 10 years now and I remember in the very beginning it was quite an adjustment. It was hard to get used to. It was very easy to get distracted. You’re working and all of a sudden… Oh No I have five loads of laundry to do and there’s dishes that can be done, and it needs to be dusted. There so many things that that can take your focus away from working from home.

So, first of all don’t beat yourself up if you do find yourself distracted. Just get back on course and get back to work. So there are things that you can do to his set a routine and to start to get used to it. The first thing he has to have a place to work. If you can avoid working your kitchen table, then that would be good. If you could have a room or an area in a room set up specifically for working at home, that would be a good thing. If you have an extra room where you could shut  the door that’s even better. But not all of us have extra rooms that we can work out of, but if you did that would be ideal. If you are at the kitchen table., you know you want to make sure that you let other family members that are  around let them know you know this is my time  to work and we need to keep things quiet, and that way you could be productive.  When there’s noise in the room and in the house,  it’s very easy to get distracted. Now, if that’s your only choice and you do have other people, maybe a set of noise canceling headphones would be good or some headphones were you can use some sort of music. Maybe like… a good website even when you have your own room, a good website is something like brain.fm and this is music that can really help you to be focused and to stay focused.

So you have your place to work. You want to make sure that you set regular working hours. You also want to make sure that you set the time for breaks. Just like you would at work and you know you go in at 8 o’clock you have a break from 10 to 10:15, you get back work at 10:15 and you work to 12. From 12:00 to 1:00 it’s lunch and so on you You want to make sure that you do that and that way that gives your body a rest and your you’re looking forward to that breaking. You know you have a certain amount of time to get this work done.

Also one thing that I have done too is to set blocks.  Blocks of time. OK so let’s before we get into the blocks of time let’s talk about making your list the night before. So if you know that there are certain things that you have to get done the next day, go ahead before you go to sleep and write then down and get them off of your mind so that you can sleep better. You want to make three lists: One list is I have to get this done tomorrow, the second list for these are things that would like to get done tomorrow, and then the third list for things that need to be done, but don’t need to be tomorrow, they just need to be done. Those are just things to get it out of your head and onto a piece of paper so that you can sleep good at night.

So now that you have your list and you’re ready to work, you’ve gotten up and don’t just get-up-and-get out of bed and come to work in pajamas. It’s important that you act like you’re really going to work. You get up you take a shower, if you shower in the morning, you have a good breakfast, well get ready, have a good breakfast and then be ready to work at your specific time. If it’s 8 o’clock, if it’s 7 o’clock, 8 o’clock, 9 o’clock, whichever time you choose to get up and and you start to work, make sure you’re working at that specific time.

OK so now let’s talk about the blocks. So one of the things that really helped me in the beginning is just to take cell phone and set a timer for 15 minutes…. 15 or 20 minutes and then I am focused.  I’ve got all my social media turned off, my phone ringer is down,  my notification ringer is turned off so I’m not constantly being interrupted by text messages or phone calls. Unless I have a scheduled phone call on my schedule and on my still paper schedule. I like that, I like being able to write things down. I also use my Google Calendar as a schedule too but I really like my paper schedule.

So you start to work, you set your timer, and time it for 15 or 20 minutes and just really pound into the work and see how much work you can get done in the 15 minutes and after those 10- 15 minutes or 20 minutes you might want to get up real quick and stretch and then once you’re done stretching, Take a drink of water. I always have some water, I have my water bottle right here next to me. Always have a container of water, so you’re not having to stop, and get-up-and-go get water. Just have everything you need right here with you. Your pen, your paper, your schedule your water, a snack if you want to if you’re a snacker. Something healthy and try to stay away from all the junk days because that tends to eat your energy up and kind of drag you down.

So when you have all of that ready, then you’re more prepared for your day. You’re prepared to do those 15 minute blocks and  by doing that and getting used to doing a certain amount of work in a certain amount of time, it becomes easier and easier. And in your mind you’re still going to think…. Oh  gosh I need to go put that laundry on, but then you can catch yourself and say NO let’s refocus and get back to work because I have time after work to do that laundry to do, to run the errands or to whatever.

So let me look at my list here because I made a list of the things that I have done. So -OK another thing is to make sure you had a comfortable working space meaning you have a really good share that you can sit and you have a nice… a desk area it’s tidy even if it’s your kitchen table, make sure it’s tidy you have the proper or computer equipment and  pens and papers and anything that you need to make your space comfortable and ready to work and then I’ve already mentioned I’m listening to music that really can help you focus but you want to make sure you’re listening to the right type of music because if you have it just on a regular Pandora station you could get distracted by the music or the commercials or whatever but you really will use really important to have some sort of music that has been made specifically to help you focus so those are the things that have helped me to be able to work from home for over 10 years. Boy do I remember those 1st few months when I chose to start working from home it really was an adjustment and it was something that you know its new so you have to get used to it and you have to work at it and then also too, make sure you don’t work too late. Make sure you take that time for your family, because it is easy as a business working at home, it is easy to say “Oh I can work another hour”. And that hour turns into 3 more hours and the next thing you know it is 9 o’clock at night. I say this because I have been guilty it and then you’ve lost all of your family time, So make sure you set that alarm on your phone. You may even set the alarm to like 30 minutes before stopping time, so that you can kind of wind down the things that you are working on. And then set that alarm for It’s Time To Get Off, just like at school, the school bell rings. Make sure you set that alarm on your phone so that you can stop working and then you have that time to be with your family, or to do the errands and all of the other things that you need to do. So I hope these tips have helped and I hope you have a great day.

The post Work From Home Tips For Productivity and Focus For New People Working at Home appeared first on Anchored Media Marketing.

This is a special for only Chamber members.

Below are two Valdosta Chamber Member case study sites with before and after rankings in Google when the site was properly set up and optimized by Sally.

Chamber Member Sites Case Study

Chamber FitMix Case Study from Sally Sutton on Vimeo.

Here are examples of chamber sites we have set up:
https://business.valdostachamber.com/directory/Details/mercer-hughes-real-estate-group-inc-2097853

https://business.valdostachamber.com/directory/Details/comfort-keepers-south-georgia-2097692

Get in touch with us by email.

The post Have Your Chamber Site Set Up and Properly Optimized appeared first on Anchored Media Marketing.

Here are 4 of the top reasons why a backup would come in handy.

Hacking & Malware

This is probably the biggest threat today for WordPress users. What happens when your site gets hacked? Unless you have a backup stored from before the hack, you’ll need to hire a company to clean up your site. If you have a backup in place, you simply wipe the site and restore it from a previous version, if that backup has all the necessary files included. (All backup plugins are not created equal, meaning some only back up part of your files. The backup plugin I talk about later backs up everything.) Next step is to updated everything inside your WP back-end and make sure you have a good security plugin installed. I recommend this plugin. Even after you reinstall the previous version, you’ll want to make sure you scan everything in your hosting account.

Server Crashes

This doesn’t happen often if you have good hosting, it does happen though. If the host you have your account with has a server crash and you do not have a backup that is stored outside your hosting account, there’s a possibility you may have lost everything, unless your host has a way to reinstall everything, but I wouldn’t count on it!

Human Error – Accidental Deletion

I have seen this. Once I had a frantic client call me and say “My site is down! I did something in the back-end and now it’s all messed up!” Luckily, I had a backup. With new website builds, Backup Buddy is one of the first plugins I install.

Conflicts with Plugins of Themes

Although most reputable Themes and Plugins are kept up to date, so they work with WordPress, there are sometimes conflicts between plugins and themes which can take your site offline. See the video at the bottom for an example. If you know that is was a plugin that did it, you can normally delete that plugin through your cPanel and your site will come back up. What if you were updating a bunch and didn’t know what caused the site to break? That’s when you would reinstall a previous backup.

Now that I’ve given you some examples, is it making more sense why you want this awesome Backup Plugin?

It not only backs up you core WordPress installation and the database, you can set it to backup all tables and files. So no need to be concerned with your media library, post, pages, plugins, comments, widgets, users, themes, and settings. You can also schedule it to automatically backup full backups and database backups, as many or few times per day, week, or month as you’d like and set it to send to an offsite destination, such as Amazon S3, Stash, or Dropbox and you’re all set. You can even have it email you once the backup has started or is complete. Changing hosts? With Backup Buddy, things are super easy! Simply Migrate the site over to the new host.

Watch these 2 short videos for more information.

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Is your page load time causing you to loose customers?

You’ll never know if you don’t have some of the basic analytic tracking in place. Many website owners are clueless of their page speed.

Think about how you browse the web. If you’re going to a website and it takes forever to load, do you sit and wait or do you press the back button and your out of there.

You have 3 seconds to grab someone’s attention when they click on your link. If you loose them because your site loads slowly you may want to check out Googles Page Speed Insights to run a quick check.

If you are not sure how to correct the problem, then that’s where we can help contact us and we will diagnose the problem.

If you are having a hard time seeing the text on your site when viewing on a mobile device, then you may want to read about the Mobile Friendly test.

The post How to test my page speed for mobile and desktop appeared first on Anchored Media Marketing.

SEO is not one specific action you take. It’s a combination of actions taken to move web properties up in search results, called SERP’s.

I’ve broken this down so maybe you can understand.

What is Search Engine Optimization?
It is a marketing discipline focused on growing visibility in organic (non-paid) search engine results.  You do this by optimizing web properties so they rank better in search engines.

There are different types of optimization.

On Page Optimization
Your Web Property and ALL of its pages/posts, articles, images, content, targeted keywords.

There are several on page elements that tell the search engines what your content is about: these are the title, headings, the page copy itself and meta tags.

Off Page Optimization – Building a fortress.
Google Plus – Google My Business, Facebook, Twitter, Yelp, Pinterest, Video sites like Youtube, Vimeo

Other things Google Considers When Ranking

Building your online presence and trust –
Relevance – Sites linking to you, are they relevant to you?

Mobile Friendly Sites   Visit: https://anchoredseo.com/mobile-friendly/

Page Speed – according to Google, how fast does your site load and how can you improve it.

Reviews for Local Businesses
Types of reviews that can display:

Google Reviews – Yelp reviews – Zomato or OpenTable (restaurants) – GAF (roofers/contractors) – SpaFinder – Groupon – AngiesList

I hope this helps you to better understand what some of the ranking factors are when google is reviewing for ranking.

If you are still confused and just want someone who knows what they are doing, to do your website SEO, then you may want to head over to the Discovery Application so we can take a look at where you are now.

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What are Social Media Sites you ask?

These are sites like Facebook, Twitter, KIK, Tumblr, Snapchat and Periscope just to name a few.  People of all ages and from all socioeconomic backgrounds utilize these sites to keep in touch and stay in the “know” with just a few clicks of a mouse or even more so now, through their smart phone.  Some may not see the benefit of utilizing different social media sites for marketing and building their brand, while others are taking the plunge and reaping the benefits of social media marketing strategies.  The aim of this article is to outline 7 benefits of using social media to help build your business brand.

1. Brand Awareness is an important aspect of building your business.  When people are looking for products within your specific product category, you would like for them to think of your brand first.  This first in mind awareness can be accomplished through repeated exposure to your brand.  The evolution of the internet and specifically social media can help you create that digital impact on consumers.  Social media allows for ultra-fast communication about your brand, good and bad.  Think about this, on average, people using Facebook have about 338 friends, with about 15% of all users have more than 500 friends.  A customer makes a purchase from your company, likes the product or service, and makes a post about your business brand, your company has instantly reached a few hundred potential new customers.
2. Improved Brand Loyalty is perhaps one of the most important aspects of building your brand.  It is simply what people think when they see your brand, logo, or hear your business name.  Customers with a high sense of brand loyalty will often be loyal consumers of your brand for life.  In essence, brand loyalty is priceless.  There are over 2 billion consumers that utilize various forms of social media.  By utilizing the social media platform you can create a customer support system via social media, provide company updates, have special offers, giveaways, receive feedback, and highlight customer experiences.
3. Humanizes Your Brand.  In essence, no one enjoys a one way conversation, and no one enjoys receiving automated emailed responses from companies.  Customers want to feel special, and feel important.  As humans we are naturally curious creatures.  We crave human interaction.  Social media will allow you to bring that human aspect to your brand.  Consumers will get to know who you are, what your brand is, and the personality behind the brand.  It will allow for real relationships to be formed where you get to know the consumers and the consumers get to know you.
4. Increases Traffic.  For a business that is not on social media their website traffic is limited to people that are current or past consumers of the brand, or people that stumble onto the business website from searching key words that the business is ranked for.  A social media profile will be another path to your brand, each post is an opportunity for a new visitor to your site, and quality post will result in more opportunities to develop more inbound traffic.
5. Decreases Advertising Cost.  All of the most popular social media sites are FREE, yes that is correct, and they are FREE.  Free is great for anybody, especially a new business trying to get its feet off the ground.  Need I say more?
6. Enriches the Customer Experience.  In today’s digital world, most consumers will search for a brands social media page to see what other consumers are saying about the brand, and see if they are able to interact with other customers on the social media page.  The potential consumer is not solely reliable on advertisements, or promotions.  They can see real feedback in real time.
7. Customer Insights.  This can be a biggie.  A lot of big business rely in customer surveys to gain information about their brand, or other brands consumers would be interested in purchasing. The truth of the matter here is that some people lie on surveys, maybe because they just do not really know what they want, or just because they can.  Another reality is that people change what they want so frequently that a business can miss out on the next big thing quickly.  Social media allows for that private social listening.  Just as other people can see your business profile, you are able to see theirs.  You can keep up with new trends as they begin to peak or you can develop enough insight to become a trend setter in your market.  The best part is that you will not have to waste time, or money on surveys and there will no bothering consumers with surveys and hoping they fill them out.

As you can see, the benefits of utilizing social media can far outweigh any negative connotations one may have in creating a social media profile for their business and brand.  It can be a win win for everyone.  There are reports of business owners only spending about 6 hours a week to maintain social media sites and they have almost tripled their customer base.  The benefits listed here are only a few and I encourage you to select one social media platform and try it for a month and I’m sure you will see it will help in many aspects of your business.

TIP: As you are engaging with people on social media, post engaging material. Do not ONLY put sales in front of your audience, if you do, it’s a sure fire way NOT to get your audience to engage. Provide Value First. 

The post 7 Benefits of Using Social Media to Help Your Business with Branding appeared first on Anchored Media Marketing.