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In this article:\nWhy get listed on MerchantCircle\nHow to create and claim MerchantCircle business listings\nWhat you should do next\nMerchantCircle is a network of people dedicated to connecting busy consumers with top-quality local merchants. \nMerchantCircle wants to help small businesses like yours improve their online visibility, so they give you everything you need to do just that. That’s why we want to show you how to add your business to their platform. \nWhy should I add my business to MerchantCircle?\nMerchantCircle is the perfect platform for connecting with new, local consumers, and it also helps improve your local search rankings. The more online directories you can list your business on, the better chance you have to rank high in the local search results. \nCheck this out: \n25 free business listing websites every small or local business should be on\nSome other cool features and benefits that MerchantCircle can offer your business include:\nOnline advertising on their platform\nOnline reputation management services\nTop-rated customer support\nRead on to learn how to add your business to MerchantCircle.\nHow to create and claim your business account on MerchantCircle\nLet’s get started. \nStep 1: Create a MerchantCircle account\nIn order to add a business to or claim a business on MerchantCircle, you need to sign up for an account. \nGo to \nmerchantcircle.com\n and click “Sign up.”\n(Image)\n\nOn the next screen, fill out the form with the following information:\nFirst and last name\nEmail address\nPassword\nPassword confirmation\nZip code\nBusiness name\nBusiness phone number\nBe sure that the “I’m a merchant” box is checked at the top of the form, check the reCaptcha (“I’m not a robot”), and click “Create my account.”\n(Image)\n\nStep 2: Add or update your business on MerchantCircle and claim it\nWhen you add in your business name and phone number in the signup form, it allows MerchantCircle to check their database to see if your business is already there. If it is, it will show up on the following screen once you click “Create my account.”\nYou’ll be brought to a page that has your business listed. Click “Claim this business.”\n(Image)\n\nIf you don’t see your business listed, click “Add your business to MerchantCircle.”\n(Image)\n\nNo matter which option you choose, you will then be brought to the same form. If your business was already on MerchantCircle, some of your business information will be filled out for you. Just complete the form and click “Next.”\nIf your business wasn’t listed on MerchantCircle, and you clicked “Add your business…” then your form will be blank. Fill out all of your information and click “Next.”\nMake sure to include all of the following information in the form:\nBusiness name\nAddress\nPhone number\nBusiness category\nBusiness description\nBusiness website\nAccepted payment types\n(Image)\n\nYou will then be brought to a page to select the plan you would like to be on for your MerchantCircle account. To avoid paying any fees, select “Try It Free.”\n(Image)\n\nNext, MerchantCircle will prompt you to purchase “Hero Ads.” Feel free to skip this or click “Next” to stick with the free listing. \n(Image)\n\nOn the next screen, MerchantCircle will direct you to verify your email. Do this to gain full access to your business listing. \nCheck your email (this often comes into the spam/junk folder) and click “Verify your account.” \n(Image)\n\nNow you have a verified MerchantCircle account!\nYou added your business to MerchantCircle… what’s next?\nOnce you’ve added your business to this online directory, there’s still a lot more you can do to improve your online visibility and improve your opportunities to get more customers. \nAdding your business to this directory is one small piece of improving your local SEO (search engine optimization), and we have some other great resources to help you improve this even further. \nCheck out our guides:\n25 free business listing websites every small or local business should be on\nLocal SEO: 15 free tips for better search rankings\n\nHow to get more reviews\n\n

How to create and claim your MerchantCircle business listing

A guide to business ethics: How to navigate ethical issues in small business

In this article:\nWhy small businesses should consider Google Maps advertising\nHow does local business advertising on Google Maps work?\nHow much does it cost to advertise on Google Maps?\nPlacing local ads on Google Maps is a relatively recent phenomenon, but the reason for its explosion in popularity is clear. \nGoogle Maps is SIX TIMES more popular than other navigation apps. Mobile \n“near me” searches\n are the new normal, with 200% growth over recent years. Location-related searches have grown 50 percent faster than overall mobile searches overall over the past year.\nWhy does this matter? Because three out of four people who use their smartphone to search for businesses or services nearby visit a store within a day. So Google Maps advertising can be a great way to attract local customers to your business.\nHow does local business advertising on Google Maps work?\nWhen you search for local businesses with queries like “tire shops near me” or “mexican restaurants in [city]” (whether in the standard Google engine or in Google Maps), the search engine serves up the top results along with a map of the local area. \nWhere your business ranks in these search results depends on a variety of factors, including: your star rating, the number and quality of your reviews, your customer engagement, your “normal” website’s performance on Google, and whether you’ve optimized your Google My Business profile for \nlocal SEO\n.\nHowever, if you choose to pay for local business advertising on Google Maps, your store will often appear as one of 2 or 3 (maximum) featured results at the top of those local listings. \nIn our testing, for typical small businesses, you will likely be the only ad displayed at the top of that small list of featured choices. \nDesktop/primary Google search engine results will display like this:\ngoogle maps advertising 1\n\nSearches within Google Maps specifically will display like this: \ngoogle maps advertising 2\nSince studies show that the vast majority of shoppers click on the first business listed in search results, it may be worth it to invest some of your marketing budget to advertise on Google Maps and drive more traffic to your store or your website.\nHow do I set up Google Maps advertising for my business?\nThe first thing you need to do is \nclaim your Google business listing\n. (Click for our easy how-to article.) This may sound like an obvious step, but surprisingly, a recent report showed that only 44% of Google business listings had been claimed. \nAfter you’ve claimed your listing, you should optimize your profile by adding \nthe top 5 things every small business should include in their Google business listing\n. \nNext, \nset up a Google Ads account\n for your business. Then, you can \nenable location extensions for your Google Ads account\n. This will tell Google that you want your ads to be featured in local searches. \nFinally, \noptimize your keywords\n, set up what locations and areas you want to target, and \nbid by location\n.\nIt’s important to \nlearn the difference between “call extensions” and “location extensions.”\n For most small businesses, we recommend you use location extensions primarily. \nIn addition to being more visible on the world’s most-used mapping app and attracting local customers looking for what you offer, you can use your Google Maps ads to test different keyword strategies and click-through techniques with minimal effort.\nThe next thing you need to be aware of is, it’s not going to be free. Let’s talk about potential costs.\nHow much does it cost to advertise on Google Maps?\nThe cost for serving up local ads on Google Maps is based on your budget, your preferences, your local market, the level of competition, and multiple other factors (most of which Google will not divulge). So we can only speculate about what it will cost for you. \nGoogle Maps ads’ Cost Per Click (CPC) is also figured differently depending on how your customers click through from your Google Maps ad, whether it be “Get location detail” clicks, “get directions” clicks, mobile “click-to-call,” or website clicks. \ngoogle maps advertising 3\n\nHowever, Google’s own tutorials show examples with CPCs of $4 or more, so we can assume that is a real possibility. Luckily, you can easily set daily maximums to limit the total potential cost. \nFor example, you can set a $100/day limit (or whatever you want) so if you get a ton of clicks, you won’t exceed your planned marketing budget. Once you hit your limit, Google Maps will stop displaying your ad until the next day or whenever you have set your max spending to reset. \nThis is important because at a theoretical CPC of $4, if you get 500 clicks you’ll be spending $2000 a day.\nRemember these are just \nclicks\n, not \nsales\n. But if you have a high-converting website you want to drive customers to, or if you simply want to boost your visibility and brand recognition with local customers, this type of advertising could be well worth it for you.\nAnother advantage of Google Maps advertising is that they make it very easy to set up a profile, modify displayed content, and track results, even if you don’t know very much about marketing.\nConsider adding your local product inventory to Google Maps\nIn addition to allowing you to customize your ad content and make your map “pin” stand out against your competitors (at additional cost), Google also lets you link your in-stock inventory to Google ads. \nThis means customers searching for specific items in stock can get shown that info as part of your featured advertisement. For pharmacies, shoe stores, or other local retail shops, this can be very useful. \nClick to read Google’s how-to on \nlinking your local inventory\n.\nSources:\n
\nhttps://www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/2016/06/01/google-maps-local-search-ads\n
\nhttps://themanifest.com/app-development/popularity-google-maps-trends-navigation-apps-2018\n
\nhttps://themanifest.com/app-development/how-advertise-google-maps\n
\nhttp://info.brandmuscle.com/StateofLocalMarketing2017_Download-Report.html\n

Google Maps advertising: an intro for local businesses

In this article:\nWhat is a file sharing app?\nHow can file sharing apps or software help your small business?\nBest file sharing apps to try\nIt doesn’t matter what industry you are in, you have likely emailed a file (or several) to an employee (if you have employees), client, or partnering company. Sharing files like forms, articles, photos, videos, and more becomes a hassle when you’re always emailing them back and forth. And some file types aren’t supported by email. \nIn this article, we’ll go over the advantages of using file sharing apps with for small businesses and list some of the best apps to start with. \nWhat is a file sharing app and why do you need one?\nA file sharing app is a cloud-based system that allows you to easily share files with your team online. You can upload most file types to your app of choice and then organize them in a way that makes it easy for your team to access the files they need. \nYou can also share links to specific files or folders with your customers if they need to review a project or presentation before it is published or presented. \nFile sharing apps were designed to make your life easier. So take advantage of that. Find these many benefits of using a file sharing app:\nConvenience of having everything you need in one place\nReduced costs—if you are storing all of your files in the cloud you don’t need as much physical space for hard copies or server space to back everything up\nSaves time to have files online and in a place where you can type a quick query to find what you need\nAdditional security for your files when you choose the right application\nTop file sharing apps for small business\nIf you’re ready to hop onboard with a file sharing app, consider with one of these solutions. You may find that you only need this on occasion and a free app might work great for you. Or you may need advanced security measures and more storage space, in which case some of these solutions offer premium upgrades for an additional cost. \nGoogle Drive\nGoogle Drive is free for anyone with a Google account. Just go to drive.google.com and log in with your free Gmail address. You’ll have access to create and edit text documents, spreadsheets, and slide presentations, and you’ll be able to upload just about any files that you need to store online. \nYou’ll also be able to share files easily and set permissions for whether a person can edit, comment, or view the file that you share. \nOne caveat with the free version is that it only has 15GB of storage. If you’re only storing text documents and spreadsheets, that may work just fine for you and your team (each person can use their own account). However, if you have large file types like videos or hundreds and thousands of files that you need to store, then you may need an upgraded plan. \nWith Google One, you can expand your Google Drive storage space and receive additional benefits. \nPayment plans for Google One:\n100GB: $1.99/month or $19.99/year when paid annually\nThis includes, you guessed it, 100GB of storage, access to Google experts, option to add your family (or team) to the plan, and extra member benefits. \n200GB: $2.99/month or $29.99/year when paid annually\nThis includes 200GB of storage, everything from the first plan, and 3% back in the Google Store. \n2TB: $9.99/month or $99.99/year when paid annually\nThis includes 2TB of storage, everything from the first plan, and 10% back in the Google Store. \nIf your business uses G-Suite, you may already have access to more Google Drive storage depending on your plan. \nMicrosoft OneDrive\nAccess files and photos from any device with OneDrive. With OneDrive, you can also edit and share your files, and it will back up and protect any files that are saved in OneDrive. With Office apps you can also collaborate on documents in real-time. \nMicrosoft has several plans that include OneDrive. The first is their free plan which only includes 5GB of storage. If you need additional storage space, we suggest upgrading to the next plan. \nMicrosoft’s paid plans include:\nOneDrive 100 GB (Personal): $1.99/month\nThis plan provides 100 GB of storage on OneDrive, with no additional features. \nOneDrive for Business Plan 1: $5.00/month per user\nThis plan includes 1TB of storage for each user and requires an annual commitment. \nOneDrive for Business Plan 2: $10.00/month per user\nThis plan includes unlimited cloud storage for each user and advanced security and compliance capabilities. It also requires an annual commitment. \nIf you have either of the Microsoft 365 Business plans, you will have OneDrive available for each user on that plan, too. \nDropbox\nDropbox is great for file sharing and backing up your files in a digital space. It also offers file recovery if you accidentally delete the wrong file and version history so you can rollback to a previous version if you change your mind about an edit you made. \nYou can easily create links to files or folders to share them with other team members or customers for collaboration and review. And it’s easy to create folders and keep your files organized rather than digging through your email to find the right attachment. \nDropbox Basic is their free plan, but it only offers 2GB of storage space. You can certainly start there to test it out, but we’re willing to bet you’ll need more space than that. No worries though, you can always upgrade to a paid plan from Basic. \nDropbox business plans:\nProfessional: $19.99/month\nThis plan allows one user, provides 3TB of secure storage and a few additional highlights:\nSend up to 100GB of files with Dropbox Transfer\nMobile offline folders\nRemote account wipe\nDocument watermarking\nPriority email and chat support\nStandard: $15/user per month \nThis plan must start with at least 3 users, allows 5TB of storage per user, and include collaboration tools. Additional highlights:\nSingle admin login to manage teams\nAdmin console and audit log\nSecure encryptions\nGranular sharing permissions\nPriority email, chat, and phone support\nAdvanced: $25/user per month\nThis plan must start with at least 3 users and allows as much space as you need. Plan highlights include:\nEverything included in the Standard plan\nAdvanced admin controls\nTiered roles for admin\nSingle sign on (SSO) integration\nInvite enforcement\n

Best file sharing apps for your small business

In this article:\nHow to encourage customers to wear a face mask\nWhat to do when a customer refuses to wear a mask\nWhether or not to wear a face mask during a pandemic has become largely political across the country, and as such, you may find some customers refuse to wear face masks, even if this type of PPE (personal protective equipment) is required in your area for your type of business. We’re not here to discuss the politics, but rather the policies that your business has in place, and discuss ways of dealing with customers who refuse to follow those policies. \nHow to encourage customers to wear face masks\nOwning a public-facing business during a pandemic is not easy, and new local laws that require masking in public can make that even more difficult—particularly if your business has customers frequently coming through its doors. \nNot everyone is comfortable wearing a face mask, and because of this, you may need to provide some additional encouragement and support around this policy. \nHere are some ways that you can encourage your customers to wear face masks:\nPut up signs throughout your business (and especially at the entrance) that make it very clear that you require masks to be worn in your facilities, along with any exceptions you may have (like when sitting at one’s designated table in a restaurant, small children, people with certain medical conditions, etc.)\nShare updates to masking policies on your social media channels and website\nProvide free face masks to those who may not have them\nTrain and support your employees and provide them with the resources to help enforce your policies\nWhat can you do when a customer refuses to wear a face mask?\nIt’s no secret that many people are averse to wearing face masks for various reasons, and some may refuse to do so when they enter your business. This may happen even if masks are required by law in your area (or if you have chosen to make them mandatory in your business where they aren’t required by law). So, what are some effective ways of dealing with a customer that won’t wear a mask?\n(Image)\n\nMake a plan\nIt’s always better to be prepared in advance, rather than getting surprised on the spot. Make a plan with your staff for how to handle customers who refuse to wear a mask. If you already have policies in place for dealing with upset customers, great, use them!\nWhat would you do if a customer tried to come in without a shirt or shoes? The premise is similar with masking. \nTalk to your employees about what to do in this situation and be a support to them as they handle angry customers. The next few steps can help you in your planning. \nHave extra disposable masks on hand\nGive your customer the benefit of the doubt by first offering them a mask before escalating the situation. Maybe they don’t have one, left theirs at home, or didn’t know about your mask-wearing policies. Keep extra masks on hand for your employees to hand out should they need them. \nKeep your emotions in check\nWhen dealing with any upset customer, but especially one who thinks their rights are being infringed upon, it is important to keep emotion out of it. If you can’t talk to the customer without getting angry and letting them hear all about it, then designate another employee who can stay rational and calm while talking to the customer. \nKeep your tone calm and professional as you speak with all customers, even those who are being belligerent. \nDon’t debate with or shame your customer\nDon’t try to debate with or shame your customer into wearing a mask. That may only escalate the situation. Simply give them the facts. They must wear a mask to enter the premises or they will need to leave. You don’t need to explain to them why they need to wear a mask other than it is your business’s policy (or the local ordinance). Trying to argue the effectiveness of masks or convince people to change their position is generally not an effective approach.\nRefuse service to those who don’t comply with your policy\nYou have every right to refuse service to a customer who won’t wear a mask, unless the customer has a legitimate medical excuse or physical condition that prevents it.\n“As long as businesses are enforcing that in a nondiscriminatory manner and they are requiring everyone to wear the mask, they have the right on their premises to say if you want to shop here you have to wear a mask,” David Senseman, a Minneapolis attorney, told \nKare 11\n. “Unfortunately, there is a lot of misunderstanding about what rights we have and who we have them against. That is not something the constitution gives you a right to prevent. You can exercise your right by not shopping at that particular store.”  \n(Image)\n\nProvide alternative service or delivery methods\nSome people may feel less upset about your policy if you inform them they can still get the goods or services they want in other ways. For retail, restaurant, or other businesses that deal with the sale of goods, setting up curbside, drive-through, and/or delivery options can defuse tempers and still allow people to get the things they need.\nConsulting businesses or other service providers can get creative in the use of Zoom or other not-on-site ways of interacting with customers, or set up meetings outside where masks may not be required and where proper social distancing can be practiced to help ensure the safety of all parties.\nCall security or law enforcement if necessary\nIf you have customers who refuse to wear a mask, refuse to leave, and start to cause a disturbance, you may need to call your security team or local law enforcement to help de-escalate the situation. \nKeep yourself, your employees, and your other customers safe by engaging the help of people who are trained to handle these types of situations. You do not need to put yourself or anyone else in danger to deal with a customer who is causing trouble. Encourage your employees and other customers to keep their distance from the upset customer until security or law enforcement arrives. \nThis should also be part of your crisis plan, and be thoroughly discussed and reviewed with all employees beforehand, and refreshed regularly in training.

How to deal with customers who won’t wear a face mask

Type “remove Google review” into your Google search bar, and the search engine will return an astronomical 4.6 BILLION results! Clearly, bad customer reviews are on the minds of local business owners and operators.\nEvery business owner dreads receiving a negative online review from a customer. It’s a justifiable fear, since close to 9 in 10 consumers trust online reviews as highly as recommendations from friends and family, and one negative review can cost your business 30 customers. So, once a customer publishes a negative review on a site like Google, Facebook, or Yelp, what can you do to fix it?\nIt’s generally very difficult to remove bad reviews from a third-party site like Yelp or Google. You need to be able to:\nShow the site managers that the review violates the site’s terms of service by being “inappropriate” — a subjective area that relies on a judgment call.\nProve it has been written by a competitor or otherwise fabricated.\nConvince the person who wrote the review to take it down.\nPursuing any of these strategies can mean a long, difficult road with uncertain outcomes. Ultimately, you don’t have complete control over whether a posted review stays or goes.\nIf you can’t remove the negative review, what’s your recourse when negative feedback pops up and hurts your business? In this case, the best defense is a good offense. Here are some proactive steps you can take to protect yourself and mitigate the damage done by a negative review:\nClaim your business listings\n \non review sites like Yelp and Google\nBy claiming your business’s listings on review sites, you empower yourself as the owner to contact the site manager to request removal of the review, and to respond to reviews directly.\nClick for our easy how-to articles:\nHow to claim your Google My Business profile\nHow to claim your business listing on Yelp\nCreate and claim your Facebook business page\nClaim your TripAdvisor listing\nGet your business listed on OpenTable\nHow to claim your Foursquare business profile\nRefer to our \nfree business listings\n article for many more!\nRespond to negative reviews\nSince it’s rare for an online review site to agree to take down a negative review, the next best thing is to acknowledge the customer’s experience by posting a response. This is an important step, since studies show 56%-70% of complaining customers will use a business again if their concern is resolved. Keep your tone empathetic and avoid getting defensive — this can actually be an opportunity to generate more sales. By engaging with customers and resolving their concerns, you can generate repeat business, which can increase revenue by 47%.\nRead our complete article on \nhow to respond to bad reviews\n for more.\nGet more positive reviews from your best customers\nGetting more online reviews is one of the most important things you can do to attract customers and increase sales. First, it helps customers find your business online because review content on business rating sites accounts for 10.3% of your local search engine ranking. Second, research from Cornell University professors found that simply encouraging online reviews can improve a business’s online ratings—with one-star gains translating to 39% more revenue—and each additional review you receive increases revenue by .49%.\nRead our article on \nhow to get more reviews\n for more.


191 articles found in “Learning”

How to create and claim your MerchantCircle business listing

A guide to business ethics: How to navigate ethical issues in small business

Google Maps advertising: an intro for local businesses

Best file sharing apps for your small business

How to deal with customers who won’t wear a face mask

Can you remove negative reviews from sites like Google, Facebook, and Yelp?

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