Question: when was the last time you searched for a business online? Studies suggest that about 90 percent of consumers search online for vendors for their needs…whether these needs are which restaurant to fulfill the cravings of their stomach to which business to install their garage door opener.

Every day millions of people go online to search for businesses exactly like yours. However, are you taking the right steps to make sure your website will be found?

If you want your business to show up as the solution for your target audience’s needs, you’ll want to do everything you can to be listed at the top of their search results.

Submit Your Site to Google
Search engines crawl the web collecting information to index millions of web pages every day. While your site is likely to be discovered by Google without you doing anything at all, you can speed up the indexing process by submitting your site to Google at https://www.google.com/business/.

Submit Your Site to Bing
Just like Google, Bing likely has a listing for your business already. Claim an existing listing or if needed, add a new one.

You can also complete your listing profile. Adding complete information about your business helps you tell the best story. Add photos of your business, services, hours, and list the ways people can contact you.

Verify your listing, and you are good to go!

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Link to Your Social Profiles from Your Website
You probably already have a social media presence for your brand. Add your site’s link to your Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, YouTube, and anywhere else you have an online presence.

Regularly share a status update about your site on each network. Since people are more likely to visit sites through links, you increase your chances of getting discovered on search engines faster.

Sign Up for Ratings and Reviews Websites
As we have seen, consumers are increasingly more likely to start their research process online for a local professional. Armed with that knowledge, you need to make sure your business is listed on the major websites that provide ratings and reviews for various services. Here are a few to check out:
Yelp
Yelp has been around for several years now and is the gold standard for getting information on local restaurants and businesses. This is a great place to encourage your happy customers to leave some feedback. If you receive negative feedback, it gives you the opportunity to engage with that consumer and turn their experience around.

Get your business on Yelp at https://biz.yelp.com.

Angie’s List
Angie’s List is an aggregator that pulls in reviews of local businesses. It attempts to circumvent fake reviews by charging consumers a monthly fee in order to browse their listings and review businesses.
Check it out and see if it’s right for your business.

What advice do you have for other dealers to make sure their business is found online quickly? Share you comments below, and share this post with them!