Search Engines

Introducing Managed Metadata

You may have heard about metadata over the last few years especially in regards to government agencies and what information they do and don't record about us.  Metadata has received a bad rap lately and been associated with clandestine organizations but you might be surprised to hear that it is something you can use to help your business get found online ahead of your competitors and to make your search results richer and more compelling. Metadata is simply 'data about data' it helps to formally describe some information in a way that makes it easy for a computer program such as a Search Engine to know exactly what a document or page is saying or is about.  You may have seen it referred to by other names such as Structured Data, Microdata, Markup or Rich Snippets and there are many different forms of metadata such as schema.org and the meta tags you include on your website to tell Facebook or Twitter what to say when people share your page. In the last few years Google, Bing, Yahoo and Yandex have started…
Paul Gordon
March 10, 2015
online presencestartups

Manage your startup online. everywhere!

myPresences was created as a service to help small businesses manage their bricks and mortar stores online and to help them maximize their online opportunities.  Businesses like Cafes, Bars, Salons, Restaurants and Hotels have lots of places online where they need to manage their business profiles, handle consumer feedback and promote their business. But what about startups that don't have a storefront and their public face is predominantly online? Business like us for example .. I love the idea of dogfooding our own software because as users we tend to find and fix those pain points that our users are having quicker and have a better understanding of the best way to improve our product.  So while we have been managing mypresences online presence and reputation with mypresences .. as an online business we could not take advantage of a lot of our own features. After a recent conversation I was reminded that myPresences could be very useful to startups as well and over the last month we have added support for over 30 new services that are specific or…
Paul Gordon
March 3, 2015
online presence

Online presence and local business groups

Online is becoming more and more important for local businesses and it will only continue to grow as a means to attract new customers and keep the ones a business already has. Online is not just about individual businesses however,  there is a collective advantage to improving the overall online presence and reputation of a group of businesses in a localised area. Improving the online presence of the businesses in a local area will not only benefit those businesses but the community around them and will likely have many other benefits. Local Chamber of Commerce are a great example of organisations that should be embracing the Online Presence of their constituent businesses but there are many other groups that can benefit from a stronger focus online. When I talk about raising the collective online presence & reputation of a local community I mean things like: making sure local businesses are represented everywhere making sure their profiles are accurate and complete ensuring profiles stand out more by including photos and videos managing reviews and trying to have reviews available on as…
Paul Gordon
November 5, 2014
mypresences

The best places to promote a business online

All small business owners should be spending some time looking at new ways to promote their business and the great thing about online is that there are so many places you can list your business for free and lately lots of great new apps that can put your business in front of consumers at the point they are looking to find a business like yours. With a little initial effort you can create an online presence that not only improves your chances of getting found in search engines but gives you a diversified network of places where consumers can find you. Some may only bring you small amount of direct business each year but combined they can make a noticeable (and potentially a large) difference to your bottom line. It can be daunting for the average small business owner though, with so many services to choose from and new ones popping up all the time. Its also hard to tell sometimes which are reputable and which are not, it has never been easier to build a professional looking site with…
Paul Gordon
August 26, 2014
mypresences

Introducing mypresences

Have you noticed how more and more people tend to start their day by picking up their phone or tablet, often while still in bed, they just have to know whats happening. Most people go to Facebook, Twitter, email, messages or maybe a news site. Whatever place they feel they need to connect with what is important for them. Our goal is to be that place for small business owners. When a small business owner goes online for the first time each day we want them to want to come to us first because we are the site that is analogous to opening their doors and getting started for the day but for their online world.  A site where they can see everything that is happening relating to their business online and everything that needs their attention. If we can achieve this goal then we have built an amazing service with users who love what we do and are receiving value on every visit. I see this as a very hard goal to achieve, but it certainly inspires us to…
Paul Gordon
July 1, 2014