Consultant Advise PC Computer Repair Firms On How To Get Customers Now That Google Has Turned Off Adwords for Them

Minneapolis Internet Marketing Consultant Earl Netwal, also known as the Micro Business Specialist, has recently published a new article on Medium, about How PC Computer Repair firms can best react to the recent decision by Google to no longer allow ads from the industry.

The article advocates that small local computer repair business turn their focus to free listings on Google Maps and the Google 3 pack.

In the article, Netwal points out the need for businesses to claim and verify their Google My Business page and then optimize it. “For the most part,” Netwal says, “this merely means filling in all of the blanks. Give Google what it wants: full and complete information.”

There are specifics that businesses need to be aware of, he continues. These include making sure the business chooses the correct category for their business and where applicable secondary categories.

As an example, Netwal points out that many computer repair businesses do Data Recovery work. “There is a Data Recovery category available on the Google My Business Platform, which should be the second category for most small computer repair firms unless that is their primary focus.”

Once the Google My Business Page is claimed, verified and optimized, the article shifts to discussing how regular posting on Google My Business Page Posts can serve to increase a firm’s credibility in Google’s eyes in terms of both the services offered and the market area they serve.

Netwal thinks the reason Google recently decided on a wholesale ending of Google Adwords for the Computer Repair niche was due to a lot of affiliate marketers and lead generation website taking advantage of the public selling otherwise free virus protection software, and/or leads to legitimate services rather than providing the services themselves. In recent years he notes that other clients of his in the Locksmith business were similarly affected when Google kicked most of them off the Google My Business Platform until they proved themselves to be legitimate.

“They took a different approach this time,” Earl says. “With Locksmiths, they took down the Google My Business Pages of real locksmiths, but still allowed the scammers that infected that industry to continue to run ads. One of my locksmith clients mounted a mini campaign to protest that, and I am sure others did as well.” Maybe that did some good, in that the current policy affects everyone.

And it must also be hurting Google itself as total revenues for the niche must have generated millions in revenue to Google.

Netwal argues that regular posting on Google Posts serves to prove to Google that a firm is active and still in business - and crucially, in his opinion, what its market area actually is.

“Many firms claim market areas well beyond where 80% or their customers are located,” Netwal explains. That is legitimate since many valuable services can be offered remotely, meaning that a business could honestly claim to serve the entire nation, if not the world.

Netwal’s article recommends computer repair businesses use Google posts and the images they add to the posts from around their immediate city or suburbs and/or those very close by. “This helps prove your geography,” he asserts. “I think it is also important to change up your content.”

Netwal confides that he tends to start with a minimum of 12-20 or more post topics and then once created rotates them overtime. “For my clients,” he says, “I use a posting service that allows me to use spin text to change the precise wording of these posts.” In addition, he reports that he switches up the order of the post rotation regularly and also the precise time of day for these posts.

“My goal in doing this is to appear as spontaneous as possible, while largely automating the system.”

He thinks this is important. Google is trying to defeat the spammers and lead generation sites. They want to deal with real businesses run by real people. But while many real businesses will start out fully intending to do daily or routine Google My Business Page posts, it is a task that seems to drop off the radar in short order.

That is the main advantage of the automated posting system which can be set up once a month and then supplemented from time to time by new unscheduled posts.

“I like to start with service-related Questions and Answers that include the main keywords that were most successful when we were doing Google Adwords. Once we have those down, we can add some ‘geo-posts’ about the town, and events occurring in town, be it a community festival, holiday parades, sports happenings etc. to add that local flair,” Netwal explains.

Each post serves to spark Google bots into action and reinforces the Bots understanding about a business’ relevant keywords and location which in turn informs Google that your business deserves to be shown in the Google 3 Pack and in the Google Maps ranking.

“Consistent activity over time will increase a firm’s ranking relative to their local competitors. And that is the name of the game,” Earl continues. “Bottom line you want to be on the 3 pack, and your definitely want to be on the top of the Google Maps ranking for a broad an area as possible,” Netwal maintains.

To enhance this effort, Netwal recommends bringing in the big guns to assist. And in his opinion the most effective add on strategy is to use the power of the press to enhance your businesses reputation with Google.

Google treats news separately from the rest of internet content. Netwal points out that when you do a Google search for something, Google will display tabs for all, images, news, shopping and on occasion other categories. This News category is where the power is - in Netwal’s estimation.

“Google has long used and continues to use backlinks from other sites as a way of measuring a websites authority. That remains true today, although the weighting of value of these backlinks has varied over time by Googles algorithm. The same remains true today for the Google 3 pack and Maps,” according to Netwal.

“There is an art and strict criteria to writing Press Releases,” Netwal states. While not difficult, he suggests that it is enough to keep many from initiating the strategy. Some businesses also wonder what they can write a press release about. But the biggest barrier is the cost of distribution.

“It is one thing to write a press release, it is another to get it widely distributed to more than a handful of press sites and to get them to publish your all-important backlink. That is why you need to use a press release distribution service and they can be pricey.”

Some press release services can cost as much as $1000 a pop. Netwal, has negotiated bulk packages which he uses for his clients which has helped them cut the cost significantly.

“This has helped me help a lot more businesses get results,” he says. “For about a quarter of what one press release may cost for distribution, I can set up both a routine Google posting campaign and still have room for at least one press release a month.” However, he will refuse new clients if they are located too close to another of his clients.

And for those who fear writing press releases and need help coming up with topics, Netwal has that done that for them.

“This is a proximity game,” he says. “My clients are not fighting to win over the free world, just their local 10-30 mile market area. We have been successful in doing so with these tactics, and we can help others do the same,” he concludes.