About 6 months ago we discovered that our Alexander Heating and Air Conditioning Google Places suddenly disappeared from the search engine.

Confused and upset – I went into full research mode to try and figure out why our listing was down.

After spending DAYS in drenched in this research – I was shocked to find out why it was taken down, and why if you have a home address listed or you do not serve customers at your address 95% of the time, yours will be taken down too!

Google has spent this past year taking down tens of thousands of businesses that they feel do not qualify as a store front and they are not warning people before they do it. One day you will just notice you are gone!

And if you think that is bad, it is a virtual nightmare to get it back up as it can take MONTHS – if you ever see it come back up.

The problem?

If you go to your Google Places Dashboard you will see an area where you fill out this information:

What most of us have done wrong and why we were taken down
As most of us did – we choose the “No, all customers come to the business location” and we wanted our address to be seen, so we did not click the “Do not show my business address location”

What YOU NEED TO DO to make sure they do not take you down!

If you DO NOT have a storefront and do not see about 95% of your clients at your location – Google WILL take you down eventually! (And as I mentioned, it took us about 6 months to get ours back up and I have heard, most never get back up)

This is what you need to do:

1. Click on the “Yes, this business serves customers at their location”
2. Click the “Do not show my business address on My map listing
3. Choose your areas you serve.

NOW, I can hear you saying “But I want my business to show up on Google Maps and on the city listings” and THE GOOD NEWS is that you don’t disappear from that great listing! The only thing that changes is that instead of the “red pin” you get a “red circle”!!!
Below you can see how Alexander Heating and Air Conditioning appears..
We are the (C) on this map. We also pull up as #1 on the local list.

So – there is absolutely NO GOOD REASON to not  do the above as suggested.

It is known that if you are a service provider that is known to go to homes like Window Cleaners, HVAC, Electricians, Plumbers, etc. – Google is alerted to you. But the next wave of removals I would guess could be home based consultants.

WARNING: Now, after doing a ton of research, I also know that when you make any adjustments to your Google Places – it can get put into pending status …. I don’t know what to tell you about that, but to say – don’t go in there and many a ton of changes. Just change the mentioned settings.

If you want to learn more about the topic – Put in the Google Search Bar “Google Places Taken Down” and you’ll find a ton of articles written on the topic.

My hope is that I will save you a ton of time, frustration and grief by warning you about this. I sure wish someone had warned us.

Yesterday we finally saw our Google Places back up after about 6 months!

PS! If you had paid someone to set it up for you in the past – do not assume they know about this. What I have found that many in the Local SEO world don’t even know about this. So either forward this to them, or make the changes yourself.

Christine’s Google+

I am  excited to announce that my book Eastern Inferno has made the
Wall Street Journal’s Best-Selling Books List! Wall Street Journal Best Selling Books

Eastern Inferno presents the remarkable personal journals of a German soldier (my grandfather) who participated in Operation Barbarossa and subsequent battles on the Eastern Front, revealing the combat experience of the German-Russian War as seldom seen before.

Eastern Inferno

The most effective and powerful training ground for becoming a savvy, skilled copywriter is working in the “fundraising” world—as nothing requires greater skills of persuasion, emotional connection and hitting the psychological triggers than writing effective fundraising letters.

The sole purpose of a fundraising letter is to connect with the reader and compel them to “do and respond.” Anything less than a “yes” response is considered a failure. There is no gray area, they either donate or they don’t.

While working as a copywriter for a large TV Broadcast Network, I spent much of my time crafting fundraising letters and materials with the goal of garnering more contributors. In writing effective letters and video scripts, I had to quickly determine who I was speaking to, what their heart language was and how to lead them down a path that led to the results I desired.

Here are three that stand out to me …

This Product is NOT for you.

There is a radio ad about a weight loss supplement that starts its pitch by stating boldly:

“If you only need to lose 10lbs, this product is not for you.”
It goes on to state how the product is ONLY for those who need to lose a lot of weight.

Now, do you think they really don’t want to sell to those who only need to lose 10lbs or less, or that those people would not benefit? Absolutely NOT!

They know that people who need to lose 5 or 10 pounds will respond even stronger to this ad, because it insinuates that it works so well—that people will lose lots of weight!

Only One per Household.

Another trick of the trade that many TV and Radio marketers use is the old “only one per household” limit.

This trick causes people to want the product even more. When someone hears that they are ONLY allowed to buy “one,” it makes them think that this product is so hot that people want to buy as many as they can. Also, this strategy turns a buyer’s attitude from “They are lucky to get my order” to “Can I buy from you” … A total change in the buying psychology!

If your Last Name Starts with.

Another marketing strategy which is commonly used on the radio is the “People with last names starting with A-K can call today and those with their last names starting with L-Z can call tomorrow to order.”

Do you really believe that this company, which is trying to sell products, is actually limiting when people are allowed to order? Nope! What they are doing is seeding the idea that they are so slammed with orders that they need to control the inflow of calls. This illusion makes people want the product even more and marketers know that these people will instantly call, even though they are told they cannot.

Psychology is just so important in sales – what motivates and triggers a response is pretty predictable. Whether you are one of those who seem to get caught emotionally to these pitches, or someone who is looking to write better copy, it’s a good thing to learn the tricks of the trade.

The unthinkable!

You take a peek at your client’s website and notice that they disrupted the flow of the content by adding photos, charts and graphs between paragraphs.
They’ve broken up paragraphs, changed locations of the bullet list, and rearranged paragraphs.

They turned your masterpiece into a chopped up, garbled piece of content that no longer works!

Copywriting is all about strategy, and that strategy requires a specific flow. Without a strategic flow, your message won’t create results.

Skillfully crafting a piece of copy requires you to take control of the reader’s thoughts, emotions and experience. You must be in control as you lead them step-by-step down a path that causes them to respond as you desire. You should avoid adding any sort of distractions or misplaced content that could lose them.

Persuasive copy must start by grabbing the reader’s attention, and then swiftly move to connect with them emotionally. Establishing an emotional connection with a reader is not easy, and even when you succeed …it remains in a very fragile state. Once you have the reader emotionally connected, you must hold them connected while continuing your message – one false move and they will move out of “emotional state” back to logic and you have missed your opportunity.

Whether you’re a copywriter or someone who has had someone create content for you …
Know that you must GO WITH THE FLOW!

There is an incredible power that words have when put onto paper. Words have the power to cause the reader to feel fear, get excited, cause action, or even shut down.

To effectively engage and cause a reader to respond to your words, you must succeed in emotionally connecting with them. Without emotional connection, there will be no success.

There are many tools you can use to emotionally connect with your reader. One of the most powerful and effective ways to accomplish this is to ask a question.

You see, the human brain is actually required to answer questions. Even if the person being asked the question doesn’t want to answer it, their brain will continue to go through the process of answering it – and it will connect with the answer. This is so powerful.

There was a book I read years ago, whose title and author I don’t remember, that spoke about a man doing marketing research. He came across a homeless man holding a sign that said “Will Work for Food” and asked him if he could pay him $60 to change the message on the sign for one hour… The homeless man agreed and the marketing guy changed the sign to say:

What if you were hungry?

The result was phenomenal … in one hour, people gave him three times as much money as he normally got..  And why?

Let’s take a look at what was written and why it worked so well.

There are two powerful reasons why this phrase was so successful. First, it asked a question that required the reader to ask themselves, “What if I were hungry?”  Even if the person reading the sign said to themselves, “I am not going to answer that” – too late! Their brain was processing the question, and it was going to answer it.

Then, the answer hit directly into the heart and emotions of the reader – causing them to emotionally connect to their feelings and thoughts about what it would be like if they were hungry. The most common answer for most people would be … I would hope somebody would give me money to feed me.

This is such a powerful principle. You see, most people have a wall over their heart and the way to penetrate that – and get them to open up to what you’re writing – is to bring that wall down.  Only after you bring that wall down can you connect with them on an emotional level.

Does asking a question always work? Absolutely not. You never want to ask a question to which the reader may answer “no” because what will actually happen is that the opposite will take place and their wall will go up. You want to only ask a question you are pretty sure they will say yes to or agree with.

Next time you find yourself wanting to emotionally connect with your readers, or even to your listeners in person, remember the power of emotionally connecting through questions. If you can successfully connect with them, you’ll be on the path to getting what you want.

I could get my clients’ products featured and highlighted in reviews in the New York Times, CNN, TIME Magazine and other worldwide publications for free. Purchasing an equivalent ad in the New York Times would have cost my client a small fortune—yet there they were… a picture and review of their product accompanied by information about their company and its web address.

Looking back, I know the key to my success was my skills and knack for positioning my client and their products in a way that made the press and media want to talk about it. You see, most believe that a press release is just a tool to announce themselves or their product—missing what a press release is really about. A press release is about highlighting you… but, more importantly, it is about weaving-in and pitching a possible story that the editor reading it could envision using for a story.

Think of a press release as a suggestion for a great story idea for an editor, yet it includes your product or service. It does require persuasion, but can be extremely potent when used effectively in a press release!

Let me give you an example.
Say I want to get some publicity for a client of mine that is a “Relationship Matchmaker.” First, I would think of a story that could be interesting for the media to write about, and then I would weave that theme into her service announcement.

The title of the press release could be “Matchmaking Business Grows in Recession” and while I would announce her service – it would be woven into the theme of how the recession has caused online and matchmaking services to boom.

I could also weave the theme into her quote about how the recession has caused online dating and matchmaking to explode in popularity. In effect, you “suggest a story” for an editor, and you better bet that the first person this editor will call or mention is this person.

I have another client who has an online appointment scheduling software. Instead of simply announcing his product, I wrote about how no-shows cost companies millions every year and this is one of the products that could help eliminate no-shows.

Next time you find yourself writing a press release, think deeply about a possible story that you can weave into your announcement that will grab an editor’s attention and make them want to write about you.

Copyright 2010 by Christine Alexander, WriteStrategy. www.write-strategy.com Permission granted to post where you desire as long as credits stay intact.

They also discovered that there was a much higher increase in immunization when two certain words were used in the story.

What where those two words?
“Delay” and “Shortage”

Savvy copywriters, internet marketers and sales people have known this secret forever: Nothing makes a buyer more motivated than the belief that there’s a limited supply. That if they don’t grab it now, they may lose out.

People are motivated more by what they may lose compared to what they can get.

If you put two offers in front of someone, the one that is most likely to motivate them is the one that triggers the feeling of missing an opportunity or losing.

It’s amazing to me that every year, like clockwork, we hear about flu shot shortages or delays. Do you think it’s a coincidence? Not many people are motivated to get their flu shot until they suddenly hear that there may not be one for them!

Another example of this strategy is the classic “popular toy” that is suddenly in short supply right before Christmas. They advertise and pump it up months before – knowing that once they are limited, the frenzy will start.

It’s a little known secret that toy marketers know —if parents can’t get their hands on “that toy” before Christmas, the parent feels guilty and will plan to buy it right after Christmas – as soon as it is on the shelves. The toy company still gets the sale – yet they get double the action.

There are many ways to present an offer that will trigger this “I may lose out” feeling.

When presenting your products or services, keep this strategy in mind. People are more motivated by something that they may not be able to have than what they can have. Limited time, limited slots and limited inventory can all work effectively to your advantage.

Copyright 2010 by Christine Alexander, WriteStrategy.

Everyone is looking for a deal. Psychologically, getting a deal makes it easier for a buyer to give themselves permission to take the plunge. Buyers are persuaded first by emotion— then they justify their choice with logic.

Because they emotionally want it, they can quickly justify their desire by purchasing it because it’s a deal— and because it’s a deal – it gives them the excuse to buy— without regret.

Retailers know this psychology well. The suggested retail price on a piece of clothing is an intentionally inflated price. They really never intended to get that price, but by inflating the starting price – they have lots of wiggle room to always have it on sale, or heavily discounted. It’s a wonderful thing. They get the sale at the price they really wanted, and the buyer walks away happy thinking they got a deal! A win-win situation.

As a business owner – always consider this strategy when pricing your products. Today’s consumer doesn’t feel good about paying full price. Let them feel as they are getting a deal and you will find both of you will walk away happy.

Behind each attention-grabbing video there was a strategy at its core. A good video pitch will emotionally connect with the viewer—making them want to hear more about what you have to say.

There are some easy steps you can take to make sure your message connects emotionally with your viewers. I will walk you through the basic steps that, if implemented, will have you creating your very own attention-grabbing pitch.

Before we proceed any further – I would like you to first think about what you will use this video pitch for. Will it be for your website? Social media site? Used as an email to pitch prospects? Your answer will determine the tone of your message – whether it’s fun and light hearted or serious and business like.  After you have determined this, you will be ready to create your video pitch.

Here are the four main ingredients of a successful video pitch:

• Problem /Pain Statement (Problem to be solved)
• Value Proposition (How you solve that problem)
• Why You (Why should they use you)
• Call to action (Call now, Sign up, Email)

Below are two examples that show the difference between what most people do with their pitches and the better way—which I will walk you through.

Here is a typical pitch you hear at meetings.

My name is Sam Jones and I have Sam’s Pizza in Apex. We are a pizza restaurant which delivers pizza to your home or you can eat in our restaurant which is open all the time. We use fresh ingredients in all our pizzas. Come by and visit us, we are located on Old Apex Highway next to Duncan Donuts.

Now let’s look at what this pitch is like when we add, in order, the strategic ingredients.

Are you sick of your delivery pizza taking forever to be delivered?
Sam’s Pizza guarantees you a 20 minute delivery or it’s free. We use only the freshest ingredients and are open 24/7. When that pizza craving hits—Call us! It’s the best tasting pizza around and guaranteed to be there on time.

As you can see, it is far more attention-grabbing to start with the problem and then move to the solution. To succeed, you must figure out why your product stands head and shoulders above the competition.

Now – let’s move forward and create your very own perfect pitch.

Problem/Pain Statement
This is your chance to emotionally connect with your viewer. State a problem, something the listener agrees with. You can display it in the form of a question; just make sure your target market will answer that question with a “YES”.

Example: Are you sick of your delivery pizza taking forever to be delivered?

If you don’t want to risk a possible “NO” answer, you could make it a statement like
“A big complaint we always hear is that delivery pizzas never arrive on time.”

Question: What is their problem to be solved/why do they need my company? _______________________________

Value Proposition/Positioning - What do you do different then your competitors? Why is it better? You must know what it is that makes you unique and causes you to stand out.

Example: Sam’s Pizza Shop guarantees you a 20 minute delivery or your order is free.

Question: What makes you different? What is your solution to the problem?______________________________________________________________

Why you? - In the positioning statement you grabbed their attention, now add more reasons why you are the company they should choose. What have you done for your customers? What makes your service special? How much money can you save them? This area is where you need to communicate the value that you bring.

Example: Our restaurant is open all the time and we use fresh ingredients in all our pizzas.

Question: Why you? ____________________________________________________________________

Closing - This is your call to action, what do you want them to do? Call you? Stop by your restaurant? Sign up for a class?

Example: When that pizza craving hits—Call us! It’s the best tasting pizza around and guaranteed to be there on time.

Question: What do you want them to do?____________________________________________________________________

Now- look over your answers and put them all together!

Problem /Pain Statement + (Introduce you) +Value Proposition +Why You + Call to action = a compelling, attention-grabbing video that is sure to be a hit.
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After you have put it together – write it down on an index card and practice it over and over again. If you really do this, within no time, you will know your pitch like the back of your hand and can focus on delivering it in a way that will “wow” your viewers.

I hope this information has helped you create a powerful video pitch. This formula can also be used when creating a networking elevator pitch.

If you get stuck or have any questions, please feel free to contact me at
christine@write-strategy.com and I will be more than happy to assist you.

Please do not reproduce or cite in whole or in part without written permission from the author. For permission, contact the author at christine@write-strategy.com. Copyright 2010 – Christine Alexander, WriteStrategy.