Get Found on Google | Tracy Congdon | ABEC's Small Business Review

Get Found on Google | Tracy Congdon | ABEC's Small Business Review

Happy hour just increased your online presence

By Kristy Erdodi

Tracy Congdon

Entrepreneurs find inspiration in all types of places. Tracy Congdon found his at happy hour. As a self-employed credit card processing professional, Tracy was talking business with friends at a bar. His industry was becoming increasingly challenging, thanks to cost-free processing apps on mobile phones. He mentioned his online marketing campaign, developed to fight these obstacles. A local landscaper who couldn’t establish an online presence overheard. “A guy to my left said, ‘I could pay you X amount of dollars to do that for me right now,’ ” Tracy remembers. Get Found on Google had its first client.

The landscaper’s success was almost immediate. “He called me one day and said, ‘I have to hire somebody to answer my phones,’ ” Tracy said. “As I kept putting the pieces in place, he called me and said, ‘I have to get another crew together.’ ” Needless to say, the landscaper spread the word, and Get Found on Google got more clients. And the landscaper’s online presence remains: “He’s still on the first page of Google search and still has about 318 phone calls going in on a monthly basis,” Tracy said.

Although Get Found on Google launched in Belleville, Michigan a little over a year ago, Tracy has been in the business for himself for several years. “In the credit card processing industry, I had to find new ways to get my name out there,” he said. He has since also taken courses on Internet marketing.

In short, Tracy uses multiple avenues to direct traffic to a company’s website. This includes creating business listings, clearing up erroneous listings, putting picture and video marketing in place and maximizing on social media opportunities. “Facebook and Foursquare and Twitter are absolutely mandatory for certain businesses,” Tracy said. “A brick and mortar business can skyrocket their foot traffic and their cash sales by using these three tools.”

Video marketing is another of Tracy’s specialties. “At any given time, for your big key words, there’s probably 4.5 million websites competing for those words nationally and about 10 to16 thousand videos,” he said. So he creates videos, equipping them with careful titles, tags and key words, to enhance search engine optimization. He then tracks his success.

Get Found on Google’s costs typically break down to $15 an hour, which is extremely reasonable for Internet marketing services. Aside from affordability, Tracy also comes with an understanding of his clients’ struggles. After all, it took years of trying to establish an online presence during his credit card processing days for him to “Get Found on Google” today.

If you have found this story to be interesting, informative or inspiring, please let Tracy know! You can contact him at 734-252-9014; visit him at 49575 Bog Rd. #2, Belleville, Michigan; email him at tracy@getfound-on-google.com; or visit the website at www.Facebook.com/GetFoundOnGoogle.