New Venture Lab: Equipping Christian Entrepreneurs

"Seventy percent of Web searches start at Google, and 89 percent of all clicks come from page one. Eighty-four percent of people use the Web to look for local, main-street-type businesses; if that’s you, ranking on page one for your search keywords is still extremely important.

But a second component that goes beyond keyword search is a business’s online reputation. Many local businesses work hard to get referrals, but typically the first thing a person will do after getting a referral is Google the business name. Even when a client gets referred to you, if she doesn't like what other people say about you online she’ll tend to keep looking, so it’s critical for a local business to manage and proactively build its online reputation."