SEO for Local Small Business

You can be sure that your competitors are vying for the top spot in Google SERPs. If you aren’t throwing your hat into the ring, you’re giving business away. As a small business owner, it’s imperative you do everything you can to get your brand in front of as many consumers as possible.

This means embracing new advertising methods, especially given that consumers are spending more time now on their mobile devices than they are in front of their TVs. It’s no secret that the best way to reach Internet-savvy customers is to position yourself highly in Google SERPs.

Google has taken a special interest in aggregating businesses based on their geographic locations. This allows Google to provide its users with useful information on the go, which ensures that the company remains relevant as search transitions from the desktop to mobile.

In order to rank highly in these lists, however, you’re going to have to optimize your on-page SEO, and you’re going to have to engage with customers on a whole new level.

On-Page Optimization

Google analyzes your website to determine what your business is all about. If any on-page factors are off, the search engine will rank you lower than it otherwise would have. And lest you think that you don’t need Google, keep in mind that this means that your competitors will take your place in the SERPs.

The first crucial on-page factor is your domain name itself. Ideally, your domain should speak to what you do and where you are located. The simplest way to go about this is to combine the two pieces of data. Let’s say you own “Bob’s Sports Apparel,” and you operate out of Detroit. Your domain using this simple setup would be:www.bobssportsappareldetroit.com.

Throughout your site, you want to use keywords naturally, and you always want to create copy for human readers. Read your content aloud and ask yourself if it reads naturally. If you have any doubts, you should probably rewrite. Additionally, you’ll want to add your NAP—name, address and phone—data to each page of your site.
Finally, share the love. Your content should not be all about you. It’s important that you present yourself as part of a vibrant community. To that end, you may want to consider collaborating with a local business or donating to a local charity or event. Anything that gives you a reason to blog about your community is great for SEO.

Reviews

Reviews are the lifeblood of brick and mortar businesses in the Internet age. This consumer-generated content gives you immediate social proof, and it definitely increases your visibility in local search engines. Take note: while certain retailers on Amazon are known to purchase reviews from unscrupulous third parties, the same strategy can backfire spectacularly for brick and mortar businesses.

If caught, you might find yourself forking out thousands to a PR firm. You should never pay for reviews. What you can do, however, is encourage your customers to leave organic reviews with in-store leaflets, website callouts and follow-up emails.

Sure, you will receive the odd negative review, but there is no honest business in existence that does not receive at least a few complaints. The truth is, the odd three-star or two-star review makes you look more genuine. When you create your in-store leaflet, you’ll have to decide whether to direct the reviews to your own site or to a review aggregator like Yelp.

Keep in mind that the reviews on your own site won’t hold nearly as much sway with consumers as those found on a third-party site. When responding to negative reviews—if you respond at all—it is of the utmost importance that you do so positively.

Thank the author for their feedback and ask them how you can resolve their issue. If you satisfy the customer, they may alter their review. Antagonize them, and they will come back with friends.

Keeping tabs on the social media marketing landscape is central to your success. If you’d like to have access to even more powerful marketing tips, as well as a way to generate conversion-ready Internet marketing prospects each month, click here to learn about my done-for-you system.

Hank

Building Your Business on Raving Fans

In 1993, author Ken Blanchard published a groundbreaking book called “Raving Fans: A Revolutionary Approach to Customer Service”. The very influential book was used as a framework by many brick and mortar companies to revamp their customer’s experience.

While it has been more than 20 years since the book was published and much of the business landscape has shifted to the web, the principles outlined in Blanchard’s book remain critical to retaining and expanding any business’s customer base.

Blanchard’s premise was simple: Business owners are responsible for creating good relationships with their customers so that they will keep coming back.

This principle was supported by research that showed that customers who have an emotional attachment to a business are more likely to continue to do business with that business—and also recruit their family, friends and associates to use the business as well.

Putting this premise into the context of web-based businesses, if you can create strong emotional bonds with your customers, you can convert them into “raving fans” who will evangelize for your business to their social media contacts and others.

Boiled down to its core elements, Blanchard’s Raving Fans program can be expressed as three secrets:

Secret 1: Be Clear on What You Do

Decide ahead of time what you want your online business to do then stick with your decision. It’s easier for customers to “buy in” to your business if you offer a consistent brand with every interaction.

If you are too diversified or your brand message can’t immediately be grasped by your customers, they are going to have a more difficult time engaging with your business. Remove any obstacles that prevent your customers from trusting and feeling comfortable with your business during every by being consistent and credible.

Secret 2: Give Them What They Want

The purpose of just about any business is to provide customers with something they want or need. To build trust bonds with your customers, you should strive to continually discover what your customers want and try to find solutions that give it to them.

This requires modifying what your business does based on your customers want. What they want today could be entirely different than what they want next week or next year.
The best way to understand what they want is to continually engage in a dialogue with your customers. In other words, if you want to know what they want, ask them.

Secret 3: Consistently Over-Deliver

To build trust bonds and create raving fans, your objective needs to be to “wow” customers with every interaction. Find ways to deliver more – Blanchard refers to this as “plus one percent more” – than what your customers expect.

When you over-deliver with your customer service, you set your business apart from all your competitors. Your customers will notice that you are going the extra mile to genuinely please them, which is something they probably can’t find anywhere else.

And, this is what causes them to be raving fans and to evangelize for your business to their family, friends, and (most importantly for online entrepreneurs) to their social media contacts, which will enable your business communications to go viral.

To learn more techniques like these for improving the profitability of your business, check out our lead generation system by clicking on this link now.

Hank

Do You Want To Make Money But Can't Seem To Get Started?

Guarantee You’ll Make A

Commission Within 30 Days

Total Life Changes Provided with This Opportunity
For Those Who Are Ready....Click Now.

I've been doing this online business thing
for over four years now and I've helped
100's of people get the results they desire.

If you're:
- Tired of wasting money on things that don't work.
- Not sure what you should be doing.
- Not making at least $10k a month.
- Not able to generate fresh leads into your business.

Then you need to claim one of the 20 spots I have here.

===> http://trafficadbar.com/_71ch

To the top,

Hank van den Berghe

hankvandenberghe@gmail.com

3 Reasons Why Asking Yourself “What Would Jesus Do” Kills Your Faith!

Ensure Your Content Marketing is Mobile-Optimized

Increasingly, we are using our mobile phones as our primary means of communication. In fact, mobile devices have now surpassed the desktop computer in terms of sheer numbers. This fact should govern how we create our content.

As more people shift from desktops to mobile devices, marketers need to design for mobile-first. This represents a significant shift in marketing strategy. Those marketers who design content with mobile devices in mind will be ahead of the pack.

With this in mind, here are some tips for creating mobile-optimized content:

Design with a Goal in Mind

You only have a few moments with your target, so you should focus on your goal and getting to that goal as quickly as possible.

Write Strong Headlines

Good headlines are always important and every serious marketer should spend time learning how to craft compelling ones. This is more important than ever when it comes to mobile content. Mobile users generally don’t have a lot of time and skip around from activity to activity on their devices. As a result, you have only a few seconds to pull someone in to your content. That is the job of your headline. Don’t be afraid to test several headlines to find which one works best. Some copywriters advise trying at least thirty headlines for copy or important content.

Design Content in Modules

Since mobile screens are small, and time is short, it is a good policy to design your content in modules or chunks. These can be digested in parts or as a whole. Either way, it makes your content more digestible for mobile users.

Reveal Up Front

With mobile users, you are racing the clock to present your content. It is a good idea to mention your most important points right away. Most people read just the first few lines, or skim the sub-headers. You want to make sure that your audience gets your message.

Copywriting for mobile

Copywriting for mobile devices is different than traditional web-based copywriting. The most important thing to understand is how consumers use their mobile devices. For example, people frequently turn to their mobile device to fill in a pocket of time such as waiting in a car, or for an appointment. The idea then, is to get right to the point and keep the copy short. The old-school, long-form sales letter won’t work on a mobile device.

Test, Test, Test

As with any other form of marketing, testing is crucial for optimizing your mobile content. Since mobile devices are a relatively new advertising medium, there is not as much information or knowledge regarding what works and what doesn’t.

The best way to learn what your audience wants in terms of mobile content is to test your results. Study and measure engagement in order to continually improve your mobile content.

Monitoring the social media marketing landscape is vital to your success. If you’d like to have access to even more powerful marketing tips, as well as a way to generate conversion-ready Internet marketing prospects each month, click here to learn about my done-for-you system.

6 Easy Steps to Creating a Killer Offer

If you have an effective sales funnel, every new customer represents not just a single sale, but a series of sales that increases the average life time value (LTV) of your customer base. But the success of your online business requires driving new customers into your sales funnel.

While there are many techniques for driving traffic into your sales funnel, one of the easiest and most affordable is to create a squeeze page on which offer for free something your niche’s customers will perceive as having high value. This is known as a “killer offer”.

Developing your killer offer can be broken down into a 6-step process:

Step 1 – Research the Competition
Providing a free killer offer in exchange for a prospective customer’s personal information –email address, phone number, etc. – on a squeeze page is nothing new. It’s the exact same platform that many of your competitors currently are using to drive traffic to their sales funnels.

The first step of creating your killer offer, then, is simply seeing what other Internet marketers within your niche are offering as the giveaway on their squeeze pages. You can expand your research by looking at killer offers on squeeze pages outside your niche as well.

Step 2 – Polling Your Existing Base
The best source of determining what your future customers want is your existing customers. Create a short survey that asks such questions as:
• What are the biggest problems related to (your niche) that you currently are experiencing?
• How to you prefer to consume content: Video, PDF, audio files, links?
• What type of content do you like best: Step-by-step tutorials, personal narratives, case studies, or other types of content?

Step 3 – Brainstorm a List of Potential Ideas
Take the information provided by your existing customers and use it to brainstorm a list of potential killer offers. Don’t hold back or be afraid to think outside the box. The purpose of brainstorming is to come up with as many ideas a possible so that you can whittle them down to the two or three best ideas later.

Step 4 – Settle on the Best Idea and Format
Using your brainstorming list, your research on what your competitors are offering, and your existing customers’ input, develop a single killer offer and format that you want to offer for free on your squeeze page.

Step 5 – Build a Framework for Your Killer Offer
It’s time to transform your killer offer from an abstract idea to a genuine product that you can give away on your squeeze page. You can create it entirely on your own by coming up with a few basic central concepts, building a framework around these themes, then filling in the offer with content.
Another option is to see if a similar product already exists as a Private Label Rights (PLR) product that you can either offer as is or modify to fit your needs.

Step 6 – Promote Your Killer Offer on Your Squeeze Page
Once you have created your killer offer, post it on your squeeze page and monitor how responsive your visitors are to it. You may need to tweak it so that it is more appealing and converts more visitors into customers.

To learn more techniques like these for improving the profitability of your business, check out our lead generation system by clicking on this link now.

Hank van den Berghe

Become an Authority Using Case Studies

A major goal of most marketers is to become an authority within their niche. Why? Because people trust, respect and make purchases from authority figures. One excellent way to demonstrate your knowledge and expertise is to provide case studies. A well-written case study will help you position yourself as an authority. Case studies are compelling because they provide concrete evidence or proof of how well a product or service works.

There are two basic kinds of case studies that you can put together, both of which we will examine in this article: The customer based case study and the information based case study.

How to do a customer-based case study

A customer case study is a great way to demonstrate the value of a product or service. Potential buyers naturally trust other customers. This is known as social proof, and it is a very powerful marketing tool. If you have done your market research prior to launching your product or service, you have identified a problem to solve. In the case study, you’ll want to show how your product or service solves this problem.

The key to a great customer case study is detail. Provide concrete evidence such as before and after numbers, percentages and statistics. Data provides concrete proof, which builds credibility. Consider the following two sentences.

“Our sales increased after we used ABC Marketing System.”

“After three weeks of using the ABC Marketing System, we saw traffic and sales increase by 20 percent.”

Which of these two is more strong and convincing?

The second sentence is automatically more credible because it gives specific numbers. “Sales increased by 20 percent.”

Once your case study is written, you can make it more accessible by formatting it for readability. Use info-graphics, images or a slideshow. Break up your text with headers and bullet-points as well.

How to do an information case study

The first step in an information case study is to identify a problem that is related to your niche. Search forums, social media and Q&A sites to find questions that people are asking. A great candidate for a case study is a question that comes up frequently, but there are very few answers being offered.

Once you have a question or problem to solve, do a Google search and study the questions being asked and the quality of the answers. Take notes on the various tips and select the best, most interesting and creative ones.

Next, try out the tips yourself, and gather information on the results. Write up an article that details your experiment. Be sure to include screenshots and images that show exactly how you came up with your results. You earn bonus points if you create a video case-study.

Monitoring the social media marketing landscape is vital to your success. If you’d like to have access to even more powerful marketing tips, as well as a way to generate conversion-ready Internet marketing prospects each month, click here to learn about my done-for-you system.

The Three Foundations of SEO: Content, Links and Social Media

The days of simple SEO tactics of finding a few keywords, slapping together some articles with those keywords in them are over. With increasing pressure from competition, plus the ever-present threat of Google’s changing algorithm, it is important to develop a solid SEO strategy.

According to many experts, the best approach to SEO is a three-pronged strategy using content, links and social media as its foundation. This article will explore how to use these three pillars to generate traffic.

Content
The first thing you should do is inventory the content that you already have. Then, organize it to make it easy for visitors to navigate your site. Consider surveying your customers for suggestions on how you could better organize your site for them. You could also use analytics tools, such as Crazy Egg, to evaluate visitor behavior on your site. This may help you find problem areas in terms of engagement or navigation.

Next, optimize your content and pay special attention to long-tail keywords. Use Google’s Keyword Planning tool to find long-tail keywords with medium to low competition.

You can refine this process by putting your URL into Google’s Keyword Tool. It will return with a list of suggested keyword terms that you could target, or are already ranking for. This will help you target the most effective keywords for your site.

You can also do this with competitor sites to find out what keywords they are ranking for. You may just discover some terms or keywords you haven’t thought of. Don’t copy them directly though. Instead, use this information to help you create your own content strategy.

Links
Links are still an important strategy; however, quality and relevance outrank quantity. Your back-links should be from reputable websites. Some potential ways to get high-quality back links are through press releases, guest blogging and re-purposed content.

To re-purpose your content, search for information on your site that could be converted from text to video, or data to infographics.

Take advantage of real-world connections for links:

• Professional associations
• Local groups
• Networking events
• Speakers’ Associations
• Civic groups

You can take advantage of these connections by linking to them on your website and asking them to link back to you on theirs.

Social Media
Social media is a very important part of a complete SEO strategy. Every business is different, so different social media channels work differently for individual marketers. For example, Google+ works well for b2b companies, while Pinterest works well for companies with image-driven products such as home décor or clothing. The best thing to do is Interact on social media, build your brand and experiment with several platforms to find out which resonate with your customers.

Just as a three-legged table is the most stable structure, the three foundations of content, links and social media form a stable basis for a solid SEO strategy.

Monitoring the social media marketing landscape is vital to your success. If you’d like to have access to even more powerful marketing tips, as well as a way to generate conversion-ready Internet marketing prospects each month, click here to learn about my done-for-you system.

Free 100 Leads Daily For Your Fresno, California Work From Home Business Pro

Free 100 Leads Daily For Your Fresno, California Work From Home Business Pro Business

Fresno, California Work From Home Business Pro This Could Be Your Number 602-800-6760

These MLM network marketing opportunity seeker leads will have first and last name, street, city, state, phone number, email address for your Fresno, California Work From Home Business Pro Business. These are double opt-in leads - meaning the prospect went on the internet, filled out a form requesting information and was sent an email asking for confirmation they requested to be contacted.

 

Or Go Here To Request your Free 100 Leads Daily:http://www.door2wealth.com

Fresno, California Work From Home Business Pro in addition to your FREE 100 Leads Daily how would you like to have the following absolutely FREE?

   

A Series Of Free Training Videos Teaching...

• A location where you can receive 100 FREE Leads Daily and a series of training videos that will teach you how to work those leads
• 101 ways to work your Fresno, California Work From Home Business Pro MLM Opportunity Business

• How to work those FREE classified ads

• Training video how to work TWITTER

• Facebook & Fan Page training videos

• Training video on how to work those free traffic exchanges

• A series of free training videos on how to work Craigslist

• A training video explaining how to work Solo Ads

• A Free Google Listing with a training video on how it works

• Training videos on how to work those Safelists

• A series of training videos on how to work a free blogging and video hosting platform
• Training videos on how to make videos that generate quality leads
• A training video how to find local networking groups in your area and how to work them
• A training video on how to set-up your own SIZZLE Call phone number for your Fresno, California Work From Home Business Pro business
• Video explaining how to work that REALLY Cheap Traffic you find advertised on the internet
• A detailed training video on how to place any money making opportunity in a online powerful opportunity DIRECTORY for FREE    

Fresno, California Work From Home Business Pro make sure you request all those FREE Google PLUS  training videos listed above by...

Fresno, California Work From Home Business Pro how would you like to have a Sizzle Call # like this one ---602-800-6760--- for your business? I turn it on in the morning then take the rest of the day off. I can set-up the same money making system for you - GO AHEAD & CALL THE NUMBER TO SEE HOW IT WORKS...

Fresno, California Work From Home Business Pro   Fresno, California Work From Home Business Pro   Fresno, California Work From Home Business Pro

 

You can find more about your Fresno, California Work From Home Business Pro business here:

http://hankinwa.blogspot.sg/2014/08/guaranteed-sign-ups-for-your-el-paso.html

http://www.mumpreneursonline.com/business-tips/work-from-home-australia-opportunities

http://christianpf.com/legitimate-home-based-business-ideas-opportunities/

http://www.forbes.com/sites/jennagoudreau/2011/09/27/the-best-paying-work-at-home-jobs/

Hankinoz is a professional Business Building Coach. My goal in the next 90 days is to have you positioned to make $100,000 this time next year in your business by offering FREE training and the best places to advertise your Fresno, California Work From Home Business Pro business for free.

Tags: Affiliate marketing, Super affiliate, Internet marketing, Online marketing, Network marketing, Make money online, Home-based business, Internet business, Online business, Work from home, Investing, Real estate, Seminars, Coaching/consulting, Multi-Level Marketing, MLM, Online Business, Make Money Online, Free MLM Leads, Opportunity Seeker Leads,Network Marketing Leads, Free Leads, mlm genealogy leads, mlm leads review, mlm leads specialist, mlm sales leads, mlm email leads, mlm marketing leads,  MLM scams, MLM review, Top MLM Business,
Fresno (/ˈfrɛznoʊ/ FREZ-noh) is a city in California, the county seat of Fresno County. As of 2013, the city's population was 509,000 making it the fifth largest city in California, the largest inland city in California and the 34th largest in the nation. Fresno is in the center of the San Joaquin Valley and is the largest city in the Central Valley, which contains the San Joaquin Valley. It is approximately 200 miles (320 km) north of Los Angeles, and 170 miles (270 km) south of the state capital, Sacramento. Metropolitan Fresno has a population of 1,107,416.[citation needed] The name Fresno is the Spanish language word for the ash tree, and an ash leaf is featured on the city's flag.

Hankinoz Shows DPS $10 Joint Venture Training

Hankinoz Shows DPS $10 Joint Venture Training

Go here http://www.hanks10dollarjv.com or 

call 602-800-6760

Attention Direct Pay System DPS Members 

- Here's A Powerful Lead Generating System That Keeps Multiplying Like Rabbits. 

Free DPS leads that call you and they never stop! 

We are real people helping others succeed in their business. 

We have great comprehensive training for FREE. 

We have an awesome Live training room 

that will answer your question in real time also for FREE.

Come and check us out at 

===> http://www.startearningtoday.info

Cheers,

Hank
Hankinoz

Dallas, Texas Mobile and Sales Professionals All You Do Is Advertise Phone # Making $3,500 Weekly Autopilot

Dallas, Texas Mobile and Sales Professionals All You Do Is Advertise Phone # 

Making $3,500 Weekly Autopilot

Dallas, Texas Mobile and Sales Professionals This Could Be Your Number 602-800-6760

Calling all Real Estate, Insurance, Travel Agents, Car Sales, Mobile Phone Sales, Telemarketers, other sales professionals - or those who have a JOB

 Or Go Here To Get Started: http://www.door2wealth.com

Are you a Dallas, Texas Mobile and Sales Professionals?

Make an extra $3,500 weekly on autopilot while working your J.O.B. Turn the automated marketing system on in the morning - go to work - check your mailbox a couple times a week for checks making an extra $3,500 a week on autopilot. This powerful money making system does everything for you. You do nothing but turn it on in the morning before you go to work. Do I have your attention?    

Dallas, Texas Mobile and Sales Professionals Done For You Marketing - A Business In A Box - We Do Everything For You - Marketing Advertising Selling - All You Do Is Cash The Checks!

Dallas, Texas Mobile and Sales Professionals If you are looking for a turn key money making system in a box here it is. ..

Hiring posters - telemarketers for an international online marketing company,
We are expanding our operations throughout the USA and worldwide therefore looking for top quality people to fill positions for work at home online posters, telemarketers, affiliates, associates, demonstration agents, sales reps  & managers,

• Work from home full or part time 
• Schedule your own hours
• Make average of $1,000 per day
• No selling
• Management positions available
• 6 figure income potential
• No investment to get started
• We pay you - you don't pay us

Dallas, Texas Mobile and Sales Professionals... Can you hire, train, manage & motivate?
I am desperately looking for managers to hire an army of work at home no investment posters, telemarketers & sales reps where - IF YOU QUALIFY - you will make a nice 25% over-ride on what your TEAM of marketers generate. 

On just one sale from our marketing tools it is possible to make $2,000 in over-rides on your TEAMS marketing efforts. Remember - my Sales Staff does the selling for YOUR TEAM of work at home marketers.

Imagine if you hire ONLY 10 marketers who generated only $10,000 weekly in sales. Your over-rides could amount to $20,000 weekly and my Demo Sales Department will do the selling for you. How about hiring 50 no investment marketers - you do the math.  If you feel you would qualify for any of these positions call 602-800-6760 for a recorded message on how to get started.

Dallas, Texas Mobile and Sales Professionals I advertise this phone number ---602-800-6760--- then sit back and let the system do the selling for me making an extra $3,500 a week on -- AUTOPILOT --- I turn it on in the morning then take the rest of the day off. I can set-up the same money making system for you - GO AHEAD & CALL THE NUMBER TO SEE HOW IT WORKS...

Dallas, Texas Mobile and Sales Professionals   Dallas, Texas Mobile and Sales Professionals   Dallas, Texas Mobile and Sales Professionals

Dallas, Texas Mobile and Sales Professionals you can find more about... All I Do Is Advertise Phone # 602-800-6760 Making $3,500 Weekly Here:

http://hankinoz.21stcenturyenetwork.com/2014/08/23/sydney-australia-managers-wanted-experience-necessary/

https://smallbusiness.yahoo.com/advisor/angry-birds-teach-old-sales-pros-sales-tricks-143000176.html

http://www.eyesonsales.com/content/article/turn_no_into_a_turn_on/

http://www.eyesonsales.com/content/article/8_prospecting_tips/

Hankinoz is a professional Business Building Coach. My goal in the next 90 days is to have you positioned to make $100,000 this time next in your business by offering FREE training and places to advertise.

Tags: Real Estate Agents, Insurance Agents, Travel Agents, Car Salesman, Sales Professionals, Sales Pros, Telemarketers, Closers, Sales Reps, Vacation Sales, Inside Sales, Outside Sales, Part Time Sales,  Phone Sales, Customer Service, Auto Sales, B2B Sales, Sales Consultant, Inbound Sales, Tele Sales, Call Center, Advertising Sales, Telephone Pros, Internet Sales, Wireless Sales, Direct TV Sales, Dish Sales, ATT Sales, Horizon Sales, Mobile Phone Sales, Cell Phone Sales, SEO Sales, Google Places Sales, Dealership Sales, Broker Sales, Merchant Sales, Credit Card Sales, Media Sales, Mobile Marketing Sales, Website Sales, Educational Product Sales, Medical Sales, Sales Specialists, Sales Trainee, Sales Training, Health Wellness Sales, Assistant Sales Manager, Sales Manager, Entry Level Sales, Fitness Membership Sales, Account Manager, Call Center Agent, Sales Associate, Sales Executive, Operations Manager, Work At Home Moms Dads, 

Dallas /ˈdæləs/ is a major city in Texas and along with Fort Worth, is one of the two urban centers of a metropolitan area that ranks fourth in the United States. The city proper ranks ninth in the U.S. and third in Texas.[4][5] The city's prominence arose from its historical importance as a center for the oil and cotton industries, and its position along numerous railroad lines. The bulk of the city is in Dallas County, of which it is the county seat. However, sections of the city are located in Collin, Denton, Kaufman, and Rockwall counties. According to the 2010 United States Census, the city had a population of 1,197,816.[6] The United States Census Bureau's estimate for the city's population increased to 1,241,162 as of 2012.[7]