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Archive for the ‘Local Internet Marketing’ Category
Tuesday, August 24th, 2010
You are likely no stranger to Facebook. Almost everyone uses it these days and the company boasts 150 million users on mobile phones alone. The local Groups feature has been a popular Facebook offering since the beginning of the social service and it allows users to connect with people in their local areas. But Facebook Places takes local social networking a bit further.
Enter real time location-based social networking.
Facebook Places allows you to let your friends know exactly where you are located right now. For instance, you’re sitting in a Starbucks at the corner of Fifth and Main. If someone you know is approaching that intersection and sees you sitting there, she could just pop in and say hi. The courtesy of a heads up would be her choice, of course.
The biggest downside seems to be a loss of privacy, but you can change who sees and who can interact with your Facebook Places settings through the service’s privacy settings.
This puts Facebook on the forefront of location-based networking and close to the leading edge on location-based advertising, which is sure to follow. It’s interesting that other location-based services like Foursquare and Gowalla see Facebook as friendly to their services rather than a competitor.
(Source) Appearing at Facebook’s announcement, some initial partners, including Foursquare and Gowalla, said they thought Facebook would be an enabler—not a competitor—by introducing a lot of new users to the world of sharing their locations.
Foursquare beat Facebook to the location-based networking space by a year and a half. Gowalla arrived on the scene somewhat earlier but doesn’t have as many users as Foursquare.
Of course, these are not the only location-based networking services online. Facebook Places does have its competition, including Google. Google’s service is called Latitude, which allows you to see where your friends are on Google Maps.
I have a feeling that location-based social networking is just getting started. According to JiWire, more than half of mobile users want to see location-based advertising. That means Facebook Places has a unique opportunity to capitalize and being that Facebook is the most trafficked website online, it has the market clout needed to rival Google in paid advertising services. Places could just be its ticket to the big leagues.
Tags: Facebook Places, social networking
Posted in Display Advertising, Local Internet Marketing, Mobile Marketing for Small Business, Social Media | No Comments »
Saturday, August 7th, 2010
Reviews can be a small business owners worst nightmare so you could hear a collective groan from small businesses when Google Places incorporated reviews in search results. To make matters worse, reviews play a significant role in rankings when it comes to local search. If you are a small business, you can now breath a little easier and perhaps put a smile on your face – Google has opened the door for you to respond to reviews – and that’s not just poor reviews either.
From a marketing, branding and reputation management perspective, it’s good news. I’ll even throw a social angle in as well. I suggest that every time someone leaves a review, you respond. However, I do urge caution in two areas.
First, don’t respond with a simple ‘thanks for your comment’ type responses. Make your response count and there are numerous options open to you. You can include references to upgrades, related products or services, and at the same time, further optimize a keyword or two.
My second word of warning, don’t abuse the response by filling it with keywords for example, or by denigrating the customer. If it’s a negative review, then respond appropriately treating it as a customer relations issue. Remember, others will see your response and judge your business on the contents of that comment.
It’s certainly nice to see Google responding to the wishes of small business for a change. Google Places, if you have a local business, be sure to claim it through Google Places then treat any reviews as opportunities to further promote your business.
Tags: Google Places, small business reviews
Posted in Local Internet Marketing | 4 Comments »
Saturday, July 24th, 2010
If you’ve ever used the classifieds in your local newspaper then you’ll appreciate Craigslist. You’ve probably even used it. Maybe you listed a garage sale item for sale, or maybe you bought something from someone who posted on Craigslist. Maybe you picked up something that was offered for free there. But that’s not all you can use Craigslist for. You can also use it to expand your business.
There are two basic ways you can use Craigslist for your business. You can list jobs that you might have and find employees or you can list your services. Craigslist has a category for both.
But if you really want to get real at marketing through Craigslist, beyond just listing your products for sale like everyone else does, join one of the forums. Don’t go in there marketing yourself. Just join in and have fun, meet people, enjoy yourself. Focus on developing relationships. It’s a lot like other forums, except that Craigslist is a local forum that services your city.
For instance, you can go into one of the community forums for the Minneapolis/St. Paul area and just meet people who are local to you. Get to know them on a personal level before you start trying to market your services. Not in a coy way, but just in a casual way.
Craigslist is more than just a classified ads site. Think of it as a hot forum for your local area. And join in, have fun.
Tags: Craigslist, local marketing
Posted in Local Internet Marketing | No Comments »
Friday, June 25th, 2010
Now that WhitePages.com is getting serious about local business, maybe it’s time to start thinking about having your local business listed there.
For the record, I didn’t know WhitePages.com consistently ranked in the top 50 websites for traffic. That’s nice to know. So I guess the lesson to learn there is how you, as a small business owner, can capitalize on that information.
The first step, of course, is to get your business listed there. Then, you might want to consider advertising there. Seriously. If it is one of the most trafficked sites online then it should be a good place to get your name in.
Another way you can use WhitePages.com is to keep tabs on your competition – both national and local. You can see where your national competitors have local store locations and your local competitors are listed as well.
When it comes to marketing online, there are never too many places to have your name and number. WhitePages is a trusted name brand off line. I think, like the Yellow Pages, it will come to be a trust name brand online as well.
Tags: local business, online marketing
Posted in Local Internet Marketing | No Comments »
Saturday, May 22nd, 2010
In New Zealand, a florist was found guilty of hijacking the Google Local listings of her competitors.
The thing that caught my eye about this Search Engine Journal article is that some hijackers can be from other countries. In other words, it doesn’t have to be your competitor across the street. It can be anyone with less than honorable intentions from anywhere in the world.
To stop the hijackers before they can do you any damage, you should first claim your local business listing on Google Local, Bing, Yahoo!, and Ask.com to start. You might as well claim it at Yelp while you’re at it. And if you have the time, or you can pay a reasonable fee to have someone do it for you, submit your local small business website to the many directories that are out there online (some of them have been online for years).
By listing your local business on these websites, you are more likely to attract more local business through your website. You can have photos, videos, your business location and phone number all listed in these listings and many of them will also publish your web address. There’s no reason not to do it and if you don’t then someone else will and that will cause you many nightmares. Stop the nightmares before they start and stop the hijackers.
Tags: Google Local, hijacking
Posted in Local Internet Marketing | No Comments »
Thursday, April 22nd, 2010
If you haven’t claimed your free listing in Google’s Local Business Center then you may not ever get to. It’s being renamed to Google Places.
If you’re interested, Frances Mary Krug has the low down on why Google doesn’t have its own domain name for Google Places – yet. You can read it at Search Marketing Standard.
So far, I haven’t seen a whole lot of changes in the way the program works, but I’d expect to see a few down the road. One thing that is new is the ability to define a service area and hide your actual physical address, which is a good feature if you run your business out of your home. You can learn more about this and other Google Places features in this YouTube video.
Google is adding other new features to the service as well, but some of them are paid services. These include:
- The addition of Tags for businesses in certain cities ($25 charge)
- Photo shoots of your business
- Customized QR codes
- Add real-time updates to your place page (cool feature)
You can learn more about these and other features of Google Places on the official Google Blog.
When you consider how many searches are local (Google says it’s one in five) then having a listing at Google Places makes a lot of sense. Wouldn’t you agree?
Tags: Google Places, local business
Posted in Local Internet Marketing | 4 Comments »
Sunday, April 18th, 2010
Yellowbook has been a standard for local advertising since the early 20th century. Ever since the telephone became an important business tool there was a need for a directory of local businesses so that consumers could look up the businesses by category that they wanted to patronize. It is a system that has worked for many years.
The Internet, of course, has taken local business advertising to a brand new level and Yellowbook is at the forefront of that as well. For a few years niw, their website has been a great online source for consumers. Now, there is one more reason to join Yellowbook – the iPad.
Yes, the iPad. And in case you haven’t noticed, it’s been all the rage since Apple introduced it just a few days ago.
So what does the iPad have to do with Yellowbook? Easy. Yellowbook now has an iPad app, which means that consumers looking for businesses in your local area can search and find the businesses they want to patronize right from the palm of their hand.
The iPad is the latest technology that puts the power of the Internet and personal computing into the palm of your hands. Already, millions of people have purchased one and that means a whole new market for your to reach for your local business. If you were driving around town looking for a place to eat lunch would you stop and pull out your laptop, reach for your mobile phone or grab your iPad? Most people would reach for the iPad.
I think the age of mobile has fully arrived. It may not be as ubiquitous as YouTube, but the day is coming. Start planning for it now. Yellowbook is a good first step.
Tags: ipad, local business, yellowbook
Posted in Local Internet Marketing | 1 Comment »
Saturday, March 13th, 2010
According to the Kelsey Group, 97% of consumers research products and services online. Here’s the break down (as presented by Matt McGee):
- 90% use search engines
- 48% use Internet Yellow Pages
- 42% use comparison shopping sites
- 24% use vertical sites
And I love the conclusion Matt draws later:
That speaks to the importance of being visible on a number of channels — your own site, your blog, Google Maps, Citysearch, important industry sites, and so forth. Diversity of presence makes a big difference.
This is not only important now, but it will become more important in the future. Don’t let organic SEO be your only targeted marketing. Pursue other avenues as well. If searchers find you through a Google search then find you again in the online yellow pages then on two or three social networks and finally are recommended by a friend, chances are they’ll do business with you if you have what they need – and if you are local.
Tags: local business, online business, search
Posted in Local Internet Marketing | No Comments »
Friday, March 5th, 2010
I’m excited about an Internet marketing workshop that is coming to town and have an exclusive discount just for Small Business Mavericks readers. The workshop is called Local University and will be presented by GetListed.org.
The workshop is for local Twin Cities business owners and will be held at Westin Edina Galleria on May 13, 2010. You’ll have your choice between a morning (8 a.m. to noon) and an afternoon (1 p.m. to 5 p.m.) session. The sessions are identical.
There is room only for 200 participants so you’ll want to get your seat early. But the agenda is awesome!
Minnesota business owner and SEO expert will discuss the basics on search engines and representatives from both Bing and Google will be on hand to give their own presentations. Also, Internet marketing veterans Matt McGee and Mike Blumenthal will have their own insights to share.
The cost for the workshop is only $129, which is a huge value in itself, but if you are a reader of Small Business Mavericks then you can get a $40 discount. Your coupon code is smbmavericks. Enter the coupon code, choose a session (morning or afternoon) and learn all you can about Internet marketing from Local University. To sign up for Local University, click here.
Tags: internet marketing, local business, Minneapolis, Twin Cities, workshop
Posted in Local Internet Marketing | No Comments »
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