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Archive for the ‘Local Internet Marketing’ Category
Friday, October 29th, 2010
You’ve likely heard of Google Places by now. But have you heard of Google Boost?
Currently, Google Boost is only available in Chicago, San Francisco, and Houston. But it should soon be available everywhere. And you’re going to love it when it is.
Essentially, Google Boost is paid search for local search. In your Boost ad you can put your business name and phone number, address, a description of your business, a snippet from your Google Place page along with the number of reviews you’ve had, and a link to your Google Place page. That actually seems like it’s a little more than an ordinary pay-per-click ad.
With a Googe Boost ad you stand a good chance of getting more traffic to your website. Like traditional PPC, you only pay for the ad when it’s clicked on. Unlike traditional PPC, you’ll be able to order your Google Boost ad directly from Google Places. And, of course, you get analytics with that as well.
The way pricing works for Google Boost is you set yourself a monthly budget then your ads run and when you’ve hit your budget they stop running.
One of the unique features of Google Boost is that your ads will run on Google Maps pages. So if people are performing a local search for your product or service then you stand a good chance of having your ad seen for those more narrow local searches. It’s a great advertising platform for local businesses.
Should you use Google Boost? Well, yes. But right now you can’t – unless you live in Chicago, San Francisco, or Houston. When it rolls out publicly everywhere, you should be one of the first businesses in your local community to try it out.
Tags: Boost, google, local business, local search
Posted in Local Internet Marketing | 1 Comment »
Monday, October 25th, 2010
It’s been about six months since Google introduced Google TV. While there hasn’t exactly been a wave of people flocking to Google TV – in fact, it’s probably safe to say that the majority of Web users have never heard of it – I think it’s just a matter of time, maybe a couple of years, before it really takes off. Already, new technology to bring it to the masses is being introduced by major TV manufacturers and other technology innovators.
TV is the most ubiquitous communication device on the planet. There are still more people watching TV today than there are using mobile phones. Imagine it being driven by individual developers from all around the world. Even you.
Right now, a Google TV user has to buy a TV set up specifically to receive Google TV or a separate device to hook up to their existing TV. But what if TV manufacturers started automatically including Google TV and every new purchase brought one more new user to Google TV. What kind of demand would that create for websites that were optimized for Google TV? A bunch, right?
Well, that’s what I see happening. Probably within the next couple of years. And when that does happen your business will be able to reach more new and potential customers through the great Boob Tube. If you want to be an early adopter then I suggest you start thinking about how you’re going to get optimized for Google TV right now. Just follow the Google TV Optimization Guide.
Tags: google, TV
Posted in Local Internet Marketing | 1 Comment »
Saturday, October 2nd, 2010
Putting together the data for a local listing in Google is hard work. If you’re not careful, you could be making your work even harder. Duplicate listings in local search are no different to having duplicate page listings. Duplication has one serious down side – it tends to divide the value of links coming in to those pages, or, as is the case with local search, divide reviews and other similar ranking values.
It is not uncommon for a site to rank highly in a local search seven pack, only to see that listing disappear altogether overnight. The reason is normally because a duplicate listing has crept in. So how do you prevent a duplicate listing appearing for your business? According to Search Engine Journal, there is really only one cause for this problem, and that is accuracy.
If your business is listed in other directories, then be sure that every listing has exactly the same information, and that it’s accurate. It only takes one directory to have different information, such as telephone number, business name or address and a duplicate listing could be created.
This is going to be an ongoing problem. You have to be sure your Google business listing is accurate and from that moment forward, every time you list your business somewhere, you will need to ensure the data published is exactly the same as that on Google’s local search. Just another headache for small business owners to think about when optimizing their business listings.
Tags: google, local business listings, local search
Posted in Local Internet Marketing | 1 Comment »
Friday, September 10th, 2010
In 2003, senior editor of Harper’s Magazine, Bill Wasik, wanted to make a point about conformity. He arranged for over 100 people to descend upon a Macy’s store in Manhattan to feign purchasing a “love rug” as a group. This senseless activity gave rise to a new social phenomenon called a flash mob.
Read more about flash mobs at Wikipedia.
I got to thinking about this and it occurred to me that savvy social media marketers could stage their own flash mob to achieve a viral marketing event. Here are some tips to help you stage your own flash mob.
- Pick a place that will be central to the people you want to participate. Cut down on your participants’ drive time.
- Make sure the location of the event is kept secret for as long as possible (unless you own the venue). Store owners and managers may not be hip to your scheme and could take measures to sabotage it.
- Make sure the activity you have planned is nonviolent and does not damage private property. Such would be a sure way to destroy your reputation as you are trying to build it.
- Take a cue from Bill Wasik and stage a private meeting at a separate location from where your event is planned and pass out the details for that event there.
- Promote your staged flash mob through social media circles like Facebook and Twitter. Target people who would be interested in what you have to say.
- As much as possible, try to tie in your event location and purpose to your business in some way. For instance, if you are an auto body shop and you want to stage a flash mob to demonstrate the importance of a beautiful car then stage a flash mob at a car show and have your participants bring their cameras and cell phones to take candid photos of the automobiles and upload them to YouTube. This would have the added benefit of promoting the car show so it could build some social points with the event’s organizers as well.
The key takeaways for staging a flash mob are to be creative in your approach and make sure that your mob is nonviolent and does not destroy private property. Create a positive impression, not a negative one.
Tags: local marketing, Social Media
Posted in Local Internet Marketing | 1 Comment »
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 »
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