How Users Search For Local Businesses + 5 Tips To Optimize Local Listings

Geo Sitemap Generator Adds New Features

Conference Info:

5 Considerations In Planning Your Small Business 2012 Ad Budget

Five key takeaways relevant to local business owners in the process of planning their 2012 marketing budgets from BIA/Kelsey DMS ‘ 11 Conference

Getlisted Local University WNY – Additional Reading

A great list of references for the last GetListed University in NY!

 

Q.Thanks for taking the time today Eric, can you tell us a little about yourself?
A. I’ve been working in online media since 1994 when I led the launch of the online part of Windows NT Magazine (now Windows IT Pro) which grew to a multi-million dollar business. Since then, I have served at various consumer and business-to-business media companies in both executive and consulting roles. As part of my career, I’ve had to become intimately familiar with web, email, social media, SEO, online advertising, analytics, lead generation and more. I still work in online publishing as Senior VP of eMedia for Thomas Nelson, but local SEO has become a personal passion of mine for the past several years. On the personal side, I’m the husband of an amazing wife, father of two beautiful girls under the age of four, a private pilot / aviation enthusiast, musician, and adoption / orphan care advocate.

Q. Why did you write the book?
A.  Working in publishing, many of our magazines’ readers and distribution partners were local businesses (self-storage, welding, natural product retailing, restaurants, hotels, tanning salons, yarn / quilt shops, etc.). Every time I talked with them, they wanted to know how they could better market their business online. I wrote articles in our magazine and spoke at our conferences to local business owners about online marketing and it became clear that local SEO was the biggest need they had … and the biggest mystery to them.

I see a big gap missing in the information for local business owners. There is a lot of great, free information on the web around local search, but much of it is written in language designed for SEO consultants, not business owners. It’s also scattered on various sites and not organized all in one place. And, of course, there is a lot of misinformation out there as well that could actually hurt a local business owner if they didn’t know it. I also see most business owners focusing exclusively on Google Places. They feel all they need to do is claim their listing and everything is fine. Of course, that’s not true … there is so much more.

I wrote this book to be a plain-English guide to local business owners that will educate them on the fundamentals of local search optimization … both Google Places and beyond.

Q.  Who should purchase this book?
A.  I truly believe that every owner / operator of a local business should buy this book. It doesn’t matter what geographic market or industry you’re in or whether you have one location, several locations, or a national chain. The information in this book is applicable to any business marketing to local geographic regions.

BTW, this book is an excellent resource even if a business owner plans to hire or is currently working with a local search consultant. It will help educate the owner on the fundamentals of local search and know how to better research and work with a local search consultant.

Q. Where can you get the book?
A.  You can buy the book in PDF format directly from my web site, LocalSearchHandbook.com. In the next month or so, you’ll also be able to buy a print or Kindle version of the book directly from Amazon.

Q. Are are the future plans for the book/updates?
A.  Absolutely. As you know, the local search landscape changes continually. I plan on releasing updates to the PDF version every six months or so. Anyone who purchases the PDF version through my web site will get free lifetime updates every time a new version is released. Unfortunately, because of the costs involved with print / Kindle, I can only update that version every 12-18 months and cannot offer free lifetime updates.

Q. Why is local search important for small business?
A.  First, I want to clarify that this book is written for local businesses, not necessarily small businesses. There are some small businesses that are trying to market nationally and local search is not appropriate for them. There are also some very large businesses with hundreds of local locations … local search is totally appropriate for them. Of course, there are a lot of small businesses who also focus on a local region and local search is what they should focus on.

To those owner / operators of local businesses, I would say that there are people online right now looking for a business like yours in your area. They’re using computers, mobile phone and GPS devices and they’re using Google, Bing, Yahoo, Facebook, or hundreds of other sites and services. Will these potential customers find you? According to a BrightLocal survey done about a year ago, over 80% of U.S consumers use the Internet to find a local business, but only 41% of local searches are done on Google Places. That’s why local search optimization is so critical for local businesses and it’s why I wrote this book.

Q. Where do you see local search marketing going in the near future?
A.  One thing’s for sure, local search is only going to get bigger … and it’s going to expand in all different directions. Enabling local search for mobile devices is already getting big and will be an even bigger focus on 2012 (like Siri on the iPhone). Local search will also see greater emphasis in social media outlets like Facebook, Google+ and Twitter. There will continue to be changes to Google Places, Bing Local, and all of the internet yellow pages, review sites and online directories. And there will be more and more web sites and services that integrate local search. New services will also be developed or expanded to help business owners manage local search. However, I truly believe that while there will be specific tactical adjustments that business owners will need to make, the fundamental strategies behind local search that I address in this book will continue to be the same.

Q. Anything else you would like to add?
A.  Just three things …
1)      I have a free blog / email newsletter on my site, LocalSearchHandbook.com My goal is not to break every big story or talk about everything that a search engine consultant would want to know about. There are some amazing people out there like you, Mike Blumenthal, Linda Buquet, and David Mihm who already do that. Instead, I focus on the major changes that a business owner should know about, try to explain it in plain English, and always end the post with a “Bottom Line – What You Should Do About It” that tells the business owner what action they need to take if any.

2)      If you’re a local search consultant and would like a free complimentary copy of my book, please contact me via my web site. I’ll be glad to send you one. I’ll also be launching an affiliate program so that if you want to refer your clients to buy the book, you’ll get a nice commission.

3)      If you see anything in the book that you’d like me to expand upon in the next edition … or that you think should be covered differently … please let me know!

 

12 Tips For Using Press Releases In Local Online Marketing

For local businesses, press releases can be an effective source for local citations, particularly since they can get picked up by geo-authority websites such as local news.

Local SEO: A Free Tool to Build GEO Sitemap and Schema.org Compliant Files

“There are two simple ways of telling Google and the other search engines where your business is located via your website. One is to create a KML file and an attendant geo-sitemap. The other is to provide your full business contact information in rich snippet format on the site. Now there is a way to easily do both….”

Nifty Hard Core Local SEO Tactics From SMX Advanced

A nice review by Andrew Shotland on local SEO from SMX. There are slides and links to review.

4 Tips For Taking Ownership Of Your Local Business’ Online Presence

• Send A Clear Message: We’re In Business & We’re Ready To Help
• Build Relationships With Local Media & Influencers To Create A Strong Reputation
• Have A Response Strategy In Place
• Monitor Online Conversations & Be Ready To Respond At A Moment’s Notice

 

Google Announces Local “Business Photos”

Google Place Page Changes

Google Places Basics: Listing a New Business – A Timeline for Launch

MerchantCircle Adds Request for Quote

CitySearch Testing New Business Profile Page

Mapquest’s New Local Business Center

CityGrid Buys BuzzLabs for Local and Social Content Enhancement

 

The goal of this infographic was to provide a foundation for that understanding from the perspective of long term investment in their marketing efforts. It is not so much a guide to those marketing priorities as it is a guide to understanding the trade offs in loss of control as you move your efforts onto the platforms controlled by others.

Download the graphic, read it, take it in. Thanks to all involved in putting this together

Web Equity by Mike Blumenthal is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.
Based on a work at www.blumenthals.com.

 

Local Search Ranking Factors 2011 – A Few Notes from OptiLocal.com

Understanding the 98 Google Local Ranking Factors by Rob D. Young, at Search Engine World

Local Search Ranking Factors 2011 – Top 10 by my buddy Andrew Shotland, at LocalSEOGuide.com

This is not only report.  SEOmoz did their own 2011 Search Engine Rankings. They got together a great number of search engine specialists and put together another excellent review. You can download the raw data or the final results if you like.

 

They broke the table down into various sections. They are:    Content, HTML, Architecture, Links,  Social, Trust, Personalization, Violations, Blocking

 

Today I have a cool interview with Sander Daniels of Thumbtack.com. I just recently learned about this directory and thought you would appreciate learning a little bit more about them.

Q. Tell us a little about your Thumbtack.com. How long have you been around?
A. Thumbtack is an online marketplace for local services. You can find and book most types of local services on our site.  We try to do two things:

1. Help small businesses and independent professionals easily market themselves online. We create a nice-looking profile for anyone who signs up on our site, and we centralize all of the easiest tools that small businesses can use to make themselves seen online.
2. Be a trusted destination for consumers who seek to book local services of all kinds – plumbers, wedding photographers, math tutors, magicians… anything.

We launched the site in December of 2009 and are based in San Francisco. 150,000 small businesses have now listed themselves on our site.

Q. Is Thumbtack.com national or regional?
A. Thumbtack is a national site – anyone from any state can sign up.

Q. I looked up my city Augusta, GA and there were not alot of businesses listed- why is that?
A. The small businesses that sign up on our site are located all across the country. The biggest proportion of our members are in big cities, and a smaller proportion in smaller towns and cities.

Our signups mirror a population density graph of the U.S. For example, 2.7% of the U.S. population lives in New York City – which would mean that about 4,000 New Yorkers have signed up to use our site.  It looks like about 100-150 small businesses in the Augusta metro area have signed up on Thumbtack, which sounds about right.

It’s clear that we have a lot of work to do to get people all across the country to sign up and become active users – but that’s part of the fun of building a small business!

Q. How does a business get added to your website?
A. We have tried to simplify the signup process as much as possible. Most people find the signup process pretty straightforward.

First, you enter basic information about your business. Then you can enhance your listing, like add photos, video, or audio to your account, connect your account to Facebook or Twitter, and answer some interview questions about your business.

The signup link is here: http://www.thumbtack.com/welcome

Q. Are there any costs involved?
A. Most of our services are free.

For example, we have a tool that allows you to easily post a nice-looking ad on Craiglist. Lots of people use Thumbtack just to use this free service. We also optimize your post for search engines, and we send you any jobs we find on Craigslist that we think might work for you. Those are free too.

We offer an opt-in leads program, which costs money. Every time we get a job lead on our site, we email you about it. If you’d like to respond, you have two choices. You can either pay a flat fee to respond (currently $4). Or you can pay nothing to respond, but you agree to pay a commission if you get the job. The commission amount is currently 8%.

Q. Are you similar to Angie’s List?
A. We are similar to Angie’s List in that both sites are a useful tool to find local service professionals.

We are a younger site than Angie’s List, so we don’t yet have as many customer reviews as Angie’s List does.

However, we cater to professionals of all kinds, not just home service contractors and doctors. Audio/video professionals, limousine services, calligraphers, and most anything else you can imagine have listed themselves on our site.

You can also post a job, receive bids, and book a service all through our site. We’re aware of only one or two other companies that provide these transactional features.

Q. Why should a small business list on your website?
A. You get a nice looking listing, you get some good ways to market yourself online, and you potentially get some good leads that turn into long-term clients.

Q. Is your website searchable by Google, etc. What sort of SEO do you do for the businesses?
A. We try to get your Thumbtack listing on Google as high as possible and as quickly as possible. We’re seeing some success with this. Thumbtack listings appear at the top of Google’s listings for many different search queries (like “portland house cleaning”, “henna tattoo omaha ne”, or “iphone repair wichita ks”). We want to boost your listing as high as it can go in Google.

We believe that small businesses should not need to learn the complex nuances of SEO. Rather, they should leave the heavy SEO lifting to other companies who have invested significant resources in learning about it.

Q. Are the future plans for the site?
A. In the future, we hope to provide complete back-end support to local service professionals. This includes customer relationship management, appointment management, email marketing, and invoicing services. We want to make it as easy as possible to manage the logistics and marketing of your business, so you can focus on your work with clients.

Q. Where do you see local search marketing moving to in the future?
A. Over the last decade, local search moved from the offline Yellow Pages to online directories, like Yelp, Angie’s List, and Google. We see this changing in the future to be focused on the transaction itself – where can a consumer go to receive 3-5 bids on their job within 24 hours? Where can a small business go to pay only for jobs they receive, rather than for blanket advertising with an uncertain return?

A number of companies are seeking to become the transactional platform where consumers can find and book trustworthy professionals – the “Amazon for local services.” We hope to become the one that stands out from the rest.

Thanks for your time Sander and good luck with the site/service.

 

Business Listing Management

How To Find The Right Local & Vertical Sites For Your Small Business

Local Keyword Research Methodology Advice

Why Small Businesses Should Link Out

10 Unorthodox Ideas For Local Citations & Links

3 More Unorthodox Ideas For Local Citations & Links

5 Creative Location-Based Marketing Campaigns

What NOT To Do On Local Business Websites

Where to Get Local Citations to Improve Rankings

How to Learn SEO as a Small Business Owner

 

Connecticut-based YouGottaCall.com Awarded Patent for Online, Word-of-Mouth Referral System
June 7, 2011 South Windsor, CT

YouGottaCall.com is a Web-based word-of-mouth referral service for consumers and businesses. Today, YouGottaCall.com, LLC announced that it has been granted a patent by the USPTO (United States Patent & Trademark Office) on its novel process for sharing and monetizing word-of-mouth referrals. (Patent No 7,953,644)

Local search is being revolutionized as consumers use social and mobile media to connect and share information. Social media is ideal for conveying word-of-mouth referrals which consumers trust over all other forms of advertising. Word-of-mouth is credited with 80% of new customers for small businesses.

Founder Tim Tracey of West Hartford, CT says, “Other services like Yelp, Yahoo Local, Google and Angie’s List support local recommendations. YouGottaCall’s process is a step forward for the social economy. It benefits not only consumers and local businesses, but not-for-profit organizations as well. So each referral benefits the community.”

Tracey adds, “The US local advertising market is estimated to be $100B annually. Word-of-mouth is not yet considered in this, but as the social economy evolves it will become a significant contributor.”

YouGottaCall allows consumers to recommend their trusted businesses to friends and neighbors. Members can also search for businesses trusted by their friends. Participating businesses choose the amount they pay for each newly referred customer. The fee benefits the favorite charities of the members involved in the referral.

According to Tracey, “This patent is important because large social network sites are searching for ways to monetize their services. YouGottaCall converts social capital into charitable donations. We look forward to helping more not-for-profits organizations generate donations from activity their supporters are doing anyways – sharing trusted recommendations.”

YouGottaCall.com serves over 500 members and 250 trusted member businesses in Connecticut and western Massachusetts. Like Facebook and LinkedIn, it is free to join and use. Businesses may claim and manage their listings or have them added for free.

About YouGottaCall.com, LLC
YouGottaCall was incorporated 2007 and launched in 2008. It is based in South Windsor, CT and has been funded from private investments. Foresite Technologies of East Hartford, CT is a technology and development partner.

In 2010 YouGottaCall was a CT Technology Council “Company to Watch” and finalist for the Hartford Business Journal’s Strateg-e Award for “Best Use of Social Media”.
YouGottaCall Press Contact: Tim Tracey info@yougottacall.com 860-546-8468

Tim added to me:  We view the direct conversion of social capital to cash as a way the social economy will function in the future. This patent is an indication of the uniqueness of YouGottaCall’s ‘intrinsic monetization’ model.

Congrats Tim!