San Diego Internet Marketing Blog

Just when we were getting comfortable with local search, Google has changed the game once again with the launch of their updated Place Search feature. This new kind of local search organizes information around specific business locations making it easier for users to compare different places when entering a search query and ultimately deciding which business to go to.

If you've conducted a local search (e.g. "plumber in san diego") within the last week or so, you may have noticed a number of changes to the results page, including:

•  Elimination of the "7-Pack" Google Map listings at the very top
•  Ranking algorithm for local listings has been updated (i.e. your business may have changed ranking position)
•  Google Places pages have much greater visibility
•  Local results with more information (i.e. third party review sites)
•  Information is grouped to make it easier to digest and compare
•  New link for "Places" in the left-hand panel of the search results page so you can switch to these results whenever you want
• Google map now on the right side above the paid search listings, which scrolls as you scroll down the page

Because of this increased prominence in Google Place Search, it is now more important for businesses to claim their Google Place, complete their company profile there and ensure they have a well-optimized website with relevant, localized content to ensure strong visibility.

Here are the top ten things you can do to optimize your Google Place listing:

    Step 1. Make sure you select relevant Place categories
    Step 2. Use long and short tail keywords and avoid content duplication
    Step 3. Create customized fields and complete business descriptions using relevant keywords
    Step 4. Integrate photos and videos into your listing
    Step 5. Fill out every applicable field possible, including hours of operation, payment methods and your service area
    Step 6. Use Google Places posts to keep information current
    Step 7. Encourage online customer reviews
    Step 8. Respond to reviews through Google Places
    Step 9. Make sure your Google Places flag is in the correct spot on the map
    Step 10. Add coupons and experiment with Google Tags

As you can see, simply adding a listing and basic information doesn't cut it anymore.  It's always been the case (even before the change) that a well optimized Google Places listing gets better visibility, but those who have followed through are rewarded today with even increased visibility.

We will be hosting a special webinar on November 23 at 8 AM PST where we will discuss what you need to do to ensure your local listing is optimized effectively.  Register here.

Websites. Pay Per Click. SEO. Social Media.  What's the next step?  If you're reading this, you've probably already guessed that it is Mobile Marketing.

What exactly is mobile marketing?  One definition is that it is "a form of marketing that uses SMS or MMS to deliver a specific promotion to mobile phones or other mobile devices."  You're probably already familiar with SMS, which stands for Short Message Service.  SMS is the basic text communication service of your cell phone or mobile device.  MMS stands for Multimedia Messaging Service and is a more rich version of SMS since it allows your mobile device to send and receive images, audio,or video.

You've likely already been exposed to some form of mobile marketing, or perhaps you've voted for your favorite contestant on American Idol through your cell phone.  In either case, you may recall that a you were required to text a phrase, e.g. "join" or "vote", to a special telephone number that was significantly shorter than regular phone numbers.  This special telephone number is known as a Short Code, which is where you addressed your SMS or MMS message to.  The texted phrase is known as a keyword (similar to search engine marketing terminology).

What makes mobile marketing effective?  Simply, the reach of mobile marketing is significantly larger and more immediate than traditional internet marketing and search engine marketing.  For example, 95% of text messages are opened and read.  Further, emails are typically only read within 48 hours on average, while text messages are opened and read within 4 minutes.  Today there are approximately 276 million Americans using mobile phones.  Worldwide mobile reach is 4.8 billion, while worldwide internet reach is a "mere" 1.7 billion, with almost 5 times more mobile devices than there are computers.  The numbers speak for themselves, mobile marketing's reach is immense, which explains why 89% of major brands are currently planning or are already engaged in marketing via mobile phones.

As of August 2010, 38% of US mobile phone users were "very comfortable" with mobile advertising and feel that it "serves an important purpose" as opposed to 12%, who are "not comfortable at all" and feel that it is "intrusive" (source: InMobi and comScore, Inc.)  Undoubtedly, these statistics will shift over time as mobile marketing continues to penetrate the market and our society as a whole.  However, if you're looking to "take the next big step" in digital marketing, then start a mobile marketing campaign.

Four years ago, an exciting new form of internet marketing called social media started to take shape.  Ten years ago, search engine optimization was in its infancy.  Keep in mind - mobile marketing today is where SEO and social media were in these respective timeframes.

For business owners, it is has always been more important to be found in their local area, city or region by people who are already looking for them. Over 60% of consumers prefer to do business with a local business close by in our own backyard. This includes all kinds of “wallet-ready” service-based businesses such as auto repair shops, electricians, hair salons, attorneys and restaurants. Each of these businesses has significant local competition. Further, competition for placement on the search engines for these businesses is stiff.  What are the different ways a business can stand out and easily be found by those who are searching for them?

Maps Applications

The major search engines (Google, Yahoo!, Bing) all have a business mapping application that allows businesses to set up or claim their own business listing, associate it with a physical address, and provide more information to the consumer who is looking for them.  For example, if a searcher types in “electricians” into the Google search bar, it will return millions of results (the first 10 being displayed on page 1 of course). However, Google assumes that the person doing the search is looking for a local business, not all electricians. Based on this assumption, Google will show up to seven results for “electricians near xyz city”. Another example might be that the person searches for “windshield replacement, san diego, ca” meaning he or she is looking for a company that will replace her windshield in her specific location. Again, the major search engines will return a map with several local businesses listed for him or her.

Be Sure to Claim Your Business Listing

Often, local businesses will get these listings automatically because they are in one of the major online business directories. These listings may or may not have current information, and tend to have sparse information (address, phone number, and business type). Search for your own "business name + location" in any of the major search engines, and look to see if your business is listed. Note that if you do not claim your listing, someone else may, and put false or incorrect information in for your business! The more complete your listing is, the more you’ll bubble to the top.

Get Listed Without a Website

If you’re a business owner who doesn’t have a website or for one reason or another (e.g. due to franchise rules) isn’t allowed to have a website, you still have the opportunity create and claim your business listing, and subsequently get to the very top of the search engines for the services you offer.

SEO for Local Search - Optimizing for Cities

Many business owners understand that a professionally designed website is critical to attract new clients and customers. Potential customers will search for them on the search engines, view their website and decide if they should call or step into your front door. It’s relatively easy to get a website set up for the search engines for local search. It’s also easy to go down the futile path of trying to get listed for extremely generic and highly competitive phrases such as “auto repair shops” (currently approx. 3,000,000 results in Google for that particular phrase). By focusing on your local market, you can get your business listed for people who are searching for you in your local neighborhood. For instance, the search phrase “auto repair shops, escondido, ca” only returns 460,000 results, most of which are "accidental" listings.  Follow these steps:

1. Create a page of content on your website for each city and phrase that you want to get listed.
2. The Title and Description tags should include that phrase and city location.
3. The page should also contain content about that specific phrase and city.
4. Sprinkle the name of the city throughout the page.
5. Repeat this process for each phrase you want listed.  It’s likely that you won’t have much competition for these niche phrases, and the search engines will reward you with highly visible placement.

Optimized for Zip Codes

Similarly, people do search by zip code.  For example, they might search for “auto repair 92101”. Be sure to include your zip code in the Title or Description META tags and content on that same page for your specific city. You will have very little competition for this, because hardly anyone else is doing this. Your potential customers will love that you have taken the time to build these specific pages just for them, and they’ve found exactly what they’re looking for.

Online Review Sites

It’s becoming more common for your customers to review your business and share with their friends how good (or bad) your business is. Yelp is a very common online review site that originally started as a place for people to praise or pan their local restaurant. It has quickly grown into all other businesses, and can now be found around the world. Yelp results typically rank high in the search engine results. The searcher will then find a list of businesses, some good and some bad.  Showing up in these listings is free advertising for your business. Furthermore, the Yelp results get incorporated into your Google Places listing mentioned above as “Reviews”. Make sure to go through the process of claiming (or creating) your own business listing in Yelp, or any of the the many local business directories (e.g. CitySearch, Kudzu, SuperPages).  Again, add as much relevant information about your company as you can to these listings. You can usually include photos, videos,  and specific product information.  Don't forget to encourage your happy clients to review you.

Stand Out from the Crowd

Even with all these steps, it may still be difficult to stand out in highly competitive industries. You'll need to take the necessary steps to make your business look unique from everyone else. Google Places listing, now offer tags to make your listing stand out. You can point the tag to a photograph, a video or to your website itself.

Conclusion

Small, local businesses drive the bulk of the world's economy in the world.  The majority of the population prefers to do business with local merchants. We frequently develop personal relationships with these business owners, and it’s easier and more convenient to travel to their office due to their proximity. The search engines are a rich source of free leads to a smart business owner’s front door, and there are many free or inexpensive ways to get ahead of your competition next door.

Location based applications are hot right now.  Foursquare, Gowalla, Facebook Places - the list of services is growing and users are catching on.  Not familiar with these types of applications?  Put simply, these applications are a way for you to "check in" to a specific venue or location (e.g. a restaurant, park, retail store) through a mobile device (e.g. iPhone, Android phone) and share that location with your friends and followers.

What's the value, you may ask?  By sharing their locations, users can see where their friends are and schedule a spontaneous meetup if they are within close proximity to one another.  Most of these services also feature a "mayor" (in Foursquare speak) - this is the user who has checked into a particular venue the most.

So why would anyone be a "mayor"? Well there is an element of having bragging rights, but probably more importantly, businesses are starting to reward their "mayors" special perks, such as a gift certificate or special discount.  Businesses are essentially rewarding customer loyalty and these customers are competing for these special rewards by frequently visiting their favorite stores.

What's in it for businesses? Location based marketing.  With these types of applications, you can market to consumers if they are in close proximity to your business.  In Foursquare, for example, a "Special Nearby" banner shows up if you have a special offer available and a consumer is nearby to your business.  Through this technique, you can attract new customers because they are just around the corner and may be interested in your special offer.

Businesses can also foster customer loyalty and repeat visits.  One of the most popular examples is the "free chips and salsa" that you can get at your local Chili's restaurant, simply by checking into Foursquare and showing your check in screen to your server.  Just recently, McDonald's head of social media, Rick Wion, mentioned that there was a "33% increase in checkins" from a Spring pilot program using Foursquare.  With this campaign, McDonald's randomly awarded $5 and $10 gift cards to those who check into Fousquare.  How much did this cost the large corporation? $1,000 for the gift cards - probably one of the most inexpensive marketing campaigns run by the fast food giant.

What's the downside?  Well, according to a Forrester Research report, only 4% of US online adults have ever used location based applications - definitely nothing to get too excited about - yet.  Even certain business staff who are supposed to be aware of these campaigns are not familiar with their existence (the local Chili's management wasn't aware of the free chips and salsa deal, or even Foursquare, when I showed the check in screen to them).  But like social media marketing and marketing in general, experimentation is key.  While the numbers don't indicate a significant reach for any campaign, the McDonald's campaign suggests that good results can occur with an extremely low investment.

Will it work for your business?  Like any other marketing initiative, experiment and see.

According to an article from Mashable, big brands such as AT&T, Expedia, Amazon, JC Penney, and ADT each spent several million on Google AdWords during the month of June 2010, with AT&T leading the pack at $8.08 million.

This is interesting since we all generally assume that these brands don't necessarily need to drop such a large investment into online ads with their huge brand recognition and large visibility in offline channels (e.g. TV, print, etc.), but the reality is that  marketing on search engines has such a broad reach, which translates into a huge ROI for the corporations involved.

If paid search is needed by large, well known brands, then the need for online ads is even more critical for smaller, local and less well known brands.  As mobile marketing continues to grow, paid ads will become even more targeted as ads can now show up depending on your local proximity to a particular restaurant, store or any other business.

Judging by the astounding growth of online video viewership (close to 125% in 2009), there is no doubt about the tremendous opportunity that has emerged for marketers.  Sure, online video still has a long way to go before it gets close to television viewership but eMarketer predicts that online video viewership will nearly double to 11.8 billion total hours in 2010. 

As a business owner, you strive to educate your customers and prospects about your products and services.  Now think about one of the most effective ways that people learn – it’s the interactive audio-visual medium (a.k.a. video)!  There can be no better way to show the use of your product, make a presentation about a new concept, share information and ideas to encourage better utilization of your products and services, promote an event, discuss a client success story or case study, and so much more. Using the combined power of voice, text, image, music and perhaps, a little bit of drama (for effect), a simple video can engage your target audience like nothing else can.

If you’re thinking, “Video is expensive”, “I don’t have time to create videos”, “Video marketing is too slow”, “Video takes too much technical knowledge, skills and effort”…STOP!  From school teachers to chefs, MLM pros to fitness instructors, chocolate makers to computer manufacturers, everyone has used online video and very successfully at that.  You don’t need to hire an expert videographer or have fancy cameras, lights and software. There are ways to create and market online videos quickly, affordably and efficiently. You just need to know what market trends prevail and which best practices yield the best results.

Google’s 2010 Super Bowl Ad was a 52 second video.  If you haven’t seen it before, take a quick look here. 

Lost in Paris aren’t you?  The video didn’t do that.  You did!  As your eyes followed the text and online search on your screen, your mind wandered off picturing everything from chocolate to coffee, Le Louvre to the Eiffel Tower, Parisian models to French couture, and more!  See how plain text scrolling on a screen and simple, really subtle, unobtrusive music can have that effect on you?  No images, no photographs, no fancy graphics or use of color, and yet, the video makes you see so much, within the realm of your own imagination!  That’s the power of online video.

Sure, Google is one of the biggest, most well-known companies in the world today and they paid an astronomical figure to play this video during Super Bowl (CBS charged 3 million dollars for a 30 second commercial!).  Think about it, you could create a video like that sitting in your own office or home, however.  The most important thing is to get your brand into the mind of your customer, and to do that, you have to think like the customer and find a niche that you’d like to occupy.

Most of us are guilty of letting our LinkedIn accounts site idle. Other than “View Invitation” and “Accept /Reject Invitation”, we do little else with it. Creating a LinkedIn profile brings within its fold, a set of unwritten roles and responsibilities, which deliver great results when followed.

Before we get to that, ask yourself this one important question – is your LinkedIn profile complete, professionally done and updated often? If you answered “no”, then you’ve got to start at the very basics! There is no point in having an online profile page that does not truly represent who you are, what qualifications and experience you bring to possible business associates and why other LinkedIn members should invite you to their network of connections.

Presenting a professional image of yourself is critical and a LinkedIn profile is a great tool you can use for this purpose. By getting recommendations from well connected members in your network, you can manage and build a strong reputation as well. It is also a great way to showcase testimonials from happy customers!

It is not complicated, though, perhaps a tad time consuming in the beginning to set up a good profile page on LinkedIn. Take the time to build your LinkedIn profile and you can’t go wrong.

Entrepreneur Magazine, an industry leading publication in the franchising industry, recently released its 2010 Franchise 500 listing. For the 10th year in a row, WSI, the world's leading Internet marketing franchise, earns a place in Entrepreneur Magazine's Franchise 500 listing, claiming the #1 spot in the category of Internet Services. Also, WSI was ranked #13 in the Top Home Based Franchises and #49 in America's Top Global Franchises. The January 2010 issue of Entrepreneur Magazine also lists WSI in the 56th spot in the overall 500 listing. WSI Strategic Edge is the local San Diego, CA office of WSI.  Read the press release: http://www.pr.com/press-release/202564