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Local Search for National Companies

Doug Williams @ 4:51 am

This blog entry was posted on December 11, 2009.

Should a business that markets nationwide be concerned with local search? They should if their product or service is consumed or searched for locally. A national restaurant chain may market nationwide, but people search for a local place to eat. It is more cost effective to optimize for local terms rather than investing in a national search campaign.

Even if a company wants to go after broader, national terms, it is not a bad idea to start out targeting local phrases where results can happen more quickly. Then follow up with a focus on the broader keyword phrases which will take longer depending on the competitiveness of the market.

Consumers today are placing trust more in local companies. Local search is one of the hottest growth areas in the Internet today.

Apartments for Rent
One company that advertises apartments for rent to a national audience has broken down their business into 60 metropolitan markets. They promote each metro market separately because people looking for apartments search locally.

They are not trying to have the number one organic ranking for “apartments for rent” which is a broad keyword phrase. Instead they are after dominating the local phrases around city names, neighborhoods and zip codes for the markets they compete in.

The same strategy would work well for any national chain where people use the service on a local basis. This could include self-storage units, restaurants and other franchises.

Location pages: Store locator pages by themselves are not enough. Instead look at creating optimized pages for each location with unique text on each page. Fully optimize each location microsite (cluster of related pages within a larger site) and then deploy a linking strategy using local city or neighborhood names.

Local Search: Directories such as Google 7-Pack display their results at the top of the search results page ahead of the organic search results. National chains should create a directory listing for each location. In addition, create listings for each location on Yahoo! And MSN Local. There are many other yellow page and other directory services.

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Filed under: Local Search,SEO Strategies



How to Optimize Your Google 7 Pack Listing

Doug Williams @ 5:31 am

This blog entry was posted on December 9, 2009.

Make sure your local business listing is complete. For instance, include pictures, coupons, full description and select multiple categories. Claiming your business listing is a must and should be completed as quickly as possible. Your objective is to create a quality listing and avoid any techniques that could be considered spamming.

  1. Company: This is the title for your listing. Your listing should match the business name. Keywords here do help, but be careful. Blatant keyword stuffing is not recommended. Do not include phone numbers or URLs in the business name.
  2. Phone: Use a local phone number instead of a toll free number.
  3. Categories: You can enter up to 5 categories to describe your business. Including keywords in the categories improves rankings dramatically. The primary category is the one that’s most heavily weighted. You can always enter your own category if the Local Business Center doesn’t suggest one that fits your business.
  4. Description: Use keywords in this 200 character text field to describe your services or products. A well crafted keyword rich description is very important to getting a good ranking. Do your keyword research to determine the best keyword combinations for products, services, and location. Make your description as long as Google allows.
  5. Location: This is your actual physical location (not a PO Box) in relation to what Google considers the center of the city. Don’t expect to rank well for towns and cities where you don’t have a physical presence (service area doesn’t count). Do not create more than one listing for each business location.
  6. Other Directories: Sites like bbb.org are highly valued by Google and a listing here seems to improve your ranking.
  7. Reviews: Reviews on your business are an important ranking criterion. Consider encouraging customers to review your performance. Reviews, either positive or negative, help your listing ranking; of course good reviews help your click through rate.

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Filed under: Local Search,SEO Strategies



COMs Still Account For 73% of US Domains

Doug Williams @ 4:06 am

This blog entry was posted on December 7, 2009.

I keep watch on the relative market shares of the TLDs (Top Level Domains). COMs been pretty consistent at 72%-74% of all US domains being registered. Businesses still have an overwhelming preference for .COMs (73.3%) to create a strong branding presence and to have more credibility for their business. .NETs are the distant second choice (12.5%)  followed by .ORGs (8.0%).

In some ways it is surprising that COMs have stayed stable at 72%-74% market share with the strong growth in the number of websites (see Netcraft data). There is still only a limited number COMs available.

Domain Percent Designation
.COM 73.3% Commercial
.NET 12.5% Network
.ORG 8.0% Organization
.INFO 2.8% Information
.BIZ 2.3% Business
.US 1.1% United States
.EDU 0.3% Educational
.GOV .005% US GOV
.MIL .0003% US Dept of Defense

Source: Domainworldwide.com based on stats from 12-6-09.

Your Domain is your online brand
You can use your business name, brand name or keywords in your domain. Whichever you choose, the name of your website should be a memorable reflection of your business. The strongest branding occurs when the company name and your domain are the same. This way if someone knows your business name, they will know your website name. Make it easy on them.

Domains can essentially be equated to apartments in the sense that you cannot own one outright. You must lease an apartment. The same goes for a .com, .net, or any other dot-anything.

.COM is the most popular with over 73% of all US domains are . Try and select a .COM for your domain. It will make your company seem like it has been around longer and is more trustworthy. If a .COM is not available, then choose a .NET.

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Filed under: Internet Marketing



Top 76 Most Searched for Local Businesses

Doug Williams @ 2:07 am

This blog entry was posted on December 5, 2009.

Local search is one of the hottest areas of interest in search marketing. What types of local businesses are people searching for? Using Wordtracker, I ran my own analysis. I checked the cities of Atlanta, Denver, Miami, Minneapolis, Phoenix and Portland to see which businesses or services were being searched for. The total daily searches for all cities combined are shown next to the keyword phrase.

What kinds of Geo modifiers were used? The city name was most often used. Many times it was the city and the state. All phrases included at least the the city name and the phrase. Some of the results were surprises to me. I expected higher numbers of searches on auto repair (#75) and nightlife (#3) was high across all cities except Portland.

It was also interesting to compare the variances in the searches between cities. Minneapolis had by far the highest number of searches for limos (#8) and limousines (#9). Atlanta was the only city not searching for a cosmetic dentists (#13). Portland and Phoenix had the lowest need for both criminal lawyers (#15) and accident lawyers (#18). Denver and Miami had the highest need. Denver had the highest number of searches for laser dentistry (#58).

  1. hotels (1891)
  2. restaurants (1744)
  3. nightlife  (1263)
  4. shopping  (1252)
  5. bars  (1206)
  6. taxis  (1130)
  7. newspaper  (679)
  8. limo  (462)
  9. limousine  (421)
  10. dentist  (326)
  11. injury attorney  (325)
  12. real estate  (323)
  13. cosmetic dentist  (321)
  14. plumbing  (297)
  15. criminal lawyer  (289)
  16. plumber  (278)
  17. accident lawyer  (272)
  18. electrical contractor  (261)
  19. lawyers  (250)
  20. nightclubs  (249)
  21. remodeling contractors (249)
  22. implant dentist  (232)
  23. remodeling (224)
  24. dental implants  (221)
  25. electrician  (219)
  26. attorney (213)
  27. hvac (210)
  28. cosmetic dentistry  (205)
  29. teeth whitening  (204)
  30. roofer  (195)
  31. general contractor (193)
  32. landscaper (190)
  33. dentistry  (176)
  34. floor  (176)
  35. flooring (175)
  36. car rental  (167)
  37. painter  (166)
  38. heating  (162)
  39. locks (161)
  40. furniture  (157)
  41. web design  (154)
  42. locksmith (152)
  43. used cars  (134)
  44. computer repair (120)
  45. garage door repair (116)
  46. eye doctor  (113)
  47. botox  (112)
  48. garage doors (112)
  49. plastic surgeon  (110)
  50. plastic surgery  (106)
  51. cosmetic surgeon  (99)
  52. lasik surgeon  (99)
  53. laser eye surgery  (97)
  54. eyecare (92)
  55. concrete  (86)
  56. eye surgery  (86)
  57. theatres  (83)
  58. laser dentistry  (75)
  59. car dealer  (73)
  60. orthodontics (73)
  61. cabinets (72)
  62. ophthalmology  (67)
  63. dentures  (66)
  64. lasek  (64)
  65. florists (62)
  66. car loans  (56)
  67. orthodontist  (56)
  68. thrift stores  (54)
  69. divorce lawyers  (47)
  70. drywall  (45)
  71. nursery  (40)
  72. auto glass repair (33)
  73. auto body repair (31)
  74. funeral homes  (30)
  75. auto repair (23)
  76. pawn shops  (18)

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Filed under: Blog Marketing,Local Search



Do You Really Know Your Website Audience?

Doug Williams @ 5:22 am

This blog entry was posted on December 3, 2009.

You want to attract people who are interested in what you have to offer. Knowing who your audience is and what they are looking for is critical. Your website needs to focus on a specific segment of people with a specific need. Many people try to make their website be too broad and be everything for everybody.

The truth is that if you build a website for everyone, it will attract no one.

Build your site to suit the taste of your ideal customer. Be very specific as you think about who they are. Not just their age, education and income. Think about what they like, what are their interests? What are they seeking? What makes them laugh or cry? What keeps them up at night thinking?

You do not just want to attract their interest. You want to engage them. You want their full attention so they are listening to what you have to offer. The motivation to buy is directly related to the specific problem, frustration or pain that your customer is experiencing.

This affects the color and look of your site. Should you use videos? Will they respond better to friendly informal writing style or a more businesslike and formal style? You will want to create content that will resonate with them.

You have the solution to their problem; you are a problem solving service. Since you truly understand their need; because they trust you… They take action.

They buy, they call, they sign-up or they download.

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Filed under: Internet Marketing



Google Profiles: Another Way to Promote Your Personal Brand

Doug Williams @ 4:43 am

This blog entry was posted on December 1, 2009.

Your name is your brand. A Google Profile gives you one more place to promote your personal brand online. This gives “self-Googlers” the satisfaction of seeing a picture link to their own Google Profile.  Using Google Profiles, you can control what people will be able to read about you, because you control this content.

Try entering my name Doug Williams into a Google search and scroll down to the bottom of the first page. You should see the link to my Google Profile with my photo.  That gets your attention doesn’t it?

Since 2007, Google has allowed people to create Google Profile pages as part of certain Google services such as Blogger. Early in 2009, Google began promoting these separate Google Profile pages that are being displayed in Google’s main search results.

Similar to the local business listings for companies, the Google Profile displays four thumbnail spots to these profiles at the bottom of search results. Capturing one of these four thumbnail spots is going to very desirable for some. Just like all other Google searches, the thumbnail selection is driven by a mysterious algorithm.

A Google Profile is a way to create a personal bio that will show up when someone searches for you. Google is beginning to encroach on a territory long dominated by LinkedIn.

What is Google going with this? By gathering this personal information will they lever this into some sort of super social network? Will they figure out a way to serve customized ads as we do searches? In any case they are continuing to build their information base.

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Filed under: Internet Marketing



Use Video to Add “Wow” to Your Website

Doug Williams @ 7:07 am

This blog entry was posted on November 29, 2009.

How do you transform your website from ordinary to extraordinary? What is it that will so improve your customer’s experience on your website that they will stop and say “Wow.” Video is one answer. Use video to help web visitors to engage, visualize, learn and better imagine how to use your product.

Use videos to get customers to understand and relate to your offering. Demonstrate your product’s features and benefits. Keep videos short and to the point, under one minute is best. Examples of how video can add another dimension.

  1. Fashions: show fashion accessories or clothing being modeled by professional models. This adds a deeper interaction than just a photo.
  2. Fishing lures: show underwater videos of lure in use so fishermen can see the product in action.
  3. Toys: Parents buy toys to give joy to kids. Show toddlers actually playing with the toys. People love to watch the facial expressions.

Video is being consumed at ever increasing rates by Internet audiences according to Comscore studies.

  • 81.6 percent (US) online visitors watch web videos (Aug 2009). This is up from 77 percent just 9 months earlier (Nov 2008).
  • The average video watched was 3.7 minutes(Aug 2009). This is up from 3.1 minutes 9 months earlier (Nov 2008)
  • The average video viewer watched 582 minutes of video (Aug 2009). This is up from 273 minutes 9 months earlier (Nov 2008)

Videos work because they communicate complex ideas very quickly. Adding a video to a landing page can greatly increase conversions because they communicate so much and create such good understanding.

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Filed under: Internet Marketing,Web Usability



Putting the “Wow” into Your Customer’s Experience

Doug Williams @ 5:26 am

This blog entry was posted on November 27, 2009.

Retailers both online and offline are looking for ways to separate themselves from their competition. One of these ways is to create the “Wow” customer experience. Delivering superior service and focusing on the customer experience.

A great example of this is Zappos that grew their merchandising sales from being a startup in 1999 to over $1 Billion in 2008. Zappos is known to be “Powered by Service.” Their goal is to provide the best online shopping experience possible. Go to the Zappos website and you will immediately see:

  • Free shipping
  • Free 365 day returns
  • Free return shipping

Companies that focus on the “wow” shopping experience stand out from the rest. According to research by Wharton, “35% of shoppers have had an extraordinary — or wow — retail experience in the past six months.” According to a survey from the Verde Group, a “Wow” shopping experience generates four times more word-of-mouth.

5 elements of a great shopping experience (from the retail council)

  1. Engagement: genuinely caring, being interested, helping and listening.
  2. Executional excellence: Patiently explaining, advising, deep product knowledge, providing unexpected quality.
  3. Brand Experience: Exciting store design and atmosphere, consistently exceptional product quality and making the customer feel special.
  4. Expediting: Provide a fast and easy shopping process, and a speedy checkout process.
  5. Problem recovery: Quickly resolving and compensating for any problems, upgrading quality or delivery with a focus on complete satisfaction.

Businesses are realizing that the better the shopping experience, the greater the customer loyalty. By being creative and by listening to customers, you can create your own “wow” experience for your customers.

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Filed under: Internet Marketing



Getting Your Email Through the Spam Filters

Doug Williams @ 4:52 am

This blog entry was posted on November 25, 2009.

You can carefully follow CAN-SPAM rules using only legitimate opt-in methods only to find your emails not making it past the spam filters. Many sophisticated Internet providers use Anti-Spam protection that scores your email based on a point system. The more things you do wrong, the more likely that your email may never actually be received.

These are 10 common mistakes people make that cause email to appear as Spam.

  1. Trigger words: Spam filters scan for certain trigger phrases in detecting spam. These include phrases like free, amazing, congratulations, great offer or order now. 20 common spam words
  2. Subject line: Capitalization can be risky, especially entire words or acronyms. Capitalize a trigger word like FREE and you are sure to be ejected.
  3. Attachments: Don’t send attachments. Many attachments carry viruses and are more carefully scrutinized.
  4. Images: Most of your message must be text. Spam filters eject emails when the image / text ratio is too high.
  5. Punctuation: Using punctuation to create exaggeration will also be picked up as spam. Be careful of too many exclamation points!!!!!!!
  6. Color: Avoid playing with colored text to get your message across. If you really want to catch a spam filter’s attention change both the text color and the background color.
  7. Bcc distribution: Keep bcc to less than 10 names. Long bcc lists are frequently used by spammers.
  8. SMTP: Use an SMTP server to launch your emails instead of using unauthenticated email.
  9. Text format: Avoid using large fonts, different fonts, italics or text with large gaps in the words.
  10. HTML: If you send out emails as formatted HTML, also send out as a plain text alternative version of your message. HTML versions are filtered out at a higher rate than plain text versions.

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Filed under: Email Marketing



How to Design Your Site to Convert

Doug Williams @ 5:24 am

This blog entry was posted on November 23, 2009.

Successful websites do two things. First, they attract a regular flow of visitors who are interested in what you offer. Second they are designed to get these visitors to take action. To convert your flow of traffic from interested lookers to buyers or at least get them started into your conversion process. This could be building your email list, quote requests or signing up for a webinar.

There is a science to building a website that gets your visitors to take action. These are some of the smart design techniques that convert visitors into customers.

  1. Memorable: Create a design that is memorable and that will stand out from your competition. This does not mean highly graphical or artsy. It means having a style or attitude that people will like and remember. It is a design appropriate for your industry.
  2. Information: Internet buyers and searchers are in a hurry. They are looking for companies that can quickly deliver what they are after. Make it quick and easy for them to find the information they are seeking. This is done on your website through formatting, clear navigation, and a clear writing style.
  3. Sales funnel: Guide your prospects through a well thought out selling sequence. Grab their attention, build their interest and then get them to take action. Your best selling sequence should be built into your website. More on sales funnels.
  4. Prevent surprises: Give your customer all the information they need to make their buying decision before they start to pay. A common mistake in ecommerce is not revealing shipping costs until the payment step.
  5. Communicate progress: If you anything in your site that can some time to complete, let your visitor know how far they have gone with a progress bar. This includes ecommerce checkout, a survey they are completing or even downloading a file.
  6. Build trust: People are cautious buying online with good reason. Make it easy to contact you with a phone number and an actual street address (not a PO Box). Post your privacy policy, shipping procedure and your refund policy.
  7. Keep improving: Be prepared to make changes to your site based on actual experience. Measure your website’s bounce rate. Bounce rate is the number of visitors who visit a particular page and then leave your site, without going on to other pages, divided by the total number of visitors to the page. Other key measurements include visitor counts, traffic sources and conversion rates.

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Filed under: Web Usability,Website Design



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