websense

A few years back the coolest thing about the Web was that anyone, anywhere could purchase products from anyplace in the world, and have that product in a few short days. SEO was all about making sure that those customers found what you had to offer, no matter where in the world they were. It was very cool (still is very cool), very fresh. Ebay was king! Now, the coolest thing about the Web is that you can Google for the closest ice cream shop open past midnight on a Tuesday and get directions to take you right to the doorstep. Now the shop around the corner, where you can have “it” now! is king. Local Search is here folks, and it’s not going anyway anytime soon – awesome!

If you read this blog, or any other on search engine marketing, you know that local search is big. Local search has been talked about for a long time, and even implemented to a certain extent, but recent improvements in mobile technology have really made it relevant. So many different aspects of mobile web and regular usage of the web are driving this trend. Google Maps and Places, Facebook Places, mobile networks, just to take off the tip of the ice burg. Because of this, the already very important aspects of local search have come to light in a way that has most people in the search industry standing up and paying attention. Google and Bing have both included location into their rankings algorithms.

I know that I usually shoot down whatever people are saying is the next big thing in search, but not when it is just common sense. (Which is really all SEO and SEM really are.) It just makes sense that search would turn local. Anytime you search for anything you need locally, a doctor, dentist, garbage company, tree trimmer or Chinese take-out, the locality is of utmost importance. Therefore, anything YOU sell, make or do for your area must be represented on your site as a local product or service. These things need to be optimized with your locality. You need to be using all the tools in your arsenal to make sure your business is easily located and your customers know what you have available. Social media, mobile networks, downloadable discounts, all these things play into how your customers find you, buy what you have or do, and how you will be ranked or reviewed, and believe me, you will be, especially if the customer is not satisfied. Never before in history has the slogan “the customer is always right” been so relevant. If they are not happy, they will take to Twitter, Facebook, and the like and tell all their friends and followers about their experience. Unfortunately, you probably have to go above and beyond to get a whole lot out of people on the positive end without pursuing a “like” or review yourself.

In the end of all of this, this new and exciting world is getting smaller by the day. Localized search is making it possible for someone to find you, Google you for directions and arrive at your place of business in a matter of minutes. If you want to be the business they find, you had better make sure you have all of your marketing ducks in a row. Shoot us an email if you need a hand with that, we’d be happy to help you out.

For those of you who just have to know more:
http://www.webpronews.com/topnews/2010/10/21/using-social-and-local-search-for-your-business
http://searchenginewatch.com/3641506

Okay Folks, I’m getting ready to utter some words I am sure you don’t wanna hear. Are you ready? I know we are not quite at mid-October, but it is time to get ready for…the holidays. I’m sorry to say it out loud, but it’s time to start preparing for the next couple of crazy months, whether you have an e-commerce site, or have a web presence dedicated to your brick and mortar, it’s time to start planning for the end of the year. Yeah, already.

December and January can be challenging months for any business, but especially for small businesses that rely on other small businesses for monthly cash flow. (Here’s where I avoid a rant about the Bush tax cuts ending 1/1/11 – you’re welcome.) Many people go on vacation, throw parties, give bonuses and other cash consuming activities that may make it difficult for them to get all their bills paid. Fox News Business had a brief article last year that had some pretty good advice for surviving the holiday season that is still really relevant, even needs to be said, what with the coming tax changes (I’m done, I promise – for now.) I paraphrase:

No. 1. Make sure you are paying attention to any uncollected or outstanding bills. They can be a real drain on your cash flow.

No. 2. Assess and Reassess expenditures.
Holiday survival requires keeping close track of performance and expenses, such as materials, labor and sales.

No. 3. Keep your people in the loop.
Keep them informed on what is happening with your business, it’s in their best interest to know what’s going on, and they may have good suggestions for dealing with whatever end of year issues you may be experiencing.

No. 4. Show your customers a little love, spread the holiday cheer.
Offer discounts, free shipping, go a little crazy with excellent customer service. Impress upon your employees how important this is, and you’ll end 2010 with a bang!

No. 5. Hold an inventory blow-out sale BEFORE Christmas.
Old inventory has to go, so beat others to the January sales, and hold it now, before Christmas. You’ll catch folks with their wallets out, so give them the open box buys, year end clearances and scratch and dents they are looking for, and increase your cash flow now! Start now optimizing your product pages for your top selling items. Make sure your sale prices are clearly visible to your users.

Remember to make use of your social media outlets such as Facebook and Twitter to promote sales and clearances.

No. 6. Maximize your Web site to drive Internet sales.
Get your piece of the Web sales pie! Be sure to offer Web only specials, again using your social media to promote your sales.

No. 7. Keep as much cash on hand as possible. Plan ahead for the December/January slow down, and make sure you have cash ready to meet any demands that crop up during what is hopefully your busiest time. You don’t want to have to use credit if you don’t have to.

November/December/January are crazy months, and cash flow can be really tight, but the end of the year is also the time when many businesses make 40% of their yearly revenue, so early planning can be really advantageous. Now, go optimize those landing pages for your holiday sales. Give TKG a call if you need a hand.

While I’m not one to clip coupons, just hasn’t been something I’ve ever done, I do like a discount; offering them as marketing tools, and using them, too. Our world is becoming increasingly mobile, with an application for everything from scanning checks directly into your account to letting people know where you are at all times with different location apps.

How about mobile coupons? Coupons downloaded onto your iPhone or Blackberry or Android or whatever device you have. There are plenty of apps such as Mobile Coupons or Yowza , that allow you to register your business and upload coupons but I think we’ve come to an all new level of advertising when you can pull into a place, your device recognizes where you are and automatically searches for coupons in the area.

Even better, location based coupons that are automatically downloaded onto your device when you arrive at a location that supports the service. Pretty awesome.

How do you, as a business owner utilize these services? I think part of being one of the “it” places in your area might include easily downloadable coupons. Someone arrives at your shop, and there ya go, a coupon. Coupons and discounts often entice people to spend money they weren’t planning on spending. It’s too hard to resist. “Saving” is big – even if it means spending to do so. So, take advantage of one or several of the services that provide downloadable coupons. They are a great little addition to all this mobile location app stuff. Are they the thing that is going to be the next big thing? Probably not, but they might boost your sales a bit, maybe even a big bit – and that’s a good thing. I do think that local search will benefit from the coupon apps, and mean that more users will be searching for a deal online, en route (hopefully not while driving). If it were me, and I had to decide between lunch destination A, with no coupon, and lunch destination B, with a coupon, I’ll probably go with B, because it’s effortless (or nearly) and who doesn’t like to save money?

Are you using the coupon apps? How are they workin’ for ya? If you do print coupons as well, I’d be interested to hear which type you get more of…

When it comes to the web, there are always new terms being tossed around. A fairly interesting one I have come across several times that seems rather pertinent to the discussion of SEO/SEM and all things social is something called a “Digital Sociologist”. What is a digital sociologist, you ask? Great question – one I would like answered myself.

A digital sociologist is a person who studies the behavior of people when using digital technology, with it’s main focus on social media usage. This new study of people will probably remind you of the discussion we have had here many times on the topic of tribalization. Tribalization, if you recall, is the phenomena of people banding together on the web around a particular blogger, forum, brand, idea, belief, or what have you. Part of digital sociology would be to study this phenomena, and perhaps figure out how to make it work for your brand.

So many things are happening on the web. It’s only natural that some formal study of the behavior of people on the web take place. We (and most SEOs) have been doing it for years in the form of analytics. But, analytics alone can only tell us so much. They tell us what channel a user comes from, what pages they visited, what they bought, or where they spent most of their time on a particular site. From these analytics we can make educated guesses to help us tweak our strategies, but taking all of this a step further, to actually understand the feeling and beliefs of the user may help define a strategy to a greater extent. For some, it will help define why people behave they do about a particular blogger, brand, belief, etc.

Below is a very brief presentation on Digital Sociology by Ali Hadi. I would like to take the discussion much deeper, as I think this will ultimately have an impact on the way we do our jobs, especially as they pertain to social media and SEO/SEM.

Small businesses have a great opportunity with social media. It presents a “word of mouth” type of advertising that is sadly lacking in traditional marketing. People, oddly enough, are now looking to the web, and the people they ‘meet’ there, to help them make sound decisions on many major issues, including just about any purchase you can imagine. Brian Solis has an interesting article about small business utilizing digital sociology and social media if you’d like to read further and join the discussion.

I’ve blogged quite a bit over the last couple of years, especially during the economic downturn, about making the most of your marketing budget. We’re seeing a turn around here in NE Ohio, but a lot of companies are being careful. They know they need to make the most out of their marketing budget.

If SEO isn’t part of your marketing strategy, I gotta ask why. Why, when it has been shown time and again to provide the best ROI? TKG’s SEO blog had a great post on this topic a few months back. The article outlined precisely why you should be using your marketing dollars for SEO. James Wells also has a great post about the Value of SEO in Your Marketing Budget. He makes the great point that “many companies are overlooking this extremely cost effective and valuable form of marketing”.

If you aren’t sure how much you should be spending on SEO, perhaps a better question would be to ask yourself how much money you would like to make. Marketing requires that you spend money to make money, as the old adage goes, but with SEO, sure, you’ll spend some money, but in truth, far less than with traditional marketing, with a much higher ROI. Once you develop a strategy, put it in place and tweak it as analytics dictate, you’ll start to see why I’ve been touting this stuff for so long.

If you don’t believe me, or these other guys, take a look at this fantastic Fox Small Business video. These guys are getting a taste of where their marketing budget should go to grow their small business printing personalized gifts for children. They are a perfect fit for SEO, and that’s the advice they are giving.

We’re more than half way through 2010. What kind of growth would you like to see this year? Do you want to spend a lot for a little, or a little to get a lot?