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Author: Search Influence Alumni

Getting Vocal About Buying Local: How Small Businesses Give the Big Easy its Charm

Some of Search Influence’s online marketing clients are small, local businesses that serve a neighborhood, town or region. To find out how small, local businesses impact a city as well as more about the trendy “buy local” movement, we talked to Mark Strella of StayLocal!.

Power to the SMBs

The real impact of locally owned, independent businesses in New Orleans became known just days after Hurricane Katrina struck the city. While Wal-Mart and Starbucks waited for New Orleans to recover, local bars, venues, and hardware stores reopened without hesitation.

Ten years later, the predominance of small, local businesses can be seen on nearly every street in the Greater New Orleans area. And the biggest advocate for preserving New Orleans’ cultural singularity is StayLocal!.

StayLocal! is the Greater New Orleans’ Independent Business Alliance, a non-profit, member-supported organization that connects local New Orleans business to customers, resources, and each other. StayLocal! works to foster the culture of the city by helping local businesses—and subsequently, New Orleans—thrive.

Project Manager Mark Strella tells us more about StayLocal! and its efforts to support locally owned, independent businesses in New Orleans:

So what exactly does “locally owned, independent business” mean?

To us, it means a business in which majority ownership resides within the five-parish New Orleans region. That means the business is owned by New Orleans residents, and decisions about the business are made here, by locals. Or in plain English: not a chain.

Who are some of the locally owned independent businesses you work with?

We work with local businesses of all types around the New Orleans area. We work with a lot of retail businesses, from smaller guys who sell around town at markets and pop-up shops, up to bigger local businesses who have numerous locations, and ones in between. We also work with service businesses and folks in the food industry. Our goal is to be these businesses’ ally: we’re here to provide them with the resources they need to thrive and be around for years.

As a New Orleans resident, how can I benefit from buying locally?

There are a bunch of reasons, and everyone has a reason that is particularly dear to them. For me, it’s that one of the reasons I love New Orleans is that it looks like nowhere else. And so much of that is because of how strong our local business presence is. Most cities in the country don’t come remotely close to being so heavily populated by businesses that are locally owned, rather than the standard menu of chain stores. So when you buy local, you’re supporting that part of our culture and identity and actively doing your part to ensure it stays a part of what you love about New Orleans.

It’s also better for our economy when you spend at a local business versus a chain. That local then takes your money and re-spends it locally, whether it’s on supplies, or accountants, graphic designers, marketers, etc. So that money stays here in New Orleans, whereas money spent at a chain or online leaves New Orleans and benefits some other city. Studies show that spending locally has two or three times a local economic benefit than shopping at a non-local business.

I’ve seen quite a few television shows poke fun at the buy-local movement, specifically Broad City and Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, so it must be a pretty big trend. Where does New Orleans stand in the push for staying local?

Ha, I have too, and that’s a testament to the buy-local movement’s success. It’s cool now. I think its success is a reaction to the rise over the past years and decades of chain businesses and now even online giants. People see these faceless businesses everywhere they go and they start to crave authenticity. They gain a greater appreciation for the local business down the street that’s owned and run night and day by their neighbor.

I think New Orleans is way out in front. We’ve always had a thriving local business scene. One study a few years ago showed we had one of the best local business to non-local business ratios of any city in the country. And we have such great appreciation for it as a culture. Our entrepreneurship and start-up scene is huge, thanks in large part to a number of great organizations that are fostering entrepreneurship like Idea Village and Propeller. And when we have this buy-local culture deeply imbued in our behavior as residents— that supporting all things local is simply what we do as New Orleanians—those new businesses have a huge audience to serve.

What events does StayLocal! host or promote throughout the year to encourage New Orleanians to buy local?

We do a ton of stuff. We recently put out the second of our Neighborhood Guide series, which points residents towards local businesses in a specific neighborhood. The neighborhood we did was Central City. Last year, we did Mid-City. And up next is Algiers Point. We have a constant stream of good information on our social media channels, so we definitely encourage folks to like us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter, yada yada, so that we can turn them on to new local businesses. We also are very active in the fall and holiday season pointing New Orleanians towards local shopping options, through our shop local for the holidays campaign, as well as Small Business Saturday.

And then in general, we spend the rest of our time working with the businesses in our network, helping them run a better business. We do workshops and run all kinds of initiatives and promotions to help our members better connect with one another and access tools that will boost their biz.

Last question: what should I tell my co-workers before they buy their next cup of coffee at Starbucks?

… it’s just important to say “everything in moderation,” and to think of the big picture and what matters to you. If you care about the economic health of the city, think about how local coffee shops re-spend their revenues locally and use local service providers and local firms, creating more jobs and opportunities for New Orleanians. If you care about living in a unique place, think about what New Orleans would be like without its local businesses. If you care about innovation here in New Orleans, we have so many coffee shops doing amazing things with coffee. Mojo. French Truck has its new spot in the Lower Garden District. Spitfire is incredible. So often, local is simply better. But if Starbucks is your thing and that’s not changing, try taking that mindset and applying it to anything else you buy and see what’s out there locally instead.

For more information and to find your new favorite local business, visit Stay Local! at StayLocal.org. Be sure to also follow them on Twitter and Facebook.

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StayLocal!

Proudly NOLA Owned

April 20, 2015
Nix the Wix SEO Challenge: Tips & Tricks

Wix Company Timeline

Although Wix sites have been rising in prominence over the past few years, many question whether websites created through the cloud-based Web development platform are ideal for search engine optimization. Wix uses an HTML5 drag n’ drop website-building platform to provide users a simplistic website-building experience. Although Wix prides itself on providing a code-free interface, it assures us that it is SEO-friendly, even providing its very own SEO settings for users. Let’s take a look at how you can get the most SEO usage out of your Wix website.

Update Meta Tags

Give some attention to how your site is found online. Meta tags are your best opportunity, as they are the way viewers learn what your page has to offer them and the first interaction they will have with you. The title tag will be what a user sees in Google, Bing, or Yahoo when they search for a particular phrase. The search engine result also includes a small description, usually from the meta description in the HTML of your site. This will require targeted keyword research and attention to copywriting to make sure you are integrating the best SEO practices.

To add meta titles to your Wix site, access your Wix Editor. The Wix Editor gives you options to edit in either the desktop or mobile version of your site. You will have to use the desktop view in order to make changes. Select the page icon, and when you see the page you wish to add titles to, click the settings icon next to it and then proceed to click the SEO Page Settings. Here, you will be able to update the page title, page descriptions, and page keywords. (See image below for details.)

Note: Both desktop and mobile versions of the site contain the same pages, so the title and meta description will translate to your mobile site.

Add Alt Text to Images

You might already know that viewers love to be brought in by useful, explanatory images. You might not know that search engines can read these images if they are optimized properly, allowing them to be found in image searches. As such, you can get to work optimizing pictures on your site to enhance your SEO efforts.

In order to add alt text to your images, click an image inside the Editor you wish to optimize. From there, select Settings from the pop-up menu. In Image Settings, fill in a title and alt text. Here is a detailed image of how to do this:

Get Social

You’ve invested so much hard work into your site, so isn’t it time to share it? Another great way to bring in more traffic is to effectively disseminate your message across social media sites. While you should be regularly posting informative content across your channels with relevant links back to your site, you should also make it possible for viewers to share straight from your site. In order to make this simple for your viewers, enable buttons and easy clicks on your site.

To add social icons to your site, click the plus sign to open Add in your Editor. From there, click Social. You will have a selection of different networking sites, so select the one you wish to add. Here is a detailed image of how to do this:

Once you select the type of button, be sure to include the appropriate URL (your social link for follow buttons). Here is an example using the Social Bar:

Make Your Site Visible

If you’ve just set up your site, you’ll need to give search engines a little time to find and index your site. The best way to get started is to make sure you’ve selected “Allow Search Engines to find my site” in your site’s SEO settings. Without updating this setting, you will never be found. Don’t risk losing all of your hard work. If you already have a published site, be sure to verify that this is selected.

Once you’re sure the search engines can see your site, you’ll want to help them find it. Add your web address to your Chamber of Commerce listings, note any industry associations you have, and make sure you get listed in local online directories.

Also, be sure to submit your sitemap to Webmaster Tools to help Google better crawl and categorize your website. Wix automatically generates a sitemap.xml file, and you can view it by adding sitemap.xml to the end of your domain name. (Note: If you want to use Google Analytics, you will have to upgrade your account to a premium plan.)

Optimizing on Wix doesn’t seem so bad, does it? Take heed and explore its options for yourself!

April 17, 2015
Ain’t Nobody Got Time for That: Make Social Media Fit Into Your Busy Schedule

It isn’t news that an active social media campaign is an integral part to any business model. In these modern times, simple and frequent Facebook posts can go a long way when potential clients are choosing between you and the competitor. Time, however, is also important, and budgeting out a few posts a day can take a shocking amount of it. Surprisingly, many businesses are unaware of the various ways they can solve this problem on their own.

Simple Tools

One of the best and most widely used solutions is the scheduling feature in Facebook. To use it, simply enter in the text, link, and/or image that you wish to post to your business’ profile page. Once you’re ready to publish, click the small drop-down arrow next to the “Post” button. From there, choose “Schedule,” and then pick the day and time you wish to have your update sent to your followers’ newsfeeds. Although it may take you some time to schedule all the posts you will want to share for the whole month, the amount of time it will save you overall is definitely worth it!

More Advanced

Another tool that helps companies organize their social media presence is Hootsuite. On the surface, it may not seem as intuitive and user-friendly as Facebook scheduling, but with a little practice, it becomes a lot faster. The only catch is the $9.99 per month you’ll need to pay for pro service. With the upgrade, you’ll gain access to bulk scheduling, enabling you to schedule an entire week’s, month’s, or even year’s worth of posts at the drop of a hat.

April 16, 2015
How Your Online Presence Wins and Loses Cosmetic Patients [Download Free Guide]
Download the Free Guide

Want tips, stats, and strategies about how to take charge of your practice’s online presence? Fill out the form below to download the free guide, “Attracting Patients by Proactively Managing Your Online Reputation.”

Consider this: one person wrote a negative online review for a plastic surgeon. In the next few months, the practice’s online leads and Internet referrals mysteriously plummeted by 28 percent. Coincidence? Don’t bet on it. Even if that single negative online review only contributed to the decrease, that drop in leads translated to the loss of literally hundreds of potential customers.

If you think your practice’s online presence doesn’t have the power to attract—or repel—patients, think again. For physicians in the cosmetic medicine industry—whether plastic surgery, dermatology, or even cosmetic dentistry—a practice’s online presence is a powerful tool. And if it is left uncultivated, it can be dangerous.

Search Influence details this pressing issue and its real-world implications for your cosmetic medical practice in a new guide, “Attracting Patients by Proactively Managing Your Online Reputation,” available to download for free by filling out the form below. The guide was produced with input from Richard M. Escoffery, an attorney with the law firm Elarbee, Thompson, Sapp & Wilson, LLP.

Patient Reviews … Haunting or Rewarding?

In the digital era of online marketing, even when a cosmetic surgeon is heavily recommended by a friend, coworker, or family member, 94 percent of people still take to the Internet to perform secondary online research before making a commitment, according to our free online guide. What’s even more astounding is that 72 percent of all consumers give an online review the same weight and credibility as a personal recommendation, the guide reports.

For example, here’s a general view of how customers typically find many plastic surgery practices online by using organic (or free) search methods:
1. Potential patients research the procedure they want.
2. They research the cosmetic and plastic surgeons in their area, usually looking through numerous review sites.
3. They start searching for their surgeon of interest by name, which is often termed a “branded organic search” in the online world.
Paging Dr. Google

Yes, this means patients are “googling” the cosmetic procedures you offer and your practice. How high a practice’s site ranks on search engines has a lot to do with the amount of website traffic the practice receives. And the very first search result in a Google search typically receives a third of the traffic share. Having your practice show up as a top search result for targeted keywords ranging from “breast augmentation” to “tummy tuck” takes not only cultivation, but also online marketing expertise.

In the free “Attracting Patients by Proactively Managing Your Online Reputation” guide, you’ll find more important takeaways. For example, Google and other search engines give higher ranking to such sites as Angie’s List, Yelp, RateMDs, and the like. These sites not only perch atop search engine rankings due to Google’s algorithm updates, but they also often feature regularly updated content, which, in search engine terms, is an important indication of reliability.

In other words, patient or customer review sites have all the makings of a search-engine friendly site. So, negative online comments and an uncultivated online presence can literally tank a practice’s website traffic.

Get a FREE guide & take charge of your online presence
April 15, 2015
Five for Friday: Go Natural, Rock Your SEO, Navigate Apple Maps, and More

1. How Your Band Can Rock SEO – Moz

Most people don’t discover new music by Googling “indie rock bands.” Folks are more likely to discover a band through other means and then turn to the Internet to search for tour dates, song lyrics, etc. If you’re a musician, this presents a unique opportunity for optimizing your band for search engines. Learn how to reach a wider online audience with these tips for improving your band’s search engine optimization.

2. Want to Transfer Your YouTube Account to the Proper Google+ Page? – Search Engine Roundtable

Does this YouTube predicament ring a bell? Say you’ve been uploading industry-related videos to your YouTube account, which is connected to your personal Google+ page. You’ve finally gotten around to creating a Google My Business account for your company, and you want to transfer your industry-focused YouTube account over to your business page. Now you can! The only catch is that this move can’t be undone, so make sure it’s really what you want to do.

3. Apple’s Maps App Gets Reviewed – Blumenthals

Apple’s Maps app, which has heretofore only partnered with Yelp for integrated customer reviews of businesses, has now expanded to incorporate reviews from TripAdvisor and Booking.com. It’s still pending an announcement from Apple, and it’s unknown whether this change is still in its testing stage, but you will likely begin seeing reviews from a wider audience across multiple platforms.

4. Beat the Competition with Natural Content – Marketing Land

Google’s algorithm updates are all focused on one thing: improving online content. Search engines have gotten smarter, and so have people. If your business is just providing “common sense” information with keywords stuffed in, you are not likely to convert a lot of searchers to customers or clients. Optimize your content for intent by providing natural, factual, quality information that tells your company’s unique story!

5. Facebook Dominates Ad Spending – Marketing Land

Where have businesses been focusing their advertising efforts? The numbers are in! In 2014, social media advertising grew 41 percent, and perhaps unsurprisingly, Facebook pulled in 75 percent of total advertising spending on social networks globally, accounting for $11.4 billion of the total $15.3 billion spent.

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Act natural

April 10, 2015
Google & Twitter Rekindle Old Flame with New Deal

Today, I’m going to tell you a love story between two Internet powerhouses. There’s drama, there’s intrigue, and there’s a rekindling of romances. Is it for the money? Is it for the power? That’s for you to decide.

You may have heard that in February, Twitter CEO Dick Costolo announced that Twitter and Google have rekindled a former partnership. Apparently, the two companies have agreed to a deal that would put a real-time feed of tweets from Twitter back into Google’s search result pages at some point in the first half of this year.

In this post, I’ll lay out what we do know about these star-crossed lovers: a little bit of background on the duo’s previous tryst, how this new partnership benefits Google and Twitter individually, and what this means for you (especially if you’re a business owner).

The Skeletons in the Closet

Back in 2009 (or centuries ago in Internet time), when Twitter was a mere three years old, the two companies formed a similar agreement. As that young relationship took off, Google unleashed something it called Real-Time Search, which featured current tweets and other instant information appearing right alongside your searches. Real-Time Search was well on its way to becoming pretty awesome when, suddenly, in 2011, that feature and the relationship met a tumultuous end. Twitter decided not to renew partially due to growing pains and partially because the COO at the time, Ali Rowghani, was into keeping Twitter’s content proprietary to its users. As a result, Google was left to crawl Twitter’s site in order to index tweets, which is clearly a recipe for failure, and thus, the two were left to go their separate ways. Until now.

What’s in it for Google?

When Google was a young, nascent startup, the founders formed a list of the 10 things that comprise the company philosophy. Topping this (pretty tender) list is, “Focus on the user and all else will follow.” If you keep reading, you’ll find that numbers three and four respectively are, “Fast is better than slow,” and “Democracy on the Web works.” The list also includes several items oriented towards the power of and need for information.

With Twitter, Google gets fast, user-focused information. And as that old adage goes, information is power. Or is it knowledge? Regardless, you get the idea. Twitter is powerful: it has facilitated uprisings, coordinated revolutions, encouraged dialogue on important issues, revolutionized protests, and most of all, it’s user-generated. That kind of authority and relevancy is pretty invaluable.

So, in this partnership, Google gains access to what’s known as the “fire hose” of tweets, which basically means it gets a stream of 9,000 tweets per second, giving it immediate access to whatever is going on in the Twitter-sphere at the time. This kind of power allows Google to provide even more relevant, reliable information to its users.

At this time, it is unclear whether or not Google will be paying for these tweets, though it did last time. If it does pay this time, however, there’s a good chance it won’t be very much, given that Twitter came to Google asking to rekindle this flame. So, who can really blame Google for wanting to try this whole partnership thing again?

What’s in it for Twitter?

In case this wasn’t already clear, I’ll give you a short answer: GLOBAL EXPOSURE. Google is a socialite with connections to everyone, everywhere, and Twitter is just trying to get in on a piece of that sweet pie. If you’re anything like me, you may be thinking, “Well, isn’t Twitter doing just fine on its own? Can’t it be successful without returning to its almighty ex?”

The answer to that, apparently, is…not so much. In 2013, 46 percent of Twitter users visited the site daily. In 2014, that stat dropped down to 36 percent. On top of losing grip on what was once seen as a stalwart user base, Twitter has the smallest market share out of the top five social media sites. Finally, only 19 percent of the U.S. adult population uses Twitter, which seems fine, but that is the lowest amount of all the top five social media platforms. Who knew Twitter was the runt of the social media litter?!

They did. And this is their effort to remedy that. By partnering up with Google again, Twitter gets a marketing cachet like never before. They’ll likely see more signups, more engagement, and higher ad revenue. As Costolo so eloquently put it in a recent earnings call, it’s all about the eyeballs:

“We’ve got the opportunity now to drive a lot of attention to and aggregate eyeballs, if you will, to these logged-out experiences, topics, and events that we plan on delivering on the front page of Twitter. And that’s one of the reasons this makes a lot more sense for us now.”

Though this almost certainly does not mean tweets will magically get favor from the Google gods and outrank other types of content, it does promise lots of rewards for Twitter.

What does this mean for YOU?

Basically, it means you should use Twitter. If you’re a business that works online in any capacity, this will likely be a positive development. Through this agreement, you can expect better, localized SEO results and new advertising benefits every time Google picks up your tweet.

However, it’s important to keep in mind that this also means tweets have a bit more longevity now. There’s a chance that Google will archive relevant tweets, which means they could show up on a search results page six months down the road.

In the same vein, any negative tweets from disgruntled customers have the potential to leave a more enduring imprint on a related Google search. It could be best practice to invest in some kind of social media/Google monitoring service so you can stay up to date on what’s being said. If you opt to respond to a negative Tweet, make sure you remain professional and work to mitigate the issue.

On the other hand, positive feedback from clients on Twitter will also show up on those results pages, meaning the invaluable customer testimonial is making a mean comeback.

What happens now?

Now, we wait. As tweets enter the public domain, it’s hard to say what will happen to the importance of Twitter followers and Google+. If you’re wondering where exactly the tweets will appear, Bloomberg theorizes that they “will start to be visible in Google’s search results as soon as they’re posted.” This leads us to believe they’ll probably show up in a section like the existing Knowledge Graph; however, it’s also possible that they’ll position the feed to the right of the current search results.

Who’s to say where this Internet powerhouse duo will take us next? Share your thoughts, predictions, and questions in the comments section below. We’d love to hear from you!

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Hashtag Burn

April 8, 2015
Five for Friday: Social Media Ad Wars, De-Spam Yourself, Text for Food, & More!
1. Google Fiber Launches New Product! – Google Fiber

This week, Google Fiber introduced its newest Web connectivity feature, Fiber Dial-Up, to help us all get back some of the time that’s constantly being consumed by ever-present technology. The folks at Google were able to recognize that many of us can’t seem to find enough time during our busy days to get back to the little things, like “texting your mom, hugging your child, running to the restroom …” This is where the dial-up mode idea started, and now Google has found a way to give us our time back so we can go back to enjoying the little things in life. Check it out here and get ready to meditate to the relaxing and nostalgic sounds of dial-up. What will you do with your time?

Thanks, Google! (April Fools!)

2. E-Commerce and Text: Two Sides of the Same Coin – Tech Crunch

Two important messaging announcements hit the tech world recently:
1. 600 million users of Facebook Messenger will soon be able to order food, buy products, and text directly with businesses.
2. Magic messaging company is raising an astonishing $12 million from Sequoia to allow you to order any on-demand service simply by sending a text message.
In short, this means that mobile messaging is now a commerce platform in which the user can seamlessly go from text messaging to ordering food, products, and direct business communication. This is the beginning of the “conversational commerce” revolution—a term coined by Chris Messina—that will open up much more opportunity for companies to join the texting revolution and ditch their countless applications. This will absolutely simplify companies’ paths to their consumers by eliminating the need for apps and non-compatible services and allowing marketing messages to reach users directly through their texting service. Put more simply: we all text more than ever, so why not expand texting’s potential to sending payments, buying products, ordering on-demand services, paying bills, and more? What do you think about this development—will the ability to text a business or make online purchases via text increase your participation in e-commerce?

3. Twitter and Facebook vs. Google and Yahoo – Marketing Land

Last week, online research firm eMarketer released data predicting that Twitter and Facebook are poised to surpass both Yahoo and Google in terms of display advertising revenue in the United States. Additionally, Yahoo and Google are both predicted to see a share decrease in online display ad revenue in 2015.

The financial success in ad space for both Facebook and Twitter is attributed in large part to marketers allocating more of their budgets to mobile display advertising. This goes to show that advertising on social media outlets is paying off for both marketers and social advertising platforms. How do you think these trends will play out over the course of the year? Will Google and Yahoo hold their own against these competitors, or is social media the wave of the future for online advertising?

4. Moz Releases New Spam Score Feature – Moz

Over the past year or so, Moz has been developing a metric that can determine whether or not a site may trigger a negative reaction from Google. Utilizing 17 different factors, the folks at Moz have compiled an algorithm that calculates the “spamminess” of a given website in order to predict any penalties or bans that Google might graciously bestow upon that site. This calculation will assign a site with a “Spam Score” of either “Looks Good,” “On The Borderline,” or “Trouble’s Lurking.” For now, this tool only operates on the subdomain level, but it will soon launch on a larger scale to be able to grade full pages or root domains. Subscribe to Moz.com or start a free trial to learn more about this feature and access your Spam Score now!

5. Dive Into Your Content With Analytics – Moz

When such a large part of our business has to do with content marketing, it’s important to stay up to date on the latest creative trends and most successful channels. However, sometimes the best information is in your Google Analytics data. Last week, Jeff Sauer from Moz published a thorough analysis showing how reviewing performance metrics in Google Analytics can inform your content strategy, thereby validating your content marketing efforts and producing greater traffic and revenue results.

Sauer dives into Google Analytics and provides examples of how we can explore content groupings, specific dimensions, and even coding features to highlight common content topics, adjust our definitions, and monitor the effectiveness of our content. These practices can be extremely helpful for advertisers who are looking to get the most out of their marketing and really optimize their content to its fullest potential. Check out Sauer’s article here for his full analysis, along with some helpful tips!

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Gotcha!

This Means War

I Don’t Like Spam
April 3, 2015
Avoid Customers Crying In Your Parking Lot: A Cautionary Tale

If you’ve ever done a Google search for a business, you’ve likely seen this kind of result.

And I’m sure at least once, you’ve seen this result, driven to the location, and found it to be closed.

In that crushing moment, did you hear your heart beating in your ears? Did you see black spots? Did you curl up into a fetal position?

Google lied to you. It clearly said the business was “open.” You had a full 8 hours before they closed! Rapidly stalking the business’ multiple social media platforms, you finally find one tiny post that says “Closed for the holidays.”

If this has happened to you, you definitely are not alone. Rest assured that I have cried in a coffee shop parking lot due to this very scenario.

With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility

Know this, my comrades: it is not the fault of Google—nay! This falls on the responsibility of business owners as part of properly managing and maintaining a Google My Business profile.

Currently, Google has not built out the functionality for saving holiday-specific hours ahead of time. As the profile setup currently stands, you’ll need to manually edit the hours of operation on a given day when your business is open (or closed) outside your standard hours of operation.

See Google’s steps on how to update your business’ hours.

After scouring Google’s forum for topics related to holiday-specific hours, it doesn’t seem like they’ll be adding the ability to set such hours ahead of time. Many of you may grumble and say that this is the last thing you’d think about during the holidays and, man, I get it, but know this:

If customers have just one instance where they very much look forward to coming to your establishment and are discouraged by misleading information, they have less of a chance of coming back. How can they know if you’ll be open?

This issue, however, is not specific to the holidays. It’s also applicable to businesses that have season-specific hours, and … really, all businesses! Companies with out-of-date or incorrect hours will quickly lose favor with customers. Really, take this as a larger lesson for why displaying accurate information across the World Wide Web is essential to a business’ success.

As Google’s search engine becomes increasingly more sophisticated, results will become increasingly more accurate. Online users already rely on the Internet to supply the most up-to-date information on any given topic, so why should your business be immune to this demand? The point is, it isn’t.

Google Time Stops For No Man

Set a calendar reminder the day before to update your hours. Set an alarm on your phone! Put post-it notes all over the place. Tie a ribbon to your finger. Pay your tech-savvy kid to do it. Or hire an Internet marketing company to manage your profile for you. Whatever method you choose, just know that you are doing a great service to your customers—and to the world!

In addition to managing an accurate and up-to-date Google My Business profile, it’s a good idea to update your social profiles as well. Facebook has easy-to-manage settings on your business’ page. Additionally, if your website has a built-out blog, it might be a good idea to have a holiday-specific post. In addition to alerting your customers about abnormal hours, a holiday-specific blog post opens the door to great time-sensitive content marketing opportunities.

Opportunistic Marketing

For instance, let everyone know your restaurant is open on St. Patrick’s Day and post your holiday-specific menu for the day, highlighting any specials you may have on account of the holidays.

Contracting company closed for Christmas? Make a blog post about being unavailable on certain days, but highlight necessary winter-related structural checks or services that you will be offering when you return to normal business hours. Share the blog post across your social media platforms.

Medical practice open for limited hours over Easter? Post a piece highlighting choking hazards for Easter-related paraphernalia, common food dye allergy reactions, or the importance of a dental check-up after candy-centric holidays.

Clothing boutique open on the Fourth of July? Embellish a blog post with photos of your cutest red, white, and blue outfits. Have a friendly contest amongst shoppers and get them to post the Fourth of July outfits they purchased at your store. Who wore it best?

Sno-ball stand closed for the winter? Write up a cute post about how you’ve gone north to collect more “snow” for the next coming season and when your customers can expect you to return! Also, post new flavors that they can anticipate for next season (or new combinations of old flavors). Or have a contest over the winter to see who can come up with the best flavor!

Go Forth And Update

So, let this be a warning to you. Every time a search result for your business shows inaccurate information, you may just be losing a customer. Don’t think of maintaining accurate information as a chore but as an opportunity to engage and educate your customers.

Have questions about maintaining other aspects of your Google My Business profile or opportunistic content marketing? Have an incorrect-business-info experience you’d like to share? Let us know in the comments below!

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April 2, 2015
Search Influence launches Mobile SEO truck helping businesses with mobile-friendly websites

Internet marketing company launches Web truck, not food truck, in time for ‘Mobile Apocalypse’

SEARCH INFLUENCE PRESS RELEASE – APRIL 1, 2015

New Orleans-based online marketing company Search Influence launched a new twist on the food truck—the Mobile SEO truck to help businesses become more mobile friendly in advance of Google’s “Mobile Apocalypse” or “Mobilegeddon” deadline Tuesday, April 21. Google’s new focus means businesses with websites that are not mobile friendly may suffer in mobile search results. The Search Influence Mobile SEO truck offers targeted, hands-on services convenient for America’s small- and medium-sized businesses.

The Mobile SEO truck functions similar to a food truck, but instead of the latest in trendy food, it offers affordable search engine optimization services designed to kick-start a heightened mobile online presence for businesses. The Mobile SEO truck will begin its tour in New Orleans, La., April 1–4. Other cities in the tour include Birmingham, Ala., April 5–8; Atlanta, Ga., April 9–12; Nashville, Tenn., April 1–16; and Washington, D.C., April 17–20.

The Mobile SEO truck is staffed with Search Influence SEO experts and website designers, and is also equipped with several hands-on stations, including an interactive Responsive Website Booth, an Automatic Click-to-Call Website Button Generator and Driving Directions Optimizer Portal to help companies attract new business from the near majority of customers who search for products and services via smartphones.

“A mobile-friendly online presence is no longer optional—no matter the size of your business. Our Mobile SEO truck is the perfect solution for any business struggling with Google’s new mobile-friendly algorithm,” said Search Influence CEO Will Scott. “To reach business owners in their own backyard, we’ve given new life to a defunct New Orleans food truck, so we can take these priority services on the road.”

Early this year, Search Influence purchased an out-of-commission food truck in New Orleans and retrofitted it with the latest hands-on website technology. What was originally a $6,000 fixer-upper was morphed into a $750,000 state-of-the-art online marketing machine.

“As a business owner, I appreciate the kind of hands-on online marketing help that literally drives to my office. For the best website strategies, you can’t beat the Mobile SEO truck,” said David Scheuermann of PayrollRx. “If they only served food along with the technology, it would be perfect!”

For media interviews or high-resolution photos, please contact Mikel Pak, PR/marketing manager at Search Influence. Please note, this is an April Fools’ Day joke. We hope you enjoyed the humor. Remember, mobile-friendly websites are key to a successful local business.

April 1, 2015
Champions in the Field: SI Finishes Strong at its Spring Team-Building Event

Three-legged race. Water balloon toss. Potato sack race. Search Influence. What do all of these have in common? The first ever Search Influence Field Day!

This quarter’s team-building event was planned by the Partner Accounts Department, and they did not disappoint. Taking it back to our school days, Influencers were divided into teams and competed against each other in various events. Field Day was held at the beautiful City Park on Friday, March 20.

The Events

There were a total of seven events that the teams had to participate in.

To start off the relay, the first event was the shoe switch race. People participating in this event had to take their shoes off and put them in a pile with the other teams’ shoes. At the start of the race, participants had to run to the pile, put on and tie their shoes, and then run back to the start to tag the next person.

The next event was the three-legged race. Influencers partnered up, were tied together at the knee, and raced to the finish line to then tag the next person to move on to the next event.

The third, and “coolest” (pun intended) event was the water balloon toss. No one could move on from this event before completing five tosses of water balloons with their partner, getting farther and farther away from each other.

Afterward, the teams could move on to the spoon balance. Eggs were put on a spoon, placed in the team member’s mouth, and balanced as they walked to the finish line of this event. If your egg fell, you had to start over!

Next was trivia. Team captains asked their team members questions about the company, SEO, and even Will Scott himself! Once the team answered 15 questions correctly, they could move on to the final event!

This event was for every member of the team. After lining up, they had to pass a beach ball over and under each person. The team that finished first won the Search Influence Field Day!

The Aftermath

After a long and hard fight, the gold team took the win. Search Influence Field Day, of course, ended with great food, drinks, and team-building fun.

Photo credit:
Mary Silva Photography

March 31, 2015