Category: News

And we’re back with a new edition of the “Top 10 for the Weekend,” a selection of relevant and useful links from around the web, typically with a local search and internet marketing focus.

Google Tags rolling out nationwide

Google’s newest feature for local business, Tags will begin rolling live across the country. For $25/month, a yellow tag will mark your local business for anything ranging from videos and photos to personal messages for your potential clients. It won’t affect your business ranking in maps, but it will make it stand out amongst the rest. We’re going to be doing some testing with this feature, so keep checking in for updates.

Only 10% Of Businesses Would Pay For foursquare: Survey

A recent study organized by Search Influence found that only around 10% of non-chain businesses would be willing to pay for foursquare as a marketing tool. Some of the reasons range from not knowing whether or not it is driving traffic to their business to just not fully trusting the newborn social media as a marketing tool. Regardless of the reasons I’m sure foursquare is alarmed by this figure.

2010 Local Search Ranking Factors

For the third year in a row, Search Influence was asked to place in David Mihm’s study on Local Search Ranking Factors, chosen from only 34 other businesses in the same field. The consensus: it’s anxiety inducing for everyone!

Google Exposes Your Competition

It looks like Google has begun exposing your competition on your very own Places page! How sneaky. Our friends over at Blumenthals.com attribute this to Google wanting to make their Places page a starting point for your search as opposed to an ending.

Why Local SEO is Harder Than SEOs Think

Anyone who tells you that local SEO is easy is being disingenuous.  This blog gives a nice, detailed reason as to why that is. That’s not to say it is never easy. It’s just that what works for one business in a specific location may not work for the other. It’s a trial and error game akin to chutes and ladders.

Yelp Reviews Back in Google Maps as their .COM Growth Stops

Not since Ross and Rachael has there been an on again off again relationship as engrossing as Yelp and Google’s. Well, it looks like they’re back on for the time being! The sharp decline in Yelp’s customers seems to be the driving motivation here. Let’s see if it’ll last this time!

Four reasons why Lady Gaga has fans and you don’t

This blog finally makes me realize why- against my best efforts and judgments- I can’t help but like Lady Gaga! It’s because she’s not just a pop star, but an SEO star as well! It all makes so much sense now…

9 Expert SEO Tips for Small Businesses

Most companies don’t like to divulge their secrets to success. We here at Search Influence aren’t most companies, though. That’s why we’re sharing this blog by Anita Campbell with you. We agree when she says, “…the more you know about a subject, the better you are able to ask informed questions, hire qualified professionals, and make good decisions to enhance your Web presence.”

Social Media Mythbusting For The C-Suite

For the life of me, I will never understand why some people are averse to taking the plunge into social media. This blog will equip you with the armor necessary to combat anybody- including your boss- who isn’t on board this train.

WebVisible Documents ‘The Great Divide’

This short documentary discusses the gap between business owners and customers and how they find each other.  It offers a unique insight straight from the mouths of your potential customers and why sometimes you fail to connect with them.

Fathers have a way of attempting to instill wisdom upon their children, even when it’s not asked for! While their nuggets of advice may not all be as quotable as Confucius, every once in a while, something sticks… something that we carry with us our entire lives…something that we will no doubt drill into our kids… even when they don’t ask for it.

So in the spirit of Father’s Day, we decided to celebrate our fathers by sharing their best teachings with you!

“Well my father has taught me a lot of things, but I think one of the most important things he has taught me since I was very young is to respect nature and take care of the environment and the wildlife that depends on it.”

–       Melanie Aleman, Junior Account Associate

“My dad was a man of few words, wise decisions, and leading by example.  Trying to model that is a challenge everyday!”

–       Amy Arnold, Account Director

“Choose your battles wisely”

–       Allison Cates, Account Manager

“I come from a teenage parent family – my mom and dad were married and had me when they were barely legal. And while my grandmother loves to explain to my parents how I raised them, my dad did teach me a lot growing up, the most vital being the importance of learning. Even though he never got the chance to attending college because his life-path involved a short-lived term with the US Marine Corp, 18+ years of employment at Ford Motors and numerous side jobs, he always found the time to learn something new. When I was growing up, my dad would take night classes, watch historical documentaries, and read the dullest technical training books whenever he had the time. My father might not be a jack-of-all-trades but he’s certainly always willing to give it a try. Despite all of the adversity, my father is without a doubt the source of my mantra ‘What do I know?’ and is a continued source of inspiration for me to never stop learning. Thanks Dad.”

–       Anthony Coleman, Paid Search Manager & Budding Know-It-All

“Don’t take any wooden nickels” –Nick Fidanza, Operations Director

“One of the best attributes my father passed along to me is his attention to detail. Our perfectionism can be an annoyance to some, but guarantees the best job possible will be done for any task!”

–       Rodney Hess, Junior Account Associate

“My dad has taught me many many valuable things in life so far – but I guess the most unique thing that he has passed on to me is his excitement for Disney World!  This year will be my daughters’ 1st trip to Disney World and I had a hand in planning the whole thing with my dad… You see, there’s a strategy to planning a Disney vaca.  Choosing a resort and what section in the resort to stay in; what parks to go to on which days; where to make advanced dining reservations; what attractions to visit first; and so on…  I have enjoyed helping my dad plan this coming vacation and I hope to pass along this tradition to my children :)”

–       Amanda Barth Graves, Major Accounts Coordinator

“To get a job that involves the internet… and how to conserve gas by slowing down when approaching red lights”

–       Paula Keller, Account Associate

“Serious answer:  to take pride in everything you do no matter how trivial the task may seem because it is a reflection of your character. Funny answer: how to turn a simple household repair situation into a weekend long project.”

–       Jeff Kinkopf, Internet Marketing Intern / Interim Content Manager

“The best thing my father ever taught me was how to save and manage money. With that knowledge I’ve been able to stay debt free my whole life. ‘You can’t buy happiness, but you can buy freedom.’”

–       Luke Ledet, Super Star

“I dont know if this is the best thing my dad taught/told me, but he always reminded me that, ‘money doesn’t grow on trees’ and that he’s ‘not an infinite supply,’ haha. I think we both obsess over saving money, and getting the most from our dollar dollar bills.”

–       Briana Prevost, Associate Content Editor

“The best thing my father taught me was to live life to its fullest. Treat yourself, don’t cheat yourself.”

–       Evan Soso, Internet Marketing Intern

“To keep every door open. It’s drafty, but it makes sure you can get everywhere you want.”

–       Doug Thomas, Internet Marketing Associate

“He taught me how to be responsible and manage my money.  Luckily he had the patience to explain how it all works.”

–       Janna Vastola, Account Manager

This Father’s Day, try thanking him for all the knowledge he bestowed upon you. It’ll let him know you’ve been listening and is a much better gift than that crummy neck tie you bought him…

Special thanks to mikebaird and stevendepolo for the great images!

1. Why Local Businesses Can No Longer Ignore Foursquare

For some reason businesses are hesitant to jump on the social media bandwagon. It’ll never make sense to me because even if you don’t believe in its power, your customers do!  By simply adding a little prize for the mayor or a special for just checking in, you are almost guaranteed loyal repeat customers looking to catch a deal. It’s a game for these people! Make your business the board!

2. The Rise of SMB Reputation Management

With the rise of social media, small businesses are now able to get their name out there as effectively as the big chains, and for a much smaller price than they’re paying for their marketing too! Check out this blog post for a huge list of SMB reputation management services.

3. Citysearch Plans Reputation Mgt Offering

In keeping with SMB reputation management, Citysearch is now offering a fixed-fee service through CityGrid. Check out this blog post and the interview mentioned in it for more information.

4. Yellowbot Offers Reputation Tool Too

We’re just crazy about small business reputation management here at Search Influence, so here’s another post about yet another service, this time offered by YellowBot! These blog posts are a fantastic resource in helping decide which service- if not ALL of them- is right for your business.

5. Google Maps: New Guidelines for Dealing with Multiple Listings & Duplicate Listing Removal

As much as we love Google Maps here, we don’t hesitate to call attention to its faults. This post gives a few tips on how to check for – and delete – duplicate listings for your business. We had to learn the hard way about the penalties they impose for duplicate listings. Save yourself the headache and check out this blog about duplicate content and how to rectify the problem before it’s too late!

6. It’s MayDay for Yellow Pages Sites

An early-May change in Google’s algorithm affects the way massive websites are indexed. While this probably doesn’t affect your site directly, it may affect a site that you’re listed on, a site on which you may be counting for a quality link. If you have a basic listing on a large directory site, the page on which you’re listed may not be viewed as authoritative by Google. In that case, you could then speak with the advertising department of the site and look into options about getting an enhanced listing with unique, rich content that is more likely to be indexed, viewed highly by Google and give a strong link back to your site.

7. Google Algo Changes Drop ‘The Other Shoe’

This post from Greg Sterling references the same update to the Google algorithm as Andrew Shotland’s does above, but makes the point that directories with content-rich listings will prevail over directories with simple listings of phone numbers and addresses.

8. Effective Online Marketing Messages: How to Pace Yourself

This one comes straight from Search Influence’s own Nick Fidanza. A few weeks ago he wrote a comical blog post about when online marketing messages are ineffective, with the promise of a follow up on how to avoid the outcomes mentioned in the first post. While we could go on for days about how to properly send out online marketing messages, we decided to keep it simple this time. Check out these 4 guidelines to plan out and pace your messages.

9. Google Lists Top 1,000 Sites On The Web & Then Lets You Advertise On Them

This Search Engine Land post mentions brand-new-yesterday features available to online advertisers in Google Adwords. These features are thanks to advertisers and users like you who have allowed Google to be privy your site’s analytics data and/or your personal searching and website viewing activity.

10. Evil Conversion: When Optimization Goes too Far

That’s right, we agree – there is such thing as too much optimization. Sandra Niehaus provides three vivid examples of consumer purchase experiences that, through over optimization, could end up causing the customer to navigate away from the site before converting or worse, turning the customer away for good.

(… and some things to know if this does happen to you)

Imagine you are a new hire for a company.  Your boss schedules your first work day-trip for an important meeting with a client – and even better – it is to New York City (oh…and you have never been there before!)  You are so excited and ready to show your boss why he/she hired you!

The night before your 7:00 a.m. flight, you create the meeting agenda for the next day.  You get your briefcase packed.  You iron and lay out your outfit.  You take your shower.  You set your cell phone alarm clock for 4:00 a.m.  You are set and ready to go, so you head to bed.

6:08 a.m. your spouse wakes you up from a deep sleep frantically saying, “Do you know what time it is?!”  Your first thoughts:  “WHAT HAPPENED?!  Why am I not sitting in the airport waiting for my flight to board?!”

This is a true story.  This exact situation {unfortunately} happened to me.

“What did I do next?” you might be asking yourself…

The very first thing I did was call my boss and let him know right away what happened and what was going on.  He seemed pretty optimistic that I would make it to the airport on time (even thought I live a half hour away from the airport on a good day.)  I brushed my teeth, tossed my makeup bag into my briefcase, threw on my clothes and ran out the door to my car.  I sped all the way to the airport (I am not promoting speeding.  I am only giving you a play-by-play report of exactly what happened.)

After parking my car and running all the way into the airport, I arrived to the airline’s check-in counter at exactly 6:50 a.m. (panting and sweating profusely, of course.)  The not-so-friendly man at the counter pretty much told me that there was no way in hell I would be getting on that 7:00 a.m. direct flight to NYC.  The last text I got from my boss before the flight (that I was supposed to be on) took off read something like “Do whatever you have to do to get there.”

Ok.  The pressure is piling on.  Next, I begin running to every airline counter (in heels) begging to let me onto a flight that will get me to NYC in time for the client meeting.  From one wing of the airport to the next, I am having no luck.  {This is a scene straight out of a movie, if you ask me.}  There are airport employees rooting for me and trying to help me out.  Finally, the last airline left (who’s workers were not at the counter until now) agrees to get me onto a flight that has one layover.  At least I will be getting there at a decent time.  Things are looking up!

Until I realize that I have no cash, no debit card, and only one check left in my checkbook.  In the hectic rush I was in this morning, I must have left my debit card at home (and I never carry any cash on me, ever.)  Luckily, the airline agreed to take my check!  Little did they know, I did not even have enough money in my bank account to cover the check!  However, I was aware that my boss graciously planned to reimburse me for any of these unnecessary expenses that I was incurring because of these desperate circumstances.  I planned to deposit the money into my account before the airline could even cash the check.  (I later found out from my hubby that this act is considered a felony – so please do not try this at home!)

I have my new (one-way) ticket, made it through security and I am in the sitting area waiting to board my flight.  Now I am noticing that my cell phone battery is close to dead.  So, I am emailing my hubby and my mother to let them know what is going on.  My mom insists that I cannot go to NYC with zero cash.  So she took a collection of cash from her charitable coworkers and got her boss to (once again) speed her to the airport.  She jumped out of the car and went up to the security guards near the exit of the terminal.  She asked if she could give me the cash, and the security guard took it from her, inspected it and then handed it over to me.  What can I say?…My mom is the best!

Now I am really all set to make it to the client meeting!  I had never flown alone before.  And I actually really enjoyed it, once all of the running and worrying was over with.  I turned my phone off for the flight (because they make you and because my battery was dying.)  Once I landed in NYC, I turned my phone on and had a text from my boss with a phone number and confirmation number to a town car company.  The driver knew exactly where to take me.  My boss said that once I got there, to call or text him and he would come down and pay for the fare.

The whole ride there, the driver was pointing out landmarks to me and explaining the 5 Burroughs of the city.  When we were nearing the client’s building, I began calling and texting my boss.  He wasn’t responding.  Thank the good Lord for my mom!  If she had not rushed me that cash, I would have had to sell my soul to get out of that town car!  I finally made it up to the meeting and all went well. What a day!

Thank goodness for:
A) My hubby for waking me up when he did.  I still have no idea what happened with my cell phone alarm and why it did not go off.  And, maybe it did, and in my sleep I turned it off…who knows?!
B) My mother and her coworkers and boss for donating and rushing me some cash.
C) My boss for being completely understanding and admitting that he has gone through similar circumstances.  He reminded me that no one is perfect and that it can happen to the best of us.
D) And, last, but certainly not least, God – for getting me through the whole fiasco!

In the end, this was a great experience because I learned a lesson.  Here are some tips so that you do not have to learn the same lesson I did…

1. First of all, if you know that you are not an early morning person and it is in your control to choose when to take your flight, do not choose an early morning flight that requires you to wake up at the break of dawn.

2. Set 2 alarms – Give yourself enough time to arrive at the airport about 2 hours in advance of your flight.  If your flight leaves at 7am and you get to the check-in desk at 6:50, they are not going to let you on the flight. Airport security can take a while to get through, especially if it is an early morning flight.  Think of rush hour on the highway.  The same concept applies to flights.

3. Ask someone to give you a wake-up call, who you know will already be awake – a parent, a friend, or even a coworker that you may be traveling with.

4. Get to bed early so that you are not tempted to hit the snooze button on your alarm.

5. Take your shower the night before.  It takes me a solid 40 minutes to blow dry my hair (I know – high maintenance.)  Can you imagine if I had not taken a shower the night before my flight?

6. Have everything laid out for you ready to go in the am: Your outfit, briefcase, etc.

7. Make sure you have enough gas in your car the day before so that you do not have to make a stop in the morning before your flight.

8. Make sure you go to the ATM the day before so that you do not have to make a stop in the morning before your flight.

9. Check-in online or on your smart phone.  According to Delta.com, “Mobile check-in saves time at the airport by letting you check in and get your eBoarding Pass right from your PDA or web-enabled phone within 24 hours of your departure. It’s the fastest, most convenient way to check in.”

10. Have all of your identification and tickets in a handy place so that you do not have to spend time searching through your things.

*If you do happen to miss your first flight of your round-trip ticket, do be aware that some airlines will cancel your entire itinerary.  This means – do not try to purchase a 1-way ticket to your destination, assuming that you can still use your original ticket back.  Check with the airline first.  You may need to purchase a whole new round-trip ticket.  (I discovered this important piece of information on my way back to New Orleans from New York City.

**Know where you are going once you get to your destination airport.  Waiting for a taxi may add to your late-ness.  Have a list of phone numbers on-hand to local town car services.  These companies sometimes cost less than cab fare.  Call and make a reservation before your flight takes off.

I hope that these tips come in handy for you.  Have you had a similar experience?  Do you have any additional tips?  Thanks for reading!

——————-

PHOTO CREDITS:

• Alarm Clocks
• Take Off
• Late for Work Again
• Denver Airport Security Lines
• Boarding Pass
• Gas Station
• ATM
• The Big Apple

There are a ton of reputable charities out there and donating to anyone of them is admirable, but many of these organizations have no way of showing you the effect that your donation has had on the life of its recipient. SeeYourImpact is a network that enables visitors to make small donations to reputable charities and directly see the impact they have made on the world through the use of testimonials, photos and videos.

Their goal is to impact billions of people one donation at a time. The technology they use transforms giving into a joyful and fulfilling experience by enabling charitable organizations to show the connection of each donor’s gift to the actual end beneficiary in an authentic and transparent manner. 100% of your donation goes to the charitable organization of your choice. As of now, their reach extends only to India, but as they grow will make their services available to Africa, Latin America, and the rest of the world.

I really admire and respect not only what they are attempting to do, but also the means in which they are achieving their goals. Gone are the days of Sally Struthers and mail-in updates. SeeYourImpact utilizes current technological advances to deliver personal and real stories of the people who receive your much-needed donations.
The impact is vast, as you can see in this video of Madavan’s Story. Some of the causes supported are tuition fees for schooling, solar lanterns to provide electricity, Braille lessons for the blind, and even cataract surgery to restore someone’s vision. The donation size is also easily affordable to most people. I may be coming across as a salesman for these guys, but that’s just a testament to their impact and how much I support what they’re doing. I’ve never given to a charity before, believing I was a charity case myself. However, after reading how far simply $12 can go (a month of tuition for a needy child), I felt obligated to contribute. I mean, it’s twelve bucks. Who can’t afford to swing that? There I go being a salesman again. Just stop my ramblings and at the very least become their fan on Facebook. Even if you aren’t able to give directly, maybe you could indirectly inspire someone who can.

Search Influence’s Will Scott will speak about Facebook for small business at SearchFest 2010. The 4th annual Searchfest is March 9th at the Governor Hotel in Portland, Oregon.

SearchFest is the largest search engine marketing conference in Portland. Dedicated to search marketing education from the industry experts and thought leaders, SearchFest’s mission is to educate businesses on the benefits of SEO and SEM.