SEM

Local Search: What’s it all about, Alfie?

Posted by admin on April 6, 2009   |   No Comments

In the past, local advertising was the best way to reach new customers for if you have a business offering local goods and services. Yellow pages, local newspapers, door-to-door flyers, coupons and promotions and word-of-mouth do still generate phone calls and storefront traffic. But today consumers are increasingly using the Internet as their primary source of local business information. Having your business presented at the top of search engine results and in local directories is now a critical part of any local marketing plan. And it can be very cost effective when compared to traditional media.

This series of posts will explain the ins and outs of local search visibility, provide an overview of the pros and cons of local search marketing, and explain how it can be integrated into your overall marketing plan. …more at Local Search – What’s it all about Alfie? Local Search Marketing Series, Part 1 – smallbiztechnology.com (http://smallbiztechnology NULL.com/archive/2009/03/local-search-whats-it-all-abou NULL.html), published 30 March 2009.

Flickr photo credit: metrostation (http://www NULL.flickr NULL.com/photos/metrostation/30441950/)

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Local search for SMBs

Posted by admin on February 9, 2009   |   No Comments

It’s about being there and being found (less about SEO)

For consumers, local search is about finding things we want (need) that are tangible and near by. It’s not about finding sites spread across the vast open web that have the best SEO, the most inbound links, and the highest Google page rank.

Local search is impatient. It’s directional in nature. It’s not exploratory. It’s more about the physical facts, and less about qualitative information.

Therefore, for small business owners, local search is about being there and being found — wherever consumers might be looking.

Imagine yourself as a consumer and you’re late to a dinner party in Leesburg, Virginia. You’re driving around an unfamiliar town looking for a wine store to pick up a nice bottle of French white wine. …read more on Local Search for SMBs: It’s About Being There and Being Found (Less About SEO) | Broadband Evolved (http://www NULL.broadbandevolved NULL.com/my_weblog/2009/02/local-search-for-smbs-its-about-being-there-and-being-found-not-about-seo NULL.html), published 1 Feb 2009.

Flickr photo credit: rosswebsdale (http://www NULL.flickr NULL.com/photos/rosswebsdale/2530851977/)

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SMB’s need more “local” outreach

Posted by admin on January 30, 2009   |   No Comments

I spoke at a local Chamber of Commerce (http://www NULL.tualatinchamber NULL.com/) here in the Portland area last week, giving a brief presentation on the fundamentals of SEO. Unlike a previous event (http://www NULL.davidmihm NULL.com/blog/smbiz/what-i-learned-about-web-on-friday/) I’d attended just three months ago in eastern Washington, about 75% of this audience had actually heard the term “SEO” before.

But after my brief synopsis on local search, I still received a couple of questions from the audience related to “claiming your listing” and what that was all about. It seems that even in incredibly savvy small business markets like the one I spoke in, the concept of a local search engine remains foggy for SMB’s… read more at SMB’s Need More “Local” Outreach (http://searchengineland NULL.com/smbs-need-more-local-outreach-16304).

Flickr photo credit: Uncleweed (http://www NULL.flickr NULL.com/photos/uncleweed/168758026/)

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‘My online store gets just one sale a month!’

Posted by admin on January 29, 2009   |   No Comments

We enlisted e-commerce experts to help a bricks-and-mortar retailer make the transition online.

Dear CNNMoney.com: I have owned and operated a retail storefront for the past three years. I recently launched an online e-commerce Web site. I have paid an SEO guy each month and have aggressively marketed the site, but I’m only getting one sale a month. I am losing faith in all of the work, time and effort that has been put in. Do you have any suggestions on how to jumpstart the e-commerce portion of my business?

- Joanne Versaggi, Mélange Home Décor (http://melangehomedecor NULL.com/), Marlton, N.J.

Dear Joanne ... read more at ‘My online store gets just one sale a month!’ – Jan. 29, 2009 (http://money NULL.cnn NULL.com/2009/01/29/smallbusiness/slow_sales_at_store NULL.smb/index NULL.htm).

Flickr photo credit: Pascale PirateChickan (http://www NULL.flickr NULL.com/photos/piratechickan/2965571299/)

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Web Analytics 101, Part 2

Posted by admin on January 26, 2009   |   No Comments

When using Web analytics, it’s easy to get caught up in all the numbers and statistics and lose sight of the overall goal — getting the intelligence you need to make effective adjustments to your Web site and online marketing strategies to increase the ROI your site delivers. It doesn’t do any good to use Web analytics to produce cool charts and reports but then fail to make adjustments to improve your site’s performance!

To illustrate how Web analytics can be used to make decisions to improve the effectiveness of an online marketing strategy and the performance of a Web site, consider the following examples:

Web Analytics 101, Part 2 – Search Engine Watch (SEW) (http://searchenginewatch NULL.com/3632505). Flickr photo credit: paul goyette (http://www NULL.flickr NULL.com/photos/pgoyette/235891518/)

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