Why Paid Search Advertising Still Rules

I have many clients, in fact all of my clients who have tried it, that have been very successful with paid search advertising, which, let’s face it, has become synonymous with Google Adwords. Still they can't help from wondering if a really cool rich media ad with a racing car that runs across the screen or a banner ad with a dancing leprechaun will somehow be more effective. I tell them, based on both click-through rates and conversion rates that this kind of online display advertising is unlikely to be more effective and now there’s research on user preferences that also supports this point of view.

A new study from Adobe indicates that the overwhelming majority of people prefer television ads and other forms of off-line advertising to ads in online media such as banners ads, social media ads and online apps. Over half (54%) said banner ads don't work, just 3% said they prefer to view ads in social media and literally 0% said they like ads in mobile apps. Whew!

Needless to say this should give businesses and their marketing providers pause. Just like banner ads when they were first introduced back in the day (and they have yet to live up to the hype) ads on social media and mobile apps have failed in delivering on the heavily-promoted promise.

But with online space occupying more and more of people's time and attention, what's the best way to reach that very large and responsive audience? I would say search marketing, particularly paid search -- yes, those stodgy, boring text ads on search results pages. They may not be as interesting as the dancing leprechaun or the race car that flies across your screen obscuring the the text you're trying to read, but they consistently perform better with both click-though rates and conversion rates.

Paid search combined with a strong local search presence on Google+ Local will get you seen by the critical audience of mobile users whose searches are expected to dominate activity within the next two years. Click here and here to learn how we can help you succeed with search marketing and if you really want a dancing leprechaun, we can give you one of those too.

A Domain by Any Other Name

Is still just a domain. Back in April I wrote in this post about the poor unfortunate soul who invested a huge amount of money in what amounted to an exact match domain (EMD). It didn't work out all that well for him and now, with Google's new algorithm update that affects EMDs, it's even more unlikely that it will work for anyone else.

According to this article on the SEOMoz blog, early data indicates many sites that had exact match domains (domains that match exactly the desired keyword, e.g., teethwhitening.com) took a significant fall in search engine results with the update. My take on it is that the sites that did drop probably were not that strong in other ways, so when they lost the advantage of having an exact match domain, they took a tumble.

The moral of the story is that having a strong site that is properly optimized with informative content will carry you a lot further than any particular domain name (you can learn more about how we handle SEO here). So ignore all those resellers hawking the dream domain, or even those registrars trying to push the dot whatever on you as they're barely a step above the former. Build your site with quality content, optimize it and keep it fresh. Then no matter what your domain is, the business you get will still smell as sweet.

Google+ Local Update

This is both an update to my latest post on local search and a post about an update to Google+ Local so that we're all, well, up-to-date.

As promised when Google rolled out Google+ Local in uncharacteristically clumsy fashion back in March, there is now at least some integration available for those small business early-adopters who opened up a Google+ Business page for a local business or place and then found themselves blindsided and befuddled when  their Google Places page suddenly became a Google+ Local page. The result was that they now had two Google+ business pages: one with full functionality but couldn't be found that easily in local search and another that was basically a Places page skinned to look like a Google+ page, but with very limited functionality.

But the sun does rise, the cloud cover breaks, and now you can merge the two. What these means for you  is that you now have the best of both worlds -- a page that customers can find easily on the map and where they can post reviews plua a true social media page for you where you can post regularly, gain followers, create circles and so on. To merge the two, just follow these simple steps:

• When you visit your Google+ Business page you'll see a radial that says Verify Now in the right column. Click on it and follow the instructions
• You will, unfortunately, have to go through the postcard verification process again
• Once that's completed, Google will merge the local data from Places with your Google+ Business listing.

If you've claimed and populated your Google Places (+ Local) page but have not created a Google+ Business page, I recommend you do so to get more utility to connect and sell along with a better experience for the user. Then you can go ahead and merge the two but make sure you open your Google+ Business page as a local business or place.

If you haven't yet claimed your Places listing (see my last post) then it appears you'll still have to go through the Places interface, but hey, Rome wasn't built in a day.

Local Search: Location, Location, Location

It's not just about real estate anymore (then again, even real estate is not just about real estate anymore but more on that in a future post.) If you're a business that trades in a defined local market area, your location is becoming the critical factor in customers finding you in the search engines, particularly Google, who over the last several years has been elevating local results displayed on the map.

And now, with Google+ Local (formerly Places) that emphasis is even greater. If those reasons aren't enough, more than half of Americans now own smartphones (a percentage that's expected to grow rapidly) and some projections say that in a couple of years nearly 75% of all searches will be conducted on smartphones. Local search results dominate the returns on these devices.

Now that I have your attention (or have at least inundated you into submission with facts) here are a few simple things you can do to improve your performance in local search:

• Claim your Google Places/Google+ Local listing here if you haven't already done so. Don't let the changing terminology confuse you, everything you will see still says Places when you work with your listing, even though Google has "transitioned" these listings to Google+ Local. It's free, but you'll have to open up a free Google account if you don't already have one. Google will also take you through some steps to verify that you're the business owner. 
• Whether you're just claiming your listing or are updating an existing one, fill out the listing as completely as possible, even though some fields, such as the additional information fields, for now don't appear on the Google+ Local listing. 
• Choose the categories that most closely relate to your business. Although you can enter a custom category, you're better off going with the existing Google categories. 
• When describing your business, use the words that you want your business to be found for, the words that people search on. And that's not to be confused with your business name. It's what you do, not who you are that counts here. 
• Upload several photos if you have them and also video if you have any into those sections. Get your customers to review you on Google+ Local, ideally they should be positive ones. 
• Update your listing from time to time; adding new photos is a great way to do this. There's also a "share an update box" you can use but currently that does not appear on the Google+ Local page either. 
• On your website, it's best to have your address and phone number in text on your home page. Having variations of the city you're in combined with your keyword variations won't necessarily get you there. 

Or you can have us do it. We'll set up and optimize your Google+ Local/Places page for just $149 or we can optimize for local search both your Google+ Local/Places page and your website for just $399. Click here to learn more about our local marketing special.

Why Direct Mail Works for B2B

Recently on Google+ there was a posting, by Google Analytics I believe, passing on an article that basically stated that b2b and b2c were really no different, since everyone is essentially just a consumer. I took issue with that premise and further suggested that the most effective b2b tactic was actually physical direct mail. I was surprised at the reaction that I got, how audacious I guess it was in the online space to suggest that an old warhorse like direct mail was the way to go. (And no, the increasingly beleaguered USPS did not pay me to write this, although I would welcome the opportunity).

I've already expressed my skepticism when it comes to b2b social in this post and I wish I could link the Google+ thread to this blog, but I still haven't found a way to link my blog to my Google+ business page, not the personal account that it's under, as this thread was under my personal Google+ profile (anyone who knows how to do that please let me know). So I'll just excerpt my response here as to why physical direct mail was a more effective b2b tactic than say, paid search, with one of the reasons being that in search, the person doing the searching is different than the decision-maker :

"...Generally speaking (and I'm only making general inferences here) the CTRs (click-thru-rates) in paid search for b2b and b2c are comparable and at times for b2b they're higher. However, in my experience the abandonment rate on the form and/or landing page for a b2b product is much higher and since most times you're talking about generating leads, you have to factor how many clicks you have to generate to get a sale into your ROI equation. (Even for b2b products that can be self-served, like software trials, data backup or cloud services, I've seen this general pattern hold.) So that buttresses my theory of the discoverer being different than the decision-maker.

With physical DM, using a good hand-compiled list, you can get directly to the decision-maker for the product/service in question -- finance, IT, HR and so on. A couple of years ago -- after a long, long time away -- I briefly took a Director-level position at a corporation (although director is not what it used to be) and there was nobody opening my mail (I wish there was because I invariably forgot to approve invoices and so on). Even at an executive level where there is an assistant opening the mail, if you create a piece with a high-enough perceived value the gatekeeper is going to be very reluctant to toss it. So I find physical DM to be the most efficient tactic when it comes to ROI against a b2b target."

So there you have it, you heard it here first (or last since DM appears to have gone the way of vinyl records, but as any audiophile will tell you, they sound a helluva lot better). Oh, and by the way, b2b direct mail is one of the things I specialize in and I do it because it works. Considering the decline in popularity, I can't be doing it for the money and excuse me because I have to go meet my friends from the PO for a beer to commiserate.

Building A Social Media Plan

Here's a really good article from Social Media Examiner on building a social media plan. It contains a lot of good commonsense advice and steps that every small business can take.

Just a couple of things that I would like to amplify (and I would feel a little guilty or lazy if I just blogged a link; it seems like an unbloggerly thing to do). One of the best points this article makes is about committing the effort to social media and I find that many clients are ill-prepared to do just that. Too many businesses don't post enough or when they do, it's self-promotional material that doesn't engage the audience. Contests and exclusive expert information go a lot further to building a following than doings at the business or "hi, we're really excited to be us."

Businesses also don't realize that this is a long-haul effort with results that are likely to be incremental and supplemental rather than monumental. This is sometimes an outgrowth of misguided expectations as social media proponents and the media have been pounding this for so long as the next big thing that people almost jump in as a reflex reaction. However, just because you won't get huge results doesn't mean it isn't worth doing, it just means that social should be one component of an overhaul marketing plan, with the amount of resources you put against it (including sweat equity) in line with the potential return on investment. (Another related point that the article also makes: pick your spots, find the social channel that makes the most sense for you to be in based on your customer profile. Trying to be in all the social spaces or to make a splash in the biggest of them may not be the best place to focus your efforts).

In any case, enjoy the article and by the way, helping you build and execute a social media plan is part of what I do, in conjunction with an overall marketing plan that includes things like advertising, promotions and even direct mail. But more on that in another post.

Upon Further Review of Google+ Local

In an earlier post I expressed excitement about Google's transition of Google Places to Google+ Local and opined that it would give businesses owners more room and flexibility to enhance their Places listing. For the present time, this does not appear to be the case and in fact the opposite might be true:

• For the time-being businesses still need to manage their listing through the existing Places interface
• Among other things, this means that you're still subject to the Places character limit in describing your business and that paragraph is all that appears in the Google+ Local About page
• Other sections populated in Google Places, such as the Additional Information sections, don't appear to carry over at all, at least right now
• Many businesses report that they've been having trouble getting their photos to show up in Google+ Local.

Still, there are some things business owners can do to make the transition easier and eventually realize  the full potential of Google+ Local:

• If you've already claimed and fully-optimized your Google Places listing, it's probably best not to make any further additions or changes right now until the smoke clears
• If you already have a Google+ Business Page (the equivalent of a Facebook Business Page or what used to be called a Facebook Fan Page) it's best that the Places and Google+ Business page both be under the same Google account email
• Even if you don't have a Google+ Business Page, it will probably be helpful to open a Google+ personal account under the same email you use to access your Google Places account.

These blog posts from Search Engine Journal and Poobah Marketing contain additional information and tips and the latter includes a video from Google that has some helpful tidbits, if you can get past the annoyingly sunny disposition of the two Googlers delivering it. 

What's Really Behind the Facebook Disappointment

At market's close today, Facebook's stock price stood at $30.97, significantly below the IPO price of $38. Talk continues to swirl around pending or potential shareholder lawsuits and even if the Facebook brass did not reveal to the general public what it did to private investors, trading at 100 times earnings should have had everybody's eyes wide open, or at least anyone old enough to remember the last dot com bubble.

What's really underlying the disappointment in Facebook I think, is a growing disillusionment with Facebook as an advertising and marketing vehicle -- a disillusionment that is at least partly the outgrowth of unreasonable expectations.  The dynamics of interactions on Facebook make it less than marketing or advertising friendly and recent Facebook format changes like the timeline make it even less so.

Based on my direct experience and other available data, display advertising on Facebook performs at par or at times below other properties on the Web, which is to say not all that well at all. The only truly consistent performer in online advertising, at least on a click-through-rate basis, is search advertising and as any search advertiser knows there's a big difference in performance on Google for ads based on search and ads displayed on Google's content network.

Now many Web properties, including Yahoo and AOL, have tried to compile the information they have on their users and combine it with their Web behavior to lift banner ad results, as in Yahoo's short-lived SmartAds program of a few years back. This has had limited effect and so far Facebook has refrained from using people's profile information (beyond location) to trigger ads, relying mostly on friend associations and Likes.

And then there's the social marketing aspect of it or as some would have it, the holy grail. All those millions of people are on Facebook, we should be able to sell them stuff right? As I used to say to my clients, constantly pitching what you have on Facebook is like going to a party on Saturday night and spending the entire evening talking about what you do and handing out your business card. You're unlikely to make many friends. The social space is great for starting conversations with clients and prospects, establishing relationships and getting direct and indirect endorsements via Likes. But it will never be a primary marketing driver and give you "free" results, any more than PR can replace paid efforts with "free" advertising.

What should be your primary marketing drivers then? A judicious mix (driven by your business goals) of on and off-line advertising, search, direct marketing, promotion, PR and yes, social. More on each of those in future posts.

Google+ is Now the Place

Google has just announced a major new change that affects millions of businesses -- the conversion of Google Places listings to Google+ (for the uninitiated, this is Google’s social network, akin to Facebook’s, but in some ways better). This of course follows the transition of Google Maps listings to Google Places and as some unwitting small business owners found out, listings on Google Maps and Google Places weren’t always in sync, especially if the business owner or owners unwittingly claimed listings on both Google properties using different Google accounts (if the preceding phrases weren’t confusing enough in and of themselves).

Google stated the transition of Google Places to Google+ Local took place on Thursday May 31st and a quick perusal of my clients’ Places listings verified that was indeed the case. And this transition is a good thing for local small businesses for the following reasons:

• Google+ gives you much more space to talk about your business and what you do for people 
• Google+ gives you more ways to keep your content fresh and interact with customers through posts (just like Facebook) 
• Partly because of all of the above, Google+ gives you more ways to affect high how you are placed in the search engine results.

Because of its search engine visibility potential I recommended that my clients establish a Google+ presence upon its broad introduction some months ago. Now that Google Places has been folded into it, Google + has become a must for small and larger businesses alike.

Comment on this post or email me if you have questions or need assistance in establishing a Google+ presence.

Is B2B Sociable?

As with the snack cracker whose name is similar to a word in this post's title (Sociables) social marketing should be served up in very specific business-to-business situations, when at all. There's a good article on the TargetMarketing.com website that deals with this issue head on.

I agree with the author that Facebook is fundamentally useless for a company whose target is primarily B2B. The exception would be the weekend get-together syndrome, as when someone as an individual mentions they need help with marketing their business and another individual says I know this cool guy Larry Bassani who provides affordable, effective marketing support and gives personalized service too (you can simply cut and past that phrase into your Facebook stream and thank you in advance). However, if your audience is primarily business and you're thinking of standing up a Facebook fan page you're pretty much wasting your time.

Now LinkedIn is a primarily a "professional" social space, but it's dominated by people who are looking for action and who want to burnish their reputations by linking or getting recommendations from other people looking for action. The exception would be recruiters, who are of course looking for people who are looking for action.

If you're a business who has tried to build a following on Twitter beyond the follows that come through your website, you know that most of the followers you get are like-minded people looking to sell you something. Of course, if you're a B2B company, that might not be such a bad thing.

The writer of the Target Marketing piece makes a lot of very good points on how to get people to interact with you on your primary website, instead of spinning your wheels with social. Also, I would say that YouTube and Google + are also good bets for search engine visibility, at least partially because they are owned and promoted by a search engine company.

And besides, if you have a really important potential client, you might want to serve something other than crackers.

Want Someone to Like You? Give Them a Reason

Too often, people put social links on their website or say like us on Facebook and follow us Twitter and then wonder why they don't get any likes or follows besides their friends and relatives. As I often say to my clients, just like in real life, if you want someone to like you give them a reason.

I recently got an email from Staples that dealt with this issue as directly as I've ever seen. The subject line? "Join us on Facebook and Twitter. Here's why."

The email goes on to talk about the exclusive offers, giveaways and special extras available to followers. And that's it in a nutshell. If you want likes on Facebook, followers on Twitter or if you want to get into people's circles on Google +, you have to give them something that can't get on your general website, whether that's deeper information, a chance to get questions answered, coupons, discounts, contests or special offers. Otherwise, there's no motivation for people to take action and getting people to take action is what marketing is all about.

You can view the Staples email here. By the way, the Like button at the top of this post is for illustration purposes only, but thanks for the thought!

Master of Your Own Domain

Recently, in the New York Times, there was an article published about an unfortunate small business owner who invested a large sum of money in a domain name (already taken) that was related to his business, only to see his site traffic drop off dramatically from the domain name he had been using.

I posted a response on the New York Times "You're the Boss" blog. Here's what I said:

As an online and offline marketing consultant, I advise my clients not to become too obsessed with their domain names. Far more important is how you build your brand and plug your website into your brand. And even when your website is your brand, there are always plenty of variations that will work just fine. Let’s face it, the only people who see intrinsic value in domains are re-sellers, squatters and those registrar companies that want you to snatch up those must-have .co’s “while they last.”

When it comes to organic search, what you do on and off page and how fresh you keep your content (blogging) probably carries a lot more way than the domain name (although I’ve seen an advantage for local search, so if he was trying to sell nuts in Newark, Newarknuts.com can have value). And besides, the search term (nuts) was already in the domain name, so that wasn’t even an issue.

Beyond organic search, using social, paid search and plugging into the so-called Web 2.0 dynamic are better places to focus your efforts and resources than going after the rare “four-letter domain name” which, with all due respect to the people quoted in the article, is pretty much nonsense.

All I can say is "buyer beware."

The Brain Power of Words

A recent article in the New York Times discussed how reading words, in this case as it pertains to fiction, actually stimulates areas in the brain in the same way as real-life experiences. In other words, being exposed to descriptive language, and to a lesser extent evocative multi-media, broadens and enriches our lives by exposing us to new and different perspectives.

This got me thinking: this could be the reason why evocative print, direct mail or brand advertising can have, when done well, an extremely powerful, visceral and emotional effect. There's a lot to be said for behavioral targeting (where for instance you target people who are looking in a search engine for the product or services that you offer) demographic profiling (as with direct mail targeting) or self-descriptive profiling (using someone's Facebook profile to anticipate a want or need) to better target who you're sending your message to. But especially in the case of online search or display advertising, you don't have the time or space to really capture someone's imagination or draw a compelling picture that inspires people to think of new possibilities and take action.

Years ago, before the advent of online marketing, I created an innovative direct mail campaign promoting new car loans for a financial services institution. Not only did it describe in evocative detail the visceral pleasure of owning a new car, we created a "new car fragrance" and subtly embedded it in the letterhead. The mailing beat the control that included the same targeting used to identify potential new car buyers by more than 300 percent in response rate. Clearly, the evocative language and the visceral sensory experience did map areas in the brain that inspired recipients to take action.

Keep in mind the power of language when building your brand or any marketing campaign. Check back for the four key questions to ask when building your brand.

Commonsense SEO That Won't Get You Dinged

Recently at South by Southwest (SXSW) Google’s Matt Cutts talked about an upcoming “over-optimization” algorithm adjustment aimed at those who sort of abuse search engine optimization to game the system. This would included stuffing the page repetitively with keywords, link-buying, automated link building and other tactics that go beyond "what a normal person would do."

But you don't necessarily have to worry about wearing a black hat, grey hat, white hat or any hat at all. By following these practical steps, you can achieve strong search engine rankings, stay clear of the new Google adjustments and sleep well at night:

• Make sure your page title, main headline (h1) and the content immediately under that headline contain the keywords for what you want to be found for
• Write deep, authoritative content about your subject matter, content that people may also want to link to
• Have a blog on your site and post frequently on topics that you want to be known for, using the same keywords as your content strategy
• Foster links with companies that you're affiliated with or with like-minded sites
• Build links by posting comments on other peoples blogs related to your targeted topics and include your URL or reference other blogs (with a link to their URL) on your blog.

There are, of course, other things that you can do but these basic steps will get you results while keeping you in Google's good graces. You can read more about what Google said at SXSW here.

All the Mad Men

The title of this post also happens to be the title of a track on one of David Bowie's great, but lesser known albums -- The Man Who Sold the World. Released in 1970, the title track may be familiar to more people because Nirvana covered it on their MTV Unplugged record and show, not long before Kurt Cobain's alleged suicide.

The reason why I bring this up in a marketing blog (besides trying to snag unsuspecting glam and grunge rockers traversing the Internet) is that the song generated in me a feeling of nostalgia and I began to wonder whether the appeal of Mad Men the show was mainly nostalgia-driven (this is admittedly a circuitous route to get back on topic but I guess it works).

There's plenty of nostalgia to be had, from the cool retro style, the historical context familiar to most boomers and the idea of a bar in your office and drinking that begins no later than noon. But I don't think that tells the whole story.

I think we're drawn to the mythical days of Madison Avenue because they remind us of a time when we connected emotionally to brands since buying is often an emotional decision, or at least has a significant emotional component. In these days of dispassionate algorithms or ever more smarmy and sophomoric Super Bowl ads, we long for marketing that generates a feeling, a feeling that can stay with you for years or come back whenever you read that brand name or hear that jingle.

So when you're trying to connect with an audience or build your brand, remember to speak to the values, experience and aspirations of your audience to generate a feeling. Look for a post on the four most important questions you need to ask yourself when building a brand identity and brand voice that people can connect with.

The Email Marketing Myth

If you listen to iContact, Constant Contact, Exact Target and the plethora of other providers who provide online email marketing programs, email marketing is something you absolutely have to do. Like other must-do trends (Groupon is another but more on that in another post) that alone should get your radar up. Email marketing does have it's place, but it's unlikely to be a major driver of new business for many small businesses.

Email marketing has notoriously been a low response/low conversion medium, but that factor is offset by its very low cost, and if you're doing it yourself that cost is the monthly subscription for your service and maybe the cost of the list. Physical mail responds and converts much better (and God bless the PO because they're now offering free tools to help businesses use DM) but of course costs more with printing, mailshop and delivery costs. That's why, as a business mover, email marketing is really a volume game, a low conversion percentage is OK if you're deploying the email to hundreds of thousands of addresses. That puts it out of the realm of most small businesses.

And because of the growing use of this tactic, getting into the inbox is becoming harder and harder. Email inbox placement rates declined to a record low of 76.5% in the second half of 2011 according to Return Path's most recent Global Email Deliverability Benchmark Report. Translated, that means one out of every four emails don't even make it past the spam filters, let alone opened and read.

Does this mean you shouldn't use the email medium at all? No. Email marketing is great for keeping in touch with customers, building loyalty through coupon offers to repeat customers or developing leads that come through your website.

It's just not the next big thing, and that's probably a good thing.

The Social Role

Recently in my Twitter feed I shared a link of this article that discussed the advantages of search marketing versus social. Predictably the article concluded that you should to both, but in my mind it's really not a case of one or the other or even of doing both to cover all of the bases.

In my view search and social really represent two very distinct dynamics. Search marketing reaches people who are looking for something very specific, often to meet an immediate need. Social marketing is where people share experiences, ideas, likes and dislikes, which can help them discover new options or influence a purchase decision. It can also lead them to a need that they didn't initially realize they had -- what we used to call creating need awareness in the old days of sales.

So you really need to operate in both spheres for two entirely different reasons. If you don't have a strong search presence (paid or organic) you'll miss out on all the people who are in the real-time behavior of looking for a solution that you may offer. If you don't have a social presence, you won't have the advantage of people propagating your sales message for you or bolstering your brand credibility with recommendations.

You also won't get the chance to expand interactions with customers. Search tends to have a very direct chain -- users click over, come to your page and they either buy or they don't. Social gives you a chance to have expanded and ongoing conversations with your customer base -- in fact the best social dynamics often expand a sales conversation that was initiated on the website, eventually returning it to the site to close the deal.

Despite what people may tell you, you'd be hard-pressed to find someone who is successful selling purely through social. And although search can have very predictable cost and conversion metrics, it's only one step in building deep and profitable relationships with customers.

So my take on it is that you should engage in both search and social marketing, but for very different reasons.

Search Marketing, Online Marketing and Branding

Well, it looks as if branding has made it's way into the supposedly dispassionate world of search marketing. Check out this article in the New York Times on a very interesting campaign by Google.

Of course, branding in the online world isn't exactly news -- elements of branding have been used particularly in online display advertising and often in conjunction with offline campaigns. Still, search is supposed to be driven predominately by relevancy to the search and position, but this isn't always the whole story.

I manage search marketing (Adwords) programs for several clients and I've seen a significant difference in campaigns where there is a concurrent brand effort going on versus when there is not -- a click-thru and conversion improvement of 20% or more. So although relevancy may still be the most important thing, don't forget to build trust, awareness and credibility through your brand.

Check back for a future post on the four most important questions to ask when building your brand.

A Sense of Places (Google)

If you're a business with a local focus, especially if you're a brick and mortar business, the single, most effective thing you can do for your business is fairly simple, free and available to you right away -- your Google Places listing.

Google Places is sort of an outgrowth of Google Maps and there's a free page that's associated with your map location (that little balloon pinpoint on the map with the letter inside it). On it you can post information or a description about your business, your hours, special services that you offer, photos, videos -- you can even offer coupons on your Places page. Your customers can also rate, review or leave comments about your business.

Since in a locally-oriented search Google makes the Places results prominent on the search engine results page (SERP), and they try to deliver in the Places listings businesses most relevant to the search and the closest to the location of the searcher, your Places page should be optimized by using the best keywords to describe your business. Just like your website, optimizing your Places page will get you to the top of the results that Google returns and having both your Places page and your website optimized for local search can lift the performance of both.

Most importantly, your Places page can often deliver more results than your website. I have clients who, when you count clicks on the map icon, phone calls and click-thrus to the main website, actually get more action from their Places page than from their main site. Some use their Places page as their only online presence, successfully couponing and driving traffic to their page via Adwords Express (a stripped-down version of AdWords designed for Maps and Places).

So if you're a local business, before you spend a lot of time and money on your website or get into print advertising, flyers, direct mail, email marketing or heaven forbid, GroupOn, start with your Google Places page. You can email me with any questions or follow me on Twitter @lbconsultinginc.

Speed May Now Be King For SEO

With Google's latest changes to its search engine algorithm, the time a page takes to load is becoming a critical factor in where that page places on the search engine results page (SERP). While SEO professionals have long known that this played a significant role, it now appears that speed may be approaching the emphasis of in-links, on-page relevancy and recency, the latter of which was the most recent shift before the latest change, no puns intended.

The thinking behind this new emphasis is that today's Web user no longer has the patience to wait, as this recent New York Times article discusses in depth with a telling quote from a Google engineer. So if your website is chock full of widgets, multimedia, feeds, numerous social links and heavy graphics, you might want to take an approach that all of us could use in several areas of our lives -- lighten up!