August 17, 2009 in Blog, Websites by admin

Market Watch 8/17/09

The LBC is now sending emails to customers with traffic data and analytics information (similar to Berry’s websites).  Link Here.

Great article on the way mobile is evolving into what some call an ‘augmented reality’.  Link Here.  Here’s an example of what your phone can do. Link Here.

Some companies are paying Facebook users to post ads on the status notifications. Facebook is looking to ban this.  Link Here.

How to optimize your website for phone calls. Link Here.  Basically, include calls to action early, obviously, and often.

Bing continues to gain market share. Link Here.

Important:  a website is “sales” not “marketing”. In other words, a website should drive leads.  Link Here.

August 11, 2009 in Blog, Online Video by Brent Ruhle

What You Need to Get Online

This video is a quick back to basics video that one of my colleagues Cindy Christoff brought to my attention. It’s a great video that breaks things down for people who don’t understand what they need to go digital. Hopefully by watching this video late online adopters will see that the process is a solution that can only help a business.

August 3, 2009 in Blog, Social Media by admin

Market Watch 8/3/09

How will Micro-Hoo (the aptly named Microsoft and Yahoo search combination) affect local seach?  Link Here.   The summary: most things are still up in the air, but the combination will have a long way to go before they have a large affect on local search. One positive is local marketing for small business has just consolidated and therefore become simpler.

What is Twitter?  Sixty nine percent (69%) of adults aren’t sure, either. Link Here

Wall Street Journal is creating a social networking site for business people, touted as the “LinkedIn Killer”. Link Here.

Youtube to make video data available to all visitors.  Link Here. This information is very powerful as users can now see where Youtube traffic and views are coming from.

Local TV station websites are the most popular local websites. Link Here.

July 30, 2009 in Blog, Online Video by admin

Market Watch 7/30/09

Report shows that Bing users are 50% more likely to click on an ad.  Link Here.

Emarketer posts article, “Some advertising shines in dark times.  Link Here. Among the advertising mediums that are shining:

• Online video spending +34% in 2009
• Mobile spending +39% in 2009
• Internet Yellow Pages +2.9% in 2009

CBS Sports and ESPN are swooping up local domain names, too, similar to what Marchex was reportedly doing this past spring. Link Here.

SEO expert Brad Geddes says that the meta tag descriptions remain very important, despite recent reports.  Link Here.  Geddes also says that title tags remain the most important on-page SEO tactic you can use.

A woman is sued for $50k for a simple Twitter Tweet.  Link Here. An apartment complex is suing the woman, claiming libel, for her tweet, “Who said sleeping in a moldy apartment was bad for you? Horizon realty thinks it’s okay.”.

July 28, 2009 in Blog, Search Engine Marketing by admin

Market Watch 7/27/09

One SEO pleads with Google to allow multiple Google “accounts”  to access one business listing.  Link Here. This would allow other people (ie sales reps or consultants) to access a customer’s Local Business Listing along with the advertiser.

Yellowpages.com has purchased the domain yp.com for $3.85 million and launched a beta site that is a compliment to yellowpages.com. Link Here. The new site will be search focus and boast increased search relevancy and different ad structures.  AT&T also states that yellowpages.com is the company’s flagship website where people go when they want information they can trust.

Twitter reaches out to business owners for the first time. Link Here

Twitter 101.  Link Here.

Case studies of companies using Twitter for business.  Link Here.

July 24, 2009 in Blog, Mobile by admin

Market Watch 7/24/09

Claiming your local business listing is paramount. Link Here.  This article states:

“Simply claiming your business in the Google Local Business Center can instantly skyrocket your business rankings in the Google Onebox local results.  (Example of Onebox local results below)  In a noncompetitive market, your profile will shoot into the top 5 upon confirming your business. “

Other advice on how to locally SEO a website:

“Localize” your website. This is your local business profile, having your address and local phone number is crucial to allow the search engines to localize results even more.  What good is a business profile if your core demographic is unable to find it?

• List a local number instead of a toll-free (800) number.
• Include the address and phone number on every page.
• Mention your location in the title of every page.

Twitter tips for B2B marketers.  Link Here.

Smartphones are going mainstream.  Link Here.  As smartphones grow, our customers should be thinking about their mobile strategy and how they will reach those consumers looking for local businesses via phone.

July 23, 2009 in Blog, Websites by admin

Market Watch 7/23/09

Local search companies are increasingly getting advice to include “geotags” in their websites. Link Here. Geotags are similar to Meta Tags and Title Tags in that they give search engines added information about their websites. Geotags are tags that give engines the coordinates and location of the specific business.

Google Earth allows you to search the moon.  Link Here.

Google image search accounts for 6% of all of Google’s traffic.  Link Here.   Best practices for websites include utilizing keywords in the alt tag and image description.

Yahoo’s earnings are down 13% this year. Link Here.

Local Ad Market will be bigger than expected this year.  Link Here.

Yodle signs two new executives from Merrill Lynch and Yahoo.  Link Here.

July 20, 2009 in Blog, Websites by Brent Ruhle

The Exploding Internet

Just how fast is the internet growing, here is an interesting graph showcasing just how rapidly today’s web is expanding: The Exploding Internet.

So what’s the big take away from all this data? First off, $6.8  trillion is spent online globally, and second America stands as the most dominate online presence still, despite the rapid economic. These two factors together say it’s time to start looking online for your dollars in this economic downturn, the money is still out there, it’s just in a new location.

So the next question becomes, if we focus on internet advertising, where do we put it? Well, at 8% of total internet usage, streaming video is a monster that is only getting bigger and bigger everyday. Google is begining to get advertisers on board with its popular video sharing website, Youtube.com, and the success so many businesses are already having with their other advertising programs, AdWords being a great example, it’s obvious Google is trying to get ahead of the curve this time around, so it may be best to keep up to pace with them and try some online video advertising.

July 17, 2009 in Blog, Websites by Brent Ruhle

What Online 1.0 can teach Web 2.0

Here is an interesting article on computerworld.com called, “What Web 2.0 can learn from Online 1.0″.

It’s important to realize what companies did in the past that worked online because some of those principles are still valuable today. We must remember that this new “Web 2.0″ social networking environment is a natural evolution and not a complete revolution of sound business practices. Hope this info helps!

July 10, 2009 in Blog, Websites by admin

Market Watch 7/9/09

Google announces they will be creating an operating system to compete with industry giant Microsoft.  Link Here.  Their OS will be web based which is completely different than Microsoft.

Google reaches out to local businesses and hosts a Local Business event in San Francisco. Link Here.

Bing is doing well – now bigger than CNN. Link Here.

New research shows up to 14% of all media consumption is done through mobile devices. Link Here. Most people (77%) are consuming mobile and TV at the same time.

The basics of “how to show up on Google’s local map”.  Link Here.

Local Insight in the news. Link Here. The headline:  Local Insight Media Consolidates Under Single Berry Brand

How to spot a social media “snake oil salesman”.  Link Here.