by Andy Brudtkuhl on February 27, 2010
Does this look odd to you?
Either Interstate Batteries are advertising their markup by blatantly stating they charge more than the Suggested Retail Price.
- OR -
Someone screwed up and hasn’t looked at it since…
Which do you think?
Confusing a user is the first way to get them to abandon your E-commerce site. Are you confusing your users?
Try ordering something from your own site and see if the process is confusing! When we told you to break up with your website we said the same thing… If you can’t use your site chances are your visitors can’t either.
by Andy Brudtkuhl on February 26, 2010
Google is taking another step in the local direction – once again making Google Local Listings even more important! They’ve just added a way to refine search results by location.
From Google’s press release…
Location has become an important part of the way we search. If you’re a foodie looking for restaurant details, food blogs or the closest farmer’s market, location can be vital to helping you find the right information. Starting today, we’ve added the ability to refine your searches with the “Nearby” tool in the Search Options panel. One of the really helpful things about this tool is that it works geographically — not just with keywords — so you don’t have to worry about adding “Minneapolis” to your query and missing webpages that only say “St. Paul” or “Twin Cities.” Check it out by doing a search, clicking on “show options” and selecting “Nearby.”
What’s this look like?
When you click on “Nearby” Google Filters Results Based On Your Location
by Andy Brudtkuhl on February 26, 2010
Here’s a quick video we extracted from a recent webinar – 5 Reasons You Need A Local Business Listing…
Want to learn more? Check out our Google Local Listing topic page!
Do you have any questions? Let us know in the comments or jump into the forums!
by Andy Brudtkuhl on February 17, 2010
Here are six things I would include in the foundation of a good local web strategy. You have a local internet marketing strategy – right?
Click To Enlarge
Targeted Advertising - You can set up geographically targeted advertising campaigns very easily and they are relatively inexpensive
Local Listing – An optimized Google Local listing could do wonders for your businesses. People search for local products and services they want to buy every day. If you aren’t showing up in those results you could be missing out. It’s free and easy to get started.
Location Services - Location is getting big. Services like FourSquare and others have force the big players into the game like Facebook, Twitter, and Google. Google has already integrated Buzz into the mobile experience – making that Google Local Listing we mentioned above even more important.
Social - It’s free and easy to set up profiles on social websites. Set them up and use them as a content outposts while building relationships and having conversations – you know how that goes. The point is to be active on these networks and talk to people who are local – because when people need that plumber, for example, they know to contact you. (if you are a plumber, of course)
Monitor Local Opportunities – People on Twitter are talking about how they are going tile shopping and need their driveway cleared of snow. If you are listening – those become sales opportunities. Keep your ears to the ground where your customers live online. They’ll tell you what they want and when they want it.
Craigslist – I hired a guy of Craigslist to come plow my driveway during one of the many winter storms we have had in Iowa this year. He had a listing with an email address and a phone number. Oh – and he answered the email right away. That was a conversion from Craigslist for him. Sometimes during events like storms it’s a great place to be found for the casual browser or intent searcher.
Do you have any questions on our local web strategy sample? Is there something we should add that we missed? Let us know in the comments or jump into the forums!
by Andy Brudtkuhl on February 16, 2010
Using the internet and social networking sites is a fantastic way to market a business of any size today. Most young people today are expecting to see a Facebook fan page for businesses they work with. It’s really not surprising at all. Next, there’s internet video marketing. Using videos on the internet is so powerful, because the human mind reacts differently to videos than text. Videos more or less tell a story, and the human brain is very receptive to that, so videos are more effective in getting the human mind to respond positively.
Because of how well the mind responds to internet video marketing, its popularity is growing exponentially in today’s personal and business world. Websites like YouTube have made it incredibly easy and simple to share a video online and also to upload a video from your own camera. Making your company seem more down to earth by offering helpful information in a format that the brain can grab and understand is very powerful indeed. Tell your company’s story while helping your potential clientele with a topic that relates to your product or service.
Putting a face to your business’ name is another good part of internet video marketing. When you put some of your people online speaking to the potential or current clientele, it lets them see that you are real people, with real faces and names, not just some big corporate company who doesn’t care. It gives you some confidence to your customers, and it lets them trust you more easily. When they can see that you are real, and that you are down to earth and sincere, they are more likely to trust you. Today’s world is full of shady characters, so let them see who you really are.
So, in short, tell them a story with video. Videos are powerful because the human mind loves a story! Internet video marketing is one of the most viral and powerful forces in the world of business today, so you absolutely do not want to miss out on this! Make this form of marketing another arm for your business and its ability to reach out to people that you haven’t been able to reach before. Put your face to your name and let them see that they should want to work with you. Let social networking and videos work to your advantage and get ahead in your industry!
