A Beginner’s Guide to Local Search Marketing
Issue #2411
- WEALTHY: A caveat about fortunetelling the stock market (Charles Delvalle)
- HEALTHY: How to thwart disease from the inside (Kelley Herring)
- WISE: Picasso on searching
ALSO IN THIS ISSUE:
- Reaching out to your local customers online (Alexis Siemon)
- How to make the most of the all-important Q&A (Peter Fogel)
- It’s Good to Know… about urge surfing (Judith Strauss)
- Add "grok" to your vocabulary
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FOR THE NEXT TWO DAYS ONLY – you only have until 10pm EDT on Saturday to grab the “Five Days in July” DVDs – lock in a savings of over 80% - and possibly score a bonus worth $2,000 (for those that act fast)…
Looking Back Is Easy; Looking Forward Is the Problem
When I started looking for ways to make consistent profits from the stock market, the first thing I learned about was technical analysis. With technical analysis, you use stock charts and various indicators to get a read for where a stock price might be heading.
The simplest explanation of how it works is that you look to previous price moves and try to pull out a pattern. So if a stock has a history of moving down to $10 a share and immediately moving $3 higher, then you buy at $10, hoping history will repeat itself.
However, if you’re going to use technical analysis, you have to understand that technical patterns in the stock market don’t always repeat themselves, because the many factors that affect price moves are never exactly the same. If you are convinced that history is always going to repeat itself, you are bound to hold onto your positions too long and lose a lot of money.
Of course, you will have some losses no matter what method you use to make your investing decisions. But with technical analysis, you’ll be able to quickly recognize your losers and cut them before they get worse.
[Ed. Note: Some of the most profound truths of investing are just as simple as the one investment analyst Charles Delvalle revealed above. And making money in the markets can be surprisingly easy, too. Learn just how simple it can be right here.]
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Pablo Picasso
A Beginner’s Guide to Local Search Marketing
I don’t know about you, but I haven’t used a phonebook in over two years. I feel a slight twinge of guilt when the new one shows up on my doorstep, because I know it’s making a short trip from my front porch to the recycling bin. I started performing my searches for local goods and services online ages ago, and I haven’t looked back since.
It seems I’m not the only one. Recent studies indicate that print Yellow Pages will be all but defunct in the next four years. The myriad of local business information available on the Internet and the bevy of options you can use to find that information have made it easier, faster, and more convenient than flipping through that bulky yellow book.
What does this mean to you as a local business owner? Well, if you haven’t taken the time to list your business online, your competitors may be leaving you in the dust.
Whether you run a restaurant, auto body shop, pet grooming service, or landscaping company, taking the steps below to position your business in front of local customers will make a big difference to your bottom line.
The Anatomy of a Local Business Listing
There are certain elements of your online listing that will be similar across the board - in a local search engine, Internet Yellow Pages site, or customer review site. Not just limited to your company name, address, and phone number, online local business listings allow you to display a ton of information about your business - for free! I’m always amazed when I see bare bones listings that aren’t taking full advantage of this opportunity for free advertising, but it happens fairly often. Below is just a sample of the information you are usually allowed to display:
- Company Name
- Address
- Phone Number
- Fax Number
- URL
- E-Mail Address
- Short Description of Business
- Services, Products, and Brands Offered
- Specialties and Amenities
- Payment Options
- Hours of Operation
- Logo
- Photos
- User Reviews
Wow!
Right about now you might be saying, "But my local business listing only has my name, address, and phone number. What do I do? "The more information you can include with your listing, the more likely it is that you’ll attract a targeted customer. So let me show you the sites you need to visit to include more information.
Internet Yellow Pages
The most logical places for many people to start looking for local goods and services are the Internet Yellow Pages sites. If you are brand-new to updating and optimizing your company’s local listings, begin with these.
Just like the print Yellow Pages, the Internet Yellow Pages will automatically have a basic listing for your company. (It’s up to you to make the listing pop and really work to drive customers from their computer screens to your storefront.) And in addition to your free listing, many Internet Yellow Pages sites offer advertising and fee-based enhanced feature options.
Some of the most popular Internet Yellow Pages sites for you to start with are:
- YellowPages.com
- SuperPages.com
- YellowBook.com
- Local.com
Upon locating your listing, you may be surprised to find that it contains information that you didn’t provide. This is because customers, too, are allowed to update and add to the listings - all the more reason to take action to make sure your information is correct.
Local Search Engines
It didn’t take long for the major search engines to get in on the local scene. Each of them has a local version. Google has Google Maps, Yahoo has Yahoo Local, and Ask has AskCity.
They all have impressive features. But because of my unhealthy obsession with all things Google, and to give you a head start on the most market share, I’ll talk about Google Maps here.
As with the Internet Yellow Pages, your business will likely already have a listing in Google Maps. You can spice up that listing from Google’s Local Business Center. To edit your listing, Google requires you to "claim" your business first. So they send a postcard to the mailing address listed with a special PIN (personal identification number) that you will use. Naturally, this takes a few days. Once claimed, however, you can edit your listing to your heart’s content.
Your local business listing on Google allows for all the information listed above. Google also pulls a lot of user reviews from customer review sites (which I’ll explain in a moment). Additionally, Google offers a couple of really cool features that you simply must take advantage of:
1. Coupons. You can create a special offer coupon right alongside your listing and update it as often as you want. This is a great way to encourage people to visit your store.
2. Video (a feature that has been added fairly recently). That’s right. You can add a video that you’ve posted on YouTube to your Google Maps listing. How cool is that? Think of the possibilities! You could shoot a short commercial, record testimonials from happy customers, or even shoot footage of your clean restaurant teeming with enthusiastic diners.
Once you’ve perfected your listing on Google Maps, you can promote it through Google AdWords and target a particular region, city, or even neighborhood. For more information, and to get started, go to Maps.Google.com or Google.com/local/add.
Customer Review Websites
Customer review sites are arguably the most important of the three local search areas, because the content is user-generated. And, like I mentioned above, Google (and other local search engines) pulls customer reviews from these websites to display on your listing. So it’s important to be aware of what people are saying about your business.
Get a little PR for your business by encouraging your happy customers to post positive reviews of your company and its services. You can also benefit from monitoring any unfavorable reviews about you on these sites to see where you can make improvements.
Popular customer review sites include:
- Yelp.com
- InsiderPages.com
- CitySearch.com
- JudysBook.com
There are even specialized customer review sites like AngiesList.com for home improvement and MenuPages.com for restaurants.
A Quick Word About Mobile Search
Mobile search is usually mentioned in tandem with local search. After all, people are usually on the road when they are looking for things like food, gas, lodging, or the nearest pet store. The good news is that if you do the work to enhance your listings on all the sites mentioned in this article, you will be more than covered in the mobile search arena. Most, if not all, of the local search engines and Internet Yellow Pages have special mobile versions that are readable on mobile phones and other handhelds - including the ever-popular iPhone.
So get to work on your listings on Internet Yellow Pages sites, local search engines, and customer review sites. You’ll soon see a big improvement in your business - whether you run a one-person dog walking service or a local pizza franchise. And when delivery of that big, bulky print phonebook finally comes to a grinding halt, your business won’t miss a beat.
[Ed. Note: No matter what kind of business you have, getting online is critical to your success. ETR's team of business-building and Internet marketing experts can give you a step-by-step rundown of exactly how to make your business grow - from the comfort of your own living room.]
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Your Own Personal Life Coach
Picture yourself hiring a life coach, someone whose sole job is to help you do exactly what you need to do to take control of your life.
Your life coach would suggest actions you could take to be healthier. She might recommend a technique you could try to be more productive. She could teach you some strategies for breaking yourself of your most self-destructive habits. Or offer advice on how to structure your day more efficiently.
Better yet, your life coach would show up every day - with a smile - and make sure that you are putting her suggestions to use. She’d give you a gentle nudge, some encouraging words, and help you get going.
And if you somehow slipped back into your old patterns - which, let’s face it, happens sometimes - she’d be right there with useful advice for getting back on track.
Learn how you can have 365 days of your own personal life coach – for less than most life coaches charge per hour.
- Charlie Byrne
Associate Publisher, Early to Rise
3 Ways to Answer Questions During a Presentation
By Peter "The Reinvention Guy" Fogel
You’ve got a major client presentation next week, and you’re nervous. You’re prepared, you’ve got your speech down pat… and you know it could mean a big order for your company’s products if you pull it off. But if you think your presentation will be over as soon as you’ve stopped talking, you’re wrong.
The best way to "seal the deal" with potential clients is to have a question and answer (Q&A) session after your speech. And that’s where you have to be firing on all eight cylinders.
Your prospects will have questions - and you’d better have the answers. Here’s how to prepare for it:
1. Set guidelines before launching into the Q&A. Tell your audience that you have time for few questions - but set a time limit. And keep to it. Make your answers as succinct as possible so you can answer as many of their questions as possible.
2. Learn to paraphrase rather than repeat a question before answering it. Paraphrasing allows you to remove any skepticism or hostility from a question.
Here’s an example. Say an audience member says something like, "I’m in customer service… and I tell you, it’s tough. We already sell a product similar to the one your company has, and we seem to get a lot of irate customers who want to return it and get their money back, even if they bought it more than 10 years ago. How would you handle this?"
In that case, you might paraphrase the question this way: "Okay, a customer bought that widget way back when Clinton was in office and NOW wants a refund. Here’s what you do…"
3. Listen carefully to the entire question. Never interrupt people before they are finished speaking (even if you know where the question is going). Maintain eye contact to show you’re focused on the question. And when the person is done speaking, address your response to the whole room.
With these three techniques, you can make your Q&A sessions more valuable to everyone in your audience.
[Ed. Note: You don't have to be a professional speaker to benefit from public speaking techniques. They can help you convey your message to colleagues, employers, and clients. Get public speaking expert Peter Fogel's guide to speaking like a pro right here.]
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It’s Time to Change Those Genes!
In a recent ETR article, I introduced you to the burgeoning new field of nutrigenomics - the use of your personal genetic information to create a tailor-made diet that can thwart the diseases you’re most prone to. But once you have this critical information in hand, wouldn’t it be nice to simply repair those damaged genes? New research suggests you can!
Dr. Dean Ornish and colleagues conducted a study on 30 men with low-risk prostate cancer who decided against "conventional" medical treatment. The men underwent three months of major lifestyle changes, including eating a diet rich in fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and legumes; 30 minutes of moderate daily exercise; and 30 minutes of daily stress management.
After three months, the men had lost weight, lowered blood pressure, and were enjoying other health benefits. But what astounded researchers were the profound changes in their before and after biopsies. In only 90 days, there were changes in about 500 of the men’s genes - including 453 that were turned off and 48 that were turned on. The activity of disease-preventing genes had increased while the number of disease-promoting genes had shut off.
"In just three months, I can change hundreds of my genes simply by changing what I eat and how I live? That’s pretty exciting," says Ornish. "The implications of our study are not limited to men with prostate cancer."
So whenever you hear someone offer up yesterday’s excuse of "Oh, there’s nothing I can do about that - it’s just my genes," smile and suggest they change them.
[Ed. Note: It's easy to say "It's just my genes" and resign yourself to poor health. But it can be almost as easy to make a few simple changes to your diet and lifestyle - and live a longer life, free of pain and medical bills. Start feeling better and getting healthier right here.
It's a lot easier to get healthy when your "health food" tastes good. Get delicious and healthy recipes at Kelley Herring's website, HealingGourmet.com.]
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It’s Good to Know: Urge Surfing
By Judith Strauss
"Urge surfing" is a technique developed by psychologist Alan Marlatt to prevent recovering addicts from relapsing. It’s based on the idea that cravings come in waves, growing stronger and more powerful before cresting and then disappearing. Patients are taught to ride out the wave with a combination of meditation and focused breathing.
Though the original purpose of Dr. Marlatt’s technique was to help people struggling with drug and alcohol problems, it is now employed to manage any destructive behavior. Smoking. Gambling. Compulsive shopping. Inappropriate sex. Compulsive eating. And you can apply the concept to not-so-serious urges too - without the meditation and breathing.
Try it next time you feel the need for a little extra self-control. If, for instance, you get the urge to take a second helping of dessert… or pick at that "thing" on your nose… or tell off your mother-in-law. Just surf the urge for 10 or 20 minutes, and it will go away. Well… usually. I’ve been surfing the urge to buy a new car for three days now. I think the urge is winning.
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Your Ph.D. in Persuasion – for Quickly Launching Your Career and Doubling or Tripling Business Sales
A bold claim, you may think… but that is actually a conservative statement. I want to introduce you to a little-known book, printed decades ago, that is responsible for numerous fortunes and careers that have given people a lifestyle they could only dream of…
It can do the same for you.
Whether you are selling for a client or your own business, or you want to launch a new career and watch it take off, you won’t find a more effective way for doing so than using the secrets in this book. I guarantee it.
This program is like getting a Ph.D. in persuasion. You have nothing to lose by taking a quick look at the details right now.
Word to the Wise: Grok
To "grok" (GRAWK) is slang for "to understand," especially in a profound and intimate way. The word was coined by Robert A. Heinlein in his science fiction novel Stranger in a Strange Land.
Example (as used in the San Jose Mercury News): "If you want to grok the language, get your mitts on the new Random House Historical Dictionary of American Slang."
[Ed. Note: Become a more persuasive writer and speaker ... build your self-confidence and intellect ... increase your attractiveness to others ... just by spending 10 VERY enjoyable minutes a day with ETR's new Words to the Wise CD Library.]
Copyright ETR, LLC, 2008
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I find lots of very helpful things via this mailling. Today, it was the Local Search Mktg. Thank you so much for it all.
Barbara