| | | Ins and Outs of Local Search
As the population with internet access explodes, and more and more people are using search engines to find what they need, the usage of local search also continues to rise. For any sites servicing a local or specific geographic audience, submission to local search based engines is becoming more and more important.
What is it?
In a nutshell local search involves the use of specialized search engines specifically created to focus on a selected geographic region to find local businesses and websites focused on your area.
Local search is commonly utilized as a directory, where users select their location, and narrow their search by categories till they find the listing they want. In many cases local search engines also guess at the users' location by using their IP, so when you visit the site and search, for example, "Chinese restaurants" you automatically see results specific to your location.
Google has been doing this for a while to one degree or another. When you perform a search in Google using a geographic modifier the map comes up with results specific to that location. You can also take it one step further and search Google Local specifically.
But Google isn't the only engine out there focused on local search. There are several of these directories ranging from the better known Best of the Web, right down to small town specific websites offering local search options. You even may find a web directory or guide specifically created for your city, and chances are, it will be a great place for you to submit your site.
Many local directories are free for basic listings along with paid advanced listing options.
Who needs it?
Local search is ideal for anyone serving a specific region, especially those with brick and mortar stores. While you do not necessarily need a physical location, some local search directories, including Google Local, require that you do.
Only recently have small local businesses realized the need to be found in the major search engines. I know that if I am personally looking for a bike tune-up, the first place I turn to is online, to find the various bike shops in my area, if at very least, I search online to find their contact info. I can't remember the last time I picked up a phone book. As the internet grows in popularity, there are more and more people like me who use it exclusively to find what they want, local or otherwise. For businesses not found within the various local search sites, they are missing out on a growing piece of their market.
Considering the limited expense in getting listed in local search directories, traditional brick and mortar business can't afford to not be listed, it's quickly becoming a necessity.
Why bother?
With more people using these directories, and the incredibly low cost of "free" involved in being listed in many of them, it only makes sense to get listed. These directories, even the lower traffic ones, are a great free source of relevant traffic and the few minutes required to submit to them (usually around 10 minutes or so) only needs to result in a very small handful of site visitors to make it worthwhile.
Where to get listed?
When it comes to local search there are a few places you don't want to miss such as Google Local. Many local search directories are country specific, so try your searching by using your country name; such as, "Canadian business directory".
Try to focus your efforts on finding local directories that not only focus on your geographic region, but also offer you something in return.
How to decide if a directory is worthwhile
There are 5 main factors you need to consider when choosing to submit to a local search directory.
- Location
What geographic regions does the directory serve? Do they serve your location?
- Relevance
Does a relevant category exist? When you navigate to your appropriate category, are the other business listings relevant to your business? Some local directories may focus only on one industry, such as hotels. If the theme of the directory will not cater to your industry, you certainly don't need to be listed there.
- Price
How much does the directory charge? If it is free, it's most likely worthwhile. If there is a cost associated with the listing, you need to know more to find out if it's money well spent (which is where the next two points come in).
- Traffic
Does this directory have much traffic? The quickest way to get a rough idea on this is to check their Alexa rating. Alexa is a rough indicator of how busy a site is, the busier the site, the closer their ranking will be to 1. If the site looks like it has very limited traffic, then you need to find out if the listing will have any SEO benefits if you are to spend any money here. (A low traffic free directory is likely still worthwhile however.)
- SEO
Will your listing help you with your organic rankings? This is relatively simple to find out. You want to first check the Google Page Rank for their home page. If it is low (less than 5) then this is not one of the major directories. If it is between 5 and 10, then they likely have some authority. Next check the page your listing will actually reside on. Is this page indexed by Google, and does it have any Page Rank? If so, is the link back to your site search engine friendly?
Many local search directories may link to your site using the rel=nofollow tag, or by redirecting through a variety of tracking methods, which can cause your link to have no value in terms of SEO. However, some of them will give you a straight link fully readable by Google, so you will also get the added benefit of increased link density from many of these links. Some directories will also create a brand new page just for you. In that case, your page will not be indexed by Google and will have no Page Rank, but in time, it will. If this is the case, check a few of the listings to see if their pages are indexed.
If Google can not see this link, it has no SEO value. If the directory has no SEO value, and no traffic, it is not worthwhile to pay for this submission. (That said, if it's a free listing, you may as well list your site there.)
How can I get listed?
Unlike organic SEO, getting listed in a local directory is often as simple as finding the local directories that are relevant and submit your site. Once you have decided that a directory is worthwhile, filling in a few online forms and submitting payment where applicable is all it takes. Most paid local directories will have your listing posted within a few days, if not immediately. Free directories can take anywhere form a couple of days to several weeks, depending on their policies, etc.
StepForth will soon be offering a Local Search service, so stay tuned to see what we can do for you.
by Scott Van Achte, Senior SEO
| | Two Great Tips for Optimizing Your Linkedin Account
I came across a video on Twitter yesterday (thanks to user @mypluginplay) and after watching it I learned a few things about LinkedIn (a property where I have a profile but I haven't researched yet) that were definitely worthy of sharing.
 You can change and thus optimize the public URL for your profile. I changed mine from my name to http://www.linkedin.com/in/websitemarketer Personally I would rather have both URLs but I like this a little better. NOTE: if anyone knows how to secure the second URL for the same profile (w/o creating a second profile) please let me know.
- Where you add your website URL you can actually make a small change that allows significant customization (select the "Other" option where the link drop-down is shown). See the video for a far better example or go to my Web site marketer profile where instead of seeing "My Website", "My Blog", etc. in the list of "Websites" you will see some great customized titles that I created.
Here is the video on YouTube; just don't click on the strange link in the YouTube description of the video - it is lame advertising.
by Ross Dunn, CEO/Founder
| | Link Building Tips with Loren Baker - from SEO 101 on WebmasterRadio.FM
This week's SEO 101 on WebmasterRadio.FM featured Search Engine Journal owner Loren Baker as our guest to discuss the ins-and-outs of Link Building.
Above is a recording of the show courtesy of WebmasterRadio.FM and these are just a few tease takeaways from this excellent episode:
 - Loren Baker: Links should be built "with the mindset these links are going to bring in targeted traffic" not getting a top ranking.
- Question: Say a person has a blog and they want to build links but they don't have a lot of time. How would they do that?
Loren Baker: Search for authority blog directories like Best of the Web and Bloggeries, and get your blog added to the category most relevant to your service.
- Question: If a person doesn't have a blog where should they go to find links for their website?
Loren Baker: Best of the Web and the Yahoo Directory are great starting points because they give a little juice AND they provide relevance. Also don't forget the Open Directory Project at DMOZ.org. Look for targeted directories for your vertical. You don't have to have a blog to get a listing that applies great relevance to your site and can potentially offer traffic. You can often find directories by searching in Google or Yahoo for the phrase "submit url" or "add URL".
- Question: With so many directories out there how can they all really help and how can you figure out which ones are worth paying for?
Loren Baker: There are 100's of thousands of directories but probably only .005% have enough value to warrant a link. So find the directories that have the most appeal by looking at their backlinks. Also check the quality of the sites listed in your target category and see if they are of a high enough quality. If they seem spammy forget the directory because it is highly unlikely to pass on any worthwhile relevance.
Here is an example of the other link building-related topics Loren Baker tackled over the rest of this extended show:
- If not directories, where else can people get links?
- What problems do people run into getting links?
- Learn about Loren's famous "trickle-down link-o-nomics"
- How to manage the workload of link building.
- And much more.
A big thanks to Loren Baker of Search Engine Journal for being on the show. And a further congrats to Eric Lander of EricLander.com who did a wonderful job on his first episode of SEO 101; Eric is the new co-host on SEO 101 and is sure to add a great deal of value into the future.
Next week we plan on featuring keyword-guru Dan Thies to discuss the process of finding the best keywords to target online.
by Ross Dunn, CEO/Founder
| | Is Online Advertising the Bastion of Hope During this Downturn?
I was doing some of my daily news digging when I came across the following chart on MarketingCharts.com showing the Share of Ad Spending by Medium as of September 2008. With all of the discussion these days about TV and print advertising suffering during the (brace yourself for the phrase we all hate) economic downturn it will be interesting to compare these numbers to data a year from now. What will change by next September? Well I would like to think that the share of Internet ad spending would at least increase 15% (granted that is no small increase) but that all depends on whether the old school traditional marketers feel enough pressure to take the leap and increase their footprint on the Internet. I would think the infinitely measurable methods of marketing on the Internet would be the like the light at the end of the tunnel during these tough times. There is no question advertisers are shrinking away from the costly forms of traditional advertising they are so used to such as newspapers and television: So that is what is happening with offline advertising but what about the Internet? There were many articles that noted sales were down for online marketing as well which is expected since there is less money to go around. That said, what it is interesting that the following articles indicate Internet advertising is being taken far more seriously in the face of tighter budgets: What Have You Experienced?Is your company treating online advertising a bit more favorably lately? I would be very interested to hear your stories and opinions (email me at ross at stepforth dot com). I expect there are many that have seen the opposite reaction in their business but that side of the story is also very helpful to hear. by Ross Dunn, CEO/Founder
| | The Net Reality
New User Interface: There is a really cool and innovative user interface to replace your old boring and restrictive Windows desktop one, and it's free. Here are two links to worthwhile videos to see: from the BumpTop website and a slightly older one by its creator, Anand Agarawala on TED.
TED: "Riveting talks by remarkable people, free to the world." This has got to be one of a handful of the most interesting and stimulating (read intellectual) places to visit on the web. Chalk full of high quality videos on a broad range of topics by world leading thinkers and doers.
Webby Awards Nominations Announced: Awards show taking place June 8th and focuses on just about anything and everything to do with the Internet. CNET reports "Leading the pack of nominees for the 13th annual Webbys are The New York Times' nytimes.com with 13 nominations, NBC.com with 12, and The Onion with 8. There are, in case you were counting, two nominations for Fail Blog." If you're interested in the full list, it's here.
Email Has Carbon Footprint: According to a CNET blog, "The mere act of Internet users worldwide deleting spam and searching for legitimate e-mail falsely labeled as junk creates the energy consumption equivalent in the U.S. of 2.4 million homes using electricity and the same greenhouse gas emissions as 3.1 million passenger cars using two billion gallons of gas."
The article further states, "The average greenhouse gas emission associated with one spam message is 0.3 grams of CO2, about the same as driving three feet in equivalent emissions. When multiplied by the 62 trillion spam e-mails sent globally that is like driving around the Earth 1.6 million times."
Crave: Crave is all "about gorgeous gadgets and other crushworthy stuff". I subscribe to their blog feed and love it. Short, insightful and easily digestible content, just perfect for a quick break from your regular routine. Of recent interest is this new TV remote, the plant that twitters when it's thirsty and a $5 solar stove that won the $75,000 Climate Challenge Award last week.
By Bill Stroll, Sales and Marketing Manager
| | | | | | | | Top Web Marketing Articles from StepForth
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