The New Phone Books are Here! The New Phone Books are Here!

Yaaayy!!

Just like last year, too bad they’ll still be sitting there in two months. For those who wish to recycle your phone books, Yellowpages.com does have a slick tool to find out where you can do so.

Back to Local Search Basics: Google and Yahoo Local

This post may be part-one of a series, but I’ve received a few email inquries lately regarding local search, mostly questions on how to benefit from Google Maps and Yahoo Local listings.

It’s in good timing. Andrew Goodman from Traffick.com provides a great post regarding the status and possible decline of pure-play local search sites outside of search engines like Google.

So, who are the winners in local search? I’m hoping Ahmed from Tech Soapbox and iBegin reads this because he may have input.

The winner could easily be you, the local business owner. The basics of local search can arguably be narrowed down to Google Maps and Yahoo Local and much of it doesn’t cost you anything but your time. Here are some basic tips to benefit from these opportunities:

1) First, make sure you have a free Gmail and Yahoo email account.

2) From there, sign in to Google’s Local Business Center and Yahoo’s Add a Business page.

3) Provide accurate information regarding products or services provided, payment methods, hours of operation, and more (there are easy field forms for most of these).

Example:

4) They both allow you to upload and display photos. Hint - sometimes just a simple business logo does wonders.

Random Example:

5) They both allow you to describe your business in up to “x” characters.

Keyword stuffing = bad and silly looking. Accurate information = good and builds trust.

6) They both allow user reviews for your business. Embrace it. It can create an online version of Word-of-Mouth marketing.

Example:

7) Don’t provide fake user reviews. Users are smart and will easily sniff it out, and they will make a point to not buy from you. This happens all too often.

8 ) Read number 7 again.

9) Make sure any industry portals or Internet yellow pages display your current and accurate addresses and other information. Local search engines may use this in their own listings.

That’s it for the basics. More to come soon on some of the points listed above.

Jan. 23 Update: Revised and updated post now up at Search Engine Guide.

Google Trends and Internet Yellow Pages

I ran across a good Search Engine Land article today regarding Google Trends and the Yellow Pages. It gives some detailed insights and charts on how consumers have used search engines to find different Yellow Pages whether it’s by brand or by search.

It’s my opinion that Google’s (and the other top search engines) innovations in local search combined with increasing inclusion of business listing data in the search engine results pages (”SERPs”) is causing users’ behavior to change.

I absolutely agree, and this isn’t a bad thing for the Yellow Pages. Without their concrete data, satisfaction from these search engine results would be sporadic at best. Internet Yellow Pages have created and maintained relationships with search engines (or vice-versa) since at least 2004 but probably earlier.

To the favorite commentor KC, notice I didn’t mention anything of the print books? Feel free to give your input.

The Kelsey Group & Search Engine Strategies (SES) Combine for the Interactive Local Media 2007 (ILM:07) Event

 
Local Search panels have increased in both quality and quantity at the SES events over the years. This year’s SMX Local event is poised to have a really good turnout, too.

One local search event I’ve always wanted to go to is the Interactive Local Media (ILM) conference, put on by the Kelsey Group. Well, this fall they’re teaming up with Search Engine Stratagies (SES) to present ILM:07.

In the search marketing world, ILM isn’t talked about nearly as much as SES or SMX, maybe because it involves a broader spectrum. You have Internet Yellow Pages reps touting stats, online newspaper execs wanting to boost their online presence, mainstream companies wanting to find out what, exactly, interactive local media has to offer, and even a few search marketers. It can take local search to a higher level. Here’s a list of 2006 attendees.

I see local user reviews being a hot topic (and debate).

What really intrigues me is conversations with so many different industries, getting different viewpoints, and absorbing so much information that you can come back to make your own decisions on what would work for your own company or clients. That, and being able to chat with the Kelsey Group folks.

I might be saving my pennies for this one.

Flowers from Minneapolis/St. Paul… or Somewhere

Sean McGinnis pointed me to a couple of really good posts last night - one regarding out-of-state call centers posing as Chicago florists, and then Matt McGee’s take on it labeled appropriately, when local search isn’t really local.

So, why not see how Minneapolis/St. Paul fares? I did a quick Yahoo Local check for florists in Minneapolis. Luckily, it passed the test - kinda’. The listings are all local, but the sponsored ads on the top and bottom are all “serving your area” national florist call centers.

Update: Please see the comments in this post. Cathy, who runs Florist Blogs caught some things that I did not and gives really good insight about it.

I suppose ad money is ad money, but it doesn’t ensure trust. I was hoping to see the Vanderbloom result closer to the top. They’re right down the street, they have a good buzz about them, and a local merchant gets the local dollar.

Yahoo did better than local.com though. That page is… busy, and as an added bonus they serve up some local pay-per-call ads, “serving your area”. If you search for anything mortgage or real estate related, you’ll get the same type of results. Looking at it closer, I’m actually really surprised on how irrelevant and loud all those ads are!

Looky what I found though!!

I absolutely forgot that the same thing happened before the “Interweb”.

The book has since been disposed of properly

iBegin - This is Good… Really Good

 

I’m still wading through all of this, and am pretty floored. From trading a few emails with founder Ahmed Farooq a week or so ago, my first words were “this is freaking amazing!”.

Nonetheless, enter iBegin Source - a new local business data portal, where you can purchase business data nationally, by State, at a fraction of the cost of what data aggregators charge, it’s updated daily, it’s accurate, it’s user-editable to help ensure accuracy (think Wiki), and even includes geo-coding.

To put it in perspective, you can purchase a Minnesota business list for a thousand bucks, sort how you choose, it’s constantly updated, and you don’t have to re-up every year.

There are a few other things they have going that’s more related to local search, and it’s equally impressive. I’m guessing it’s ok to mention it, but I’m going to wait until I hear it’s ok to do so.

For more info, there’s a really good interview with Ahmed on the Blumenthals blog.

Moving Toward Local Search

Ok, deceptive and cheezy title. My bad. This post is actually about moving companies and local search marketing… but I couldn’t think of a cool title.

I came across an Adage article a few hours ago titled Marketers, Web Bigs Rush to Crack Local-Search Code (subscription may be required). It certainly doesn’t crack any code (they don’t exist - really), but it’s an interesting article regarding an Eden Prairie-based moving company and their balance between print Yellow Pages and local search.

It made me think of what I’d look for if needing a moving company. I’d definitely like to see a Web site, especially one that has some form of online shipment tracking. I’d also like to see exactly where they’re located, business info, hours of operations, and if online consumers say nice things about them.

So… might as well Google up a search for Minneapolis movers.

The now prevalent one-box results were decent enough from a proximity standpoint, but I was left a little lost. One site really wasn’t local, and the other results didn’t have much more information than their address and phone number. The first result did have a nice 3rd party “Yahoo Local” testimonial though.

What can these businesses do? Aside from adding your business info to Google and Yahoo local, if you’re in Minneapolis, Dex Online is the default local Internet Yellow Pages provider. Having a free updated profile can help. Search engines like Google pull this data for their local search results. There are paid options as well.

SuperPages, a national IYP who’s profiles also appear in local search results have the business profile option, too. They lay it out to be very easy.

This is just a start, but one nice thing for these is that businesses themselves can go in and enter their own information at low or no cost - no Internet marketing experience required.

Something else to note is that some businesses are savvy enough to also incorporate localized SEO and geo-targeted PPC campaigns. The natural, paid, and local algorithms are completely separate from each other. This can allow a business to own a lot of real estate in search result pages.

YellowPages.com “Need Something” Ad Campaign - Part 2

YellowPages.com is continuing their successful 2006 Need Something campaign for 2007. I wrote a piece about their initial campaign around this time last year, as they were the first to really bring local search mainstream.

The ads are humorous, and to the point, and it apparantly paid off. I’m looking forward to seeing the new TV spots.

Originally, the interesting part was the cooperative competition they utilized. In January 2006, YellowPages.com announced a distribution agreement with Yahoo Local. What does this mean? Well, Yahoo is smart enough to have their local result pages optimized well enough to do quite well in Google.

Does that mean your YellowPages.com advertisements will land you in Google for search results? Nope, and here’s an example with their own “chimney sweep” ad:

Chimney Sweeps in Minneapolis
Yahoo Local
Google - featuring the same Yahoo Local results at the top
YellowPages.com - no featured advertisements

Maybe just doing the local Yahoo free or $9.95/month does the trick. As much as I love the YellowPages.com ads, I haven’t seen a lot of correlation between them and the Yahoo local results.

Other YellowPages.com notes:

YellowPages.com launches user reviews

R.H. Donnelley Acquires Local Search Firm, LocalLaunch!

In my last post, I mentioned that DexOnline has been doing some great things in Local Search, and they have more planned for the not-so-distance future (although I didn’t know what).

It has just been announced that R.H. Donnelley (parent company of DexOnline) acquires LocalLaunch!, providers of Local Search marketing solutions. SuperPages and Yellow Book have each purchased SEM firms, but this is the first time (to my knowledge) a Yellow Pages provider has acquired a firm specifically specializing in Local Search marketing and advertising.

LocalLaunch! Press Release

This will undoubtedly give R.H. Donnelley and DexOnline a new advantage to market, and sell their local advertising products. Exactly what will be offered will eventually be known, but they now definitely have some proven experts to help and manage along the way.

Dex Online Most Used Local Search Site

For the 10th quarter in a row, Dex Online records that Dexonline.com is the most used Internet Yellow Pages and local search site in their 14-state region.

This is definitely impressive, although the press release doesn’t mention that every household in the 14-state region has availability to the big, print Dex Yellow Pages with their URL plastered on the front cover, with many dropped off at residential doorsteps.

Jokingly aside, DexOnline has done some great things in Local Search. They have long known that they are much more than a local directory. They continue to have strong relationships with local search engines such as Yahoo and Google. Yahoo in particular is marketing their Local product quite heavily. Dex provides business listings for their Yellow Pages and Local platforms, and has more things planned for the not-so-distance future.

More to come…