MediumLocal

Monday, December 29, 2008

TurnHere.com Has 7,000+ Film Makers Serving SMBs

Scobleizer has an interesting article on TurnHere.com, which produces hundreds of videos for mostly local businesses every day through a network of more than 7,000 video shooters and editors. TurnHere.com has distribution on IYPs like YellowPages.com and SuperPages.com. They recently added a voice-over product.

Mobile Is The New Local

In a presentation titled “New Takes on Local Audience Targeting” Brian Jurutka, VP, Marketing Strategies, comScore, offered important research on the potential local mobile marketing at Kelsey's recent ILM:08 Conference. ReelSEO offered detailed info on his presentation:

"Channel segmentation - 66% of those surveyed said that online was the first source to turn to when searching for local business information.

o Data plan subscriptions are growing, driven by growth in unlimited data plans - YOY growth of more than 4% from 9.4% in 07 to more than 13% in 08
o The growth in data plans is no surprise given the growth in smartphones - more than double compared to 07
o Cell phone browsing growth has exploded in the past year.
o 33% of iPhone users access a Business Directory at least once per month on the phone.
o The iPhone and Smartphone lend themselves to using browser and apps more than SMS for information access
o iPhones are still a small sliver - only 1% of the market - but they have been growing share"

Monday, December 01, 2008

The Web Is The Medium Local

A Search Engine Land Column by Greg Sterling reports on a survey by WebVisible and Nielsen that sampled roughly 2000 U.S. adults:

Sterling writes that the research indicates that the internet is now the dominant medium local. “Overall respondents identified the Internet and search engines in particular as their dominant information resource for local:

• Search engines: 74 percent
• Print yellow pages: 65 percent
• Internet yellow pages: 50 percent
• Traditional newspapers: 44 percent
• Print white pages: 33 percent
• Television: 29 percent
• Consumer review websites: 18 percent”

Labels: local medium, Local Search Marketing

Thursday, November 20, 2008

Local Search Spending On The Rise

Matt Booth, Senior Vice President Program Director Interactive Local Media, Kelsey Group offered some strong projections for growth of the local search market in his recent presentation at Kelsey's Interactive Local Media conference as reported by ReelSEO:

"Total market in the US for local advertising - $285 Billion Dollars spent in Local advertising by SMBs as well as National businesses making local purchases.
Online media usage in the US has reached parity with traditional media- SMBs, when looking for information online, use the internet as much as they use offline services."

Such optimism tracks with a recent report by Borell Associates as reported by ClickZ:

"Local media research firm Borrell Associates has actually bolstered its outlook for 2008 local ad revenues, raising its forecast 2.5 percent, from around $12 million to $12.3 million. The firm also sees local Web ad dollars taking up a larger share of the interactive ad spending pie next year, when local online ad revenues are expected to increase 11 percent over 2008, to around $13.6 million."

Labels: local online ad spending, Local Search Marketing

Thursday, August 21, 2008

Cell Phone Call to Action Advertising to Reach $1 Billion by 2012

Writing in PC Magazine, Tim Bajarin, president of Creative Strategies, discusses a "call-to-action" advertising, which based on research he cites, could become an important local marketing tactic in the next few years.

"There's a concept in mobile advertising known as "call-to-action" advertising, a feature that allows one to get more information or to communicate with the advertiser while a spot is playing. If you see an ad for a motorcycle, you could press a button and an SMS text would be sent with the nearest location that sells that particular bike."

Bajarin quotes Market research firm Multimedia Intelligence's projection that call-to action advertising will exceed $1 billion by 20012. " The company points out that while a mobile device is an inferior entertainment platform, it's superior at portable communications. Multimedia Intelligence believes that call-to-action leverages the handset's built-in return channel to move advertising beyond the capabilities of the living-room experience."

Wednesday, August 06, 2008

LocalDirective.com Offers Free Guidebook To Help Businesses Succeed Online

Local businesses that need to find more customers can order a free 12-page guidebook titled Direct Online Customers to Your Local Business: Ten Tips To Help Your Business Succeed Online at http://localdirective.com/guidebook

The report is authored by Mike Freedman, Senior Vice President Advertising Solutions, LocalDirective.com. Freedman, who has more than a decade of experience in online marketing, has led teams that managed more than 10,0000 local business search marketing campaigns. He is certified by the eMarketing Association, the International Internet Marketing Association, Google, Yahoo and Microsoft/MSN.

Business leaders who request the free guidebook can learn:
• Why you need to reach prospects and customers online.
• Why landing pages are critically important and 11 specific tips that can improve sales or lead conversion.
• Links to nine online tools that can improve your marketing.
• Key steps you can take to attract online shoppers
• How to convince online researchers to buy offline
• Why just building a web site isn’t enough • The three most important steps you can take to improve your online marketing.
• How to reach prospects in your neighborhood using geophrases and geo-targeting.
• Four key concepts for finding search marketing keywords that generate leads and sales.
• How to write ads that maximize click through rates.

The report includes 12 pages of detailed information including advice, information and interactive exercises, 32 Footnotes and a resources section listing helpful web sites, books and training programs.

Those who request the free report by August 30th can qualify for a free custom marketing analysis report completed by an experienced, certified search marketing specialist.

LocalDirective.com offers a complete, low-cost online solution with a variety of search marketing packages, each customized based on business category, geographical location, and business objectives. In addition to search marketing, services include landing page or micro-site development, business profile development, and submission to more than 25 important online databases.

For information on LocalDirective.com, call (866) 925-9524 or visit http://www.localdirective.com

Sunday, June 22, 2008

Local Search SEO Ranking Factors Surveyed

Portland, Oregon Small Business Web Design Guru David Mihm surveyed 20 local search experts to identify factors that could help or hurt local business search performance. Local Search Ranking Factors offers many interesting insights.

Among the most significant factors:

Claiming and verifying a local search listing is a critical step.
Placing a business in the right category is crucial. The wrong category can be the kiss of death.
Using the product or service keyword or keywords in the listing title can really help.
Proximity of the business to the centroid of the city may help or hurt position.

Factors that can hurt position include:

Multiple listings with the same address
Multiple listings with the same phone number
Multiple listings with the same name
Negative reviews

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

West Pasco Chamber Helps Businesses Learn How to Advertise Online

“Online Advertising For Local Businesses: Why It’s Growing and How It Can Help Your Business” is the title of a seminar sponsored by the West Pasco Chamber of Commerce to be held at 6:00pm on July 24, 2008, in the New Port Richey City Council Chambers 5919 Main Street in New Port Richey.

Presenters will include two online advertising experts from LocalDirective.com, a local firm that creates and manages local search marketing programs for companies nationwide. Chief Executive Officer Lisa Maier and Senior Vice President Advertising Solutions Mike Freedman will discuss lessons learned from building and managing marketing online efforts for thousands of American companies.

“It is important to bring Business Development Programs such as this to our members” said Joe Alpine, President West Pasco Chamber of Commerce.

“During challenging economic times, it’s even more important that businesses make the best possible decisions with limited marketing budgets,” said Maier. “We’re helping local business leaders gain valuable information about online marketing tactics that could help them gain more business leads at a lower cost.”

Adds Freedman, “Online advertising is sometimes called ‘the most complex form of advertising’ for a reason. One of our goals with this seminar is to educate local business owners to empower them to make good online advertising decisions.”

There’s significant evidence that local business prospects and customers can be reached online through search engines:
• Almost 10 billion searches were conducted on Google, Yahoo, AOL and Microsoft in February 2008 alone. [Source: ComScore, 2008]

• Over 60 percent of consumers now search for a local business on the internet, and only 33 percent use the yellow pages. [Source TMP Directional, 2007]

• Almost 40% of local shoppers say that a presence on the internet – or lack of presence – will affect their decision about who they do business with. [Source: Web.com, 2007]

To register for the presentation, call 727-842-7651.

For more information about LocalDirective.com, visit http://www.LocalDirective.com or call 1-866-925-9524.

For more information about the West Pasco Chamber of Commerce, visit http://www.WestPasco.com or call (727) 842-7651.