News Facts:

Beasley Direct and Online Marketing, Inc. (www.BeasleyDirect.com) of Northern California has been appointed as the search marketing agency of the Center for Elders’ Independence (CEI) (www.cei.elders.org) of Oakland, CA.  The initial work will be search engine optimization (SEO) to increase qualified inquiries into the health services offered by CEI.  Specific SEO services strategy will include optimizing the website architecture for better search visibility, keyword and key phrase research, and website content and copy optimization.

About Us:

 
Beasley Direct and Online Marketing, Inc. (www.BeasleyDirect.com) is known for bringing the latest marketing strategies to online and direct marketing for B2B and B2C clients. Beasley Direct provides services in email marketing, search engine optimization, print advertising, social media, pay-per-click (PPC) advertising, website design, media planning, direct mail marketing, lead generation and nurture campaigns, and database management. Beasley Direct and Online Marketing, Inc. is privately held and headquartered in the Silicon Valley suburb, Morgan Hill, California. For more information, go to www.BeasleyDirect.com or call Laurie Beasley, President, at 408-782-0046 x21 or email lbeasley@beasleydirect.com.

The Center for Elders’ Independence (www.cei.elders.org)  is a non-profit program of all-inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE) health plan for seniors age 55 and older who prefer not to move into a nursing home but whose health problems make it impossible for them to stay at home without the help of caregivers.

Contacts:
Beasley Direct and Online Marketing, Inc

Laurie B. Beasley

President

Ph: 408-782-0046 x21

lbeasley@beasleydirect.com

Center for Elders’ Independence

Dianna Garrett

Director of Communication & Planning

(510) 318-7135 – direct line

www.cei.elders.org

The post Beasley Direct and Online Marketing, Inc. Becomes Search Marketing Agency for The Center for Elders’ Independence. appeared first on Beasley Direct and Online Marketing.

By John Thyfault, Vice President of Search & Social Strategy, Beasley Direct Marketing

 Local & Mobile SEO Go Hand-in-Hand

One of the great advantages of the Internet is global reach. For the first time in human history, anyone can send a message that potentially will be seen in every corner of the earth. It was only after we came down from this global high that we realized that most business is transacted locally, and we needed a way to make Internet searching effective at the local level. After all, 30% of all searches have local intent, and most of these searches are also commercially related—that is, the searcher intends to spend money.

This brings mobile SEO into play. Fifty-nine percent of all local-intent searches are performed on a mobile device, usually while the searcher is on the go, and often when the searcher is ready to purchase. So optimizing local search marketing also means optimizing mobile search.

In late 2014, Google began sending notices via Webmaster’s Tools, identifying issues for mobile search. In late February of this year, Google announced it will be incorporating mobile SEO ranking factors into mobile phone searches—meaning that if your site isn’t mobile, your site will not rank well on mobile searches and your traffic will suffer. (See our blog posting, “Get Your Mobile Site Ready: Google Making Changes to Mobile Algorithm.”)

Google noted the following common errors in the way mobile sites are set up. All of them make mobile searching more difficult and frustrating:

• Blocked JavaScript
• Unplayable content
• Faulty redirects
• Mobile-only 404 error notices
• App download interstitials
• Irrelevant cross-links
• Slow mobile pages

Most B2C local searches have a strong geographical component because the searcher is usually looking for the nearest location where they get can the product or service that you are offering. They do not want to wait for shipping of products and are looking for local help that can be accessed in person.

On the other hand, most B2B local searches are for professional services and products, so the geographical components are often focused on a service area instead of a store. For example, the searcher seeking “Bay Area copier repair” would be seeking a site that promises to have their local copier technicians arrive in a timely manner.

Best Practices in Local SEO

Google’s local search algorithm, known as Pigeon, brought more traditional factors into the local mix such as links and on-page content, and gives more importance to directories.

Google My Business (AKA “Google Places for Business” or “Google + for Business”)

Google My Business is the current incarnation of Google+/Google Places business focused pages. This has been a constantly shifting interface for the business owner to use over the last four years. It requires regular attention to build your visibility and assure its shelf life. Google My Business is the ideal place to add content so that Google can see it immediately. Business information, product and service offerings, and physical address need to stay current on your Google My Business page. The reviews that your customers post and the +1’s that they click will all help to drive your site up in the search results. You can also use Google My Business to post local news and events for your business that Google will instantly see and work into their search results.

To help your site appear on Google’s map thumbnail in the search results add a Google map page to your Google My Business page. Once that is done, copy the link from the Google My Business map and embed it as the map on your main website.

Remember not to use reviews or +1’s on your site from Google My Business. Google frowns on this practice as creating “duplicate content” and will treat the copying of the +1s and reviews from your Google My Business page to your site as a form of plagiarism, discounting the value of them on both your Google My Business page and your website.

Directories

Getting listed on directories thus becomes even more important. While directories assume greater importance and value under the new changes, it is still important to assure that the directories are curated and subject-specific. Google discounts directories that are a mishmash of unrelated business and services, or full of broken links and no-longer-extant businesses. However, even very locally focused directories are useful—neighborhood associations, local charities or a directory of businesses specific to a particular neighborhood, for example.

Once you’re in a directory, do everything you can to rank well within the directory. Local directories can get listed high in the Google search results when they are quality, relevant directories. Analyze the sites that are ranking well, learn from what they are doing successfully in the directory’s eyes, and use this data to drive your site to the top of the directories—and in turn, to the top of Google search results. This is called “Barnacle SEO,” with your directory listing being the barnacle on the much bigger “ship” that is the directory. Your listing “lives” on the ship and travels with it to the bigger Google search results. You can find some great best practices on barnacle SEO at Moz’s WhiteBoard Friday webcast.

Reviews

Reviews are extremely important in helping to boost your ranking locally and on mobile. Get reviews on your social media, such as Google My Business, LinkedIn, and Facebook. Third-party reviews on sites such as Yelp! are key drivers in the Apple (iOS) Maps app. There are tools out there to help you maximize the impact of reviews. Look into BazaarVoice and similar services.

Be sure not to duplicate content from one review site to another, as this makes it appear that the reviews are not from genuine consumers. Also, never engage a service that promises hundreds of great reviews. Search engines are smart enough to detect fake reviews through similar language patterns, and this will work against you, not for you.

Claim Your Social Media Territory and Work It

Social media is a hungry beast. You have to feed it all the time for it to be successful. Obviously, you can’t participate in every social media platform out there—nor should you. Pick the ones that are most likely to reach your audience. In B2B, these would likely be Facebook, Google my Business, LinkedIn and Twitter. For B2C, you might add others such as Pinterest or Tumblr.

Social media (if properly cultivated) is also a great, no-cost way to send out announcements and invitations to local events.

Consistency Is Key to Local & Mobile SEO

Google rewards sites that show local events, items that will interest the intended audience, and consistent new content. Work at refreshing site content frequently (and remember, it’s not all about you; it’s about your customers).

If your site is set up to generate sales or leads, that is a promise to your customers that you will respond quickly. Make sure you don’t break your promise.

Interact with your customers every chance you get. This demonstrates commitment to customer service and builds preference and loyalty.

For more information on local search marketing, read our guide Optimizing Local Search Marketing.

* * * *

This post was authored by John Thyfault, Vice President of Search & Social Strategy, of Beasley Direct Marketing. Contact John at jthyfault@beasleydirect.com.

John Thyfault, VP Search and Social Marketing, Beasley Direct Marketing

John has more than 18 years of marketing, sales and product development experience, and he brings a proven track record of successful campaign, program and product development expertise. His knowledge of search engine optimization and marketing, combined with an in-depth understanding of customer identification, market analysis and segmentation, allows him to deliver high returns on our client’s marketing investment for both business-to-consumer and business-to-business markets.

Prior to working with Beasley Direct, John was Senior Client Services Project Director at ThirdAge.com, a first wave baby boomer lifestyle and community website. At ThirdAge he successfully led major client sponsorships for Fortune 100 companies in healthcare (Tylenol), financial services (American Century), technology (Intel & IBM) and consumer products areas (Revlon & Viactive). He was responsible for strategic and tactical goal setting, project management, new product creation and web site production. John previously worked in Channel Marketing and National Account Sales for IDG Books Worldwide, the publishers of the immensely popular “…For Dummies” book series. Additionally, he managed the wholesale distributor sales channel for Tor/Forge Books, an imprint of St. Martin’s Press.

John is active in local marketing associations, including the Direct Marketing Association, the Business Marketing Association and is currently serving on the board of directors for the Silicon Valley American Marketing Association.

John has taught search engine marketing fundamentals extensively. He has led workshops for the Silicon Valley American Marketing Association, Northern California Direct Marketing Association (DMAnc.org) and the Business Marketing Association. He also teaches Search Engine Marketing at (UCSC’s Silicon Valley Extension).

The post Why Local & Mobile SEO Matters appeared first on Beasley Direct and Online Marketing.

By John Thyfault, Vice President of Search & Social Strategy, Beasley Direct Marketing

Client:        A law firm specializing in family practice.

Issue:        The client wanted to reduce cost per lead, which was more than $220.

Solution:    Segmented marketplace to reveal which segments were most productive; refined keywords used in online advertising; reworded ads; analyzed lead history to optimize ad placement.

Results:     Within six months, reduced cost per lead by about 50%; increased conversion rate by about 15%.

* * * *

A law firm specializing in family practice in New Jersey asked Beasley Direct Marketing to reduce its cost per lead and acquisition. The practice handled a broad range of issues, including divorce, marriage, child custody, naturalization, immigration and pre-nuptial agreements. When we started with the firm, cost per lead was more than $220. The law firm advertised both online and in print in local publications.

Our first step was to determine if the client wanted to target all types of business that it handled, or only specific segments. We discovered that, historically, the types of clients providing the most revenue at the lowest cost per acquisition were divorce, child custody arrangements and pre-nuptial agreements. Further analysis showed that the quality of pre-nuptial leads was poor (lots of people were voyeuristically searching for celebrity “pre-nups”), and this was dropped from the ad program. In the case of divorce and child custody, we were able to identify clients, segment by male versus female, and target those who were in the process or just thinking about it.

The overall quality of the leads coming in from the firm’s advertising program was poor. Quality scores tend to vary by market; similar click-through rates in two different markets may yield very different levels of quality. We did geographical targeting, aiming at commuters in the bridges and tunnels in the tri-state area, and we also developed localized ads to support the firm’s different offices, getting the ads in front of people who worked or lived in proximity to those offices. So instead of bidding on “New Jersey family law firm,” we bid on specific towns and regions. This was especially effective on the New Jersey turnpike corridor, where towns tend to run into one another. (Geographical targeting alone yielded a 10% decrease in cost per lead.)

We analyzed the language of the online ads and refined them with cleaner, less cluttered language (keeping in mind at all times the restrictions on lawyer advertising by the New Jersey Bar Association). We also looked at the list of keywords to identify those that had historically converted well, winnowing out the less-productive ones. We continue to do this on an ongoing basis.

We also looked at timing considerations. When we first started with the firm, it was running all the ads at the same price 24 hours a day and seven days a week, all year long. Examining their Google Analytics data, we were able to identify where they derived their most leads by time of day, week and year. For example, Sunday evenings from 10 pm to 1 am were highly productive times; apparently, the end of the weekend is a time when many people begin considering divorce. Another spike occurred just after lunch during weekdays. We also noticed that suppertime on any day and mid-morning and mid-afternoon during weekdays were not productive. This allowed us to pare about 30% off the cost of acquisition, simply by running ads only during the times of greatest productivity. The remaining cost reductions came about through keyword expansion and refinement and constant ad testing, which allowed us to drop losing ads and retain or develop ads that were proven winners.

The client wanted to try remarketing—the practice of identifying a searcher’s interests and targeting ads that follow that individual around the web. We were not in favor of this because the client sells services with many privacy concerns. For example, if a man has been searching for divorce lawyers and his wife uses the same computer, she may be able to discern from the ads she sees that her husband is contemplating divorce—information that, if true, should come from her husband, not the Internet. But we did a limited test, and actually saw a decrease in click-throughs and conversions, so the downside was greater than even we had anticipated.

In addition to abiding by the advertising regulations of the New Jersey Bar Association, the client also wanted to stay within the bounds of good taste and a genuine concern for clients’ privacy and wellbeing. This concern extended to which keywords we selected, as well as the wording of ads. Despite these restrictions, we were able to slash cost per lead by about 50%, while increasing ad productivity by about 15%.

Of course, this kind of process is never “done.” We continue to keep track of keyword productivity, ad scheduling and other data to assure the client’s promotional program is cost-effective and productive.

* * * *

This post was authored by John Thyfault, Vice President of Search & Social Strategy, of Beasley Direct Marketing. Contact John at jthyfault@beasleydirect.com.

John has more than 18 years of marketing, sales and product development experience, and he brings a proven track record of successful campaign, program and product development expertise. His knowledge of search engine optimization and marketing, combined with an in-depth understanding of customer identification, market analysis and segmentation, allows him to deliver high returns on our client’s marketing investment for both business-to-consumer and business-to-business markets.

Prior to working with Beasley Direct, John was Senior Client Services Project Director at ThirdAge.com, a first wave baby boomer lifestyle and community website. At ThirdAge he successfully led major client sponsorships for Fortune 100 companies in healthcare (Tylenol), financial services (American Century), technology (Intel & IBM) and consumer products areas (Revlon & Viactive). He was responsible for strategic and tactical goal setting, project management, new product creation and web site production. John previously worked in Channel Marketing and National Account Sales for IDG Books Worldwide, the publishers of the immensely popular “…For Dummies” book series. Additionally, he managed the wholesale distributor sales channel for Tor/Forge Books, an imprint of St. Martin’s Press.

 John is active in local marketing associations, including the Direct Marketing Association, the Business Marketing Association and is currently serving on the board of directors for the Silicon Valley American Marketing Association.

John has taught search engine marketing fundamentals extensively. He has led workshops for the Silicon Valley American Marketing Association, Northern California Direct Marketing Association (DMAnc) and the Business Marketing Association. He also teaches Search Engine Marketing at UCSC Extension (Silicon Valley).

The post Case Study: Lowering Cost Per Lead/Acquisition with Data Analysis appeared first on Beasley Direct and Online Marketing.

Drive Ecommerce and In-Store Sales Using Local Search and Mobile Search Marketing

John Thyfault, Vice President of Search & Social Media Marketing for Beasley Direct Marketing, delivered the following presentation at the CohereOne Executive Summit in San Francisco earlier this month. John covers the reach of local mobile marketing and local search online and best practices for mobile organic search and pay-per-click (PPC). He also discusses how businesses can deploy local search marketing to drive traffic to brick-and-mortar stores.

To view the presentation, please click the following link: Mobile Local eCommerce CohereOne 090414

* * *

John Thyfault, VP Search and Social Marketing, Beasley Direct Marketing

This post was authored by John Thyfault, Vice President of Search & Social Strategy, of Beasley Direct Marketing. Contact John at jthyfault@beasleydirect.com.

John has more than 18 years of marketing, sales and product development experience, and he brings a proven track record of successful campaign, program and product development expertise. His knowledge of search engine optimization and marketing, combined with an in-depth understanding of customer identification, market analysis and segmentation, allows him to deliver high returns on our client’s marketing investment for both business-to-consumer and business-to-business markets.

Prior to working with Beasley Direct, John was Senior Client Services Project Director at ThirdAge.com, a first wave baby boomer lifestyle and community website. At ThirdAge he successfully led major client sponsorships for Fortune 100 companies in healthcare (Tylenol), financial services (American Century), technology (Intel & IBM) and consumer products areas (Revlon & Viactive). He was responsible for strategic and tactical goal setting, project management, new product creation and web site production. John previously worked in Channel Marketing and National Account Sales for IDG Books Worldwide, the publishers of the immensely popular “…For Dummies” book series. Additionally, he managed the wholesale distributor sales channel for Tor/Forge Books, an imprint of St. Martin’s Press.

John is active in local marketing associations, including the Direct Marketing Association, the Business Marketing Association and is currently serving on the board of directors for the Silicon Valley American Marketing Association.

John has taught search engine marketing fundamentals extensively. He has led workshops for the Silicon Valley American Marketing Association, Northern California Direct Marketing Association (DMAnc.org) and the Business Marketing Association. He also teaches Search Engine Marketing at (UCSC Extension, Silicon Valley).

The post Using Local Search Marketing & Mobile Search Marketing To Drive Ecommerce & In-Store Sales appeared first on Beasley Direct and Online Marketing.

News Facts:

• John Thyfault, Vice President of Search and Social Marketing, of Beasley Direct Marketing, Inc. will be featured as a speaker at the CohereOne Summit, September 4, 2014 in San Francisco. The session is titled “Using Mobile & Local Search to Drive eCommerce and Store Sales”. John will be discussing how the landscape of search is constantly evolving and how eCommerce and brick and mortar stores can keep up with it to drive sales both online and in local stores. With over 90% of US adults owning a mobile phone, (56% of those being smart phones) Google has increasingly targeted the mobile searcher over the last two years. This session will look at both paid and organic channels to highlight mobile search opportunities and areas to grow your sales.

About us:

Beasley Direct Marketing, Inc. (www.BeasleyDirect.com) is known for bringing the latest marketing strategies to online and direct marketing. Beasley Direct provides services in email marketing, search engine optimization, print advertising, social media, pay-per-click (PPC) advertising, website design, media planning, direct mail marketing, lead generation and nurture campaigns, and database management. Beasley Direct Marketing, Inc. helps clients in both B2B and B2C marketing and is privately held and headquartered in the Silicon Valley suburb, Morgan Hill, California. For more information, go to www.BeasleyDirect.com or call Laurie Beasley, President, at 408-782-0046 x21 or email lbeasley@beasleydirect.com.

About the CohereOne Summit

The CohereOne Executive Summit will help you to produce real business growth, focus on the important metrics of your business, and integrate competing media and programs into a rational, cohesive marketing strategy. Retailers will learn how to use all marketing media and channels available today to:

• cost effectively acquire new customers, appropriately integrating digital and print;
• increase conversion, both on- and offline, giving you a bigger share of your customers’ wallet;
• maximize customer’s life time value through an optimal multi-media contact strategy; and
• improve sales by fine tuning both brand and merchandising.

The CohereOne Executive Summit is September 3rd-5th at the Hyatt Regency in San Francisco.

Contact:
Laurie B. Beasley
Ph: 408-782-0046 x21
Fx: 408-782-9604
lbeasley@beasleydirect.com

The post John Thyfault to be Featured Speaker on Using Mobile & Local Search to Drive eCommerce&Store Sales at CohereOne Summit appeared first on Beasley Direct and Online Marketing.

In Part 1 of this series, we focused on local SEO (search engine optimization) and how to use it to improve your listings for local searches. Part 2 explored using PPC (pay-per-click) to boost local results. In this final installment, we cover the other ways you can optimize local search results for your business through citations, reviews, social media and local advertising. Please note that none of these are game-changers in themselves; they fill in the gaps and heighten the probability that your local customer will be able to find you more easily.

NAP Data Is Critical

We’ve mentioned the importance of NAP (name, address, telephone number) consistency before, but it bears repeating.

You must have a local number for best local results with search engines. An 800 number screams “national.” Using third-party tracking phone numbers to track how callers found you can be useful, but not in the context of local search. Search engines confronted by different phone numbers in different places for your business will discount your locality—that is to say, your business may not be perceived as truly local, and may appear lower down on the list of results.

Ensure that all your NAP data is consistent, no matter where it appears. This will help search engines to determine your physical location.

Citations

A citation is when your business is listed as a resource, but there may not be a recommendation or review. There might not even be a link back to your website.

Google gives citations a fair amount of importance in its algorithm for figuring out who’s important in a given business. There are many different kinds of citations:

• Sponsorships. When you sponsor a local charity, fundraiser, sports team, school program, etc., your business appears as a sponsor on the organization’s website (as well as in other materials). Think twice about sponsoring an organization that doesn’t have a website, because you don’t get the online magic of having links back to your site or at least a search engine ready to hand for customers.
• Current Relationships. Your customers, business partners or clients may list your business online.
• Social Citations. These overlap with sponsorships, and include local seminars, networking events, and so forth. If, for instance, one of your real estate agents is participating in a seminar for first-time home-buyers, but the seminar is sponsored by a bank, the mention of your business in the speaker lineup will be considered a citation by search engines.
• Job Board Listings. Listing your company on job boards falls into the citation category. For the purpose of local search, obviously local job boards are best for this.
• Directory Citations. The best directories are those with a list of specific services in your area—and they are also the most difficult. Some sites try to fool Google by creating a list of unrelated services but exercising no editorial review over it. They might be trying to boost their Page Rank, or they might be hosting advertising, but they’re not the best place to get listed because search engines (especially Google) rate directories according to their relevance and usefulness. The best directories are those with lists of related services where the directory is curated, with good links and—the best—reviews.

 Reviews

Getting a review on a legitimate site is helpful because Google and other search engines give a lot of weight to reviews—most sites that accept reviews make it hard to game the system with fake reviews. For Google, the most valuable place to get a review is on Google+. Even a “+1” counts. A +1 ranking is akin to “Liking” a Facebook page. The more +1’s you get, the more visible you are to Google. The relevancy of who gave you the review or the +1 is important; if you are a shoe store in Minneapolis and you got a +1 from a person in California, that won’t count as such as a +1 from a resident of Lake Elmo, MN. However, national review sites such as Yelp! or Angie’s List are location-sensitive and have local reviews.

Remember, reviews must be real reviews from real people. Google is extremely good at sniffing out fake reviewers; they tend to use the same language all the time, and review services or products that aren’t relevant to them. Don’t even think about signing up a service that promises hundreds of positive reviews: it’s a great way to get Google to downgrade your relevance.

Amazon scrutinizes purchase histories associated with reviewers. It doesn’t bar reviews from people who haven’t bought the product on Amazon, but these are given less weight. Amazon also doesn’t take down negative reviews—there’s too great a risk of being accused of pushing positive reviews and ditching the negatives, which would impugn the reputation of Amazon itself.

Solicit reviews from your happy customers. They’re by far the best source of good reviews. And don’t attempt to game the system, because it will come back to haunt you. A few years ago, we worked with a restaurant in San Francisco. The restaurant had been advised by a consultant to place reviews on a large, national review site and a leading national reservation service site. After three months of placing fake reviews on these sites, the sites figured it out. The review site banished them to a mention at the bottom of the results listing. The reservation service banned them completely. So don’t try to trick the system.

Social Networking Sites

Claim your listings for your company on Facebook, Foursquare, Yelp! and other social networking sites.  Depending on the site, search engines may not be able to crawl and give you “credit” in their results, but you can still increase your sales as a result of people finding your company page on the social network site.

Make sure these listings have the key information about your location, hours, services offered and contact information. Again, make sure your NAP is consistent across all of the social networking sites. These sites give you an opportunity to speak in a more informal, conversational way with your customers. They establish a community for customers and are another way your customers can contact you.

Social media sites are also a great place to post promotional and seasonal offers. If you are looking to drive people into a physical store, tie these offers to the actual visit. Try to post on a regular basis, even if it is just a brief paragraph about a local news item or a quick promotion. This regular posting will encourage repeat traffic from both customers and search engines.

Local Advertising

Do local online advertising if it makes sense in the context of your business. If the cost of advertising outweighs the potential benefit, rely on citations and reviews. But if advertising does make sense (and some services like Google AdWords are pretty cost-effective and allow you to control expenditures), it’s another little building block in the task of building local presence online.  It often will not help in your organic search listings, but the end result is driving local traffic to your site that you can turn into sales.

The Final Analysis

Cast a wide net. Get listed (with legitimate sites) wherever you can. Get real reviews wherever you can. You probably can’t have too many citations or reviews, as long as they are genuine. Use cost-effective local ads online if they make sense for your business. But remember: this is a process, not an event. You can’t just get some citations and reviews going and then walk away thinking, “Mission accomplished.” Reviews get old, directories fall into disuse, sites come and go. You must work at it over time to be successful.

* * * *

This post was authored by John Thyfault, Vice President of Search & Social Strategy, of Beasley Direct Marketing. Contact John at jthyfault@beasleydirect.com.

John has more than 18 years of marketing, sales and product development experience, and he brings a proven track record of successful campaign, program and product development expertise. His knowledge of search engine optimization and marketing, combined with an in-depth understanding of customer identification, market analysis and segmentation, allows him to deliver high returns on our client’s marketing investment for both business-to-consumer and business-to-business markets.

Prior to working with Beasley Direct, John was Senior Client Services Project Director at ThirdAge.com, a first wave baby boomer lifestyle and community website. At ThirdAge he successfully led major client sponsorships for Fortune 100 companies in healthcare (Tylenol), financial services (American Century), technology (Intel & IBM) and consumer products areas (Revlon & Viactive). He was responsible for strategic and tactical goal setting, project management, new product creation and web site production. John previously worked in Channel Marketing and National Account Sales for IDG Books Worldwide, the publishers of the immensely popular “…For Dummies” book series. Additionally, he managed the wholesale distributor sales channel for Tor/Forge Books, an imprint of St. Martin’s Press.

John is active in local marketing associations, including the Direct Marketing Association, the Business Marketing Association and is currently serving on the board of directors for the Silicon Valley American Marketing Association.

John has taught search engine marketing fundamentals extensively. He has led workshops for the Silicon Valley American Marketing Association, Northern California Direct Marketing Association (DMAnc.org) and the Business Marketing Association. He also teaches Search Engine Marketing at (UCSC Extension, Silicon Valley.

The post Boost Your Regional Results through Local Search Marketing (Part 3): Local Online Marketing appeared first on Beasley Direct and Online Marketing.

Local Search Engine Marketing: In this post, we’ll discuss how to make pay-per-click (PPC) yield better results for local businesses.

Local PPC is all about targeting. There are some easy ways to target your ads to local searches:

Keyword Selection:

“Menlo Park pizza” is a better keyword phrase than “pizza” because the inclusion of the locality will change the search results, allowing for fairly fine-grained targeting—almost down to the neighborhood. Search engines know where the person doing the search is located, and will give higher priority to search results that are physically located near the searcher.

Of course, the searcher may not be physically located near where they want to find a business. If you live in Menlo Park, California, but you know you’re going to be near El Camino Real in San Jose at lunchtime, you might use the phrase “Sunnyvale pizza El Camino,” and the search engine will prioritize pizza restaurants whose addresses match.

Google’s Location-Based Targeting:

Google Ad Words allows you target locations on a campaign level. You can target specific geographic areas like countries, regions, metros, cities, postal codes (currently U.S. only), or by targeting a radius around a location. You can also target by Congressional district or by Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA). The tool offers other capabilities such as offering suggestions for locations and targeting geographical “areas of interest” as opposed to physical location. (See a brief explanation and links to Google case studies here.) 

Figure 1: Google’s Location-Based Targeting

Source: Google.com

To be even more effective, take advantage of Google’s Ad Extensions:

Call Extension:

The Call Extension allows you to display a clickable phone number along with the ad. (This can be either a Google-generated number that permits robust tracking, or you can use your local direct dial number.) Of course, this feature is most critical on mobile devices, where the user can click to call. If you think most calls will be from local devices, using your local number makes the most sense because it shows a local area code, giving the user greater confidence they are dealing with a local company. Avoid using 800 numbers for this feature because it screams “national” instead of “local.”

Review Extension:

This is a cool feature that grabs reviews of your business on other online media outlets and adds them to your ads. However, the pool of acceptable outlets for reviews is rather small at present. Yelp! Is not included at this time, which is a significant gap. The best place to have reviews is Google’s Places for Business page, which you control. These reviews transfer easily, and in some cases, automatically. It is simple to verify, while reviews from third-party sites such as the Better Business Bureau take a day or so to populate through the system.

Location Extension:

To use Local Extension, you need to have Google+ for Business and Google Places for Business pages set up. (These two functions are being merged, but this is not yet complete.) Your Gmail account is also associated with this extension. When you have these pages set up with Location Expansion, an ad appears on the search page along with your phone number, address, reviews, and a map with pushpin locators. If you have Local Extension associated a campaign ad, the campaign information will attach to the normal ad (see Figure 2).

Figure 2: Google Ad Extensions—Location Extension with Map

Source: Google.com

Sitelinks Extension:

This is somewhat secondary to the other extensions discussed here, but it can be quite useful. Sitelinks Extension allows you to select between four and 10 pages that you want to appear underneath your ad. You can associate different pages with different ads. As long as you have a live page on your site with the information you want to appear, you can use this extension to point to in-store promotions, sales, local specials, events and so forth.

The downside of Sitelinks Extension is that you have to be in the number one or number two search position. This requires the ad history and quality score that would lead to the top two positions. You also need good keywords and an excellent click-through history. Without these advantages, your Sitelinks Extension ad will never appear.

There are other places to advertise, such as local directories that have PPC components. To be honest, though, many of them do not yield the payoff for the time and money it takes. Right now, Google owns roughly 70% of the PPC marketplace, so it’s not the only game in town—but it is the best one for now.

For a quick view reference on all of the local SEO and PPC options you can deploy, download our Local Search Cheat Sheet.

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This post was authored by John Thyfault, Vice President of Search & Social Strategy, of Beasley Direct Marketing. Contact John at jthyfault@beasleydirect.com.

The post Boost Your Regional Results through Local Search Marketing (Part 2): PPC For Local Businesses appeared first on Beasley Direct and Online Marketing.