The Real-time Web is Changing Search Engines… and Your Business

Posted on May 2, 2010 in: Local Marketing, Real-time Web, Search Engine Optimization

There’s no doubt about it, search engines are changing.  Why? They are changing to keep up with the evolution of the web itself, to bring us more of the real-time data we (are learning to) crave.  To better understand this phenomenon, read this short article from Yahoo’s SVP of Search Products in MIT’s Technology Review Magazine (a very good magazine, by the way):  Technology Review Article

Facebook specifically has made an interesting move to challenge the major search engines:  cnet Article.  Real online enthusiasts should take notice of this ambitious – and potentially game changing – initiative from Facebook.   With Facebook’s “Open Graph,” the company plans on connecting the entire web through their platform to capitalize on all of the places where their 400 million users search, surf and socialize online.  Here’s how it works:  Facebook’s Open Graph will enable their users to organize/share/like information outside of Facebook itself, on sites like the New York Times and Yelp.  So when Facebook users interact with non-Facebook pages therough Open Graph they are actually helping Facebook become a search engine of real-time information, organized by the people, for the people. The web could be soon organized by “likes”, not just links.

“Yelp is mapping out the part of the graph that relates to small businesses. Pandora is mapping out the part of the graph that relates to music,” Zuckerberg said. “If we can take these separate maps of the graph and pull them all together, then we can create a Web that’s smarter, more social, more personalized, and more semantically aware.”  (from cnet article)

Think about how real time search (and the entire concept of SEO) is changing.  Search has historically been driven by static pages (content) and inbound links (relevance).  Google’s PageRank – named for co-founder Larry Page – is a numeric value that represents how important a page is on the web. PageRank sees a link from one site to a second page as a vote for the second. Not only does Google “count the links” pointing to pages on the web, but is assigns a weight to each link based on the importance of the site the link is coming from. Google’s Pagerank algorithms mastered sorting out the world’s information in the original Web (Web 1.0) and putting it at our fingertips.  Google’s PageRank has been the most important innovation in terms of how we find information on the web through search engines and every major search engine has followed suit in looking at inbound links to web pages. This technique works very well with web pages that are pretty static in terms of content.

But now there is even more web content in the form of rich media, user generated content and real-time messages (content 2.0) and likes, shares, URL shortening services, Diggs, comments, ratings, etc. (relevance 2.0).   So the problem becomes:  how will a world of real-time information be organized and put at our fingertips in the web of this decade?

In addition to Facebook, many companies are participating in the evolution of search.  Here are a few projects that are changing the Internet:
* Google – Google Maps, Android O/S, Real-time Search and more
* Bing – “The Decision Engine” has several interesting twists on search
* Yahoo – Yahoo Answers
* Twitter – search.twitter.com, @anywhere
* Facebook – OpenGraph
* Wolfram Alpha – making knowledge computable
* bit.ly and tinyURL.com – measuring page popularity through “link shortening” services
* 4square, AroundMe app – location-based mobile applications

Google Real-time Search

Google Real-time Search

I personally think that one day we will look back and our kids will laugh-, “Dad, you actually typed into a search box for information and then sifted through lists of static links for the information you wanted?”  Bing does a great job of demonstrating this in their video ads about “Search Overload.”

The web is changing from a place where we searched for content that was pretty static to a new place where information is more fluid.  My friend Zorik Gordon likes to define Web 2.0 as the Internet in which “everyone and everything becomes a publisher.”  Most of us used to only pull information from the web.  Today, most of us are also putting information into the Web.  Whether you are posting to your blog (like I am at this moment), updating your status on Facebook or writing a Citysearch review on your favorite restaurant, you have become a “prosumer” of web content.  A prosumer both produces and consumes web content.   Think of the Iranian citizens who, with a cheap cell phone and a Twitter account, could report on the riots in the streets last year.  Web 2.0 presents new challenges to world governments like China (CBS Article) and Iran.

And this is just the beginning.  What experts believe will happen in the years to come is mind-blowing.  Feel free to research Web 3.0 / the Semantic Web and geek out.

What does the new real-time web (Web 2.0) mean for small business? Your static website will be replaced with tools that allow you publish real-time content and rich media across the web, including (but not only) your “official” website.  In the same way that as people we manage our Facebook pages for friends and family, businesses will be updating the world across a vast Web for existing and potential customers.

Today, customers shouldn’t have to walk in your store to know what is going on inside.  Now, they’re used to finding your business online through Google Maps, on mobile devices, on friends’ Facebook posts, on review sites like Yelp, in articles, through your online ads… you get the idea.  Because there are so many points on the real-time web to cover, your ability to represent your business with rich and real-time data to customers across all these touchpoints will become vital.  Even more important will be your ability to actually engage customers at each of these spots so they can call you, email you, chat with you, purchase from you, tag you or share your information with friends from each location where you are represented online.  The internet is making this possible for you to do. The big question is – who will build the tools to make this feasible for your business in the new Internet?  You will want to manage your business content, special offers, customer interactions, online reputation, inventory — heck, everything across the web, from a single place.

Pretty soon, a well-optimized static website and quality inbound links for SEO won’t cut it anymore… The web is replacing “links” with “likes” in a hurry.

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Should I Bid On My Business Name?

Posted on December 24, 2009 in: Local Search Marketing, Reputation Management

I’ve had a lot of folks ask me about bidding on their own name on major search engines.  I am a big believer in doing so.  I do think that this topic is best understood as part of two broader subjects – Search Engine Marketing and Reputation Management.

But let’s try to tackle this question on its own… Should I bid on my own business name?

You already know that consumers are looking for your business online. Many are searching for yourbusiness by name because they are researching your company or looking for your contact info.  After all, the easiest way for consumers to run a free “background check” on your business is by looking for you on one of the three major search engines:  Google, Yahoo! or Bing.  But what shows up for those searches, known as your online reputation, can convince a consumer whether to purchase your product or service, or buy from one of your competitors.

When it comes to search engine marketing, bidding on business category keywords (ex: “Dallas spa”) is a must if you want your business to show up in a paid ad when someone is looking for your kind of products or services. But it’s just as important to bid on your business name keywords (ex: “Sally’s Swanky Spa”).  Here are some reasons why:

The Competition

It’s your business name – so why pay for it? Because your competitors are! According to Performics, leading brands only receive 87% of traffic from their business name keyword searches. The remaining 13% are “poached” by competitors!* That’s because they know that when your customers search for your business, they have an opportunity to snatch the sale straight out of your hands with a well-worded sponsored ad.  Don’t give them the chance.

Dominate the Page

Instead, dominate the search results page when someone searches with your business name keywords.  Efforts you’ve made to manage your reputation will help you dominate the organic listings, but bidding on your business name will ensure you dominate the sponsored ad listings on the search engine results page.

Control the Message

Controlling what appears in natural (or “organic”) listings is difficult and happens slowly. But you can control the message using a paid ad quickly and easily! Highlight seasonal specials, new inventory, a rewards program or unique features and convert an interested consumer into a paying customer. Plus, a paid ad for your business name keywords lets you control the click-through destination to a special landing page featuring a promotion or product.

It’s Inexpensive

More businesses like yours are bidding on the same business category keywords because many businesses may offer the types of products or services you do. That makes category keywords more costly. But although a few sneaky competitors may bid on your name, it’s yours which means the search engines will typically give you the best placement at the best price.

Strategic Defense

Bidding on your own business name keywords lets you seed the page with more positive results to actively “counter-attack” any negative links on the page. A negative review looks more serious when there are lots of them, but when the bulk of the results on the page are positive it looks more isolated and rare.

Big Brands Know Why

Still not convinced? Then consider this: big, well-established brands like Apple, Verizon or Walmart bid on their own keywords. These brands have enough global recognition, local presence and customer loyalty that most customers know to go to them directly. Yet they still run television ads and understand the value of locking out competitors by dominating the search engine results page. So take a page out of their multi-million dollar marketing playbook and be sure to bid on your business name keywords!

Apple bids on their own name.

By the way, your brand name or business name may qualify as being “trademarked” by some search engines.  That will protect you from competitors who might want to bid on your business name keywords! Check the link below to see if our business name is eligible on Google.  http://adwords.google.com/support/aw/bin/answer.

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Search Engine Marketing Revelations from My Foodie Wife

Posted on September 4, 2009 in: Local Search Marketing

My wife is an entrepreneur and we talk often about online marketing for her business.  (We also often talk about her favorite topic – food – and I am sure there will be many “foodie” posts on this site.)  Anita has become pretty knowledgeable when it come to search engine marketing and I wanted to point out some of the big discoveries she has made when it comes to search and running her business.  As a small business owner, one wears so many hats such as operations, sales, human resources, advertising, finance and more.  I hope these pointers can help you with this one small (but critical) part of your business… search engine marketing.

1. Make sure you get help from an expert.  This was the first realization.  Time is better spent running the business than dealing with keywords, bids and optimization across all the major search engines.

2. Tracking is key.  A good search engine marketing provider will show you more than clicks and impressions.  The number of “conversions” like phone calls and online inquiries are crucial and need to be measured.

3.  Know your Lifetime Customer Value.  Since search engine marketing (and online advertising in general) is trackable, you will be able to determine ROI.  But many businesses have never asked themselves about the real financial value of a customer.  Consider the amount of money your customers spend in your business over time.  Consider your profit margins, cost structures and capacity.  Since word-of-mouth referalls are key, how many people does each customer refer?   Most people severely underestimate the fiancial value of customers and what they should expect to spend to attract them.

4.  Respond quickly and effectively to prospective customers.  When valuable calls come in, are your phones being answered?  Are the inbound calls and emails being handled well?  Are you building a marketing database from the prospects who call your business?  Do calls come in after hours?  (Prospects usually will not leave messages when they get voicemail.)  These leads are valuable and need to be handled with care!

5.  Brand advertising can turbo charge search engine marketing.  When people know your business already from advertising (or your prime business location), they are more likely to click on your link on a search engine when faced with several choices.  Brand advertising can give your search engine marketing an edge and also helps your quality score.

6.  Your Reputation Matters.  When people do click on your search engine link, they many not call you immediately.  Many will research you first on key sites where they investigate businesses.  People “background check” your business on sites like Google Maps, Yahoo Local, Yelp, Citysearch, Angie’s List and more.  The sites they use depend on the type of business they are researching.   (My “foodie” wife researches all her favorite restaurants on Chowhound and Yelp.)  If customers like what they see about you on review sites, they will call.  If they see bad reviews, they call someone else for their needs.  Your happy customers can help you build a good reputation on key review sites if you ask them.  (And in foodie circles, they even take pictures of their meals and upload them to blogs and review sites!)

7.  Remarketing gives you a second, third, fourth chance and more.  There are many ways you can target banner ads online.  My wife uses remarketing which is a very targeted technique used primarily by big companies like major banks, airlines and auto companies.  When someone visits her website they are “tagged”, then shown banners as they surf the web.  This “reminds them” of her business at a later time in case they were not quite ready to buy.  Or maybe they were interrupted and never finished checking out her site.  (Since remarketing is a new concept to many, you can go to reachlocal.com to learn more.  When you leave, you will likely see some of our banner ads because we will start remarketing you as you surf the web!)

This is an example of a ReachLocal remarketing ad

Bottom right: an example of a remarketing ad

As we are sitting here typing this, my wife is recounting even more search engine marketing revelations.   (She is also considering her menu selections for tomorrow night’s dinner at a spot we love.)  The big lesson is this.  Search engine marketing requires a holistic approach.  Running a good search marketing program is important, but is part of a bigger picture.  Understanding the financial value of customers, handling leads effectively, having a good reputation, having an established or well advertised business, using remarketing techniques and more can help you attain a strong ROI.

I think Anita has decided on the ribeye with a special Bearnaise for tomorrow night at Nana.  She thinks I will go for the duck, but I will decide tomorrow night when I get there.  Or maybe I’ll just check out some reviews and see what the foodies recommend…

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