Google Place Results Continuing to Change

Google Place results are continuing to show changes in both format and number of results. Over the past three weeks there has been a significant increase in the number of bugs and glitches occurring in the Google Places help forum. In the past when there has been a spike of glitches in Google Places it is Google in the process of initiating a fairly substantially update to the Google Place algorithm. Below is an example of the new format of the Place results. The search was "phoenix real estate agents". As you can see it is the standard 7-pack of results but we have seen 8 and 10-packs start to appear recently as well. One of the most notable changes is the short business descriptions are no longer displaying as part of the results information. The main focus has switch to the number of reviews. Several other Local SEO experts are suggesting the change is related to Google+ and if logged into your Google account you will see more information generate in the blank spaces. More information this can be found on a post published earlier today at catalyst e marketing.

Google Place Results in AZ

We will continue to track the changes in Google Place's so check back for more information on the issue soon. 

Tips & trends for developing your online marketing plan #2

This the second in our series on developing your online marketing plan.  If you missed our first blog in the series, check it out at Organikmarketing/blog/.

As we mentioned in the last blog, we thought it was a good time of year to address planning for 2011.  We've already covered the reasons for planning and tips for getting started.  This blog focuses on tips for planning your mobile marketing strategy.

Mobile - The overwhelming popularity of mobile devices is really driving the local trend in online marketing.  For starters, we suggest you make sure your website has been optimized for mobile devices.  More and more people are accessing web sites, conducting searches, and connecting on social networks via their mobile device.

If you haven't already done so, make sure you install the apps you use (Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Hootsuite, Foursquare etc.) onto your mobile device.  That way you are always in touch and you can better understand how your customers are using these apps, giving you ideas for your maketing plan.

Whenever communicating with your customers via social networks, it is important to think mobile.  Chances are good that your customers are connecting with you from their mobile device.  For example, recent research indicates there are 150 million mobile Facebook users.

Next, we suggest doing some research on social networking apps that offer some really great marketing opportunities when enabled on mobile devices. A few that we suggest are worth checking out include;

• Foursquare
• Yelp
• Facebook Places

So, how can these apps be used for marketing your small business?  They could open up exciting possibilities for local advertising tie-ins, coupons, offers etc.  As a small business you may have the ability to display an ad, offer a coupon, give a reward for checking in to potential customers when they are currently near/at your business.  With some apps, such as Facebook places, you will even have the possibility of knowing their specific likes so you can further customize your message.

If you'd like more information on implementing mobile marketing or setting up your online marketing plan, contact us at OrganikSEO.com

Tips & trends for developing your online marketing plan #1

This time of year many businesses start the planning process for the upcoming calendar year.  In this blog and the next few in this series, we offer some tips for developing your online marketing plan.

If you develop an annual plan, great, we offer tips for streamlining your plan and things to consider with the ever changing world of online marketing.  If you haven't done any formal planning for your online marketing in the past, these tips should help get you started.

If you are like many small businesses, sitting down and putting together a comprehensive marketing plan is not at the top of your list.  But, we can't say enough about how important we think this step is.  You probably wouldn't set out on a road trip without a road map, GPS, Google maps etc.  A road map for the marketing of your business is equally as essential.

Spending some time now to discover more about your customers, your competition, what is working and what can be improved can not only give you tremendous insights but can also be a lot of fun and, we bet, rewarding.

Ok, hopefully we have you convinced on the importance of this step.  So let's get started.

(1) A good place to start is with a review of 2010.

• Actual performance vs. goals
• What marketing programs worked & why?
• What marketing programs didn't work & why?
• How much did you spend on marketing? Was it allocated properly?
• What was your ROI on marketing spend?

If you don't already know a lot about your customers, consider doing a survey.  Some of the things to find out;

• who are your customers?
• what do they like about your product/service?
• how did they find out about you?
• what else they would like to purchase from you?
• what could be improved?
• what social networks are they active on?
• are they following you? If not, why not?

Once you've done a good review of 2010,

(2) Set your goals for 2011.

(3) Establish your marketing budget.

We think the good news here is that if you are not already using social media or it represents only a small part of your marketing campaign, you can get a lot of mileage with social media for relatively low expense. More about that in the next blog in this series.

Of course we realize that every company and business will have unique needs and develop unique online marketing strategies.  However, we have developed the following points to consider as you build your marketing plans for 2011.

The buzz indicates that some key trends for next year will be Location, Mobile and Social.  We believe it will be important to incorporate these into your online marketing plans.

Today we will focus on Location based services.

There are an increasing number of applications and technologies that enable location based services for online marketing; Google Places, Facebook Places, Google Local Business Search Results, to name a few.  Make sure you claim your business on all of the location based services and then optimize your listing to ensure your business stays on top of lists and facilitates engagement with your customers.  If you haven't already done so, you might want to check out apps like Foursquare or Facebook "Places" to see if you can tap into the local online opportunities.  Click here for a good review of Foursquare.

Where the location based services become really interesting and powerful from a marketing perspective is when they are enabled on mobile devices. 

So, how could this be used for marketing your small business?  These tools could open up exciting possibilities for local advertising tie-ins, coupons, offers etc.  As a small business you may have the ability to display an ad or offer a coupon to potential customers who, through their profile, you know like the type of products and services you offer when they are currently near your business. Wow - we think that could be really powerful.  Click here to read our blog on using Facebook Places.

Look for upcoming blogs where we'll cover tips for incorporating Mobile and Social into your online marketing plan.

If you have any questions or would like help in optimizing your local business listing or developing your online marketing plan, contact us at OrganikSEO.com

Tips for measuring your Social Media ROI

How do you know if your investment into a social media campaign is paying off?

Over the past couple of weeks we have provided insights into how social media can help your small business and tips for getting started.  Today's blog focuses on measuring your return on investment.

If you're like other small businesses you may be asking, if I am going to invest my time in social media or hire someone to assist me with social media, how do I know if I am getting a good return on my investment?

If you are just starting a social media campaign or ramping up an existing one, a good place to start is to establish some baseline measurements.  One type of performance indicator to look at is how much you or your brand are being talked about online within your industry.  You can easily set up monitoring systems to give you this information.  Following are several that we think are worth consideration.

Google Alerts - easily set up a daily alert to see mentions of your company or brand

Twitter search - type in your company or brand to see tweets about you and your company

Tweetdeck - receive a notification every time someone tweets about you or your company

Technorati - join their site, claim your blog and then monitor the ranking of your blog over time

Another, we hope obvious, method of monitoring the return on your social media campaign is to ask your customers and prospects. Some questions we think that you will want to continuously ask and monitor are;

• Are they following you?
• Have they shared any of your posts?
• What do they like about your online presence?
• What else would they like to see?

Hopefully after implementing your social media campaign you will see more quality followers and more of your posts will be shared with the end goal being increased sales.  If you aren't seeing the results you desire, you can easily engage your network to identify improvements and then monitor the impact. 

One final note, implementing a social media campaign takes time.  You may not see results immediately but if you are patient, engage your network by providing frequent and valuable content, the results will follow.

If you would like more information about creating and monitoring your social media campaign, please contact us at www.OrganikSEO.com

Building your Brand on Social Networking Sites

With everyone jumping into social networking, it has never been more important to make sure that you use these channels to help build your brand.

Did you know that you can customize your social media channels to help build your brand? 

As an online marketing company, we continually monitor how small businesses are utilizing social media.  One thing that really jumped out to us is that many small businesses are not taking advantage of the ability to fully customize their pages and promote their social networks.

For example, you can customize your Facebook Fan page or Twitter page to incorporate the same graphics that you use on your website, business cards etc.  Your branded background can also include your website, blog and other social media information.

Click on the link for an example of a custom Facebook Fan page Belly Up Tavern

This custom page helps to reinforce their brand image and engage their fans.

Now take a look at their Twitter page.  Belly Up Tavern

If you are interested in finding out more about creating custom pages, please contact us at OrganikSEO.com