I don’t want to make anyone paranoid, but there are more internet marketing companies than you probably imagine who are what I call “SEO spoilers”. That is, providers who want to inflict as much pain as possible on any client who leaves them.

If a client discontinues their relationship with them, they will do everything from removing it from directories to deleting their pay per click accounts. In some instances, they have even removed titles, tags, robots.txt files, redirects, content, etc. from websites. Some of them justify this to themselves in odd ways, while others are actually seeking revenge against anyone who stops writing a monthly check to them.

In some cases, a client may have set themselves up to “lose” certain things at the end of the business relationship. For example, if they didn’t pay to have a ppc account set up or maintained, but entered into some other kind of agreement with the company who did it for them, then maybe they don’t have any rights to it.  If they are walking away from a contract and/or haven’t paid their bills, these consequences may be penalties they have agreed to and they should not come as a surprise.

However, if a client has paid for work on behalf of their online business, IMHO, it is theirs. Period. And any attempts to devalue it are signs of bad business ethics.

Not long ago, an ad in the local Yellow Pages and word of mouth advertising spread by satisfied customers was all many small enterprises needed to attract enough business to keep them going in good times and bad. But now, things have changed - really changed!

As people move to the internet for information of all kinds, the print Yellow Pages are rapidly heading into extinction. While the online Yellow Pages seem like the logical replacement for the printed books, they are used by only a small percentage of web searchers. So, what do local business owners need to do to keep their marketing messages in front of prospective buyers?

They need to understand how to best use online Local Search to effectively promote their products, their services and themselves effectively on the web. That is the goal of GetListed.org’s new Local University, a non profit group dedicated to educating small businesses in the ways of the web.

For decades, I was a serial entrepreneur running small and very small enterprises, so I think I have a pretty good feel for the problems of many small business owners. Their major limitations all revolve around resources. They have small staffs and small budgets. Very often, they are selling themselves more than anything else, so they must spend their time personally fulfilling the needs of their customers, leaving them very little time to market their own products and services.

Many are becoming lost or being mislead- they desperately need help in navigating the complex world of Local Search, but reputable internet marketing agencies, including most of the online Yellow Pages, are not swarming to help them because of their relatively small advertising budgets.That’s where Local University comes in.

This outrageously cheap workshop series kicks off in Spokane Washington on February 4, 201, with 2 identical 4 hour sessions - one in the morning and one in the afternoon. It will be held at the Northern Quest Resort and is being conducted in partnership with Google and several local sponsors, including the Spokane Convention and Visitor’s Bureau.

See the full Local University agenda and who the expert Local Search presenters are here. Then, register to attend using the code “bowling2010″ to save $50 off the already low price of $129.  If the event is successful, it will be scheduled for other cities, so stayed tuned!

In creating a website, there’s a real danger of building web pages that are not useful to either the Search Engines or the searchers who might land on them.

Content is king! You’ve heard that over and over again and it is most definitely true. Content is what makes your pages:

• relevant to the Search Engines for ranking purposes
• useful enough to appeal to and engage searchers
• interesting enough to encourage linking from other websites

These are all critical factors in attracting good, targeted traffic to your pages. BUT, you need to have enough interesting and unique content to accomplish these goals. Without that critical component, creating new pages is pretty much a waste of time.

Is a page with less than 100 words on it going rank well because Google finds it to be the most relevant? Not likely. Is a page with 2 sentences that are nearly same as the two sentences found on 20 other pages of the site interesting and appealing? Not in my book. Is a page with nothing more that 3-4 links on it going to prompt other people to link it? Probably not. Yet, I often run across pages like these on websites and wonder “what the heck was the designer thinking when they put this up?”

I think that sometimes they are hoping that they will get content for it at a later time. If that’s the case, then wait until you have the content before you make the page live and link to it from elsewhere on the site.

Other times, these types of pages seem to exist for organizational purposes only. In those cases, the site architecture needs to be seriously rethought. Adding pages like this only pushes better pages deeper down in the site structure, making it harder for them to rank.

Creating good, keyword rich content is not an option. It’s critical to online marketing success. It isn’t a job for lazy people or those with nothing to say. So, before you add a page to your website, think about what content you are going to put on it and who is going to write it.

Then, remember that if you don’t have enough unique, interesting content to put on a page, then you probably don’t need that page, do you?

In October 2009, Google issued their new Business Listing Quality Guidelines for Google Maps. The changes address a lot of the questions we have all been asking about what is and isn’t okay.  Here’s Mike Blumenthal’s very thorough  point-by-point breakdown of the new Maps guidelines and my own thoughts on the changes in the Maps guidelines .

The reality is that these new guidelines are just that. They are not rules. They are not requirements. Not yet. Right now, they are just guidelines. In other words, this is just Google’s wish list for what it would like to eventually mold its Local Business Listings into.

Google has a history of warning us when there are widespread abuses that it is striving to control. A prime example is when Google told us it didn’t want us buying links.  It politely said that buying links was unacceptable and issued progressively sterner warnings against it over several months.  Then came obvious slap downs against well known offenders to get our attention and drive most of us into compliance. In my opinion, this is what is currently happening in Maps. We are being warned!

The warning is to clean up our listings and get them into compliance with the new guidelines. It’s pretty tempting to ignore the warnings when others are obviously prospering by doing the exact opposite of what we are being told. But history tells us that Google is working towards ways to enforce each of the new guidelines through its algorithm. We don’t know how close Maps is to being able to do so or when the slap downs might start, but I expect it to begin within the next several months, as new filters associated with the wish list are placed into the algorithm.

Each business owner (or their internet marketer) must decide for themselves if the potential short term reward is worth the possible consequences of ignoring the new guidelines.  It’s risky business, for sure!

Google is currently testing a new type of ad for local businesses in the West Coast markets of San Francisco and San Diego. Unlike the auction bidding of Adwords, these Local Listing ads are sold at a flat monthly rate. The rate, which is determined by the niche and market area, is based on prevailing bids for those terms.

There are a lot of ins and outs that we will all have to learn and get used to, but here are the points I find most interesting:

• You can’t use these ads unless you have a verified Local Business Listing. These ads are created in the Local Business Center and not in AdWords.

• They’re really not ads, but factual listings with name, URL and phone number.

• The phone numbers are free call tracking numbers supplied by Google. When you answer your phone, you’ll be told when the call is from Google.

• Local ads are currently displayed in a group of 4 above the Google Local 7 Pack when it appears in the Universal results. If more than 4 businesses purchase advertising in a location and category, the ads will be rotated.

• You can only have one ad for each listing. You can choose to have that ad appear in multiple categories, but the price will increase if you do.

• Google suggests you point your ad at your Local Business Listing or Place Page. They state that all the information a prospect needs (and more) is available on that page, so why send them to your website?  Another reason to consider this tactic is that Place Pages are already optimized for Mobile Search, so it’s better to send searchers to that information rather than to a website that may not display well on web enabled phones.

• As far as I can tell, you can still run your regular AdWords campaigns along with the new ads.

I suggest getting your listing in compliance with Google’s new Business Listing Quality Guidelines before signing up for an ad, just to make certain there aren’t any glitches.
Now, for the best part. Everyone with a Local listing can sign up for a free 30 day trial when the service comes to their area. If you’re in San Diego or San Francisco, give it a try now!

It was probably a relief for many businesses to see their phone numbers back in their 7 Pack local listings in the Google search results. What is Google up to now?

Here are a few possibilities:

• Google may be testing click through rates to both Maps listings and websites from the 7 Pack to see how behavior changes when searchers are not given a phone number to call. (IMO opinion, they want searchers to go to the Maps listings, not the website.
• They may have cleaned out phone numbers that no longer meet their listing guidelines by first removing all numbers and reinstituting only those that meet their new rules.
• They may have just been messing with us to see what kind of a reaction we would have.

The fact that the new flat rate local ads have a Google call tracking number may also give us a clue about what other changes we might expect in the 7 Pack.

The Google 7 Pack, which was a 10 Pack until about a month ago, has undergone another change. There are no longer any phone numbers displayed next to the businesses listed there. There’s no telling if this is just a glitch that Google will soon correct, if it is a test to see what the reaction is, or if this is an actual change to the SERPs display.

Now, you must either click through to the business’ Local Business Listing (aka Place Page) or click on the “More results near…” link at the bottom of the 7 Pack to find a phone number for a business.

This may have something to do with the new Local Business Listing guidelines that state:

• Provide a phone number that connects to your individual business location as directly as possible. For example, you should provide an individual location phone number in place of a call center.
• Provide one URL that best identifies your individual business location.
• Do not provide phone numbers or URLs that redirect or ‘refer’ users to other landing pages or phone numbers other than those of the actual business.

and is, perhaps, part of the process to weed out numbers that do not meet those guidelines.

Some people have speculated that it may be part of a move to integrate call tracking through Google Voice into Google Maps. In my opinion, that would be an awesome improvement since call tracking is currently costly, complex and cumbersome for a small business to manage.

A cheap (better yet, free) call tracking solution is sorely needed to prove to SME’s the value of their online marketing, so, as a marketer, I would welcome this innovation. Google may think it will help it to prove its value, as well. Google Voice is still in it’s infancy and may not be ready for the challenge, but I can still hope, can’t I?

More are more of the searches that previously displayed the Google 10 Pack of local results above the organic search results are now showing only 7 business listings, instead.

This was at first something that was being tested in just few West Coast markets as a way to make room for local ads above and/or below the 10 Pack. However, here’s a bit more evidence of it’s spread, even though no local ads appear around it:

A quick search for family lawyer terms in several cities ( Denver, Phoenix, Akron, Philadelphia, Chicago, New Orleans) also showed a 7 Pack instead of the familiar 10 Pack. But San Diego is one of the test markets for the new ads, so a search for family lawyer san diego triggered the 7 Pack and also included local ads ( marked with the blue ballons) above the 7 Pack and below the sponsored ads:

San Francisco is also a test market for the new local ads. A search for family lawyer san francisco from my location returned the results below . Note how the local ads have top placement on the page with no other sponsored ads above them:

To me, this indicates that the 10 pack is shrinking and 7 pack/local ad combo will spread across the Google universe.

SMX East 2009 in New York City is coming up October 5 through 7 and I’ll be speaking on my favorite topic, Local Search. I’ll be joining fellow Local Search Ranking Factors Survey participants to discuss the survey and give tips on ranking better in Local Search.

My presentation will be on How to Rank Better in the Google 10 Pack. My colleagues will be presenting their original research on Google patents that impact Local Search, the best sites to get listed on for different verticals and how to use profiles to rock the rankings.

If you can join us, use this promo code - smx15speakers - for a 15% discount off the regular registration cost and register here: SMX East 2009.

These days, nearly every website has some kind of form on it. Many sites have multiple forms meeting different requirements for gathering and managing information online.

Why Online Forms?

Some of the functions for which you may want a form on your site include: signing up for email newsletters, subscribing to RSS feeds, downloading information from the site, ordering products or services, conducting surveys, registering for events, accepting online payments and donations, applying for jobs, recruiting volunteers and running contests and promotions and I’m sure they are being used in other ways of which I have never thought. But the most used online form is the simple Contact form.

Contact Forms

Contact forms have understandably earned a place on most websites because they help to protect the site owner from the avalanche of email spam made possible by scraping email addresses off web pages. But how many times have you gone to a Contact Us page and opted not to fill out the form you found there? In my own experience, it has been way more often than not. Why? There’s a very simple answer: they require too much information!

As the person that is asked to fill out the form, I get to decide how much information is okay and how much is too much. If your requirements exceed that, you won’t get any information about me. In some cases, I may pick up the phone and call you, but in others, I’ll simply move on to another website, another business and another Contact form and you have completely lost the opportunity to get my business because of your form requirements.

Think about it. Your Contact form is a replacement for an email. How much information do you really need from someone to respond to their email to you? Their email address. That’s it!

So, why do you think they should tell you their full name, whether they are a Mr. or Mrs. or Ms., their mailing address, their phone number, their website URL, the number of people in their company, their business niche, their annual sales or budget and on and on and on? Would you not answer an email from them if it didn’t contain that information? Would you refuse to talk to them on the phone if they first didn’t reveal all that personal data to you? If they walked into your office or store, would you require them to answer all those questions before you talked to them? The answers are “No, No and No!” Then, why do you require it on your form?

Your Contact form is there to generate leads. It’s a no brainer that the less info you require, the more leads you will get.

I can hear you saying now, “Yes, but my salesmen (or I) want more info, because….” Of course they do. The more they know about a prospect, the more research they can do on them, the more they can prequalify them, the easier it may be to sell them something, etc, etc. But just because you want it does not mean people are willing to give it to you.

Just an Email Address? Really?

Once you have someone’s email address, you can respond to them via email. You can feel them out for who they are and what you may be able to do for them. You can begin to establish a relationship. You can prompt them to call you and/or to give you their phone number. You can give them reasons to continue the relationship or you can let them know that you are not a good fit for them. You can try to set up a phone call or a sales call. With the lead you get from just an email address, you can do all of this and more.

How Contact Forms are Like Getting a Date

Think about it in another context. If you encounter an attractive woman in line at Starbucks, you might immediately want her phone number. Chances are overwhelming that if you ask immediately, she’s not going to give it to you. In fact, she’ll probably give you a funny look and move further away from you.

However, if you begin by striking up a friendly conversation, then casually ask if you can share her table, then make small talk over latte and muffins, by the time you leave you may know not just her phone number, but where she works, where she lives and what time she wants you to pick her up for dinner. In both your personal life and in business, you need to build trust before you can expect too much from others.

Get more leads by pulling down the barriers you have on your Contact forms. You’ll be amazed at the results. Then, do the work to turn those leads into customers.

I recently had the pleasure of attending a 2 day Google AdWords seminar conducted by master marketer Brad Geddes of bg Theory. The advanced Google sponsored workshops were part of the Seminars for Success series. It’s so nice to have one of these in Denver. Apparently a lot of other folks thought so too, as about 100 people attended the training.

Day 1 focused on Advanced Account Optimization and included understanding the psychology of search, best practices, creating landing pages that convert, how to increase conversion rates, understanding the nuances of quality score, how to use the content network and implementing Google Analytics, among other topics.

On the second day, Brad taught us Advanced Conversion Optimization, with segments on conversion goals, tracking, ROI,advanced bidding, testing, reports, advanced geo-targeting and much, much more.

It was two full days of brain strain trying to get it all down, but Brad is a great, well organized teacher. We were provided not only with printed manuals, but also with thumb drives containing the complete course, so I have been able to refer to them to refresh my memory and clarify things as I implement the techniques we were taught. My favorite part was the session on advanced geographic targeting, as I enjoy promoting local businesses and am always looking for new ways to do a better job of it.

I cannot recommend this series highly enough and the price was so reasonable (less than $450 for 2 full days) that anyone interested in learning more about AdWords should definitely consider attending.

Recently, my colleague, Mike Belasco, and I conducted a webinar on Local Search hosted by our good friends at SEMpdx (Search Engine Marketing Portand) and moderated by Portland internet marketer Hallie Janssen of Anvil Media.

I discussed Google’s new emphasis on Local Search, the increasing appearance of the Google 10 pack in the Universal results, and how to a help business earn a place in this sweet spot in the SERPs.

Mike shared some of his secrets for using Google analytics to track visits to your website from “local” searchers, which can give business owners and marketers an eye opening look at the influence Google’s Local Business Center exerts on their web traffic.

Access the powerpoint slide show Local Search Sizzle here.

It’s obviously been way too long since I posted here. So, here’s a quick run down of what’s been keeping me so busy lately:

My Job

Everyone’s asking about my job, so here’s the short story: The SEM company I worked for for 5 years got themselves in deep financial doo doo and there was a big shift in personnel. About a third to half of the marketing staff was lost in the upheaval, including me.

My wonderful new job: Director of Search Marketing at seOverflow. We specialize in doing outsourced SEO and linkbuilding for designers, developers and other marketing agencies.  It’s a lot of work, but after 3 months, I’m getting things under control and forging ahead. Check out my new Denver SEO company here.

I also continue to work with Liz Hamilton at Maia Internet Consulting in Colorado, doing search engine optimization for her local small business and non-profit clients. Liz specializes in helping the little guys get online with reasonably priced websites designed to grow with their businesses.

Speaking Gigs

I spoke at the SEMpdx Searchfest in February on my favorite topic, Local Search. The panel, organized by Portland SEO David Mihm and including small business marketer Matt McGee and Greg Hartnett, founder of Best of the Web, was a big hit with the audience. This local one day conference by Portland’s homegrown Search Marketing group was awesome- definitely as good as any national conference I have attended and better than many of them. There were great speakers, timely topics and a group of friendly and happy professionals who have a real passion for their work. No one wanted it to end. This is an annual event, so keep an eye out for it next winter.

I also spoke at May’s Online Marketing Summit in Denver on Local  Search, sharing the podium with Denverites Cindy Krum, an expert on mobile marketing, and Rob McNealy who does social media marketing. The OMS series of one day events are the brain child of Aaron Kralow and produced in partnership with ClickZ. They are a good value and attract a nice mix of marketers. I’d like to thank Matt McGowan of ClickZ for getting us Colorado locals involved in the event.

Other Stuff

In May, the President of seOverflow, Mike Belasco, and I were again invited to participate in the Local Search Ranking Survey, where experts weigh in on the algorithms for Google Maps and Yahoo Local. seOverflow was honored to be the only company with two people involved.

With the recent prominence of the Google 10 Pack in the Search Results, many small business owners and their marketers are frantically scrambling around trying to improve their rankings in this sweet spot. At seOverflow, I developed a Local Search Audit Report that we’re pretty excited about that analyzes a businesses’s optimization for local search and makes specifc recommendations on how to improve it.

Upcoming

Mike and I will be presenting a webinar for SEMpdx on Tuesday June 30th. The topic is “Local Search Sizzle-What’s Hot in Local Search?“. We’ll be talking about how to rank better in the Google 10 Pack, the new Google Maps Dashboard, analytics for Local Search and anything else that pops up in the world of Local Search between now and the. Please join us.

Download our free white paper here:  SEO for WordPress Blogs - A Non-Techie’s Guide

It’s an updated version of the popular layman’s guide to optimizing WordPress blogs by Carrie Hill and Mary Bowling. So if you want to set up a blog in a search engine friendly way, but don’t know where to start, start right here.

Successful SEO is achieved by giving the Search Engines what they want. That sounds simple and it is, but to satisfy them, we must first identify what exactly it is that the Search Engines do want.

The Search Engines want to return the most relevant results for every search query. This is the basis for their success and profitability. Even though they don’t always get it right, it is what they are striving for and they get better at it all the time.

Google is the most successful Search Engine because it has proven to people that it consistently gives them the best - most relevant - search results. Fortunately, Google tells us what they want in their webmaster guidelines. Read them and occasionally go back and read them again because they sometimes change.

To give Google what they want, keep these 4 goals in mind:

Be Accessible-make certain the Search Engine spiders can see everything you want them to see on your web site.

Be Original-the Search Engines want to display fresh, unduplicated content in their search results.

Be Relevant-your web pages need to be among the most relevant to the queries you wish them to rank for them to acheive high positioning in the Search Engine Results Pages.

Be Popular-get links from other web pages, ideally by creating good, original content that other people want to link to.

You can see how this all fits together!

The most basic question about SEO is what is it? Here are a few answers that I found on the web:

from Legal Internet Marketing

“Creating and improving a website so that it will rank high in the search engines and help potential customers and clients find the website.”

from Search Engine Writing

“A form of online marketing , search engine optimization (or search engine marketing) is the process of making a site and it’s content highly relevant for both search engines and searchers. Sucessful search marketing helps a site gain top positioning for relevant words and phrases.”

from Wikipedia

“SEO is the process of improving the volume and quality of traffic to a web site from search engines vias natural (organic or algorithmic) search results for targeted keywords. Usually, the earlier a site is presented in the search results or the higher it ranks, the more searchers will visit that site. SEO can also target different kinds of searches, including image search, local search and industry-specific vertical search engines. As a marketing strategy for increasing a site’s relevance, SEO considers how search algorithms works and what people search for.

SEO efforts may involve a site’s coding, presentation and structure, as well as fixing problems that could prevent search engine indexing programs from fully spidering a site.”

From personal experience, I know that it’s not unusual to spend too much time and effort simply trying to make web pages rank, while losing sight of the reason why you want them to rank in the first place, which is to attract qualified traffic to a web site.

Web sites are created for people, not for search engines. However, by pleasing the search engines, more people are likely to see your web pages. So, what do the search engines really want? And how can we give it to them? See:

Back to SEO Basics-Demonstrating Relevance

The recent buzz in Local Search is a new display feature in Google Maps that is rapidly becoming known in the search world as the K pack. Now, in addition to the lettered map points you see for the top ranking businesses in Google’s Local Search, you’ll also see map points for every business that Maps lists for that search in that location.

What’s Good About It?

Even if your business is not ranked highly in the Maps algorithm (for whatever reason), searchers will still see your location on the map. They can then click on the map point representing your business, see the familiar information bubble and then click onto to your Local Business Listing. This should serve to send more traffic to more different businesses, rather than the advantage going to those who rank well in the algorithm.

The K pack also makes your physical location and how it compares to the location of your competitors and to the searcher’s location much more obvious. Depending on the niche, this may benefit businesses with convenient locations and locations close to population concentrations. It allows searchers to refine the results they see in ways that can be very useful to them.

For example, if I’m visiting downtown Denver, Colorado, staying at the Brown Palace hotel and am looking for a place for dinner, I might search “restaurants denver lodo” and see this result:

That’s way too many to choose from, so I’ll narrow it down to “mexican restaurants denver lodo” and see this:

That’s still a lot to choose from and I want to walk to dinner, so I’ll zoom in and see which ones are close to my hotel and see this:

What’s Not So Good About It?

If you rank well in the Google Maps algorithm, some of the advantage you have enjoyed may now be lessened. However, at least for now, you’ll still be featured in the Local 10 pack as it appears at the top of the Google Universal results.

Right now, there appear to be a lot of points that don’t have any business showing up on the maps where they appear.

The Future of the K Pack

I’d really like to see the K pack points displayed on the map that appears along with the Local 10 pack in the Universal results, too, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see this added in the near future. I’d also like to be able to choose two or more maps to overlay - say ATMs and brew pubs, or one hour dry cleaning and haircuts- but that may be a little slower in coming.

Local Search marketers are already busy trying to figure out how to use this new feature to promote brick and mortar businesses online and searchers will undoubtedly discover ways to use the K pack that neither I nor Google has yet imagined. That’s what keeps my job interesting!

See the Google Lat Long Blog for more background, info and examples of how the K Pack can be used.

David Mihm and Patrick Sexton recently released a new free online tool to help local businesses and those who market them online.

Just enter your business name and zip code. GetListed.org then searches the local business directories of Google Maps, Yahoo Local, MSN Live Local and Best of the Web Local for listings.

If you’re not listed anywhere, you have some work to do. Here is what you’ll see:

If you have some listings and/or listings that could stand to be enhanced by adding more information to them, you’ll see something like this:

You really don’t need me or  anyone else to tell you how to work this. It’s all very easy and intuitive. Just click on the links you see to accomplish tasks, like “Add your business listing” , “View Details”, and so on.

If you have more than one business, you can set up a dashboard where you can conveniently view and manage them all in from one screen. Spend a few minutes clicking around to learn about other cool tool features from Get Listed.

Successful SEO is providing relevance on a particular topic to the Search Engines, communicating that relevance and then making certain there are no obstacles to impede that process. So, how do you demonstrate that relevance?

By what you tell the Search Engines about your pages:

• Page titles, meta descriptions and meta keywords- through this data, over which you have complete control, you tell the Search Engines (and human visitors) what your web pages are about.
• H tags - use these heading tags to confirm to the SEs (and the people reading your pages) that the content on your pages is really about what you told them it would be about in the meta data.
• Content-use plenty of original, indexable text on the page that is actually about what you told the SEs it would be about. Clear and focused content conveys relevance in the best possible way by supporting the page title, description and h tags. When the Search Engine spiders see little or no content, or irrelevant content, you are at a definite disadvantage.

By what others say about your web pages through the links they point at them:

• Number of links-how many other web pages “vote” for this web page. More is better.
• Power of links-the trust and authority of the web pages that link to your pages. Better pages give you better links.
• Link reputation-what the links say that the page they point to is about. The best links reinforce that your pages are really about what you told the Search Engines they are about.

I’m thrilled to have been invited to speak on Local Search at the SEMpdx’s own conference on March 10th, 2009. If you aren’t already aware of it, Portland is a hotbed of SEOs and this group is a really savvy bunch of hardworking search marketers who tend to be pretty cutting edge.

Take a look at their conference agenda. Danny Sullivan is keynoting and they have a great line up of industry experts worthy of a national conference.  If you’d like to attend, use this promotion code to save 10%: SPEAKER-SEMPDXSF0920