Personalization of Search isn’t going away, it’s ony getting bigger as Google has taken the entire concept out of beta and is plunging forward. Three of the latest additions is the comment, promote and delete options for users logged in to their Google accounts while searching. I made a video to better illustrate what these three option allow you (and other users) to do in regards to manipulating how they see results, as well as how one of these might even begin to help your search results.
Have you noticed some of the personalization Google has been adding to their Search Engine Result Pages (SERP)?
Besides the new ‘sidewiki’, which we won’t discuss here, Google has added the option to add public comments to a website and have that comment show up right in the result page. As you can see in the image to the right the top arrow is pointing to a new icon after the URL, this let’s you put your own comment about that result. Below that line you can see the note “Comment by Searcher, Today” and then the actual comment. Google will use your Google account nickname on your comment post if you have one, if not then it defaults to ‘Searcher’.
Proceed with Caution!!! That is my first advice in the industry of Social Media and Internet Marketing. I have to speak to this epidemic of marketers and speakers jumping on the latest bandwagon buzz and teaching how to use an Internet technology that they themselves have used for less than a year, and with only mediocre success at that. Almost anyone can write a book, and most can prepare a speech on a niche component of this industry and sound like the master or guru.
Take myself for instance, all I do in Internet Marketing and Search Engine Optimization for my clients, Strategy Group members and my own projects. I make sure my experience is the best it can be by following and working with the best in the industry, continual education, testing strategies and implementation going on 9 years! Yeah, that’s a long time in this industry … I don’t take it lightly, and those that know me say I live and breathe it. That is a tremendous compliment!
If you are getting ready to hire a traditional marketing company and they are selling you on the use of Social Media you need to come to the table prepared! Here are some questions they should be able to answer, and the answers you need to be looking for:
Q: How long have you had Social Media implemented in your company?
A: You want to see at least 2 years, that’s right were they in the afterthought stage of the game or an early adopter that really has a firm footing in this industry.
Q: What is your background in Internet Marketing strategies as a whole?
A: You want to see 3-5 years minimum in the Internet Marketing field, this field has been changing faster than any other in history. How did they implement eMail marketing, an online branding campaing, YouTube, Twitter, or even Facebook. Getting on board with any of these with just a year or so of background is extremely limiting when developing a strategy. A strong background in Internet Marketing will tell you how hard they work to stay on top of the next emerging tactic and how they will test and implement it in to your campaign.
Q: Who will be handling your Social Media?
A: If they say them – your done … move on. Social Media is all about your voice, your relationship with your followers and ‘friends’. What happens when the person that is writing for you leaves, now a new guy comes in and the voice is completely different. OR, what if you want to interject an update – it WILL sound different than your ‘hired voice’.
Q: Where do you start with Social Media?
A: If they give you a long list of sites to create profiles on then your going to feel overwhelmed in trying to get enough followers on them all that is it destined to fail. Granted there are some top level Internet Marketers that can create all these profile accounts and get followers overnight, if you are at that level you’re not reading this article anyway.
If you only ask these 4 questions, look for strong experience and request references to existing clients to chat with you will be in much better shape! I’ve been in this industry since 2001 and can see the snake oil from the experience in a minute, but most cannot. Unfortunately the il-informed are being taken advantage of everyday, my goal is to help you make better decisions for the health of your business!
Comments are greatly appreciated, please share your experiences working Social Media or lessons learned with marketers.
emily
Not every business needs or wants traffic from across the country, or even the world. Because they have a local brick-and-mortar store in Anytown, USA. So what they need is to show up front and center when we are looking for their local products and services, are you aware that over 70% of all shoppers now go online to look for the business they intend to visit. You BETTER be there! No more yellow pages for this girl …
But how can you get more regional traffic? There are options for you, and depending on the size of the region your looking to show up in will depend on the amount of effort you need to put forth. For instance if you’re in a town of a few thousand people just having a website that describes your services and or products along with your physical location will probably do the trick. But when you get in to a city of hundreds of thousands and millions of people you got some competition to contend with for sure!
First off, make sure you are in the Google Local listings in order to show up in that list of businesses that are normally displayed at the top of the Search Engine listings. It’s free and really quite simple to do, if your still not compfortable with it you can find a tutorial video in the training library on this site coming January 2009. That will have a step-by-step guide for you.
The question that comes up the most regarding Google Local listings is how can you show up at the top? It is based on the post office address, so if the user puts in a city name then it goes off of the central post office for that city. If they put in an area or area code for that city, for example ‘hollywood hills, ca’, then the system will pull from the central post office of that area of the city. It does have to be a business address, residential addresses get weeded out of the system.
Secondly, use your Internet Marketing strategies to dominate the Search Engine rankings for your niche market. Use video, blog entries, article marketing AND your website to take more than just one place. If you not familiar with these methods then you may want to spend some time educating yourself on these options, check out the SEO resources section of this site to get you started on the best tools to start with. Some are free and some have fees, but you have to start somewhere. And I do not believe that having a site that ranks great AND performs even better has to be expensive.
The most important lesson in optimizing a web site is to never stop working on it! Keep your eyes and ears open for how your customers are searching for you, what words do they relate with your business. Then optimize for those phrases as well, the key is content … if your not willing to create content, or have content created, then you are already done. Your competitors WILL beat you out, and leave you wondering where the traffic went.
Remember … your SEO Strategy is Only as Good as it’s Results!
Emily Leach