The second session of Aha!Local University, a seminar series designed to teach business owners and operators how to market their business online to local customers. This session focuses on local listings, like Google Maps or Bing Local, and how businesses can take advantage of these as a marketing tool.

1. Aha!Local
University
Session
Two
Local
Lis)ngs
are
the
New
Yellow
Pages
The
second
in
a
series
of
seminars
and
webinars
about
how
to
market
your
business
online
to
local
customers
|
©
2011
Parallel
Path
Corp.

2. Agenda
• What
Are
Local
Lis8ngs?
• Why
Do
They
Ma@er?
• How
Do
They
Work?
> What
Can
the
Local
Business
Operator
Do
Herself?
> What
Should
be
Done
by
an
Agency?
• What
Should
You
Look
for
in
an
Agency?
• Preview
of
Next
Session
• Final
Thoughts
|
©
2011
Parallel
Path
Corp.

3. Local
Lis8ngs
Are
Everywhere
|
©
2011
Parallel
Path
Corp.

4. Local
Lis8ngs
Are
Everywhere
|
©
2011
Parallel
Path
Corp.

5. Local
Lis8ngs
Are
Everywhere
|
©
2011
Parallel
Path
Corp.

6. Local
Lis8ngs
Are
Everywhere
|
©
2011
Parallel
Path
Corp.

7. Local
Lis8ngs
Are
Everywhere
|
©
2011
Parallel
Path
Corp.

8. Why
Do
They
Ma=er?
• Modern
replacement
for
Yellow
Pages
• Local
business
searchers
are
farther
along
in
the
purchase
cycle
• 74%
of
Internet
users
do
local
searches
(Kelsey
Group)
• 86%
take
ac8on
on
the
results
(call
or
visit)
67%
of
searchers
20-­‐45
years
old
reported
when
they
searched
online,
they
believe
the
top
list
of
companies
on
Google
are
the
“highest
recommended”
or
“most
authorita8ve”
businesses
to
contact.
(SearchOnomics)
8
|
©
2011
Parallel
Path
Corp.

9. Google
is
Winning
Among
Search
Engines
and
Directories
45%
40%
Yelp
35%
Dexknows
30%
Bing
Local
25%
Mapquest
20%
Yellowbook
Superpages.com
15%
AT&T
(Yellowpages.com)
10%
Yahoo!
Local
5%
Google
Maps
0%
Jun-­‐08
Jun-­‐09
Jun-­‐10
(15Miles)
9
|
©
2011
Parallel
Path
Corp.

10. But,
Social
Media
is
Coming
on
Strong
• From
2009
to
2010,
local
search
volume
grew
13.8%
> Search
engine
searches
grew
9%
> Non-­‐search
engine
searches
grew
22%
10
|
©
2011
Parallel
Path
Corp.

11. Local
Search
Tool
Varies
by
Searcher
Age
18-­‐24
25-­‐34
35-­‐44
45-­‐54
55-­‐64
65+
Print
directory
9%
12%
20%
27%
34%
43%
Local
newspaper
or
magazine
2%
1%
2%
2%
3%
3%
Telephone
directory
assistance
3%
2%
2%
2%
2%
2%
Mobile
device
3%
7%
3%
2%
1%
0%
General
search
engine
45%
36%
35%
29%
25%
22%
Internet
yellow
pages
15%
23%
24%
21%
21%
16%
Local
search
engine
15%
14%
11%
14%
11%
11%
Social
networking
site
6%
4%
2%
1%
0%
0%
(15Miles)
11
|
©
2011
Parallel
Path
Corp.

12. The
Data
Wholesalers
|
©
2011
Parallel
Path
Corp.

13. |
©
2011
Parallel
Path
Corp.

14. The
Local
Search
Engines
|
©
2011
Parallel
Path
Corp.

15. The
Internet
Yellow
Pages
|
©
2011
Parallel
Path
Corp.

16. The
Social
Networking
and
Review
Sites
|
©
2011
Parallel
Path
Corp.

17. The
Local
Search
Portals
|
©
2011
Parallel
Path
Corp.

18. |
(Getlisted.org
&
Dath
Corp.
©
2011
Parallel
P avid
Mihm)

19. What
Does
All
This
Mean
For
Your
Business?
• Google
has
largest
share,
so:
> Make
sure
your
business
is
presented
well
> Performance
(placement)
on
Google
is
most
important
• But
60%
of
your
market
is
looking
elsewhere,
so:
> Make
sure
your
data
is
broadly
distributed
and
accurate
19
|
January
13,
2011
©
2011
Parallel
Path
Corp.

20. How
Do
Local
Lis8ngs
Work?
|
©
2011
Parallel
Path
Corp.

21. History
Of
Google
Local
Lis8ngs
• 2005:
Google
Local
integrated
with
Google
Maps
• 2006:
OneBox
Business
Lis8ng
Map
appears
on
main
search
results
page
• 2008:
Displaying
10
business
lis8ngs
rather
than
3
• 2009:
Displaying
7
business
lis8ngs
(Google
7-­‐pack)
• 2009:
Dashboard
for
Local
Business
Center
• 2009:
Google
Place
Pages
• 2010:
Google
rolled
out
integrated
Places
Results
Google
is
s8ll
changing
Maps
dynamically
as
they
try
to
grow
their
revenue
|
©
2011
Parallel
Path
Corp.

22. It
Used
To
Be
So
Much
Easier
|
©
2011
Parallel
Path
Corp.

23. Current
Lis8ng
Placement
Factors
Is
your
lis8ng
showing
up
on
Page
1
of
Google
for
relevant
searches?
LOCATION
AUTHORITY
RELEVANCY
|
©
2011
Parallel
Path
Corp.

24. Loca8on:
Business
Loca8on
In
Rela8on
To
City
Center
• Local
lis8ngs
are
designed
to
get
you
to
display
in
the
city
you
are
located
• Less
important
factor
in
less
compe88ve
ci8es
or
markets
(luxury
car
dealer
or
spice
shops)
• Loca8on
trumps
informa8on
on
Places
page
in
most
cases
• For
service
businesses
(plumbers,
contractors,
etc),
Google
has
a
way
to
define
service
areas
|
©
2011
Parallel
Path
Corp.

25. Authority:
Cita8ons
• What
is
a
cita8on?
• Cita8ons
come
from
various
sites
–
BBB,
Yellowpages,
Local
lis8ng
sites,
etc
• Importance
> Google
looks
for
cita8ons
as
part
of
regular
web
crawl
> More
Cita8ons
=
Higher
Rankings
> Compe8tors
have
cita8ons
–
you
should
have
what
they
have
|
©
2011
Parallel
Path
Corp.

26. What
Are
My
Cita8ons?
|
©
2011
Parallel
Path
Corp.

27. Authority:
Garnering
Reviews
• Benefits
Of
Reviews
> 70%
of
searchers
find
online
reviews
important
to
their
decision
process
> Search
engines
use
reviews
to
determine
credibility
of
business
> Reviews
are
on
many
sites
–
Yahoo,
Google,
Yelp,
Tripadvisor,
Citysearch,
Insiderpages,
etc.
• Drawbacks
Of
Reviews
> Hard
to
control
> Some
types
of
businesses
have
a
harder
8me
genera8ng
reviews
> Angry
customers
more
likely
to
leave
reviews
> It
is
hard
for
business
owners/employees
to
ask
for
reviews
Important:
Ask
For
Reviews!
|
©
2011
Parallel
Path
Corp.

28. Examples
Of
Review
Performance
|
©
2011
Parallel
Path
Corp.

29. Examples
Of
Review
Performance
Boulder
Auto
Tune
Ups
|
©
2011
Parallel
Path
Corp.

30. Relevancy
• Google
is
in
the
“search”
business
• Your
lis8ng
must
be
presented
in
such
a
way
that
the
search
engine
knows
that
it
matches
the
searcher’s
intent
|
©
2011
Parallel
Path
Corp.

31. What
Can
I
Do
Myself?
|
©
2011
Parallel
Path
Corp.

32. Claim
Your
Google
Places
Page
• Ensures
that
your
business
data
(phone,
address,
business
name,
URL,
etc)
is
correct
• Gives
you
control
of
upda8ng
> You
can’t
update
your
lis8ng
if
you
don’t
claim
your
page
• Represents
your
business
the
right
way
Your
Google
Places
Page
is
your
online
representa8on
of
your
business.
|
©
2011
Parallel
Path
Corp.

33. Claim
Your
Google
Places
Page
• The
most
important
aspect
of
claiming
your
lis8ng
is
to
put
you
in
control
of
your
business
informa8on
CLICK
HERE
|
©
2011
Parallel
Path
Corp.

34. Local
Address
and
Phone
• Have
local
address
–
no
PO
box
• Have
local
phone
number
–
no
800
number
• Provide
Google
with
address
&
phone
(you
can
hide
your
address
from
the
search
results)
|
©
2011
Parallel
Path
Corp.

35. Monitor/Respond
To
Reviews
• Know
what
is
being
said
about
your
business
on
the
web
• Many
sites
let
you
respond
to
reviews
lep
on
their
site
> Google
Maps
> Yelp
(paying
customers)
> Citysearch
(paying
customers)
> TripAdvisor
• Use
common
sense
when
responding
to
reviews
Remember:
Less
is
more
when
responding
to
reviews
|
©
2011
Parallel
Path
Corp.

36. Monitor/Respond
To
Reviews
• Monitoring
and
responding
to
reviews
helps
you
understand
how
others
see
your
business
and
how
you
can
improve!
|
©
2011
Parallel
Path
Corp.

37. Distribute
Your
Business
Informa8on
• Distribute
your
business
informa8on
beyond
Google
(40%
of
local
search
market)
• The
more
places
your
business
name,
address,
and
phone
number
are
listed,
the
more
cita8ons
you
get
on
Google
• Where
to
start:
> Yahoo
> Bing
> Citysearch
> Insiderpages
> Yelp
> Yellowpages
(free
lis8ng)
> Merchant
Circle
|
©
2011
Parallel
Path
Corp.

38. Why
Do
I
Need
An
Agency?
|
©
2011
Parallel
Path
Corp.

39. What
Agencies
Offer
• The
rules
in
local
search
change
constantly
> Agencies
monitor
and
respond
to
these
changes
> Agencies
know
how
to
op8mize
your
data
for
performance
• Agencies
know
what
works
on
a
Place
Page
and
what
does
not
• Agencies
advise
on
where
the
local
search
traffic
is
It
is
an
agency’s
job
to
understand
the
rules
and
intricacies
of
local
search
|
©
2011
Parallel
Path
Corp.

40. Agencies
Advise
on
Opportuni8es
|
©
2011
Parallel
Path
Corp.

41. Agencies
Advise
on
Opportuni8es
|
©
2011
Parallel
Path
Corp.

42. Agencies
Correct
Problems
• Duplicate
Lis8ngs
> Everyone
is
supplying
everyone
with
informa8on
• Incorrect
data
> Phone
numbers
> Addresses
> URLs
• Responding
to
changes
in
results
> Compe8tors
> Algorithm
changes
Agencies
know
who
to
call
to
get
this
stuff
fixed
|
©
2011
Parallel
Path
Corp.

43. Agencies
Provide
Distribu8on
• Agencies
have
access
to
large
distribu8on
networks
that
individual
businesses
do
not
• The
ideal
distribu8on
network
is
always
changing
–
make
sure
you
can
be
found
in
all
the
right
places
Make
sure
your
distribu8on
network
is
always
growing
|
©
2011
Parallel
Path
Corp.

44. How
Do
I
Select
An
Agency?
• Experience
> How
many
lis8ngs
do
they
manage?
> Client
references
• Repor8ng
• Distribu8on
Network
|
©
2011
Parallel
Path
Corp.

45. Wrap-­‐Up
|
©
2011
Parallel
Path
Corp.

46. Planned
Curriculum
• Local
Lis8ngs
and
Local
Search
• Local
Paid
Adver8sements
• Social
Media
• Reviews
• Online
Coupons
• Loca8on-­‐Based
Social
Networking
• Mobile
|
©
2011
Parallel
Path
Corp.

47. Final
Thoughts
• Slides
will
be
posted
online
> Link
will
be
sent
to
meetup.com
group
and
to
Twi@er
followers
(@parallelpath)
• Please
sign
in
to
make
sure
we
have
your
complete
contact
info
• Please
provide
feedback
on
the
meetup.com
group
site
• Referral
gip:
Bring
another
next
8me
and
get
a
gip!
|
©
2011
Parallel
Path
Corp.