Small Businesses Raise Search Spend in 2009 is a post from: Need Help Marketing?

Research from WebVisible shows that small business spending on search advertising has risen. This is primarily due to the effectiveness of this medium.

Average spending by small-business search advertisers was up 91% year over year and 93% quarter over quarter in Q3. The average number of keywords purchased was also up.

Worth noting is that Microsoft’s new search engine Bing also resulted in the highest click through of the top search engines. If you are not yet listed in Bing as a local business take a look at our earlier post on setting up a Bing Local Business Listing
Other research in the small business space also indicates that in addition to email marketing, search engine advertising will be increasing into 2010.

Key findings related to Search Engine ads and visitor actions include:

93.1% – Click through to a website
49.2% -Submit an email
49.0% – Print Landing Page

If you are new to search engine advertising then we would suggest you consider testing it out. Even if you have a small budget you can still run some ads and see what your results look like. In fact most companies take a small budget to try out new keywords to see what words perform the best, before they spend a lot of money on a longer term campaign.

Source: eMarketer

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Brainstorming using the Google Wonder Wheel is a post from: Need Help Marketing?

Ok, the first time I heard about the Google Wonder Wheel, my initial reaction was the “Wonder what?”. But then I had one of those “Aha!” moments and realized how powerful it could be to use for brainstorming.  I will walk you through how to use the Google wonder wheel. So lets start with an example close to home, I recently needed ideas for what to add to this blog that were relevant to our readers. So my first step was to log in to our web analytics system and find out what keywords our visitors were using to find our website content.

The keyword phrase that stuck out the most was “i need help marketing” which is perfect for our website content because our web address (domain name) is NeedHelpMarketing.com. So naturally it is a perfect keyword phrase to focus on, but the real question I wanted to find out is what you, our readers, want help marketing about. Please do leave comments for marketing questions and future topic ideas.

• First Step: Go to Google and enter your search phrase

• Second Step: Click the “Show Options” option on the top left side of the results

• Third Step: Next click on the “Wonder Wheel” option on the left hand column

You should now see the search results represented in a diagram similar to this:

Google Wonder Wheel Example

In looking at the above example you can see more refined and more specific topics centered around our initial search phrase “i need help marketing” and by clicking any of these links you can see further results and drill into these topics for more information.

Key topics for future topics should concentrate on:

• Internet Marketing Help
• SEO Marketing
• Affiliate Marketing
• Marketing Graphic Design
• Marketing Help Coaches

Google Wonder Wheel – Related Topic Results

By taking this a step further and clicking on one of the results you can see more specific related topics of interest (shown above). The power of the wonder wheel is that it is such a natural way to brainstorm and very much mimics using pen and paper or a white board. Think about when you are brainstorming in a team and are making groups of ideas and drawing lines linking similar topics. In a very visual fashion Google is helping you to brainstorm using their vast knowledge of years of analyzing what people search for and how topics are connected together. From a brainstorming and market research perspective that knowledge is priceless.

Very specific related topics and ideas for future website content:

• Marketing with Postcards
• Marketing with Meaning
• Marketing with Color
• Marketing with Facebook
• Marketing with Twitter
• Marketing with Care
• Marketing with Flair

For another technique that is just as powerful take a look at Idea Generation using Word Clouds

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Do you need a Facebook Fan Page for your business? is a post from: Need Help Marketing?

By now you have heard of Facebook and it’s massive membership growth over the last couple of years. Even more interesting is the trend for users older than the college generation signing up everyday too. Maybe you need to see the numbers to convince you. Building a fan page is a great way to get started in social media and in building a community of loyal followers.

Facebook Statistics (Source Facebook)

• 200 million active users
• More than two thirds of Facebook users are out of college
• The fastest growing demographic are those 35 years old and older
• Average reach of 120 friends on the site
• More than 8 million users become fans of Pages each day.

What is a Facebook Page?

According to Facebook, a Page is optimized to share information and create a presence to engage with your fans. Only official representatives of an organization can create a Page, but that is in fact how you gain validity and credibility to your presence on Facebook. This way users will know they are communicating with the real company directly and this will empower them to get involved and engage. Facebook users can add themselves as a fan to your Facebook page which is created for your company, product or brand name.

Learn more about Facebook Pages in the Facebook Help Center

Why should a business want to get involved on Facebook and create their own Page?

1. Low cost (Free to setup)
   Basic setup of a Page can be done free of charge. And now with vanity urls you can even create links such as facebook.com/yourcompany which make them easier to find.
2. Interactivity
   Encourages fans (other Facebook users) to interact and build a community of other people who share the same interests. Providing constant feedback to your business on what customers like and don’t like about your company. Free feedback is very valuable and saves having to survey or conduct focus groups.
3. Promotion
   When you launch a new product or service and give your promotion a little boost by first telling your fans and posting on your Page. Write updates on your “wall”, offer discounts to your loyal fans (followers), and update what you are working on. A lot of small business websites do not have this type of functionality and community building features.
4. Search Engine Marketing
   Facebook is seen as an authority online. Meaning that when search engines find your Facebook Page and notice that Facebook is linking to your business website it will likely rank higher in the search results.

Should a Facebook Page replace my website?

Probably not, since not everyone is using Facebook and some employers are also also blocking access to this site. But if you do not yet have a website a Page is a great place to start building up some community around your new business.

What does a Facebook Page look like?

Example Page:  http://www.facebook.com/pages/Renttropolis/5870033562

Get Started

Facebook has a 5 Step Guide to building your Presence which can you help get you on your way.

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Reserve your place in the Microsoft Bing Local Business Listing is a post from: Need Help Marketing?

Just last week Microsoft announced thier new search service called Bing. Not only that but they have also announced a massive advertising promotion to promote their new online search service. Microsoft appears so confident with this new search engine offering that they have even gone as far as referring to it as a search “decision” engine. That in itself is quite profound since most people would not associate using a search engine with making decisions beyond which search results look more interesting or relevant then others.

So what is so different about this new search engine?

The Bing site now offers more information right up front, instead of having to click on results to get more information and to find what you are looking for. How many times have you searched for a local business and had to click on the search results to find their contact details and decide on the retailer that specializes in the product you are looking for? Bing is different, searching for a business on Bing will actually display more information right up front. Including reviews, hours of operations, photos, average rating, average dollar amount if the listing is for a restaurant.

Here is an example of what your business might and could look like on Bing:

This new business listing and Bing “decision” engine as Microsoft is calling it; could make or break your business when it comes to local business search. If a prospective customer searches using Bing and sees results that have detailed information about that business they will stand out from their nearby businesses. And the first impression will already have been made in the mind of the buyer. We have already covered how important local business profiles are on search engines for getting found and improving foot traffic, in an earlier post about Searching for your local competition online.

So how do you get in on all the action?

Combined with both the current buzz and media attention being given to Bing, a lot of people will be evaluating the Bing search experience compared with their preferred search engine of choice. It is also important to keep in mind that recent reports are indicating that Bing website searches could very soon surpass Yahoo as the second most popular search engine after Google.

To get exposure and stand out from the rest of the crowd you should setup your business profile early. Head on over to the Bing Local Listing Center to update any business information already listed for your company or to add a new business listing.

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How to get found in search engines for local business is a post from: Need Help Marketing?

In an earlier post we talked about making sure you have a Google and Yahoo Business Profile setup. But what if you are trying to get your website noticed by search engines in your local area. There are a few things that will help with your organic search results and being associated with keywords that relate to your local area such as your city or town.

1. Add a location name to your Page Titles

   Example “Seattle Taverns” could be your page title if that is what you are writing about on that page of your website. When the search results are displayed on a search engine readers are more likely to click on pages that have relevant local keywords in their titles.

2. Add your business listing to local business directories

   We have all heard of advertising in the Yellow Pages for example. But there are also city based business directories that are very comprehensive as well. Continuing with our theme, I did a quick search and came across a website called Seattle at a Glance. And from looking at their website you can immediately tell that it is an established business directory. There are also other websites that try to aggregate helpful local city guides such as CitySquares for finding local businesses in your area.

3. Provide a lot of information about your business

   The less questions a reader has to ask the better. Such as where are you located, what are you hours of operation and where do I find your phone number. But remember if you are listing along side other businesses say for Accounting. Just like in the Yellow Pages, you need to have something that helps you stand out. Do you offer free deliveries in certain areas, maybe a guarantee, or even an offer for mentioning that you saw them in such and such business directory. This way you know where your customers are finding you.

4. Link reputation is also key

   Remember to use hyperlinks that match your page. So using the same example from #1 above. The page title would be “Seattle Taverns” and the link might be “seattle-taverns.html”. Using this technique will actually help to improve your relevancy as seen by the search engines spiders when they go to your website to index your content.

Also worth noting is monitoring your business reviews on other websites. We have probably all seen the new iPhone TV ads showing how easy it is to post online reviews of restaurants on Yelp for example. Yelp is a perfect example of the power of the internet is used to collect reviews on local restaurants for everyone to see. However you as a business owner want to make sure that any negative reviews are followed up on or disputed where appropriate. Doing so will show other readers that you are serious about your business and about customer service.

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Searching for your local competition online is a post from: Need Help Marketing?

When was the last time you searched for a local business in your area on a search engine?

You as a business owner probably haven’t searched for your own profession though, because you have never been in need of that kind of help. If you really think about it, your customers go online to find local merchants, retailers, and trades people all the time. Probably even without thinking about it.

What we are talking about is local search engine marketing and what it can do for your business exposure and lead generation.

How about an example to help illustrate what we are talking about here. Go to Google Local Search or Yahoo Local, which are probably the two highest used search engines for searching locally. Now try to find your business listing. Do you have a sponsored link for your area for example? Do you see your competition across the street even.

By searching for “Boston Dental” in Google Local Search and I got the following listings (click on the images to enlarge):

Next time I repeated the same search using Yahoo Local  for “Dental in Boston” and I got the following listings (click on the images to enlarge):

In both examples New England Dental was displayed in the top spot. Now if I was living in Boston and looking for a new dentist this dental practice would definitely be top of my mind.

The lesson in this example is actually two-fold:

1) Make sure you commit to doing online advertising using local keywords such as town, city or county for your area.
Before your competitors pick up on this strategy to corner the local market.

2) Make sure you have a consistent business listings in both Google and Yahoo which was the case in the example above.
These business listings are free to setup but will help to promote your business locally and maybe even outside of your current advertising budget could reach.

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