10 Pro Online Reputation Management Tips For Local Businesses

Online marketing experts have spent a lot of time providing advice on managing online ratings and reviews for local businesses — but reputation can have much broader impact than your reviews in Yelp and Google. There’s hardly a business out there that doesn’t have an occasional…

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Local U & Friends Invite You to the New Local U Forums

Last week was a busy and exciting week for Local U. It has been our long term dream to provide high quality local marketing training and advise on-line. On Thursday we rolled out the Local University Forums. The Forums will be place where marketers, digital agencies and businesses large and small can get expert answers, […]

5 Go-Tos To Make Online Reviews Work For Your Business

By now, everyone knows that online reviews can have a tremendous impact on consumers’ purchasing decisions. Ultimately, a single review — positive or negative — can tip the scale in favor of one company over another. No doubt, the power of reviews on Google+, Yelp, Angie’s…

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How Local Businesses Can Leverage Twitter’s New Nearby Feature

Twitter has made headlines in recent weeks with the quiet launch of its experimental Nearby timeline, which allows eligible mobile users to discover tweets posted by others in their immediate vicinity, regardless of whether they are following them. This feature is currently available to a select…

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Lessons From An Accidental Tourist On The Inter-Webs

I live in a double bubble when it comes to my perceptions of how “America” uses the Internet. The first bubble I live in is Silicon Valley, where the latest venture-funded “SoMoLo” website always seems more important than, say, WalMart.com. The second is my profession of…

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The Best Advanced Local Search Conference EVER

Ok. So I am a little biased. But that being said, last year’s spring Local  U Advanced was one of the most educational and fun events that I have ever participated in and we are bringing it back east. There was more of everything that I love about our industry: more great local content, more […]

62% Of Marketers Say Local Search Is Getting Harder

During the recent InsideLocal webinar series, I’ve had the chance to gather the opinions and feelings of the hundreds of search agencies, consultants, “in-bound” marketeers and business owners who logged in to listen. We ran a number of on-the-spot surveys (or polls) during each…

Please visit Search Engine Land for the full article.

How Local Businesses Can Overcome Obstacles To Mobile Conversion

For the growing number of consumers who rely on their mobile devices to search for local business information, their focus is on making a purchase — and fast. The latest Google/Nielsen “Mobile Path to Purchase” study, released last week, shows that consumers who use their mobile…

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If A Chiropractor Can Do Local SEO, So Can You

If you don’t already follow Michael Dorausch, you are missing out on the Local SEO equivalent of expert spinal manipulation. So simple, yet so effective. Here’s his latest Pubcon presentation, 2013 Local Search Rankings: 2013 Local Search Rankings Las Vegas Michael Dorausch from Michael Dorausch Key takeaway: Purchase a camera and use it! (slide 33)

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Did Hummingbird Just Kill Your Local SEO Strategy?

Let’s cut to the chase: no, it didn’t (see Betteridge’s Law of Headlines). But Search Engine Land tells me the Hummingbird stuff really drives the page views these days, so you only have yourself to blame. :) That said, Google’s Hummingbird algorithm, along with all of the…

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34% Of Local SEOs Make Less Than $30,000/Year. Why?

As the local search industry evolves and becomes more complex, the role of local search consultants and agencies becomes more critical. Complexity is increasing across most areas of our fast-growing industry, which makes “local search” all the more confusing for local business owners….

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“Google Now Sees Owner Written Descriptions As Pretty Much Worthless”

You're All Worthless and WeakBrother Blumenthal preaching the gospel when asked if there was any SEO benefit to varying your business’ description on different local directories: “If there is a benefit, it would be quite small. Although there is no exact understanding of how Google uses directory descriptions, it would seem to be a minor or non-issue.” and “As […]

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Hummingbird, Local Knowledge Graph & Shitty Search Results

The big news earlier in the week was Google’s announcement of the Hummingbird search algo upgrade. InformationWeek noted that “the Hummingbird update expands Google’s use of its Knowledge Graph”.  Local search results were some of the first entities moved to the Knowledge graph and displayed as knowledge graph results. For me there are thus two questions. […]

Local Voice Search Wars And The Opportunity For Businesses

Since the official inception of mobile voice search with Apple’s launch of Siri in 2011, consumers, search professionals and businesses have watched for the rise of voice search in local. Despite Siri’s initial inadequacies and obvious voice recognition challenges, savvy multitasking…

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LocalU Odds and Ends

Lot’s has been happening at LocalU. We have an advanced LocalU coming up Monday in NYC that has just 5 seats left. If you do sign up be sure to use the discount code WS-LUA10 for 10% off. If you are already signed up be sure to reach out to me and introduce yourself. We […]

Local Businesses, Ensure Your AdWords Accounts Are On Target

Paid Advertising Platforms are growing exponentially on what seems like a weekly basis. What once was Keywords + Ad + Bid = Money has now become a full-time job. Bid adjustments, rules, remarketing, extensions, day-parting, local or geographic targeting, modified broad match, and more — the…

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Local U Advanced – NYC Sept 30th

Fall has descended (and I am riding my bike in 40 degree temperatures ….brr) and our SMX Local U Advanced Workshop is only 11 days away. We have sold 75% of the available tickets so there are only 14 left. If you are thinking of coming now is the time to sign up. If you […]

Top Local SEO Myths

Phil Rozek has just published a great piece at his blog: Top Local SEO Myths. Phil asked me and 9 others for 3 myths about local marketing. Never one to be shy, lack for things to say or follow instructions I sent along four. Here is a sampling of my responses: Myth One- When you verify […]