| LED Digest 2263: Local Search Listings |
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Local search functionality in Google (thanks to their Maps service) is now in full effect. What effect will this have on location-specific businesses? More today on promoting newsletters and domain speculation as well. ================================================== The LED Digest Moderated Discussion List "Effective Online Advertising, Since 1997" Data > Information > Knowledge > Wisdom pair Networks: The LED's Web Host Hosting and Domain Registration from a Trusted Leader pair.com for Hosting | pairNIC.com for Domains ================================================== List Moderator: Published by: Adam Audette LED Digest adam, led-digest.com http://www.led-digest.com .............................................. October 10, 2006 Issue no. 2263 .............................................. .....IN THIS DIGEST..... ==== CONTINUING ================= --== MSN Live Local ==-- ~ Bob Gladstein "Thanks for asking, by the way." --== Domain Watching Services ==-- ~ Greg Watson "...domain names are almost like prime real estate." --== Local Listings and Search Engines ==-- ~ Nathan Holley "A Google Maps display is appearing on general location searches..." --== How to Promote an Online Newsletter? ==-- ~ Rich Dudley "Pop-ups are probably ineffective these days, but what would work is a floating div style of script..." ~ Al Toman "Media Research has solid content and permits it to be re-published..." ======== CONTINUING =============================== From: Bob Gladstein Subject: MSN live local > ... how do I get listed on MSN live local? - Al Toman, LED 2262 - http://www.led-digest.com/content/view/1136/55/ If you go to http://local.live.com/ and click the "Help" link in the upper right corner, you'll get a popup window. In the left column, the first item will be "How do I add my business listing to Live Local Search?" Click that and you will have the opportunity to "Add Your Business Listing" at a site called localeze.com. Thanks for asking, by the way. While looking for the answer to your question, I noticed that they had my company listed as "Raise My Ranks Svc," which explains why I've been receiving so much snail mail addressed to that incorrect company name. Bob Gladstein -------- new post - new topic -------- From: Greg Watson Subject: Domain watching > Are there any "domain watching services" that you know of > that can purchase a domain the minute it becomes available? - Dina Beach Lynch, LED 2261 - http://www.led-digest.com/content/view/1128/55/ > Everyone remember Adventive? Well, after we sold the company > the new owners didn't use the domain and let it expire. Yesterday > a squatter service quoted me $35,000 for our old domain! Absolutely > ridiculous. - Moderator Comment, LED 2261 - http://www.led-digest.com/content/view/1128/55/ I don't want to defend squatters. But domain names are almost like prime real estate. My physical address is 401 Main Street, and there are thousands of people across the country with that same physical address. However, only one person can have a 401Main.com address (no, I don't own that domain). My name is Greg Watson, and while there may not be very many people with my same name, I have spoken via Email to at least 8 people with my same name. However, only one person can have a GregWatson.com address on the internet (and no, I am not the hockey player <grin>)... Your virtual address is a valuable asset. Like most assets, it may be worth more to you than it is to me. I may have a website development idea for a domain that I think can make $3,000 or $30,000. But you might have a strategy that you believe can make 10 times that much... clearly, the domain is worth more to you than it would be to me. If I acquire a domain, it is because I believe I can make $300, $3,000 to $30,000 from an idea I have for it. Thus to me, every domain I "own" (rent) is worth a minimum of $300 to me... but it may be worth more to you. Adventive is a fantastic name... I haven't checked, but you should be able to trademark it, and it is memorable. If indeed it could be trademarked, it absolutely is worth the $35K to the right corporation... now is it worth that much to me? No. What is ridiculous though, is that someone let an asset like that expire. There are a variety of domain drop catching services. I personally use about three of them to try to catch domains that may expire... one of the oldest ones is www.SnapNames.com ... so if there is a domain name that you are interested in watching in case the current owner does not renew, you can use any of the domain drop catching services to try to snag a dropping name. Greg Watson -------- new post - new topic -------- From: Nathan Holley Subject: Lodging listings > In my field, online marketing for individual destination > lodgings, almost no lodgings occupy search engines' > top 30 positions for searches on destinations names... - Shaun Johnston, LED 2262 - http://www.led-digest.com/content/view/1136/55/ I'm surprised by this. The first thing I would suspect is that GYM (Google, Yahoo, MSN) are devaluing destination lodging sites in SERPs and possibly pushing these towards a more specialized search (since these are so narrowly focused). Think: localization. David Yancey, where are 'ya? :-) David has been a big proponent of this technology for some time, and has posted here before on the topic. To get really basic first: Are your sites filled with much content? I would suspect that your online marketing efforts would include substantial content generation, correct? I'm just asking to be sure because this would be the first thing I'd do to increase relevancy. Now onto the major point: This brings up some interesting ramifications for local search. Have you been experimenting with Google Maps (also known as "Google Local")? A Google Maps display is appearing on general location searches, such as this one I randomly tried just now for "lodgings ny": http://snipurl.com/yli9 [google.com] A colleague forwarded me an interesting discussion about this recently on SEM 2.0 at Google Groups. It's a invitation-only newsgroup focused on, you guessed it, SEO/M: http://groups-beta.google.com/group/SEM2 . I don't read SEM, but I thought this exchange was interesting. Here's the only bit that I have: -------------------- 1] "I have been experimenting with Google Maps (aka Google Local) over the past 12-18 months. In mid July Google started placing a map along with the primary local listing (see http://www.seroundtable.com/archives/004132.html or http://blumenthals.com/blog/?p=14 ) prominently on the main search results. "I am wondering when and why this occurs as opposed to the normal 3 text links that normally appear." Mike 2] "I did some quick research on this back when it happened in July, Mike. Haven't had a chance to update this since then, so there's a chance Google has changed it a bit, but what I found regarding what causes the map display to appeart instead of the three text listings was: "1. For now, this display seems to only appear on specific searches for *company name, location*. "2. The new display only seems to come up when Google can attach certainty to the location. 3. The new display only shows when Google can attach certainty to the business itself." Matt McGee 3] "It seems that it is no longer just for "company name, location" searches. It is now appearing on some "business category, location". Not sure when that started but here is another example of a business type / location search: vacation rentals ellicottville ny http://snipurl.com/ylja [google.com]" 4] "I have optimized both listings with a good business name using keywords, related business categories, a good description using keywords and strong link ins on both their sites and others referencing address. They also have an adwords campaign in which both are signed up for local display on the key phrases. "Obviously if this behavior of dominating the organic page with a map for a "phrase" and "location" can be consistently replicated we would have something. The question is which of the above is most important to the task? I am suggesting that the local google adwords could play a part. "There are obviously many variables but I believe that it is worth understanding the cause and being able to attempt to replicate it." Mike Blumenthal Understanding Google Maps and Yahoo Local http://www.blumenthals.com/ source: http://groups-beta.google.com/group/SEM2 -------------------- Verdict? Be sure to list your site with Google Maps. Here's the place to start: https://www.google.com/local/add/login . I'm not sure if manual submissions are a requirement to be listed, but it would be good to do it anyway (can't hurt). One interesting finding about this that I heard is that some businesses *without a Web site* are showing up with a map-display listing on Google. Hope this helps, Nathan Holley -------- new post - new topic -------- From: Richard J. Dudley Subject: Newsletter promo > In my opinion opening popup box on unload won't be > very effective if you don't offer some sort of incentive. > Opening the window is only giving you temporary > attention which has to be backed up by the offer. - Bogdan Fiedur, LED 2261 - http://www.led-digest.com/content/view/1128/55/ Wow -- what a walk down memory lane! Pop-ups are probably ineffective these days, but what would work is a floating div style of script, where one div covers the page and dims it down, and the forms opens in another div on top of the stack. This can be accomplished in a ton of ways; I've used the Yahoo! User Interface library (YUI) for something similar. It's free, well documented and easy to use. Rich Dudley www.bloomery.com -------- new post - same topic -------- From: Al Toman Subject: Newsletter promo > I'm working on a newsletter that already has over > 100k subscribers, but the client would like to see > it go up by at least 20%... I'm trying to think of online > methods to increase the subscriber base. - Dan Jeffers, LED 2260 - http://www.led-digest.com/content/view/1125/55/ Firstly, it would be nice to have some information from Mr. Dan Jeffers with which to work: 1) what has been done to achieve 100k subscribers? 2) what is currently being done? 3) how does it all appear / function on his client's web pages? 4) what is the nature of the client's business? 5) what are their capabilities? 6) what is their budget constraint? 7) who is their target audience? 8) etc. For fear of redundancy or "we've done that": 1) Window's Secrets does a free and paid version of their newsletter. 2) Media Research has solid content and permits it to be re-published ... is this type of hot stuff included in their newsletter? 3) Can Dan's client do white papers? To get the (free) white paper, give us your email address and subscribe to our newletter (once) to attain other white papers. 4) Does Dan's clients have several portals of gathering user data that are centrally served, that solicit the newsletter? 5) Do they have a survey on their web page, "what would you like to see covered in the newsletter?" 6) Do they ask for inter-action? 7) If they conduct research, "would you like to see updates of our ongoing research ... subscribe to our newsletter." 8) Offer a free how-to online mini course via subscription to the newsletter. 9) Receive Updates or progress reports on our software development, or whatever, via the newsletter. 10) If you don't want to get gobsmacked, signup for our newsletter. Kind regards, Al Toman studio9.ws ------------------------------------------------------- The LED Digest is sponsored by pair Networks: pair.com for Hosting | pairNIC.com for Domains Copyright 1995-2006 Orange Wheel, LLC. 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