Dream Systems Media Blog

I love local search!  And believe it or not (if you don’t now hopefully you will after looking at this info graphic local search has been around for quite some time.   I love mobile search!  Of course now, we have the power of local in the palm of our hands with all the advances in mobile marketing.  Local has come a long way baby!

Dream Systems Media has been providing local search engine marketing for small town business owners for almost a decade and we wanted to share some of that history here.   We hope everyone enjoys using and viewing it as much as we enjoyed creating it.

Infographic & Viral Marketing from Dream Systems Media

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Local Marketing local, Local Marketing, local search engine marketing, local search engine optimization, local seo

Well there have been a bunch of busy bees in the Google local search hive. Local has been under the knife a few times. From reset data, to cool visual effects. These are today’s changes in Google’s local blended results.

The New Gray Google Map Marker

Less intrusive, less eye catching, more interactive.

Rolling over the this gray marker will change it blue for pay per click (PPC)  ads on the right, or red for organic listings on the left. Scrolling over markers in the google map section highlights the respective listing markers in the PPC and organic section. You will also get a nice snippet for the local organic listings. No snippets for PPC. It’s also interesting to note that the listings have moved the once red-pins-now-gray-pin to the right of the blended results. Google also removed the triangle pointer they once displayed for the top listing.

Google, Local Marketing Google, Google Maps, Houston, Houston Pest Control, Local search (Internet), Pay per click, pest control, pest control guy, Phoenix Pest Control, Search engine optimization

Google Boost is now Adwords Express

Local search marketing may be in it’s infancy for Google, but this baby is booming. In two short years they have grown through a 10-pack, to a 7-pack, to a mixed local and organic result. They have further added a revenue stream with Google Sponsored tags (Yellow tags) and most recently they added Google Boost. Google boost has been active for about 6 months now, so time for a review of the latest GEO/Local adverting package from Google. To Boost but not to boast.

What is Google Boost?

Google boost is a new pay per click (PPC) advertising push from Google that is being promoted through Google Places. This ad is unique in it’s style from other PPC ads because it features a blue pin drop and is only offered to local businesses that have a local physical office.

Google, Industry News, Local Marketing Geo Marketing, Google Boost Review, google local, Local Marketing, pest control guy, What is Google Boost

It is pretty awesome (to me) to see the turn that Yelp has taken lately to include features that social users love, in order to battle head on with location based gaming services/social networks like Foursquare and GoWalla.   We have all been hearing about the new titles & badges that Yelp has been talking about rolling out, but it was interesting for me to see it for myself on my phone.  Call me geeky, but it was kind of cool to see, and I think Yelp did an excellent job of keeping up (and listening to their users)  - in order to continue to dominate as the local front runner for “app phone” users.  I just look forward to finally start getting some badges and learning about how all that works.  Enjoy these screen shots I took, if you have not seen this program rolled out yet.

Local Marketing badges, location services, yelp

When reading this, picture Biff knocking on your head saying:  HELLO, McFLY?? You know the movie, its one of your favorites.

Attention local business owners: location based services games checkins are here to stay. You need to stop worrying about people robbing you blind, or knowing where we are at all times, or any of the other things you heard that may have scared you about location based marketing checkins.  I am talking about Foursquare - so now what?  I think it’s important to see what you are missing out on.  There are lots of awesome posts lately about Foursquare, and tools etc., but until you actually get a visual of it, and what it can do for you (and how it can get real people in your doors) I don’t think you are going to pay much attention.

Local Marketing foursquare, local based services, Local Marketing, location based games

Some Burros

As I was searching online for some information to one of my favorite Mexican food joints here in Arizona I ran across several problems with their website and wanted to share them here.  I also came across several areas where I thought they could capitalize on social marketing, increase traffic to their website and interact better (online) with the people who love them.

The Argument:

You walk into one of their locations and they are already packed.  True, but tell me of a business (you know of) that does not want to reach MORE customers, or expand to MORE locations?  If they are speaking the truth, every business wants to grow and expand – and of course, make more money.  So, I feel with a few improvements to their website and nickles worth of free social marketing advice here, I think they could be making vast improvements to their overall bottom line.

Local Marketing, social marketing Facebook, Local Marketing, social marketing, Twitter

Yelp - For Local Reviews

Local marketing bliss is what I want to share! For those of you who own a local business, how would you like to get your business on the first page of Google today? In most cases, you will achieve top 5 results with out any real SEO! What if I told you, that you could achieve these types of rankings without having a website. You would jump on the opportunity right? Of course you would, so here are instruction on how to capitalize:

I, like many other people own an iPhone and have downloaded the Yelp app (a local review service). This app has an amazing feature that allows you to search for businesses and reviews near you. What I have discovered is that most local businesses are not even listed, nor are there any reviews. I had a blast over the weekend reviewing all the places I ate at during a little trip. (Most of these businesses did not have any reviews prior to mine.) So, if you own a local business, even if you do not have a website, you need to get your business listed and reviewed on Yelp.

Local Marketing local advertising, Local Marketing, yelp

Local Search

I got distracted today and the result of that distraction is this post. I was curious about something dealing with local search and the SERPs – so I decided to do a little comparison. The four major search engines I compared are Google, Yahoo, MSN and ASK. I wanted to find out how their specific local programs compared to one another when searching for non geo-targeted terms? I wondered if I would get any usable results without using a geo-modifier? The following screen-shots are going to explain the title of this post much better then any of my words can. I am also pretty sure that including ASK as a major search engine is a choice I will regret later on, but then again it is the official search engine of NASCAR (and that’s got to count for something, right??)!

Local Marketing google local, local, local advertising, Local Marketing, local seo

I love when I find local businesses that are doing things they need to be online.  It’s even better when I find businesses I use taking advantage of local marketing services that search engines offer that can save me money (and drive business to them)!  I just want to spotlight a company I feel is doing something right, and if you learn something from it – that’s even better!

If you own an offline business in any local market then there is no reason to not be using a Google Maps listing.  I wanted to share an example of an offline business doing some local marketing right, especially when it comes to Google.  The local businesses I feel could really take advantage, and learn from this post are the ones offering food and things that are not easy (or available) to “purchase” online.

Local Marketing google local, Google Maps, Local Marketing, Local Marketing Tips

Local Search Marketing Tactics – Local search doesn’t only happen in relation what’s on a map. This

Local Search Marketing Panel

session looks at a variety of local search tactics that are not necessarily tied to your physical location’s listing.

Moderator: Greg Sterling, Founding Principal, Sterling Market Intelligence

Speakers:
Scott Dunlap, CEO, NearbyNow, Inc.
Matt McGee, Assignment Editor, Search Engine Land
William Scott, President, Search Influence
Dennis Yu, CEO, BlitzLocal LLC

NOTES

Scott Dunlap, CEO, NearbyNow, Inc.
Topic: Tracking and Measuring Online/In-Store Shoppers

Local search is by def: a multi-channel opp.  Search online and buy in store.  There is a 9 to 1 ratio of people wanting to buy in store due to urgency.  So the questions is how do you track traffic to convertion when they are finding you online, yet buying in your store.

Solutions:

General, Local Marketing, SEO, SMX SMX, SMX West