March 29, 2010
David Mihm’s illustration representing the “local search” relationships makes a great point: this business of local search marketing is complicated!
In my experience, the typical local business owner doesn’t have the time or expertise to effectively manage online advertising investments - as illustrated in the recent Search Engine Land article ”Local Search Complexity = SMB Frustration“.
Not only do you have numerous, complex supplier/directory relationships – but the continued fragmentation which is taking place keeps everyone on their toes! Search Engines, social networking, blogs, directories and Internet Yellow Pages, mobile, vertical and hyper-local sites, etc., etc., etc. Additionally, there are website design issues, analytics to keep up with, billing reconciliation, A/B testing, optimization and many other time-consuming elements. Oh, and by the way – let’s not forget about the day job! It can be challenging, to say the least.
This is the primary reason so many third-party providers have jumped-into the game over the past several years – there is a void to fill; an overwelming demand to hand off this business of Internet marketing to a trusted advisor. Problem is: exactly who can you trust? The local SEO expert? Your website design guy? An out-of-work executive or moonlighting sales rep? The phone company, the local newspaper publisher, your tax software company? All these characters are now in the game!
A word to the wise: be careful with whom you choose to work with! Here are a few quick tips:
- Stick with a well-known firm. Check their history; how long have they been in the Internet marketing business? Is it one of their core competencies?
- Was the term “guarantee” used in their pitch? If so, run for the hills!
- Are they charging you for free services like Google Maps, or worse yet – taking “credit” for those leads/clicks?
- Is there a monthly recurring management fee? And if so, is it based on a percent of your overall budget? Hmmmm - could be a conflict of interest…
- Are they willing to provide full transparency and reporting?
- Are testimonials, references or case-studies from happy clients available?
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Posted by Rich H
March 12, 2010
03/11/2010
| National Self Storage Inc. (NSS), which provides consulting and management services to the self-storage industry, is partnering with YellowBook, an online provider of Yellow Page directories.
Using YellowBook’s WebReach and Elite Level SEO services, the partnership will provide a comprehensive Internet marketing campaign including search-engine optimization and pay-per-click advertising, designed to drive leads to the company’s website and improve overall website performance.
Focusing on the 33 geographic NSS locations, the YellowBook program will incorporate relevant search terms and target prospective customers searching online within a 5-mile radius of each facility. The campaign has been structured to drive traffic for both NSS-branded and non-NSS-branded clients.
In addition to the partnership with the YellowBook, NSS has also joined the online self-storage directory www.storagefront.com. Tenants are able to make unit reservations at all NSS facilities through this site.
NSS has been reallocating marketing budgets to favor more modern marketing techniques. “We are redirecting these budgeted funds to increase the presence of our facilities on the Internet,” said President Robert Schoff.. |
1 Comment | All Local Search Posts, Home Services, Real Estate | Permalink
Posted by Rich H
January 24, 2010
Print newspapers and Internet media to dominate advertising spends from local Real Estate Agencies in 2010, according to Borrell Associates, who just released their 2010 forecast. In summary:
“Newspapers will see an increase in real estate advertising this year over last due in large part to spending by government agencies and banks to promote the sale of distressed properties. Other print vehicles will also rebound in 2010, but not to their 2008 levels. Online advertising continues to dominate the real estate market, reacting the consumer’s ongoing rapid adoption of the Web as a preferred method for researching homes for sale. The Web has now caught up to Agents as the top way that consumers found the homes they ended up buying.
A more immediate development within online advertising is the strong growth of video, which provides real estate shoppers with a much more immersive and compelling experience of the attributes of each unique property.
The uptick expected in 2010 will also mask large differences among media choices, as the following table indicates. Within these totals, advertising by locally-based real estate businesses spending to reach nearby consumers is actually heading up in 2010, although not enough to overcome the decline in spending by out-of-market advertisers”.
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Posted by Rich H
