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Tag Archives: Google

2 Easy Ways To Make Your Google Plus Business Page Stand Out

 

Whether you’ve already created a Google Plus Business page for your business or plan on doing so eventually, here’s two simple things you can do to help make sure it stands out. One is for esthetics, the other for search.

G+ Business pages allow for a profile image and five window panes to display images from your scrapbook. Why not dress it up a bit? Here’s an example of what I did with the page for our Auction Direct Jacksonville store.

Use this tool to create custom profile images with G+ banners, logos and landscape shots for the window panes: Make Google Plus Banners

 

Once your page is set up, be sure to add a link to your site in the about page. You’ll need a link on your G+ page pointing to your website and then from your website back to your G+ page to complete the loop required to have your page indexed properly and included within Google Direct Connect. (G+ Pages don’t have custom URL’s)

You’ll also need to confirm ownership of your G+ page by adding a short snippet of code to your website. Just as Google created the new “author” attribute for individual G+ pages, they also created the “publisher” attribute for these pages.

Get the proper attribute information and the G+ badge code snippet here: Google Webmaster Tools – Google+ Pages

I hear a lot of people wish they had set up their other social properties much earlier. (Facebook, twitter, LinkedIn) – here’s your chance to plant a few seeds early.

Be sure to add us to your circles as well!

Enjoy.

Eric Miltsch

How Facebook & Google Are Bringing Word Of Mouth Marketing Back

 

One of the things I love to do is find the newest ways for people to connect with Auction Direct online. Here’s two ways that will become increasingly popular.

Everyone on the Internet is looking for Information. What’s the best information we can find? Information from trusted sources such as our family, friends and co-workers. When our friends tell us about a restaurant, a clothing store or even an accountant, we listen to those recommendations because we trust the review. Word of mouth marketing is one of the most effective methods for any business to increase sales; Facebook and Google have introduced two of the most revolutionary online word of mouth marketing tools. Combine these organic tools with new Facebook marketing optimization tools such as KeyBrokerSocial and you’ll start reaching more people at various stages of the buying cycle – for any product and service.

Facebook understands one simple fact: People love to share the stuff happening in their life. Now, they’re making it even easier to for people to share life events – social consciousness. Items such as getting engaged, getting a new pet or even a new home will be shared even easier within Facebook’s new profile features. The ability for customers to update their status with “Bought a Car” can help us tremendously. Knowing the average Facebook user has 125 friends, having our customers share their new car purchases online will help increase exposure – and build trust. Click image to enlarge
Facebook Lifestyle Events
Google also understands the principle behind the value of a trusted connection’s recommendation. Their new social search feature, called “Google Plus”, lets you show a form of visual word of mouth by clicking on the +1 buttons next to the search results. (You need to be logged into Google to use this feature) Click image to enlarge

auction direct - Google Search
When the people within your Gmail address book search for things online, they’ll see the items you have +’d and vice-versa. Notice the thumbnail images below the listings when I search for Auction Direct in Google; I can see who else +’d the result. Social validation, trust and influence will become more important to online shoppers as your connections begin to visually endorse their Facebook activities and the content they find within Google’s search results.

Are you using either of these yet?

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Eric Miltsch

Yelp Daily Deals Gets Dumped

Image representing Yelp as depicted in CrunchBase

Image via CrunchBase

Yelp is the second major platform this week (after Facebook) to announce a change of direction with regards to their stance on daily deals. Only one year old and Yelp plans on scaling back their deals staff by 50%. The trend seems so be in place with daily deals revenue dropping 7% since June and 38 daily deals sites have shut down in July. While another 36 opened during the same period. Ouch.

Smaller unknowns will unfortunately follow in their path. I can’t even count the number of daily deals and offers here in Rochester. None of them are memorable enough and they offer nothing of value beyond the only two deals sites I can think of: Groupon & LivingSocial.

The general public is just as confused when it comes to the choices available. Businesses are just as frustrated with the amount of sales call they get every day, each deals company selling the same exact thing.

Where’s the opportunity for business owners? Simply stick to the platform that continues to reel in new users: Foursquare. Their recent partnership with Groupon makes the most sense. I’m beginning to see more Groupon offers via Foursquare and I’d prefer to see them there rather than my inbox.

Foursquare users who clicked on a to-do’s at a specific venue will receive a push notification alerting them of the Groupon special, based on their current location. Hype-free delivery of a special tied to an activity you’ve already indicated you’re interested in doing. Location based marketing at it’s finest. For now.

Thoughts on daily deals? Love’em or leave’em?

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Eric Miltsch

3 Benefits of Mobile Payments & NFC

iPhone Mobile Payment 100 Euro

Mobile payments via smartphones will be here soon enough. It’s expected that near field communications (NFC) will be available on 53% of smartphones by 2015. (Very near to the same time the mobile market is expected to overtake the desktop PC market)

Three specific groups will benefit from NFC – a 2nd-cousin of location based services within the mobile segment.

Retailers: Additional marketing opportunities can be tied into mobile/location based specials & offers; more efficient checkout and payment processes will be created – helping improve the consumer’s shopping experience.

Mobile Manufacturers: Smartphone adoption and usage will increase as mobile payment functionality is available. Providers may also experience greater reach and improved trust as innovative deals with Google, Citigroup, Mastercard, Amercian Express, Foursquare and others continue to develop.

Consumers: Shoppers will have a new, safer virtual payment system; NFC is being positioned as more secure than physical debit/credit cards.

Will you use mobile payments as a consumer? As a retailer?

Amplify’d from www.v3.co.uk

Google, Citigroup and MasterCard link up on NFC mobile payments

Read more at www.v3.co.uk
See this Amp at http://amplify.com/u/bwzl4
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Eric Miltsch

Local Local Local. It’s Loco.

Bing search on mobile

Image via Wikipedia

If you’re not paying attention to the emphasis being placed on local marketing, mobile marketing and anything else within the location based marketing segment, you’re crazy.

The amount of money being allocated towards micro-targeting efforts is staggering. (Upwards of $2 billion)

Creative push technology will continue to change the way we search for things, rather – change the ways things find us. Voice search, easier mobile search methods, rich content business pages, (Google places, Bing local) and deeper check-in LBS experiences will continue to push exactly what we want, when we want it & where we want it.

What are you doing in the local space to stand out?

Amplify’d from www.bizreport.com

More ad dollars are being pushed into the mobile space this year, but the smart money is going not just to the mobile web in general but toward more specific mobile ad options. Geographically targeting ads to local consumers, for instance, has been shown to have bigger rewards than generalized mobile campaigns.

Read more at www.bizreport.com
See this Amp at http://amplify.com/u/ao3wx
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Eric Miltsch

9 Webpage Elements That Influence Search Results

Image representing Microsoft as depicted in Cr...

Image via CrunchBase

Microsoft was recently awarded a new patent that can help improve your SEO strategies. The patent details how the changes made to website pages will affect search engine rankings. Knowing and understanding these elements can have an incredible impact on your traffic, conversions and ultimately your bottom line.

(Keep in mind, this patent applies to Microsoft – not Google. However, these type of changes may eventually find their way into Google search engine processes)

  1. Keywords within the page
  2. Keywords associated with the page
  3. Anchor Text/Link Title within the links on the page
  4. Colors and image size on the page
  5. Positioning of the text and/or images on the page
  6. Frequency of the edits/changes on the page
  7. Total amount of page content being changed
  8. Associated tags for the page
  9. Related search queries being using to find the page/content

Interested in more of the technical stuff? Here’s the actual patent.

How many of these items are you already considering when making updates to your website?

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Eric Miltsch

8 Reasons Why The Pew Internet Study Stinks

Where's Waldo?

Image by Jameson42 via Flickr

I know, that title is too easy. I’m sure it’s not the first time they’ve heard it. It won’t be the last if they keep doing studies like this one.

For those who know me, I’m not one to argue or complain. I will, however, laugh at something that’s so obvious. Today’s Pew Research Study fits that bill nicely. Here’s why:

  1. Location-sharing as a concept is still in the early-adopter stage. General awareness, much less usage, is obviously going to be scarce.
  2. Limited selection choices: Survey answers were limited to Foursquare & Gowalla. Foursquare has 4mm+ users; Gowalla is still under a million.
  3. New platforms & concepts don’t ramp to critical mass. Hasn’t ever happened. Never will.
  4. Weak general interview questions to the survey sample (examples in article)
  5. Even weaker: The dates of the study are at a time of the year when Internet traffic is historically low; length of the study
  6. Interview method: The phone? Nearly 75% of current location-sharing users are between 19-35 – users who rely heavily on their Internet connection. I’d like to see results of this survey after being distributed online.
  7. Limited user entry points: Roughly 30% of the 80mm+ cell phone users in the US have smart phones. As more people convert, the # of users should also increase.
  8. The study limited usage to those “checking-in” – why not expand it to include individuals who also use it for marketing related activities?

I find it amusing & ironic when new twitter users, the people who snubbed it three years ago, give location-sharing services the same treatment now.

Mashable did a nice job calling it out as well. Check out their story below:

Love to hear your thoughts…

Amplify’d from mashable.com
On Location-Sharing and the Facebook Versus Foursquare Non Sequitur [OP-ED]

See more at mashable.com
See this Amp at http://amplify.com/u/elni

 

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Eric Miltsch

2 New Twitter Features. 1 Excellent. 1 Meh.

So what’s twitter been working on recently?

1st item – Location Based Tweets. (The meh choice)

This is probably the only location based marketing feature I don’t even notice. Why? Users can put their location in their bio. Sure – it may not represent their current location, but of all things location, this is not a concern. And, I’m fairly confident nobody else cares where my message originates…

I’m sure this is simply the raw form of something bigger to come – say, integration into a specific service like Google maps; real-time tweets within a check-in based platform a’la Foursquare or Gowalla may be more interesting & relevant. Knowing where someone is when they shriek about Justin Bieber in a tweet is not important to me. Or the rest of the country over 17.

2nd item –  Recommended People to Follow. (The excellent choice)

A sharp conversation with my friend Mike Johansson got me thinking about this deeper. Twitter now provides suggestions as to who you may want to follow. Why show recommended choices? And why does it work? Mike & were in agreement that it played more on Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. This level of the Needs Pyramid would be Esteem; the need to respect others or be respected by others.

Yes – the whole debate over Maslow and twitter’s success has been played out over the years. But – this finally provides a new visual motivation for users. It could be the face of someone they are intrigued by, someone they have heard of or better yet – a brand they may not have thought about seeking out via twitter – but are now aware.

Either way – I find this element fascinating. Yet, their location…not so much. Hopefully the brands will embrace it though. Location based marketing strategies will continue to drive new life into otherwise lame consumer experiences.

What do you think of these new features?

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Eric Miltsch