Janet Lee Johnson | The Art of Marketing

Well, best laid plans went astray, and I lost my internet connection right away this morning, so relied on good old Notepad to capture content from SEMpdx here in Portland, OR today.

(Hey, it’s a post on local search, so I’m talking Portland, Oregon, 97225, not Portland, Maine, 04100. More on that in a second…)

Apologies for the blatant notes, but there are some gems in the midst of them…

Matt McGee from Marchex presented on Local Search

Basics: Put your address on all the pages and directories on your site and linking to you…

But get beyond the basics and make pages more local:

• Put address and local phone number on all pages. Search engines rely on bits of data - 800 numbers aren’t good enough.
• Directions page: Write out a “Location/Direction page” make it as specific as possible - near local landmarks and neighborhoods. For example, I work out of my home that’s near St. Vincent’s Hospital, off Barnes Road. That will help the spiders build their database around your services.
• Use every geographic locator that you can - use them on your directions page - put in page title and anchor text.

Pay Per Click (PPC - define) tactics:

• Bid on geo-targeted ads - when users search based on location, (Portland Or vs. Portland Maine…) The search algorithms are not perfect, but this practice could save you some money.
• Advertise on local search engines for very targeted traffice - Yahoo has a great fixed price program. This is especially smart for small businesses. I don’t yet see them flocking to PPC advertising, and wonder why?
• Internet yellowpages, local directories: Superpages, switchboard, etc. handle 10-15% of all local search, but more importantly, supply data to Yahoo and Google. Make sure you’re listed carefully there. Encourage user reviews - searchers (92%) rely on them.
• Algorithms will likely consider them, Citysearch, yelp.com make user reviews important.

Local Search problem:

On January 29, 2007 - Google put Google maps (which only got about 1% of search) on their main site search results pages. In other words, in cross-promotion, they bring the maps out to searchers.

Here’s the rub: the map knocks out the number one organic listing down the page, below the magic “Google F.” (See example) So the good news? If you pay for placement, you’ll still be above the map.

According to hitwise, traffic to Google maps increased 26% in February. Proves value of accuracy, directory listings, etc.

Rand Fishkin on Widgets (define - speaking of Wikipedia)

Widgets are content that you create that other people can use to link back to your site. Go to widgetbox or sexywidget for more information on widgets.

One of the great things about widgets are that they can be used to get your brand in front of people all the time, if they’re really useful. I have got to get out there and look for something useful to download.

Here’s one - use a Google widget (download it here) to let users search your own site, without searching the whole web. I like that. Now I just have to figure out how to get it onto my site.

Help, Mr. Wizard!

One of my clients, SnapNames, is hiring a key employee after my own heart, a Director of Marketing Communications. I’d like to help them fill the role, and would love your help in getting the word out to the best marcom talent around Portland, OR.

The position requires someone who blends the art and science of marketing extremely well. In other words, we’re looking for someone who can not only deliver results, but who can accurately forecast and measure them.

The successful candidate will have a background and familiarity with online marketing – including online promotions, search engine marketing, delivering buzz and word of mouth.

If you have someone in mind who’d enjoy the excitement of taking a company to their next stage of growth, send them our way - Kristen McKinney is handling the recruiting.

Here’s some background:
SnapNames developed the original aftermarket for domain names – names that have come back on the market after being created by someone else. The company is the market leader in the sale of expiring and recently deleted domain names.

SnapNames’ flagship domain auction has been used by tens of thousands of customers around the world to secure domain names with inherent commercial value such as:

• Brand-ability – driving high resale value;
  i.e. super-generic short names, vanity names, etc. (vodka.com recently sold for more than $6M)
• Direct navigation – a growing phenomenon in search;
  i.e. “guessed� domains which are typed into the browser bar in lieu of search – also called ‘type-in’ traffic.
• Domains containing high pay-per-click keywords;
  i.e. realestate.com

An entire industry has sprung up around buying and selling domain names. SnapNames alone sold more than a quarter million previously created domain names in 2006.

SnapNames’ customers include:

• individual entrepreneurs (professional domain investors)
• big brand marketers
• business owners

It’s an exciting opportunity for the right person…

Rand Fishkin from SEOmoz is speaking about personalization (SERPs - a new acronym for me…. Google has changed their algorithm and sites that users “use” and “enjoy” will garner more traffic.

Wikipedia does extremely well in SERPs. They have extremely good titles, headers, URLs, etc. They have beautiful internal link structure - linking back internally to references on their own site.

Linking to Wikipedia is en vogue - linking there (I do it myself) for definitions. People are very familiar with the brand and format - there are no ads, etc. People are accustomed to the look (just as they are accustomed to Amazon - and the home page rarely changes significantly).

Search Engines love the “big domain” with lots of links.

I’m at SEMpdx today, which is a full day conference for those interested in trends in Search Engine Marketing. I was fortunate to represent SnapNames and speak on a panel this morning for the advanced track - our topic was Web 2.0 and RSS.

The room was full, and my fellow panelists were Doug Hay from Expansion+, Dan Harbison from the Portland Trailblazers and John Hartman from Feedia. It’s always fun to put four voices together on a panel and mix it up.

I’m waiting for a panel discussion on Advanced SEO - wondering whether I’ll be able to keep up. (I’m a relative novice at anything more than the basics of Search Engine Marketing…)
So here we go!