Local Businesses Plug into Group Buying

Posted on 01. Dec, 2010 by Westchester Internet Marketing in All Local Search Posts, Coupons, Internet Marketing & Local SEO, Retail

Sites like Weforia and Groupon link local buyers and businesses with special deals and discounts.

From the News-Press, Ft. Meyer’s FL.:

Websites like Groupon.com and Weforia.com help link buyers and local business by facilitating collective buying at those stores at a highly discounted price.

Business owners can offer the online deals at 50 to 90 percent off, set how many people need to purchase the deal for it to happen, and set a timeline of one to three days on average before it expires. Businesses split the revenue of deals bought with each merchant at a pre-agreed-upon percentage.

Weforia.com, a yellowbook product launched in late September, offers deals in Fort Myers, Boston and Phoenix. Groupon, a Chicago-based company, has built a following over the past two years, but launched its service in Fort Myers and Naples in November.

Fort Myers isn’t too big or too small and the businesses are the right match for Weforia.com, said Mike Wilson, general manager and vice president of digital media at yellowbook.

While yellowbook has a strong sales team in the area, the types of businesses offering experiences, recreation and adventure coupled with a population that’s savvy with emerging technology and trends made Fort Myers a great fit, Wilson said.

Dustin Etheredge, a Chicago resident originally from Fort Myers, has been using Groupon.com at home, but started scoping out offers in Southwest Florida six weeks ago to have activities and outings during his vacation.

Etheredge bought seven deals and used three alone on Wednesday: his massage at Alive and Well, $20-worth of lunch at The Edison Restaurant for $10 and $10 worth of ice cream at Love Boat Ice Cream for $5.

“It’s fun on a layaway program,” Etheredge said. “A lot of business owners don’t like giving up the revenue, but I would not have gone to any of them had it not been for the groupon.”

Wilson said Weforia.com gives business owners a chance to engage with potential customers.

Nasser Naura, owner of the Smoothie King franchise on Fowler Street, is always looking for new ways to attract customers.

His 32-ounce smoothie for $1 — usually priced at $7 — was the first deal featured in Fort Myers on Weforia.com.

Naura said he’s had more results with Weforia than other advertising efforts and says he can keep track of how many people bought deals and has a list of their e-mail addresses on file to send them future offers.

By getting 65 people to purchase the deal, he has a chance to show customers what else the store has to offer and educate them about the product, he said.

“Their job is to bring the customer in and our job is to keep the customer,” he said. “And that’s what we excel at.”

Filed under: All Local Search Posts, Coupons, Retail

Winter in Westchester, The Holidays & SEM…

Posted on 15. Nov, 2010 by Westchester Internet Marketing in All Local Search Posts, Automotive, Food & Dining, Health & Medicine, Home Services, Internet Marketing & Local SEO, Internet Yellow Pages, Legal & Financial, Pay-Per-Click, Recreation & Entertainment, Retail, Travel & Transportation

While  driving the other day I passed the 2010 Rockefeller Christmas tree being transported into NYC, police escort and all.

Pretty cool, but hard to believe I’m seeing Christmas preparations already. It got me thinking about all the SEM advertisers that need to start preparations of their own.

Most businesses experience ups and downs throughout the year; some cyclical, some triggered by one-time events.  Christmas of course is a biggie, as are other holidays. Changing seasons, one-time economic and weather events and increased competition are also factors. Thinking 30 days ahead of these predictable trends and positioning yourself  “ahead of the curve” will ensure you remain competitive. At the same time, you’ll capture additional new customers and gain market share.

For example, I know of a Manhattan-based Costume Shop increases their PPC budget ten-fold every August to prepare for the upcoming crush of consumers in the following 60 days. Google Insights data confirms this decision as being a smart one:

Insights is just one of the great tools you can use to predict things like search interest (aka: “demand”). Based on this, as well as IYP usage data, I’ve looked at a number of businesses verticals and identified those that are now entering their “prime season”. They include:

• Caterers & Restaurants
• Anything retail
• Electronics
• Jewelery & Watches
• Ski Shops
• Snow plowing & Equipment
• Tires
• D.J.s
• Carpet Cleaners
• Accountants
• Tax Attorneys
• Divorce Lawyers
• DUI Attorneys
• Health Clubs

Competition is increasing, as is demand for these products and services. Smart businesses that are prepared and proactive will benefit from the increased exposure and additional new sales that are sure to follow!

Filed under: All Local Search Posts, Automotive, Food & Dining, Health & Medicine, Home Services, Internet Yellow Pages, Legal & Financial, Pay-Per-Click, Recreation & Entertainment, Retail, Travel & Transportation

Local Internet Marketing is Complicated!

Posted on 29. Mar, 2010 by Westchester Internet Marketing in All Local Search Posts, Automotive, Business-to-Business, Classified Sites, Food & Dining, Health & Medicine, Home Services, Internet Marketing & Local SEO, Internet Yellow Pages, Legal & Financial, Maps, Mobile, Optimization, Pay-Per-Click, Professional Services, Real Estate, Recreation & Entertainment, Retail, Social Networking, Travel & Transportation

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?

Filed under: All Local Search Posts, Automotive, Business-to-Business, Classified Sites, Food & Dining, Health & Medicine, Home Services, Internet Yellow Pages, Legal & Financial, Maps, Mobile, Optimization, Pay-Per-Click, Professional Services, Real Estate, Recreation & Entertainment, Retail, Social Networking, Travel & Transportation

If Your Local in Westchester – You Should be Mobile!

Posted on 06. Mar, 2010 by Westchester Internet Marketing in All Local Search Posts, Mobile, Retail

Two weeks ago I found a local ski shop in Vermont for an “emergency repair” via my iPhone. A few days later I used the phone to confirm the location of a hotel in Massachusetts, and last week I found a local Cosi restaurant in Manhattan to grab a quick-lunch with a Client.

Every day, more and more consumers are upgrading their cell phones to Internet-connected devises and smart phones – and everyday more Consumers are using them as I do throughout the Westchester County, NY market. Currently, it’s estimated that 15% of all mobile searches contain a local modifier (city/state/zip code, etc). Google has even gone as far as saying that desktop p.c.’s will be irrelevant in three years!

Think about it: you always have your cell phone with you, and it’s always on. Those with smart phones are not only always “on”, but their “online” as well.  

According to The Kelsey Group’s Mobile Local Media Forecast (2008-2013),

• the percentage of mobile searches that have local intent will increase from 28 percent in 2008 to 35 percent in 2013
• there are currently 54.5 million mobile Internet users in the United States, which represents 25% of all online users

GPS units and Apple iPad-like devises will also drive mobile searches; so a local business’s ability to be “found” online is increasingly important. This mobile segment of Internet marketing represents a unique and significant opportunity – and businesses who’ve proactively positioned themselves to capture these local mobile searchers will benefit first.

The majority of this growth is being generated specifically by the iPhone – but I believe the numerous new models using Google’s Android mobile platform (Droid, G1, Eris, etc.) will potentially surpass the iPhones influence relatively quickly as they’re carrier agnostic (most major cell phone companies now carry at least one Android phone, the iPhone is limited to AT&T).  Regardless – “mobile” is where the local-search business is headed – so we’ve assembled some important factors and tips that every local business should consider…

• According to comScore/TMP research (2008 vs. 2009), Google Maps and Yellowbook.com have both been the largest beneficiaries of this increase in mobile search:

Getting included is relatively simple: claim your local business listing on Google, and get on Yellowbook.com (which is also one of the most popular applications download on Android phones).

• Create a mobile-friendly version of your website. This involves finding a good web developer to help you understand what can and should be done to your website to make it more mobile friendly. This usually involves creating alternate style sheets (“CSS”) for the mobile device so that your site content lays out differently for the small screen. Sometimes a completely different site is a better option. A “.mobi” version of your site makes sense when you have complicated content that needs to be displayed in a radically different way than is does on a traditional computer monitor.

• Optimize your site for mobile/local search. This includes placing your primary geo (market/city) within your title tag, and your local phone number (not a toll-free) within your meta-description. Additional local SEO tips are posted here.

• You’ll also want to be listed in as many local directories and databases as possible – they “power” local content across many hundreds of properties across the web. Here’s an easy way to get listed into many of them.

Filed under: All Local Search Posts, Maps, Mobile, Retail, Websites

Internet Marketing Tips from a Local Business.

Posted on 22. Nov, 2009 by Westchester Internet Marketing in All Local Search Posts, Internet Yellow Pages, Maps, Optimization, Retail, Social Networking

Recommended reading from the HuoMah SEO Blog - 

The post’s author actually owns several local stores in Hawaii, including Wave Shoppe. The post is well written and dead-on. Some great advice and perspective from a real local business owner.   

Local marketing from a business owner’s perspective

This post was written because, I felt you could use a break from all of the clawing and hair pulling that search geeks normally subject each other to on a daily basis. While I am an apparel designer at heart, I’m also a mom and pop small business owner with a physical store and a website – in the trenches if you will.

One area that I really enjoy playing in, (with web marketing) is the Local stuff. As such, I have a bit of Local Marketing wisdom, that I would like to share. So, why don’t you hop into the trenches with me and I will give you a tour of Local SEO from a small business owner’s perspective, as well as comments on some things that could maybe even make you some money in the future.

People selling Local services need to be sensitive to that fact that Local marketing can be one of the most affordable and lucrative things they can engage in. Much of the on-line local listings are free, or for a very nominal cost, and many are permanent.

More here…

Capture the $$$ – Identify Trends!

Posted on 27. Oct, 2009 by Westchester Internet Marketing in All Local Search Posts, Pay-Per-Click, Retail

One of the more interesting aspects of search marketing is identifying trends and forecasts, and tapping into predictable surges in search volume. This is an annual event for most seasonal businesses, but can also revolve around less predictable economic factors, weather conditions, or major news events. Let’s take a look at how this can benefit a local business…

Halloween is right around the corner, and if you haven’t heard – it now represents one of the largest holidays for retailers. Just released Hitwise Search Intelligence™ data reveals the top 10 search terms from the complete list of 21,597 search terms containing the term ‘costume’. The results are ordered based on the volume of searches from across all major search engines: 

Naturally, a costume shop would want tap into these potential ready-to-buy consumers by including all or most of these keywords in their campaign. This keyword research, along with effective bidding strategies often separates the high-return campaigns from the expensive ones.

The recent economic downturn has also presented some opportunities. There has been a significant up-tick in searches related to repair services, new car deals, credit counselors, bankruptcy, do-it-yourself items etc. Using Google Insights, take a look at the term ”sell jewelry”…

"sell jewelry" search volume

Bad news for those forced to sell their jewelry, good news for local pawn shops, brokers and jewelry stores.

Yesterday I met with a local boat dealership in CT. When I recommended that we prepare for his upcoming season by launching an online PPC campaign, he initially thought I was crazy. “December thru February are my slowest months”!  Local Statewide search trends however suggest potential opportunity:

"new boat" search volume - CT.

Consistatly for the past five years, interest in “new boat” terms begins to climb during late fourth-quarter. As it turns out, apparently consumers start preparing and shopping for this new purchase well before the Northeast waters are ready for swimming! The moral of the story is, reaching potential buyers while they are in the “researching stage” will capture upcoming new sales.       

So, when advertising online – consider the many factors that will affect your success, including search history, trends, forecasts, competition, upcoming seasonal factors and economic opportunities.

Marketing Alert: Bed/Mattress Retailers.

Posted on 13. Oct, 2009 by Westchester Internet Marketing in All Local Search Posts, Coupons, Pay-Per-Click, Retail

While only about 3% of sales occur online, bedding retailers should take advantage of online advertising–approximately 40% of consumers use the Internet to research mattresses.

Click here for this Ad-ology market research report.

Online Ads Replacing Newspapers for Tire Dealerships.

Posted on 10. Oct, 2009 by Westchester Internet Marketing in All Local Search Posts, Automotive, Pay-Per-Click, Retail, Traditional Media

From TireBusiness.com: 

For the past three years, Joe Marconi has stopped advertising his auto service and tire shop in his hometown newspaper and is relying on other ways to promote his dealership.

The owner of Osceola Garage in Baldwin Place, N.Y., said he believes newspaper advertising is no longer effective in driving customer traffic to his two shops today. Consumers, he added, are overloaded with information and are conditioned to go online to find the news they want to read.

“Who has time or who really takes the time to read a newspaper cover to cover and look at all the ads or look for something?” Mr. Marconi said. “When you look for something today, you Google it.”

Beth Barron, director of business development for Morgan City, La.-based Chabill’s Tire Service L.L.C., has managed Chabill’s advertising for the past decade. She told Tire Business that she’s not a big fan of newspaper advertising even though Chabill’s still uses print media to reach its rural markets.

“I live in a very small town, and I still don’t get the newspaper,” Ms. Barron said. “It’s just to me a waste of time. I’m gonna go and look at what I want to look at online.”

Ms. Barron said the only newspaper ads Chabill’s has placed this year take up no more than an eighth of a page and are appearing in two or three markets. The dealership is using the print ads to get the word out on its tire pricing. Chabill’s has 12 stores in Louisiana, and Lafayette is its largest market.

Online Coupons!

Posted on 05. Sep, 2009 by Westchester Internet Marketing in All Local Search Posts, Automotive, Coupons, Food & Dining, Home Services, Internet Yellow Pages, Professional Services, Recreation & Entertainment, Retail, Travel & Transportation

Consumers love saving money – and  coupons enable the savings!

In theory, the Internet makes finding and printing coupons simple, but a recent Yahoo! survey found otherwise. The majority of people polled feel that there are not currently enough coupons for things they want to buy and nearly half actually think coupon hunting is a chore. Less than a fifth of consumers have a “go-to” on-line site and almost 80 percent think the process of finding coupons is difficult.   

The survey also reported that 43 percent of participants said they are using coupons more often than last year. They also cited that easier access to coupons would motivate them to use coupons more often, a sentiment stated by 76 percent of women. 

An increasing number of people are turning to the Internet for money-saving tips and tricks. In fact, Web searches for “printable coupons” on Yahoo! are up 50 percent in 2009, compared to the same time in 2008, and up 135 percent compared to 2007. Furthermore, the most popular coupon-related Web searches in the past month have been for pizza restaurants, major retailers and grocery coupons.

Additionally, the survey asked how pride factors into couponing. Saving money makes people feel good as 59 percent stated that “they feel great when buying things with coupons.” This trend is much stronger for women, with a greater percentage of men feeling embarrassed when using coupons. Bargain hunting can also become a badge of honor with 29 percent wanting to be known as the coupon king or queen.

My advise? Reach and convert more local shoppers by offering a coupon or special offer! Searching for  ”local coupons” on Google is a good start – there are several solid options to choose from. Most major Internet Yellow Pages also have coupon options - see yellowbook.com details here. You’ll also want to consider a printable coupon on your website – preferably combined with your “call to action” statement on the home page. 

Also, your offer should be strong enough to produce results; ”10% off” or ”free estimates” wont’ do the trick. Now go and help your customers save some money!

Small Business Web Holdouts: Unsearched, Unfound, Unfulfilled.

Posted on 24. Jul, 2009 by Westchester Internet Marketing in All Local Search Posts, Automotive, Business-to-Business, Food & Dining, Health & Medicine, Home Services, Legal & Financial, Professional Services, Real Estate, Recreation & Entertainment, Retail, Travel & Transportation, Websites

From the eCommerce Times:

Who’s afraid of the Big Bad Web? A lot of small businesses, that’s who. For the most part, that fear appears to be grounded in a lack of information about the actual costs and benefits of operating a Web site and engaging in some strategic e-marketing efforts.

 No matter where one turns on the Internet these days, it’s virtually impossible to avoid being bombarded by advertising in one form or another. Banner ads. Video ads. Display ads. Search engine marketing. Ads on MySpace . Ads on Facebook . The only area of the Web left untouched by advertising may be government-run sites.  Web marketing, in large part, is the province of companies with enough money to plaster their messages, goods and services all over the Internet. Missing from this equation is the traditional engine of American commerce: the small business.

Indeed, a recent study showed that there is a major disconnect between the way most consumers look for goods and services on the Internet and the way small businesses use the Web to advertise.  The study, which surveyed nearly 4,000 U.S. Internet users on the tools they use to find local businesses, was conducted last November by Nielsen and WebVisible. Participants in the survey included 261 small business owners.

Here’s what Nielsen and WebVisible discovered: Search is the No. 1 choice of consumers and small business owners alike when looking for a local product or service on the Internet. Yet, half of all small businesses spent less than 10 percent of their marketing budgets on Internet ads.  In essence, most small businesses are missing out on a huge segment of the consumer population that turns to Internet search engines such as Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) , Yahoo (Nasdaq: YHOO) and Microsoft’s (Nasdaq: MSFT) Live Search.

The Great Divide

“Local business is the last, vast untapped piece of online marketing space,” said Kevin Ryan, chief marketing officer at WebVisible, which offers a suite of software tools and services designed to help small businesses run online advertising and marketing campaigns.  The biggest problem small businesses face when it comes to Web marketing is an attachment to an old way of doing business. It’s clear in many cases that small businesses simply don’t understand the inherent power of the Internet as a way to reach their customers, Ryan said.

Here’s an example: A consumer looking for a plumber, attorney, insurance agent or electrician rarely conducts a search using the name of a local business but rather types in keywords such as “plumber and the Bronx” or “electricians and 06850,” the ZIP code for Norwalk, Conn. Then, a page of search results with local businesses comes up, and the consumer goes on from there, he said.  “It’s very difficult to convince a small business that in the eyes of a search engine, their brand doesn’t have nearly the value they think it does,” noted Ryan. “What they fail to realize is that most consumers will go to an online source such as a search engine or even the Yellow Pages directory first.”  In fact, 63 percent of consumers turn to the Internet first when looking for local products and services, according to the Nielsen/WebVisible survey.

At the same time, only 44 percent of small businesses surveyed said they had a Web site.

“That explains why 40 percent of consumers said they have trouble finding a local business they know exists,” Ryan observed.

Small Biz Snapshot: Helena, Mont.

The Helena Area Chamber of Commerce in Montana has about 860 local businesses as members. About 75 percent of those businesses are small businesses — that is, businesses with 25 employees or less, according to the chamber’s marketing and communications director, Barry Houser.  “I would say the majority of the businesses that comprise our membership still don’t have a Web presence,” Houser told the E-Commerce Times.  As the state capitol, Helena is by and large a government town. Outside of government, the major industries include health care and tourism.  “We’re centrally located between Glacier National Park and Yellowstone National Park,” Houser said. “So, fishing, skiing and snowmobiling are big attractions here.”

While many big-box companies such as Costco (Nasdaq: COST) , Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT) and Bed Bath & Beyond have started to move into the Helena area, the vast majority of businesses there are “small mom and pop” shops, he said.

Like small businesses in every corner of the U.S., these mom and pops don’t have the budgets to promote their goods and services the way the big-box stores do, making the Internet almost a vital component of their marketing efforts, noted Houser.  “We try to encourage them to take advantage of their membership with the chamber to get more of a presence on the Web,” he said.

The Helena chamber has an online directory that is searchable by business name and type. Businesses that already have Web sites can link to the chamber’s site too.

Doesn’t have to Break the Bank

One of the chief reasons small business owners give for not having an Internet presence is that it’s too expensive to put up and maintain a Web site.  It doesn’t have to be that way though, said WebVisible’s Ryan.  What’s most critical is that whatever route a small business owner chooses to go with in terms of a Web presence, it has to suit their specific needs.

“Alfonso the tailor doesn’t want to check emails all day long,” Ryan said. “He wants to receive an SMS (short message service) text when someone needs something. The diamond jeweler doesn’t want to spend all day answering stupid questions from someone that doesn’t know what they want to buy.”

Situated in the heart of downtown Seattle is the Seattle Mystery Bookshop. The store’s owner, J.B. Dickey, has been selling mysteries, and nothing but mysteries, for years.  His shelves are lined with paperback and hard cover books written by authors local to the Pacific Northwest, such as G.M. Ford, as well as nationally acclaimed writers like James Ellroy and Michael Connelly.  Dickey has had a Web site in various iterations for 10 years.  “It started out as a way to just have a presence on the Web and have information about the shop out there,” he told the E-Commerce Times. “It evolved into a place where we post our quarterly newsletter, an updated calendar of events such as author signings, and a shop blog. It’s also information that’s always out there, even when the shop is closed.”