E-shoppers go mobile on Thanksgiving, Black Friday

Posted on 26. Nov, 2011 by Westchester Internet Marketing in All Local Search Posts, Internet Marketing & Local SEO, Mobile, Retail, Social Networking

CNET NEWS by Dave Rosenberg  November 26, 2011 11:14 AM PST

Apple’s iPhone and iPad helped make mobile devices a key driver of Thanksgiving and Black Friday e-commerce this year, according to a report from IBM Coremetrics.

Online Thanksgiving shopping grew by 39.3 percent year over year, creating momentum that continued into Black Friday, where online sales grew by 24.3 percent compared with the same period last year, said the report(PDF).

And Black Friday witnessed the arrival of the mobile deal seeker, who embraced his or her mobile device as a research tool for in-store and online bargains. Mobile traffic came close to tripling year over year, to 14.3 percent on Black Friday 2011 from 5.6 percent last year.

The iPhone and the iPad accounted for 10.2 percent of all Black Friday online traffic. The iPhone and the iPad ranked 1 and 2 for mobile device retail traffic (5.4 percent and 4.8 percent, respectively). Android-based devices came in third at 4.1 percent.

But it’s not all about mobile browsing. The value of individual orders also increased, while the number of items purchased decreased. Home goods, for example, saw an average order-value increase of nearly 16 percent, while the number of items per order dropped by more than 6 percent.

Here’s a rundown of the report’s other key findings:

• Sales on mobile devices surged year over year, to 9.8 percent from 3.2 percent.
• Shoppers using the iPad accounted for more actual purchases per visit than shoppers using other mobile devices, with conversion rates reaching 4.6 percent for the Apple device versus 2.8 percent for overall mobile devices.
• Mobile shoppers demonstrated a laser focus that surpassed that of other online shoppers, with a 41.3 percent bounce rate on mobile devices versus a rate of 33.1 percent for shoppers on other computing gadgets. The bounce rate records how often people jump from one site to another looking for the best deal on a particular item, rather than browsing around through various items in a more leisurely fashion.
• Shoppers referred from social networks generated 0.53 percent of all online sales on Black Friday. Facebook led the pack, accounting for 75 percent of all traffic from social networks.

Local Business Ad Budgets: 2012 Considerations

Posted on 21. Oct, 2011 by Westchester Internet Marketing in All Local Search Posts, Internet Marketing & Local SEO, Mobile, Optimization, Pay-Per-Click, Social Networking, Traditional Media, Websites

Despite the rough economic climate in Westchester and the rest of the U.S., small businesses still understand the value of advertising, and in particular online marketing.

According to BIA/Kelsey, total small business ad spending for online media increased to almost 40% of total ad spend in the fourth quarter of 2010, up from 22% in the third quarter of 2009. By 2015, it’s estimated that 70% of small business marketing budgets will go to digital/online media (mobile, social, online directories, online display, digital outdoor), performance-based commerce (pay-per-click, deals, couponing) and customer retention business solutions (email, reputation and presence management, websites, social marketing, calendaring/appointment-setting).

In this weeks “Locals Only” column, Stephanie Hobbs discusses some “Considerations in planning your 2012 small business ad budget“. These include:

• Mobile websites. They have a lower bounce rate and higher customer conversation than traditional websites, so moving forward with creating a mobile site will reap additional rewards down the line. More on mobile here.
• When considering third-party advertising partners such as Yellowbook360, business owners should be careful in who they choose. Criteria that needs to be considered includes the company’s history & experience, contractual requirements, special incentives and their network/ad distribution across the Internet. And watch out for those crazy “guarantees and claims” out there!
• While social media has received well-deserved hype for its ability to create new connections between local businesses and their customers, Yellow Pages continue to provide strong and reliable leads to local businesses.

Local Online Success: “it’s a journey, not a destination”.

Posted on 05. Sep, 2011 by Westchester Internet Marketing in All Local Search Posts, Automotive, Business-to-Business, Classified Sites, Coupons, 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, Reputation Management, Retail, Social Networking, Traditional Media, Travel & Transportation, Video, Websites

The Social Media Landscape – a helpful guide for local businesses…

Posted on 08. Aug, 2011 by Westchester Internet Marketing in All Local Search Posts, Internet Marketing & Local SEO, Social Networking

Google Plus Update for business owners -

Posted on 17. Jul, 2011 by Westchester Internet Marketing in All Local Search Posts, Internet Marketing & Local SEO, Social Networking

Be patient local business owners! G+ is coming soon!

Here are some updates re. my earlier post: Google Plus & the local search benefits…

For Business Owners

What the Web is saying about Google Plus

Google Plus 1 and small business marketing

Matt Cutts: Gadgets, Google, and SEO

Google Plus – business ideas

  And, if you’re a local business owner (or anyone else) in need of a Google Plus invitation, just contact me!

Google+: no local-search benefits…yet

Posted on 10. Jul, 2011 by Westchester Internet Marketing in All Local Search Posts, Internet Marketing & Local SEO, Social Networking

“If you build it, they will come“.

Not always the case with Google product launches, but this may be an exception.

Google Plus (Google+, or “G Plus”, as many prefer) has been out in beta for a week or so. Since getting my account I’ve been setting up my profile, getting familiar with the settings, and trying to figure out how to tie in feeds for Twitter and LinkedIn. Facebook currently blocks access.

More importantly, I’ve been thinking how this may impact local search and SMB marketing strategies. Here are some initial thoughts, and a collection of some of the best articles and links from across the web -

Other than the name “Google Plus”, my initial impressions are positive. Very clean and quick. Privacy policies are clear and concise. The “circles” concept is much easier than Facebook Groups, and some of the other options are truly unique (“hangouts” video chat). For me, Facebook is 100% social (friends and family), Twitter and LinkedIn are virtually all business. Two separate worlds. With Circles, I can manage my communication across all of these channels individually and seamlessly.

Although I wouldn’t come close to calling this a “facebook killer” (due to the sheer size and traction of fb) but it’s got the makings of a solid alternative. This is especially true when you start thinking about how it will integrate and layer upon other Google services – it’s not going to be a “stand alone” social platform, but rather an “enhancement” to search, Picasa and YouTube; and hopefully Maps, reviews, offers, email and other applications. Already, many popular blogs and websites are claiming large increases in referral traffic from Google Plus.

In the world of local search, I can see Google Plus having some real potential impact as a marketing tool – but it’s got some serious ground to gain. Business Profile pages and Place Pages (or SEO benefits) are not yet a reality, but could be a significant benefit (although how would the Profile pages work with Place Pages?). Since Google has now removed Twitter and real-time search from the SERPs, I’m sure it’s just a matter of time.

Ultimately, I believe a directional, targeted local offers model will be the real game-changer; both for the industry as well as business owners.  Combine this with mobile and/or social media (like Facebook is) and you have that very powerful combination of “work of mouth” and “getting a deal“. This could finally be Google’s winning recipe within local.

The Google Plus project

With millions of users & growing, Google+ set to power all Google products

Article: How Google+ ends social networking fatigue

Article: Google under the blog-o-scope

Andrew Shotland: Google Plus tips & shortcuts

Google Plus Android App

Social Media marketing examples…

Posted on 12. Jun, 2011 by Westchester Internet Marketing in All Local Search Posts, Coupons, Food & Dining, Home Services, Internet Marketing & Local SEO, Real Estate, Social Networking

Last week, I touched on why social is a critical component of SEO,  and it prompted a number of requests for real-world examples. I’ve found many, and one observation is consistent across the board; there are no clear “best practices” being used. For example, some business set-up accounts, posted once or twice, then vanished. The ongoing ”care and feeding” required to develop a healthy group of  followers is absent, which is understandable (it’s time-consuming). 

Also, the ultimate goal is to engage clients/customers, and increase business, right? Too many forget about this and never offer that all-important “call to action” – a coupon, discount, or special deal.

Here’s a moving company on Facebook, not a bad example:

Increasingly, I’m finding local businesses active on Twitter as well; at least in the major metros and categories.  Here are a few screenshots of NY, CT and MA bases businesses:

One of the best examples of creative Social Media marketing I’ve seen to date is from Intel (not a typical local business example, but well worth your time). It’s very well done: http://www.intel.com/museumofme/r/index.htm

6 Key Takeaways From The Local Search Association’s Conference

Posted on 09. May, 2011 by Westchester Internet Marketing in All Local Search Posts, Internet Marketing & Local SEO, Social Networking, Traditional Media

Some very relevant information for local businesses,and those of us in the industry alike -

1.  Social Media Is A Natural Extension Of The Local Search Experience

 Many of us who live and breathe local search understand the growing value of integrating social media into the advertising strategies of our small business customers. But finding ways to convey the importance and opportunity of social media to small businesses—and how it fits into their existing (or yet undeveloped) digital strategies—is not always an easy task.

In a keynote speech at the conference, Facebook’s director of North America sales, Yvette Lui, provided a clear and compelling case for why social media should be a component of local advertising.

According to Lui, personal networks are playing a growing role in driving purchasing decisions. Instead of coming online with a topic in mind, Liu said consumers now “come to listen and learn” from the people and businesses they care about. She said this presents a perfect opportunity for small businesses to gain an advantage, because they too are essentially social by design.

Based on this approach, Lui offered the following advice to small business owners:

• Create an authentic identity to foster relationships
• Advertise to build a community
• Bring people to your business with social ideas
• Make the point of sale and in-store experience social
• Run sponsored stories to amplify the word of mouth and help new people discover your business.

Lui also noted that amplified word of mouth via Facebook has the potential to reach a large audience at an extremely fast rate. With the average Facebook user having 130 friends on the social networking site, connecting with one loyal customer can mean potentially tapping into 130 more people that know and trust their friends “likes,” “check-ins,” or comments.

By incentivizing customers to check into a store and share their opinions/experience with their friends, the ROI potential from this investment in engagement is potentially significant.

2. Mobile Is The Next Frontier Of Local Search

Growth in smartphone use – including iPhones, Androids and BlackBerries – is rising fast, and the impact on local business advertising will surely be significant. The challenge for local search providers, however, will be creating services that successfully leverage the growing array of mobile opportunities and help small businesses integrate the platform into their daily operations.

Today, stats on mobile growth are off the charts. Smartphone use grew 54% year-over-year and now reflects 28% of total US mobile users. GPS capable handsets rose 16% year over year and now represent 73% of total US mobile users.

As a result of these trends, mobile advertising is expected to increase from 15% of the online advertising market to more than 60% in 2015, according to Borrell Associates. Furthermore, there are a variety of new and potentially game-changing mobile offerings on the horizon.

As Neil Salvage, EVP of advertising at CityGrid Media noted in his presentation, lat / long detecting applications, push offers, card-linked offers and mobile payments will play an important role in the local space because their return-on-investment can be easily tracked. It’s clear that local businesses that haven’t started to develop and activate a mobile advertising strategy are already behind and could be putting potential new leads at risk.

3.  Daily Deals Show Promise, But Real Test Will Be Repeat Business

Many of us have personally experienced or read articles about how daily deals sites such as Groupon and LivingSocial are providing local businesses with an unprecedented avenue to attract large-scale and rapid sales for discounted services. However, not much has been said about whether or not these opportunities provide real long-term benefit to local businesses, which make a significant investment in offering the deals.

Rich Razgaitis of Reach Deals and Martin Tobias of Tipper participated in a panel about the growing daily deals space, which currently boasts more than 500 daily deals sites.

The two noted that while advertisers discount their products and services and share profits with the daily deal provider, they’re not being asked to pay anything up front – a very attractive model to some small businesses looking for new customers. Different than coupons, the daily deal model incentivizes quick purchases and promotes engagement with purchaser’s networks.

When asked to explain the difference between the daily deal and coupon model, Tobias cited the extremely high and fast redemption rate as compared to coupons – around 70% are used in the first 30 days of purchase.

To be a win-win for SMBs and consumers, daily deal companies will need to encourage relationships with merchants over time, as opposed to selling as many as they can in one day. This will allow for a particular business to repeat this model in a month, three months, or even quarterly.

Nonetheless, in the meantime, daily deals are providing an exciting and effective new way for local businesses to promote their offerings.

4.  Print Business Directories Continue To Provide Quality Leads

There is a great deal of excitement about new local advertising platforms, but one should not overlook the significant role that print continues to play in driving leads to small businesses. As the local media environment continues to evolve, many local businesses still rely on print as their greatest source of local leads and a foundation of a successful advertising strategy.

Just look at the numbers. Print Yellow Pages attract 11 billion references annually by consumers searching for local business information, according to our annual Local Media Tracking Study conducted by Burke.

Statistics also show that 54% of consumers said they referenced print Yellow Pages in the last month, which is within single digits of the 58% of consumers who said they referenced search engines. Furthermore, almost 7 out of 10 adults surveyed (68%) said they contacted a business after finding it in the print Yellow Pages.

Print Yellow Pages offerings include the same ROI components as advertising on other platforms, so local businesses can keep a close eye on the ability of their print ads to attract quality leads.

5.  Demonstrating ROI Is Challenging, New Methods Are Emerging

In today’s extensive and fragmented media environment, it’s increasingly difficult for local search providers to demonstrate the individual performance of local advertising initiatives. With that in mind, many companies are developing innovative approaches and cutting-edge tools designed to give local businesses the reassurance they need that their advertising is paying off.

In a panel discussion on changing sales trends in the local search industry, Ken Ray, vice president and chief marketing officer, AT&T, noted that metrics alone are simply not enough to satisfy local businesses:

“Most of us have moved into SEM so we’re looking at cost per click and cost per lead,” said Ray. “We’ve made real learning around pay per call. Now the whole conversation has changed. What kind of call is it? … How long was the call? … Was it a local call? We’re working with customers to really figure out what makes them comfortable about the calls.”

A presentation at the conference by C.J. Arseneau, director of marketing at Telmetrics, a call measurement solutions company, focused on several offerings that I think represent a good start in the industry’s efforts to tackle both the metrics and the “quality” aspects of local advertising measurement.

One tool allows local providers to attribute calls to specific advertising campaigns. Phone numbers on advertiser websites are dynamically replaced with call tracking numbers based on how the user arrived at the website, so local businesses can determine where calls are coming from – whether it’s a search engine or another local search provider.

Another tool automatically tracks and transcribes calls and provides data for advertiser review in real-time. Detailed analytics on the keywords used on calls help inform marketing, sales and operations departments at businesses about the impact of their advertising strategies.

In a separate session, Daniel Shaked, founder and CEO of NO PROBLEM, described his company’s approach of allowing consumers to post their service need, and then enabling local businesses to bid on the service in real-time based on their immediate new business demand. Interestingly, each business’ cost per call is based on their unique bid for the call. The advantage of this approach is that if an business decides not to bid on a job at all, they do not have to pay for a potential call.

These are just a few examples of the types of tools now available to local businesses to help them better understand and appreciate the impact of their advertising and only invest in tactics that work.

6. Local Businesses Are Increasingly Looking For One Point Of Contact

As Neil Salvage of CityGrid explained, local businesses today are so overwhelmed with just running their day-to-day operations that exploring the evolving world of local advertising is proving too difficult for many. Increasingly, local businesses are looking for one central point of contract to help advise and execute their integrated advertising strategy across print, online and mobile.

Salvage said that the local search industry has a significant opportunity to simplify the process for local businesses and offer a variety of solutions to attract new customers. He noted that local search providers are beginning to see their offerings as part of a single product since “the small business owner doesn’t care if his new customer comes from the phone book or the Internet.”

Going forward, I think local businesses want and will benefit most from integrated, one-stop solution approaches to their advertising. This will enable businesses to participate in meaningful interactions with trusted advisors who understand their specific industry and know which combination of advertising options will make them successful in attracting and retaining quality customers over the long-term. It will also prevent local businesses from being responsible for playing middle-man between several local advertising vendors and paying for redundant advertising solutions.

The entire article may be found on Search Engine Land, here.

Social Media & Your Business – it’s not a “fad”!

Posted on 24. Mar, 2011 by Westchester Internet Marketing in All Local Search Posts, Internet Marketing & Local SEO, Social Networking



Filed under: All Local Search Posts, Social Networking

Facebook was the top search term in 2010 for second straight year

Posted on 17. Jan, 2011 by Westchester Internet Marketing in All Local Search Posts, Internet Marketing & Local SEO, Social Networking

Social network search term tops list for fifth straight year; Facebook top-visited Website for first year.

New York, N.Y., Dec. 29, 2010 - Experian® Hitwise®, a part of Experian Marketing Services, has analyzed the top 1000 search terms for 20101 and Facebook was the top-searched term overall. This is the second year that the social networking website has been the top search term overall, accounting for 2.11 percent of all searches.

When combined, common search terms – e.g., facebook and facebook.com – for Facebook accounted for 3.48 percent of all searches in the US among the top 50 terms, which represents a 207 percent increase versus 2009. YouTube terms accounted for 1.12 percent, representing a 106 percent increase versus 2009. Aol search terms accounted for 0.34 percent of searches in 2010, but grew 22 percent versus 2009. Google terms accounted for 0.63 percent, and Craigslist terms accounted for 0.62 percent.

New terms that entered into the top 50 search terms for 2010 included – netflix, verizon wireless, espn, chase, pogo, tagged, wells fargo, yellow pages, poptropica, games and hulu.

Top-visited Websites in 2010

Facebook was the top-visited Website for the first time and accounted for 8.93 percent of all U.S. visits between January and November 2010. Google.com ranked second with 7.19 percent of visits, followed by Yahoo! Mail (3.52 percent), Yahoo! (3.30 percent) and YouTube (2.65 percent).

Learn more about how Facebook Business Pages

Filed under: All Local Search Posts, Social Networking