Understanding Google Places & Local Search » Local Search

29Prime – Would you Buy a Used Car From These Guys Let Alone SEO?

Mike Blumenthal — Tue, 15 May 2012 10:00:58 +0000

This is a cautionary tale to 29Prime’s remaining 8000 clients. If this company abuses their own Google Places listing imagine what they might be doing in your name.

Let me be upfront with my bias.. 29Prime is not one of my favorite companies. And I have in the past commented on their abuse of Google Place’s reviews to hide the reality of who they really are. But reader Dave Middleton pointed out that in addition to abusing Google Places’s review policy they are also abusing the Google Places Guidelines as well by adding a tagline to their business name in their Places listing:

Their claim of having served 20,000 clients, while an abuse of Google’s guideline against tag lines in the business name, is an interesting one. Linda Buquet pointed out one of their recent PR releases where they claim to have a current client base of more than 8,000 small business owners. The article notes that they were founded in 2010 (although their website notes a start date of 2007 and the domain was claimed in 2008).

If we take their most recent word at face value (Tough I know but..) and assume (for the sake of simple calculation) a May 2010 founding we can get a sense of their churn. They have lost 6000 customers a year. It would appear that they have lost 1.5 clients for each one still claimed to be under contract.

Still curious I wanted to see who actually owned the building that they show on their website as their presumed location so I typed their address into Google Maps to look at the Streetview of their location.

OOOPS. Turns out they violated another Places guideline and claimed their listing at the local UPS Store. The address, 2233 West Balboa Blvd # 115, Newport Beach, is the same one used in their Whois record and their website. This was no accident.

Still not convinced about 29Prime’s ethical behaviors? The image of their HQ on their website appeared to have been photoshopped so I dropped it into Google image search to see what I found.

Surprise! They seemed to be “occupying” the Unisys offices at 9701 Jeronimo RD Irvine, Ca. They may in fact be at that location occupying some space but the building most definitely isn’t labeled as 29Prime and they are but a renter. Hmm, stranger and stranger.

To any client of 29Prime: If these folks can’t get their own marketing story straight, how can you expect that they will get yours straight? They are obviously violating Google Places guidelines, run the risk of being suspended, are gathering fake reviews and are photoshopping images on their website that have one intention, to imply that they are more successful than they really are. Their churn rate is at best disturbing. They are willing to “cut corners” (to say the least) on their own marketing, can you really trust them with yours? Or will your listing end up suspended like theirs is likely to be?

Just for the record here is the image from the website and an unretouched image of the same location reflecting the actual occupant. It appears that they didn’t even take the time to take an original photograph and just used the one from the Wikipedia article on Unisys. They did appear to have adjusted the colors.

How many corners can one company cut?

411Locals On the Warpath?

Mike Blumenthal — Wed, 14 Mar 2012 13:59:31 +0000

411Locals is one of the more aggressive local seo firms in both their pre and post sale tactics, aggressive to the point of absurdity. This recent poster on my blog explains his experience with them. If true it should be illegal but like in the case of the computer repair shop in Phoenix there is no obvious regulatory action or enforcement to prevent this sort of behavior:

I used 411 Locals a year ago for about 3 months. I decided to leave them and they have done their best to ruin my company Image on line. They have changed my listings to several different companies, they have listed me under different company names and used bogus telephone numbers which in turn has mis directed my customers. When I spoke with them they informed me the web is a free domain and they can post what they like. I am 45 years old and been in business for 20 years. I have never seen a company that has the power to alter the outcome of my business income such as this company with absolutely zero regulation. I have now hired an attorney to look over all the info that I have and see if i can legally do any thing about it. They need to be hit with multiple law suits at the same time and force them to pay up for legal services and hit them where it hurts…

And in the ultimate bit of irony, it turns out the 411Locals has joined the Nevada BBB and they have a A rating. Only in America could these two have become partners in crime.

411Locals In the Spotlight Again

Local University Spring 2012 Series – Open For Business

Mike Blumenthal — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 19:36:27 +0000

The staff at Local U have been hard at work putting together the Spring conference schedule for Local University. We are particularly excited to announce the first Advanced workshop for SEO professionals and experienced local search marketers that will take place in Seattle on June 7. Never before have so many Local Search experts been in one room at the same time, and it’ll be a great opportunity to pick all of our collective brains to get a leg up on your competition.

We hope to see you at one of our coming events. If you have any questions about this series, feel free to visit its “homepage” at getlisted.org. We are planning our fall schedule now so if you would like to help sponsor a Getlisted.org Local University event in your community email me at mike@blumenthals.com.

Local University Spring 2012 Series

Local University: Spokane (in partnership with Sixth Man Marketing)
April 27, 2012
Northern Quest Resort & Casino

Local University: Edmonton (in partnership with Whitespark)
May 1, 2012
The Matrix Hotel

Local University: Syracuse (in partnership with Syracuse.com)
May 22, 2012
Driver’s Village

Local University: ADVANCED (in partnership with SMX Seattle)
June 7, 2012
Bell Harbor Convention Center

Local University: Salt Lake City (in partnership with SLCSEM)
June 12, 2012
The Leonardo Museum

Local University: Austin (with Google)
June 26, 2012
Specific Venue TBD Next Week

Planning for Social – A Small Not For Profit Takes the Next Step with a Social Media Assessment Survey

Mike Blumenthal — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 10:00:38 +0000

The Preschool Learning Center (PLC), a small school for the developmentally disadvantaged in rural upstate NY , is like most not for profits: overworked, understaffed, a heart of gold and a very limited budget. There is probably no better program for kids with autism anywhere and certainly not in the markets they serve.

We helped them build their website in 2008 and it has been moderately successful for them. It has provided them reach throughout their marketing region and it has attracted a large number new job applicants. But they wanted to do more but were having difficulty seeing their way through the many options for communications and sharing. They attended the Getlisted.org Local University seminar in early November and learned a great deal about the relative strengths and weakness of the possible directions they might take their local & social efforts on their limited budget. At the seminar Matt McGee offered them this tidbit to help them get clarity: If you want to know where your clients are online, ask them.

It was advice that the PLC took to heart. Gerry Guild, the staff psychologist, put together a Social Media Assessment (available here) that did just that and gathered the exact information that they needed to craft a path forward for improved communications with their clients.

I think the results of the survey are telling. The results and the survey also provide an excellent framework for any small organization with similar questions about how to move forward in the complex social media landscape. The PLC survey puts communications with the client first and it models a process that every not for profit (or any smaller organization) should think about following to better understand where they should put their on line marketing and communication priorities.

Preschool Learning Center Social Media Parent Assessment Report

12/21/11

A questionnaire (see attached) was distributed to all PLC and Head Start parents. Fifty-nine (59) were returned amounting to a 45% return rate. Some very interesting results were obtained from this inquiry and they are summarized below by media mechanism. I have included some recommendations that follow from this data with regard to how we should proceed with this new knowledge. This summary is followed by the list of written parent suggestions and comments. Following the parent comments I have provided the specific data and then a copy of the original questionnaire.

Email: Ninety one (91) percent of respondents indicated that they have and use an email account. Thirty six (36) percent only check their email occasionally (which is less than several times a week) while a total of thirty seven (37) percent check it throughout the day or daily. Seventy five (75) percent of respondents indicated that they would like to be kept informed through email.

Facebook: Eighty six (86) percent of respondents indicated that they have a Facebook account. Forty six (46) percent said they check their account throughout the day or almost daily. Ninety (90) percent of respondents would like to be kept informed through Facebook and would like the opportunity to engage the school and other parents through such a medium.sharing mechanism would be helpful.

Blog: Seventy nine (79) percent of respondents would like to learn, or would absolutely appreciate the opportunity to learn through a PLC blog with quality articles relevant to early childhood, parenting strategies, and intervention strategies.

Website: Sixty seven (67) percent of parents were aware of our website while a full thirty three (33) percent were not even aware of it. Eighteen (18) percent use the site regularly for the calendar, email contact, closings, news, special events, and autism resources. One parent noted that she refers parents of newly diagnosed children with autism to our site for help understanding the disorder.

Recommendations: The information age is upon us and a large and representative percentage of the parents we serve are embracing contemporary communication technologies. Ninety (90) percent of respondents enthusiastically indicated that they would like to engage the school and it’s associated communities through Facebook. Roughly three quarters of respondents would like to be kept informed through email and nearly eighty (80) percent would like to learn more about early childhood, parenting, and intervention issues through a PLC Blog. Adding a blog and a Facebook page is advised by Internet marketing strategists as a way to build Internet site traffic and thus build awareness within the local community. As competition intensifies this three level Internet presence would likely prove to be a highly effective and efficient way to leverage awareness and build enrollment.

Parent Comments

“…it is nice that you’re looking into better ways to communicate with the busy families you serve.”

“Emails would be most helpful – a link to [your] website would be useful when info is changing or updated.”

“A Facebook page would be helpful. Most people have an account with Facebook these days.”

“[The] More internet based information the better: saves on the paper piling up. Also helps to keep us as parents, quickly informed.”

“Would love to help with Facebook page.”

“It would be nice to see what is going on around the school. Being that we live so far away I don’t get to the school as often as I would like.”

“So many papers get sent home and I lose them or forget about an event. A Facebook or email reminder would be great.”

“I think a blog would be very helpful to open up Contact/Communication within the PLC community and beyond. Also email or text alerts for emergency closings, etc., would be helpful.”

A couple parents noted that they are already inundated with electronic information and would appreciate it if only essential information was sent this way. One parent requested summaries of content upfront.

Some additional recommendations were made with regard to the website including:

“Forms I could print off, both school forms & other agencies (WIC, NYS Parks Handicapped Applications as an example) or more links to other forms of assistance.”
“Have a Parent’s Corner; managed & created by a Parent Committee.”
“Resources would be great to have readily available on your website. Parents could access information conveniently. Info such as milestones, referral information, contacts, teacher emails, etc., would be very beneficial to any parents of currently enrolled students or parents enquiring about information to enroll their child.” (these resources are already available on the website)

Detailed Data

Do you correspond with others using email?

- No – not at all. 9%
- Yes, but only occasionally. 36%
- Yes, several times a week. 17%
- Yes, almost daily. 15%
- Yes, daily. 3%
- Yes, I check it throughout the day. 19%

If the PLC used email as a means to communicate news and information with parents, would you find it helpful?

- No. That would have no value to me. 15%

- I do not know if it would be helpful. 9%
- Yes – it would be nice to be kept informed this way. 48%
- Absolutely – I would appreciate such communication. 27%

Do you use Facebook?

- No – not at all. 15%
- Yes, but only occasionally. 22%
- Yes, several times a week. 17%
- Yes, almost daily. 17%
- Yes, daily. 5%
- Yes, I check it throughout the day. 24%

If the PLC had a Facebook page, would you find it helpful to connect to our site for information, goings-on, and connecting with others?

- No. That would have no value to me. 10%
- I do not know if it would be helpful. 15%
- Yes – it would be nice to be kept informed this way. 36%

- Absolutely – I would appreciate the opportunity to engage the school and other parents in such a way. 38%

Do you use Twitter?

- No – not at all. 91%
- Yes, but only occasionally. 9%
- Yes, several times a week. 0%
- Yes, almost daily. 0%
- Yes, daily. 0%
- Yes, I check it throughout the day. 0%

If the PLC provided a Twitter feed, would you find it helpful

- No. That would have no value to me. 66%
- I do not know if it would be helpful. 25%
- Yes – it would be nice to be kept informed this way. 5%
- Absolutely – I would appreciate such an information source. 3%

If the PLC provided quality blog articles relevant to early education, parenting strategies, and interventions for specific needs, would you be likely to check it out?

- No. That would have no value to me. 14%
- I do not know if it would be helpful. 7%
- Yes – it would be nice to be kept informed this way. 48%
- Absolutely – I would appreciate an opportunity to learn new things this way. 31%

Are you aware of and do you use the PLC’s website (http://preschoollearningcenter.org)?

- No. I wasn’t aware that there was one. 33%
- I knew about it, but I never actually go there. 12%
- I have been to the site but don’t use it regularly. 37%
- I use it often for: (see website summary page 1 for details) 18%

Getlisted Local University WNY – Additional Reading

Mike Blumenthal — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 15:00:47 +0000

Today, I am presenting at the seventh GetListed.org Local University in Ellicottville, NY. in cooperation with Google, Bing and range of local sponsors. Some of you I know and the others I hope to personally meet. Please don’t hesitate to reach out and ask any questions that come to mind or to just introduce yourself.

These links will provide background information and details for a pathway to dig deeper into the world of managing your listing in Google Places and ethically approaching the review process. For those of you that are not in attendance, the links provide a good overview of critical base line ideas and tactics that every local campaign should embrace.
Google Places – Its not your mother’s yellow pages.

Slide 2 - Sept 2011 Search Engine Market Share
Slide 13/14 - The Importance of Page One Visibility
Slides 17/18 - How the Google Cluster Works
Slide 24- Choosing the Right Category – A Tool
Slide 24 - Writing a Great Business Description
Slide 24 - Google Places Policies: Quality guidelines
Slide 25 – Checking for Problems – NAP Audit
Slide 26 - Creating a GeoSitemap – A tool
Slide 33/34 Local Search Ranking Factors – the many variables
Slide 33/34 A brief list of 10 Ranking Factors – somewhat old but still valid and a quick read
Slide 33 Thinking about your Business Name in the Internet Era
Slide 34 - User Generated Content – Geo Tagged Photos
Slide 30 - How To Gather Reviews
Slide 30- Where to Gather Reviews
Slide 35- The Importance of Citations
Slide 35 - 20 Citation Sources in the US
Slide 40- A Listing management tool

Reviews – Jumping Into the Void

Where to Gather Reviews
Principles for a Review Plan: Considerations in encouraging customer reviews
Responding to Negative Reviews – Your Prospects are the Real Audience
Asking for Reviews – UMoveFree Finds the Groove
Garnering Reviews – A Mom & (no) Pop Shop finally Hops on Reviews
Reviews: Lipstick on a Pig Leads to User Backlash
Review Management: 7 Tips on Avoiding Bad Reviews
Google Review Posting Guidelines

Talking with Siri: My First Conversation Since 2007 That Wasn’t About Local

Mike Blumenthal — Sat, 29 Oct 2011 22:47:04 +0000

Well not quite a conversation. Siri did all the talking. I did my regular “ask til they throw their hands up in disgust” routine:

Local SMB Survey: 68% Have Facebook Pages, 28% Have Claimed Google Places Listing

Mike Blumenthal — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 12:25:05 +0000

As part of Getlisted Local University we occasionally survey the attendees. We ask several questions to assess their level of knowledge about search in general and local search in particular. This survey sample size is very small and self selected from those that registered for the seminar. The participants are primarily small and medium businesses and the market area they occupy is mostly rural. The results however are consistent with previous informal surveys.

I am always shocked that so many businesses have created Facebook Business pages and so few have claimed their Google Places page. I have been at the local thing for such a long time that I frequently forget how few businesses actually make a concerted effort to understand and benefit from Local search.

4. Do you have a website? (y/n)

Yes	83.3%
No	5.6%

5. Have you “claimed” your local business listing in the Google Places Dashboard?

Yes	27.8%
No	55.6%

6. Does your business currently have a Facebook page?

Yes	66.7%
No	22.2%

My takeaways?
1)There is still a huge upside to Local search
2)Google Places has not yet succeeded in gaining mindshare against Facebook despite the very real benefit it offers and their longer time in the market.

Getlisted.org Local University coming to WNY on November 1

Mike Blumenthal — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 14:45:42 +0000

Local University: WNY is coming to the Holiday Valley Resort in Ellicottville, NY next Tuesday, November 1, 2011. The afternoon session is ~~nearly~~ SOLD OUT, however there are still seats available in the morning session.

We’re bringing in some of the nation’s leading online marketing experts as well as Google and Bing for an intensive four-hour crash course in Internet marketing that will help the SMB navigate the possibilities for marketing their business on the web. The SMBs will learn Search & Social Marketing tips and techniques that will lead to sustained, long-term search engine visibility (and new customers) in their local markets and beyond.

There will be two identical 4 hour sessions ( from 8am – 12pm and 1pm – 5pm). The speakers include Matt McGee, David Mihm, Mary Bowling, Ed Reese, Cecelia Stewart of Google Places, Aaron Weiche and myself. Bing has also recently signed on as a sponsor and the Bing Portal Product Manager Joe Futy will be there demonstrating their new business portal. With Google’s assistance we were able to provide 25 college students with “scholarships” to attend the event.

We will be holding “office hours” offering free website reviews for attendees in an adjacent room at the Holiday Valley Resort from 8:30am – 1:00pm and from 1:30pm – 6:00pm. Slots are available on first-come, first-served basis in 15-minute intervals. If you would like to reserve a time for one of us to review your site, please email us at localu@getlisted.org with your preferred time.

Pricing for the event is $129. Click here to register. Enter the discount code: MB2011 to receive special pricing of $99 (save $30).Hope to see you there!

If you are thinking of coming in from out of town, Holiday Valley is offering a special rate of $90/night (discounted from $147) to attendees. Simply mention you are attending the GetListed conference when you call (800)323-0020 to place your reservation.

While the event is specifically targeted to SMBs, we frequently see other marketers attend. Ellicottville is 3 hours from Toronto, Cleveland & Syracuse and only two from Rochester, NY. If you do decide to come, let me know you are attending so we can try to meet up.

Geo Sitemap Generator Adds New Features

Mike Blumenthal — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 08:30:48 +0000

The “grand daddy” of geo sitemap generators has recently included some new features. Geo Sitemap Generator, first released by Arjan Snaterse in 2009, has added the ability to generate either a schema.org file or a microformatted file of your contact information. In addition to the features in the geo sitemap tool from 51Blocks that I reviewed last week, Geo Sitemap Generator supports multiple locations and now provides a preview of the KML file locations on a Map.

The benefits of multiple locations are obvious if you need them. The benefits of the map preview are not so obvious but very real. KML files require a mapping API to generate the lat long info included in the file. Sometimes the information from the API, even from the same map provider, renders the location differently than reality or differently than the public mapping program. It has always been a good idea to check the KML file’s lat-long accuracy by loading it into something like Google Earth to be sure that it pins the locations correctly. Now Geo Sitemap Generator previews the pins on a Map for you when you go to download your files saving you a necessary step.
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How Much Does ATT Suck? Let me count the ways

Mike Blumenthal — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 17:25:39 +0000

I decided to order a new iPhone 4s today.

I thought that the most hassle free order method was to just go to my local ATT store. It was the obvious choice. There is never a line, the staff is friendly. The affable salesman knows me by first name and is an avid iPhone owner himself. I could be catered to and I wouldn’t have to think too hard. I thought how can I go wrong?

Not to worry. With ATT there is always a way.

The choices offered to me by ATT:
1)I could preorder and wait for 3 weeks for delivery or
2)I could come in next Friday and stand in line or
3)Since I am consulting in Phoenix next Friday, I could stand in line there.

As my son would say: Yea right.

I pulled out my iPhone while standing frustrated at the ATT sales counter & went to the Apple site. It suggested I download the app, which I did. Within 3 or 4 minutes I had preordered my iPhone. I asked my salesperson (who I felt really sorry for) to advise the chain of command of the outcome.

ATT? #fail. I should have known better.