Opening yourself up to criticism can be a scary thing. You could pour your heart and soul into your work, only to have it ripped to shreds by a few choice words in the comments section.
It’s not all negative though, if you do good work, often people will look for a way to positively appraise you, be it through great reviews or amazing testimonials.
Over the past few days, Facebook’s PR team have been working up a lot of buzz around the build-up to a big mystery reveal event being held at their Menlo Park headquarters. There was speculation that it may be some kind of phone operating system, or even a complete overhaul in design. In actual fact Mark Zuckerberg took to stage yesterday to unveil a new search feature for Facebook, entitled Graph Search, and many people are excited to see what Facebook could bring to the search engine table.
It’s actually a very different kind of search experience, as instead of offering the ability of searching all over the web and trying to compete with what’s already a very crowded market; Facebook offers an internal search. This is a much more social way of searching, by allowing users to search through the information that’s already been shared with them.
Mobile marketing was all the rage last year, with the launch of both the Samsung galaxy S3 and the iPhone 5, and the sudden affordability of quality smartphones, it could be said that 2012 belonged to mobile. But it doesn’t end there; marketers are still constantly finding new ways to utilise mobiles as a media platform. We now have are very own portable marketing media source stored in our pockets (or handbags).
But just as it always is in the tech market, as soon as you begin to even slightly understand one thing, a new innovation comes storming out the gates; and although tablets aren’t necessarily particularly new, they have been quietly increasing in popularity. Gone are the days where tablets were a futuristic novelty that you could show off to friends, as the Christmas sales figures are in, and the adoption rate of tablets across the world has soared.
It’s been a difficult year for SEOs and site builders everywhere. Google made a number of updates to its Webmaster Guidelines and algorithm; some were subtle, others not so much. The low-quality site quashing filter Panda Update received several revisions, and to further confuse things the penguin update was released to target webspam. Many techniques were invalidated within a few short months, leading to complete overhauls on a range of affected sites.
It wasn’t just those on the technical side who were having issues with the search engine giant though, as Google came into the public’s spotlight several times over the last 12 months. 2012 was the year that people took a long hard look at the media they use, from newspapers to broadcasters and everything in-between, and what followed was the uncovering of a hotbed of scandal and ill-practice. Google may have vowed “not to be evil”, but this was put under intense scrutiny following scandals, industry outrage and a plethora of controversial decisions.
It’s something of a buzz word at the moment, but in truth, there’s a great deal that can be achieved through a well thought-out local SEO strategy. The benefits of such a strategy have been well-documented. Local SEO is an excellent way of delivering local targeted traffic, something that Google and other search engines are keen to encourage, especially as more people are searching on-the-go with their Smartphones and other mobile devices.
However, who should be taking advantage of local SEO? Is it just for local businesses looking to mix it with the big boys? If that’s the case, how will their global SEO strategy be affected? Then there’s the issue of larger, national and international businesses – do they stick to just a global SEO strategy or do they incorporate local SEO into their campaigns too? The answer is simple. Whatever the size of your business, you should be looking at both a global and a local SEO strategy. Here’s why.
Local SEO is a great way for people to find out about your business, and in addition it has the potential to bring a high volume of targeted traffic to your site. If you own a local business, such as a restaurant, a plumbing store, or a bakery, then you should be looking to incorporate local SEO tactics within your marketing campaigns. As search engines are providing more local factors within results pages and users continue to search via mobile and tablet, the benefits of increased visibility are growing all the time. If you are looking to gain better rankings for local SEO here are a few tips.
Secure your profiles
Whatever the platform, Google Plus Local, Bing or Yahoo, you should secure and create your profile to enhance your SEO efforts and to also stop companies with the same or similar name taking them before you. Setting up a profile is easy and each site will guide you through what you need to do.
Many local businesses try to attract customers within their immediate vicinity. The reason for this is because there is a greater chance of repeated custom and word of mouth spreading into nearby communities. The same can be said for online local search which enables you to attract a wider audience via the Internet, and for this reason, local search is an area for you to engage in when it comes to your SEO campaigns. With this in mind let’s take a look at the benefits of local search and how you can tap into a wider market for your business.
By implementing local search you will enable your business to have a greater visibility in the search engines which basically means that more people in your area will start to notice and recognise your company on the web. This is important because the Internet is now a primary method for people to find out what is around them. Therefore, if you create an online presence there is a greater chance of people choosing your company over others within the same area. If it’s search through a smartphone, tablet or via the Internet on a desktop computer then your company needs to have high visibility.
At the start of the year, every SEO and Digital Marketer predicted what was in store for 2012. Some huge changes have been forecasted; a social media focus, an emphasis on branding, but also localised search and advertising. Well a recent report has confirmed such a need for localised advertising online, as they reveal that 75% of the on-the-go audience will take note and respond to such location-based messaging.
The Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) have released the findings of a report conducted by JiWire called the Mobile Audience Insights Report. The report is conducted every quarter, and looks into mobile shopping behaviour, uncovering insights into consumer habits on our mobile and tablet devices. One of the key highlights this quarter is the sheer amount of people who would take action after seeing location specific advertising – 75% of respondents.
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For anyone practising SEO, ensuring your website is targeted locally is crucial to being seen in the Search Engines. Many have predicted that 2012 will be the year of local search, where mobile devices such as tablets and smartphones have changed the way many people find what they are looking for. We’re a nation on the move, and people are likely to search for things as and when they’re out and about, so ensuring you’re seen when someone is searching for a local business is absolutely crucial.
So then, how do you optimise your website so that you get seen when people search for local businesses? Well there are some fundamental things to implement and also some more sophisticated technical elements; but for anyone who just wants to know where to start, the following are 5 easy tips to get your business visible in the SERPs when people search locally.
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If you’re still not trying to tap into local search, you are missing out on a huge opportunity. Global searches are all well and good, particularly if you have worldwide aspirations, but achieving visibility within your key target areas is becoming increasingly important.
With the personalisation of search results and localisation of certain queries, securing every niche is essential. One of the key niches that any business will have is their physical locality. Geography and competition dictates that there can only be so many companies within a certain radius of one another. Therefore you should be able to secure decent visibility for searches in that region and attract traffic that is more likely to convert too.
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