The Power of Google Local by MaryEllen Gibson

Google, the world wide search engine that allows people from all over the world to come together online has a secret that is starting to get around. Google's best work is not around the world , but right down the street from my house and yours. Google best kept secret that is starting to grow, it is Local Search. Local Search is a powerful tool for Mom and Pop local businesses to Fortune 500 companies. Local Search allows users to find goods and services in their neighborhood. Let me explain how it works.



This morning I wanted to find someone to do my Online Marketing in Temecula California. I went to http://www.google.com/ and typed in the search bar

Online Marketing Temecula, Ca









I was greeted at the very top of the page with a map and Google's online listings. This first page supplied me with a website, contact phone number and a more link for ten companies that offer the srvice I am looking for . I chose the first listing MaryEllen Gibson Online Marketing (she must be awesome at local search to be the first listed Oh wait, I know she is awesome at local search that is me! ) If I clicked on the business name it would take me directly to their website, if I click on more it takes me to their Google Local Listing









Above is the Google Local Listing it includes:

• Business Name


• A link to leave a review


• Address


• Phone Number


• Website Address & Link


• Get directions to


• Business Overview


• Reviews


• Details


• Coupons


• Related Websites


• e-mail to a friend


• print


• link this page

This powerful piece of online marketing is a must for any business. This is not your Grandma's Yellow Page listing. It is dynamic , user friendly and built to bring additional visitors to any business. It is also a powerful tool for potential clients seeking out goods and services. Google makes it easy for them to find what they need close to home.



Click here for my Google Local Listing

The Power of Yahoo Local by MaryEllen Gibson

On Yahoo's Home page sits a powerful online marketing tool that is becoming more popular everyday.



Do you know what it is?



Are you using it to drive sales to your business?



If not you are missing out on a powerful tool.





It is Yahoo Local and it is making the world wide web more about what is down the street than what is around the world.



When you first click on local on the yahoo home page it should automatically show your home town (if you have a yahoo account) . Type in what you are looking for from Apple Pies to Zambonis. I typed in Online Marketing for Temecula, California. Company X Inc is the first local listing (Wow, they must have an outstanding Online Marketing Director.....oh wait that is me.....then I know they have the best Online Marketing Director) . On this intro page are listed about 10 businesses with a brief summary, part of a review, and the Yahoo Map showing the location of the businesses. I clicked on Company X Inc to view their entire page.

The Yahoo Local listing for Company X Inc is a mini one page website. It includes:

• Company Name


• Company Phone Number


• Company Website


• Company Address


• Company Cross Streets


• Company Images & logos


• Yahoo Map


• Business Overview


• Search Categories


• Payments Accepted


• Brands


• Products and Services


• Languages Spoken


• Year Established


• Additional Contact Info


• Reviews


• Comments


• Ranking System


• Businesses You Might Also Like
  
  
  

A Yahoo Local listing is not your grandmother's yellow page ad. It is extremely interactive and viral. Clients can upload images, write a review , rank the company and comment on other reviews. It also allows potential clients to visit your website , e-mail you , or contact you by phone.



Yahoo Local is designed for companies with a physical location or service. This allows the service to be user friendly for local community members.



Yahoo Local will primarily list you in your hometown , but many times you may find your location listed in neighboring cities. Company X Inc. is located in Temecula , California , but we are also listed for Murrieta and Lake Elsinore . It is a nice perk.

6.5 Hints for Social Media Optimization (SMO) by MaryEllen Gibson

I have been working on the Search Engine Optimization (SEO) for websites for over ten years. I am a huge fan of the belief “Content is King”. I have worked on keyword rich content that fed my visitors as well as the search engines. Then I started blogging. Slow at first and then building my blogs to an online marketing resource. Then came Social Media Sites such as Technorati, Stumble Upon , Digg , and the vast amount of others. It took me a bit to realize that these sites were Google and Yahoo’s dream of human rated content. As soon as I started to offer my site and blogs to Social Media Optimization I started once again climbing to the tops of the Search Engines.

1. Update, Update, Update - This the most important priority for a website or blog. Too many sites on the web are “dead” or “static”. They were created to be an online brochure and there they sit. The more you update your site the more “sticky” your website becomes. Visitors will want to come back over and over again. They will even start linking to it.

2. Linkability: To get a website or blog ready for social media optimization, we need to build the linkability (still not sure if this is a real word) of the content. Blogs, Event Calendar, and visitor submissions help to increase the links to your site. If you do not yet have a content management system for your website. Now is a good time to invest in a new site .

3. Bookmarking – My website is a joomla based site. So some wonderful person out there created a Social Media bar that has links to all of the Social Media Sites. This makes it easy for my visitors to link to my site. To view a sample go to www.maryellengibson.com and take a peek at my footer.

4. Submit – Make sure to submit your own new content. When I create a new video, pdf.,image or article I submit it myself. This allows the community to become involved as soon as I post it. It also help me with quick feedback. I grow by knowing what my readers want to know.

5. Know your readers – I love SMO if for no other reason that I know my audience. Unlike writing for a newspaper or website with SMO I know who loves my work and who doesn’t. Wow! Where else can you find that. I also love being able to learn more from my readers and increase my own knowledge and ability to share.

6. CONTENT!!!!! – Create it , Grow it, Spread it. Write articles. Create images. Narrate a video. Content is a must. The entire web revolves around content and we all know there is more bad than good. So create some outstanding content.

6.5 Read and mark: Go out there and comment on other sites. Read other blogs and articles. Leave your review on Stumble Upon. SMO creates a community become part of it.

MaryEllen Gibson can be found at http://www.maryellengibson.com/

Promoting Yourself Online By MaryEllen Gibson

As an Online Marketing Director I have been marketing our firm's clients online with Well Designed Websites, Search Engine Optimization, and Social Media Optimization. They have increased branding, leads, and sales. They have businesses that are constantly growing and thriving online. I know because everyday I make sure they are achieving those goals.
I recently started with a new client. She is smart, web savvy, and looking to move into a corporate setting. She wanted to promote herself. She knew that online public relations and marketing is must in our web centric culture.
My new client is ME. I started with a typical resume and cover letter and quickly figured that was getting me NOWHERE fast. I decided to hire the best Online Marketing Director I knew……ME.

Here is my step by step self promotion marketing plan:

1. Create a Marketing Plan for yourself.
· Price : What is your budget of self promotion? Web Design, Business Cards, and paper products are hard costs. Press Releases, Blogs, and Networking can be paid in sweat equity. Promoting yourself will not be free!
· Product : You are your product. What are your goals, strengths, and education? Know all you can about you!
· Place (distribution): What is your target area? Are you looking to promote yourself in your current town, a nearby city, or half way around the world? Are you looking to target CEOs, Human Resources, or a possible client base? Know your audience!
· Promotion: What is your plan of attack? Plan, plan, plan! Then assess through out the process and re-plan.
2. Create Your Website.
· Will you be building your site or hiring a firm to design it? WARNING: If you have never created a website this is not a good place to start. Invest in yourself and have a site created that reflects who you are. A Content Management System is a must if you have never worked with websites. A good web designer will be able to design a CMS site that will allow you to update the website easily. Updating your personal site daily is a MUST. I designed my own website http://www.maryellengibson.com/ in a style that was all me and professional. I know you maybe tempted to put on pictures of your dog, kids, and favorite baseball team. I didn’t, but if you must, keep all your favorite personal information to one page that is not the center of your promotion.
· Start Blogging, Yesterday
You can start this today, though yesterday would have been better because everyday you blog is a chance to promote you. I suggest Blogger and Shine on Yahoo. Blog about your expertise. I have two blogs. I have a blog on Online Marketing and one on Training Management. I try to blog daily. Three times a week should be considered a minimum. Include you name in the Title of your blog, in the body of your blog, and in the tags. This will increase the chances of the Search Engines starting to index your name.
· Content: What will your website contain?
The entire internet runs on content. Content is the information included in your website. These are the musts:
1. Contact Information: Where Can You Be Contacted? I am guessing that you want people to contact you if you are promoting yourself. Have a contact page that includes all ways that you can be reached. Make sure EVERY page of your website has a contact me link. The best locations can be the footer and header.
2. Experience: What have you done? This is not a resume this is active include links to employers websites, online articles about you, linked in account, PROFESSIONAL My Space Page, and organizations that you are involved with. My experience page mainly has my employers. I have created a volunteer page because I do a lot of Non Profit work in my area. Make it work for you.
3. Education: What Have You Learned? I have all of my educational institutions on this page. I have included my degree, area of study, and dates attended in addition to my school’s logo for a nice graphic.
4. Skills: What Can You Do? I have my skills broken up into two categories. You may have more or less, but this is an important area so people know what they can expect from you.
5. References: Who Knows You? Ask your references if they can be included in your website. Include their professional contact information. This makes it easy for future clients or employers to get a second opinion of you.
6. Professional Articles: What Can you Share? Include your PROFESSIONAL blogs on your website. This is great for your Search Engine Optimization and it lets visitors know that you are knowledgeable. I have also included articles that I have used as part of e-mail campaigns. If you are a recent grad include an awesome term paper you wrote.
7. Downloads: Have a downloadable version of your resume on your site. This will allow the visitor to have something to take with them. I also included a media kit and PowerPoint presentation about myself. I am in the process of creating a professional video for the site too. It is always a work in progress
8. Consistency: Keep it Consistent. My resume, media kit, PowerPoint and website are consistent. They use consistent colors, designs and graphics. This is known as branding. Brand yourself consistently.
9. Keep it Professional: There are plenty of places online to post your favorite teams, vacation pictures, and family history. This is not the place to do it. Do not link to these pages either. This is professional website. No animated GIFS or weird fonts. Just say No.

3. Promote Yourself
· Submit Your Website and Blogs to Google & Yahoo.
· Include your website on your resume.
· Include your website on all your e-mails
· Start accounts on Social Media sites (stumble upon, dig, etc. check out my blog on social media optimization)
· Go to Networking opportunities: Chamber Events, Non Profit Organizations, and Community Events. Always carry your personal business card.
· Collect Business Cards and E-mail addresses create a contact list.

That is it in a nutshell, it takes time and money to promote yourself, but can you think of a better investment. If you would like to find out more about online self promotion contact ME. MaryEllen Gibson maryellen@companyxinc.com

How I fell into Marketing

For Ten years MaryEllen Gibson sold students on the importance of reading, writing, and mathematics. Showing students how the education acquired in her classroom would transform the lives they currently lead. She was marketing knowledge for years so the transformation to marketing director was not the stretch that many might believe.

“ I believe great educators are natural marketers, they must have outstanding presentation skills, techniques , and a sense of audience. They are faced daily with an audience that does not share their goals but must be moved through technique and sales that they share the same outcome. The outcome of success. It is really not that different from the outcomes of businesses” MaryEllen Gibson

MaryEllen was drawn to marketing while teaching because of her love of the information found on the internet. Graphic Design came first to enhance her teaching presentation. Web Design came next as a way to share information with fellow educators. Online Marketing was not far behind with the knowledge that putting something online was not enough. Audiences needed to be lead to the information online like bread crumbs left by Hansel and Gretel. MaryEllen started to research marketing because it made sense as an educator. She did not expect it to draw her to a new career, but the more she read the more she became hooked .

SEO Marketing and Google

Straight From The Horses Mouth: Google & SEO
I have had many clients who have had horrible experiences with Search Engine Optimization Companies. They were sold magic beans, SEO beans, and they paid more than just the cow, possibly three or four cows and got nothing. Ouch! Today I was roaming the Google Webmaster Site ( I know I should find a hobby) and I found their top eight list for SEO Company Warnings. I think I will be sharing this in this weeks e-blast as well. Just like all companies there is good and there is bad, but being part of the industry I would like help root out the bad. Enjoy the helpful hints from our riends at Google

1. No one can guarantee a #1 ranking on Google.
Beware of SEOs that claim to guarantee rankings, allege a "special relationship" with Google, or advertise a "priority submit" to Google. There is no priority submit for Google. In fact, the only way to submit a site to Google directly is through our Add URL page or through the Webmaster Tools and you can do this yourself at no cost whatsoever.

2. Be careful if a company is secretive or won't clearly explain what they intend to do.
Ask for explanations if something is unclear. If an SEO creates deceptive or misleading content on your behalf, such as doorway pages or "throwaway" domains, your site could be removed entirely from Google's index. Ultimately, you are responsible for the actions of any companies you hire, so it's best to be sure you know exactly how they intend to "help" you.

3. You should never have to link to an SEO.
Avoid SEOs that talk about the power of "free-for-all" links, link popularity schemes, or submitting your site to thousands of search engines. These are typically useless exercises that don't affect your ranking in the results of the major search engines -- at least, not in a way you would likely consider to be positive.

4. Some SEOs may try to sell you the ability to type keywords directly into the browser address bar.
Most such proposals require users to install extra software, and very few users do so. Evaluate such proposals with extreme care and be skeptical about the self-reported number of users who have downloaded the required applications.

5. Choose wisely.
While you consider whether to go with an SEO, you may want to do some research on the industry. Google is one way to do that, of course. You might also seek out a few of the cautionary tales that have appeared in the press, including this article on one particularly aggressive SEO: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2002002970_nwbizbriefs12.html. While Google doesn't comment on specific companies, we've encountered firms calling themselves SEOs who follow practices that are clearly beyond the pale of accepted business behavior. Be careful.

6. Be sure to understand where the money goes.
While Google never sells better ranking in our search results, several other search engines combine pay-per-click or pay-for-inclusion results with their regular web search results. Some SEOs will promise to rank you highly in search engines, but place you in the advertising section rather than in the search results. A few SEOs will even change their bid prices in real time to create the illusion that they "control" other search engines and can place themselves in the slot of their choice. This scam doesn't work with Google because our advertising is clearly labeled and separated from our search results, but be sure to ask any SEO you're considering which fees go toward permanent inclusion and which apply toward temporary advertising.

7. Talk to many SEOs, and ask other SEOs if they'd recommend the firm you're considering.
References are a good start, but they don't tell the whole story. You should ask how long a company has been in business and how many full time individuals it employs. If you feel pressured or uneasy, go with your gut feeling and play it safe: hold off until you find a firm that you can trust. Ask your SEO firm if it reports every spam abuse that it finds to Google using our spam complaint form at http://www.google.com/contact/spamreport.html. Ethical SEO firms report deceptive sites that violate Google's spam guidelines.

8. Make sure you're protected legally.
Don't be afraid to request a refund if you're unsatisfied with your SEO's performance. Make sure you have a contract in writing that includes pricing. The contract should also require the SEO to stay within the guidelines recommended by each search engine for site inclusion.