Mike Ramsey's nifty thoughts on local
Posted in: In The Wild, Local Search by admin on February 27, 2010 | 2 Comments
There is nothing I would rather do than talk Local Search. I’m serious when I say that. I have traveled around the world, climbed on things found in famous photographs, seen animals in the wild that are even hard to come by in zoos. Danced, sang, and have made myself merry many times. But, at the end of the day, I am a geek and I could talk about local search for days without food, water, or possibly even shelter.
So, when Jay Ehret at the Marketing Spot asked if I would be a guest on his Power To Small Business Podcast I was honored for the opportunity. The Podcast should be out tomorrow, February 28th and when it is I will update this post and add a link. Continue reading
Posted in: In The Wild by Nifty Mike on February 18, 2010 | 2 Comments
I am starting a new category on The Local Search Marketing Blog today that will highlight the guest posts that I do. Ann Smarty at MyBlogGuest aka @seosmarty was very gracious to offer me a place on Search Engine Journal to write on Local. I am a once a month-er on Thursdays currently, and I will let you know if that ever changes. I have been a big fan of Search Engine Journal and the solid content that they put out and I am very honored to try and add to that.
I spent an extremely long time writing my Reviews post for SEJ. There were a few questions that I have gotten lately about reviews that I wanted to answer. Some that I wanted to mention and not answer, and also pass on my speculation about how reviews are completely going to change the local search landscape over the next couple years with semantic analysis. I am very interested to know what you think on the subject, and hope that you find the post enjoyable. There are a couple nuggets in there for a well trained eye.
An Extremely Nifty Guide To Reviews And Local Search
Also, if you are interested in previous SEJ articles I have done Check out my author link
P.S. There is a link error on my SEJ post, first one to figure it out before it gets fixed get a back link from me in a future post 
UPDATE: Ann is too fast for ya’ll. No linkys from me.
Posted in: Local Search by Nifty Mike on February 17, 2010 | 6 Comments
Hopefully by now you know that I live in Burley, Idaho. I love my small town. My wife and I grew up here, “hated and dated” each other through school, I got smart…we got married, and now we are back (that was my life recap in one sentence).
But, one thing that drives me literally crazy about Burley is that it takes the same amount of time to fly as it does to just drive places. Such was the case for Spokane’s Getlisted.org University. So, instead of driving to Boise-Flying to Salt Lake-Then to Spokane, I just got a good book on tape and drove. Now my reason for going to Spokane was really 3 fold…
Posted in: Adwords, Local Search by Nifty Mike on January 19, 2010 | 1 Comment
I got a letter from Google today with $100 worth of free advertising. The letter is being sent out to businesses with claimed LBC listings and starts out saying “You already use Google’s Local Business Center to help customers discover your business online when they search locally on Google or Google Maps.” Then goes on to explain the effectiveness of search advertising.
I have included an image of the letter for your enjoyment.
My only question is why would Google be promoting Adwords to LBC users if they are planning to launch local listing ads any time soon? Anyone? Anyone?
Posted in: Small Business Marketing by Nifty Mike on January 14, 2010 | 3 Comments
It seems that more and more businesses are understanding that they need to have a blog whether they are practicing law, or selling brownies. They have heard that “blogging” is a great way to close the gap between businesses and consumers, so they picked their software of choice and added a blog to their site.
Though this is a step in the right direction, one step doesn’t get you all that far. From what I have seen, my small business blogs sit unused, unnoticed, and unimportant. So, in this post I want to identify a few small businesses who “get” blogging and hopefully help those that don’t take a few more steps in the right direction.
View Great Small Business Bloggers in a larger map
I first ran into GJEL through Kaitlin Janusz who is a frequent visitor of Hyperlocalblogger.com . She handles the blog, and all social media work for the GJEL. Their blog is updated weekly, and ranges on topics from “Legal Humor” to “News for Law Students”. Ultimately, Kaitlin has been able to take this California Personal Injury Firm with 19 locations and give it a personality. Which is (INHO) one of the main focuses for a business blog. When you are able to give a business a personality, people feel more comfortable contacting and dealing with that business. In the words of John Buscall, “Think of your blog as a place where people get a chance to see beneath the sheen of corporate copy that usually covers all your business communications.”
I can’t even remember how I cam across this pizza company, but I am sure glad I did. Avalanche Pizza has won more awards, and has been featured in more places than the snuggie blanket. They do a very good job on keeping up with local news in the pizza arena, and you can see the updates right from their home page. This isn’t the reason I choose them though. The owner of the company recently started a personal pizza blog called PizzaGoon.com and that my fine friends, is the reason they were chosen.
John Gutekanst, the owner of Avalanche Pizza, uses his new blog to share a wide variety of fantastic pizza recipes, “how to” videos, fun experiences in his pizza travels, and much more! The reason I find this respectable is that in most cases, successful business blogs are written by a hired hand or the “company techie”. There is nothing wrong with the mentioned format, but when the owner of the company spends time blogging and does a good job at it, I’m impressed. It shows that the business is still very near and dear to the management… which is always a sign of a solid company. So, business owners, it’s time to step up and start blogging. You are the one who built your company, and you should take the opportunity to talk about it on occasion. If you can’t do so regularly, then squeeze a post in to your blogger when you can.
I first ran across this UK based company on a Mashable’s writeup a few month’s ago. I was intrigued by the fact that this local business made the jump from being a local farm shop to a respectable online community through blogging and pod-casting. In their own words they say, “With thousands of listeners from all around the world, and over fifty 5-star reviews on iTunes, it seems that our audience enjoys listening to the shows as much as we enjoy making them.” That is pretty amazing considering the subjects that they are talking about wouldn’t usually be considered all that news worthy. Wiggly Wigglers makes the list because they took the normal (the category that most businesses fall under) and made it exciting. In doing this, they took a rural business and reached a much larger audience and in turn, can now sell their products online as well as at their farm house.
Blumenthals Web Hosting and Design
Mike Blumenthal is a small business owner who understands one very important thing when it comes to blogging. If you want to build a community, people have to talk and you have to talk back. Mike blogs about Google Local Search and is one of most knowledgeable people on the subject in the world. This is not why he is making the list though. His blog makes the list because he takes the time to write back to pretty much every comment that is left on his posts. This can be extremely time consuming, but encourages great discussion and dedicated followers. It is definitely one of the factors that has lead to the blog’s success as an “authoritative local search site”.
Small businesses have such a wonderful opportunity with a blog. It is a creative door that many people will enter through to find your business if you can use it correctly. So, start taking a few more steps in the right direction, and you might find that blogging for your business is a fun way to talk about your “baby” that you have grown from an idea into your bread and butter.
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