Small Business Search Marketing

For those of you who are new SBSM readers & subscribers, here’s a list of noteworthy posts you probably missed from one year ago. I try to put together a post like this each month to introduce new readers to old content that might be worth reading. Read the rest

Not me. And not a survey of senior managers and business owners around the world. Emarketer is reporting on the survey today, a survey that shows small businesses are beating mid-sized and large companies when it comes to acquiring customers via social media. Have a look at the evidence: Read the rest

I believe social media (Facebook, Twitter, etc.) is replacing blogging as the primary way web users share links. Most social media links are no-followed and have little or no explanation surrounding the link to add context. These kinds of links are not as strong of a signal as a 1-2 paragraph blog post that links to a great article or piece of content. Read the rest

Viral marketing. Branding. Marketing in general. Here are nine great quotes about reaching customers that you’ve never heard before.* They come from smart people at Big Ad Agencies, but there’s plenty to chew on even for the smallest of small businesses. Read the rest

InfoUSA has long been one of the most important places for a local business to have an accurate business listing. The major search engines and other important local sites/directories rely on its business data. And InfoUSA has always had a pretty bare-bones online form for small businesses to use when adding a business listing.

But last week (while I was busy at GetListed.org Local U in Cleveland), InfoUSA did a little rebranding and launched a new and much more substantial business information management service for local businesses. They’re calling it Express Update USA and it’s now under the Infogroup name. Read the rest

The third edition of GetListed.org Local University is in the books and, for me, it was one of the most enjoyable weeks of business/pleasure I’ve had in a while.

On the business side of that sentence was two very full sessions of Local U. just south of Cleveland in the Valley View/Independence area. What made this edition unique was a number of new speakers who helped us teach SEO and local search tactics to small business owners. The photo at right is Geoff Karcher of The Karcher Group, who started both sessions with a talk on the foundation of search marketing. Anita Campbell of Small Business Trends joined us, too, to talk about two important topics: managing social media efforts and hiring SEO/social media consultants. And Bing sent a new speaker, Maryam Gholami, who brought all kinds of energy to her talk about Bing’s local search product. Read the rest

Here’s my roundup of the best search/marketing posts I found and read during June. If you’re new to this blog, this is a monthly feature that began way back in 2007. You can find earlier “Best Of”s for each month in the Link Roundups category archive. I never include my own posts in these end-of-month recaps. Read the rest