Today, I’m offering businesses something much more beneficial than your typical sponsor links.

If you know SEO at all, you know that you can increase the power of your link juice in the following ways:

1. You send a stronger signal to Google if you are the only or one of just a FEW outgoing links on a page. I’m limiting this to only 10 per page!
2. Link to your site on your keywords as opposed to just linking on your business name.
3. Have your link reside on a website or page that has related content to the service or product that you offer. Google looks for relevancy, and the content around your link provides that important signal to them.

I’m about to provide you with an opportunity to get all 3! (See examples of our sponsor links here.)

Plus, LOCAL BUSINESSES, you can also include your address and phone number. Also known as a local citation,  this will help your Google Places rank as well.

But first a bit about the sponsorship and what it is you’d actually be helping (besides your business)

A few months ago I found out that my cousin Lisa was diagnosed with Leukemia so when my friend asked me to join Team in Training and cycle around Lake Tahoe to benefit Leukemia research, I agreed to do it – for Lisa, for Pierce who you see in the picture on the right and who died from Leukemia, and for us all.

Now I hadn’t been on a bike in years and the most I had ever ridden was 5 miles, so it didn’t take me long to realize I may have bitten off more than I could chew. 100 miles is the goal and the ride is anything but flat.

But I’m committed to doing this. The training is grueling, at times even agonizing, but it’s nothing compared to what cancer patients go through. I want to do this for them.

And I want to do this for my cousin, for Pierce Huston and his family, and for all those suffering with the disease today or tomorrow. I hope you will too.

Here’s what you get in recognition of your generosity

I want to show my appreciation and also give you recognition for your generous support of LLS in the following ways.

• Donate $15 and I will give you a link to your home page on your business name. (Google responds back with a nudge to the top!)
• Donate $50 and I will give you a link to your home page, on one of your keywords or keyword phrase. (Google pushes you up!)
• Donate $100 and you get 3 links to 3 different pages on your website, all on keyword anchor text and on a page shared only by related businesses. (The ultimate Google boost!)

Sound appealing? It should. I’ve seen just one good link catapult a site to position 1! Depending on your competition, it could happen to you too. Get 3 links and you have even a better chance!

And here’s how to get your inbound link or links, as the case may be…

1. Go to the Team in Training sponsor page and leave your donation. (That link takes you to a Kat & Mouse team member page. We’re spreading the donation love!)

2. Then send us an email with:

• “Google love” in the subject line
• the name you left the donation in
• your website url
• keywords to link on for $50-$100 donations and pages to link to for the $100 donation
• address and phone number
• description – $50 donors get 250 characters, $100 get 500. (Don’t worry if you go over a little. You can count characters here.)

That’s it. Simple.

And the good news is that not only is this an investment in your business, you’re also stepping forward to help put an end to blood cancers. That’s the most important thing!

SEOs – Here’s a special deal for your clients.

Bring 5 sponsors and they only need to donate at least half the amount to get the same link love. But you have to provide the HTML for all, which you probably love to do anyway. (It gives you more control!)

And here are our sponsors as they come in. You will get links like these.

Thank you for your support! And as they say at Team in Training, and as Pierce declared on his sign, “Go Team!”

I’m bummed. I had a client who probably spent an hour writing a glowing review at Yelp about what I did for his business with my KickStart consultation program. It was a full page filled with all the details of how I helped him and the embarrassing results he got – embarrassing because he commanded 8 positions on the first page of Google. He was aglow and went on and on and on. It was the kind of review that every business wants to get.

Sadly, I’m guessing that Yelp considered it too good to be true, so they removed it. That’s not all that uncommon. They do it in an attempt to keep out spam, but too often they are over zealous.

Don’t let the Yelp filter get you.

I don’t want that to happen to you, so I want to share two pieces of advice with you and give you a REVIEW TOOL for FREE that might help you get and keep the great reviews you deserve.

1. First, get copies of your reviews!

Visit your review sites frequently, particularly Yelp’s since they are notorious for hiding the ones you care about most. Make a copy of the good reviews and then post them to your website. You need to do this before Yelp finds them and hides them.

2. Second, don’t think Yelp is the only review site in the world.

Sure, it’s popular and lots and lots of people use it, but they use other review sites as well. So try to get your customers to leave reviews in other places. Not only does this protect you in case Yelp decides to remove them, Google also loves to see the variety as well because it looks more authentic.

Where should you get reviews?

Here are just a few review sites that are out there supporting local businesses.

• Google Places
• YP.com
• Citysearch.com
• Thumbtack.com
• Angieslist.com

You’ll also want to find some review sites that are industry specific and try to direct your customers there if you can. If you’re a restaurant, for example, you’ll want to get review in opentable.com. A travel or lodging business would seek reviews in Tripadvisor.com.

But how do you get your customers to leave reviews?

Unless you’ve been SO INCREDIBLE they can’t stop talking about you or unless you’ve made them a LITTLE MAD, getting customers to take the time to write reviews is like pulling teeth. No one wants to do it. It’s just too much trouble and just plain painful at times.

So, first piece of advice – Be INCREDIBLE!

This is one thing I have to say I love about Yelp. Everyone these days wants good reviews, (and they’re afraid of the bad), so  business owners are now putting in the effort to shine. I LOVE THAT! Do the same and the reviews will come.

SECOND tip – Make leaving reviews easy.

Ok, so there’s no way to get around the required login on the review sites, so that means your customers need to join and then login. PAIN, I know. But they have to do it.

But most are already members of something. If they have a gmail account, they can log into Google Places. If they have a Yahoo email address, they can easily leave you a review on your Yahoo Local page, and so on. So it helps to point them to a review site where they already do have a membership.

Next step is to get them there. Fortunately, most people these days have a smartphone, and most new smartphones have a built-in QR reader. If they don’t, many people are installing the apps because QR codes are all around these days and their curiosity often gets the best of them. So let’s capitalize on that!

Use QR codes to drive your customers to your review sites!

I’m going to make it easy for you. Here’s what I provide my clients and then ask them to put it in a plastic counter sleeve on their counters where customers check in. You can use it however you see fit and in whatever way works for your business. You can even create a knockoff and put it on invoices, receipts, signs in your store window, Christmas cards, or whatever else you come up with.

The beauty of this is it provides links to 3 review sites where I want them to go. They can choose the one where they have a membership already, or they can choose to go to any and leave reviews at them all if they feel so inclined.

So how do you customize this with your own QR codes?

Easy. Download the Get Reviews Word doc I’ve made for you. Delete the QR codes I have in there now. Those go to my review sites. Oh, actually, if you like what I’m providing for you here, why not go ahead and scan it and leave me a review.

Then head on over to qrcode.kaywa.com and create your own. You just need the URLS for the review PAGES where your business is. Select small. Then copy the image they provide you and insert it into Word.

Print, post and the reviews will come pouring in.

But don’t forget your first order of business – BE INCREDIBLE so your customers will become your raving fans!

Wishing you the best! To your success!

If you find this information and tool valuable, please share and tweet to your friends!

Just when I thought I was done, Myles Anderson posted this absolutely great research over at Searchengineland.com on how the Google Panda updates have impacted the traffic on yellow page sites, and I can’t keep silent about it.

(Notice I have not capitalized “yellow page” there. If you read Part 2 of this series, you’ll know why.)

I hope you read that post in its entirety, but I also know most people aren’t as nerdy as I am to even care for that many numbers and that much explanation, nor do they have the time, so I’ll summarize here for you with some important takeaways on what it means for your local business.

First things first. What is Google Panda?

First, you’re going to want to know what we mean by “Google Panda updates.” These are recent changes in the Google search algorithms that have had significant on search results. It is Google’s attempt to weed out or devalue inferior sites and bless the more relevant with higher rankings.

In the process these updates impacted local search directories like Yellow Pages, Yellow Book, Yelp, Angies List, CitySearch and others you can see in the charts below. This study is for January – October 2011.

Here are the Panda winners.

Here are the local directories that came out ahead. The big dip you see was caused when Google removed links to those directories on their local Google Place pages. But you can see they recovered from that.

Panda ate these ones for lunch.

Charts from searchengineland.com.

So what does this mean for local businesses?

Well, for one, where you put your advertising dollars should be easier to figure out. Why?

There are fewer viable choices in the IYP field.

The internet yellow page (IYP) sphere is really crowded making it very hard for local businesses to know where to put their money. Should you buy advertising from YP or CitySearch, or Angie’s List or on any of the others, or on all? It’s definitely confusing and if you’re not careful, you could end up throwing money out the window.

So the fact that some are losing ground will make your decision easier. And it could mean the demise of those who have fallen from grace, making your decision even that much easier.

From the looks of these, yellowpages.com and yelp might be a good investment for you. No news to me, frankly.

Google Places is more important.

Google Places is in direct competition with IYP for advertising dollars, so it only makes sense Google would try to direct attention to their Place pages and away from Yelp, CitySearch and others.

This is why they removed the links to those sites on Google Place pages and why you see the big dip. As Google continues to put more emphasis on Place pages and now Google +, you’ll probably see IYP diminish even more.

What does this mean for you, the local business?

It means you need to strengthen your position in Google. This includes both your website and your Google Places page. Here’s what Myles concluded with:

“The power and influence of Google Places continues to grow which makes it even more critical to local businesses. In the short term, this means that good local optimization becomes more essential and competition even more intense. Long term, it puts Google in a extremely dominant position which it could use to hold local businesses to ransom.”

So the big takeaway here is secure your position in Google.

If you want to be a winner, then you need to optimize your website and your Google Place page so both rank well. If you’ve been following along in this series, you already know people are looking for you online, and now you know where it’s most important to be.

How do you optimize for Google?

The answer is much too involved to post here. But in a nutshell, you need to optimize your website using what’s called “search engine optimization” or SEO. You also need to optimize your Google Place page.

I do a lot of public speaking on how to do that and have already posted some Powerpoint local SEO presentations on Slideshare. I will continue to add tips to this blog to help you, as well as LOTS of Local SEO tips on the Kat & Mouse Facebook wall. So be sure to follow this blog and to LIKE the Facebook page and follow along there as well.

For those of you who don’t have the time or the know-how to do it yourself, we recommend hiring a specialist, but because local SEO has its own unique challenges, if you’re going to hire an SEO expert, look for one who specializes in local search.

Local SEO is one of our specialities here at Kat & Mouse, and we get very excited about not only helping local businesses climb the ranks, but also get new customers. Call for a free consultation at 408.694.3706 and we’ll do a quick review of what you’re currently doing online, and make suggestions on what you need to do to be successful.

Now go conquer the bear. To your success!

“Hi Kathy, you are my resident expert…I am trying to increase the audience of my new blog, Stepford Husband, do you have any tips or suggestions?”

David’s post came with this picture on his blog:

Now tell me, if you saw that wouldn’t you follow it?

David, David, David, and you’re asking me for help?

Ok, ok, so that’s not what you meant, but seriously, you are doing something right, VERY RIGHT, and I don’t think I need to tell you what that is.

But I’ll tell you anyway.

Satisfy them, then make them hunger for more.

It doesn’t matter what your topic or how you present it,

if you give your readers (or your voyeurs)…

something that moves them (alright, don’t get any ideas),…

delights them (now, now),…

excites them (uh, oh),…

or in any way leaves them with something memorable (oh my),…

you’ve reached the pinnacle of success (yow!).

This can be an an image, a video, a simple comment, or a treatise. It doesn’t matter.

As long as you’ve satisfied them (sorry, mom)…

and made them beg for more, (ooooh),…

you’re doing it right.

So in practical terms, what does that mean?

It means you START with making your blog inviting, interesting, compelling, exciting, memorable, yada, yada.

Did you get that?

This is how you START. Don’t even think about building a following until you do that.

And David, I don’t have to tell you that. You already know that. You are an amazing, brilliant fashion designer.

You wouldn’t think of going out in public in a red leisure polyester suit with a wide collared purple shirt would you?

So start smart. Put on your best suit. Then step outside.

Ok, so let’s say you do that. Your blog is as jaw dropping as that hunk, I mean that Christmas outfit on your blog.

Now that you’re all dolled up, what now? Where can you go to get the head turns, the cat calls, whistles, and follows for your blog?

Guess what? David, you did that right too!

You posted on my wall and your post included that gorgeous hunk of a man which made me stop, look and listen.

And look what else that did!

You got me to write about it and even include a back link to your blog. Google loves that and now that I’m linking on man’s Christmas outfit, you might even come up in a query for that term! And I linked to your Facebook page! All that will help.

So, David, to answer your question.

You are on the right track. Social media is one of the best ways to get a following. It’s working for you today. Do what you did today with me again and again.

And then to extend your reach, do this:

• LIKE Facebook business pages that are relevant to what you’re trying to do and have the kinds of followers you wish you had. Then get active on those pages. Your goal here is to be visible and to make friends. Don’t be spammy on someone else’s wall! Ask questions, answer questions, comment on posts, share your expertise IF applicable, but be careful. Don’t be spammy.
• Join up with the same and similar at Twitter and start tweeting comments relevant to their interests to get their attention. Occasionally, post your blog link to a new article. Again, don’t get spammy.
• In both Facebook and Twitter, build relationships. This is not just about you. Post about others’ blogs. Tweet and retweet about others. Support them in their hard work.  Spread the love and it will come back to you.
• Create a fashion “list” in Twitter that includes leaders in the field. Include yourself. They’ll see you listed them and may list you back, especially if you’ve got great tweets and you are tweeting or retweeting them. As an example, here’s a list I built of Local SEO experts. It’s a function of Twitter and a very powerful tool!
• Create a paper.li newspaper that will be built from your Twitter fashion list. It’s self-explanatory when you get there. But build your list first. As an example, you can see the Paper.li newspaper I created here with my Local SEO Twitter list.

Tagging, sharing and commenting with Blogger Monday

And here’s one final tip. I love what Ann Evanston is doing on her BloggerMonday Facebook wall. (You’re welcome, Anne. See how social media works, David?)

I wouldn’t be surprised if Anne popped in to say thank you too. How would she know? Because I “tagged” her on my Facebook wall using the @ command. Check it out. She got that “tag” on her wall too. But careful with that. Don’t spam. I felt this was ok because I’m singing her praises here.

Anyway, back to Blogger Monday, every Monday, the first 10 who post their blogs on her wall get to play the game. Everyone playing has to read and comment on everyone else’s post and on this Facebook wall.

You get exposure among the followers and others landing on the BloggerMonday wall. At the end if you’ve done it right, Ann will then Tweet your post to her list of 10,000.

That’s a lot of exposure, but before you play, don’t forget what I told you in the beginning.

To summarize…

If you try to pass off what follows as a tantalizing, delicious, appetizing, beg-for-more post…

It just ain’t going to happen for you.

Stay stylish, David! To your success!
I’ll be following.

Photo credit: http://www.grimmemennesker.dk/ugly-people-571.htm

If you haven’t already, read the prologue to this post. If you don’t want to bother, then here’s a bit of info to set the stage.

In that post I showed how chiropractors in Scotts Valley were just about rendered invisible because Google bestowed a “Site Links” blessing on another chiropractor in town for the query “Scotts Valley chiropractic.” Dr. Hinde, though in position 2, looked like a mere mortal, while Dr. Thibodeau apparently achieved sainthood. On other queries, though, all chiropractors appeared to be on an equal playing ground, yet Dr. Thibodeau still reigned supreme.

This post answers the question, should Dr. Hinde in position 2 for the more popular and lucrative keyword “chiropractor” try for position 1? He also commands the first THREE positions for “Scotts Valley chiropractic office.” Is that enough?

And what about the other chiropractors further down the page and on other pages? Is it worth their time and investment in SEO to try to improve their rank in Google?

Where oh where can I find a Scotts Valley chiropractor?

If you read my previous blog post on where people are going to find local businesses, you’ll know that most are searching online and less in print Yellow Pages, and this is even more true if your market is under 35. Read those statistics here.

You can also read about eye tracking studies that revealed where on the page they look and where they click.

That said, most people looking for a Scotts Valley chiropractor are looking online but don’t even get past the first 3 or 4 results before they make a decision to click or call.

How are Scotts Valley chiropractors stacking up?

I did some research and found these chiropractors in Scotts Valley. Note their position and also note how many Santa Cruz chiropractors – yes, I said “Santa Cruz,” as in a different town – are outranking most of those in Scotts Valley.

I’m showing the results for Google Places instead of organic SEO and website listings because most chiropractors didn’t  even have a website to show up there!

Scotts Valley doctors are in blue and bold.

Query “Scotts Valley chiropractor”

You may be wondering why Dr. Hinde holds so many places in Google Places. This is because he has multiple Place accounts, something I would not advise for a variety of reasons, but I’m not going to get into that here.

The question is, should Dr. Hinde try to move up?

And what about the other doctors? Are their positions good enough?

While we’d all love to be #1 for ALL our keywords, sometimes it’s an unrealistic goal. Here are some things to think about when considering whether or not to optimize your position in the search engines…

Factors that should influence your SEO investment decision

• Where are you now? Are you invisible? Or are you positioned well enough that you are getting enough business from search?
• How much competition do you have and what will it take to outrank them? Besides numbers, I look at how much SEO your competitors are engaged in and how far ahead they are.
• That determined, how much time and expense will it take to get there?
• If you got a higher rank and more calls, can you handle the extra business or are you busy enough?
• How much ROI can you expect from your SEO investment?

So what about Dr. Hinde?

At a quick glance, unless Dr. Hinde is hurting for businesses, I might tell him to not bother. He’s also ranking very well for other keyword queries. He’s sitting pretty, and pretty may be good enough.

I might just tell him to take his family on a vacation instead of spending it on SEO.

On the other hand, I always tell everyone that there is also the danger of competitors overtaking you as they start to get involved in SEO.

So while Dr. Hinde may be sitting pretty today, next month it may start to look pretty ugly. It’s always good to stay alert and to keep moving forward if your budget allows.

It’s the other Scotts Valley chiropractors who need a nudge.

If you reviewed the eye tracking studies mentioned above, you’ll know that the further you go down the page, the less chance you have of getting the click.

So, applying the heatmap to this “scotts valley chiropractor” query for Google Places, who here could benefit from some optimization on their Google Places listing?

Dr. Sutton has left the area, but Living Health Chiropractic and Dr. McNabb, I’m speaking to you, if your schedule is not full, a climb to a better position can help.

This is even more true for the other doctors referenced in the chart above that fall back as far as PAGE 4 and are not being seen AT ALL!

They are giving up business to the neighboring town of Santa Cruz!

Little competition means easy wins.

It doesn’t take much time and research to see that the little town of Scotts Valley doesn’t have many chiropractors. In fact, they’d all fit on the first page. So why aren’t they?

In this case, it’s easy to see why they aren’t positioned well.

Dr. McNabb has had very little SEO done on his site, and what was done needs to be improved.

Can he overtake Dr. Hinde with a little effort? No, because Dr. Hinde is way ahead. But if Dr. McNabb doesn’t improve what he has, he will undoubtedly lose rank as others start optimizing their listings because, coming from an SEO, he is easy to outrank.

Living Health Chiropractic doesn’t even have a website, so they need to start there.

This is true of all the other chiropractors in Scotts Valley as well. None of them have websites!

Perhaps they all need to read this to find out where MOST people are looking for them – and it isn’t the print Yellow Pages anymore. They need a better online presence!

But maybe they don’t care.

Maybe calls they get from the Yellow Pages or from referrals are enough. However, I can’t help but wonder…

Do these Scotts Valley chiropractors know how easy it would be for them to get to page one?

I don’t think those chiropractors realize that getting to the first page in a low-competition market isn’t all that hard. You don’t need a big, expensive website to rank well and you don’t need that to make sales either. A simple website and some modest Google Places and website optimization is all these chiropractors need.

Without it, they are without a doubt losing business to not only their local competitors, but those in nearby towns!

How about you? Is your local business missing out an easy win?

I hate to see things like this – local businesses missing out on opportunities particularly in cases like this where I see clear evidence that it would not be hard to get all these doctors on the first page.

But rank is not all there is. My motto here at Kat & Mouse is, “We chase customers, not rank.”

And now we’ve hit upon my soapbox and the answer to the question posed in this blog’s title – “Would hiring an SEO and #1 position be worth the investment?”

And the answer is…

Being on the first page is only one piece of the puzzle!

It’s important to get people to your website for sure, but if your website turns them away instead of inviting them in, and doesn’t convert your visitors into customers, then what’s the point?

If that happens to you, your investment in SEO could be a complete waste.

So if you’re going to invest in SEO, make sure you hire an expert who has their priorities straight and knows how to deliver you customers, not just rank. Then and only then, will it be a good investment for you.

To your success!
Kat

One of my favorite sources for SEO information, SEOmoz, recently posted their results of an eye-tracking study they did to show how consumers are trying to find local businesses. I could just point a link to their post, which I’ll do here anyway, but I wanted to bring over their study and images because I have some additional points I wanted to make. Here’s their post. And here’s the Kat & Mouse take.

Keyword query 1: “best pizza in Chicago”

It’s clear in this screenshot, that the eyes follow the typical “F” path when viewing the page, i.e., start at the top, move to right, then go down the page, and move to the right less each time.

Note that the #1 position is a purely organic listing.  It has no red pin and no associated Google Place page.  It commanded the most attention, and the red pins below were not strong enough magnets to upset the norm.

The results you see with the pin showing are there because they were favored by Google for both their on and off-site SEO of their website AND the optimization of their Google Place page in what’s called “blended” and not “pure” local results. You can read more about blended and pure local results here.

Keyword query 2: “pizza”

Here’s where we see the “pure” results, or 7 pack. These come up for purely Google Place page optimization only – at least at this moment in time.

Note what happens to the eye here. It’s being pulled down from the top.

It’s unclear why there is such a pull. Is it that visitors are familiar enough with the pins and they recognize them as local businesses, or is it the graphics that are drawing the eye there? Having studied graphic design, I know without a shadow of a doubt that graphics will do that, but it may be the other as well.

Keyword query 3: “pizza hut”

What you see here are “site links.” I wrote about site links in a recent post as well. These come up for branded searches like “Pizza Hut,” a well-known pizza franchise.

Take a look at what captures the eye here.

The 3 pack (again “pure” results) is the draw here. Note that these are all Pizza Hut locations in the area where the query was made, i.e., Chicago. Clearly if someone is searching on “Pizza Hut,” they want pizza and want to find the closest Pizza Hut.

Here is where familiarity with those pins is helpful. I believe this example demonstrates that searchers know what the pins mean, and it may also prove why they chose to look at them in the Query 2 example.

Keyword query 4: “how to make a pizza”

This is not a local search with a geo-modifier, but I’m throwing it in here just the same because it has some valuable insight for you. Take a look.

Where does the eye go?

The answer is, to the images. SEOmoz gave a second example with product images, and the effect was the same. Clearly searchers are attracted to images.

Going for the videos, check out this first page result we got in just 3 hours!

A couple of days ago a client came in for my Jumpstart consultation. I told him how to optimize his site, which he’s working on now, and recommended he put up a Youtube video with a title that included his keywords.

I knew that Google loves videos and will often bring them up on the first page within hours if they are well optimized. I also knew about the strong visual pull videos have on the eye.

Look at the results we achieved in just a few hours.

That video listing is #1 for other search queries not shown here, but I wanted to show you this one in position 3. Does it have to be number 1 to get attention and clicks? According to the eye tracking studies, no.

Do you think that Shodo teacher is getting calls now?

If someone is looking for a Shodo class in San Jose, you bet she is.

Final question – Why  is chicagos-pizza.com #9?

Take a look…

Are you wondering why Chicagos Pizza is #9? I did.

• It has almost the exact name and url of the search query, both of which Google favors.
• It’s located close to city center, another thing that Google loves.
• It has a few Google Place pages that don’t appear to be breaking any rules, and they appear to be nicely optimized.
• Each of their locations has reviews.

Then why does the Google god not bless it with a pin and why isn’t it listed higher on the page?

Well, you’re just going to have to stay tuned to this blog or to Kat & Mouse’s Facebook page where I’ll post the answer.

(And if you like what you see on our Facebook page, be sure to LIKE it so you’ll be sure to get notifications of future posts with helpful tips on what your local business needs to do to  climb to the top and to get customers.)

Last week I showed you some data that revealed where people were looking online to find local businesses. That was part 1 of this series on where people are looking for local businesses.

That report was published in October, 2011. The same research firm released some other numbers back in March. I’m not sure what they say is much different, but I think the chart is clearer, so I wanted to share this with you as well.

ONLINE sources people check BEFORE visiting a local business or restaurant

It should be noted that this report is referring to ONLINE yellow pages, and that this would encompass all yellow page sites (yp, yellowbook, superpages, etc). In case you didn’t know it, but yellow pages is not a brand. Instead, it’s a generic term that refers to more than 2,300 local business directories in the US.

Notable facts

Of particular interest to me is the fact that only 17% click on the first link in the search results.

Earlier reports showed this to be about 42% and this number seems to confirm the results of more recent studies. This indicates to me that people are being more selective and careful in their click choices, probably because of getting used to poor, spammy results. And this is very good news for local businesses. I don’t think they have to break their backs trying to be #1 anymore. A good strong presence on the first page, inviting title and description meta tags, and a landing page that convinces or converts should do it.

Local business search in Facebook is big!

The other fascinating tidbit is that a whopping 12% – almost as many as those who hit review sites like Yelp – went looking for local businesses in Facebook! If you were on the fence about getting a Facebook business page, this should be a wakeup call for you.

Evidently “Yellow Pages” is not dead

30% search in online business yellow page directories (that come in many colors), but just as many never look online at all! That’s a huge number. Could it be they are still using their print Yellow Pages? What else could it be?

So what does that mean for you the local business owner? Well, what it says to me is that maybe, just maybe, the print yellow pages is still a good place to advertise.

Are any of you out there having success with your print yellow page ads? If so, I’d like to hear about it in the comments below.

Are you where the eyeballs are?

Part 3 of this series is live now and shows some interesting eye studies on where people are looking for local businesses on the search results page. Are you where their eyeballs gaze, or are you in the dark. Take a look!

Searching for a local business at home

To no surprise, online search and review sites are where most people go to find local information – 60% of them to be exact in this study of 1000 adults – when they were at home. In the under 35 segment, this increased to 85%! Again, no surprise.

And finally, only 8% said they go to merchants’ websites first before searching. That last metric is a little confusing to me especially since most people have to search to find a website to go to, but regardless of how or why that happens, there is still a crystal clear takeaway from these metrics.

TAKEAWAY 1:

Make sure your local business is easily found in local searches, this includes Google Places, local directories like Yelp, CitySearch and others, and in organic SEO.

Searching for a local business on the road

When it came to mobile searches, according to this survey, searchers relied almost as much on review sites as they did on general search when making a decision about which business to select with 18% relying on general search and 15% on review sites.

The survey results seemed to indicate this was different than desktop searches, but because they didn’t break down the percentages in the desktop results, it’s difficult to know exactly in which way it was different. My guess is that because these searchers are on the road and need to make a decision more quickly, reliance on review sites would be more than if you were at your home computer.

That’s 33% of those surveyed. Evidently the other 67% didn’t use their phone to find a local business at all. Interesting. I believe this contradicts others studies I’ve seen. In any case, this number is on the rise.

TAKEAWAY 2:

Again you need to be visible in search and here reviews are even more important. Are you in local directories that are popular for the reviews they provide. Yelp is probably the most important. How do you look there? If your reviews would send customers away, what are you doing to rectify that? Hopefully, you’re providing great service then actively soliciting positive reviews. Yelp has their own phone app is why this is important for you, but so does Google and people there will be hitting upon Google Places. So get good reviews there as well.

Finally, make sure your website is mobile ready. While the number viewing your site on a phone is very small now, it will grow. Besides, it’s really easy to get a mobile ready site. Many templates in WordPress and Joomla, the two platforms I primarily use here at Kat & Mouse are already mobile optimized or have plugins to make it easy.

How far will they go

Finally, the survey revealed that people are only willing to drive so far to get to you.  How far will they go? When it comes to trying out a new business, 80% won’t travel more than 30 miles to try someplace new, but 39% are willing to travel between 15 and 30 miles.

TAKEAWAY 3:

Don’t expect Google to rank your Google Place page high for a particular city if you are far away. Google’s trying to show people what they want, and they have plenty of data, including their own, to support the fact that most people want to find local businesses close to them.

And if yours is far away from the city center, where most of the searches are taking place, what do you do? Move your business in closer would be one suggestion. Another would be to get a virtual office there. Or you can just be content with where you are and market to those within a 30 mile radius. If you decide to stay put, don’t spend advertising dollars elsewhere. Your ads will fall on deaf ears 80% of the time.

Bouncing ball is not the game you want to play

Bouncy rubber balls might be fun for kids, but bouncing is no fun for online businesses. In fact, it can be downright painful because if they bounce too high, Google will return with a slap so hard it can bury that web page of yours into the ground – and then the game is over.

So what is a bounce?

Google defines bounce rate this way:

“Bounce rate is the percentage of single-page visits or visits in which the person left your site from the entrance (landing) page.”

In other words, bounce is the opposite of stick, so getting people to stick on your site is the goal.

And why should the bounce rate matter to you?

1. Google uses the bounce rate as a signal for the relevancy and popularity of your web page.

Imagine yourself sitting outside a coffee shop on a park bench reading a paper and you notice that everyone who walks into the shop immediately turns away. Other than raise your curiosity about why, after enough people walk away without stepping further than the threshold or coming back out in a matter of seconds, would you think the coffee shop really met those visitors needs? And worse, wouldn’t you think there was something in that shop that was repelling them?

This is what Google thinks when people bounce off your site. Remember, it wants to return results people will be happy with, results they care about and provide what they are looking for.

Google knows which keywords brought them to the site. If people using a particularly keyword consistently turn away, what will Google think about that keyword and its relevancy to you? Clearly, it would think it’s irrelevant.

Why else should you care?

Because if people are bouncing away, they don’t like what you’re offering them.

What should you do about keywords that you want to be relevant to you but that continually bounce people away?

1. Give them what they want.

Make sure the pages that are pulling people in on your keywords actually give them what they want and make them want to stay. How do you do that?

• First step is to  make sure your Title and description metatags are actually relevant. Those are the tags that show up in a Google query. They may be misleading and bringing people in under “false pretenses.”
• Second, if those metatags are right for you, check to be sure the copy on your page continues on after that “metatag introduction,” and that it fills the need of the searcher.
  
  In the example above, you can see lots of bounces for the keywords “Santa Cruz chiropractors” but not for “Santa Cruz chiropractor.” Why?

  We can’t know for sure, but possibly because those looking want to see a complete list of chiropractors in Santa Cruz. Or maybe they’re comparison shopping from one to another.
  
  I don’t know for sure. But in any case, I’d want to try and keep them there and turn them into a customer. I’m making that attempt by drawing lots of attention to Dr. Griffin’s great reviews and “Best Chiropractor” award. No need to comparison shop if you have the best right here is my logic.

  (On the other hand, maybe they are not really bounces at all! See the “Google, listen up” subheading below.)

• Third, make it really clear, visually clear, that that page is about those metatags.

  – Use descriptive subheadings that are big, bold and complete, or almost complete, sentences.

  – Use bullet points to make it easy to see the points you are making on that page.

  I tell my clients to squint when reviewing your page. What stands out? If the keywords, your message, and your call to action don’t, then you have a problem.

Check out the screenshots below and see what a difference the subheadings and heading within the body of the copy make on that page.

Not so sticky

In the screenshot above, you’ll see that Dr. Griffin has links to blog topics on the right which can draw clicks and prevent bounces, and that’s good, but remember, most people landing here are looking for a Santa Cruz Chiropractor.

How well does that page convert for her?

Stickier with less bounce

Would this one get you to stick around more?

Note the title’s reference to “Best Chiropractor,” and the Yelp box on the right.

If you want a great chiropractor in Santa Cruz, would you think you found one or would you bounce away? Stick? or bounce?

2. Dangle the carrot.

Additionally, try to lead people further into your site so they don’t bounce. This is particularly challenging on blog posts because many people just come for the information in that particular post.

How do you get them to visit other pages?

• Invite them to read more by whetting their appetite about other topics you wrote about. You can do this by referencing other articles directly within the article.
• Include the “latest posts” links in your sidebar.
• Use WordPress’ “Related Posts” plugin to show them related posts at the end of the post. (And fix it if it’s breaking as it is in this blog!)
• Offer a special discount (and make it attractive and eye-catching), but make them click to another page to actually get it.
• Place a call to action and lead capture form on every page. Once the page is submitted, they are directed to another page, and, voilá, no bounce.

But, Google listen up, a bounce is NOT always a clear indicator that people aren’t finding what they came looking for.

Why do I say that? Because you may have done such a great job on your landing page that you sold them immediately, and because you put the phone number very visible on every page, maybe they picked up the phone to call you without clicking anywhere in your site.

So I was particularly pleased when I read this tweet by @ruthburr on Twitter in her Pubcon tweets:

“What constitutes a bounce? If a 1-page visit is much shorter than the norm across the ecosystem (depends on niche).”

Did this come from Google itself? I don’t know. I wasn’t there, but I’m trying to find out. Does anyone reading this know?

The bigger question is, is Google now considering time on the page when determining whether or not something is a bounce?

Think about this. Let’s say your niche is plumbers. Most looking for a plumber might check out a page, then call. If they call, they will be sitting on that page for awhile, perhaps not clicking into the site at all – why would they? They already decided to call that plumber. Maybe they even left the page open and walked away with their phone. This probably happens a lot.

So maybe, just maybe, Google is taking this into consideration. According to this logic, then, Google might not consider a one-page visit to the plumber’s site (niche) a bounce unless the visitor didn’t stay long enough to make a phone call. And that would also mean, if Google is doing that, that the bounces for “Santa Cruz chiropractors” shown above really are the kind of bounces that hurt, and by that I mean the kind that hurt business because those bouncers haven’t taken the time to call.

I’m hoping that there is truth in that Tweet. Until we know for sure, though, do your best to catch the ball before it bounces.

And now that you’ve read this, I bet you’re thinking you never knew so much went into SEO. At least that’s true with this SEO.

P.S. If anyone reading this has clever ways to move visitors through the site, please post in comments below.

Many changes have occurred since it was written, thanks to Google’s fickle nature, but most everything here is still relevant.

Enjoy and then return later for that promised Local SEO ebook.