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Scott Jensen

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This month, LocalSplash.com’s Free SEO Webinar Series and Blog are featuring Results-Based Search Marketing as our hot topics! Join our host, SEO Expert Steve Wiideman, and guests Dave Rodecker & Robert Wright as we discuss SEO Research Strategies, Call Tracking, Google Analytics and more!

Do you have any questions that you’d like addressed? Ask here!

This month on LocalSplash.com, we’re featuring Local Search Ranking Factors in our Free SEO Webinar Series, as well as our SEO blog! Make sure to join us on Thursdays at 2pm PST with host SEO Expert Steve Wiideman and our growing list of expert guests!

Do you have any questions that you’d like addressed? Ask here!

Ready, set, optimize! Your Google Local Business Center profile that is. Watch the above webinar to learn from Local Splash SEO Experts how to get higher ranking in Google Maps, Yahoo! Local and Bing Local. If you’re not getting the ranking you deserve or if your competitors are saturating the maps leaving you no space to compete, you need to watch this video. Here’s a summary:

Exploring Google, Yahoo! & Bing Local

Why Local Search?

If you still aren’t convinced that you need to be “on the map”, here are some Local Search statistics you may want to think about:

• 82% of local searchers follow up via a in-store visit, phone call, or make a purchase (TMP / comScore 2009)
• 73% of online activity is related to local content
• 54% of Americans have substituted the Internet and local search for phone books (comScore 2009)
• 35% of all searches are local (DM News 2009)
• 32% of people with smart phones conduct local search (Google)

What’s New in Local Search?

Among other things, a map result can now appear in queries that do not contain a geography. Go ahead and try it. Search for dentist, lawyer or plumber in Google and scan the first page. Interestingly enough, when you do a search for just “pizza”, you get the map, but above that you see the three giants competing for the top spot: Domino’s, Papa John’s, and Pizza Hut (in that order). So either consumers still prefer Domino’s or they just did a heck of a good job with their search engine optimization strategy.

Have you done a search yet for your own product or service? Try both with and without the geography.

Statistics are also a 2009 Google gift to the local business community. You can now view charts, impression data, website visits, and other information that Google used to keep from us.

Place Pages were also introduced by Google. They allow businesses to post instant updates (aka: Live Updates), images, videos, coupons, ratings, references (well, we’ll talk about the references later on). They also include a photo of the location if they have it in their database.

Below is an image showing how easy it is to add content that instills trust, gives access to special offers (irresistible offers can do amazing things), and can give you instant access to the local searcher to get videos and other media.

More about this place shows all of the destinations that mention a business. This is an obvious exploitation of a local SEO ranking factor. We call them “Web References” and they can be extremely powerful. In the video, we show how one business was able to get higher placement in part due to their listings in signonsandiego.com, sddayspas.com, Twitter, Facebook, CityVoter, Kudzu, and AngiesList. Where are you listed?

Encouraging Reviews

Do you know what people are saying about your business in Yelp, Yahoo! Local, BBB.org, RateItAll.com, or any other business review site? Well, chances are these reviews are going to show up in the search engines with stars to represent your rating. Some businesses are stapling post cards to their receipts and offering incentives to rate their business.

Yahoo! & Bing Local

Reading the guidelines and claiming your listing is the first step to getting placement in the two more smaller search engines. Paying attention to categories and beefing up your profile with relevant service and geography information are also things you can do to boost ranking.

SEO Technology

Local Splash uses Relevant Ads Technology to help search for, rank, and optimize business categories (sometimes within days). For businesses who do not want to spend the time researching and monitoring categories and competitor activity, Local Splash may be a great way to go.

Your Local SEO Basic Checklist

Here is a checklist of items mentioned in the webinar. These items along with the syndication of trusted data feeds to the distribution points that make the most impact can produce higher ranking and subsequently more traffic from local search engines.

• Claim your business
• Verify your information
• Select the best categories (think Relevant Ads Technology)
• Add as much information as possible
• Include service areas and menus
• Get profiles in local directories
• Get listed with local agencies (Chambers, etc)
• Encourage reviews

Did You Watch This Local SEO Video?

If you watched the video above and have questions or comments, we’d love to hear from you. Tell us what you thought and definitely sign up for future webinars to get your questions answered live by one of our SEO Experts. Thanks for reading and watching!

Here’s the email we just received:

Dear Google Apps admin,

In order to continue to improve our products and deliver more sophisticated features and performance, we are harnessing some of the latest improvements in web browser technology. This includes faster JavaScript processing and new standards like HTML5. As a result, over the course of 2010, we will be phasing out support for Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0 as well as other older browsers that are not supported by their own manufacturers.

We plan to begin phasing out support of these older browsers on the Google Docs suite and the Google Sites editor on March 1, 2010. After that point, certain functionality within these applications may have higher latency and may not work correctly in these older browsers. Later in 2010, we will start to phase out support for these browsers for Google Mail and Google Calendar.

Google Apps will continue to support Internet Explorer 7.0 and above, Firefox 3.0 and above, Google Chrome 4.0 and above, and Safari 3.0 and above.

Starting next week, users on these older browsers will see a message in Google Docs and the Google Sites editor explaining this change and asking them to upgrade their browser. We will also alert you again closer to March 1 to remind you of this change.

In 2009, the Google Apps team delivered more than 100 improvements to enhance your product experience. We are aiming to beat that in 2010 and continue to deliver the best and most innovative collaboration products for businesses.

Thank you for your continued support!

Sincerely,

The Google Apps team

Email preferences: You have received this mandatory email service announcement to update you about important changes to your Google Apps product or account.

Google Inc.
1600 Amphitheatre Parkway
Mountain View, CA 94043

Who Should Be Worried About This Change?

If you are using an older computer and haven’t upgraded your web browser, you may lose access to your calendar, documents, email, and other Google Apps services unless you upgrade your hardware. Is this you:

• I use an eMachine I bought in 2004
• I use a Macintosh I’ve had since Clinton was President
• When access the Internet, the window says “Provided by Netscape Navigator”
• When I boot my computer on, I get a message that says “Welcome to Windows for Workgroups”
• I can still play the original Oregon Trail and Odell Lake
• On the front of my computer, I see the number 486

What to Do If Your Browser Isn’t Supported

If none of the above are you, then you should be just fine. If not, you may want to take a drive down to your local used computer store and pick up a machine that supports Internet Explorer 7, Firefox 3.0 or Chrome 4.0.

Try upgrading your browser one more time. Chances are you tried to upgrade in 2009 and it crashed your system or froze up every time you opened Internet Explorer 8 or Firefox 3.5, so your “Tech Guy” downgraded you to an older browser.

Here are the links to the latest updates if you fall into this category:

• Internet Explorer
• Firefox
• Chrome

Got More Questions or Need Assistance?

Give us a call at (877) 635-6225 and we’ll see what we can do.

The Local Splash “Asterisk Free” Guarantee offers first page placement or free service.

Fountain Valley, Calif. – January 25, 2010 – Local Splash’s founder and CTO, David Rodecker, announced today that they have officially implemented a performance guarantee that will separate them from the hundreds of online SEM/SEO companies that offer similar services. Local Splash has raised the bar for the industry because no other company has had the confidence to guarantee FREE service if first page placement in organic and local results is not achieved.

The Local Splash Guarantee

Local Splash guarantees that your business will be found on the first page of a major search engine (Google, Yahoo! and/or Bing) within 6 weeks of your account verification; otherwise, upon request your basic service will be absolutely FREE until your business can be found on the first page.

The Local Splash Guarantee applies to any keyword of their clients choosing or one of five categories that are relevant to that company. It is being called the “Local Splash Asterisk Free Guarantee”.
“Our new Local Splash Guarantee represents RelevantAds’ effort to focus on what matters, the customer experience!” Bryan S. Hall, the Director of Customer Experience said. He continues “We are taking the lead for our industry in putting results ahead of dollars without hiding behind asterisks and fine print. We are very excited about this latest evolution of service from Local Splash and confident our customers will be as well!”

Local Splash will make every possible effort to ensure that all of their customers are found on the first page of one of the major search engines in the allotted time frame. However, in the rare instance when it does not happen within six weeks, their Local Splash service will be free until they are found on the first page.

“This guarantee should make it clear where we stand as a company. We see ourselves as leaders in the SEM/SEO industry and we stand behind our products and service.” says Rodecker. “In an industry that is full of over–promising and under-performing companies, Local Splash stands alone in assuring local businesses that we have their best interests in mind.”

About Local Splash

Local Splash is a Search Engine Marketing service that gets clients ranked on the first page of major search engines. Local Splash provides local (map), organic and pay-per-click results. The company behind the Local Splash service is RelevantAds, Inc., headquartered in Fountain Valley, California. RelevantAds, Inc. uses proven, proprietary technology for local search engine placement (LSEP) and Search Engine Optimization (SEO) to get clients ranked in the first page of search engine results. Clients include local businesses and national chains that target customers by geographic areas. Relevant Ads offers a great business opportunity to qualified resellers. For more information about LocalSplash, or if you are interested in becoming a reseller, contact Local Splash today.

Relevant Ads looks to former Yahoo! executive, Steve Yeich, for leadership and experience.

Relevant Ads, a leading provider of local search services, today announced the appointment of Steve Yeich as the company’s Chief Executive Officer. As CEO, Yeich will be responsible for the day-to-day operations of the company as well as the strategic planning process including product and business development.

Fountain Valley, CA (PRWEB) January 15, 2010 — Relevant Ads, a leading provider of local search services, today announced the appointment of Steve Yeich as the company’s Chief Executive Officer. As CEO, Yeich will be responsible for the day-to-day operations of the company as well as the strategic planning process including product and business development.

“I am very excited to have Steve Yeich leading the Relevant Ads team,” said Founder and CTO, Dave Rodecker, “His expertise in taking companies from their early stages and leading them to higher levels of growth and profitability will serve us and our growing customer base well. In addition to operational leadership, Steve brings experience in venture funding, M&A and the IPO process with companies such as Printrak International, eRealty, Matrix NetSystems and Overture.”

Steve is one of the early pioneers of local search. He was VP and GM of Local Search at Overture and Yahoo! where he and his team created and launched the first pay-per-click product for local advertisers. Just prior to joining Relevant Ads, Steve was General Manager of the Aftermarket and Registrar Business Unit of Oversee.net where he led two recently acquired companies: SnapNames and Moniker. Steve graduated with honors from Penn State and Harvard Business School.

“David (Rodecker) has put together a great team and an incredible product offering with the Local Splash suite of products. With its proprietary and scalable technology platform, Relevant Ads is poised to become an industry leader in local search advertising.” Yeich says.

About Relevant Ads

Relevant Ads is headquartered in Fountain Valley, California. RelevantAds.com uses proprietary technology and techniques for local search engine placement (LSEP) and Search Engine Optimization (SEO) through their Local Splash products for local business and national chains. Relevant Ads offers a great business opportunity to quality reseller affiliates.