This new “Graph Search” taps into user data and gives you customized results for things like “restaurants in Huntington Beach that my friends like,” or “people in Chicago who have the same interests as me.”  This differs from other search engines in that you can usually search for “restaurants in Huntington Beach” on Google and Bing, and obviously get relevant results for that search, but you don’t have the ability to find ones that your friends already approve of to this degree.

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Google, using Google+ and “Search plus Your World,” and Bing with their social sidebar, have made attempts to tie social signals into their search results with minimal success– but Facebook is the most likely candidate to make a real impact on social search with this new platform. Almost everybody you know is already on Facebook, already sharing their personalized data, and they already expect the Facebook experience to be socially driven.

In the past, users of traditional search engines have voiced concerns over social search with 62% of respondents saying they do NOT want social results mixed with traditional search results. Maybe Google and Bing weren’t the right arenas for searches driven by the social-graph; maybe Facebook will be the revolution that causes search to truly be more personalized than ever before because people already expect it to know about their “likes,” interests, and friends.

This could be a major development for the social side of local business marketing.  Businesses that have an active, positive presence on Facebook will have more opportunities than businesses without an optimized Facebook presence. This adds another layer to SEO, because depending on how successful and popular Facebook’s Graph Search becomes once it’s released to the public, and how effective the results are, it could be a major competitor against traditional search engines when it comes to search conversions via recommendations from friends.

Social approval is like gold in the marketing world, and is part of why Facebook marketing has proven to be so successful.  By combining that with traditional search capabilities and Facebook’s enormous mine of already-existing user data, you basically have the potential for a new search engine on crack, and the potential to majorly lose out if you’re not prepared for this new stream of marketing.

If you’re not already in the game, don’t panic. You can easily get your business front and center in the Facebook search world with a few tips. Facebook actually provided a few, themselves. (Gasp – is this the new era of a search engine providing transparency to web property owners? Not likely, but an interesting thought.)

First and foremost, make sure you have a “Page” for your business.  Fill it out completely. Get relevant followers and likes. Interact with your fans. Basically, manage your page to the best of your abilities like you should be whether or not Facebook Graph Search existed. You should be doing these things already!

Our Facebook Page: Click to Enlarge

Now, onto the nitty-gritty. Facebook says that these things will “help people find your business” (read between the lines – impact their search results):

• Name
• Category
• Vanity URL – For example, ours is facebook.com/tophatrank
• Information in the “About” section
• Updated/Correct Address
• “The right fans” – This is up for interpretation, but I believe it means your fans should be relevant and also be fans of other things similar to you. No fakies!
• “Giving your fans a reason to interact with your content on an ongoing basis” – Also up for debate, but I think it means your page with 10,000 likes but NO interaction probably won’t perform as well as the page with 5,000 likes and amazing, consistent interaction.  In other words, once again, your fans should be relevant and your page should be engaging.

I’m going to say that all of your Facebook page optimization will come down to two overreaching things: relevance and votes.

By relevance, I mean the relevance of the bullets listed above. Your name, your category, the things you share, the keywords in your “about,” your location, the interests of those who like you, the keywords in the things you share, the list goes on and on. Are they relevant to the search you’re targeting? Need I say more?

By votes, I mean the approval of the community. The number of likes that you have on your page, the types of people that like your page, and the number and type of likes and shares that your posts receive are all different levels of “votes.”  EdgeRank probably ties in here somehow, too.  Maybe they will even factor in a like from someone with 5,000 friends to count more than a like from someone with 100 friends.  Nobody truly knows. Equate this to relevant backlinks, ie. Maybe there’s a low quality like vs a high quality like that carries more weight.  Maybe some “votes” will count more than others depending on the other pages that they like, and their level of consistency and activity, or if they seem to be a like-bot.

Whatever you take from this, make sure that

1. You have a page,
2. Everything on your page is relevant,
3. You have a lot of “votes,”
4. Your “votes” are relevant.

Everybody in SEO has heard it before: “content is king,” which still rings true here. Have great, relevant content in every way that you can, and gain your “votes” organically rather than spam-ically (yes I just made that up), and you’ll be ok!

Holy moly it’s another amazing blog written as part of a series on optimizing for Apple Maps. Here are the first and second posts in the series. If you have any questions or want to chat, feel free to leave a comment or tweet me @TopHatHannah and I’ll try to answer any of your questions the best that I can. It’s ok, I don’t bite.

In our last two blogs about Apple Maps Optimization, we discussed what should be your overall tactics for optimization as well as exactly how to verify and update your business information with Acxiom – a data company that is expected to be one of the main business listing providers for Apple Maps.

In this latest installment, you’ll learn how to make sure your physical business location shows up correctly in Tom Tom’s database and is therefore (hopefully) easily navigated to once Apple Maps is actually released, assuming they are using Tom Tom’s data how we think they will. We will also be showing you the best way to correct your listing if there is a problem.

Keep in mind that much of this advice is speculation – nobody is exactly sure how each data source is being utilized with Apple Maps or how much weight each company’s data is given, and we can’t guarantee that if you follow these steps you will be totally optimized for Apple Maps. All of these things are still good things to know, though. So let’s get started!

Checking Your Business Address

First you’ll want to check to see that your business address shows up correctly. This is really quite easy. You can do this here, at Tom Tom’s Route Planner.

Just click on the “find a location tab” and enter the address you would like to verify. If your location shows up correctly, you are all done! Ta da! If not, move on to the next step.

Correcting an Incorrect Business Address

If your business address showed up in the wrong location on Tom Tom’s maps, you’ll need to update it in their system.

In a sense, there are two ways to do this. The solution that Tom Tom supplied via twitter was to submit a change to their community map-update program “Map Share.”

This doesn’t necessarily update their official map, though it is taken into account in the community maps and can eventually be adopted as an official change.

This is why I would suggest going a step further and reporting your issue directly with Map Insight by Tele Atlas (the company that Tom Tom gets its maps from.)

This way, you have all of your bases covered and can feel confident that you’ve done what you can in regards to your incorrect business address listing.

There you have it! It seems that making changes to TeleAtlas and Tom Tom data for the sake of Apple Maps optimization is definitely a time-worthy task, though not as daunting as correcting information with Acxiom. Just take the time to follow these steps and you should be on the right track for showing up correctly when iOS 6 is released this fall.

Let us know in the comments if you’ve had any experience with updating data among these companies and how it went for you – and as usual, check back soon for more updates and advice!

This is an awesome freakin’ article written in response to our last blog post on Apple Maps. If you have any questions or want to chat, feel free to leave a comment or tweet me @TopHatHannah and I’ll try to answer any of your questions the best that I can. It’s ok, I don’t bite.

Ever since Apple Maps was revealed, the SEO community has been talking all about how to make sure your business is optimized for it – even us! In short, we’ve said that there are a few main things you need to do:

1. Confirm that all of the main data providers have the exact same, correct NAP (Name, Address, and Phone number) for your business. These providers include Localeze, Acxiom, and InfoUSA.
2. Monitor your Yelp listing – make sure that everything in your listing is correct, and do everything in your power (besides bribing, of course!) to get more great reviews.
3. Make sure your business shows up correctly in TomTom/TeleAtlas maps. Even if you optimize your listing correctly and a customer finds and chooses your business, you’re out of luck if it’s shown incorrectly on the map.

This is all awesome and great information, right? Well not if you don’t have a way to implement it! On our last blog, one of our readers pointed out that everyone was suggesting pretty much the same stuff, and although Yelp and Localeze are pretty easy to figure out, nobody was detailing how to make sure your business information is correct on Acxiom and Tom Tom.

First, let me start by saying – this wasn’t easy to find out! There are no “check my listing on Acxiom” or “confirm my location with Tom Tom” buttons. I did find the $50 subscription to update Acxiom listings that he mentioned (which actually is affiliated with Acxiom, not just a third-party service) – but I had to dig a little deeper than that. It just didn’t make sense that Acxiom and Tom Tom wouldn’t provide a way to locate and correct business data!

Don’t they want the most updated information possible – and wouldn’t it be great if business owners were willing to donate their time for free to give it to them?!

To explain all of this would make a really long boring post, so today we’re just going to cover the Acxiom side of things. Not to mention I haven’t gotten a full answer from Tom Tom yet.

How to Claim and Update Acxiom Listings

I spent quite a bit of time digging around, and when I still couldn’t find a good enough answer, I took advantage of their live chat feature, probably much to the dismay of the nice person on the other end.

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“The $50.00 subscription includes:
The ability to correct and add additional features to your business listing that will be redistributed to: Over 80 companies in the Internet Yellow Page and Local search marketplace, Directly to the largest search engines—Google, Yahoo, Bing, Over 250 distribution partner through online private labeled solutions. If you do not want to subscribe to the above services, you may claim, activate and remove your business listing from our database at no charge.”

Here was my (probably annoying) response:

“Why is there a charge for it? Wouldn’t you guys want to make sure your data is correct anyways? It seems strange to charge people for something that kindof does your company a favor.”

Their reasoning? Because it’s redistributed:

“As stated above the charge is not simply so that you can correct information it allows you to take part in the redistribution as well. To note if you do not want to subscribe to the above services, you may claim, activate and remove your business listing from our database at no charge.”

BUT:

“If you correct your listing with the local tele-comm company then if we buy new data, it could refresh with up-to-date and correct information … after you delete it.”

So, after asking a few more questions, I confirmed that you can effectively update your business information with Acxiom by updating it with your local tele-comm companies.

“Hannah: Ok. So another option to make sure that my business listing is correct in Acxiom’s database (at least eventually) is to make sure that it is correct with local tele-comm companies? (at least if I don’t want to pay the $50)
Sean: Yes. Make sure it is correct with them and then delete the listing with us.”

Unfortunately, my chat buddy wasn’t able to supply me with a list of which tele-comm companies. He wasn’t able to confirm a specific time-frame for updates, either, though he did say that “I know there are certain parts of Acxiom that update databases monthly, weekly, daily and quarterly.”

The lesson here, then, is that if you don’t want to pay the $50 subscription fee for Acxiom to directly update, enhance, and redistribute your listing (which takes “At least 30 days from the date you update it.”), to just make sure your business is listed correctly among your local tele-comm providers.

Eventually, Acxiom will pick this up and everything will be handy dandy again. The only question is how long are you (or your business) willing to wait, in the case that you do have incorrect information?

Google+ Local (formerly Google Places) recently launched as well, already having 80 million local business listings and years of experience and input about what works with local search and how to (supposedly) give people the results they want. Apple claims to be starting Apple Maps out with 100 million listings.

In Mike Dobson’s blog, he says he thinks “Apple decided to produce a mapping/routing/local search service on the basis of branding, not on the basis of this being an area in which the company possesses, or could ever hope to wield, a significant competitive advantage.”

This could be true. Maybe Apple doesn’t know what they are getting into. On the other hand, maybe Apple Maps will blow everyone out of the water! One way to judge the quality of data being served is the data sources. Here is a list of what seems to be the providers for Apple’s Maps data, according to Greg Sterling:

• TomTom
• Acxiom
• CoreLogic
• DigitalGlobe
• DMTI
• Getchee
• Intermap
• LeadDog
• Localeze
• MapData Sciences Pty Ltd.
• MDA Information Systems, Inc
• Urban Mapping
• Waze
• Yelp

It seems that data and ratings for listings will come from a special blend of Acxiom, Localeze, and Yelp, all on top of a Tomtom-based map.

This brings even more to the local optimization table. Not too worry though – as long as you have been following best practices, you should still be ok. The basics for tackling Apple Local optimization for now are the same for all local optimization:

1. Make sure your business is correctly listed with the primary data providers: Localeze, Acxiom, and InfoUSA.
2. All of these listings need to be 100% consistent with NAP – your Name, Address, and Phone number.
3. Stay on top of your Yelp listing. Make sure it has the exact same data as the providers above. Monitor reviews and get as many high ratings as you can! As of now, when someone asks Siri for a recommendation, rankings seem to be heavily weighted based on number of reviews.
4. You’ll need to make sure your business address shows up correctly across TomTom and TeleAtlas maps so that people can actually find your business once they select it.

That’s it for now!  As long as you have been able to effectively manage the current local search ecosystem and you have a decent number of positive reviews on Yelp, you will be starting out on the right foot with Apple Search. They seem to be pulling data from many of the same providers for the current search ecosystem. Unfortunately, although Apple has a history of great product design, this has nothing to do with data management. Only time will tell if Apple’s local index delivers more relevant results, rather than just more, than Google.

As always, let us know what you think! We’ll be monitoring this issue so check back for updates as it is inevitable that Apple will have to do some adjusting to find a comfortable algorithm once they roll out these new features, and the game may change quite a bit.

Addition of Content Experiments

First off, you can now execute content experiments in the content section, which will allow you to perform goal-conversion tests on different versions of the same page. Basically, it helps you determine which version of a page best fulfills the goal that you are aiming for. This new feature allows you to test up to 6 variations of the same page.

Here’s what you need to know:

If you already had a Google Places listing, you already have a “Google+ Local page.” No, you don’t need to make one. To demonstrate this, just search for your business on Google Maps, select your listing, and click more info. Boom, there’s your Google+ Local page! You can easily see how Google Places results have been replaced by a combination of Google Places listings that now lead to Google+ Local pages.

Just click “more info” when the business is found in Google Maps.

This integration with Google+ will allow for more functionality than the static results that were used in Google Places. With your Google+ local page, you will be able to interact with customers, similar to the way in which you can interact with fans on a Facebook business page. You can host “hangouts,” be added to circles, add others to your circles, and even post updates, pictures, and videos. This allows tons of opportunity to interact with your customers and turn businesses into communities.

Reviews will now be linked to Google+ profiles, which is both good and bad for a few reasons. Let’s start with the good:

• Reviews will be more trusted, as they will be linked to real people (unless they were written before the change, in which case Google says the reviews will be attributed to “A Google user.” Users can claim these reviews with their Google+ profile.) This will likely give each review more impact since users tend to trust people they know more than others.
• Users will be able to search for and filter businesses based on their circles, which is an extension of the “trust” factor that comes with the link between profiles and reviews.

Now for the bad:

• In order to leave reviews, customers will have to jump through more hoops. They will have to make a Google+ profile if they don’t already have one, log in, and find your business. This could polarize reviews, causing an onslaught of only very negative or very positive reviews, as most users will only go through this many steps if they feel very strongly about what they have to say. In the long run when most users have already signed up and are used to needing a Google+ profile to access Google’s services, this won’t be as much of an issue. For now, though, it may have an effect.
• Businesses may need to request reviews and follows from their clients and educate them on how to do so. It may be difficult to convince customers to add you to their circles – how many active users of Google+ are actually going to add their chiropractor or electrician to their circles without a push?! It’s certainly another hoop to jump through.

The Google+ Local page layout is much more visual than before. Customers can judge a business more quickly, as there is a very strong focus on pictures, and the 5-star rating has been replaced by the more thorough Zagat ratings which appear above the fold, below the main pictures and business contact info.

The new Google+ Local layout.

 To see the end result of these changes, here is a listing that Google worked with and shared to demonstrate a fully upgraded local Google+ page: The Meatball Shop.

As a business owner or social firm with access to Google Places listings, it’s time to promote your Google+ Local page. Check that all of your contact information is updated, add some awesome pictures, take care of duplicate listings, and get your company and your customers on board. The big picture here is that search is becoming more social and we all need to hop on the Google+ train to adapt. Complete integration with Google+ across all Google products – including Search, Maps, and Mobile – is on the way, and although the other services haven’t become obsolete yet, they will eventually. Google is just moving slowly to give everyone time to adapt. Our advice is to start now so you won’t get left behind!

Who’s Behind Squidoo
Seth Godin, a Tufts University and Stanford University graduate, founded the website Squidoo. Godin is considered an American authority on the subject of permission marketing. Previously, Godin had success with his website Yoyodyne, which concentrated on online games, puzzles, and contests. Squidoo was Godin’s first information-based website business venture. In the testing and beta stages of Squidoo, Godin invited Megan Casey, Gil Hildebrand Jr., and Corey Brown to help found and develop the website. After Squidoo was released, Megan Casey became the Editor-in-Chief, Gil Hildebrand became the Chief Engineer, and Corey Brown became the Chief Operating Officer.

What are Squidoo Lenses?
Squidoo is known for its invention of the online “lens.” Squidoo’s online lens is an article that is very similar to a blog post, but only covers information on a single subject. Godin wanted anyone to be able to introduce information on Squidoo by posting on a subject’s lens. Squidoo does not require that people who post have professional expertise in the subject, but they do encourage that all people who post at least have an explicit, specific interest on the subject they post on. Moreover, topics can have more than one lense. The popular social networking website, Myspace, for example has dozens of lenses dedicated to it while Jane Goodall had some but not many. Thus, Squidoo provides interesting information but also gauges the interest in particular subjects.

Squidoo Gives and Gives Back!
Squidoo is also known for its unique dedication to setting aside 5% of their profit toward charity. Some of the charities Squidoo has contributed to include the American Heart Association as well as Planet Gumbo. Furthermore, 50% of the website’s profit goes to its lensmasters, the users who create or write the website’s content. In this way, Squidoo is both interactive and lucrative. Because Squidoo gives some of their profit to their lensmasters, they do check the accuracy, activity, and integrity of their lensmasters. Often, lensmasters are rated through a number of different rank and point systems such as the SquidMonster title, the SquidTrophies reward system, and experience points.

Squidoo has received acclaim from several websites, published newspapers, and other institutions. CNN, the New York Times, and the Washington Post have all praised Squidoo for its innovative take on search engines and interactive online communities. The South by Southwest (SXSW) company awarded Squidoo the top prize of the online community category. In 2008, Squidoo was named one of the top 500 most visited websites online and has remained on the list since then.

Squidoo is a great opportunity to discover information from people who are passionate about the subjects. This passion often produces a greater attention to detail and more accurate information. Moreover, contributors to Squidoo often find themselves able to immerse themselves within their interests more deeply and share their passions with a wide and interested audience.

This is a Guest Post Article written by David Silva who is the Sales & Marketing Coordinator for Blue Link Associates, a provider of Inventory & Accounting ERP Software provider. He is an active blogger in the business technology space, especially in regards to sales and marketing.

There was a period, some time ago, when selling was straight-forward. Sales reps hit the road full of ambition, desire for success and little else. These reps would approach clients one-by-one and do what they do best – pitch product. Sometimes it would work, sometimes it wouldn’t but by being persistent they were able to persevere. This process is changing rapidly, however, and is becoming less effective every day. This article will explore these changes and what can be done to leverage the changing business environment.

Technology, especially the internet, has completely revolutionized just about everything, and the business environment is certainly no exception. Customers now demand much more from those they do business with; they expect affordable but quality product, delivered with increasing speed. Traditional sales reps may have a difficult time meeting these growing demands. As a result, sales reps and business owners have turned to technology to solve this problem.

Modernizing Your Sales Force

As customers grow accustomed to dealing with consumer-facing sites like Amazon and eBay, they come to expect the same experiences when conducting business elsewhere – even in the Business-to-Business (B2B) space. Many B2B companies are now scrambling to increase the ease of buying for this growing consumer group by offering online ordering portals with the ability to search for, and order, product online with live customer-specific pricing. These e-Commerce portals are a common solution for both B2B and B2C businesses.

Online ordering systems, referred to broadly as eCommerce, can be thought of as sales people that are available 24/7 for selling. When viewing these systems from this viewpoint it is clear why many businesses are implementing them – the ROI can be very attractive. Although the systems may be somewhat costly up-front, their ability to allow customers to view product and enter orders whenever they please can increase sales and reduce dependence on the sales force.

Mobilizing Your Sales Force

A number of technologies now exist to connect sales reps to home base and make for more effective selling. There was once a time where sales reps had no choice but to load up on dozens of brochures, product sheets and binders to bring with them on the road. Now, sales reps can access this information online through eCommerce portals, the company website and the company’s back-end inventory and accounting ERP Software. This not only means that sales reps can provide better information to customers, but they can also access real-time information such as inventory levels and even enter orders directly into the system from the customer’s site. Obviously this saves a lot of time, effort and leads to increased customer satisfaction.

Many modern ERP systems can now be accessed remotely with ease and devices such as tablets, notebook computers and even mobile phones. These technologies can be used to avoid some of the common (and hopefully disappearing) problems of selling in the field:

• Taking customer orders only to have to call them and inform them of stock outages
• Presenting out of date information, such as pricing, available on hard copies
• Having customers wanting to place orders and being unable to do so in an immediate streamlined process (having to call in, instead of simply submitting the order online)

By modernizing and mobilizing your sales force, you can keep them effective in a rapidly changing technological environment. Your sales reps are still extremely valuable, but without the proper tools they will quickly become uncompetitive. It is always important to make it as easy as possible for your customers to buy from you. After all, since they are opening their wallets, they expect only the best – not just from your products, but from the entire process.

This is a Guest Post Article written by Vicky Anscombe who is an Online PR and Social Media Consultant for Further, a Norwich-based SEO and Marketing agency. She enjoys writing blogs on varying topics, making brownies, eating brownies and watching Father Ted over and over again.

Why Social Media Matters

Even if you’re a newcomer to the world of online networking, you’ll be aware that social media is an online phenomenon that is rapidly growing – and changing every day. This makes it hugely powerful, and hugely interesting – but also rather frightening, if you’re not used to the idea of getting your business online. ‘Experts’ in this field don’t exist yet – so we’re all still using common sense when it comes to handling our social media accounts, which is no bad thing.

If you’re still unsure of social media, and your company is without a social media account, it’s time to put your fears to one side, and examine the reasons why you should look at getting online…

1. It’s free, fast and it’s easy to use. If people need to contact you, they can use a channel that won’t cost them any money (telephone) or could take a while getting to you (email). Twitter messages are sent instantly, and you can reply instantly. This is great for companies who need a high level of customer service and who value speedy responses.
2. It adds a new dimension to your brand. Social media isn’t a magic recipe for increasing sales by 2,000%, but you can use it to communicate and engage with your existing customers, thereby improving your brand’s reputation – and reaching out to potential customers. People enjoy talking to their favourite brands, seeing what you’ve been up to, and finding out your plans for the future.
3. Promote your successes. Won a prize for your services? Been nominated for an award? Got a brand new team that is making you prouder every day? Social media lets you upload your pictures and talk about your achievements, no matter how small. It’s PR at its most basic level, and it shows your followers that you value your business.
4. Moving with the times. Businesses that refuse to use social media on the grounds that it’s ‘not for us’ or they ‘don’t need it’ are sometimes right, but not often. Unless you run a correctional facility or a scrapyard, you should into exploring social media. The one thing that you don’t want is your customers thinking you’re afraid of change, which is what might happen if you stubbornly refuse to embrace new things.
5. It’s low maintenance. You don’t have to constantly update your Facebook or Twitter; just a few updates a day will keep your followers aware of your online presence. Nobody expects you to tweet every ten minutes. If anything, all you need to look out for are queries and comments, and when it comes to complaints, the sooner you respond, the better.

There are two ways to receive an account, through visiting the website or asking a friend that has an account to send you an invitation. The next step is installing a “pin it button” on to your task bar, this allows you to pin anything of interest to a board. Another option is to copy and paste pictures from your favorite websites on to your board.

The biggest question, “What is Pinterest.com and how do I use it for my Business?” This website, which was started in 2010 has over 11 million visits a week and can be linked with facebook or twitter and broadens the spectrum of your visibility. The difference between Pinterest and facebook is Pinterest allows other people to view your board not just your friends. The opportunity to enhance your business is phenomenal, if the staff determines your board interesting it will be added to the home page. This opportunity will assist in showcasing what your business has to offer.

Organizing a board on Pinterest exposes your Pins to millions of people who may be interested in what your business has to offer. Keep In Mind – Pinterest does not like it when all of your pins are aimed to promoting your business, so make sure to have some with it! The neater your pinboard the better and Pinterest will allow you to have as many boards as you want.

The repining feature lets other people pin your picture to their board, some do this to save an image for future review other do this as a method of sharing and further promoting your pin.

In conclusion – Pinterest is the newest up and coming social website that provides a fantastic opportunity to showcase and share your business. Your pin board allows people a glimpse into your brand and what your brand has to offer (product). The ability for additional people besides your friends to view the board can create a multitude of exceptional opportunities for your business to grow and thrive.