Most Popular Mobile Search Business Types

The following are the most popular mobile search business types according to Google stats.

• pizza
• restaurants
• bars
• taxi
• car service
• limo also limousine
• auto repair also car repair
• auto insurance also car insurance
• tire repair
• oil change
• car wash
• used cars
• car rental also auto rental
• car towing also auto towing
• bike shops also bicycle shops
• bike repair also bicycle repair
• bike rental also bicycle rental
• flower delivery
• delivery
• nail salons
• hair salons

Obviously those businesses are reaching the most consumers on the go. If your business type is in one of them, you’d better have a mobile ready website which works perfectly under both traditional internet browsing and mobile browsing.

Is Your Website Mobile Friendly?

As you know that mobile devices are having much smaller screen than those laptops or desktop computers, most of the websites (I would say more than 80% of them) are not mobile friendly, which means their website look awful on smartphones like iPhone, BlackBerry, and so on.

Yet their website may have a  fancy and functional view on a computer, they won’t be looking good on smartphones if traditional websites are not optimized for mobile browsers.

Besides those fancy flash won’t work on any mobile browser. Plus people won’t be able to select the telephone number and make calls directly to the local businesses if they want, because those phone numbers are “nicely” made in images rather than plain texts.

For local businesses, especially for those pizza stores, car wash, flower delivery, car rental, taxi, restaurants, etc., it is critical to have a website working under both traditional computers and mobile devices. Because those businesses are most frequently searched by the mobile users.

Think of this: mobile has the broadest reach of 4.8 billion users vs. internet 1.7 billion. By the end of 2010, there will be about 5 billion mobile users when the world population gets 6.8 billion. Mobile gets 5 times better sales conversion rate than traditional online. Mobile gets 7 times better coupon redemption rate than online and offline…

So really mobile marketing is the future of internet marketing, best of all it just gets started.

If you want to know whether your local business website is mobile friendly or not, please go to this useful website for checkup. And if  you want to have a mobile friendly website setup, just contact your local business marketing consultant.

Onsite Video Interview Local Real Estate Agent

As one part of my marketing services, video marketing is considered to be the quickest and the most effective online marketing channel. Plus it is a lot more easier to get ranked by Google. (But it depends on what niche you are in. For real estate niche, it is the case.) It allows your potential customers to know you and like you without having to see you fact to face. Video interview is one of the most influential way to build local professional’s rapport. After producing and editing the video, I will then submit it to over 40 video sharing sites, like youtube, dailymotion, clip.tv, Metacafe and so on.

If you are interested to get the service, please contact me here.

Dominating Google First Page for 16 Keywords In 6 Months

As I had found out that Vancouver real estate market niche is highly competitive, I have been continuously promoting one of Vancouver real estate agents website for 6 months so far. Things were happening exactly as I’d predicted. Currently her website and all the web2 contents dominate first page of Google for multiple keywords. Actually not only it ranks top on Google, but on Bing and Baidu.

Here is the list of 16 highly ranked keywords for that website (on Google/Bing/Baidu):

keywords	ranking
温哥华华人房地产经纪	1,6,8
温哥华房地产	4,7,8,11
温哥华房地产博客	1,4,5,6
温哥华房地产播客	1,2,3,4
温哥华房地产投资	2,3,4,7
温哥华房地产经纪	3,6
温哥华海景公寓	9
温哥华海景房	3,4,8,10
buy homes in point grey vancouver	10
luxury homes for sale vancouver	1
point grey beach homes	1,2
point grey luxury homes	1,4,5,9
real estate point grey vancouver	1,3,6,7,8
sell real estate vancouver	9
top real estate agent Vancouver	1,2
vancouver point grey real estate	5,9,10

I am also monitoring other 15 keywords whose ranking is increased to 20 and above.

I had used almost all the search engine marketing methods including articles, web2, videos, bookmarking, directory, and podcasting. And I found that it usually take about 1 to 3 months for a domain to rank top 10 when using those multiple marketing methods consistently. I also found that videos were ranked much faster than other SEM method alone.

However for real estate, such a competitive niche, Google will not usually open up a window for video result for real estate related keywords. Therefore I had to use all the SEM marketing methods simultaneously.

For some of the keywords, Google happens to rank that website in the local business results, which is really a bonus for us. Because I didn’t add any geographic modifier to the keyword, Google still show the local business results.

Mobile Marketing Potential For Local Business in Canada

According to the “Small Business Technology Poll” in US from AT&T, mobile and wireless technologies such as smartphones, Wi-Fi hotspots and laptop data cards are becoming more important for small-business owners.

More than one-fifth of respondents said they could not be in business at all without wireless technologies, and a further 43% claimed it would be a major challenge. That makes mobile and wireless critical for about two-thirds of small businesses. This reflects the increase in use of mobile and wireless tech among small businesses over the past two years.

You must be asking how’s the mobile usage between Canadians.

In 2008, the Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association (CWTA) commissioned Harris/Decima to assess the penetration of wireless phones among Canadian households and to help them understand key usage trends, behaviors, and attitudes surrounding wireless phones.

The results from the 2008 study reveal that not only has wireless phone usage increased significantly over the past 10 years, but that the way in which wireless phones are used has also changed a fair bit.

Text messaging and taking pictures tops the list of the most common activities that are performed with cellular phones (excluding voice calls). Canadians use mobile phones to send or receive text message at 44% of the total usage; to take pictures at 36% usage; to search on the internet at 7% usage.

Since more and more people use mobile phone to browse the internet, especially searching for local information, i.e. local weather, local news, local restaurants and stores, there are huge potentials for local businesses to approach their potential buyers through mobile marketing.

In a press release dated February 24, 2009, BIA/Kelsey predicted that mobile local search ad revenues in the U.S. will grow to $1.3 billion by 2013, from $20 million in 2008, representing a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 130.5 percent.

Additionally, BIA/Kelsey also predicts that mobile local searches will make up for 35% of all searches in 2013, up from 28% in 2008.

“As mobile data consumption rises, we expect local marketing to be a big winner,” said Michael Boland, program director, Mobile Local Media, The Kelsey Group.

Email Marketing Ideas For Local Restaurants

There are two steps to do Email marketing for any type of local business: the first one is list building and the second is to run email campaigns.

For local restaurant businesses, there are many ways of building your email list. Here are just some examples:

1. Include an email sign up on the comment card and bring them with the check to the clients in person when they finish the meal.

2. Insert a card promoting your email campaigns with your take-out and delivery orders. Simply put your site URL in it and tell people to go there to sign up for a special deal or something.

3. Sign people up for your email newsletter when they make the reservation. If you can have a reservation form on your site, it’ll be even better because people already become your email subscribers before they become your clients.

Now comes the email campaigns. What you should include in your email newsletters. Here are some ideas:

1. Menu. It could be your seasonal menu, menu change, or ingredients in your dishes;

2. Coupons. A small discount, exclusive to your email subscribers, will keep customers coming back;

3. Directions. Provide a link to driving routes, tips on parking, and public transportation information;

4. Gift cards. If you have them, speak it out. People are always looking for great gift ideas;

5. Pictures. Colorful pictures of food are the best enticement;

6. And don’t forget to mention your reservation phone number and best of all online reservation form.

For additional information on online marketing for local restaurant, please contact your local online marketing expert.

Canada Internet Users

Canada’s Internet population continues to grow – by 2013, it will hit 25.9 million, or nearly 75% of the entire nation. That’s is really impressing. The total population as of January 2009 is around 33.5 million, while 69.2% of them (23 million) are internet users.

Many of these people are among the world’s most committed Internet users, spending 45 hours or more online each month. Since over 70% of the internet users are searching for local related content according to Google, local business marketers should be adapting to the online search surge.

While nearly 65% of consumers in the country own a mobile phone, they do not prize them as highly as Americans do. And the majority do not feel compelled to pay for a data package to surf the Web while away from home.

But traditional media isn’t dead — television still dominates, especially in the highly desirable over-35 audience.

(resource: emarketer)

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