Organic ranking on Google’s top page is the key to local business marketing success. There is also another way to rank on Google that is to rank your business listing on top of Google local map. Because Google will show a local map on the first page of local keyword search result. However there’s only limited spots (7 spots). There are five factors which decide what business listings to be shown on those 7 spots:

- Whether your business listing on Google (also known as Google place page) info is complete and accurate;
- Whether your Google place page info is consistent with your listings on other directories or search engines;
- Whether there are more comments and good ratings on your Google place page and/or other directories;
- Whether your business is listed on many other directories and search engines, which also called citations;
- Whether your business listing and/or website is mentioned in lots of other websites, which also known as backlinks.

I also found that those local business websites which have high organic rankings for those local search keywords, whose business listing will likely be ranked on top of Google local map.

It’s free to claim your business listing on Google places. After that, you want to list your business listing to as many local directories i.e. Yellow Page, 411 as well. I have a tool which I use just once for an entire year to increase Google local business ranking. As Vancouver online marketing consultant, I cater to local business online marketing needs in Greater Vancouver Area.

Original contents from DelphineZhu.com - real estate marketing, social media marketing, mobile marketing, app marketing, SEO and more

Online real estate listing promotion is hot. It gets more eyeballs. It is the preferred source of information for most home buyers surpassing old sources like the print ads, yard signs, magazines, billboards and television.

What makes online real estate marketing so popular? There are several reasons that make web promotion of listings effective and popular. Here we list five of them.

Cost Effective

Millions of internet users are using the internet for browsing through listings. The crowd can only grow bigger with increasing use of the Internet day by day. The costs compared to reaching a huge audience and visibility is quite low giving a fillip to internet listings. The affordability combined with convenience makes web promotion a killer. Emails and online chats are means of low cost fast interaction tool for the marketer to stay in touch with clients.

Time Saving

Internet searches effectively shorten home search for homebuyers. How? Well the homebuyer can sift through the information and zero in on the most suitable listings of their preference, in the process saving on physical searches. In turn they are more likely to close deals sooner than can be achieved through traditional methods.

Average Home Buyer is getting Younger

The average age of the homebuyer is reducing with better employment and available loans. What does it mean? You would agree that the young generation is more tech savvy. They spend more and more time tweeting, social networking and of course searching. The latest generation is virtually growing up on the Internet. Would not anyone promoting real estate want to get their attention constantly?

It is also observed that internet clients of real estate are wealthier and more knowledgeable. Why would not someone selling a property want  to miss fat pocket clients?

Blogging

With the popularity of blogging sites like Twitter the space for online promotion of real estate has got a new dimension. MicroBlogging sites like Twittter, social networking sites Facebook are the latest tools in the hands of web marketers for real estate listing promotion.

Visual Impact

A virtual tour, Realtor’s real estate video channel, photos – all go a long way to make a deep impact on the homebuyer. All these tools are being used more and more on web portals. The best of brochures would fail to make an impression when compared to these new age tools.

However it is important to adhere to certain real estate marketing tips while promoting real estate listings on portals.

• Use a professional domain with a good name
• Creating dedicated accounts in blogging sites
• Maintain a good database of the leads coming from internet promotion
• Use the right keywords with matching headlines on the web pages
• Have pictures, videos or downloadable brochures in the website
• Technical tools for promoting web ranking of the site including SEO
• Most importantly have professionals follow up the leads

The Internet is getting bigger and so is the real estate listing promotions on it. If you are not online then you are ‘offline’ in real estate promotion!

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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.

Original contents from DelphineZhu.com - real estate marketing, social media marketing, mobile marketing, app marketing, SEO and more

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.

Original contents from DelphineZhu.com - real estate marketing, social media marketing, mobile marketing, app marketing, SEO and more

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 marketing 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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

70% of Canada population use internet

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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Small businesses using search advertising have sharply increased their search engine advertising in Q3 2009, according to data from WebVisible. Average spending by small-business search advertisers was up 91% year over year and 93% quarter over quarter in Q3. While Google still got most search spending, it lost 5% of the spending share over over last year. Bing gains 2.9% of the spending share.

More and more local small to medium businesses have concluded that over half of new customers are ‘referred’ by the internet. According to Google, more than 70% of the online searches are for local products or services. Remember, we are talking about billions of online searches everyday.

Stats show that 90% online commercial searches result in offline purchase; 82% of local searches follow up via online store visit, phone call or purchase. However 90% of local businesses have no clue of what to do to take advantage of those online local searches to benefit their local businesses.

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When I read the news that WhitePages.com will soon allow people to edit information in their listings in the online directory to help attract more registered users. It proves that there are more and more competitions for local businesses into the online marketing exposure.

Listing your local business on WhitePages

Local businesses are looking for more online exposure as to refresh its online presence and expand its services beyond basic listings. Actually WhitePages is not the first one to take initiatives to involve local business online. Google always leads the online marketing campaign that Google local business profile is the perfect example for its intention.

Original contents from DelphineZhu.com - real estate marketing, social media marketing, mobile marketing, app marketing, SEO and more