Search News For Business Owners: 5 Search Articles in 5 Minutes

by Kathleen Fealy on November 8, 2011

When reading my daily, sometimes weekly, search news, I appreciate the many bloggers who post great articles, updates, etc. to help me stay current. Usually I retweet these, but they deserve a longer shelf life.

Below are some of the links that should help businesses keep up-to-date on news in search. I added recaps and highlights for quick viewing. Topics include news on Google’s new freshness update, Google+ adding more features, including new business pages, a site to help military veterans find work, an article on the effectiveness of website’s daily deals and because traveling can be such a headache at times – travel tools for the tech-saavy.

I plan to make this an ongoing effort, so please let me know what type of information you are most interested in or found the most helpful.

Search News That Should Interest Businesses – Nov. 8, 2011:

Google Search Algorithm Change for Freshness To Impact 35% of Searches
- Search Engine Land

Quick recap and highlights:

  • Larger than the Panda update which impacted 12% of the searches conducted.
  • Areas most effected: Recent events or hot topics; regularly recurring events; frequent updates (i.e. best rated 2012 cars).

Notable quotes from article:

Google: Freshness is one component, but we also look at the content of the result, including topicality and quality. Postscript: Google now tells us [Search Engine Land] that one of the freshness factors — the way they determine if content is fresh or not — is the time when they first crawled a page. So if you publish a page, and then change that page, it doesn’t suddenly become “fresh.”

Up Close With Creating & Managing Google+ Pages - Search Engine Land

Recap: Step-by-step guide for building your business’ Google+ page.

Google Direct Connect Hooks Search and Google+ Pages Together- Mashable

Article highlight: Google’s Direct Connect will make it easy for users (translation – potential and current customers) to find brands on Google+ using Google Search. Type “+” in Google Search, followed by the brand or business they want to follow. It’s being tested currently with a small group of companies.

Google Creates Job Search Engine for US Military Veterans - ReadWriteWeb Land

Direct link for employers wishing to participate in program

Do Merchant Get New Customers From Daily Deals? - Forbes

Notable quotes from article:

About 47% of flash sale subscribers and 36% of daily deal subscribers have never bought one, Forrester [Research] found.

Another interesting fit about “breakage,” or deals that are not redeemed: About 43% of people who have purchased a daily deal have at least once not redeemed the deal before it expired.

11 Essential Tools for the Tech-Savvy Traveler
- Mashable

{ 0 comments }

Inn in Napa Looking for Mercedes-Benz Owners

by Kathleen Fealy on October 18, 2011

One of the first rules of online marketing and usability is “Know who your targeted customer is.” While you may believe everyone is your possible customer, there are certainly specific groups that are more likely to buy your product or service.

Calling all Mercedes-Benz Drivers

First let me state that I am not the owner of a Mercedes-Benz. I was however in the market for a B &B or country inn in the Napa Valley/Sonoma area. Per usual, I began searching on Trip Advisor, through Select Registry, etc. – some of my usual haunts.

I came across this site: Calistoga Ranch. It looked very, very nice. Perfect for an anniversary trip!

http://www.calistogaranch.com/accommodations.html

As I tend to do, I clicked on the Packages & Specials tab. (I’ve learned over the years that even the most expensive places often have last minute deals.)

Under Special Packages, I saw a special that made me realize that the people who own the inn, or their marketing team, KNEW who their customers were and/or knew who they wanted to attract.

http://www.calistogaranch.com/accom_specials.html

The line reads “Mercedes-Benz Owners”

http://www.calistogaranch.com/accom_specials.html#mercedes

The picture is a driveway lined with Mercedes. And the offer reads:

MERCEDES-BENZ OWNERS PACKAGE

Mercedes-Benz Owners can enjoy the following amenities with any length of stay at Calistoga Ranch:

  • Complimentary $100 resort amenity credit
  • A confirmed upgrade to the next room category (based on availability upon arrival)
  • A special welcome amenity
  • Prices listed are per night based on a two night stay or more and subject to availability; price does not include tax, gratuity, or alcohol. Offer valid for new reservations only and is not applicable to groups or any other packages. Subject to change, additional restrictions may apply.

While I applaud their online targeted marketing efforts and their knowledge of their customer, I don’t think I’d fit in at their inn. Huh? Could that be part of their strategy as well?

{ 0 comments }

Kathleen Fealy to Speak at IMC New York and SES Chicago on Reaching Your Online Customer

October 11, 2011

Pearl River, NY, October 11, 2011 – Search strategist and Certified Usability Analyst, Kathleen Fealy, President of KF Multimedia & Web, Inc., a search consultancy located in Pearl River, NY, will speak at two major search conferences: Internet Marketing Conference (IMC) in New York City and Search Engine Strategies Chicago (SES) in November. At Internet [...]

Read the full article →

Do As I Say, Not As I Do

September 3, 2011

It was a bit of a shock to me this week when I logged into WordPress to create a blog post. Could it really have been that long since I wrote an article, post, realization? I tell my clients that if they undertake a blog, they need to commit to it. They must make time [...]

Read the full article →

Motivation changes behavior

April 15, 2011

Note: Don’t see a video on the right side of this post? Click here. When given the opportunity, people will take the easiest path. But what if you want someone to do something that they don’t want to do? How do you change that behavior? Motivation and Persuading Factors Some of you may have seen the [...]

Read the full article →

Social Media Planner

April 1, 2011

I was at Search Engine Strategies New York last week and, as always, I come away with new ideas, another slant on a concept, or tools that will make my work more efficient. One idea I heard is remarkably simple, yet I’m certain that many, including me, don’t do it on a regular basis. A [...]

Read the full article →

Bookstore Paralysis: Choice and the User Experience

March 17, 2011

Choices are a good thing. People like choices. As individuals, we value being able to choose what we want to use, look at or buy. When choice is limited, it’s human nature to feel gypped. There’s a movie theatre in the small town my brother lives in and every Thursday, the owner changes the one [...]

Read the full article →

Lucy: Strategist, actress, studio head

January 26, 2011

A few months ago I visited Paramount Studios. I’ve always loved tv and film and touring a movie lot, especially one so steeped in history, was a dream come true. RKO and Desilu Studios eventually became part of the Paramount Studios of today, so on a tour, you get a glimpse of old Hollywood as [...]

Read the full article →

SEO: Time for a new definition

September 20, 2010

Businesses still see SEO, search engine optimization, as optimizing a website and only the website. SEO should be about optimizing all of your online business assets, be it websites, videos, images, press releases, social networking sites, or shopping feeds to be more visibile throughout the search engines.

Read the full article →

Time issues affected blog update

August 12, 2010

My clients often say they don’t have enough time to do the marketing they wish to do themselves. I agree. I’ve now set aside the time needed to update this blog. The new files are being loaded onto the server, the new theme is being implemented and the new look should be up shortly. Thank [...]

Read the full article →

← Previous Entries