Orange E-Business Advocate

A9.com's Twist on Local Search

Search Engines are really starting to innovate in the Local Search arena. The more I dive into this topic, the sooner I think this segment of the search engine industry is going to take off.

Take A9.com, Amazon's search engine. This past week, they unveiled a new feature of their Yellow Pages search:

The most powerful technology A9.com invented for Yellow Pages is “Block View,” which brings the Yellow Pages to life by showing a street view of millions of businesses and their surroundings. Using trucks equipped with digital cameras, global positioning system (GPS) receivers, and proprietary software and hardware, A9.com drove tens of thousands of miles capturing images and matching them with businesses and the way they look from the street.

So far, this has only been done in select cities, but expect your area to be "captured" soon.

Yahoo Local Plug on The Apprentice

On tonight's episode of The Apprentice, two teams were given the task of renovating a hotel with a $20,000 budget. I'll let you find out which team won this week, and who got fired.

But for the purposes of this blog, it is worth noting that Yahoo Local was hyped up, as visitors of each team's hotel were asked by The Apprentice to use Yahoo Local to rate the service.

Is Local Search gaining ground? As I mentioned recently, local search needs to come to Orange County, but it will be a few years until this concept takes off. Mostly because, the average online user is warming up to the concept of using services like Yahoo Local to find the information they need about businesses in the area.

Hopefully plugs for local search, like tonight's subtle reference on The Apprentice, will help this concept grow in popularity sooner than later.

The Importance of URLs

I've gotten on a kick lately about keeping the URLs of websites clean and intuitive. Originally, long URLs were necessary in the days of serving up static files, since the structure of the URL coincided with the hierarchy of the filesystem. In other words, http://www.site.com/this/was/literally/the/path/to/the_file.html.

Then dynamic content came around and we got into more trouble with URLs. By sending different parameters to a server side script, for example, you could generate different pages. We're all familiar with the cryptic URLs at Amazon and Mapquest, MSN, and so forth. Everything seemed to live in cgi-bin, back in the late 90's. (I actually used to think bin literally meant bin, as in, a place to dump all the cgi scripts, but 'cgi-bin' stands for Common Gateway Interface binaries).

Then we started to see all these new file extensions: .asp, .jsp, .php, the list goes on. You could tell what technology a website was running on by looking at the URL. But, if things got switched around, your bookmarks to the site became worthless.

I've come to realize that the URLs within your site are really important. First of all, URLs matter to search engines. But more importantly, they matter to humans too. You should strive to achieve these goals for URLs to the pages of your website:

• Memorable - You don't want your visitors asking themselves, "how do I find that page again?"
• Intuitive - Visitors should be able to guess the URLs of main products or services your company offers (e.g. apple.com/ipod/ & apple.com/powerbook/)
• Relevant - This goes along with intuitive, but it also underscores the importance of URLs coinciding with keywords people will search on to find you. Use terms your customers would use, instead of cryptic filenames and directory names that may seem easier to use during website development.
• Short - Less typing, less possibility of the end of the URL getting chopped off (in the event someone cuts and pastes your URL into an email to a friend, for example).
• Permanent - URLs should be easily bookmarked, and bookmarks should work six months later.
• Clean - Avoid filename extensions or parameterized pages whenever possible. You don't necessarily want visitors or competitors (or any snoopers) to know what technologies you are using, what vulnerabilities they can test out, etc.

Business Professionals: Other ways to Find You

Earlier this month I advised business professionals to set up a website so that people searching on you will at the very least find your site, amongst other websites that may mention your name.

Two other websites, in addition to the more popular search engines, are also good resources for finding out information about a particular person or company:

• Eliyon Technologies - Search for Business Contacts
• Pretrieve - Public Records Search Engine

So if you are a business professional in the area, consider looking yourself up in these directories to find out what any person with a connection to the internet can dig up about you.

Constant Contact with your Customers

ECommerce Guide published an article this week introducing Constant Contact, a simple email marketing solution for small businesses. I've developed similar technology at companies in the past, and I really ought to get to around to developing a simple solution for OCEA Group to offer its customers. For now, I am inclined to try out Constant Contact and test its utility for small businesses in this area.

Meanwhile, one of OCEA's clients, Jiva Wellness, has used Constant Contact to send out monthly newsletters to their customers and friends. This helps them keep in touch with customers who haven't used their services in a while, and to inform everyone of new products, discount offers, and the latest in massage therapy methodologies and performance training tips.

Orange County needs Local Search

This is a concept I've been thinking about for such a long time - even before Google Local launched a year ago. (I know, Yahoo has had a similar service for a long time).

How many times have you found youself in this scenario: You're looking for some kind of local service (a doctor, a massage therapist, an Italian restaurant, a lawn-mowing service, etc.), you visit Google, you leave disappointed.

We need local search! A website, like Google, which aggregates data from the websites of local businesses, and lets would-be customers search amongst a smaller subset of the world wide web. In our case, just an orange-wide-web. Or, an Orange Index.

Sadly, search engine forcasters see the success of local search (and namely, the effectiveness of local-search-based advertising) being 2-5 years away:

"The point is, local search is incredibly powerful, but we're very far from having it be a vehicle for local advertisers that's anywhere near comparable to their top ten local choices, like newspapers, billboards, radio, flyers, [or] direct mail," Morgan said. "All are more powerful local advertising vehicles than search is today."

(Local Advertisers Lack Search Zeitgeist)

But hopefully, in a few years, such a website could really take off, and be a valuable resource to the consumers and businesses of Orange County. Thoughts?

Be The Authority On Your Business

Try this quick experiment: use Google to search for the name of your business. Hopefully, if you have a website, it comes up in the first few results. But what else shows up? Are there any similarly named businesses out there? What products and services do they offer? Could someone searching online for your business accidentally mistake their website for yours?

OCEA Group actually has a few clients who use the same word in their business name as some of their competitors (for example, where the name of the town or the name of the product is used). We've logged hits to their website coming from searches on their competitor's name. What a great win!

Having your own website for your business is becoming more and more important, as Internet use (and especially Internet search) is now so widespread. Millions of websites are competing with each other for consumers' attention, and without your own website, you can't even begin to have your voice heard. This is especially relevant for businesses who depend on the name recognition of their owner: insurance brokers, lawyers, doctors, consultants, real estate agents, and any other workers in the professional services field. Check out this article in the Boston Globe about researching people using Google. If your personal reputation is tantamount to the success of your business, I strongly suggest putting together a personal website that details your work experience, offers a bio, and lists any affiliations you may have. This way, YOU can be the authority on your business, when people come searching.

Spreading Advertising Costs Around Pays Off

Here's a good anecdote from ecommerce-guide.com about a successful entrepreneur who partnered up with some local fellow business owners to pool resources for advertising:

"She and nine other local online craft merchants formed a group called the Austin Craft Mafia. The ACM created its own central Web site, which links to each of its members. All the group's ads drive users to this central site."

Full article: http://www.ecommerce-guide.com/solutions/advertising/article.php/3452971

I think this is a fantastic idea. I'm amazed we haven't seen more of it here in Orange County. Small businesses need a way to keep up with all the chains and superstores that are closing in on this rapidly growing region. Name recognition is essential. Yet advertising is probably the least important item in a small business owner's budget.

OCEA would like to see more local storeowners, craftspeople, and freelancers band together to make the consumers in Orange County better aware of what they have to offer. The strategy is simple. First, find several like-minded fellow business owners who you would feel proud to be associated with. Then, come up with a common message for your advertisement; chances are, if you all respect one another, your businesses have qualities in common. Finally, seek out a competitive price for an advertisement, website or commercial (pick the best medium for reaching the right audience). Remember, you will have more resources, and more leverage, if you act as a single group!

Oh, and if you're looking for a website, touch base with OCEA Group. This is the type of project we'd love to work on!