Google Discontinues Geo Sitemap Files

Posted on April 5, 2012 by Jeremy LaDuque

Google has discontinued support for GeoSitemap XML files. The exact reason behind the move are fairly cloudy and this change was not announced to the public at large. Instead, thousands of webmasters just happened to notice that their GeoSitemap files suddenly displayed an error status in February & March of this year. The exact error those webmasters saw was “This tag was not recognized. Please fix it and resubmit.” The reported error was really vague and misleading and as I mentioned, this change came unannounced. It was only on March 20th in follow up questions from SMX West on Susan Moskwa’s Google+ page that any of this was explained.

“Google has retired support for the Geo Sitemaps format. You can continue to submit your Geo content to us using the standard Sitemaps format (just listing the URL of the file(s), without <geo>-specific tags)…

We previously supported an extension to the Sitemaps protocol where you could include tags in your XML Sitemaps that contained geo-specific information in addition to the URL of your KML file. We no longer support those geo-specific XML tags in Sitemaps, but you can still submit the URLs of your KML files in a standard Sitemap format.” (http://goo.gl/ovcxf)

The good news is that Google still supports the use of KML files which help validate accurate business contact information which can lead to increased rankings in local search. Our recommendation is to add your KML file’s location into your general sitemap.xml which you would then submit to Google’s Webmaster Tools.

Localizing key to Conversion rate Optimization for Franchises

Posted on February 29, 2012 by Jeremy LaDuque

Here are a few simple ways you can optimize your Franchise websites for lead optimization. Read on to also see our 8 Point Checklist For LOCALIZING your Franchise/Franchisee’s Websites.

Have a Locally Optimized Website

Having a website that is optimized for local exposure gives your local franchises ‘credibility’ with the search engines. The franchisee will be seen as a local business and can enhance their authority as a local professional and expert and boost website conversion.

Keep Your Website Updated

Having up to date news and content on each Franchisee website, including local ‘Grass Roots’ news and information, is important to convey ‘freshness’ with search engines.

Put What the Consumer Wants Upfront

Put information about your services and products upfront. Also, make your join pages easy to get to! Front page access is best. Give them this information upfront; don’t make them dig around your site looking for it. Your website visitors have a need – i.e. the service you provide - and the sooner you demonstrate that you can satisfy that need, the better. Continue reading →

Consistent Branding is key to your Franchise Online Image

Posted on February 10, 2012 by Michael Boyer

Your franchise online marketing program needs to be built on a foundation of brand consistency Nationally AND Locally

Many franchises struggle with this issue as there is cross contamination of intended and un-intentional advertising and marketing content for a franchises anchor identity as well as well-meaning franchisees advertising outside of the franchise system.

This contamination causes confusion and noise for consumers in their search for business information through online, mobile, social and email channels thereby

cutting into the number of leads generated by your marketing efforts.

Now, we are all dealing with formerly offline-only media (e.g., newspapers, Yellow Pages) offering online versions, the intermingling of advertising information hascreated even more conflicting data. Continue reading →

Pinterest drives more traffic than Google+, LinkedIn, MySpace YouTube, and Reddit – Is It Something You Should Consider to Share Your Franchises Brand Image?

Posted on February 2, 2012 by Jeremy LaDuque

Pinterest is a new(er) social media site that could very well help you get the desired “local” exposure as well as engagement for your franchise. Read on to see how companies like Lands’ End to Facebook are using Pinterest to their advantage.

Pinterest is a new, innovative and exciting site that allows its users to ‘Pin’ images from anywhere online. It has quickly become a large social community of people who like to view the world through imagery. Pinterest is built upon SHARING. Sharing personally built life categories with personally built content.

The best thing about Pinterest is the ability to get personal with others. For a business that could be showing and demonstrating their products and services to customers in a whole new way. This is a great platform to establish franchisees local presence through the personal ‘boards’ in Pinterest.

One of the biggest advantages to Pinterest is the demographic that has made the site so popular. The site caters to a female audience (reportedly nearing 70 percent), most of whom are under the age of 45. This much sought after demographic can play a key part in the purchasing decisions of the average American household and your bottom line.

How can your franchise brand use an image sharing website?

Whether you sell something that’s exciting, seemingly uninteresting or especially offer a unique service that’s hard to understand Pinterest will make it exciting and simple to understand through imagery. W a bit of creativity and research you’re bound to find a way to use the new platform. Especially if you use Pinterest to invite your customers into your personal franchise business or local franchise life.

Here are some creative ways to establish your brand locally with Pinterest

Hold a Contest

One creative way to utilize Pinterest is to hold a contest. Lands’ End recently held a contest they coined: “Pin It to Win It”. Participants were encouraged to browse the Lands’ End site, create pins of items they liked and the most creative and stylish entries won prizes. This kind of contest can engage your audience and also gets them to your site, browsing your products and linking to them!

A hair and beauty franchise could give a demonstration on quick hair styles or hold a contest as such while a food and beverage franchise could hold a local photo at the location contest. Again, creativity and making the contest unique with a local twist would be advantageous.

Conduct Market Research

Have plans to revamp services or products in 2012? Why not test out new products or even your upcoming ad campaign on Pinterest?

Other brands have started using Pinterest as a platform to conduct market research or test product launches. In a recent Mashable post, one creative suggestion was to use Pinterest as sort of a social online focus group to see first-hand reactions, on a platform not as inundated as Facebook.

Feature Customers

One way to appeal to this demographic is to play to their vanity. Feature customers on your Pins, especially if you have a clothing boutique or store. “Customer A paired these shoes, belt and top to create this stylish winter cocktail party look!”. Showcase customer purchases that exemplify their style or pin photos of products that go well together and that customer X recommends.

Present Concepts in a New Way

Pinterest allows you to add contributors to your boards. Have a few team members put together a storyboard on Pinterest to present to a customer. Or co-Pin with a customer to create a board full of ideas for their next event or shopping spree.

If the product or idea is presented in a clean, simple and creative way using Pinterest it can stand a chance of being better received. Not only that, it allows you to creatively engage with customers and prospects can see too!

Put a Face to Your Franchise Brand

Personalizing and localizing your brand can be a hard thing to do with plain ol’ web copy. Use Pinterest to showcase your brand uniquely, what makes you different, what your brand stands for and use it as an opportunity to highlight your employees too. Putting a face to your brand is key to localizing your brand and easily done with Pinterest.

Promote Your Franchise Image Content

A franchise brand could start a board on infographics. Feature all of your image content in one place for easy access.

Infographics, product photos and your own photography can be featured. Do your research and see how other brands are using Pinterest to share their image content.

Pinterest can help a customer see the full picture of their needs before they even know they need it. Pin photos of activities in the area and how they relate to your franchise, landscape photos, photos of the local business and of course the staff. The possibilities really can be endless.

These are just a few of the creative ways your franchise brand can use Pinterest to spark interest and engage with customers. And to wet your palate for Pinterest even more, check out the announcement from Facebook – 60 new and exciting apps were unveiled including a Pinterest app.

A picture is worth a thousand words, in Pinterest’s case, an image could be the local exposure your franchise brand is needing to establish that local location to generate more leads.

Here is a great article on Pinterest’s popularity and it’s ability to drive traffic: http://mashable.com/2012/02/01/pinterest-traffic-study/

Brought to you by ElementsLocal – the leader in branding your franchise locally.

IFA 2012 is on it’s way!

Posted on February 2, 2012 by Chad Jordan

ElementsLocal is unveiling BrandLocal at IFA. It’s exciting, it’s direct and to the point. It is designed to escalate LEADS at the local level as well as establishing your National Franchise Brand as the locally legitimized business. Visit www.ifaconference.com for up to date information on what is happening at IFA 2012 and to schedule a meeting with your ElementsLocal team.

Visit us in booth #724 to find out what all the excitement is about!

Build LOCAL Content
Deploy LOCAL Domain Names
Link LOCAL Websites Together
Insure LOCAL Unique and Descriptive Titles, Headers and Descriptions are written for every page
Create Regional Websites connecting your LOCAL websites together
Send LOCAL Email Campaigns on a consistent basis
Send LOCAL Promotions Via Facebook/Twitter/Foursquare/Yelp
Use call/number tracking to capture your LOCAL phone leads as well as your form leads
Measure your LOCAL goals using Google Analytics
Test, test, test using Google Website Optimizer – Which LOCAL CTA gives the best conversion

All of this equals BrandLOCAL. Visit BrandLocal.net for more information or call us at 805-547-1160 ext. 205

How You Can Better Prepare for IFA 2012

Posted on January 4, 2012 by Michael Boyer

ElementsLocal is excitedly preparing for IFA 2012. We are launching our BrandLocal campaign at IFA. Please stop by our booth 724 to find out that that means for the future of Franchise Online Marketing.

Make an appointment to meet with our Franchise Online Marketing experts at www.ifaconference.com. Setting up an appointment will ensure you reserve your spot to roll the dice at a chance to win $25,000. Rolls are limited, so sign up now.

Tips on making this conference the most productive:

Planning – reaching out for networking now to make the most of the IFA potential
Bring power and power cords (We have power in booth 724!)
Face time appointments – reaching out now to people to make time for personal interaction.
Prepared to go with the Flow – knowing full well all plans can change at a moments notice, be prepared to move forward with any glitches that come your way and still make the most of the IFA experience

Make an appointment with your ElementsLocal team at www.ifaconference.com

Franchise Online Marketing: The Pros and Cons of Using Call Tracking Numbers

Posted on January 3, 2012 by Jeremy LaDuque

The use of call tracking numbers in your Franchise Online Marketing ads is very useful because it is a great way to track incoming ad generated leads for your franchisees. Search Engines like Google aim to provide the most useful and accurate information for users, so a local phone number is always preferred. That being said, if you are using a call tracking phone numbers in your advertising you may be run up against a few challenges.

There are three fundamental reasons why call tracking numbers can cause issues with Google Places, and other directories, and and even organic search rankings.

Google may not recognize the call tracking number as your local number and think you’re spamming.
You may confuse Google because many local business directories use the phone number as a key identifier for individual businesses. A phone number is often an easy ID to use for indexing businesses because they are generally prone to less variation in how they’re presented in databases or on webpages. A second phone number associated with a location may ‘devalue’ that location or produce a duplicate location.
If the business ever changes call tracking solution providers or stops using the tracking numbers, the phone numbers they’ve been using will stop working, yet will be published throughout the Internet

We suggest using a locally recognized phone number and when you are able to, purchase the use of that phone number for your exclusivity for use in the call tracking. That way that phone number will remain consistant when changing providers or stop using the tracking numbers. There are also new ways to place call tracking technology on your existing phone numbers.

We also suggest that as part of your inside sales procedures for franchisees, asking callers directly where they found you You may or may not be able to collect that data from your franchisees, but at the very least encourage the collection of the data. Have the employees who answer the phone write down responses for you to see later. This remains an excellent and free way of polling to see how effective different channels are performing. Optimize leads by asking for referrals as well.

The data and feedback for our advertising campaigns is imperative, but you also need to follow good SEO practice to drive business locally.

ElementsLocal has worked with many Franchises on call tracking and has integrated the service directly into our platform.. Take an online tour today: elementslocal.com.

The ELEMENTS ‘top 8’ takeaways from the 51st IFA Convention… Findability, Usability, Profitability

Posted on February 23, 2011 by Jeremy LaDuque

The 51st IFA Annual Convention was a success… from the Technology Summit, the new mobile app, Roundtable discussions, to Ford Saeks.

The buzz this year was about how franchises can leverage social media, local search and mobile apps. However, it was very promising to see that no one lost sight of the primary goal behind these tools: bring in local leads for franchisees. Saeks said it best when he said “your website is your social proof.”

Franchises clearly see that a comprehensive approach, from website to social, is needed to take advantage of online marketing.

Below are ELEMENTS, Inc’s top 8 takeaways from the 51st annual IFA convention.

While at the previous year’s IFA Convention franchises were most interested in how to drive traffic, in 2011 those same franchises are now more interested in how to convert that traffic into leads or sales thereby creating a positive impact with their already existing traffic. This is a direct reflection of how franchises are tightening their belts in these tough economic times by making the most of what they have already have. Rather than spending time and money generating new traffic that will effectively be thrown at a wall to see what sticks, spending time on conversion optimization through variant testing and data driven improvements can lead to a significant increase in overall leads both in the present & future.
Franchises are generally interested in a three step process for online success which begins with find-ability (how easy it is to find their brand online), usability (how easy it is for consumers to engage your brand) and profitability (how easy it is to convert leads into customers). If any of the links in this chain are broken the franchise risks never being found by potential customers, never converting those potential customers into paying customers and not being able to retain existing customers nor create brand loyal fans.
Another thing ELEMENTS noticed is that by and large franchises are becoming savvier in the realm of online marketing. Instead of franchise decision makers questioning whether they should have online marketing campaigns consisting of social media, pay per click advertising and search engine optimization, they are now asking how they can best utilize those campaigns for maximum profitability.
When it comes to social media, franchise companies are beginning to consider ROE (return on engagement) more appropriate measure than a typical ROI. This is a new way to look at social media where the end result isn’t merely net sales or leads but can be measured instead by other factors including reach after reposts, number of subscribers and positive or negative sentiment. Social media campaigns judged merely on their conversion numbers look bleak, but by engaging customers in an open environment franchise companies can improve customer service which leads to improved customer sentiment and the creation of brand loyal fans.
Another point of interest with franchises that was noticed at the 2011 IFA Annual Convention was how effective your store locator is. Franchises have realized that not only can their locators help a potential customer find a local franchisee place of business but they can be much more than that today. Locators can be integrated into a franchise website, have maps and directions and also work seamlessly across both websites and mobile devices. We also saw conversations around exterior locators like a Facebook app or Google Places.
While at the previous year’s IFA Convention franchises were mostly overwhelmed with local search and search engine optimization, there seemed to be a better understanding that local search is not a store locator nor is it searches done solely on Google Maps. There was a general understanding of local search and the importance of it in Google’s new merged ‘Everything’ results that often place local results above national search results.
Mobile apps and mobile optimized websites were another big topic of discussion at the recent convention. Most franchise companies want a way to direct mobile users to their local franchisees which is exactly what the ElementsLocal™ mobile locator app does. Other franchises want their websites to be optimized to fit on a mobile device should one be detected. As mobile traffic continues to increase franchise companies want to make sure they are positioned to take advantage of this fluid demographic.
Perhaps the most important thing ELEMENTS took away from the 51st IFA Annual Conference was the testimony of corporations and noted speakers alike who claimed that success in all areas, including social media stems from a good & valuable web property… “your website is your social proof,” as Ford Saeks said. Without having a useful, easy to navigate, attractive website at both the local and corporate level none of your mobile apps, pay per click marketing or social media campaigns are going to be as effective as they could be.

ELEMENTS met a lot of great people at this year’s IFA Annual Convention and we got a feel for how much their companies are currently embracing online marketing and what needs they have in order to make their franchise’s online presence more of a success. We are going to take that knowledge and continue to improve our ElementsLocal™ platform so that it continues to be the best solution for franchises looking to market online at both the local and corporate level.

Looking Forward to Online Marketing in 2011

Posted on November 30, 2010 by Jeremy LaDuque

2010 was quite a busy year in regards to internet marketing. We saw local search become the top focus of SEO experts at the beginning of the year and we watched those same experts scramble back to basics when Google blended the local and organic results. We witnessed social marketing become the bees knees to online marketers only for them to learn that creating a Facebook and a Twitter account was not a panacea for an already weak marketing campaign. We saw Bing power Yahoo results and the emergence of Google Instant which caused a mild panic when certain naysayers prematurely declared it to be the “death of SEO”. And those are just the highlights, but as we pause to look back at 2010 it’s prudent to look to the future as well. So what can we expect from 2011?

Social Marketing

According to Hitwise in March Facebook surpassed Google as the most popular web destination in the US and as of November Facebook accounted for 1 out of every four page views. That’s an insane amount of eyes on the Facebook network which means a ton of views on their advertising platform. Facebook is now pushing out their new email platform with the intent of blending their user’s mail with IM and SMS messages; to borrow a phrase from Tolkien 1 inbox to rule them all. I remember thinking something very similar when Gmail first launched.

Borrowing from Google’s playbook Facebook is trying to become the solution to everything, to become so useful that we can’t imagine doing without it. In 2011 I expect Facebook to add more new features and perhaps even take a run at Google with search. I know that sounds kind of crazy, but Facebook is already dominating in page views so if Facebook can even take a small percentage of Google’s existing searches away from them they would become the undisputed king of the internet hill.

Some PPC (Pay Per Click) pundits already claim better success with their Facebook Ad campaigns than they have had with AdWords, mostly because through Facebook Ads they have a better ability to narrow the target demographics. Now if Facebook makes the move to search and adds purchase intent alongside that demographic targeting Facebook Ads could easily dominate the PPC landscape.

Mobile Marketing

For years we have been claiming that mobile will be the next big thing, but as the number of smart phones increase exponentially each year we still are not seeing mobile web traffic driving revenue as we have expected. According to Cisco’s estimates mobile traffic will increase 39-fold by 2014, so the traffic is there or soon will be but the real question is where are the sales?

Many experts in the mobile market predict that mobile driven revenue will be derived from location based services like Foursquare, Gowalla or Facebook Places, but while the number of competitors in this realm increases (e.g. Google Places, Yelp, Twitter) the usage by mobile users is still quite low. Pew Research Center found that only 4% of online adults use location based services and it only accounts for 1% of daily internet traffic.

I think in 2011 we will see companies better integrate location based services by driving users to local check-ins with deep discounts & incentives and then somehow integrate these location based services with social media platforms. While it is useful to know that someone has checked into one of their business locations, it is even more useful if you can track those check-ins alongside their social demographics. Understanding the age, sex & interests of those customers that are visiting a location, what times they are visiting these locations and how often they are visiting these locations will allow marketers to drive more sales through time-specific incentives advertised specifically to the captured demographic audience.

Now, what company is in the best position to leverage the mix of check-ins and demographics tracking? Facebook is, because not only are they the largest social network on the planet, but they already have the Facebook Places location-based check-in service in place. While Facebook Places is not currently very popular – mostly because of growing pains and a rush to market – I predict that in 2011 more users & businesses will begin to use the service. Based on what I’ve already seen of Facebook’s tactics in other segments I believe that Facebook Places will allow for integration with Foursquare and maybe even Yelp’s new check-in service allowing marketers to track check-ins across the multiple networks and appropriately target the demographic sweet spot through Facebook Ads delivered to these mobile devices.

SEO

Just recently Google’s “everything” search blended together their original organic style of results with their somewhat new Google Places’ results and placed those blends on the very top of their search results. These results replaced what SEO experts had previously termed the 1-box, the 3-pack & the 7-pack which used to display a group of relevant local results with a map of those locations above the original organic results based on the searchers location. While I believe the blended format of search results will stay throughout 2011 what I do believe will change is the way those results are laid out.

When Google first launched the blended results there was much talk about the new layout as they pushed the map of the blended results into the right-hand sidebar which forced the sidebar placed AdWords advertisements down below the map. Not only does the map now dominate the searchers attention rather than our AdWords advertisements, but it also seems out of place in its’ current location. The blended results are generally bigger than purely organic results which means that with several AdWords listings above the blended results only a few of the blended results will be seen above the fold of the page which means less clicks for everything below the 3rd ranked website (see above image).

In 2011, Google will address these issues by changing their results layout. How do I know this? Because Google is already experimenting with different result layouts. One of the experimental layouts drops the AdWords in the main results column from the top of the page to the very bottom of the page. While this is good news for those with blended results, this is bad news for advertisers as now both AdWords areas are pushed down below the fold. In another experiment Google has dropped a 1-box display of a local result that includes a map to that location below the blended & organic results. My feeling on this is that the Google team still sees value in the 1-box – and perhaps even the 3-pack – and they are looking for ways to integrate them back into the results page while still giving precedence to the blended results.

The problem is that Google has too much information to pass out in their search results and too many good ways to deliver it. So what do I think the results display will look like in the next 12 months? My guess is that by default blended results will be streamlined and made thinner, the map will disappear from the main search and there will be less advertising at the top of the page. That being said I also believe that Google will allow searchers to instantly switch between different styles of search result displays with the simple click of the button. Perhaps there will be three thumbnails of each result style at the top of the page. Hovering over each will produce a pop-up preview of the result’s format similar to what the magnifying glasses do to a result in the existing search. Clicking on the thumbnail will change the results display style without needing to refresh the page. This is all speculation of course, but it’s a pretty good option that would allow Google to maintain a quick & streamlined results display and yet give users the options to see more information that they have to display within the results like maps and Google Places information without having to leave the results page.

Conclusion

As far as online marketing goes, I expect 2011 to be a very interesting year with a lot of changes – many of which I will fail to predict – very similar to how 2010 played out. That being said there will still be things online marketing will entail in 2011: best practice SEO, local review harvesting & citation generation, engaging social media campaigns, progressive thinking in regards to mobile campaigns, and good old fashioned hard work. Some things never change.

Google’s New Places Search Results and How They Will Affect Your Rankings

Posted on November 8, 2010 by Russ Lubin

As mentioned in my previous post Google’s search results have changed. In order to better understand how these new search results will affect SEO strategies I think it’s best to take a look at Google’s original intent behind these changes.

As you are probably aware Google has a variety of search types available. One can search for information through Google Images, Google News, Google Maps and more. Towards the end of October Google rolled out a new type of search they titled Google Places. The goal behind Google Places was to provide the searcher with a group of local results relevant to their search phrase that conveniently displays information about the business gathered from various sources like Google’s main search, its’ map search and external websites as well. Google would then blend the information gathered and produce a results page bearing that information along with a map of all of the competing Places on that results page. This format allows the user to get various information about local competing businesses right from a single search.

The image to the right shows the results of a Google Places search I ran for local BBQ restaurants. As you can see the results provides us with external links to review sites like Yelp, contact information including telephone numbers and physical address, a map location relative to their competitors and a link to the local business’s official website. Previously, in order to get all of this information about a single business a person would have to run multiple searches and some on external websites as well to find the corresponding reviews, and that was just for a single business. Now all of that information is displayed for the top local business and its’ nine top competitors.

These new search results would appear to be very useful, so useful in fact that when someone searches in the Google “Everything” search the search engine will attempt to determine whether the surfer could possibly be looking for local results. If Google determines that searcher is looking for local results it will provide a Google Places summary result at the very top of the search results. The picture on the left shows the results of a search run in Google’s “Everything” search using the same key phrase that we used in the Google Places search above. As you can see, Google is still giving us a map with competing locations, contact information, a link to the business’ official website and a link to Google’s own Places page which lists offsite reviews, pictures and customer testimonials. The link at the top of the results that reads “Places for bbq near San Luis Obispo, CA” will take the surfer directly to a Google’s Places search result, as will the “More results near San Luis Obispo, CA” below the Places summary.

So what do these new blended or hybrid results mean for Google’s general search results and SEO? It means quite simply that if your business does not receive one of these top Google Places results on the first page of Google then your website’s results are going to slip below the fold of the page and not be seen by nearly as many searchers. It means that if you have a brick & mortar business the time when you could just focus your efforts on either organic listings in the general search or local search results has passed and you will now need to focus on both.

7 tips to help your website rank well in the new blended search results:

Claim your places page. While sites can rank well without this effort, it is rare and far easier to have your listings rise to the top when you have claimed your Places page and added content to that page like photos of the business, hours of operation or even your menu.
Place your contact information in a clear spot on every page of your website; somewhere like the header or footer.
Use micro-formatting on your contact information. Google has stated that they use hCard formatting on contact information to tie websites & places together in their blends.
If you have multiple locations, build a separate website or page for each location focusing your optimization efforts on service & location.
Encourage recent customers to submit reviews of your service to varyious review sites like Yelp or Trip Advisor.
Place customer testimonials on your website and label them in a micro format to clarify that they are a reviews of your business.
Verify that your correct contact information is in the various online yellow pages websites and if it is not make an effort to correct it.

The ElementsLocal Blog

Tag Archives: local search