This is a very important step in Local Search Engine Optimization and Marketing! Please read it and share it. If you’d like to participate in a free beta test that will use the advice here to improve your rankings in a week, see this post: http://seollc.wordpress.com/2012/04/27/more-business-in-3-simple-steps/
Google displays different results to different people using the same search phrase.
1) Google tries to show local results more prominently based on your IP address of your Internet connection, which is great for local businesses because it allows them to more easily compete with national businesses that are simply marketing to your area. Bing is especially good at promoting local pages to local searchers.
How to leverage this: Where possible, use a local web hosting company. In Milwaukee, I use http://www.NetSolutionsGroup.net because of their local IP addresses. Wherever you are, if you can host with a local company or host your own website on premises, you will also have a local IP address.
2) Most importantly and the reason for this article, Google increasingly relies on personalization in their search results. If I do a search for a specific phrase on Google with the default Google setting of personalized results, I will see different results than you while searching for the same phrase because we have different social media connections that have made different recommendations.
How to leverage this: I use Facebook advertising because it has the most influence on Google’s personalized results, it is very inexpensive and can be targeted down to the zip code and even more refinements such as interests.
If your budget is very tight, I have a way of getting Facebook Likes that work very inexpensively, have a great click-through ratio and help establish your business as a true social networker rather than simply a self-promoter. I add an interesting picture to a page like http://splinternetmarketing.com/shopblogs.asp?type=Incoming When you’re setting up your ad, you’ll be able to select your picture from the page in your ad. If your picture is something that is fun or interesting, people will not be apprehensive in Liking it and sharing it with their friends. Each like to the picture, is a like to your website. From then on, whenever that person searches for a phrase that is relevant to your website, Google will promote your page to page 1 of their results. Most importantly, the same personalized result for your page will also show up for their friends and connections that search for any phrase relevant to your website. So if Sally likes my website, then all of her 100 connections will see a recommendation by Sally if they search for a phrase relevant to my website.
This is a very good technique for more reasons than influencing search results. It is not spam.
As a business owner, you might think that you should be talking about your products or services in your ads, but that may actually be the worst way to approach marketing on social media. Think of Coca Cola. do they ever create ads telling you about their ingredients, distribution or bottling processes? No, they show you adorable videos of polar bears. Budweiser has their Clydesdales.
Also, think about any in-person social or networking event you might attend. You don’t want to be the person going around the room saying “Hi, I’m ***, here’s my card, I’m really good, I’m really cheap” and coming off like a pushy used car salesman. Socializing is about being social and making connections with people on a personal level. When I go to events, I talk about my interests with others that share my interests. In my case it is fast cars, good music, football, movies and more. I seem to be able to find common interests with most people. We talk about those things and at some point, I’m asked what I do for a living. When I go to events driving the Corvette ZR1, everyone talks to me about the car, and then they ask me for my business card. Social networking is no different. So when you’re doing social marketing, instead of trying to get people to like you for what you do, let them get to love who you are because of your common interests. If they need your services they will be more than happy to do business with you.
Like this:
One blogger likes this post.
