As Google Places (formerly Google Local Business Center) evolves one of the most important aspects of their development is their mobile presence. The video below shows how Google Places has been enhanced to work more seamlessly with the iPhone, Google Android phones and other Smartphones like BlackBerry’s, Windows Mobile, Nokia and others. With Android, Google wants to continue to play a leadership role in how mobile is intermeshed with local. And how much more local and intermeshed can something be than a device that’s never far from your fingertips than a mobile device? This all bodes very well for small businesses who’ve invested the time to create and updating their Google Places page with photos, video, updates, mobile coupons and more.

Related Posts:Episode 13 Where in the world is Julian | Episode 13 Local KnowledgeHow to edit photos for your website using Picnik | Local Knowledge Episode 22Think Global – Market Local | Episode 23 Local KnowledgeUpdate your website for more leads | Episode 17 Local KnowledgeAn easy way to build Google rankingsPowered by Contextual Related Postsa

Along with their name change to Google Places (from Google Local or Google Maps) there are some new useful features and services that the folks in Mountain View have for local businesses in select U.S. and international cities (all major Australian cities!). If you apply at Google you might be one of the lucky businesses that receive a free photo shoot of the inside of your premise! Google will coordinate a photo shoot and upload the photos to your Google Places Page. There are still a lot of gaps in their coverage but if you’re included be sure to apply. And for those of us with digital cameras (ahem, pretty much everyone) you can take photos of the inside or outside of your business (or whatever you choose) and upload them to your own Google Places page any old time.
Related Posts:How using Flickr for sharing your photos can increase local salesGetListed.org | Improve local search results for your small businessAccess means Big Change Fast | Episode 18 Local KnowledgeHow to edit photos for your website using Picnik | Local Knowledge Episode 22Are Realtors the next casulty of the Internet, like Travel Agents before them?Powered by Contextual Related Postsa

Issue 3 – March 11, 2010 Featured Article | The Biggest Mistake in Web Design March 10, 2010 | The biggest mistake in web design is letting your own design taste get in the way of choosing a really great web design. This is especially true for small businesses where one person is the sole decision maker on the design. This post talks about what makes a business web design great and shares some simple steps on how you can avoid this trap while still achieving a design you love. Read full story… Video | Get on Page One of Google with jQuery | Episode 24 Local Knowledge March 11, 2010 | There’s a new way to get on page one of Google search results by using a jQuery web design. This video and blog post will get you squared away.  Watch Video… Watercooler | Authenticity in Marketing

As small business owners we are often naturally authentic in our marketing but on occasion we also try to be bigger than we are in order to impress our potential customer and in so doing we unintentionally sound like corporate BS machines! P Morgan Brown’s article Authenticity in Marketing describes how Trader Joes publishes a newsletter called the Fearless Flyer that manages to inform their customers while coming across as approachable and true to their company spirit. Read More… Local 141 | Juicy links & status updates

March 10, 2010

Facebook Will Allow Users to Share Location – Bits Blog – NYTimes.com http://ow.ly/1gA3t Foursquare Introduces New Tools for Businesses – Bits Blog – NYTimes.com http://ow.ly/1gzZ3 The biggest mistake in small business web design from LOCAL Na8ion in West Palm Beach, FL http://ow.ly/1gzY1 I love cheap & easy. In my SMS marketing tools I mean. SMS PENNY SMS http://ow.ly/1guPD

March 9, 2010

Don’t Let User-Generated Reviews Ruin You – ClickZ http://ow.ly/1g25W

March 8, 2010

YouTube – Where 09: Danny Sullivan, “Tricky Issues With Local Search” http://ow.ly/1fxYj How to Design for Your Worst Client: You. http://ow.ly/1fxNk

March 7, 2010

Is someone managing your paid search ads for your business? Do you know how much of your money goes to buying ads? http://ow.ly/1extX

March 4, 2010

Want to convert more lookie-loo’s into buyers? Forbes study suggests SEO, email and PPC ads are most effective: http://ow.ly/1elKU

I hope you enjoyed this week’s edition of Local Bits, Bytes and BS. - Julian Seery Gude LOCALNa8ion.com – Where you are is where it’s at About | Local Bits, Bytes & BS is our weekly online magazine and email newsletter for small business owners that need to connect with local buyers for next-to-nothing using practical online tools and methods. We publish content every week that reveals secrets from the leading edge of local internet marketing, local search engine optimization, social media, online video, web design and WordPress. Subscribe: You can find Bits, Bytes & BS online at http://www.LOCALNa8ion.com or subscribe to the weekly newsletter. Related Posts:Local Bits, Bytes and BS | Weekly Issue No. 2Google Enhanced Business Listing for Small BusinessGet on page one of Google with jQueryThe biggest mistake in web designLocal search goes looking for users…and buyersPowered by Contextual Related Postsa

Episode 24 | Local Knowledge

There’s a new way to get on page one of Google search results by using a jQuery web design. How do you design attractive websites for people while feeding Google the text it needs to improve your search engine rankings? Recently I talked about how designing your website in Flash is a disaster from a search engine optimization standpoint even it if looks great from a web design perspective. People like the look of Flash web designs but Google can’t read the content of Flash movies (like video) so Google can’t rank your website for relevant keywords. The end result is poor search engine rankings. The opposite end of the spectrum is a text-centric web design. Google eats ups the keywords like a pig takes to mud but the text heavy website design leaves people cold. text-centric web designs rank well with Google but perform badly with people. What's the alternative? For years website designers and SEO experts have tried myriad techniques to produce a pleasing uncluttered visual design with a text-centric SEO friendly design for Google. In the last couple of years a new web programming language has emerged called jQuery and it is quickly becoming popular for good reason. Many designs using jQuery mimic the interesting visual effects of Flash but with one key difference. All the text within jQuery effects are 100% accessible to search engines. This is great news. jQuery is the holy grail of web design and search engine optimization With jQuery effects you can combine text headlines with keyword rich text descriptions and break up the text with design elements, video and pictures. This chunking of website content allows you to feed manageable amounts of information to people so they get the point of what you’re saying without becoming overwhelmed. Click on the image above to see an interactive demo of a jQuery slider panel Let’s consider an example. A popular jQuery effect is called the slider. It features a panel that slides to reveal more content. While the person looking at the website is getting nicely chunked information, the search engine is able to read (or index) 100% of the text from ALL the panels contained within the jQuery slider panel. Take a look at the Delegate design made by WooThemes (one of many jQuery designs available in our Percolator Package) . Make sure to click on the picture of the Delegate WordPress theme to see the demo and then scroll through the slider panels to see the content rotate through the design. jQuery has many effects that can be used to chunk text heavy content into visual design that’s more manageable. For example, we used jQuery expanding panels on a website magazine design that shows multiple blog posts on one page, an action that would normally leave a person scrolling down the website page for days. Instead we featured the article headline and a visual call-to-action for the user to read the post by simply clicking a plus sign. As soon as you click the plus sign you see the entire blog post. When you’re done reading, you click on the minus key to put the post content away and move on to the next headline. What would have been page after page of dense text has been reduced to a few inches of precious screen real estate. Click on the image above to see a demo of the jQuery expander (look for the plus signs) Page one of Google Search Results jQuery is a design and SEO powerhouse and one you can’t afford to ignore if you want to appear on page one of Google search results while still having a great looking design! Julian Seery Gude, ed LOCAL Na8ion iTunes, QuickTime, iPhone or iPod download Related Posts:Part II – What every small business should know about WordPress | Episode 20 Local KnowledgeWhat every small business should know about WordPress | Episode 19 Local KnowledgeDo not let Flash happen to your web designThink Global – Market Local | Episode 23 Local KnowledgeEpisode 13 Where in the world is Julian | Episode 13 Local KnowledgePowered by Contextual Related Postsa

Issue 2 – March 2, 2010 Featured Article | Don’t let Flash happen to you Last week I got a call from Fantasia Floral Design, a local florist on the upper east side of New York City. They were interested in the article I wrote on the Google Enhanced Business Listing. Before calling the business I performed a quick assessment of their website. What I found was a critical and all too common problem. Read full story… Video Podcast | Think Global – Market Local | Episode 23 Local Knowledge February 24, 2010 | For those of you who have products or services that can be sold anywhere the Internet has opened up new revenue and growth opportunities to small business that never existed before. But just because you can get business from anywhere doesn’t mean that your marketing effort should be similarly broad. While I encourage you to think globally when it comes to your ideas and marketing differentiation I would strongly suggest that you act locally when it comes time for targeting your message and advertising. Watch Video. Watercooler | How Google’s Algorithm Rules the Web It’s impossible to market your business online today without paying great attention to Google. Watch them closely, obey their rules and reap the rewards of free leads pouring in to your website. Steven Levy of Wired Magazine published a very informative article February 22, 2010 called How Google’s Algorithm Rules the Web. The article covers the evolution of their algorithm changes and gives us some great hints on what’s to come. Please read it. Local 141 | Juicy links & status updates

March 1, 2010 Google just bought web-based photo editor picnik. Here’s my video lesson on picnik http://bit.ly/ruR4G & story here http://bit.ly/a5Q7Ap Dec ‘09 54% of small businesses used social media to monitor feedback about their business. Here’s how: http://bit.ly/diYSag 69% of small businesses used social media to post status updates or share links according to eMarketer http://bit.ly/99VW2T February 27, 2010 How local is local?  @gsterling reports buyers make large % of purchases within 6 miles of home. http://bit.ly/dav8RJ If u r unsure of how to write an SEO friendly article, blog post or press release then scribe for WP might help you http://scribeseo.com/ February 26, 2010 Great post by  @davidmihm on the complexity of local search (local SEO) http://selnd.com/ci90S5 Want better local Google rankings? Read this real useful post & video by  @localseoinc http://bit.ly/197jqE February 25th, 2010 5 Tips for Using Online Video to Market Your Small Business GREAT post by  @morganb on  @reelseo’s site http://bit.ly/aEEcpt Small Business Owners: According to Forrester your chance of appearing in a Google search are 50X more likely with video than website text. Small Business Owners: According to Forrester your chance of appearing in a Google search are 50X more likely with video than website text. February 24, 2010 My latest LOCAL Na8ion video on local internet marketing for small business: Think Global – Market Local http://bit.ly/b0RzQS Mobilize your small biz WordPress website with WP-Touch plugin. Works for iPhone, Android & BB Storm phones http://bit.ly/7acG7Q February 23, 2010 How’s your mobile website? Mobile Local Search is now 28% of all digital searches http://bit.ly/bHFvXP I hope you enjoyed this week’s edition of Local Bits, Bytes and BS. - Julian Seery Gude LOCALNa8ion.com – Where you are is where it’s at About | Local Bits, Bytes & BS is our weekly online magazine and email newsletter for small business owners that need to connect with local buyers for next-to-nothing using practical online tools and methods. We publish content every week that reveals secrets from the leading edge of local internet marketing, local search engine optimization, social media, online video, web design and WordPress. Subscribe: You can find Bits, Bytes & BS online at http://www.LOCALNa8ion.com or subscribe to the weekly newsletter. Related Posts:Local Internet Marketing Shorties for TodayLocal Internet Marketing Shorties for TodayLocal Internet Marketing Shorties for 2009-02-12Shorties for 2009-02-11Shorties | Small Business Daily Digest for 2009-02-10Powered by Contextual Related Postsa

Don't let Flash happen to your web design - Google can't read it. Last week I got a call from Fantasia Floral Design, a local florist on the upper east side of New York City. They were interested in the article I wrote on the Google Enhanced Business Listing. Before calling the business I performed a quick assessment of their website. What I found was a critical and all too common problem. Their website was made entirely in Flash, a web programing language that is intended for displaying motion graphics and videos on a website but never intended for use in attracting search engines or powering entire websites. Google and other search engines read text but not the content of Flash or video files. Given that local search is now the number one tool people use to find local products and services this presents a major problem. The solution is to have a new website design made using modern web design and local search engine optimization methods. Today, an integrated design that combines best practices in web design, usability and SEO are available in the general marketplace at affordable prices (for example we offer a starter package for under one thousand dollars that includes your website platform, design, local SEO, training, web hosting, training and more for under a thousand bucks). There’s some other good news in updating your website. If your old Flash content is really compelling and still relevant for your business there’s a good chance your new web design can incorporate it. Just make sure your web designer integrates your Flash content with your website messaging, and that your text and images are properly optimized. In closing, a modern website built on the right platform will open up lots of  features and benefits to you that make it much easier to market your business online, like easy integration with social media such as Twitter, Facebook and YouTube. Modern website platforms like WordPress like we use here at LOCAL Na8ion make it easy for business owners without technical knowhow to update their own website, freeing them from the costs of hiring a web designer every time something in their business changes. There’s always a balancing act when creating a web design that’s attractive to people and search engines. The site must look good,  function well, be well organized and easy to navigate and be 100% accessible to Google and other search engines. The benefit to having an integrated design with these elements is the lasting effect of good organic search engine rankings. Your website gets noticed on search engines, the website pleases your website visitor with a relevant design, graphics and text, and motivates them to take action and contact your business. That’s what good web design and marketing are all about and it all adds up to better results. Related Posts:Google Enhanced Business Listing for Small BusinessA website that generates sales leadsRe-write your website title for better local search resultsGetListed.org | Improve local search results for your small businessMarketing is hard – when are we going to find the time for it?Powered by Contextual Related Postsa

There may be a new kind of small business internet ad coming to Google that will offer you a low cost means to advertise online – the Google Enhanced Listing. For now Google is testing the service in Houston and San Jose but most agree we’ll see the Google Enhanced Listing offered in all markets later this year. At only $25, the Google Enhanced Listing is designed to highlight a part of your business (a coupon, video or just your home page) on the Google search results pages. A small yellow flag appears next to your business listing on the Google Maps 7-pack and also on the map itself. Here’s an example of a local skateboard shop that was recently featured in the New York Times article These Battle Lines are Drawn in Yellow. Click to enlarge: Example of Google Enhanced Business Listing As a small business owner you’re acutely aware of how expensive and ineffective local advertising can be. When paid search ads (pay-per-click ads) were new on Google and other search engines they were initially dirt cheap and highly effective. As the market became competitive and bid prices rose, the price to win a ‘click’ skyrocketed to the point where small business owners like you and I found ourselves in all too familiar territory – being spent out of the market. The same experience we’ve had with online banner advertising and before that print Yellow Pages, Newspaper, Direct Mail, Coupons and the PennySaver. The NYT article I cited earlier provides a great example. “But one of his sure-fire ways to drive Web visitors and foot traffic — buying search ads on Google — got to be pretty expensive. Mr. Cowie, whose shop is just 1,000 square feet, found himself bidding for placement against deep-pocketed national chains, and having to spend $1,500 to $2,000 a month just to keep up.” - New York Times article These Battle Lines Are Drawn in Yellow This experience is why we still use and champion organic search engine optimization, social media and web marketing. These methods have no associated advertising costs and the money invested in effective web design, marketing ideas and organic Local SEO are largely one-time costs that are quickly recovered, unlike ads that you have to keep paying for indefinitely with dubious effect. The best part of Google’s Enhanced Business Listing is that it’s s flat fee. For now it’s also very affordable at $25 a month. We’ll have to wait and see how effective it is. In the early days early adopters will likely see a big impact but after the product saturates the Google maps listings expect results to dwindle sharply. Then we’ll be back where we started – finding unique ideas and marketing methods to make our business stand out and creating web designs, video and copy that converts shoppers into buyers. Related Posts:Get listed in local online directories in one easy stepGetListed.org | Improve local search results for your small businessCast a wide net with local online directoriesLocal search goes looking for users…and buyersI searched for myself on Google and found nothingPowered by Contextual Related Postsa

Are you using WordPress for your small business website and trying to improve your search engine rankings? If so, read on. I’ve been working recently on a website design for a new client WestchesterInternetMarketing.com in Westchester New York. If you’re in their area and need help with local internet marketing, please look them up. Westchester Internet Marketing turned me on to a great WordPress plugin to boost your search engine results and I wanted to pay-it-forward by letting you in on their tip. I’m excited about this plugin because it will save me time in helping clients with their Local SEO and it will also help you, even if you don’t know much about SEO or achieving better search engine rankings. It’s called SEO Automatic and it’s made by Scott Hendison over at Search Commander. As a web designer and marketer who specializes in WordPress I can say with confidence that Scott’s claims for the plugin are bang on. “If you “already know SEO”, this tool shows you everything you can possibly think of, saving you untold time and energy depending on your skill and efficiency level. If you don’t “already know SEO”, then I’ll not only show you “what’s wrong?” with a given URL, but I’ll give you and your team all of the necessary details needed to do things “right for SEO”. Download the SEO Automatic Core Tweaks plugin here. Related Posts:Top 3 secrets for local and small business blog marketing that you need to knowFree your local business from expensive advertising and web site development - the local revolutionReview of Apple MacBook for Small Business - Display DismaySpot Runner for hire12 examples of WordPress flexibility for small businessPowered by Contextual Related Postsa

Episode 17 | Local Knowledge Video Summary: If you’re like most small to medium sized businesses you either don’t update your website at all or you don’t update it frequently enough. This hampers your online marketing results in key areas like search engine optimization and building better customer relationships. In this six-minute video I talk about the two primary benefits of updating your website more frequently and then share a golden tip on how to create content for your website more efficiently and consistently. If you don’t already have an easy-to-update website for your business check out this video.

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Related Posts:Timing is everything - why NOW is the time for a revolution in local Internet marketingEpisode 13 Where in the world is JulianLOCAL Na8ion Video Welcome MessageEpisode 9c: Social Media for Small Business and Local MarketersHow to perform a Wordpress auto-install or 1-click installa Update your website for more leads

We write how-to articles on Local Internet Marketing for Small Business and one of the best ways to market your business online for free is through Local search engine optimization, also known as Local SEO. I often dive deep into specific topics as I did this past Friday when I blogged about how to Re-write your website title for better local search results. That’s just one important part of Local SEO. There are many others. But what are they? Below you’ll find a short video which provides a great overview of search engine optimization by Senior Vice President Stephanie Leffler of Network Solutions featured on MSNBC’s Consultant Corner. Stephanie discusses SEO practices like your website ‘title tag’, incoming links to your website, and many other useful SEO topics like the importance of creating text based content for your website in order to attract search engines. Enjoy the video Julian, ed LOCALNa8ion Where you are is where it’s at

Related Posts:Re-write your website title for better local search resultsRoom for one more blogSelling online video ads to car dealersWordPress Hosting Update and SpecialLocal Internet Marketing Shorties for Todaya Search Engine Optimization Basics Video

5 minutes to better local search engine rankings If you’re trying to attract free traffic from search engines to your small local business you need to optimize your site for local searches. This practice is generally known as local search engine optimization (Local SEO). My tip today focuses on one specific but very important Local SEO technique… Website titles The website title is the text that appears at the very top of your web browser window when you visit someone’s website. It’s also what people see on search engine results pages like this.

Click to view larger image Here’s an example of a local search someone might type into Google. Local Search example “Florists Charlotte” Your website title should include descriptive words that read well, include your location, and includes the major search keyword/s or search terms for your business. While your business name is nice, it’s generally the least important part of your website title. Guess what 98% of the small business website titles start out with? The business name. Think of it like this. Is a banner you make for your front window that says 50% Off - Spring Sale going to attract business or the one that says George’s Hardware? Your website title is like a banner about what you do for both people and search engines. Good Local Website Titles Let’s take a look at the top 5 search engine results from the local search example I used above, ‘Charlotte Florists.’

Charlotte Florists, Flowers, Local Florist Shops - North Carolina (NC) Charlotte florists and gift shops Charlotte Florists - Flowers Charlotte NC - Starclaire House Of … Port Charlotte Florists - Flowers Port Charlotte FL - Port … Charlotte Florists - Flowers Charlotte NC - Gallery of Flowers

Notice a theme? The winners on this list lead with their city and then their common search keyword/s or search term/s. How to do it Get out your pen and pad or favorite word processor and start working on a new website title. Keep your new title under 70 total characters and include your major town/city first, your keyword next, and if there is room, your business name. A pipe, one of these | is a great way to visually separate information in your website title. Use this tool to count the number of characters in your new website title so you don’t feel like you’re back in Kindergarten. Here’s an example I just worked up. Charlotte Florists, Elegant Charlotte Flowers | Mary’s Botanicals I included the location city and two major search terms in my title and snuck in a business name in 65 total characters.

Charlotte Florists Charlotte Flowers Something additive and descriptive “Elegant” for the people reading my title Business Name

Want some more examples of what to do with your website title? Check out SEO expert Aaron Wall’s video on how to write great SEO website titles below. Julian, ed LOCALNa8ion Local Internet Marketing for Small Business | LOCALNa8ion.com ——–

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Local Knowledge Show Notes - Episode 14 Today on Local Knowledge I discuss four main topics, including:

Batch your work using time, tools & technology Edit a Wordpress post or page (see LocalNa8ion.com for full video) Update your site once per month to maintain reader/viewer interest and improve your search engine results Promote other content on the web to save your own time when blogging or creating web content

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  Looking for the link for 100+ Wordpress Video Tutorials? Here’s SpeckyBoy.com’s post 100+ Wordpress Video Tutorials, from Basic to Advanced How to edit Wordpress Posts & Pages Now, here’s that videoTutorial by iThemes.com and ScreenTutorial.com on how to edit Wordpress posts and pages.

Thanks for watching Local Knowledge, the world’s first video podcast dedicated to Local Internet Marketing Julian Seery Gude, ed LocalNa8ion.com Where you are is where it’s at a You can do it all with the Internet

I searched for myself on Google and found nothing.That message was written on a coaster under my delicious golden amber beer at Outback Steakhouse. Do you find yourself lamenting the same thing about your local business? With today’s economic crisis it’s become more important to reach new customers. At the same time you need to dramatically cut your spending. I have great news for you. Today, it’s possible to cut ad spending in traditional local media like print Yellow Pages and Newspapers while still increasing your overall marketing exposure and sales leads. Wait, did you read that right? You can cut back on ads and still increase your marketing exposure. Let’s look at an example scenario. Local business owner Jane spends $1,000 a month on a Yellow Pages ad. She used to see great results from her ad but over the years, especially in the last five years or so, the ad just isn’t pulling in new calls like it used to. More and more, when Jane asks her clients how they found her, they answer in a one word, two sylable reply. “Goo-gle” Jane can take a hint. She invests between $1,000 to $5,000 in a new online marketing strategy and web site. This includes getting a clear picture of who her existing and desired customers are and then building a web site that speaks to that target market with appropriate: - messaging - design - local search engine optimization (local SEO) Jane’s new site will be her star sales person. It will have all the current information about what Jane sells and why she’s different (and superior) to her competitors. This new site will let Jane, a typical resourceful business person keep her web site up-to-date with information on specials, sales, new products and services and other useful information. For Jane, it won’t be any harder to update her new web site than it would be to write an email on today’s web-based email programs like Yahoo! Mail or AOL mail. You open a web browser, you sign in, you type, you format your text (bold, color, etc.) and you click on the ‘Publish’ button just like you’d hit the ‘Send’ button after composing an email. Along with the relevant content and local search engine optimization on her new web site these frequent updates to Jane’s site (let’s say once every two weeks) will position Jane’s web site ahead of 90% of her competition on search results pages on Google and Yahoo!. The targeted leads that Jane receives from Google and Yahoo! won’t cost her anything. Once she’s done paying for her new web site with the money she saved from cutting back on her Yellow Pages ad she’ll be way ahead of the game. As time progresses Jane will save more and more. If Jane hired an experienced online marketing agency or consultant and invested $3,000 in her new web site she could expect to make up the cost of her new online presence in three short months. Over the year of her annual Yellow Pages contract she’ll keep 9 months of what she was spending on her old Yellow Pages ad in the bank. That’s $1,000 a month X 9. Nine grand. Jane can do a lot with $9,000. How about you? For the vast majority of small businesses, the Internet remains a HUGE untapped source of buyers.  These buyers are using Google, Yahoo! and other search engines to find local products and services. To maximize your sales to these buyers your goal is to get your web site listed towards the top of organic search engine rankings. The Organic, or natural search engine results are the main results for web pages and links after you’ve performed a search.  For local searches on Google, this includes search results that appear on a map, often referred to by search engine marketers like us as the ‘10 Pack’ - so called because of the number of local businesses appearing in the map search. We’ll take a look at a picture of this in just a minute. In the field of search engine marketing we use the terms organic or natural search results (which don’t cost anything) to distinguish from paid search ads that appear along the top and right side of the organic search results. The majority of people using search engines refer to the organic search results. Here’s a look at where organic and paid search listings appear on Google, and you’ll also notice the 10-Pack Map listings (click on the picture to see a large version). CLICK PICTURE to see an example of Local Search Results on Google Your local media rep from the Newspaper and Yellow Pages will tell you that independent studies have proven that businesses of all sizes that cut back on advertising during recessionary times do poorly and fail in greater numbers than businesses that increase their marketing exposure. If you follow this wisdom you should go buy more ads and make them bigger too! That’s what the old media companies are hoping anyway. But you don’t need to do that. I worked for the largest of these Yellow Pages and Newspaper companies over my 20 year career and their argument doesn’t hold water anymore. With the options available to you today online it’s now safe to go find your biggest knife and start cutting traditional ads. Then you’ll take a portion of your savings and invest them in the one-time cost of a modern web site and online marketing plan, along with the training to make your web site your new star sales person. You’ll pocket the rest of the money. If you’re not the self-help type, then you can hire an expert to perform this work for you - like Local Na8ion. As with any purchase, the informed buyer (that’s you in this case) is the buyer who gets the best deal and the best available product and service. Help yourself

Perhaps the most important step to maximize savings and local search engine rankings is to make sure your new site is one you can update yourself without technical knowledge. This means you don’t have to pay a programmer every time you want to update your web site, and every update you make to your site means better rankings on search engines. The web site publishing software your new web site runs on should be mainstream, with tons of people using and supporting it. You should be able to go to your local book store or library and find a selection of books on how to use the software. You should be able to search on Google for the software and find thousands of companies ready to help you.  Many a nightmare story has been told about small business owners that set up a ‘Free’ Microsoft or Yahoo! web site only to find out that these companies dummy down their offering and rarely update their tools. You don’t get locked into one company with one solution.  With today’s leading web site publishing technology, specifically using content management systems like the one we recommend, Wordpress, your web site updates are as easy to publish as an email. Wordpress is mainstream in that it’s used by millions of large institutions, companies, and individuals. You can buy Wordpress for Dummies and many other mainstream publications to teach yourself about the application. Wordpress has a community of developers and service providers that are expert in its workings and can provide you with services that run the gamut from customization to training. Here at Local Na8ion, we’re just one example. If you’d like to learn more about why we recommend Wordpress for small business, you can watch our video podcast, Local Knowledge.  If you’d like to see what this looks like for yourself tune in here to our upcoming video podcast Local Knowledge and we’ll show you exactly how easy it is to perform an update using Wordpress. Stay tuned! - Julian, ed Local Na8ion a I searched for myself on Google and found nothing

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In episode 13 I say “Hi!” to viewers who have been with us for our first 12 episodes and “Hola” to our new YouTube viewers. First, I will catch you up on what I have been doing and then… I figured I’d name our show since I’m in it for the long haul: Local Knowledge. That’s the name! The World’s First Video Podcast dedicated to Local Internet Marketing. …and finally I discuss how our next sessions will cover the topic of web design for small business (on a shoestring budget of course). Julian Seery Gude ed, Local Na8ion http://www.localna8ion.com a Episode 13 Where in the world is Julian

Want to appear towards the top of local search engine rankings on Google and Yahoo! when a buyer searches online in your city for your product or service? Sure you do - it is free search engine marketing after all. Today in Episode 11 on Local Na8ion (run time 9:57) we feature a video lesson on three quick and easy steps to optimize your web site for local search engines. Using non-technical methods, we will demonstrate three ways to hardwire your web site to increase local sales with something called a title tag, and adding your address to your web site footer (the bottom of your site). Our three Local SEO tips can be implemented on your WordPress site in less than 10 minutes, even if you don’t know a lick of HTML.

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Want some good tips optimizing your title tag? These recommendations from Google will come in pretty handy. Don’t have an easy-to-update WordPress web site and blog? Why on earth not! Well, in the mean time, here’s a link to the old not-so-easy way to change the title tag on your web site. You would use the same method to update your footer of your index.html file to put your physical street address in your web site footer. Want to save yourself time and headaches and upgrade to WordPress for less than $100 a year Upgrade to WordPress today and you’ll save yourself a lot of headaches and avoid the technical mumbo jumbo that old web sites require you to learn. WordPress is a tremendous platform to build your local online sales on. Here’s how you can get started with Wordpress for less than $100 year. Julian, editor Local Na8ion Where you are is where it’s at a Episode 11: Local Search Engine Optimization in Three Easy Steps