'Local Search' is a term that is gaining a new perspective among today's businesses (even though the model is over 100 years old).
 Question is, what does 'Local Search' mean?

I am going to join Greg Sterling (Greg's blog) and agree that the defenition is: "Reaching particular people in particular places — who will typically buy something or do something in a physical location."

For you and me in the 'green industry' the term 'locally' drives the bus:
    ~ Contributing locally with people
    ~ Contributing locally with products in and products out
    ~ Contributing locally with services in and services out

It's not like most of our businesses are branded multi-location businesses. Most in this industry have a local flavor.

Reaching 'particluar people' in 'particular places' means you have to meet them where they are, when they are.

The Internet is where they are - locally, and they are looking for you.

This survey drives that point home:
"A Nielsen survey in May 2008 found that among a representative group of people who had recently made consumer electronics purchases in a brick and mortar store, 80 percent bought from a store whose Web site they visited first. Further, 53 percent purchased from the retailer on whose Web site they had spent the most time." (Here is the link)




Here is a table that shows the preferred source of Information gathering

Table 1: Information Sources ranked by Preference among Consumers
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Preferred Information Source                   Percent of Consumers
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Internet                                                                 58
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Visit to local stores                                                    25
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Reviews in newspapers/magazines                                           8
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Friends and family                                                        8
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Other                                                                     1
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Source: Nielsen Online

There are lots of things happening in the 'green industry' that will make your web site 'more visible'.

Best bet is to have a professional web site and engage those who are visiting it in a professional manner.

Yes, it is The Information Age, and our businesses need to serve it up with a local flavor.


Steve




  

For about a year, an idea, 'Oxygen Footprint' has been stuck in my brain as a way to promote the green indsutry.

Now, more than ever, the 'green' movement is coming alive.

I read across the blogsphere about the movement slowing down. In my opinon, it is only going to get stronger and lounder, and the cream will rise to the top.

We as an industry have HUGE opportunity to get the message out to the kitchen table.

As of this date, I have posted a 'Summary' of "Oxygen Footprint' on www.OxygenFootprint.org for all to reveiw. There is a message board for discussion. There are logo's to download as you see fit.

Soon, the site will take on a consumer facing perspective that addresses the tagline "Fresh Air, Clean Water, Healthy Plants".

Comments appreciated. Preferred as discussion here.

Steve

Cre8asite Forums site has some SEO information.

Title: What are the Most Important Search Engine Optimization Practices?

1. When you start doing SEO, write down every thing you do and monitor results closely. If you make a change, write that down too -- and continue reviewing.
2. If you work with clients, you may want to opt in for an NDA so that they don't "reuse any specialist codes you might be using as part of [your] strategy to work that magic."

The rest are in the link above.


Steve

Well, I must admit, things have been crazy.

I have turned a blind eye to this blog and the newsletter for the past few months.

What can I say?

Ok.  Back in gear.

Steve

Survey Results - What do people do on the Internet?

Survey Results - Who is using the Internet?

Should you have a web site?

Small Companies are finding a home on the web

Web Site Design Mistakes #2

Few Words - Wrong Words

One of the ingredients to great web site design is having great images. Having great words is even more important though. The words, or copy, or text on a site is a big part of what the search engines crawl and index.

The words on your pages should be keyword specific per page. Don't try to build pages where the words explain all the different things you do. That kind of approach will result in the search engines not knowing what you do....confused.

Gerry McGovern has an opinion about word usage:
"I have seen situations where sales have been doubled by changing a couple of words. (Nothing else on the website was changed.)"                  
Click here to see the full article.

One other thing about words .............. selection. When choosing keywords for your pages, don't choose the wrong words. Choose the keywords that get traffic.

For example, why build a page for 'Landscape Services'? Nobody searches for 'Landscape Services'. People search a bunch for 'Landscaping' though. Build your page around the word 'Landscaping' and do it thoroughly.

Click here for an article about Keyword Suggestion Tools.


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Archive
Web Site Design Mistake # 1  -  Animation and Flash

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) (Definition)

URL Configuration

URL's, or Domain Names are a significant piece of the SEO puzzle.

It is important to choose URL's that are keyword sensitive.

For example: Landscape Services - I've seen many a web site that says they provide 'Landscape Services' such as pruning, mowing, etc. The URL for this page is typically in this format:

www.yourcompany.com/landscapeservices.html

The problem: people don't search for landscapeservices (or landscape services for that matter). It would be much better to optimize the page for 'landscaping' and have the url in this format:

www.yourcompany.com/landscaping.html

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Next, I want to explain how to configure two-word URL's.
When dealing with 'landscape design', flowering plants and red flowering shrubs, configure the URL's in the following format:

www.yourcompany.com/landscape-design.html
www.yourcompany.com/flowering-plants.html
www.yourcompany.com/red-flowering-shrubs.html

By separating the words with a dash tells the search engines that individual words are represented.

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Database driven sites often create dynamic URL's. These dynamic URL's lack keywords. Consider masking the dynamic URL for SEO purposes.

Here is an example of a dynamic URL:
www.yourcompany.com/results.asp?cc=KGYH&b=30&catID=11

Here is the same web page using a masked URL:
www.yourcompany.com/The-Best-Products-Money-Can-Buy.htm

Library

Recent and Relevant Reading

 Recession Marketing
"There are four crucial investments you need to make to ensure a long-lasting return on your internet marketing."

SEO Tips for Product Pages
"The SEO benefits of product pages can often be overlooked, with many just offering basic product details, photos and a brief description."

The Basics of Local Online Advertising
"With all the avenues available for reaching customers online, it's important to be able to determine what is working and what isn't."

Website Design - The In's and Out's of Using Flash for Flare
"While Flash can radically enhance the appeal of website, it does come with a couple of caveats. If you're a business looking to employ Flash to add spice to your website, there are a few things both positive and negative to be aware of that may affect you depending on what your target goals are."

Designing or Redesigning Your Web Site - Has The Time Come?
"Whether you've had your Web site for two years or ten, it might be time for a change."

Got Duplicate Content? Don't Let It Dilute Your SEO Efforts
"There's really nothing wrong with having multiple versions of a page co-exist on your website. Sure, there's some redundancy, but it won't break the Internet. However, the problem arises when the same page lives in different sections on your site AND it has different URLs. Then it's considered duplicate content by the search engines."

Sound Investments For Your Web Site
"Regardless of the purpose of your website, selling stuff, getting leads, or page views, utilizing these three methods of website improvement will pay off far beyond your investment in a specialist, in-house training, attending a seminar, or however you choose to get it done."

Observations

People Want To Buy Stuff

Data is pouring in from different places about how people use the Internet to do research before they buy.

It is going to be next to impossible to get real-time inventory data on live goods at the local garden center / nursery until RFID systems are ubiquitous.

Regardless, Internet users want to know what you have. Here is a chart that shows what they are doing:



Click here to see the full size graph.


Yes, they are doing research on the Internet and going to the store to purchase ... in a combination of scenario's.

The chart below shows what they influence of the Internet and in-store combinations:



Click here to see the full size graph.

Web Site Design Mistakes
Animation and Flash

Studies show that users of your web site want to get down to business starting in the upper left hand corner.

The use of animation and Flash are a distraction, plus they may inhibit the successful crawl of a search engine spider.

To be sure you get crawled thoroughly, keep important content in HTML and use Flash as an additive or "accessory".

Stick with html based web design and provide colorful images and great content that convey the emotion and the message that is compelling to your customer, and you will be on your way.

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An alternative to Flash is to have animated .gif, but that has some limitations. An animated .gif will not fade in and fade out. The images will simply jump from one image to another.

We built a web site for MattMartin.tv and utilized Flash to display images that tell his story.
Click here to see the page.

The trick to using Flash on the html page is to place the Flash source code as far down as you can so the upper parts of the page can be read by the search engine spiders.

There is some great content on the web about Web Animation. Here is a good source.

Do you have some examples of using web animation on your site?

Please share.

Thanks,

Steve

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) (Definition)
Title Tags

Making your web site visible to the search engines is VERY important. These days, web site designers are not SEO Engineers too. Finding both attributes in the same person is extremely rare, but not impossible.

For starters, let's address the Title Tag. The Title Tag is found at the very top of your web page (at the top of the screen) as a blue bar. In the blue bar is the text that defines the page.

Best practices for the Title Tags are to make the Tag words very specific to the content of the page. A classic mistake is to have Title Tag on every page be the name or your company.

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Title Tags (and pages) should be selected and titled according to the popularity of the chosen search term (keyword) for the page.

Build one page at a time, and design the page with the objective of teaching the search engines to land there for a specific keyword.
It all starts with the title tag.

Here is a link to Title Tag best practices.

Here is an example of someone who used the title tag to include some geographical informaton as well. There are issues with some of the other attributes of the page that I don't agree with, but as far as the Title Tag goes, he is heading in the right direction.

Do you have examples of Title Tag optimization that is working for you?

Thanks for sharing,

Steve

Statistics

The Influence of Search on In-Store Purchasing

In 2005, less than 5% of all retail sales was eCommerce. That means that 95% was catalog and in-store sales.

Of in-store sales, almost 70% was influenced by research on the Internet before going to the store to buy. In the consumer electronics space, almost 90% of purchases were influenced by the research on the web.

We've heard that the consumer is overwhelmed by the local nursery and garden center. Might using the Internet to research your store break-down the barrier to entry for the consumer?

Might a portfolio of images of 'Outdoor Living Spaces' be an influential idea generator for landscaping services.

These are ideas that are inexpensive to implement, and ones you can take to the bank.

If you are one of the ones that says (or thinks) "I don't sell on the Internet, so I don't need to advertise or have a web site", then you SERIOUSLY need to reconsider the facts.

Here is a chart that shows the influence of the Internet on local in-store purchasing.

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Here is a recent article from the New York Times titled: Small Companies Are Finding A Home On The Web.

One of the quotes in the article that caught my eye was this:
"In its first survey of small-business Web sites last April, Jupiter Research found that just 36 percent of all businesses with fewer than 100 employees had a Web presence.

So don't just run out to your nephew and post a half-baked web site. Make it a professional representation of who you are, and the way you do business, and it will significantly influence in-store purchasing.

Do you have a web site that you feel is professional? Please share it with us.

Thanks for sharing.

Steve