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The number of major mobile ad campaigns budgeted at $250,000 or more grew 213% for the first quarter of 2011, compared with the year-earlier period, according to Millennial Media.

Millennial said marketers were using mobile to extend local reach and deepen connections initiated by campaigns across other media. For the full story, visit Mobile Marketer.

Any small business owner looking for a crash course on how to market online would do well to read a feature article in last Friday’s edition of the Bangor Daily News by the dean of Husson University’s College of Business.

In an unassuming article entitled, ‘Online marketing success unlocked with the right keys,’ Ronald A. Nykiel touches on everything from what colors impart what type of message to the importance of “links, links” and more links in your content. (Nykiel advises using “as many links as possible” as a means of “extending your reach.”)

Never before has so much vital web marketing detail been condensed into so small a space as in this feature, part of a BDN series called ‘Deans of Business‘.

If you’re wondering why you should care about such things, Nykiel has a very good answer in his opening paragraph: “Today, many businesses are often totally Web-based or are receiving a majority of their revenue through Web marketing. Every hour, day, week, month and year, more and more of consumer purchases and decisions to purchase are the result of Web-based marketing.” [Read the full article.]

The New York Times noted in an article yesterday that Google has found the rapid growth of mobile search is not cutting into desktop search numbers. It’s finding instead that mobile searches are occurring at different times of the day, when people are not at home or work.

The Times article further noted that for the last few years Google has been pouring resources into improving the effectiveness of search via mobile devices. Google has seen some success with a voice-activated search tool as well as an image-search function called Google Goggles.

“Local Search will become the golden child of marketing for small businesses in 2011.”

That is the headline above a very lengthy blog entry by SEO and website promotion expert Rebecca Gill of Web Savvy Marketing.

She goes on to characterize local search as the little brother of social media and urges small business owners to pay attention and not get left behind. Local search is very time intensive, she warns, so outsource it if you don’t have the time or training to handle it yourself.

We are barely three weeks into this new year and you can expect to hear that same tune repeated incessantly in the coming weeks and months. Like all new developments on the world wide web, the early movers are going to get the biggest rewards and latecomers are going to wish they’d sat up and taken notice sooner.

To illustrate her point, Gill lists more than 25 online directories that businesses need to be listed in to help their local search ranking, and this is just one of many tasks associated with getting any kind of prominence for your small business. There are literally hundreds of similar directories, from product or service specific to regional, national and global, making directory listing a continual work in progress.

Footnote

Mike Blumenthal, one of the most brilliant minds in matters of local search, was quoted in an interview this week as saying: “Examining and perfecting the basics seems critical for many (small businesses). For me that means a well optimized website, a well implemented local search campaign and a decent email plan. The new Places Search really puts an emphasis on having not just a website, but one that is tuned for search.”

The 3 essentials of local search marketing

1. Complete and verify your Google Place Page. Include as much keyword rich marketing information as possible. Also upload as many photos (up to 10) as possible and videos (if available) to ensure 100% completion status. For help to locate your listing or create a new one, watch this video from Google. It runs just over 40 minutes but is well worth the time as it tells you absolutely everything you need to know about Google Places.

2. Support your Google Place Page by registering your business name, address, phone no., website and other co-ordinates at high-profile directories. The following list of top resources in Canada comes straight from David Mihm, one of the world’s foremost authorities on local search.

• yellowpages.ca: Fill out form, lower right corner to get started.
• 411.ca: Submit phone no. at right to get started.
• ShopinCanada.com
• citydirect.info
• CanPages.ca
• ZipLocal.ca – click Add a Listing in footer menu
• WebLocal.ca
• FoundLocally.com – choose a specific Canadian city
• Yelp Canada link for Canadian businesses
• BBB.org Canada – requires accreditation: apply to VP, business relations
• HotFrogCanada (strange name, good directory)

3. Build An Online Reputation: Do everything in your power to encourage your customers to submit reviews online (short of bribing them, of course). You don’t even mind getting your business trashed by a few unhappy clients: if you have nothing but glowing comments, your credibility factor may be diminished.

Two strategies for starting your local search campaign

1. Take care of those three components and you will start seeing results within 30 to 90 days. Here’s a link to an instructional video by Google on how to set up your Place Page yourself. (Runtime is just over 40 minutes.)

2. Get iMedia Impact Group to do the full setup for you, including all the special listings noted in Step 2 above (except Better Business Bureau: you must apply to that yourself). We’ll give you a full 90-Day Moneyback Guarantee. (Act NOW and get our half-price special, a saving of $150.)

Local search is primarily local residents using Internet search engines to find local merchants and service providers. In most cases, these are people ready or getting ready to make a purchase.

Almost 70% of the time, people conducting local searches online make a purchase at a local business offline. This makes it the most important source of new customers for small businesses trying to connect with consumers.

Advent of Local Search

Local search is easily the fastest growing segment of Internet marketing today. Companies that provide pay-per-click and search engine optimization (SEO) services to help clients gain exposure in search results are emphasizing the local component more than ever.

The advent of smart phones and Apple’s recent launch of its super-compact, ultra-portable iPad — which is certain to spawn a rash of imitators in the coming months — are two of many factors fueling the rapidly accelerating growth of this thing called local search.

All indications are that while there is certainly an explosion of activity in locally focused search, we ain’t seen nothin’ yet.

The challenge for local small businesses is to get up to speed as quickly as possible and know how to get the most out of this upsurge. Adapt or perish has never had more ominous overtones than for those who don’t get in while the getting is good.

Getting Started

Google Places is the most powerful way to get started in your local search marketing campaign. Using this unprecedented opportunity to draw a steady stream of new customers via Internet search can cost little or nothing, and is a three-step process:

1. Complete and validate your Google Places business listing.
2. Build your online reputation by getting listed in online directories that have the highest credibility with Google and the other search engines.
3. Build your business credibility by actively encouraging customers to submit comments about you at the most widely recognized customer review sites.

According to Google, 1 in 5 searches is local in nature, meaning the end user is searching for content relative to the town or city in which they are searching. The ratio rises to 1 in 3 for searches originating from mobile devices.

Now Power

The kind of local search volume this represents is almost beyond comprehension. If your business is not being prominently displayed for search phrases that most closely relate to it, your competitors are getting all the new business that you are missing out on.

But maybe not. So far a very low percentage of small businesses have claimed their default Google Places listing and harnessed its potential to produce a significant front-page presence in Google’s search results. Odds are your business category still has a low level of competition.

Whether or not this is the case, it’s imperative that you take charge of your listing now. Otherwise you may find yourself playing catch-up for years to come.

If it’s something you have time to take on yourself, check out the Google Places instructional video (runtime 41:49). If you prefer to delegate the task to someone with experience, iMedia Impact can help.

9 Reasons to Claim Your Google Place Page Now

1. The number one objective of everyone doing business on the Internet is to rank on Page 1 in Google. Your Places page is your best shot at being there when it really counts.
2. It’s free!
3. A solid, keyword rich, 100%-complete Places page will rank high in business categories that aren’t yet maxed-out with competition. It can easily become your number one source of new business.
4. Your Place page has in-your-face exposure to people who are actively searching for precisely what you have to offer.
5. You can add coupons and weekly specials to entice red-hot, money-in-hand prospects to check you out.
6. Customers can provide testimonials and reviews on your Google Places page. Google also pulls reviews from other sites and adds them to your Places listing. (A Nielsen study from July 2009 found that 70% of people trust online consumer opinions.)
7. Google keeps improving Google Places functionality to add value for business owners.
8. Your competition probably isn’t there yet, simply because they have no idea how much online marketing power is built into this.
9. You can track how your listing is performing day to day, week to week. Armed with this intelligence, you can modify your Places page to optimize exposure.

News broke yesterday (August 4) that businesses can now respond to customer reviews in Google Places. It’s but another solid reason why it’s a must for every small business to verify their listing and really start getting noticed in local searches.

Greg Sterling at Search Engine Land says the move illustrates that “Google is serious about its relationship with business owners.”

About Google Places

If you are a small business owner who isn’t quite sure what Google Places is all about, it would be well worth your while to become informed. You really need to be in the loop on this one.

Because Google has given business owners a gift. Those who use the gift and make the most of it are rewarded handsomely. Their Google Places listing gets displayed prominently on Page 1 of Google’s search results, the most coveted location for anyone doing business online. It’s the first place local consumers look when making buying decisions nowadays.

Businesses that do nothing with Google’s gift get no reward and very little exposure in local search results. They are missing out on a golden opportunity to capitalize on what has become the most effective way to drive new business to your front door, namely, Internet searches. Today most searches originate from computers, but it won’t be long before mobile phone searches take the lead.

The implications are astronomical. The number one priority for every small business today has to be getting their Google Places listing claimed and optimized.

If you look this gift horse in the mouth, you could very well feel like a horse’s ass in the not-too-distant future. Seriously.

If you don’t have the time to take care of this yourself, we will do it for you for far less than the price of an e-booklet explaining how to do it yourself. Email us for details.

Worth A Boo: Scott Clark at buzzmaven.com was right on top of the latest Google Places news, providing 15 Tips for replying to customer reviews.

A New Reality

Welcome to the future of small business, where the key to attracting new customers is ensuring that you are highly visible in Internet search results. It’s the new reality of today, and will be infinitely more so tomorrow.

Before the turn of the millennium, Marketing for Small Business 101 was all about the Yellow Pages. The prevailing strategy was simple: Spend as much as you can afford on an eye-popping display ad in the categories where your business is listed. Nowadays, however, the Yellow Pages are looking a little gray from all the dust they’re collecting.

After all, why flip through page after page trying to find what you want when you can simply type a few words into Google’s search field and get literally millions of results in a heartbeat? No need to “let your fingers do the walking” when search engines can scour the entire planet in far less time than it takes just to locate and open a phone directory, never mind trying to find the section you’re looking for.

Mobile Search Shift

This pressed-for-time new world of ours now turns to Google and the other Internet search engines to find local businesses that offer what they are shopping for. The local search statistics bearing out this massive shift are staggering.

As a local entrepreneur, you know that the Internet is vital to growing your business. But do you know how vital? More importantly, do you know how to harness the power of Internet search to drive eager prospects right to your front door?

We are making it our mission here at iMedia Impact Group to make sure you have the most up-to-date information available on the rapidly growing sub-niche of Internet search marketing known as Local Search. There are some very important fundamentals that you really have to know about. The future of your business depends on it.

Consider this, for instance: Internet access by mobile phone is expected to surpass computer access in the next few years, according to at least one Google honcho.

In other words, people will be making purchasing decisions on the fly in ever-increasing numbers. Step 1 is: Grab your web-enabled cell phone and search for a nearby restaurant, pharmacy, bicycle shop, service station or whatever it is you happen to want right this minute.

‘Internet Invisibility’

A great many consumers are already following this procedure. Most consumers will be doing the same within the next few years. If your business isn’t prominently displayed in their Internet search results, how will you remain competitive?

You will suffer from what we at iMedia Impact Group have tagged: Internet Invisibility. And suffer is certainly the operative term here.

There are many things small business owners need to be aware of. In the spirit of “an ounce of prevention…“, we want to ensure that you have all the information at hand so that you can make an informed decision on how to avoid the potentially disastrous consequences of Internet Invisibility.

The sooner you take action, the better. Because the sooner you optimize your local search visibility, the greater your advantage over your competitors who aren’t yet in the loop.

We’re here with the scoop on local search marketing, and we’d like nothing better than to bring you up to speed.

If we haven’t contacted you directly yet, please give us a call. You will be surprised how easy it is to “Claim Your Place” in online searches.