• Is Google Figuring Out When Many Businesses Share One Address?
• Study: Yelp has More Productive, Less Extreme Reviewers
• Facebook, LinkedIn More Popular Among SMBs Than Twitter, Survey Says
• SBSM Mailbag: Four URLs, But Only One Page … Duplicate Content?
• Who Wants to Be a Search Engine Submission Expert?

Previous Flashbacks

SBSM Flashback: April 2011
SBSM Flashback: March 2011
SBSM Flashback: February 2011
SBSM Flashback: January 2011
SBSM Flashback: December 2010
SBSM Flashback: November 2010
SBSM Flashback: October 2010
SBSM Flashback: September 2010
SBSM Flashback: July 2010
SBSM Flashback: June 2010
SBSM Flashback: May 2010
SBSM Flashback: April 2010
SBSM Flashback: March 2010
SBSM Flashback: February 2010
SBSM Flashback: January 2010
SBS Flashback: November 2009
SBS Flashback: October 2009
SBS Flashback: September 2009
SBS Flashback: August 2009
SBS Flashback: July 2009
SBS Flashback: June 2009
SBS Flashback: May 2009
SBS Flashback: April 2009
SBS Flashback: March 2009
SBS Flashback: February 2009
SBS Flashback: January 2009
SBS Flashback: December 2008
SBS Flashback: November 2008
SBS Flashback: October 2008
SBS Flashback: September 2008
SBS Flashback: August 2008
SBS Flashback: July 2008
SBS Flashback: June 2008
SBS Flashback: May 2008
SBS Flashback: April 2008
SBS Flashback: March 2008
SBS Flashback: February 2008
SBS Flashback: January 2008
SBS Flashback: December 2007
SBS Flashback: November 2007
SBS Flashback: October 2007
SBS Flashback: September 2007
SBS Flashback: August 2007
SBS Flashback: July 2007
SBS Flashback: June 2007
SBS Flashback: May 2007
SBS Flashback: April 2007
SBS Flashback: March 2007
SBS Flashback: February 2007
SBS Flashback: January 2007
SBS Flashback: December 2006
SBS Flashback: November 2006
SBS Flashback: October 2006
SBS Flashback: September 2006
SBS Flashback: August 2006
SBS Flashback: July 2006
SBS Flashback: June 2006
SBS Flashback: May 2006

White Label Local Business Listing Service for Agencies
Get Your Client’s Listings Claimed, Enhanced & Verified!
Google, Bing, YP.com, Yahoo & More!
BusinessListingVerification.com

This is a post from Matt McGee's blog, Small Business Search Marketing.

SBSM Flashback: May 2011

Background

Google has been emphasizing fresh content in its search results for some time now. That link goes back to November 2011, and when I write on Search Engine Land about Google’s monthly search quality changes, they often include something about fresh content.

Today’s Article & Google Freshness

About four hours ago, I published a post on this blog with this headline: The Fallacy of Timing Blog Posts & Social Media Updates.

Note, too, that I wrote a different title tag for that article: There’s No Best Time to Publish Blog Posts & Social Updates. I was specifically targeting the search phrase, “best time to publish blog posts.”

The article has received a fair amount of visibility on Twitter with a variety of tweets and retweets, as well as on facebook and Google+.

Fresh Results in Action

Have a look at Google’s current search results for that phrase: (click for larger version)

As you can see, my post already ranks No. 3 on that phrase — this is despite only having one inbound link that I know of (from Marketingland.com). But it does have social sharing and freshness in its favor.

Right below my post is a Google+ post from AJ Kohn, which probably has zero inbound links (outside of plus.google.com) to go along with a few +1s and comments. But it’s fresh (and it comes from a trusted Google+ user).

Now … I would assume that these search results will eventually look different. When? Could be a couple hours, could be a couple days … who knows. With all of the more established content on the web about “best time to publish blog posts,” this fresh content will eventually settle further down in the search results.

But for now, with Google’s emphasis on fresh content (plus social/author popularity), it’s interesting to see how quickly a piece of content can get page one visibility, isn’t it?

White Label Local Business Listing Service for Agencies
Get Your Client’s Listings Claimed, Enhanced & Verified!
Google, Bing, YP.com, Yahoo & More!
BusinessListingVerification.com

This is a post from Matt McGee's blog, Small Business Search Marketing.

Google’s Freshness Algorithm in Action

That’s my opinion, and I’m sticking with it.

You’ve probably seen these studies and statistics. The folks at Bit.ly (a service I like and use) just shared some of their data and we wrote about it on Marketing Land. In a nutshell, Bit.ly is saying that the best time to post stuff on Twitter and Facebook is early afternoon, U.S. Eastern time.

I don’t mean to pick on Bit.ly because, as I said, that’s just the latest in a pretty long line of articles and reports that try to suggest that there’s one magical time that you should be publishing and sharing content.

There’s not.

Why There’s No Magical Time To Publish

Here are a few problems with those kinds of articles/reports:

1.) When is YOUR audience online?

Those studies try to look at Internet activity as a whole, and it may be that retweets or likes happen more often on certain days and at certain times. But chances are good that, if you’re reading this, the entire Internet is not your target audience.

Those studies don’t take into account when your audience is online, when they’re active and when they’re most likely to be receptive to your content. Danny Sullivan said it well in that Marketing Land article I mentioned earlier:

“…ultimately it will be up to your own individual findings to know the optimal time to post content.”

2.) If everybody starts posting at the optimal time, no one will see anything.

Social media is noisy enough, right? If you’re trying to get your content seen by potential prospects and customers, talking at the same time that everyone else is talking probably won’t work.

3.) These studies don’t account for quality of the content.

Things are read and shared because they’re good, not because they were timed correctly. I’ve yet to see a study on timing blog posts or social media updates that takes quality into account. (Did I miss it? Leave me a comment, please.) It would be tough to account for quality in any of these studies because quality is subjective — it depends on the audience (see No. 1 above).

I like what Jason Falls said earlier this year about how quality relates to timing:

“…does day of the week or time of day even matter? We don’t know because we didn’t first see if the critical success factor was something different … like quality of the content.”

4.) You can’t predict how anyone will respond to your content no matter when it’s published.

Humans are often unpredictable. You don’t know who’s online at any given moment. Last August, I accidentally published an article here on Small Business Search Marketing at about 11:00 pm on a Monday night. I meant to schedule it for Tuesday morning when more people would be online, but I hit “publish” by mistake.

Look what happened:

That huge spike near the middle there? Yeah. That was my “mistake.” Published at 11 pm (Pacific time, even!) on a Monday night. I wrote about this on my personal blog and called it the greatest blogging mistake I ever made.

Most of my audience wasn’t online at that late hour, but one person with an enormous following was and when he retweeted me, all hell broke loose. I could never have predicted that.

Final Thoughts

I’m not trying to throw these studies (not the people/companies that publish them) under the bus. The data is interesting and informative, and has value at a general level.

But they’re too general. They don’t take your audience into account, and they don’t take the quality factor into account.

Test what works for you and your audience. Publish blog articles at different times of day, and on different days. Do the same when sharing content on Facebook, Twitter, or wherever you’ve found your audience online.

And, even after you run your own experiments, don’t be surprised if that perfect/magical time isn’t always perfect and magical. Because it’s really hard to predict human behavior.

(Stock image via Shutterstock.com. Used under license.)

White Label Local Business Listing Service for Agencies
Get Your Client’s Listings Claimed, Enhanced & Verified!
Google, Bing, YP.com, Yahoo & More!
BusinessListingVerification.com

This is a post from Matt McGee's blog, Small Business Search Marketing.

The Fallacy of Timing Blog Posts & Social Media Updates

GetListed.org’s first advanced version of Local University is scheduled for June 7th in Seattle as one of the additional training workshops associated with SMX Advanced.

Rather than our typical four-hour, single-track workshop for small business owners, the Advanced workshop will be a full-day event with separate afternoon content tracks — one for small business owners and smaller agencies, and the other for big brands and large agencies. And it’s not just the format that’s changing; Seattle’s workshop has an expanded speaker lineup featuring many of the brightest minds in local search and several new content sessions.

But the first thing to do is just look at the agenda and speaker lineup. Pretty amazing.

Second thing to do is register. SMX Advanced itself is already sold out, but you can still register to attend Local University Advanced. Click that same link and use the big orange REGISTER NOW button.

This is one that you won’t want to miss.

White Label Local Business Listing Service for Agencies
Get Your Client’s Listings Claimed, Enhanced & Verified!
Google, Bing, YP.com, Yahoo & More!
BusinessListingVerification.com

This is a post from Matt McGee's blog, Small Business Search Marketing.

One Month Away: Local University – Advanced! – in Seattle

In my experience, Twitter is more of a mystery to small business owners than Facebook is; that’s probably because they’re already familiar with using Facebook as an individual, so making the jump to having a business page isn’t too difficult.

But they’re not so familiar with Twitter. For a lot of small business owners, I think Twitter is like one of those odd & curious gifts you get at Christmas: It looks kinda interesting and seems to have potential, but what do you do with it?

That’s usually just the first of many questions I get asked about Twitter when I’m speaking at Local University, or anywhere else for that matter.

Here are eight common questions I get about small businesses wanting to use Twitter, along with my thoughts/answers on each.

Small Businesses & Twitter

1.) Do I really need to use Twitter?

Not necessarily. If your customers and/or potential customers aren’t active on Twitter, you shouldn’t be spending too much time on it, either.

That said, you may also want to consider that even if the majority of your target audience isn’t on Twitter, it’s still a great place to find and connect with influencers in almost any industry. So, while you may not succeed in selling your widgets to Twitter users, you might be able to build relationships with influential journalists, bloggers and others who can help your business in other ways — credibility, media exposure, links, etc.

2.) How do I know if my customers are using Twitter?

I’d start by asking them, either in person or via your website. You can also check your analytics software to see how much traffic you’re getting from Twitter. I recently shared several tips in this article that might help: How to Find Your Customers on Social Networks.

And I’ll repeat what I said above: Even if you’re customers aren’t too active on Twitter, chances are pretty good that influential bloggers and journalists that write about your industry are there. They’re one of your audiences, too.

3.) How many followers is a good number to have?

Don’t worry about how many followers you have. I know that’s easier said than done, but there’s no direct benefit to your bottom line from having tons of followers. (Twitter doesn’t send out monthly checks based on your follower count.)

Rather than counting followers, count how many new customers your Twitter activity brings in (or all of your social media activity, for that matter). And remember that quality is better than quantity when it comes to all of your social media connections. Better to have a small group of loyal and active followers than a large group that ignores you on Twitter.

4.) How much should I tweet every day?

There’s no hard and fast rule on this. Tweet as much as you can while still being interesting. Don’t worry about counting your tweets on any given day. It’s okay to tweet a whole lot one day, and then much less the next day.

The most important thing I’d say is this: Don’t tweet just for the sake of it. If you’re tweeting because you feel you have to, it’ll probably be very noticeable to others. And keep in mind that the top reason people unfollow businesses is that they post too often.

5.) Is it okay to retweet praise from customers, or does that look like we’re bragging?

I’d be careful here. It’s probably okay as long as you do it in extreme moderation. Do it humbly. Be grateful. But keep in mind that your followers will find it incredibly boring if you retweet praise too often. It’s just not interesting content. I recently wrote an article that’s not specifically about retweeting praise from customers, but I think most of the ideas are the same: Almost Unanimous: Don’t Retweet It When Someone Mentions You in a #FF Tweet.

A better idea, though, is to just send a direct reply to those kind tweets. Thank the person directly, one-to-one, and s/he’ll probably be even more appreciative of your customer service savvy.

6.) Should I link to other sites in my tweets?

Sure. Why not? Your customers/followers know what the Internet is. They know you don’t own the only website on it. Don’t pretend you do. If you find interesting content on some other site that you think your audience will enjoy, share it with them. They’ll likely appreciate that you’re not only sharing links to your own website or blog. Keep in mind that sharing a variety of content on Twitter helps to make you more followable.

7.) Should I link to (or mention) the competition in my tweets?

I think there are circumstances where linking to a competitor is the right thing to do, and something that will make you look good. For example, if another Twitter user asks a question about a product or service that you don’t offer, why not be helpful and point the person to a competitor who has what s/he wants? That’s good customer service, and the person will think more highly of you because you made helping him/her your top priority, even if it means also helping your competition.

8.) Should I reply to all users who tweet something to/at me?

“All” might be pushing it; you should ignore spammy messages. But if the question above said “customers” instead of “users,” the answer would be “yes.” Acknowledge everyone who tweets you until you become so successful that it’s impossible to do so. (That will probably take a long time, if it happens at all.) Answer their questions. Offer assistance. Be available and reachable. Don’t underestimate the value of a social network reply to your customers and prospects.

THE END!

If you have a Twitter question that I didn’t answer, please leave a comment below or, if you’d feel more comfortable, use the contact form to send me an email. If there are enough questions, I’d be happy to do another post like this in the future.

White Label Local Business Listing Service for Agencies
Get Your Client’s Listings Claimed, Enhanced & Verified!
Google, Bing, YP.com, Yahoo & More!
BusinessListingVerification.com

This is a post from Matt McGee's blog, Small Business Search Marketing.

8 Common Twitter Questions from Small Business Owners

Local Search

• Brian Carter/SEJ: Is AdWords Express Hurting Your Small Business?
• Mike Blumenthal: Yext & Local SEO

SEO

• Adam Audette/RKG: SEO Should Be Invisible
• AJ Kohn/Blind Five Year Old: Author Rank
• Jessica Lee/ Bruce Clay Inc.: The SEO Copywriting Checklist
• Phil Nottingham/Distilled: Getting Video Results in Google

Social Media

• Mack Collier: “It’s Not You, It’s Me.” – Five Reasons For Our Social Media Breakup
• Ruben Sanchez/RKG: A Complete Guide to Creating and Optimizing Google+ Brand Pages
• Jason Keath/SocialFresh: 10 Awesome Examples Of How To Use Facebook Timelines
• Courtney Seiter/Marketing Land: 21 Unexpected Ways Brands Can Use Pinterest
• John Haydon: Eleven Ways Facebook Page Timelines Change Your Content Strategy

Blogs & Blogging

• Laura Crest/Success Works: How to create an editorial calendar
• Brittany Klontz/Blueglass: How To Connect with These 6 Influential Bloggers

Design & Usability

• Ted Ives/Coconut Headphones: Website Architecture for SEO: The Complete Guide

Analytics

• Justin Cutroni: A Social Media Dashboard for Google Analytics

General Internet Marketing

• Greg Ciotti/Sparring Mind: The Blogger’s Guide To YouTube: How To Absolutely Dominate Your Niche With Video Content
• Bryan Eisenberg: Designing Effective Pricing Tables
• Peep Laja/ConversionXL: The Ultimate Guide to Increasing Ecommerce Conversion Rates

White Label Local Business Listing Service for Agencies
Get Your Client’s Listings Claimed, Enhanced & Verified!
Google, Bing, YP.com, Yahoo & More!
BusinessListingVerification.com

This is a post from Matt McGee's blog, Small Business Search Marketing.

March/April ’12: Best Search/Marketing Posts