Local Search is the Game

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Mike Stewart The Founder, Status26

Inc.

@realmikestewart

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WHAT I BELIEVE

#pubcon#localsearch is #directionalmedia #marketing

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Building a Strategic Local Search Marketing StrategyT-26 SECONDS

BEFORE LIFTOFF THE FUEL IGNITION

SEQUENCE BEGINS, THERE IS

NO SECOND CHANCE FOR

LAUNCH

60 SECONDS AFTER

LAUNCHING YOUR BRAND IS

TRAVELING OVER 1000MPH HAVING

CONSUMED 1 MILLION

GALLONS OF FUEL.

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“Socialized” Fiat Currency

#agencycurrency

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The next thing you know is you’ve got a wife, a kid and a mortgage and someone is telling you what to do.

Local SEOis a

game.Like the game of

L I F E

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“Local SEO” is organic local results

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“Results may vary”

“By the time the fool has learned the game the players have dispersed.”

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Listen for the clues along the way.

Local is not your comfort zone?

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Tactical DifferenceLocal Search is a LEAD GENERATION strategy aimed at increasing foot traffic and phone calls to a physical location.

Local SEO is a CONTENT strategy aimed at increasing website traffic from visitors using geo concatenated search queries in search engines.

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#FAIL

Basic Training

Standard Operating Procedure

1. Local Listings (NAP 1st)2. Content 1st

Development3. Content Ideation/Posts4. Social Media

Amplification5. Virtue = Good Reviews

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MOTIVATION is WORK fueled by PROCESS

So, Continuing with the theme….

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It is not easy in competitive markets.Things are up and then go down.

Volatility.

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igureit out?

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Overthinking it?

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Local Search is REAL stuff.

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Not#BlackMag

ic

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Wasting Time

Losing Money

Scary

Why Play It?

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Local Media “Short cuts” ?• Media Consultant Myth• Web Events as a KPI = LOL.• Proxy Sites vs SubFolders For

Local Paid• YEXT Resellers Who Spam You

To Hell…. To Hell Damn You! • So-Called “S.A.A.S. Websites”

but Far From a Real CMS• Not so Open-Sourced

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There is only one Gumdrop Pass• Contracts for Ad Spend

• Call Tracking Numbers Getting Indexed

• Local Media Transfer Costs

• No Holistic Approach to Local Marketing

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Watch out for Molasses Swamp

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Foundation issues much?

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We are sorry, you

do not have the proper level of

permissionto your data.

#pubconLearning how to Quick Scope

Technical Skills: Child Themes, On-Page SEO, Markdown, Ideation, Location Schema, etc

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Listen for the clues along the way. Find a comfort zone. Local Search is like Monopoly. How to Win the Game!

#pubconDisruptive. Gameplan.

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Not how you build digital assets.

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#pubconAgency “Work” Flow Model

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How Do I Rank on Google Maps?

#pubconThere is no magic dice.

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Avoiding Shitty Players

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Onboarding Only

Happens Once.

Permanent Damage.

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The Game of Football is 3 yards and a cloud of dust.

- Woody Hayes

#pubcon#LOCALRelationships

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via Mary Bowling

#2#1

#3#4

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#pubconMy Platform = Graph Data

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More Locations = More Problems

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Location Master ProfileNAP+W

#pubconLMP = Location Master Profile

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Bad DATA Sucks!

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Lawn Care and Maintenance?

Pet Care Service?

Waste Management Service?

Garbage collection?

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Linear ApproachRequires Buckets.

Most Important 1st

Most Referral 2nd

Most Reach 3rd

#localsubmissions

#pubconMoz Local for Audits.

#pubconFind the bad data

#pubconDoes it match the site?

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#pubconSquash Bad Data.

#pubconClaim the old data.

#pubconOwnership of your DA.

#pubconMulti-location listings.

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DA + DC

Claiming is better than Submitting.

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About InfoGroup

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#pubcon#DataRefiner

y

CHIEF PRODUCT ENGINEER@philmui→Dr. Phil Muiex

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Not Worthy.

What they have on me

#pubconLittle Data

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23,000+ servers for database marketing

#pubcon#BroadcastYourListin

gs

• Creating an account is IP address sensitive. • Complete phone verification by calling acxiom from the phone number on your business

listing and leaving a message with your business name and your account user name. Note: you must state your business name exactly as it appears on the listing. If there’s an “LLC” or “inc.” After your business name, include it in your message or your claim will be rejected.• To create a new listing, you are required to enter your business information, and upload

one of the following: federal tax license letter, business license, doing business as license, or fictitious name registration. Then, you’ll need to wait at least 30 days for acxiom to approve your edit.

→

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https://www.neustarlocaleze.biz/directory/us

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Local Listing #1Consolidate all locations into one account --->

Claim unclaimed locations -->

Verify --->

Optimize.

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Panda Update 4.2, July 18, 2015

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Local Listing #2Yahoo - Just pay the $90 per quarter for each location....

3 to 5 Days vs 30 to 50 for inclusion/update, unless you have Yext.

For cash flow, you may need to stagger...

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#pubcon Yahoo Local = Paid.

#pubconWhen you don’t pay you get….

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#pubcon#YahooLocalSucks

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Yext Top Sales Producer 2015

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Local Listing #3You need the customer to sign and forward an agency agreement to Microsoft. After that you can claim and verify locations without customer involvement.

WOOOOHOOOOOOOOOO!

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Local Listing #4Phone Verification works great.

Needs a Apple ID

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Local Listing #5• Limited Inventory

• $200+ per month to prevent competitor links on your profile and to put links on competitors

• Extending content to Bing + Apple Maps

• Yext enhanced content approved

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Top 50 Sites

Top 50 Sites with Simple form Submissions These are the sites that don't even let you setup an account.... All you do is fill out a form for each location and submit. There is not claiming and verification involved.

#pubconAnnoying Upsells

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Prepare for Evil Spam.

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Top 50 Sites

Top 50 Sites that let you manage multiple locations from one account. Claiming and Verified does not require customer interaction.

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Listen for the clues along the way. Find a comfort zone.

#GeoArbitrage #nosleep

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“A competitive firm is a price taker.

A monopoly is a price maker.”

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Top 50 Sites

Top 50 Sites that force you to create separate accounts for each location. Claiming and verification may be part of the process.

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• Create LAST PASS submission profiles.... Manually filling out account and location data is slow and error prone. With Last PASS can create and share submission profiles for each location....

• Work off the Local Listing report..... The metric that matters is the Local Visibility score. TOP 50 is the key to impacting visibility.

• Citations are listings, but give Neustar a chance to work.... add more DAs in the future, start with the ones you can afford. Get the top 50 done 100% before anything else because that is what the customer SEES

• Google Groups for Email Delivery, besides Yahoo mail.

PRO TIPS

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“Even with a bulk load, or API, at the end of the day it comes down to a human adding and/or approving business listings. One by one, each gets reviewed and accepted or rejected.” -Greg Hartnett

BOTW.com

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What do you want people to know about you.

Most small brands have no clue how to ethically influence the narrative.

LOCAL DESCRIPTIONS

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The Standard

has always been to Own the Entire Board.

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If you make the most of each choice encountered you improve the odds of winning the game.

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#LocalEcosystem

Measure Referral Traffic W/ Custom Segmentation

Local Media Spend To Click/Call

Beware Of The Following: Upsell

Beware Of Email SpamBeware Of Paid ORM

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#pubconSpammers < Leads

#pubconDuplicate Issues Exist.

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Who created this mess?

Who Created The Mess?

#pubconCaught Red Handed.

#pubconOwn it. Don’t Pay Rent.

• Share of Voice is a “ranking” factor

• Keyword Research

• Campaign Architecture

• DNI for big budgets ($2k+)

• 100% necessary for Retargeting

#pubconInterlink Local Relationships

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#pubconBulk Submits = Awesome

#pubconCommunity Chest of Links

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Reviews

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S.A.A.S.

Virtual Assistants

PredictiveSuggestive

Search

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"When an honest man discovers he is mistaken,He will either cease being mistaken,Or cease being honest." - Anonymous

Local Search is the Game

Education

Transcript of Local Search is the Game