I know exactly where my yellow pages book is at home: in the back of the cabinet under the TV, under the boxes for my toaster and coffee maker. The last time my yellow pages book saw the light of day was when I swapped the new edition for the old one.
In case you hadn't realized, the print yellow pages empire is declining fast, and it's no surprise. With search engines specializing in local business searches, the yellow pages are quickly becoming an aged advertising, marketing, and business tool. Instead, millions of Americans are turning towards the internet to find local businesses instead of flipping pages in an oversized book. There are a few reasons to WHY this is taking place; In fact, this type of decline has been predicted for years.
Who Still Uses the Yellow Pages?
According to a recent comScore study, yellow pages usage has significantly de...
By EZlocal · March 19 2010
yellow pages
Tips from March 19, 2010 The Small Business tips today discuss having a guest blogger contribute to your blog.
Do your research. Find out who has good information to share and who you can trust. Reach out to colleagues, industry experts, or even other employees. Send emails, tweet, or pick up the phone and call.
Give guidelines, but allow creative freedom. Give a word range that guest bloggers should shoot for. If you would like your guest to talk about a certain topic, tell them. Be as specific as you need to be to generate the post you want, but don't be too picky. Give them freedom.
Prep your guest blogger. Give them a rundown of your blog, including the style, typical length, and readership. Additionally, announce your guest on blog a few posts in advance. Spread the word!
After the guest blog is published, thank your contributor. Gauge the results and your reader response. Suggest your guest blogger posts a link on their...
By Cheryl Sowa · March 19 2010
small business tips, marketing, online, blog
Tips from March 18, 2010 The Small Business tips today discuss SEO (search engine optimization) for blogs.
Keep your content fresh. The easiest tip for SEO is to have great content that will get you found without much promoting. The quality of your work and original content will get you found on the top search engines.
Keywords - Important words that people will search for search engines, such as Google, Yahoo!, or Bing, are important when creating your blog post. Keywords should be in your title, subtitle, URL, and tags.
Posting links to your blog in outside sources provides links back to your website. Unfortunately, this could also be labeled as spam if done incorrectly. Keep posting your blogs on comments to other blogs in your industry, or those that you know personally and professionally. Don't get too carried away, you could ruin your reputation.
Social media provides a great way to provide a link for others outside your...
By Cheryl Sowa · March 18 2010
small business tips, small business, seo, search engine optimization
Tips from March 17, 2010 The Small Business tips today discuss marketing your business with your blog.
Listen - Do you know what is going on in your industry? Your blogosphere? The world today? You need to listen to know what others are talking about, what people want to know, and what people need to know. Listen first, then blog.
Personal & Professional - Create a relationship with clients, or potential clients, in the blogosphere. Include others you work with who contribute to your blog. Create a short bio on each employee, and let them interact as well.
Don't Be Too Salesy! It is okay to sell to your readers, but only after you create a brand and a relationship with your readers. Avoid being too salesy, instead, blog about what is important to your industry, followers, and clients, and add a short product placement at the end.
Get into a rhythm of posting to your blog. Post a few times every week, about 2-3 times is a go...
By Cheryl Sowa · March 17 2010
small business tips, marketing, small business, online
Last week we discussed which websites feed the most restaurant reviews into Google’s Local Business Center (LBC). While Citysearch impressively captured nearly 47% of the restaurant reviews appearing on Google Maps, it was Yelp’s complete lack of reviews that inspired the most curiosity here at EZlocal. Our crack SEO team has been helping small businesses get found on Google for a few years now, during which time we grew accustomed to seeing Yelp reviews in Google’s LBC. Now, finding a Yelp review in Google Maps is almost unheard of. Why?
As near as we can tell, the reviews disappeared from the LBC after acquisition talks between the two companies disintegrated back in December 2009. It is reported that Google offered
By Derek McKenzie · March 16 2010
yelp, google, lbc, reviews
The Small Business tips today discuss how to drive traffic to your blog using Twitter.
Complete Your Profile - Fill out your biography, link to your blog, and any other information that others reading your Twitter OR blog could find you at. See the two as compliments of each other.
Branding - Utilize the picture and background features. Create a brand for yourself - think of it as an Internet billboard. Create a theme that is consistent between your blog and your Twitter account.
Links & Hashtags - Post bit.ly links on your Twitter account each time you create a post on your blog. This can be synched, but for beginners, it is a simple step of copying and pasting the link from your blog to bit.ly, then sending a tweet to your followers. Additionally, use hashtags (#) to brand your business and group your topics with other similar topics on Twitter.
Be Visible! If you h...
By Cheryl Sowa · March 16 2010
small business tips, small business, branding, twitter
In the NewsCybercriminals Target Local GovernmentsA new trend has local governments on guard: global computer hackers stealing their money.Legal IssuesSenate May Take Up Another Pay Bill Before End of TermProponents say the bill would help women pull even with men in compensation levels, asserting that women make only 77 cents for every dollar that men earn. The issue takes on more urgency during a recession, they say, because women are the sole breadwinners in many households. Economy
By Cheryl Sowa · March 16 2010
small business brief, small business, economy, economy
Tips from March 15, 2010 The Small Business tips today discuss different types of blog posts to attract visitors and receive comments.
Competitions - Read: FREE GIVEAWAYS. Encourage people to comment on your blog to interact, share ideas, or discuss your post, and offer a giveaway for the most insightful comment.
Interesting/Quirky Information - Share a unique story or interesting link on your blog, and discuss. Ask your readers if they've heard of your information/link. Encourage a discussion.
Debate - Pose two debating topics or opinions to your readers, and let the comments fly. State the facts for each, and again, ask your readers what they think.
Lists & Resources - If you are posting a good amount of information with links and resources for your followers, your readers will comment with compliments, or with their own suggestions. For those resources you include, email them to inform them you are including them on your blog. They will mo...
By Cheryl Sowa · March 16 2010
small business tips, small business, blog, information
