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3 Reasons Why Your Carlsbad Business Needs Paid Search For New Customers

by | Sep 15, 2014 | Digital Marketing

Will Your Google Local Listings Soon Be A Paid Advertising Product?

 
BREAKING NEWS: Dateline August 11, 2014 – A Soon To Be Google Local Search Near You

With recent “Google My Business” updates donning both Google anointed and informally applied avian monikers, it appears Google is testing paid ads in place of what has up to this point been a free local search environment.

We’re all familiar with this local search picture of map icons and business contact information:
 
Local SEO for Carlsbad Businesses
 
With the number of updates to the local search environment, these “map listings” or “local results” or whatever you want to call them have been further pushed down the page and supplanted with more ads, as seen in the here and now:
 
Get New Customers In Carlsbad with Paid Search
 
But what does the future hold?

Google just gave us a possible glimpse…It seems there is actually proof that Google is testing paid ads in place of these free listings, it was first written about – or at least noticed by this author (using the term loosely) on Wordstream.com, and here is what it looks like:

Notice the disappearing act of the “local pack” and the emergence of paid real estate.
 


 
From what this screenshot shows, we can all plainly see that the local map results have the yellow “Ads” label – which means someone is paying for them to be there…or Google is dishing out some free real estate in exchange for the guinea pig placement.

Now granted, the screenshot shows a search for “gas grills” – but will Google soon make searches for say…”a dentist in Carlsbad to fix my grill ” a pay to play proposition?

Me thinks so.

Will Google Adwords Soon Offer Local Listing Ads for Carlsbad Business?

 
I’d go so far as to bet you dollars to donuts that’s an affirmative.

After the most recent update – nicknamed “Pigeon” which came on the heels of a larger mobile contextual semantically driven universal “Hummingbird” update in September of last year- there was a widely realized significant drop off in local listings results (once dubbed the “10 pack” then “7 pack” and now “3 pack“) across a variety of industries.

Noticing a trend?

Although these ads appearing in place of what are still free local listings is just a test for now, and we certainly haven’t been able to duplicate those results with any Carlsbad-centric searches, the writing does seem to be on the wall for all local businesses.

So what does all this horse pucky bird doo-doo have to do with a local search for what your Carlsbad business sells on Google?
 
1LocalBusiness Gets Carlsbad Businesses Phones To Ring & Doors To Swing With Google Adwords
 
Here’s three reasons why this cowpoke thinks your Carlsbad business (and all local businesses) will have to pay Google in order to get some local play on the search engine results pages. (more…)

Does Your Carlsbad Business Get Results From Facebook?

by | Apr 17, 2014 | Facebook

We have heard it all before; get your Carlsbad business on Facebook or risk losing customers because you’re not presenting an up to date socially communicative digital business identity.

We’ve said it, you’ve probably heard it from customers, from the never-ending stream of sales calls, from colleagues, and probably even friends or family members. It’s true…BUT…

Without a plan and system in place to maximize online visibility (you know Twitter, Foursquare, & Pinterest also offer advertising opportunities), social media can become more of a time glut than an advertising strategy to acquire new customers and provide quantifiable return on engagement.

Got Facebook Results?

 
First we need to define what results we’re hoping to achieve. We can do this by simply identifying a goal, then using Facebook as a tool in your digital belt to meet – and hopefully exceed – the goal, or goals.

Let’s look at some of the goals the average local business using Facebook might hope to accomplish:

  • More new customers Facebook Ads for Carlsbad Businesses
  • Increased retention/recall percentages
  • More reviews
  • More page ‘Likes’
  • Keeping up with the Joneses
  • Event promotion

Now let’s examine how we’ll go about doing all of that – there are certainly more goals that could be discussed, but these are likely the most popular to any small business using Facebook…or any social media marketing effort. (more…)