DISQUS

John,

I'm not surprised they did this. I have been preaching to sm biz for long time now on the importance to these free local listings offered by Google.

I have been testing with quite a few merchants on how to get your local listing in the top 10 too, it basically comes down to reviews and links. Treat the listing like a mini site. Add those photo's and videos too.

If you can grab a few links back to your local listing and then gather some reviews from some clients, you should be able to make sure you show in the top 10 (unless it really competitive).

I made a 2 video(s) showing people how to do this (it's over a year old, but most of it is still relevant).

Video 1: How to set-up google local listing
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WVpi7YqExTY

Video 2: SEO strategies for google local listing
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BeagukRclY4

Jack,

Thanks for the mention and link love - your content rocks and it really pays to just be on your list(s).

<abbr></abbr><abbr>Matthews last blog post..Using Images for SEO</abbr>

John,

First things first, love your blog, site, & podcasts!

A bad product will not last very long any more. This social revolution is quickly weeding out those "bad" products and/or services.

Small business owners need to quickly tune into how social media operates on the web, they may not need to become social media expert, but at least at a bare minimum do some brand management.

User reviews and ratings are so accessible for anyone to contribute online and they can quickly kill your business if you are not on top of your feedback.

I see these ratings and reviews as a blessing in the sky, they can help all businesses improve.

John,

What might make a good post is how to handle poor reviews and ratings online...? If your company gets them.

Use a bunch of the sites listed above - over easy is one of my fav's!

Very cool - video forums! Video groups! You guys are way above the curve.

I agree video is difficult to consume as opposed to twitter being so easy to digest. I think when you said, think about our kids, they are better trained or their culture already incorporates video.
So I think you just may be right that this will be a common place way to communicate online.

Very smart to give privacy controls because people can be very funny about what is viewable online.

I think Seesmic future is very bright.

Dan,

Great list of resources! I use all the tools listed above. My top 3 are: Twitter, Google Alerts, & BackType

As the general public becomes more and more comfortable with these social tools/web properties it will become even more essential to be able to monitor conversations about your brand, products, & services because we have already witness many examples how quickly something negative can spread about one's company with use of social media tools like twitter, facebook, etc.

The list Dan offers above should give any company a leg up on any issues that are arising about their business and will allow them to address those challenges immediately.

These tools should not only be thought of as only "brand management", but tools to tune into the conversation(s). Listen. These are really "listening" tools.

Any company that chooses to listen and follow through with what their niche community is requesting is bound to win.

So true!

This why Apple has such a huge community of raving fans because they are taught how to use and consume the product.

Too many companies abandon their customers after the sale. This is never a way to build real loyal fans of your products and/or services.

Great post John!

Awesome! Found some new great bloggers to follow! Thanks Chris.

I have been loving BackType too! Great stocking tool! :) Hopefully people use this tool for good and not evil.

BackType seems to have no competition either. Great idea and fantastic way to network and stay tuned in with your favorite bloggers.

It really does allow some to become hyper-informed in real time with the authorities in your niche. If you keep appearing next side all the authorities in your chosen niche it is only a matter of time before you too will be consider an expert too.

Happy Holidays!

BTW, John Jantsch...you are "BackType" worthy!

Social media often feels like a video game to me. There is a gentleman who some time ago brought up this same parallel...if could just remember his name...ahhh...it escapes me. Nonetheless, nice post.

Chris,

I agree with you all the way on this one. I think it's really exciting. It is leveling off the playing field (for those that get this), especially for small business owners and artists. They are starting to be able to complete with these giant corp's simply because (as you said) " I think that your $15,000 an hour film crew can’t beat my Flip Mino and a personal touch." It doesn't matter how big your budget is anymore, everyone is starting to have equal opportunity to reach their niche communities. So if you are not getting involved in "Cafe-Shaped Conversations"... why not?!

Chris, thanks being so great at explaining social media in simple terms that people can easily understand.

Brilliant idea. I think you are right, why not piggy back off these social network web properties. The tools are right in front our faces.

Louis,

Great list of awesome apps!

I have a question, a little off topic here, so I hope you don't mind....?

Q: Are u running this blog on WP...? If so what plugin are you using for the comment section? I really like the way your comments section operates. Clean, you can login or not, vote comments up or down, comment on other comments. Have you done a post on setting up a great comment element to your blogs yet...?

BackType is amazing application and was much needed product. I wish I thought of it! :) It is a great tool and soon everyone will be using it to keep up with smart folks like Louis Gray. Thanks to both of you!

Warren, I am glad you said that. "Listening" is sometimes more important. Also, promoting others first is a key element to being accepted into these social networking communities.

Mike,


Thanks for the resource list - really liked 15 secrets of FF power users.

Warren, I am glad you said that. "Listening" is sometimes more important. Also, promoting others first is a key element to being accepted into these social networking communities.

Yes KISS! You are so right FF is easy for someone who is an internet junkie like us, but you throw a newbie into FF or something similar & they will be so lost and turned off. Yet if you took that same newbie they most likely could catch on quickly to twitter. However, I have also sent a few newbies to twitter and they don't get it.... yet! They will as I watch so many other platforms like facebook copy twitters approach to micro blogging.

You made some great points.

this reminds me of the scraping issues that craigslist and other sites similar battled about for some time in the past. remember the issues around listpic and other mashups of craigslist, why some were banned and others allowed. why is google allowed to harvest and scrape info and post on their search engine and yet other people are not to do the same thing...? it's a tough call. i think we should all just keep playing nice and building off each others content and ideas, etc. I am really interested in seeing how all this will play out...

That is a great common sense approach to SEO. If folks just committed to your above list they would see great success. The main point is consistency. If you don't keep linking and writing content for your web property why should the search engines care, right?

Great list - I didn't know about twitterlocal - what a great tool for local small businesses.

Mike,

Thanks for the resource list - really liked 15 secrets of FF power users.

I like that idea to, I really only have me Google Reader organized this way and participate on Twitter. I really need to explore my Friend Feed more.

Great post! I never thought of organizing FF this way. I think I will take your advice and tips above.