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Why Health Professionals Should Pay Attention to Local Search

image credit: And so it goes in Shreveport

Proximity and word-of-mouth have always been influential (if not the most influential) factors in choosing a hospital or doctor. I recall hearing my mom mention that she often used doctors that her sisters had visited. She also took my siblings and I to the same doctors that my cousins saw.

Location was always important as well. If one was short on recommendations, they could pick up a trusty old phone book and find a provider nearby.

This is still true today as it was in the past. But in a different way. "Word-of-mouth" recommendations now include comments from Online communities and social media contacts. And younger generations are more likely to check local listings Online with a Google search or local site like Yelp or YellowPages.com.

Both of these methods are related to local search, which is why it's important providers pay attention. It should be a priority for doctors and hospitals to manage their local listings. You'll want to make sure first and foremost that you have a listing and that it is accurate. Much of the data provided for local listings is pulled from data providers like Localeze and infoUSA, so make sure to check with them first. If they get an address or phone number wrong, it could be shared with dozens of other sites, including Google.

Somewhere along the line, you'll also want to monitor any ratings or reviews associated with your listing. Clearly, negative reviews can have a large impact on whether prospective customers take the next step in contacting you. It's a good idea to ask satisfied patients to leave a review for you.. Sometimes a nudge is all it takes. And if you do have negative reviews, use them to improve the way you do business. These can be valuable insights into how people view you from an outside perspective.

Your brand + local search

Integrated branding requires delivering a consistent message across all marketing channels. An incomplete local listing (think Google Maps, Yelp, Yahoo Local, Yellow Pages, etc.) not only decreases your visibility in search results, but it sends a less than satisfactory message to users about your brand. And sometimes the listings are inaccurate.

I can speak from experience. One of my clients - through no fault of their own - had an incorrect address in infoUSA's database. It so happens that infoUSA supplies data to many Online players, so the incorrect address was listed all over the Internet. After a friendly chat with infoUSA, we were able to correct the problem, which in turn updated the listings of everyone they supply data to.

Users expect to see complete and accurate listings when they are searching. If any information is missing, they may not be able to contact you. And even if they find another way, you've provided a difficult user experience for them. To combat this, make sure to check your listings in all major directories. If you don't have a listing, create one. If you do, make sure the listing is complete and consistent with the format of other listings.

This can be a tedious task as you'll likely have to create an account on each Site, but is well worth the time. Here is a list of local directories to get started: http://www.localseoguide.com/how-to-update-your-internet-yellow-pages-listings-for-free/

Query Parsing Explained

If you're running a geo-specific AdWords campaign you may have wondered why you sometimes receive, and thus pay, for clicks outside of the area you are targeting.

For example, you may be running a campaign for a local business in downtown Chicago. And to make sure that your ads only reach local searchers, you've indicated exactly which ZIP codes you want associated with your ads. However, when you sift through the analytics, you see that some of the users that are clicking on your ads are from outside the pre-determined ZIP's. They might be coming from New York or San Diego or a nearby town in Illinois.

The reason for this is query parsing. Google explains query parsing well in their AdWords Help forum, but we'll attempt to explain it here as well. The best way to do so is by demonstrating what it does.

If you are bidding on "chicago grocery stores," someone in Oklahoma could see your ad, even if you targeted the campaign toward people living in Chicago. This is query parsing. Google looks at this searcher in Oklahoma as if they were in Chicago because of their intention with the search.

Query parsing is part of Google AdWord's algorithm for matching searches with relevant ads and you cannot control it. It makes sense, as someone in a different city could certainly be looking for products or services in Chicago for any number of reasons.

Hosting videos on your Site vs. YouTube

Many marketers are already aware of the benefit of using video in B2B marketing. But once you’ve decided on this strategy, you still have to decide where you’d like to host the videos - your own Web site or YouTube. There are pros and cons to each, which I explain below.

The benefits of hosting videos on your site are that the user will be spending time on your domain and that links to the video will empower your domain and not YouTube.com. When a user is on your site, you have the added benefit of promoting your brand. YouTube does allow you to customize your channel, but control is limited.

Some companies may not have the time, bandwidth or resources, however, to implement videos on their site. There is a level of programming involved and you will have to embed some type of video player. If the technical issues are too much of an obstacle, you might strongly consider the YouTube route.

Creating a YouTube Channel and uploading videos is very simple and can be accomplished in a matter of minutes. You can also optimize your videos by giving them appropriate titles and tagging each one with related keywords.

It’s important to remember that YouTube is currently the second biggest search engine in the U.S. as far as volume of searches. Using YouTube allows your videos to be found by users who are searching within YouTube.com, as well as those who are using Google or Bing.

B2B Videos for Search are More Important than Ever

Image courtesy of Search Engine Land

As search engines and social media continue to evolve, it has become more important than ever for B2B companies to use videos for search.

What does this have to do with search engines?
In today’s world, which is heavily influenced by social media, search engines return results that include Web pages, blogs, products, images, videos, maps, local businesses and more. It’s called social, universal or blended search. Because of this, it’s important for companies to create content in these ways so that they might have more visibility. Not every form of content is appropriate for every company, however, so it’s important to find which are relevant.

Why is video generally a good option for content for B2B companies?
This one’s pretty simple, if you think about it. In many cases a B2B purchase can be very technical and research intensive. Videos make it easier to explain content and give the user a break from having to read an extremely long document. In addition, it gives the B2B company a chance to show their product in action. This does not in any way mean that written content shouldn’t be available as well, just that having the extra option can make the process much easier for you and a potential client.

So, whether you create a YouTube channel or host the videos on your existing site, make sure to consider this option if you are a B2B company. Not only do you give the user what they want, but your videos have a chance to increase your brand visibility in search results.

Integrated search engine marketing campaigns

Pay-per-click (PPC) and search engine optimization (SEO) marketing can benefit from each other when integrated. If you are currently running campaigns in both channels, or considering doing so, it is important to know how the two can feed off of each other to create a successful integrated search engine marketing campaign.

SEO is a process, just like PPC. One difference, however, is that PPC campaigns generally draw traffic to your site immediately, whereas an SEO effort can take some time. One way to jump start your SEO keyword research is to test out keywords on particular pages using PPC to see which produce the most conversions. This can shave of weeks or even months of time off of an SEO campaign.

One way to discover how relevant your PPC work has been is to take a look at the Quality Score (in Google Adwords) of each of your keywords. If a particular Quality Score is low, it often means that there is a low level of relevance somewhere in your mix of keyword, ad and landing page. All three of these usually need to have a high level of relevance to guarantee a successful campaign. In some cases, you might consider breaking up the Adgroups, but you can also use SEO tactics to optimize the ad and/or landing page to correlate with the keyword.

Each campaign is unique. But using an integrated approach can make sure your campaign is efficient in a smaller amount of time.

What’s everyone Tweeting about?

If you don’t believe Twitter has any marketing value, get this. You can use Twitter as a research tool even if you don’t have a Twitter page. Would you like an example? I thought so.

Let’s take one of our friends - Stericycle. This company offers an array of product recall services. If they want to know what the Twitter community is tweeting about in regards to the keyword ‘recalls,’ they can go to search.twitter.com and find out. See for yourself: recall-related Tweets.

The search results mentioned above show all the Tweets that mention the word ‘recalls.’ Savvy companies have used this to see who’s talking about their brand and counter it with positive PR messaging. Companies with a Twitter account can reply directly to the user and try to resolve issues, thank them for being a patron, or whatever makes sense. There are endless creative ways to use Twitter. I suggest you start by searching to see what the community has to say about your company. This is similar to Google Alerts, which we’ve mentioned in a previous post, but it only involves people on Twitter.

How have you used Twitter for your company?

Get green from Google - free PPC advertising for nonprofits

Google is giving away free advertising to charitable organizations.

That’s right. Google is giving eligible charities free advertising using their popular advertising platform - AdWords. The program is called Google Grants and organizations can receive up to $1,000 in spending per day. To see if you’re eligible, simply fill out the Google Grants Application and await a reply.

This is a great opportunity for nonprofits to get their feet wet in online marketing. For those organizations already familiar with paid search campaigns, this is another channel to promote your charity for free. Either way, it will take some know-how to successfully set up your campaign and get the most out of your advertising dollars.

For more information on our PPC services, visit www.moveo.com.

Examples of non-profits on social networking sites

Remember that famous line in Field of Dreams, “If you build it, they will come?” Classic quote, but it doesn’t work with your content online. With a little bit of dedication, nonprofits can use social media as a cost-efficient way to improve their reach to online users, but you can’t expect them to come to your site – you have to go to them.

Where are they? Millions of people are active in online communities like Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, MySpace and Flickr, just to name a few. Of course, not all social networks are the right fit for every nonprofit, but some of them may be terrific channels for emitting your message.

There are a few things to remember before launching a social media campaign. First, be willing to put in the time to understand the community. Social networking members are very, very savvy and they know when they are being spammed. If you are going to join a community, you are joining an ongoing conversation. Contribute to communities, like Twitter, with comments, content and other activity that members will find valuable. Once you’ve put in some groundwork, you will have their trust and you can be a bit more promotional.

Here are just a few examples of nonprofits currently using social network sites:

• Twitter - The Nature Conservancy
• Facebook - NPR
• LinkedIn - Make-A-Wish
• YouTube - Darfur Awareness page
• MySpace - The Humane Society
• Flickr - Children at Risk Foundation

Do these sites fit your organizations model? It could be the case that your target market doesn’t use social networking, but the potential is there if you can find the right demographics and psychographics. MySpace users are typically younger, LinkedIn is a collection of professionals, etc.

Most nonprofits are tight on resources and time. In this case, you might consider hiring an intern from a local university that is already plugged into many of these sites. Just make sure your message is being communicated properly and is consistent with other mediums.

Do you know of any other examples in which nonprofits are utilizing social networking sites?

Why PPC spending will survive the recession

During an economic downturn, there is a great opportunity for a company to gain exposure. For one, their competitors may be spending less, which opens the door for increased market share. And because advertising budgets often take a hit, in some situations it may be cheaper to advertise as agencies and ad mediums are looking for more business.

An interesting article written by Josh Bernoff of Forrester, in February, provides insight into why advertising budgets are often the first to go in a slow economy:

Consumers in a down market pinch pennies. Brand advertising in mass media loses effectiveness because it's harder for consumers to go from "I know about that product" to "I'm going to buy that product" when they're worried about their financial future. And it's less painful to cut ad spending than headcount. Result: Advertising budgets suffer in a recession.

Because the recession is driving spending towards performance-based marketing, PPC campaigns will survive the recession. In many cases we may even see some of the traditional advertising dollars move towards paid ad campaigns. If advertising budgets must be cut, it's much easier to make a case for PPC spending because it has vividly measurable results that you can verify immediately. That's not to say it's more meaningful than lasting brand advertising, but it's just more difficult to argue with real-time metrics when something has to be axed.

Jeff Swanson, Organic Search Specialist