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22 Apr This post is from from my other blog here Yokl’d is a “Best Of” local business ranking social platform that is 100% compiled and commented on by users. The idea behind Yokl’d is simple, the more times a business gets voted for, or against, the higher or lower in the Yokl’d rankings it will be listed. Below are a few of the features that Yokl’d provides users:
Yokl’d provides aspects of social networking and business ranking not seen in other top local search sites such as Yelp! and CitySearch. Whether you need to find a great restaurant for a night out on the town or a new hair stylist, Yokl’d is quickly becoming the premier solution for the discriminating consumer, business traveler or weekend connoisseur. (This update was provided by Jay Mallinckrodt) Thanks Jay! 
20 Apr This post is from from my other blog here The other day I was speaking with a client (I helped her finish a web site). She wanted to do some SEO for her new business web site. She knew she needed to market on-line and that the search engines were important. [Hooray!] Her question to me was “who to use?” She had spoken to a number of SEO companies and got a variety of ideas/services/prices and was not sure which to use. (I could have said me, but I was not going there.) I told her that there is no “industry standard” for SEO and that you are going to get a variety of answers. I warned her against anyone who guarantees results overnight. Finding someone to do SEO can be hard to do. If you can’t find someone you know and trust to recommend someone then you need to do some research. [Check out a post over at Paul Jahn's LocalMN Blog: Search Engine Marketing Firm Gets $100,000 Fine - What to Look for in a Search Marketer.] For those who would like to learn more about on-line marketing, I recommend you read, Converstaion Marketing, Common Sense Internet Strategies by Ian Lurie. Ian does a nice job providing down to earth info and comments regarding on-line marketing strategies. Ian has also written an excellent book, Converstaion Marketing, An Internet Marketing Strategy That Works. The article I wanted to draw your attention to is The Internet Marketing List: 59 Things You Should Be Doing But Probably Aren’t This is a great list of things to check over yourself or things to ask your web designer or SEO person. If they know anything, they should be able to answer and explain to you anything on this list. As I have always said, knowledge is power. Educate yourself as best you can; that will be your best bet when trying to evaluate someone to help you.
16 Apr This post is from from my other blog here Today begins LocalBizBits second year! Man time flies. As I look over the first year, I must say blogging has been a lot of fun (and a lot of work). I have meet a lot of neat folks and learned quite a bit myself about local search marketing. So today, I just want to take a minute to thank everyone and let you know that I look forward to this coming year.
11 Apr This post is from from my other blog here Q. Where do you get your listings from, what database/sources? A. We obtain our listings from several different sources. The bulk of our listings have come from Acxiom, but we do have several other sources from which we obtain listing information. The fact that we are powered by Network Solutions also provides us access to a significant small business client base that can benefit from getting listed on ThinkLocal.com. We have key platform integrations with the Network Solutions account manager and the Search Engine Visibility product which includes a ThinkLocal Enhanced listing as part of the package. Q. When I searched for my business, could not find it, why? A. In order to be found within our listings you would have to either be included in the Acxiom database or opted into a ThinkLocal listing directly from our site or through some of our other submission channels with Network Solutions. Right now we provide two primary methods of finding business listings. We have a keyword search for users to enter in phrases like ‘pizza’ or ‘lawyers’ and get a set of results back based off of our algorithm. Our second type of search is the business name search that allows you to search for specific businesses if you are already familiar with their name. We have some exciting new developments that will be released in the next month. We are focusing on the presentation of all of the local information that we have and putting it together in a much more user friendly manner. Our homepage, search results, and business profile pages will all have new designs and layouts that are geared towards usability and ensuring we are highlighting the information people come to look for from our site. The search results page in particular will have a cleaner look while at the same time offering users more functionality for finding the business information they are looking for. It will be easier than it ever was before to find local business information using our website. So stay tuned to the site over the next month, we will be rolling out some exciting changes in April. Q. Why should a small business use ThinkLocal? A. A small business should use ThinkLocal as piece of their overall, online marketing puzzle. Getting listed on our website isn’t going to be the end all marketing solution for your small business, but it does play an important role in increasing your online visibility. Driving traffic and getting more eyes to your business information is essential in helping your business to succeed. The level of targeting that you can achieve through local search and local business listings, such as the options we have on ThinkLocal, provides small businesses with a captive audience who is more likely to convert into a phone call, a store visit, or even a sale. Moreover, our clients have access to statistic reports that show how many times their business listing is being viewed by our users. Plus, for those with Enhanced listings, we give them additional reports on ...
10 Apr This post is from from my other blog here Today we are happy to have Julia Dalton Manager, Marketplace & Directory Services from ThinkLocal.com Q.Tell us a little about yourself. Q. What is ThinkLocal? A. ThinkLocal is a local search engine that has over 17 million business listings in addition to local weather, maps and directions, local events, city spotlights, and business reviews. We introduced the site in April 2006 with the goal of providing a good launching pad to getting online for many small businesses that do not yet have an online presence, which is a large percentage of the business population. It can also be an option for businesses that are already online to come, sign up for one of our listings, and enhance their online visibility. Q. What costs are involved? (Standard vs. Enhanced listing?) A. There is no cost to obtain a Standard listing on ThinkLocal, it is completely free. With a Standard listing you have the ability to manage your business information, including adding captions and a long description of your business and services. Additionally, your listing will show up among the regular search results for relevant searches to your business and category. We offer an option for businesses to increase their visibility in our search results by purchasing an Enhanced listing. With an Enhanced listing, you have all of the same benefits as a Standard listing; however, your listing will show up in our featured sections of our search results. Business owners can select their package based off of the geo targeting and category options they choose to advertise within. For example, a plumber in Saint Louis who only services Saint Louis City may only want his enhanced listing to display for plumbing related searches in Saint Louis City to maximize the effectiveness of his ad. We give businesses those options to choose what target audience they want to impact with their ads. You can find more information about our Advertising options by going here. Q. Do you submit info the business data anywhere? A. At this time we do not submit our business information to any additional search engines or directories. Our goal is to get our small business clients as much traffic and visibility as possible, so working with other local directories or search engines is something we may look at in the future. However right now, our focus is providing the best experience for users we can on ThinkLocal.com. Q. Reverse Yellow Pages -what is that? A. Reverse Yellow Pages is basically a search that provides the ability to find business information, essentially in the opposite way in which people tend to think of finding businesses. Say, for example, you only have the phone number of a ...
02 Apr This post is from from my other blog here Got an email a while back from a new website/local search, ParkingHunter.com. The purpose of the website is to help folks find places to park their cars. From their press release:
I zipped over to the web site and this is not a bad idea. The site is in beta but I like what they are trying to do. I recently went to Atlanta and was looking on Mapquest for parking lots in the city. So if you are curious, pop over to the site and take it for a spin. Future plans, they say, are being developed to allow for hourly parking and mobile reservations. note: I did contact them for more information but they did not return my email.
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by 
A. I began my experience in the internet industry working for MonsterCommerce, an Ecommerce company that is now part of Network Solutions. My background is focused mainly in online marketing and product development, particularly with search engine and directory related properties. Search and online marketing fascinate me because they are constantly evolving and changing, making this industry a challenging but exciting space to be in.
ParkingHunter.com has created a marketplace for monthly parking spaces and currently has 2500+ parking spots available. The goal is to connect car-less home owners that have empty driveways, with motorists who want affordable parking. The service is at no cost for users to advertise their parking spots. In addition to renting, users can also buy and sell parking real-estate.”