G5 Director of Online Strategy, Dave Beltramini, is featured in USA Today’s top story, “Facebook IPO filing puts high value on social network”. The article provides details of the proposed stock offering, weighing the rewards against the risks of the … Continue reading →
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9:49 G5 Featured in USA Today: Facebook IPO filing puts high value on social network
» G5 Search Marketing BlogG5 Director of Online Strategy, Dave Beltramini, is featured in USA Today’s top story, “Facebook IPO filing puts high value on social network”. The article provides details of the proposed stock offering, weighing the rewards against the risks of the … Continue reading → -
15:53
It’s a Small Web After All: Google+ Business Pages connect more businesses to people
» G5 Search Marketing Blog
By Amy Belasen Just last week, Google announced the release of Google+ pages for businesses. G5 has been anticipating this release since the #1 search engine debuted Google+ in June 2011. Google+ business pages offer yet another social network for businesses to promote conversations related … Continue reading → -
8:27
This Month’s AdBite: The Marketing Shift
» G5 Search Marketing Blog
By Amanda Patterson, Marketing Programs Manager This month, our very own Dan Hobin will be speaking at the first AdBite of the year. AdBite is an educational luncheon series hosted by the AdFed, the Central Oregon chapter of the American … Continue reading → -
16:01
Happy Watermelon Day, everyone!
» G5 Search Marketing Blog
Celebrations and G5 go together like – well, like watermelons in August. Today was National Watermelon Day, and our Fun Committee surprised us with fresh watermelons and some fun contests and prizes, including Guess the Weight of the Watermelon, and … Continue reading → -
12:56
Warm, fuzzy and furry: G5 Celebrates National Take Your Dog to Work Day
» G5 Search Marketing Blog
June 24 is National Take Your Dog to Work Day, a fact that few businesses would publicize and fewer still would participate in. But then there’s G5. A recent recipient of Inc’s Top Small Company Workplaces award and profiled in the … Continue reading → -
9:30
Recipe for Growth: Two Parts Employees, One Part Thai Food
» G5 Search Marketing Blog
By Michael Hwu There are many ways to grow a company. There’s brainstorming, forecasting, research and development to name a few. At G5 we believe in driving growth through innovation – particularly product innovation. In order to grow, we leverage … Continue reading → -
11:27
7 Reasons Why Every Company Should Have Autonomy Day
» G5 Search Marketing Blog
By Amanda Patterson, MarCom Manager G5’s second Autonomy Day was held on Thursday and Friday, May 19-20. Once again, all G5ers were allowed to do whatever they wanted for a day, and then prepare presentations of the results for a … Continue reading → -
10:08
A Blog About Blogs
» G5 Search Marketing Blog
By Amy Belasen and Amanda Patterson Social Media is changing the world for marketers, allowing businesses to be more transparent than ever before. It allows businesses to invite customers to interact publicly, making them more “believable.” Customers can feel good … Continue reading → -
16:19
Google’s New Instant Change – Instant Preview for Paid Ads
» G5 Search Marketing Blog
By Amanda Patterson, MarCom Manager Google recently announced that Google Instant Preview – a feature that allows you to see pop-up previews of the websites ranked in your search results – is now being extended to Paid ads. What does … Continue reading → -
20:39
Google +1 – Search Gets Social
» G5 Search Marketing Blog
By Amanda Patterson, MarCom Manager We’ve talked for a while about the implications of social media on the world of search. (Check out our blog on Social + Search here). When Bing introduced their Facebook “Like” results, many wondered if … Continue reading → -
20:01
G5 Featured in Multifamily Executive: “Getting Bounced”
» G5 Search Marketing Blog
In the latest issue of Multifamily Executive, G5 CEO Dan Hobin is featured in an article called “Getting Bounced.” The article explores the question surrounding the importance of bounce rates. Just how sticky does an apartment community website need to … Continue reading → -
8:47
Ruby, Beer and Snow.
» G5 Search Marketing Blog
It’s opening day of the first-ever Ruby on Ales Conference at McMenamin’s Old St. Francis Theater in Bend, Oregon – an event that brings brilliant Ruby engineers, brilliant ideas, and brilliantly hoppy beer together in one of America’s most beautiful … Continue reading → -
16:14
NMHC Apartment Tech and Interface Student Housing Wrap-Up
» G5 Search Marketing Blog
We had a busy week this week. Several members of our team attended the NMHC Apartment Operations & Technology Conference and Exposition in Dallas, and one of our team members (Kim Evered) spoke on a panel at the Interface Student Housing West Conference at UCLA.
Both shows were excellent. The information and speakers were top-notch. And although topics varied quite a bit among the two shows, a common theme was threaded throughout: wasteful marketing spending is a thing of the past. Online measurement and tracking has never been more critical. Among some of the top multifamily companies, more than half of leasing is done online, and so SEO and SEM were a hot topic and ongoing concern.
There have been indications in the Multifamily Housing market that a recovery is underway, but measurable tactics will continue to be critical during the recovery. As the industry stabilizes, the companies who emerge on top will be the ones operating with the highest efficiency.
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9:43
Social + Search – Just How Integrated Can They Be?
» G5 Search Marketing BlogBy Sarah Douglas, Senior Search Optimizer
There is a lot of buzz right now about how social information is the future of search. Some predict a simple incorporation of Facebook “likes” as a replacement for traditional reviews from strangers on the net; others go so far as to imagine a future where social is fully integrated into the search engines, allowing your social circle to influence your personalized results by default. At G5, we’re excited about social media and its impact on the future of the search industry, but we’re exploring the limitations to this new concept for personalized search.
Does the Integration Benefit Companies More Than Consumers?
It isn’t hard to figure out who stands to gain monetarily from the integration of search and social. Facebook and other entities that possess coveted consumer information are obvious winners in this arena; so are those that sell advertising space, like Google and Bing. The ability to tailor ads and search results to a user’s probable preferences is clearly a valuable goal that will make these companies even more profitable. Consumers can benefit, also. Custom ads based on social data and user preferences make those ads more relevant to the end user. And for searchers who trust reviews and friend recommendations to make decisions, seeing what their friends “like” in results (when searching for a restaurant, for instance) could be very useful indeed. Still, not all searchers are created equal, and ultimately a significant assumption is being made: the preferences of an individual’s social circle are highly influential on the individual. While social/search integration may help introduce new potential customers to a given product or service, it may not be as useful to the consumer who has individualized tastes and values.Social Data Isn’t Always Relevant
Conspicuously missing from the discussion about integrating search and social is the fact that social data is not useful for all queries. For transactional searches and those with local intent, there may be value in incorporating the social data. As a consumer, I may be curious about what brand of shoes my friends recommend, or which restaurants my family members enjoyed on a recent trip. However, this is not the case when it comes to queries with an informational intent. When researching something specific for work or school, it is unlikely that social data will be available to begin with. If it is present, the utility of social data is diminished since my objective is finding a good informational resource – traditional determinants in the search algorithms are going to be far more effective at selecting information that is reputable and most often cited.Social Will Always Depend on Elective Participation (We Hope!)
Seamless, automatic sharing of information between social and searching is something that we hope to never see become a standard practice. Currently the social information used most often in search results are “likes” and “interests” pulled from social network profiles. However, one imagined integration is a future where the individual user’s search and click through habits would be automatically incorporated into the search results of their social circles. The potential privacy issues are numerous; it is nearly impossible to imagine how social could be implemented without elective participation. There are several topics searched for that are not normally shared, even among friends – medical conditions come to mind as a tame example.What Are the Likely Applications of Social and Search?
Based on the previously mentioned concerns, it seems likely that social data may be incorporated on a limited basis, much like reviews are already incorporated in both ranking algorithms and search results. Targeting ads to a friend of someone with a given interest is better than random targeting, so that will probably become a standard practice in advertising. The fact remains that no one knows you better than yourself, so it makes sense for Google rely more heavily on user history rather than social data when serving up results. -
14:06
Are Students Always Online?
» G5 Search Marketing BlogBy Amanda Patterson
This month G5 was featured in a Student Housing Business News article titled, “Always Online.” The article outlines best practices for communicating with students via search, social and mobile marketing.
If students are always online, your online marketing strategy is critical to successfully driving leads and increasing occupancy.
Know how students are searching for you and make sure you’re the community they find first. Once they arrive at your website, engage them. Capture leads whenever possible and close the loop with tracking. The more you can measure, the more successful you’ll be.
To see the entire article, click here.
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20:21
Google Instant Previews: Your Website’s First Impression
» G5 Search Marketing Blog
Google has rolled out yet another surprising change on search engine results this week – Google Instant Previews. Searchers can now hover over a magnifying glass icon next to the search engine result to preview the website.
Website design has always been important, but never more so than now. If your website isn’t engaging searchers may not click on it. Brands with weakly designed sites may start scrambling to redesign their websites thanks to this new feature.
Instant Previews should also discourage sites with excessive pop-up ads, which may show up in the preview screen and keep searchers away.
We think this new feature is great news for companies with well-designed, user-friendly sites. If searchers like what they see, they will click through, and since they’ve already previewed the search results they could stay on your site longer once they arrive. According to Google, tests showed that people who use Instant Previews are 5% more likely to like the results they click.
For more information, check out this Fast Company article.
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10:51
Deck the Storage Units?
» G5 Search Marketing Blogby Amy Belasen
Unless you’re slinging pine trees out of your units this winter, sales are bound to slump during the holiday season. For the most part, people aren’t buying, selling, building or moving – they’re staying put with friends and family until temperatures thaw. What’s a self storage company to do during the seasonal slow-down?
Here’s an idea: Be the host with the most by throwing on-site holiday events.
Celebrating with your local community is a great way to build relationships and meet fair-weather prospects (pun intended). Hosting fun events can help drive business and raise awareness about your company in your community. Self Storage Talk is abuzz with Self Storage owners weighing in on holiday parties: to throw a party or not to throw a party? Many agree that joining in community activities is a great way to become more visible.
Your website is a great place to post an upcoming event online and reach your local market – and don’t forget to use social media to promote your event within your community, too. Hosting events on site may bring future prospects through your doors when you least expect it, and the buzz generated around them is great for your online presence.
Storage facilities have a hard time standing out – your creativity and celebratory spirit could set you apart and ultimately drive more business to your facility when the ice begins to thaw.
Here are a few ideas:
• Thanksgiving food drive
• Christmas clothing or gift drive
• Host an ugly sweater contest/party
• Community Garage Sale to benefit a local charity
• Got wine storage? Host a wine tasting event for clients and friendsHave you held an event in your self storage facility or are you planning something this holiday season? We’d love to hear from you.
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17:04
Place Search: Google Encourages the World to “Buy Local”
» G5 Search Marketing BlogBy Amanda Patterson, MarCom Manager
Google changed the way it serves up SERP results last week for searches assumed to have local intent. With Place Search, Google Places receives more emphasis – organic results, less. The results on Page 1 are now more relevant and focused than ever. From our perspective, it’s an exciting opportunity for businesses to dominate in a competitive space with their website presence.
Right now, this appears to be a moving target. But, here is a quick summary of the changes we’re seeing today:
• The Google “map 7-pack” is gone. A Google Map appears to the right of the screen now above paid ads 4-10. Sometimes the map scrolls over the paid ads – this feature is variable at this point. Paid ads 1-3 are still prominent and at the top of the page.
• The “Place” links that used to appear in the map pack are now in the main search results as rich listings with images. Selected third party sites (mainly review sites) are clustered with the listings. Sometimes the Places link is mixed in with the organic result, combining the two of them into a single entry.
• For most queries, the number of generic organic links served on Page 1 has been reduced and pushed down on the page.
• In cases of ambiguous queries, if Google isn’t sure whether users are seeking local information, a “Places Mode” results page will appear. In this view, organic listings can appear above and below the Place listing results.
• Depending on the location set in the left hand column of the SERP, your search results will be different in both local and organic listings. In fact, a variety of factors impact and change the results you see, including whether or not Instant is on, Google Places is selected, the location is typed into the search bar, and you’re signed in.
• The Maps menu selection has been replaced by Places. Clicking on Places serves up only local results.
What do those changes mean?
• This change reflects Google’s commitment to local search. Businesses need to be equally committed if they want first page placement.
• Place Pages were always important, but now they’re critical.
• Google Reviews are more critical now, too. In addition to being served up on Place pages, a new “review” link appears next to the Place listing and key review sites are served up as clustered links.
• Because of the new scrolling map feature, competition for paid spots 1-3 may be more heated than before. It could also mean a reduced CPC for the lower spot – but that placement is still valuable, and reduced CPC would only increase the ROI on those ads.
• Local search marketing strategies need to be focused and smart. With less SERP real estate, Page 1 has become significantly more competitive.
Greg Sterling summed it up well on SearchEngineLand: “By making local results (and Place Pages) more prominent than even they were before, users will likely respond with more local queries and rely on Google more heavily for local information. The overall volume and percentage of queries on Google seeking local information may in turn increase.”
Google loves to surprise. And what better time to do so than the week of Halloween? For those of us with a pulse on the direction Google has been going, this isn’t a huge shock. Local search continues to dominate and as search moves towards mobile, it will dominate even more. For now, we look forward to seeing how Google’s SERP changes will boost traffic to websites that are optimized for local search.
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15:04
A peek inside one of the healthiest, fastest-growing companies in America
» G5 Search Marketing Blog
By Amanda Patterson, MarCom Manager
It’s been a busy week in the G5 press room. Yesterday, we announced our No. 51 ranking on the Deloitte’s 2010 Technology Fast 500. Earlier in the week we announced our selection as one of the Healthiest Employers in Oregon by the Portland Business Journal. These are two very different awards that, on the surface, have nothing to do with each other. (Or do they?)
What Makes Us Fast?
We’re often asked, “What do you attribute to your success in this bad economy?”
Our answer is simple: “What we do works.”
We do more than just drive leads and customers to our clients’ properties. Our Local Marketing Software Platform delivers measureable results, providing our clients with data that allows them to make better business decisions and improve business performance. One could argue that a bad economy is a boon for a company that gives clients a clear picture of which marketing efforts are working and which ones aren’t.
What Makes Us Healthy?
G5 is one of the Healthiest Companies in Oregon because we have corporate sports teams, on-site flu shots, health incentives, discounted gym memberships, on-site yoga classes, and a generous employer-paid health plan, among other things. But our health and wellness program is just one extension of G5’s razor-sharp focus on the wellbeing and happiness of its employees.
Beyond the Simple Answer
The more complicated answer isn’t something you see in a pie chart. It’s something you feel when you walk through the doors of Suite 200 in the five story building at the corner of Franklin and Bond Street in downtown Bend.
I’m going to take off my corporate hat for a minute and speak personally. I’ve been uncommonly fortunate in my career. I’ve never had a job I didn’t like. My standards for “a great place to work” were pretty high, because I’ve worked in such great places.
Still, G5 is different. I felt it when I walked through the door for my first interview. There are no cubicles. The CEO’s “office” has no doors. There’s a tangible excitement coming from every desk – a feeling of collaboration, teamwork, and purpose clearly visible in the personal interactions, warm smiles, and genuine laughter echoing from the open floor plan.
Once I started here, I found the positive work culture positively overwhelming. Goals and objectives are aligned and clearly communicated across the company. Personal and team achievements are publicly celebrated. A work/life balance is encouraged. Core values like “Got your back,” “Change the world,” “Dare to Dominate,” “Work Hard, Play Hard, Live Life” and “Big on ideas – not just big ideas” aren’t just written on the walls. They are exercised on a daily basis.
Healthy Organisms Always Grow
The high energy and inspiration that permeate G5 naturally yields creativity, hard work, dedication and results:
• A client retention rate of 96%
• Revenue growth of 2,566% over a five-year period
• Up to 14% increase in occupancy for our clients
• Up to 300% increase in monthly leads for our clientsThis week’s award announcements were purely a coincidence, but also anecdotal. Healthy organisms are bound to grow. And G5 is healthy – and growing.
Let me guess. Now you want to work here, don’t you? Go ahead and check out our current job openings.
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16:07
The Slippery Slope of Social Search
» G5 Search Marketing Blog(As I type this, I’m taking quick bites of my oh-so-good-for-you-organic frosted toaster pastry, stimulating the part of my brain that makes me very happy).
In this week’s column, MediaPost’s Rob Griffin rationalizes the increasing amount of search activity on the social communities. Research presented at the DMA 2010 last week in San Francisco showed the correlation between the chemical effects that various activities – including search on social sites – have on our brains. Connect the dots, and according to the researcher who presented the data, it “means the trick to successful social media marketing is, at its simplest, to know what will make your target audience happy.”
(Just took another bite, and am chewing on the words “authenticity” and “transparency”).
Next time I search on a social site I’ll be sure to wear my mood ring.
Chew on more of Rob’s thoughts here.
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15:52
Who’s Managing The Online Reputation of Your Apartment Community?
» G5 Search Marketing Blog
By Sarah Douglas, Senior Search Optimizer
Marketing has changed. When it comes to traditional media channels, like print advertising and television ads, you still control the communication. But in the word-of-mouth dominated online world, it’s your current and past residents who hold the power to sway potential renters. Neglect the online conversation, and your reputation could suffer. Here are a few simple ways to take some of that influential power back and set the online tone for your community:
Search for Your Property
This may seem obvious, but many apartment communities overlook the multitude of online channels people regularly use to rant or rave about their experiences. Besides searching for your branded name in the major search engines like Google, Yahoo and Bing, you should also be using Twitter, Facebook and YouTube to keep tabs on your reputation. Taking steps against negative posts, when appropriate, is key – most services have policies against abuse. Keep in mind that 58% of searchers will visit a competitor’s site after viewing negative search results. (Stats from OutspokenMedia.com)Set Up Google Alerts
Google offers a free service to monitor topics of your choosing as new content becomes available online. This can be a valuable tool for apartment community managers and owners to keep tabs on what is being associated with your brand online. Simply go to [www.google.com] and enter in your community’s branded name as the search terms, selecting how often you’d like to receive notifications and how many results you’d like to see.Read and Respond to Online Reviews
You can’t afford to ignore online reviews. Reviews have an immense amount of influence on your potential residents. 90% of consumers trust reviews and recommendations from other consumers. Many review sites, like Google, will allow you to respond directly to a review. For these sites, you should be responding to both negative and positive reviews. Thanking a resident for praise or acknowledging shortcomings in a public forum is important for establishing a genuine rapport with your residents – including future ones. For sites that do not allow a direct response, you may be able to send a private message to the poster of the review. If you’re responding to a negative review, addressing the concerns or complaints to the satisfaction of the poster can often result in the negative review being rewritten or removed at your request. A few sites you should be checking for reviews include: Yelp, RentWiki, ApartmentRatings, CitySearch and Google Places.Establish Your Presence Online
Unlike the early days of the internet, your work does not end with creating a website for your community. Consider creating a Twitter account, Facebook page, and YouTube account. Posting your own content on these sites will help turn the tide in the search results, increasing the likelihood that positive information about your apartments will be shown. -
17:13
Apartment Market, Rents Rebound
» G5 Search Marketing BlogGone are the days of free rent and other incentives to attract tenants; apartment owners have something to smile about again. In the largest leasing quarter since 1999, according to Reis, Inc., the apartment market is quickly gaining stability and strength. Although this recovery will help to strengthen the multifamily housing industry as households return to apartment living, the nation’s economic growth is still tenuous. Unless new jobs emerge in tandem with recent occupancy increases, the growth won’t last. Read the complete Wall Street Journal article here.
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9:51
Senior Social Studies
» G5 Search Marketing BlogBy Amy Belasen
Facebook is the number one ranked social site among all US social networking users. While the largest group of Facebook users is young adults ages 18-29, Seniors ages 65+ are logging on to the social networking site in record numbers. According to a May 2010 Pew Internet & American Life Project survey, 26% of Seniors ages 65+ are using Facebook in an effort to learn about their children and grandchildren’s lives, to reconnect with friends from their past, and to reach out to others with chronic diseases by starting conversations online.
In an informal poll conducted at G5, 57% of respondents have family members ages 65+ who are social network users. A few key findings:
• 100% communicate via Facebook, with 5% also active on LinkedIn
• 43% of employees routinely interact with family members ages 65+ via Facebook, regularly sharing photos, messages and wall postsAmong older adult users, there are some concerns about public vs. private information shared on social networking sites. As one parent explained, “I’m on Facebook but I sure as hell don’t know how to use it. Scares me to death that I might say something that the whole world will read.” (This respondent will remain anonymous in case the whole world is reading our blog).
Facebook’s following among Seniors provides Senior Living providers with an online opportunity to reach out and engage with current and prospective residents and their family members. Creating a fan page allows existing residents and their relatives to “like” (or “fan”) the community. With each new fan, referral potential grows as friends and family members sign on to explore shared networks. “Liking” links to common interest pages such as a local sports team or bookstore is another way to interact with potential residents. Engaging fans on Facebook is a time commitment, but well worth the effort.
As Seniors sign on to Facebook in increasing numbers, Senior Living providers have an opportunity to interact with this demographic online. Partnered with a website, a profile page for your Senior Living community not only acts as a forum to get conversations started within your community, but also serves as a way for Seniors to refer friends by sharing the page with others. By creating a fan base on Facebook that drives traffic to your website and location, referrals and leads shouldn’t be too far behind.
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8:54
Multifamily Executive Conference Takeaway: The Future is Bright
» G5 Search Marketing Blog
The city’s lights still burn bright, but Multifamily Executive’s 2010 Conference in Las Vegas has gone dark. Forty-eight hours of enlightening panels, lively guest speakers and informative education sessions. A few forecasts for 2011:
Increasing NOI
Increasing occupancy
Increasing rents – and limited push back from residents
More women than men will be head of US households – a historical firstNet: Home ownership is no longer equated with the American Dream. The future for Multifamily is as bright as Vegas’ lights.
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15:06
The Bing-Yahoo Alliance: What does it mean for CPCs?
» G5 Search Marketing BlogBy Dave Beltramini, Director of Paid Advertising
The ability to see measureable trends and results is what makes Search Engine Marketing (SEM) and Pay Per Click (PPC) advertising so exciting. Unlike the more traditional, less measureable methods (print, TV, outdoor, etc), SEM and PPC give us invaluable information about our leads, their online behavior, and the effectiveness of our campaigns.
At the moment, there are two new developments that have caused some commotion in the SEM and PPC worlds: Google Instant and the Bing/Yahoo search alliance.
When Google Instant was released, some panicked. Is the SEO world coming to an end? Are “long tail” keywords being lopped off to the detriment of PPC campaigns? We addressed these concerns in another blog entry, which you can read here – but to summarize, no, the SEO apocalypse has not arrived yet.
New concerns are now being raised about the Bing and Yahoo alliance, since the search results of both engines are powered by the Bing algorithm. Some voices warn that this will result in a much higher Cost-per-Click (CPC). (CPC is the amount an advertiser is charged per click on an ad on the respective search engine.)
I want to point to a MediaPost article by Roger Barnette that addresses this topic very well. I think it is noteworthy for two reasons: First, he points out important numbers that should dispel the fear that CPCs will spiral out of control. Second, he reminds us that the proper thing to do is to monitor, manage and optimize your accounts – which is exactly what we do every day here at G5. Because PPC is something that can be changed quickly, there is no need to speculate to any great degree. Time will tell what will happen. That is when it’s most important to be thorough and examine the data.
The change to Bing’s algorithm will start to roll out next week. We will be watching, analyzing and acting – but hopefully, not rushing to judgment before the data is clear.
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15:08
Self-Storage Rules of Thumb, Facebook’s Reach and Employee Rights to Privacy
» G5 Search Marketing BlogWe stumbled on an interesting column by Jim Chiswell in Inside Self Storage, maintaining that it may be best to ignore certain standards of practice in favor of what’s going on today in your specific self storage market. Rules such as “only pay 66% of the average rental rate per square foot for your lands,” are too restrictive in this economy, whereas some overarching best practices, such as adding a strong customer service element to your business, never fail. What do you think? Read the complete column here.
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16:34
Multifamily Executive Conference: Bright Future Meets Bright Lights
» G5 Search Marketing Blog
On Sunday, several of us depart for the Multifamily Executive Conference at the Bellagio in Las Vegas, Oct 4-6. The theme this year is “Place Your Bets – How Bright is the Future of Multifamily?” There is a lot of buzz about recovery in the multifamily industry, and valid reasons to be optimistic. Still, the landscape of the industry has changed, times are uncertain and the economy still fragile. We look forward to hearing what our fellow industry professionals have to say about the future of the apartment industry. Stop by Booth 216 and say hello.
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17:20
Online Marketing Tips for Senior Living at the Advanced Sales & Marketing Summit
» G5 Search Marketing Blog
When the temperature in Bend is 85 degrees, it’s hard to believe that December is only two months away – but indeed, we’re gearing up for the 2010 Advanced Sales & Marketing Summit for the Senior Housing, Assisted Living and Nursing Industries. The event will be hosted at the Ritz Carlton in Naples, Florida December 6-7. Our very own Dan Hobin will be speaking on “Online Marketing – How and Why,” sharing cost-effective methods for monitoring your online marketing efforts and converting that data into actionable next steps that will increase occupancy. Dan will also share some insights on tracking and measuring the effectiveness of Social Media Marketing for Senior Living Communities through Facebook Fan Pages and Twitter. Read more about the Summit and see the full agenda at TheAdvancedSaleSummit.com.
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16:32
Apartments Lead Commercial Real Estate Recovery
» G5 Search Marketing BlogLooks like more good news for the multifamily housing industry. Apartments are showing an upward trend and according to Multihousing News, they’re leading the pack in the commercial real estate recovery. According to the latest Apartment Outlook Report (released this month by Marcus & Millichap), more rent growth is on the horizon in 2011. The full story is here.
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16:59
Location-Based Social Media and Student Housing: Should You Check In?
» G5 Search Marketing BlogBy Sarah Douglas and Amanda Patterson
While social media sites and services continue to gain popularity and traction in both the marketing and online worlds, a new crop of services that target specific locations are also emerging. Facebook Places and Foursquare are the most well known of this new type of social media, but there are several other services steadily gaining popularity. These services create an environment where users can notify their social network of their location to gain some form of reward. Should you be using them for your student housing community? Maybe. Here are three reasons why you might want to investigate these new location-based social services for your student apartment community – followed by three reasons why you may be disappointed in the results.
3 Reasons to Try it:
1. Most users of services like Facebook Places, Foursquare, Gowalla & the other emerging sites already the target demographic of student housing communities.
The student housing industry is well-suited to newer social media concepts since these services tend to appeal to the teen and early 20s set – who just happen to be the crowd looking for college or university housing.
2. Narrowing the targeting of your online efforts may allow you to focus more heavily on the best qualified leads.
Targeting the friends and acquaintances of your current residents just makes sense. Social interaction is a huge part of the college experience and leveraging that to your advantage is a smart way to spend your time. Including a referral bonus as a reward is one way to encourage your residents to spread the word about your community across all of their social media channels.
3. Adopting new technologies early allows you to refine your strategy while others are oblivious or just catching on.
While there is a small amount of risk in jumping into a new venture that may or may not end up being widely used, the only thing you’re really risking is time. Early adoption will allow you to distinguish your off campus housing from the rest of the pack by being the first to start using the latest service to engage with your residents and new prospects.
3 Reasons it Might Not Work:
1. College students can’t afford data plans.
Yes, mobile is huge – but for college students, texting is bigger than mobile web. Since geo-social sites require expensive data plans that students can’t afford, the response might be lower than you’d like it be. Text-based marketing and mobile coupons are probably a smarter way to go for this demographic. (See more on mobile coupons here.)
2. So far, women aren’t “checking in.”
Women have outnumbered men in college enrollment since 2000, at 57% of the total enrollment, on average. (See NY Times article for detail). This is bad news for location-based social media, since 80% of current users are men aged 18-35. There’s a theory that women are more concerned about their safety, and worry that using location-based social media could invite unwelcome stalkers to follow them around.
3. The investment might not be worth the return.
For now, at least. Of course, technology is changing all of the time, and this particular technology is still in the very early stages. It’s too early to say whether it will be a viable marketing investment for this industry in the future.
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18:43
Multifamily: Four Creative Ways to Increase the Bottom Line
» G5 Search Marketing Blog
The art of the turnaround isn’t easy and finding ways to earn more profit in a difficult economy isn’t always fun, but a little creativity can go a long way. Increasing the bottom line may involve streamlining internal structures already in place or finding one vendor to offer a competitive price on a bundled job. Setting up a call center, or at least a receptionist, to receive calls may be another way to better manage incoming calls. We agree with this author that tracking every lead is critical – in addition to tracking the results of online marketing efforts, our call tracking service helps our clients close the loop. Tracking leads allow businesses to determine the effectiveness of their advertising. See the complete story in Multifamily Executive.
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18:33
5 Things You Should Know About Google Instant
» G5 Search Marketing Blog
Last week, Google launched new search functionality called Google Instant. Here are a few FAQ’s we put together on the subject:
1. What Is Google Instant? It’s a new feature that predicts what an online user is searching for, and shows results as the user types using Google’s auto-suggest technology.
2. What are the benefits? (According to Google): Faster, smarter searches. Instant results allow searchers to find what they’re looking for without clicking a search button or pressing enter.
3. What has changed, and what has not? The basics of Google search are the same. Google has been predicting and suggesting search terms for at least a year based on personalized search history and location. Google Instant takes this feature a step further, displaying a full page of predictive results before the user is finished typing. With every character, the real time results change, as do the paid ads and map listings. The new display pushes at least one organic result “below the fold,” and shows fewer multiple map listings in the results. It’s important to note that Google Instant does not affect all Google search results. It can be turned off by users who don’t like it. And, Google Instant is only available at Google.com — for the countless users who search exclusively in their browser toolbar, nothing will change. (At least, not for now.)
4. Does Google Instant “kill SEO” or impact rankings? No. A well-rounded approach to content development and optimization should actually benefit from Google Instant. Now it’s simply faster, and the results will change as the query changes.
5. Does Google Instant ruin my PPC ads? No. Targeted pay-per-click ads continue to show as they normally would – just faster, and will change as the query changes.
We surveyed our own employees to find out what they think of Google Instant, and the responses were mixed. About half find it fast, convenient and time-saving. The other half complain that it’s distracting and annoying and the auto-fill is unhelpful. Can Google really read our minds? If they’re tracking how many people opt to turn off this feature, they won’t have to. Meanwhile, we’ll continue to monitor it and stay on top of how it affects measurement, tracking and analytics in the search space.
For more information, see this article on Search Engine Land.
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14:17
Brainstorming, Here We Come
» G5 Search Marketing Blog
Tomorrow, a few of us head to Dallas for the 2010 Multifamily Pro Brainstorming Sessions. The theme this year is “Reality Check.” We look forward to gaining new insight, meeting new friends, and exchanging some innovative ideas about how multifamily communities can thrive in the years to come. Stop by Booth #41 and say hello (and enter your business card for a chance to win an iPad). -
17:05
Blogging Basics
» G5 Search Marketing Blog
by Sarah Douglas, Senior Search Optimizer
It seems that everyone these days has a blog. Businesses, college kids, politicians, cat lovers, (and even some cats!) have blogs. When you hear stories of companies that have increased their client base and bottom line by blogging, the natural response is to want that opportunity for yourself. Unfortunately, just creating a blog is not going to get you more traffic to your site or more potential customers. Careful consideration and planning is required in order to get those kinds of fantastic results you’ve been hearing about.
Before you hop on the bandwagon for blogging, first take a moment to ask yourself some questions. Why do I want a blog in the first place? Do I want one because I’ve heard they’re good for my online marketing efforts? Do I want one because I saw my competitor has one? Do I want one because I want to share my knowledge of and passion for my industry? If your reasons are any but the last, your blogging will ultimately end up being both unsuccessful for your business and not satisfying for you as the writer.
A great blog is born of a combination of passion, expertise, and creativity:
• If you’re not passionate about your subject matter it will show in your blog entries, and it will also make blogging a dreaded task instead of something you are excited to do.
• Expertise on your subject may seem like a no-brainer, but a surprising number of bloggers out there just parrot what others have said or post entries that offer no insight but use buzz words to attract attention.
• Creativity is key to creating content that is both informative and engaging for your readers.Keep Your Reader in Mind
Again, this may seem like a very basic idea, but it is often lost in the shuffle of meeting deadlines and running a business. If you keep your target audience in mind, you will be able to avoid a lot of pitfalls that are common with unsuccessful blogs. As you write, make sure you’re considering your audience – is the information interesting or useful, and is it written in plain English instead of technical industry terms that your readers may not know?Content that is informative and engaging should be your primary objective. Posts that feature interesting graphics, charts, photos or videos are excellent for capturing attention and delivering information. Lists, such as “Top Ten Items You Should Never Keep in a Storage Unit” or “Top Five Questions to Ask An Apartment Community Before Moving In,” are also great ways to provide interesting content in an easily read form. Blogs can be both informative and entertaining, so don’t be afraid to show some personality or use some tasteful humor.
Keep the Search Engines in Mind, Too
A blog can be very useful in boosting your site’s search engine optimization (SEO) as well. New content on a regular basis encourages the search engines to return to your site to crawl and index it more often. Adding more content relevant to your industry can boost your topical relevance for search queries related to your industry, too. Include keywords related to your business in your blog entries, but keep readability in mind. A paragraph that repeats the same word over and over again does not make enjoyable reading, and it won’t boost your search engine rankings, either. A keyword should appear in your post no more than 2-3 times, and it is best to use synonyms, too.The Blogging Bottom Line
• Update on a frequent, regular basis
• Always keep your reader in mind
• Be creative, informative and engaging
• Balance keyword use with readability; avoid using ‘industry insider’ terms your customers may not know -
17:07
Some Thoughts on Social Media and Self Storage
» G5 Search Marketing Blog
By Amy Belasen and Amanda Patterson
What began as a networking site for the Ivy League grew into a site with more than 400 million active users across the world. As of July 2010, social media accounts for 11% of all time spent online in the US. Based on these numbers, some self storage businesses have been jumping in head-first—but should they?
Customer Service
Social media is often leveraged as a customer service tool. Facebook walls and Twitter messages are a great place to ask and answer questions, creating a dialogue with potential customers that can be seen by all. For a more private consultation, the Facebook message feature might be your conversation tool of choice. Personal interactions let clients know that you are important to them.Events
Social media can also make sense for storage when it comes to event marketing promotion. According to the July Issue of SSA Globe magazine, “Store Self Storage of Palm Beach Gardens successfully used social media to get 1,000 people to attend their yard sale and 800-plus people to attend other events.” Hosting events at your storage facility allows people to see the facility in a unique and fun environment. Social media can be a great tool to help you spread the word. If you have a Facebook fan page, you can create an event and invite your fans via status updates to RSVP. You can also create Facebook ads that drive them to your website for more information (via a landing page) or to your Facebook event page.Facebook Advertising
Facebook ads can be a cost-effective way to geo-target your customers and drive them to your storage properties. Because they are pay-per-click, you can set the limit on the ad spend and target them based on specific regions and age/gender demographics. Facebook allows you to target ads based on birthdays, likes, interests, connections, education, and more. However, these ads will only target people who have opted to include that information in their profile, and such precise targeting could be too limiting.The Dissatisfied Customer
Social media is powerful because it’s a public forum and it gives your customers a voice. That is also what makes it unsettling to companies who are used to controlling the conversation about their brand. Using privacy settings to manage posts before they are published to your wall is one way of censoring unhappy customers, but companies still have no control over what others say on their own walls. If a bad experience at your facility is tweeted or posted on a social media site, use your discretion to address the issue. Some comments are best responded to on the public forum while others may require speaking to the dissatisfied customer over the phone. Regardless, social media is an opportunity for you to promptly and publically respond with resolution of the issue.Be Strategic
If you’re thinking about dipping your foot into social waters, our advice is to be strategic about it. Make sure that your social media efforts are supporting a bigger strategy, whether it’s your customer service strategy, your event and PR strategy, or your marketing strategy. Have objectives and determine up front how you will measure success. Don’t just put up a Facebook page and expect people to “like” you – give them a reason to. -
13:22
Self Storage Market on the Rise in 2010
» G5 Search Marketing BlogAfter two years in decline, the Self Storage market has seemingly bounced back as evidenced by recent quarterly reports. The first quarter of 2010 saw a 20% increase in transaction volume from the same period in the previous year. The Self Storage market should continue to grow throughout the rest of the year partially due to new acquisitions after the bottoming out of the market. Cross-over investors who typically invest in apartments have recently sought out higher returns and lower loss ratios by investing in Self Storage. Despite a market trending towards growth, some single-asset owners are still trying to sell out of fear of refinancing. The complete rebound report can be found at Inside Self Storage.
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17:32
Can Facebook friends and Twitter followers help users find the perfect apartment?
» G5 Search Marketing Blog
By Amy Belasen
The debate continues as to whether social media is an effective marketing tool for apartment housing communities. While social media sites can drive traffic back to your website, is that enough? Is it worth the time?
What can a Facebook page do for my community?
In addition to driving traffic, sites such as Twitter and Facebook increase brand loyalty by creating user-friendly profiles, making friends and interacting with potential residents. Social media is also a virtual way to gain referrals—modern day “word of mouth” technology. With one-click “share” button technology, Facebook users post links that are shared with hundreds of their closest friends.
Nielson calls these shares “organic advertising” for a company, derived from a consumer instead of from traditional advertising methods. The April 2010 Nielson study proves that what Facebook friends say matters. Organic ads are better recalled, read with greater awareness and with more purchase intent than nonorganic ads. According to Nielson, “70% of people trust consumer opinions posted online.”
For the apartment leasing company ForRent.com, adding a “share” button to listings greatly improved their visibility with 58,000 new listings shared on Facebook in less than one year (Eyeballs and Purse Strings).
We helped North 38, a student housing community, develop a measurable direct marketing campaign tied to their social efforts online. A “Refer a Friend” widget allows North 38 to collect leads directly from their Facebook page.
It’s about community involvement.
For other multifamily communities, social media is used to engage current residents as an online extension of the offline community. While referrals may be encouraged, there is no easy way to refer apartment pages or to track the success of social referrals with a minimal time investment. For this reason, most multifamily social media sites seem to be rather simple, offering an online bulletin board listing upcoming events and other announcements within their communities.
Simple isn’t necessarily a bad thing.
A community page allows residents to become just that—more of a community. Sharing photos, invites and events strengthens ties between community members in an otherwise busy world. In just a few minutes, residents are able to find out what’s happening in and around their community by viewing Facebook status updates and Twitter feeds.
With the sense of community cultivated within cyber walls, and the ability to shrink or stretch the time investment in these sites, perhaps social media usage isn’t just about the bottom line. Whether or not sites like Facebook and Twitter generate measurable results, they build a sense of community for residents, making them feel better about the place they’ve chosen to live – which could result in more referrals and longer occupancy periods. It might even help them remember to get the rent paid on time.
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12:08
Go Back to School with G5
» G5 Search Marketing Blog
G5 is proud to announce the newest effort by our Corporate Giving & Community Outreach Committee – offering technology classes through Bend Parks and Recreation. This Fall we will be offering three classes designed to serve various levels of experience with technology:
Introduction to Internet Applications, taught by SEO Manager Jody O’Donnell
This “Internet 101″ class will help those with little online experience become familiar with web browsers, email, and search engines.Beginning Semantic HTML & CSS, taught by Implementation Web Developer Jonan Scheffler
This class will teach the novice how to build a functioning, modern website from scratch. We’ll be covering onpage elements, tags, attributes, inheritance, navigation, hosting and more.I Have a Website – Now What? taught by Senior Search Optimizer Sarah Douglas
This class is intended for small business owners or those interested in internet marketing. Find out what the next steps are once you’ve established your online presence with a website.For more information about our classes, or other educational opportunities, please visit the website for Bend Parks & Recreation. Registration has recently begun, and classes start next week.
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12:34
The Search for Seniors Online
» G5 Search Marketing Blog
This data dates back to January 2010, but we’re revisiting it because the implications for Senior Living community owners and marketers are still relevant. These numbers have likely risen since this Pew report was released, but as of December 2009, 70%+ of seniors age 54-64 – a group that includes decision-makers when it comes to their elderly parents’ living situation – are spending time online. 38% of seniors 65 and older are online, too.
Here’s something interesting to note: according to this survey, seniors engaged in social media are the exception, not the rule. This group is spending most of their time on email and search. (Searching for the perfect senior living community, no doubt).
See the Pew Internet Report here.
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15:02
Facebook + Student Housing = Community Success
» G5 Search Marketing Blog
By Sarah Douglas, Senior Search Optimizer
Should Your Student Housing Community Have A Facebook Page?One of the hottest topics circulating in the online marketing world today is social media, particularly Facebook. Unfortunately, very few are focusing on how to execute in a manner that will foster success and a return on investment.
Everyone may be rushing to get a company Facebook page – but true success does not come from just throwing together a profile. The first step should be figuring out what your goals are. This should begin with determining what you want to gain by utilizing social media. Are you trying to build your brand and customer loyalty? Or are you trying to generate leads? For student housing communities, we think it makes the most sense to go for the former; a Facebook page will help keep your current student residents interested in living at your community, which in turn will lead to more inquiries.
With the recent addition of Facebook Places, encouraging your residents to “check in” should be a part of your strategy, too. Offering something as simple as complimentary cookies in your community office for those that “check in” could be the added boost you need to get even more interaction with your residents on Facebook.
Ok, I’ve Got A Facebook Page –What Do I Do With It?
Once you’ve taken care of the basics of providing your contact information and linking to your site, the next step is interacting with your residents. Make sure to let residents know that they can visit you on Facebook, and give them an expectation of what they can find there. You may even want to consider accepting maintenance requests or establishing a virtual suggestion box via Facebook.
The next important piece is establishing a routine for your Facebook updates. Updating often is essential to capturing and retaining the attention of your residents. You should plan on posting to your account at least once or twice per week, and more often if it makes sense. Have fun with it, but remember to be relevant and interesting to your target audience. Great, engaging content may include:
– Apartment maintenance notices
– Rent reminders
– Notices of upcoming events at your location
– Reminders of upcoming events at your local University
– Creation of photo albums of recent events at your apartment community
– Referral bonus offersDon’t Forget…
• Facebook and other social media sites are dependent on the authenticity of the communication. Let your personality shine.
• As with most things, commitment is key – update your Facebook page regularly with relevant content. Always keep in mind the “so what?” factor as you post. If it’s not engaging, it’s not helpful.
• Consider rewarding those that interact with your Facebook page the most – a prize for a certain number or frequency of check-ins will give your residents an incentive to participate. -
9:35
Gearing up for SSA Fall Conference and Tradeshow 2010
» G5 Search Marketing Blog
In just a couple of weeks, the kids are headed back to class, and so are the best minds in self storage. This year the SSA Fall Conference & Tradeshow is at Caesars Palace in Vegas, September 1-3, and we’re gearing up. Our very own Dan Hobin is speaking on Thursday, September 2 at 3:15 on “Web Marketing: What Works Online for Small to Medium Sized Owners.” He’ll cover the basics of search engine marketing, how to measure the effectiveness of self storage directories, social media marketing, and outperforming the REITs. We’re sharing exhibit space again with Self Storage Finders – be sure to stop by booth #325 and say hello.
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20:42
New Jobs and Old Foreclosures Fuel Apartment Occupancy
» G5 Search Marketing Blog
Bloomberg is reporting bearish news for the multifamily industry. As the job market for young adults gradually improves and foreclosures continue to reduce home ownership, more people are turning to apartment living. Occupancy rates have nearly doubled since 2009. Armed with new jobs, young adults are finally moving into apartments. Meanwhile, the increase in jobs since January hasn’t been substantial enough to slow new foreclosures, prompting once-homeowners to choose apartment living. What does this mean for apartment real estate owners? 5-10% earnings increases next year, maybe more. Get the full story here.
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11:17
Merging Search and Social: Does Facebook have the answer?
» G5 Search Marketing Blog
With the upcoming launch of the “Questions” feature, Facebook will allow users to ask global questions and get answers from friends, connections and strangers. See a great new marketing opportunity? So do we, but take caution – spam will be rejected by this crowd, and only the best content will rise to the top. If you’re planning to answer a question, make sure your answer is relevant, transparent, and valuable.
Read more here.
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15:44
Do You MicroHoo?
» G5 Search Marketing Blog
The Yahoo Search transition to Bing is reportedly scheduled for August and September. One Local Search hiccup: Yahoo targets by ZIP code, but Microsoft’s adCenter will not – omitting a necessary targeting option because IP addresses don’t always identify the exact location or the location within two miles of the advertised store.
Read more here.
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15:33
End of a Quarter
» G5 Search Marketing BlogThe clock is ticking, and we’re busy clicking to tally our Q2 fiscal results. Looks like we’re headed for our best quarter ever. Let the fireworks begin.
Happy Independence Day to all – from Team G5 -
14:00
G5 is the 3rd-Fastest Growing Company in Oregon!
» G5 Search Marketing Blog
G5 is still growing. And growing. And growing…The Portland Business Journal has recently announced that we’re the 3rd fastest-growing private company in Oregon/Southwest Washington. With revenue growth of 413.47% and employee count increase of 390%, we shouldn’t be too surprised. See our press release for all the details.
We know, of course, that we’re growing because we’re helping our clients grow their business. Their success is our success. Team G5 is committed to staying at the top of the list – year after year.
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14:48
Spreading the Sunshine: A Day in the Life of a Marketing Analyst
» G5 Search Marketing BlogBy Dara Christoff, Marketing Analyst, G5 Search Marketing
There’s never a dull moment for a G5 Marketing Analyst. As the single point of contact (commonly known as an account manager) for clients, a Marketing Analyst spends the day interacting with clients and working with other internal G5 teams. Also known as the Eternal Sunshine team because of our positive attitudes and fun spirits, the Marketing Analyst team tempers professionalism with a dash of mischief.
What does it take to be a G5 Marketing Analyst? Impeccable multi-tasking skills, perpetual optimism, an encouraging spirit, and the willingness to do whatever it takes to make sure clients are happy. Oh, a love for candy is a plus, too.When G5 launches a website for a new client, the Marketing Analyst anxiously stands in the wings awaiting the opportunity to train that client on what G5 does – drive, engage, track, measure, and optimize. We also take the time to train clients on website functionality and the G5 Client Center reporting and content management capabilities.
After the initial training, G5 Marketing Analysts remain in close contact with clients. Our role is to help clients understand the performance of their websites, online marketing, and new website functionality opportunities, as well as to communicate new developments in the search, social and mobile worlds.
G5 Marketing Analysts are available to assist their clients as soon as an e-mail hits the inbox or the phone starts ringing. They spend time analyzing performance, troubleshooting and advising clients on the best course of action to take in any given situation. They send monthly emails regarding reports and pertinent G5 Client Center or search engine updates, and hold quarterly online marketing performance calls with clients to share what G5 and the client were able to accomplish together. In addition, we also attend annual trade shows and conferences where we have the opportunity to meet valued clients face to face.
Behind every good Marketing Analyst is the G5 team: experts who offer support and knowledge to ensure that the company is a one-stop shop for client needs. The Marketing Analyst team fields questions from clients and relies heavily on the assistance of other G5 teams – including Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Pay Per Click (PPC), Support, Professional Services and Engineering. Whether a client has questions about website performance metrics, lead reporting, Pay Per Click, how to make updates to their website, search engine rankings, optimization, online directories, call tracking, and everything in between – the Marketing Analyst works closely with other G5 teams to make sure we’re meeting our clients’ expectations.
Marketing Analysts fully embrace the G5 Core Value “Work Hard. Play Hard. Live Life.” and take their fun as seriously as their work. Be it playing on the G5 softball team, competing in Bend’s annual Pole, Pedal, Paddle race, or participating in the annual Gopher Broke Golf Scramble charity, a Marketing Analyst can be found enjoying the competitive and fun camaraderie of other G5 employees. To top it all off, the Marketing Analyst team seeks out fun ways to play throughout the year, such as customizing Mardi Gras masks featuring the G5 executive team with sparkly gems and jewel-toned feathers, throwing a Kentucky Derby party complete with exotic hats, or getting together for a 4th of July barbeque with family and friends.
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8:59
Why your Website Matters
» G5 Search Marketing BlogBy Nancy Hall, VP of Client Services, G5 Search Marketing
We love it when this happens.
The other day, we got an email from a client who told us about a new resident. His daughter wanted to learn about a local senior community, and went to the Internet to find its contact information. When she did a search for senior housing in her city, our client’s senior community came up in the search results as well. The daughter (a professional Web developer) was so impressed with our client’s website, she decided to come in for a tour of their community. Not surprisingly, the daughter loved our client’s community and is excited to have found a wonderful place for her dad.
The lesson here is simple: Your Website Matters.When people are searching for a business in their geographic area and they run across a website that is uninviting, hard to navigate and/or lacking basic information, they move on. You may never get another opportunity to engage and sell that client. We have all heard about usability. But what does that really mean for Senior Housing websites?
The design and layout of your site is critical. A bad first impression can easily cause someone to move on without really seeing what you have to offer. The design needs to convey who you are and what you want people to feel about your community. Does it speak to the type of resident you are looking for? Does it match your demographics?
We have one client with communities in small southern towns. Their site conveys a very homey, warm and welcoming feeling. It looks like the lives of its target residents.
We have another client with locations in Southern California, such as Beverly Hills. Their site exudes sophistication, luxury and a spa-like feeling, directly speaking to their target audience.
Once a potential resident is captured by your design, the layout of your website is what keeps the user engaged. Your website must contain relevant information that is organized and easy to find. Levels of care, amenities, services and other relevant information should be organized in a logical manner. The content must be well written and informative, adding to the overall impression of a successful, inviting community. Your website should also include font size options, sample menus, a calendar of events and photos. Lots of photos. Good quality professional photography that captures the beauty, warmth and essence of your community is essential to your potential residents and their families.
Finally, your website must contain clear directives and calls to action. During the process of designing and developing a website, keep in mind your objective: to have potential residents find your community, contact you and schedule a tour. Never make someone search for your phone number. Many, many websites miss this critical step. They are well designed and engaging, but when it’s decision time, the contact information is nowhere to be found. Give your potential residents a variety of options for contacting you, including a phone number and email address, with the invitation to schedule a tour or request a brochure.
So take a fresh look at your website. A few small changes can make a difference in its effectiveness and, with the right changes, positively affect your occupancy.
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13:35
G5 Loves the Outside (and Outside Magazine Loves Us)
» G5 Search Marketing BlogWe don’t get to toot our horn as often as we’d like but today, G5 has some great news we’re happy to share with the world.
Outside Magazine has named us to their 50 Best Places to Work in America list.
Why? We would say why not.The company goes out of its way to make sure we play as hard as we work. Examples include shortened work hours on Fridays during the summer months, paid participation in various athletic events, flex time for powder ski days, work hours devoted to volunteer time for charitable organizations and company-supplemented gym memberships.
When we say we work hard and play hard together, we mean it.
These are just a few of the many reasons G5 is known for it’s work/life balance.
Our CEO Dan Hobin said it best: “Our employees are committed to delivering the best software platform and services in the marketplace. But they’re also committed to passions outside the company – family, friends, outdoor activities, the community and environmental causes.”
And team members agree.
“Flexibility and respect for family and lifestyle played a strong role in my decision to join the G5 team,” said Aaron Warnock, Director of Product Mangement. “G5 is a company that wow-ed me with their unique local businesses marketing platform and then won me with corporate values that highlight life-work balance.”
A debt of gratitude is also due to our partner in playing: beautiful Bend, Oregon – where we all live, and work.
This is such a great spot that another company here in town, Ruffwear, is also on the list. Congratulations Ruffwear!
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15:41
Your actual CPC is out of your control (mostly)
» G5 Search Marketing BlogBy Dave Beltramini, Director of Paid Advertising, G5 Search Marketing
Paid Advertising on the major search engines can be a significant driver of leads to your website. However, identifying the best way to spend money in that world is more confusing and arduous than you might imagine.
Prior to 2005, Google was a straightforward process. You bid a certain dollar amount and, if you were the highest bidder, you paid one cent more than the next highest bidder. But Google’s Ad Rank calculation changed that process.
Now knowing what you will pay for a click is not that simple.
What you are willing to bid has only an indirect role on your cost. The more important factors in determining cost are quality score and the aggressiveness and performance of your competition. These will influence your CPC far more than the maximum you are willing to spend.
To determine your CPC, Google uses a two-step process. (Yahoo and Bing do not disclose how CPC is calculated).
Step One is the auction for your Google search term (e.g., Assisted Living, Milwaukee). Every single Google search triggers a unique auction. These auctions use a formula that calculates “ad rank” as the first step. Ad Rank determines which position your ad will appear (or if it will appear at all) for a given search.
Ad Rank = Max CPC X quality score (1-10 scale with 10 the best)
An example:
• You bid $2.00 for the search query Assisted Living, Milwaukee
• Google determines your quality score for your ad is 8
• Your Ad Rank = 16 ($2.00 X 8)The Ad Rank calculation shows us that Google values both the bid and the quality score of a search query equally.
Step Two is to calculate cost per click.
Google takes the Ad Rank of the ad below yours, divides it by your Assisted Living, Milwaukee quality score, and then adds $0.01. For example:
• Your ad for Assisted Living, Milwaukee earns position #3 with an Ad Rank of 16
• Max CPC is $2.00, quality score is 8
• The Ad Rank of the competitor in position #4 (just below you) was 12
• Your CPC would be $1.51 because (12 ÷ 8) + .01 = $1.51
(The competitor’s Ad Rank of 12 divided by your quality score of 8, plus $0.01)
Bidding is under your control, but its impact is indirect. Let’s take the example above and change your max bid to $3.00 from $2.00:• Your ad for the Assisted Living, Milwaukee keyword earns position #3 with an Ad Rank of 24
• New Max CPC is $3.00, quality score is still 8
• The Ad Rank of the competitor in position #4 (just below you) is 12
• Your CPC would be $1.51 because (12 ÷ 8) + .01 = $1.51
(Their Ad Rank of 12 divided by your quality score of 8, plus $0.01)
• You still pay the $1.51 based on the formulas despite bidding 50% higherThese calculations show that your bid does play a role, though an indirect one. Ad Rank helps to determine which keyword is below you, and it’s the Ad Rank of that keyword which influences your CPC. This is how the quality and aggressiveness of the competition drives your price.
To illustrate, here is another example:
• Your ad for Assisted Living, Milwaukee earns position #3 with an Ad Rank of 20
• Max CPC is $2.00, quality score is 10; previous quality score was 8
• The Ad Rank of the competitor position #4 (just below you) is 12
• Your CPC would be $1.21 because (12 ÷ 10) + .01 = $1.21
(Their Ad Rank of 12 divided by your quality score of 10, plus $0.01)Of course the Ad Rank of your competition is not listed in Google. The main reason you can’t simply look it up is that it changes in real time for every search query. Also, Google isn’t running a transparent auction.
The lesson here is that bids and quality score work together to set the prices you pay for paid search clicks. Of the two, quality score has a slightly more important role resulting in the need to allocate as much (or more) time and energy to quality score management as to bid management.
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11:00
Which Directories Will Help Your Senior Housing Website?
» G5 Search Marketing BlogBy Jody O’Donnell, SEO Manager, G5 Search Marketing
Members of G5’s Search Engine Optimization (SEO) department, affectionately known as “10 SERP Plaza,” are often asked: Which directories are the best for me to sign up for?
We consider ourselves the best people to answer this question as our entire department assumes that every inquiry should end “with regards to my SEO?”
And we answer it, at least initially, with a question of our own: Which are the best directory targets for the Senior Housing market?
Target
When developing your target list of directories, first establish a clear objective. Are you trying to get good, trusted citations from directories and improve the consistency with which search engines see your business information across the Web? Or are you trying to drive traffic directly to your website?
The first objective is back-linking while the latter is more about driving traffic and conversions. This is an extremely important distinction. Deciding which is more important will point you to the best directories to accomplish your goal.
Many directories are built more for search engines than for human users. It doesn’t take long to look at a directory and identify which audience they are targeting. One tell-tale sign a directory is targeting search engines is how they list. If they don’t use images or anything else to give a real live person more information about what your listing is, they are focusing on search engines. Search engine citation style directories will have your business information and little else, as illustrated by this example:
Directories that are more traffic driven sites generally have links back to the pages and have rich content for each listing. This can range from pictures to driving directions to operating hours, etc., as illustrated by this example:
CostSome of the best directories on the Internet are entirely free. There are various levels of time and effort you must commit to successfully take advantage of these directories. The commitment varies on a directory-by-directory basis.
The foremost free directory is DMOZ. This site gets a lot of credence from the search engines because it is well edited and has been around for a long time. It boasts a shocking PageRank of 8, a rating Google assigns to websites that shows authority based on a scale of 0 – 10. Some other general high quality free directories are business.com and Yahoo!.
The downside to a free directory is the application process and the data entry required. Denial is not uncommon, particularly for DMOZ. And be aware of paid directories that look to be the exact same as other directories. Search engines inherently give less credence to any links that cost money and are not specified in the HTML as a paid link.
Specificity
There are many generic directories that cover varied industries across the Web. These are just general directories (not unlike the Yellow Pages) and may not be as valuable as finding one that is more specific to your industry. The more specific the directory, the more it can boost your SEO industry expertise.
It is much more valuable to optimize your website by finding a directory that aligns with your specific business. For example, if you have a website dealing with Assisted Living, you will want to find a directory that specializes as close to this industry as possible. A generic Senior Living or Senior Care directory, while still valuable, is not as valuable as a directory that deals just with Assisted Living. A more targeted directory will likely give a larger boost to your website SEO and citations because it is as close to your business as you can get. Listing your Assisted Living business in a directory for Defense Lawyers is probably not going to do much for you.
Directories can be helpful in getting good, accurate citations to your websites. They can also drive traffic and calls-to-action (phone numbers, brochure requests, etc.) for your communities. It takes time to research, time to apply and time to track your return. But it can increase your online profile, and thus your leads and potential business opportunities – making it worth the effort.
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16:33
Saving the World, One Site at a Time
» G5 Search Marketing BlogBy Sarah Douglas, Search Engine Optimizer
In a typical day, the G5 Search Engine Optimizer Team saves the world three to four times. Okay, realistically we’re only saving our clients’ (Google-based) worlds. For the record, it turns out that saving the world allows having a little fun too. It does not require a cape, and the tights are optional, too.
If you were to ask the average person what SEO is, you’d probably get a blank stare. If you ask someone that is familiar with marketing online, they could at least tell you SEO is search engine optimization, and that search engine optimizers do “important stuff” online. But we do oh-so-much-more than that.
We Strategize
First priority: Kamchatka. For playing Risk, anyway. (Ed. Note: We recognize this is a nerdy joke.)For our client sites, it’s all about keywords – which to use, how to use them, and how to optimize their sites for them. Our figurative tackle box is full of different tools for assessing keywords and we use them all on a regular basis. We could tell you exactly which ones, but then we’d have to…well, probably not kill you, since we’re pretty non-violent, but we’d have to…never mind.
Bottom line: Inventing strategies for working with search engines known to have a multitude of factors that are literally unknowable is quite a challenge. But we meet that challenge head on, and damn if we don’t look good doing it, too.We Answer Questions
Yes, the G5 SEO team is a veritable dispensary of wisdom. We answer questions – a lot of them – from internal sources, as well as our clients.These range from the very simple:
Q: “This domain has a 404 – should I use a 301 or a 302?”
A: “Nearly always a 301”.
To the extremely complicated -
Q:“Why isn’t this page ranking?”
A: “Well, Google has stated that there are literally a couple hundred factors that are used in their ranking algorithm, so let’s start weeding through all of them, shall we?”
We’re not afraid to say we don’t know, and we’re not ashamed to give vastly different answers to what is seemingly the same question because, sometimes it really just depends – usually on about 200 different factors.
We Conduct Research
Unfortunately, our research never seems to involve Bunsen burners and mad cackling, but we’re still holding out hope. The only way to be an industry expert is to get in and get your hands dirty – figuratively, of course, as no one likes a filthy keyboard. Relying on pure conjecture or word on the street is no way to keep up on the latest and greatest. You never know what methods are being used to get the information; mysterious 8 balls and tea leaves aren’t what we consider to be SEO research. More often than not, our testing is based on trial and error – but we do keep some tea on hand, just in case.
We Have Fun
Work hard and play hard is one of the G5 core values, and the SEO team embraces it. Really, really tight. Madness and mayhem is another fine product coming out of the SEO team. It may not be a coincidence, then, that in our new workspace the SEO team is in one of the only actual dark corners in a building covered in windows. Affectionately known as the “naughty corner,” we’re kept a safe distance from any members of the public that may stop by the G5 offices. Hooting and hollering, making cupcake runs, hosting Mardi Gras parties, stripping during company video filming – it’s all in a day’s work. -
10:55
G5’s Core Values – The Video
» G5 Search Marketing Blog -
15:01
The Dude Abides
» G5 Search Marketing BlogLorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Morbi orci nunc, sagittis eu adipiscing eu, mollis eget felis. Suspendisse potenti. Pellentesque lorem dui, mattis gravida fringilla pellentesque, ultricies non purus. Sed aliquam facilisis erat, vel feugiat lacus bibendum id. Quisque ipsum magna, congue quis ultrices et, sodales ut diam. Curabitur odio erat, venenatis ut sodales pulvinar, blandit vel sapien. Vestibulum pulvinar molestie orci, sit amet molestie massa luctus sed. Fusce consectetur tortor nec purus euismod tincidunt. Nulla malesuada tincidunt augue id fringilla. Etiam ornare rutrum odio, non varius risus pretium sed. Vivamus suscipit placerat velit at iaculis. Proin ultricies consectetur justo eu consequat. Donec condimentum tempor ipsum, in lobortis ante malesuada et. Etiam eleifend, velit id condimentum eleifend, massa nisl eleifend urna, a ullamcorper tellus leo lobortis magna. Ut nulla risus, sodales ac venenatis eget, porttitor eu velit.
Etiam in tortor ac massa iaculis facilisis. Aenean blandit gravida urna vel consectetur. Nullam in ipsum quam. In quis massa et lectus vehicula gravida quis eget quam. In auctor vestibulum aliquet. Curabitur placerat consectetur metus, vitae dapibus lacus cursus nec. Curabitur eu velit massa, sed volutpat ante. Aliquam viverra mauris et neque mattis id sodales dui bibendum. Suspendisse tortor sem, consectetur vel condimentum vel, consectetur id magna. Vivamus tellus orci, egestas dapibus ornare et, cursus at magna.Maecenas dapibus elit ac nulla viverra hendrerit. Praesent sit amet sollicitudin velit. Nunc ut dui nec elit dapibus condimentum id nec elit. Praesent orci arcu, venenatis eu porttitor posuere, malesuada quis nunc. Ut non nisl eu mauris euismod porta non nec leo. Vivamus tempus molestie turpis, ac lobortis mauris pellentesque in. Sed eget nibh tortor. Suspendisse cursus tristique eros in posuere. Pellentesque venenatis risus eget velit rutrum faucibus. Nunc vestibulum erat ac dui sollicitudin nec ullamcorper tortor porttitor. Maecenas convallis lacus ac ipsum ullamcorper dignissim. Morbi vehicula nisl id orci lacinia et sodales sapien laoreet. Sed vel elit vitae dui accumsan fringilla quis vel dolor. Ut commodo laoreet nulla, sit amet laoreet tellus varius in. Curabitur non sapien ipsum. Vestibulum ultrices, magna rutrum commodo adipiscing, ligula odio porttitor lacus, non tempus nisl sem cursus arcu. Vestibulum arcu leo, bibendum et posuere a, tincidunt et arcu.
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12:17
Social (Media) Success
» G5 Search Marketing BlogBy Amy Foster Trenz, VP of Marketing
As I review my notes from last week’s NAA 2010 Student Housing Conference in Vegas, two quotes continue to resonate.
Both quotes are attributed to Lisa Trosien, president of ApartmentExpert.com. And both quotes are in regards to social media.
#1: “Social media can’t succeed without a genuine focus on your customers.”
Key words here: genuine and customers. Be real and focus on them – not you.
#2: “Make it go away or use it.”
If you’re not actively updating your page(s) and/or postings, take the page down. In the social sphere, a “most recent posting date” of 2008 translates into social suicide.
Next up: Will share some news nuggets from NIC (National Investment Center) Western Regional Symposium, San Diego, 3/9 to 3/11.
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14:16
Google Local Business Listings
» G5 Search Marketing BlogWhy They Matter, Why They’re Worth Your Time and How They Are Created
By Devin Davis, Director of Marketing, G5 Search Marketing
Let’s start at the beginning. What are Google Local Business Listings?
Google describes it as a way to customize business listings on Google and Google Maps. These listings differ from organic or pay-per-click listings as they are attached to the only visual on the page – a map.
Example: Assisted Living, Dallas.
What then appears is a large map from Google Maps, which includes up to 7 URLs with phone numbers by each. If more than 7 listings are needed, the user can click in “More Results from Dallas” and be taken to a map with an alphabetical listing of each registered Assisted Living service on Google Maps.
Why They Matter
Local online search is huge. According to Search Engine Land 2009 data:
• 14 billion queries were posted per month on major search engines
• 20-40% of those search queries had “local intent”
• That’s 300-600 million local search queries per month on search engines – and that doesn’t include MapsNumbers aside, Google Local Listings matter because
1) Searching for Senior Housing is usually tied to a specific geographic location
2) They are displayed more often in search with up to 7 listings before organic listings even startWhy They’re Worth Your Time
Creating your listing will help your prospects find you online. After developing your website, Google Local Business Listings effectively jumpstarts your online presence by getting your community found on the Web. While the process takes time to do properly, the benefits are worth the effort:
• Places your business in the Maps section of Google, helping tie your search results to your offline location
• May boost your search engine optimization (SEO) rankings in the organic section as well, where more than 80% of searches take place
• May improve your Page Rank, increasing your chances to reach more prospects with online paid advertising
How They Are CreatedIn most cases, your local online marketing provider will create your local business listing account. Be sure to consult with your Website provider (like G5) as they may offer this service as a part of their package.
1. Title
Your Local Business Listing title should contain only your community name, your location and a single keyword that best describes your community.
For Example: “Senior Care, Inc: Omaha Senior Housing”
2. Categories – A few “musts” before creating categories:
Know what words your prospects will use to find you (or your competitors)
Use these words (or the closest thing to them) for your categories
You can create your own and/or use predefined ones
Keep your categories short but descriptive. Be specific but leave the granular level for the additional details section.What not to do:
3. Description – The description of your community is limited to 200 characters. Mention unique selling points for your community – awards, certifications, or a history of excellent care are all highly relevant here.
Starting Points for Developing this Section
* Press Release Boilerplate
* “What We Do” from your website
4. Contact Information – A few mandatories in this section:
* One listing per community address
* Opt for a local telephone number for your listing instead of an 800 number, if possible
* Make sure that phone numbers you use for your local listings match those numbers listed for your community in other published materials5. Photos and Video – Uploading visuals to your Google Local Business Listing will positively impact your local SEO results through Google Images and Google Video.
6. Multiple Reviews – It’s important that these be from real customers. You can not have too many.
7. Create links to the listing – Add a link from your homepage to the listing and encourage current customers or website visitors to review your company.
In summary, Google Local Business Listings is an important component of the SEO process, but it’s just a component. Regularly updated Web optimization (typically through a third party expert) invariably leads to more prospects contacting you and an increase in your occupancy.
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15:31
Does Your Senior Housing Website Get the Attention it Deserves?
» G5 Search Marketing BlogThis blog is also posted in Long Term Living Magazine.
by R. Aaron Warnock, Director of Product Management, G5 Search Marketing
The decision to seek-out a managed living environment for a senior can be sudden, but selecting a community is never simple. More and more resources on the Internet play a critical role for those searching for retirement and/or long term care communities.
If you own or manage a senior living community, it’s not enough for your website to simply list care specialties and your contact information. Today’s Web users expect ready access to complete information online and many will equate what’s found there with your facility’s real-life offering. Your website must actively engage visitors or you will risk being overlooked.
Creating an effective digital presence online is more than establishing identity and contracting with listing services. You must commit to building a website designed for user engagement and fill it with up-to-date content. The most successful websites engage visitors on multiple levels.
Get found through dominant themes
To drive and engage qualified leads you must focus on building quality links and content related to the topics visitors are researching. Seek out and participate in highly trafficked sites (such as these), which are appropriate to your offering.In many cases those seeking senior housing options will need education to understand the landscape of choices before considering a specific community. By making your website content resonate with dominant themes found on common research sites, you’ll satisfy visitor needs and can improve placement in Search Engines results page (SERP) for keywords.
Identify (with) your audience
Your website visitors are going to be different people with varying motivations. Each visitor type will likely have criteria to keep them interested. Seniors and their loved ones are the most obvious visitors. However, others to consider are helpful friends, specialty caregivers and physicians, or community workers.Questions to ask yourself when preparing content for your site include:
• How will your presentation of information connect specifically with each group?
• How will you appropriately communicate to each group the breadth and depth of your offerings?
• What service descriptions will help visitors choose to pursue more information or recommend your community?
• What amenities or special capabilities will set you apart or highlight?
• How can visitors use the information they find?Understand the Cycle
Consider the role your website will play on repeat visits. The decision process for determining a new living situation is not taken lightly and all criteria is potentially considered or reconsidered right up until a selection has been made (and sometimes even after).Once you’ve met new visitors with essential details and engaged return visitors with special content to answer additional questions, there are current residents to consider. Benefits for them can include event schedules; online services request, contact processes, and/or community functions.
Always remember: a significant fraction of future resident recruitment is dependent on your satisfied residents – make it easy for satisfied clients to submit reviews or praise directly online and to refer folks to your site using integrated email functions.
Keep it fresh
The chief concerns of prospective residents and their loved ones are fairly standard: living spaces, food, costs and available services. But the world is dynamic. Your website should reflect the latest industry practices, standards and how the local community has changed. For example: new treatments, entertainment, or perhaps service and/or local visit options.Figure out what works
If you haven’t already, institute feedback as part of your lead development and resident management process. Ask your prospects and residents their concerns, how they discovered you and what their experience has been. Track everything (Web, office, phone, etc.) and establish benchmarks to determine what works. Then, optimize to the sources that provides the best return.
Quality not Quantity
Recognize the limits of your measurement and continue to cover each important visitor segment. Your site should engage users early, support the decision process, and cement the relationship with content for existing residents and family members. Engagement means building the foundation of a long-term relationship. In all cases, keeping calls-to-action visible is critical to enable actionable next steps such as phone calls, tours or to request more information. -
15:07
Reaching Seniors on Facebook?
» G5 Search Marketing BlogThis blog is also posted in Long Term Living Magazine.
By Nancy Hall, VP of Client Services
It’s hard to miss all the talk about Baby Boomers and Seniors flocking to Social Media Networking sites, especially Facebook. My relatives are part of that growing pack; no fewer than 5 of my relatives over the age of 70 have “friended” me on Facebook.
According to Deloitte data, 2009 was the year that social media bloomed for Baby Boomers; this age demographic was the fastest growing among Facebook users, with women 55+ leading the way (+175%) and men 55+ trailing just behind (+138%).
As an Online Marketing company with an active client roster of Senior Housing communities, it was time to test paid advertisements on Facebook. Our testing methodology was straightforward: we identified 25 Senior Housing locations across a broad geographical area, set a budget, created Facebook paid campaigns targeting female users over the age of 45, and ran the campaigns over a 3-month period.
The results:
* Higher than expected website traffic volume
* Lower than expected average lead per location, with an average conversion rate of just 0.78%
* Higher average bounce rates than Google paid campaigns; 1.81 average unique page views (Facebook) vs. 4.39 (Google)Based on the low number of leads and the high cost per lead, we continue to believe that Social Media Networking sites are not cost effective lead generators for our Senior Housing clients.
Paid search is still the most effective marketing spend for generating leads and conversion. That being said, we do think the high traffic numbers warrant additional testing and analysis for building brand awareness and community networking, which was not measured in this test.
In the meantime, we will continue to recommend that G5’s Senior Housing clients have a presence (company pages, fan pages) on the Social Media Networking sites with the highest traffic: Facebook and LinkedIn. -
23:24
Hello world!
» G5 Search Marketing BlogWelcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start blogging!
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14:51
Creativity Matters: SEO in the Senior Housing Industry
» G5 Search Marketing BlogThis blog is also posted in Long Term Living Magazine.
By Jody O’Donnell, SEO Manager
“You need SEO.”
“Your website has to be optimized.”
“You don’t want to be the only Senior Housing operator in your area without an optimized website.”
Sure. That’s great. But what does any of that mean?
Well, let me tell you.
SEO DefinedIs it Search Engine Optimization? Is it keywords? Is it the Search Engine Results Page (SERP)? Is it Pay Per Click, meta tags, Google Maps, Yahoo Directory, Kansas and Toto? Yes to all of the above. Except maybe Toto.
English translation: Search Engine Optimization is how you organize your website content, meaning the structure and presentation of the information so when people search for Senior Housing in your geographic region, you pop up on the Search Engine Results Pages.
Succinct translation: The art and science of making Web pages attractive to the search engines.
Making Web Pages Attractive
Keywords
Keywords are the single most important factor in maximizing your SEO efforts. For Senior Housing, you will find that the big-ticket keywords fall into the services and amenities: assisted living, independent living, skilled nursing, etc. You don’t want to select keywords that people would never use to look for your services and product. Most of the time, your keywords are easy to identify as those words are standard industry terms or key phrases.Striking the Balance
After researching your keyword market, what do you do with it? You take your keywords and distribute them throughout your web page. Now, web pages have content that the everyday user can see. But each web page also has space behind the scenes for information to help attract search engines. These are called meta tags. Which meta tag is the most important is a raging debate across the SEO world.
The take-away: a well optimized Web page will strike the delicate balance of distributing pertinent keywords that match the page’s visible content.
Creativity
SEO is about simple creativity. For example, if you wanted to rank well for “assisted living” you would add that particular keyword phrase to all the meta tags and also sprinkle it liberally throughout your website copy. There are plenty of “experts” who will tell you how many words and how many times. Better advice is to use these words liberally – but pull back when it looks like spam.
So how do you use two-, three- and four-word combinations and keep it interesting and unique without “keyword stuffing”? Just a few uses of your keyword “assisted living” could easily be too many if your sentences are also repetitive. You have to shake up what you use and how you use it.
A fun, non-industry example to illustrate the point: “whale blubber.” How many other ways could we use “whale blubber” or extensions without cursing our text as “keyword stuffing”? I could say “whale’s blubber” if I were describing a single whale’s blubber. “Whale blubbers” or “whale blubbering” if the whale was unable to contain his pathetic, wracking sobs.
In Senior Housing, an oft-used keyword phrase is “Alzheimer’s Care.” People search two distinctive terms: for this type of care: “Alzheimer’s Care” and “Alzheimers Care”. The search volumes are pretty close in Google’s Keyword Tool. By having both of these terms, you double the potential search volume for a single keyword phrase.
SEO is not just an art, but one that requires a strong knowledge base on an industry if you want to succeed on the Web and have your website found online.
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9:20
Online Advertising Sources for Senior Housing – A Starter’s Guide
» G5 Search Marketing BlogThis blog is also posted in Long Term Living Magazine.
By Dave Beltramini, Director of Paid Advertising
There are scores of ways to reach prospective Senior Housing residents online, but here’s a look at the most effective channels.
PPC (Pay Per Click Advertising)
If your locations have vacancies, PPC is mandatory. PPC picks up where SEO leaves off and allows you to cover the long tail. For example, if you’ve used SEO tactics to properly optimize your site for the term “memory care,” what happens to the hundreds of thousands of searches for “dementia”? They go elsewhere. PPC can fill in that gap.
Additionally, PPC can serve as a branding tool. Working with an Advanced PPC management team allows support for the different stages of the purchase process with different ads, different search terms, and different, relevant landing pages.
Email Marketing
Done wrong, email marketing is spam. However, if done well, it can be a cost effective marketing tool. Provide relevant content in a concise, timely manner and you will have a profitable email program.
Do not go out and rent a list; you don’t have a relationship with anyone on that list. Collect your targets from places where they have interacted with you – such as your website.
Online Directories and Listing Services
In theory these are impartial places where you list your business. If the directory has a positive reputation and quality information, you may benefit. However, these are extremely costly on a per-lead basis.
Social Community Rating Sites
Sites like Yelp and CitySearch are typically associated with restaurants, not Senior Housing. But be forewarned: These sites will automatically create a profile for your business if you don’t. So it’s imperative that you create your business profile; negative reviews can be devastating and you want to have the ability to influence that content with your message.
Social Network Sites
Social networking is hot, but the Internet has always been social.
First there were Usenet groups, then chat boards, forums, GeoCities and now social networks. What is new is how the online social content is being leveraged; social networking is the latest version of good ol’ fashioned word-of-mouth marketing. When you interact with local people and businesses, you have advocates in place for references, recommendations and reviews. See here for our list of the Top 5 Social Networking sites for Senior Housing. (Hint: Facebook and Twitter both make the cut).
Warning: It is not a one-way conversation. Don’t just push out press releases or specials. Listen and interact!
Online Video MarketingYouTube is the 2nd largest search engine in the world today. What better way to project a warm feeling about your location, staff and residents than with a nicely produced video?
Blogging
The purpose of a well-written blog is to build relationships by telling personal stories and giving people a better feel for who you are and what you represent. It also provides content for conversations and link opportunities for SEO.
SEO (Search Engine Optimization)
Appearing in the top of the search engine results pages requires a lot of work. So much work that our next blog will be devoted to the SEO process.
There are many tools in the online marketing arsenal; the list above is merely a starting point. In a business sector like Senior Housing, which demands a level of personal interaction and caring, your on and offline marketing efforts must first focus on creating trust and respect.
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11:36
G5 Search Marketing Sees Growth From Vertical Housing Categories
» G5 Search Marketing Blog
G5 Search Marketing has broadened its vertical focus beyond self storage and now also serves senior housing, multi-family and student housing with its search services. All are aimed at “mid-market” players.
The company reports that its client base has grown more than 80 percent in the past year, and it now serves nearly 2,000 client locations throughout the U.S. and Canada. Additional revenue growth is attributed to existing client demand for such new products and services as a Twitter Widget, Real Time Reservations Module and Social Media Advertising.
“We’ve taken the time to learn the nuances of each new vertical and tailor our solutions to meet the needs of company owners and operators,” notes CEO Dan Hobin in a press release.
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9:12
Assisting Senior Housing Prospects
» G5 Search Marketing BlogThe Personal Side of Search
By Amy Foster Trenz
Four weeks ago I flew across the country to attend the 2009 Advanced Sales & Marketing Summit for Senior Housing, Assisted Living and Nursing Industries in Naples, Florida. This was my first professional conference in the Senior Housing sector (and, I quickly realized, a must-attend event). I was there to listen to industry experts address new ways of maximizing sales efforts to increase occupancy.
While I sat in the day-and-a-half summit session, my parents were sitting in their beachfront condominium just two miles south of the conference hotel. My parents, who will turn 85 next month, are recent full-time Florida residents after spending the last 20 years splitting their time and lives between the Midwestern town of my youth and Naples.
The author sits with her parents and young son.
They’ve both victoriously battled cancerous cells, but in hindsight those occurrences appear to be anomalies. Overall, their health has been remarkably good: healthy eaters, avid exercisers, mental fortitude.
Until recently.
They seldom leave their condominium – either too tired or too worried that they’ll run into someone whose name they’ve forgotten. Food is of little interest, and the time to prepare a meal is even less appealing. The time I spent with them last month opened my eyes to the stark realities of aging.
My parents are “hot” prospects for a Senior Housing community. But at age 48, I may be even “hotter.”
Boomers influence 78% of purchasing decisions of their elderly parents; daughters (56%) are more likely than sons (44%) to be acting in role of primary decision-maker regardless of who is officially designated as the responsible party. In most cases, it is the elderly couple who makes the decision – but based on information supplied by adult children and, in some instances, “gatekeepers” (i.e., estate lawyers, financial advisors, social workers).
Searching the Web for Senior Housing (other terms I’ve used include Senior Living, Assisted Living, Independent Living and Retirement communities) in the Naples area has become my new pastime. My immediate need is information: levels and quality of care, ease of transportation, unit layouts, meal plans and sample menus, pricing, activities, and required entrance examinations. And if a community isn’t appearing in the top organic listings in Google search, I won’t find it.
I don’t want my parents living in a community which lands on the second page.
The maps section on the Search Engine Results Page (SERP) doesn’t mean much to me, but the reviews and ratings do. I want to hear what residents and/or the children of residents have to say about a community. If one star is beside a community name, I promptly hit the back button.
No doubt my eye is more critical when it comes to website design and navigation because of my profession, but that first impression is critical. What greets me on a home page or landing page forms my first impression of that community. If the page doesn’t exude warmth, I question the community’s ability to provide a compassionate and caring environment. If the page doesn’t exude authenticity, I question the community’s ability to deliver on the services it claims to provide to its residents.
Keep in mind that boomers aren’t the only ones searching. The Nielsen Company reports that the number one online destination for seniors, as with the general public, is Google search.
The high level of search activity within the Senior Housing industry creates a critical need for online reputation management for each community.
Google Maps features consumer reviews; this is a huge opportunity to promote a community and is currently underutilized by the majority of Senior Housing communities.
Google Alerts lets Senior Housing executives know exactly what is being said about a particular community. My parents’ short list of prospective communities is on my Google Alerts; I want to know everything I can about each community so we’re all well informed before they make their final decision.
Since I live across the country, if I haven’t already toured the community, the Internet serves as my senses –lets me see a community, lets me hear what’s being said about a community, lets me begin a conversation with community management, lets me continue a conversation with my parents, and ultimately, lets me feel a certain way about a community.
The Internet has inarguably become one of the major influences in the decision-making process for Senior Housing. And the sooner Senior Housing executives make the Web a top priority in their marketing programs, the better. Marriott figured that one out four years ago when it implemented Internet marketing to move their Senior Living Services Communities; Marriott monthly sales increased over 800%, from $650,000 to $6,000,000.
Go figure.
Amy Foster Trenz is the VP of Marketing at G5 Search Marketing, leading provider of Local Marketing Solutions for vertical-specific, mid-cap companies (Storage, Multifamily Housing, Student Housing, Senior Housing). The company is based in Bend, OR.
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14:01
Google Getting Sticky
» G5 Search Marketing BlogThis blog was originally published by Long Term Living.
Senior Housing Operators Can Grow Presence Off and Online
When it comes to marketing your Senior Housing community online, there are three factors that affect your search engine rankings:
1) Paid Listings –Sponsored ads that run across the top and down the right side of the search engine results
2) Organic Listings –The non-highlighted listings you see – not paid ads and not maps
3) Maps – This third factor is currently a hot topic as search engine leader Google is leveraging its maps section in a way that could feasibly change how businesses advertise online when targeting local customers
Let me explain.
A number of G5 Search Marketing clients have received window stickers from Google in the mail. These stickers, which identify one or more of their communities as a “Google Preferred Place,” are being distributed to businesses that rank well in maps for a certain subject (e.g., Senior Housing) and for a specific geographic area. Companies that show up regularly and have a full listing in the maps sections are the first to receive these stickers.
The rationale for this offline offering:
“This launch is part of our overall effort — online and offline — to provide you with the best local business results whenever you’re trying to figure out where to go, whether it’s a trendy Cuban restaurant in Philly, a comics shop in L.A., a hip hotel in NYC or a little bit of photographic history in Rochester, N.Y.”
In essence, Google is becoming more involved in finding locally relevant businesses and services offline for its online users. For Senior Housing, this is a boon. As users are searching online for Senior Housing services, they’re typically searching for those services in a certain geographic area. When these stickers are placed in a high visibility physical location, such as a community’s main entrance, this effort bridges the offline experience (e.g., tour or a move-in) with the online search experience. With 80% of the search engine volume, Google is by far the market leader and, as more and more Senior Housing prospects are beginning their information search for a community online, these offline stickers imply Google endorsement and, by extension, provide instant credibility of your community and brand.
Google claims to have mailed over 100,000 stickers across the U.S. and the search giant said there should be many, many more in distribution by the end of 2010. So how do you get your community on the mailing list? A key first step is to help increase your profile on the Internet by claiming your Google Local Business Center Listing and enhancing that listing with content – such as photos and videos of your location(s). Having your communities listed high in your maps results in addition to having positive reviews on Google and a sticker on your door identifying you as a favorite destination on Google will help increase your occupancy numbers.
Next Time: Google Local Business Listings – why they matter, how to create them and why it’s worth your time.
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16:08
Social Media Best Practices -The Do’s, The Don’ts, and The Why Nots
» G5 Search Marketing BlogThis blog was originally published by Long Term Living Magazine.
Social Media is not like other marketing practices. It’s not a one-way street. When you pay for an advertisement – you’re telling your story. With social media – you also must listen. It’s a conversation.In our last blog, we spoke about the best social media channels for engaging with Senior Housing prospects: 1)Facebook 2)Twitter 3)LinkedIn 4)MySpace; 5)A Corporate Blog.
Now that we know where we should be spending our “social” time, what should we be doing. What follows are recommended steps for entering the social sphere and using social media to market with prospects.
1. Assign one person within your company to spearhead social marketing.
One person means one voice is speaking for your company, providing consistency in communication and actions.
2. Create Accounts on the Top 5 Recommended Social Media Sites.
For each of the sites listed above, secure your company name – including a relevant user ID (for example, on Twitter you can find G5 at @G5SMarketing) and unique URL. Once you have ‘secured your name’ in the Top 5, you can drill down further.
3. Build your company identity or social profile on at least the top three sites (Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn). Then follow these steps:
a. Brand Your Profile – Make it clear to site members that this is a company profile. Examples: Use your logo, some event photos from your community.
b. Link to your Company Site – Increases the profile’s authenticity and generates traffic
c. Include Unique Content – Gives site members a reason to visit your company’s group page or become a fan. Examples: short-form (YouTube) videos and/or photos of your community.
d. Develop Interactive Content – Encourages site members to engage with your company page versus a static brand message. Examples: E-cards, video/audio clips, contests. You can also use Facebook to invite any or all of your fans to events at your community – a great way to move your social site interactions into the ‘real world’.
4. Locate your target market(s) and current residents on social sites and start listening
Ignorance is no longer bliss; it’s imperative you know what people are saying about your community and your company so you can respond accordingly. To listen in on the conversation, first set up Google Alerts and Tweet Beeps to receive e-mail updates whenever specific words and/or phrases are used on Google search results or Twitter. This could mean your community name, but also relevant phrases such as ‘senior housing (your location)’ so you can respond to people who may be looking for services.5. Interact with those markets and current customers
Listen for and respond to relevant requests about a specific need that your company can address. Then address those requests. Be the expert in your city; you know your business and you know you’re offering a good product. Show families looking for senior housing that you have what they need and you will see results.Remember that there is no “magic bullet” in social media. Being a part of the conversation, making yourself available and knowing what is out there are the most important elements. Don’t hide from the inevitable – social media is not going away and every business is going to be expected to have a presence. The sooner you create your presence, the sooner you can start reaping the rewards of being the senior housing community that understands the market.
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8:49
Top 5 Social Media Channels for Senior Housing
» G5 Search Marketing BlogThis blog was originally published by Long Term Living.
By Devin Davis
Wanting the best situation for a loved one drives senior housing prospects to seek referrals. And there’s no quicker way to source referrals and reviews than on the Internet – through Social Media channels.
With that in mind, let’s take a look at the Top 5 Social Media Channels for engaging with Senior Housing prospects:
1. Facebook
In the past year, Facebook has become synonymous with Social Media. And with good reason. This site boasts the largest online community with 3000,000,000 members and users across every demographic (the oft-quoted fastest growing demographic on Facebook is the coveted Senior Housing decision-makers – women 55+). Net: Having a presence on Facebook is a necessity. Ignore it at your own peril.
2. Twitter
Twitter has buzz. And buzz, particularly on the Internet, goes a long way. It’s growing even faster than Facebook, but its user base (more than 20,000,000) is much smaller. Twitter is not only a great way to push content to prospects, but its also a great way to respond to brand concerns about your communities. You can monitor conversations here as well as any other social media site, giving you a chance to hear the chatter about your brand across a heavily used medium. Think of it as reputation management – online.
3. LinkedIn
This is the professional networking site. One of the more established social networks, it has succeeded by targeting businesses and business professionals – active and retired. For Senior Housing – this is a great place to pick up valuable ideas and news (by joining relevant groups), find talent (via your company portal) and find the answers to questions that have been plaguing you professionally (via Questions & Answers).
4. MySpace
People. And lots of them. While MySpace is considered by some industry followers as the “has-been” of the social networks, its user base of 125,000,000 makes it hard to ignore. Recent demographic data shows users of all ages but skews toward rural areas. For communities based in rural areas, MySpace could be a boon.
5. Blogging
This is a great way to talk about your community – events, amenities, what sets you apart from other local Senior Housing providers. The best part? Once you get that nicely worded blog out on the Web, you can push it to Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and MySpace – giving you extra content and building blog awareness. Blogging software makes this process simple. WordPress happens to be a personal favorite because its intuitive and easy-to-use.Next up: “Social Media Best Practices” – the do’s, the don’ts and the why nots.
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9:07
Google Local Listing Ads and Why They Matter
» G5 Search Marketing BlogJust a couple weeks ago, Google announced something called “Google Local Listing Ads”. These ads are targeted at specific regions and attached to what is commonly referred to as a “10 pack” – a grouping of locations on a map. Part of the change has been moving the map of 10 locations (10 pack) down to 7 (7 pack).
In our original tests, which focused on two of the markets we serve (Senior Housing and Self Storage) we were able to draw a number of conclusions.
But first – a bit of the background.
So far, Google has only opened up this opportunity in two specific geographic locations to start (San Diego and San Francisco) and the parameters are quite tight. (So tight, in fact, that a South San Francisco client was unable to participate in the testing). We have a number of clients who did fit into these categories, however, giving us a chance to test what’s out there before a lot of other people in our industry.
It’s a great opportunity. We’re able to see how well these ads work, how they compare to other ads we’re running in the area – and be one of the first to help our clients make informed decision as to what is working and what isn’t.
So, what have we found? Surprising results.
A number of our clients show up in this single map result screenshot seen above.
Our Director of Paid Advertising Dave Beltramini (@dbeltramini) compares these ads, in their native state, to the “proximity theory” for college pickups.
In a sentence: “When you see somebody you find attractive, but you don’t have anything to say, you just sort of walk up close to them and hope something will happen.”
Why does he say this? Simple. These ads are running near the maps portion of a Google search result – the visually compelling portion. Typical paid ads run above those maps – and they have somewhere in the neighborhood of 89 characters to work with – a legitimate piece of ad space. The “Google Local Listing Ads” however, are little more than a company name and address.
In many ways, as Greg Sterling pointed out in his article for Search Engine Land discussing this announcement – these ads are very similar to a Yahoo program called Local Feature Listings.
So what is the result?
Glad you asked!
For Senior Housing, we’ve seen a Click-Thru-Rate (CTR) that is on par with our average Pay Per Click (PPC) campaign. Basically, it’s saving our clients money to take advantage of this service – in our limited tests. (Though our locally targeted PPC campaigns are still doing slightly better).
For Self Storage, however, the news is not as good. We are seeing a CTR that is about 1/3 to 1/4 of our PPC campaigns. When you drill down to our campaigns that are also focusing on specific geographic regions (most of them) that number drops to a paltry 1/6.
Currently, we see pricing as the biggest hurdle. It is on a per-location basis. This means as it now stands, for Senior Housing, it is a good price per click, but the Self Storage vertical remains challenging in a cost-benefit sense.
But rest assured. Once we know if it’s worth it, so will you.
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10:14
How and Why to Track Your Leads
» G5 Search Marketing BlogWhere do your residents come from?
This blog was originally published by Long Term Living.
Most senior housing providers will tell you they find residents in their geographic region. How people find them isn’t a mystery. Customer Relationship Management (CRM) tools such as Yardi help keep track of where those residents and prospects originate.
There is an inherent problem with that.
A local marketing director for a senior housing community and myself have a cordial relationship. One day, I asked him how he keeps track of his prospects.
His response?
“As best I can.”
His dilemma is not an unusual one. He’s a one-man show. Sure, they have a lead tracking system. But the problem is – he has to enter that information manually. This means remembering specific details of a prospect, potentially after three or four back-to-back tours on a busy day. He can rely on notes to a certain extent – but there will always be gaps and missing information.
Couple that with the information you manage to capture from a phone lead and it should be fairly obvious where the problems arise. While having too many prospects, particularly in our current climate, is not a major issue for most. Finding ways to properly manage the prospects you have can be.
Knowing which of your sources are providing the best return can save you money – both now and later. Most often, the Internet is the most affordable source of leads. But the trick once you move to the Web is finding people in your neighborhood – on the Internet. Finding local prospects online isn’t a phenomenon specific to senior housing.
U .S. companies spend more than $150 billion annually on advertising in local newspapers and magazines, local TV, and direct mail. Many of those users are moving online. In fact, over 30 million Americans are currently caring for their elderly parents, with a majority turning to the Internet to aid in their search for the appropriate senior care community.As consumers shift from traditional media consumption to the online world, senior housing providers will find significant opportunities to both measure and improve the efficiency of their local advertising.
The Key to Success: Tracking
The best ways to track your leads and determine which of your sources are working, which are not, and how to spend that tightened marketing budget most effectively.
Call Tracking – You can set a different number for each of your lead sources – from Internet Listing Services like A Place For Mom, your own corporate web site and Google Adwords ads to more traditional sources like the phone book or newspapers. These numbers will record your calls to quantify how many of your leads are coming from each source.
Tracking URLs – By sending people to a specific web site that you’ve created just for them (sometimes called microsites) you can not only control what they initially see about you, but also track where they’ve come from. This is especially helpful in campaigns such as e-mail marketing, but can also prove useful in more traditional campaigns, such as direct mail.
Mailing Address – This is typically just for traditional campaigns. A clever response-driven direct mail piece such as THIS one will actually get you a response sent back, via U.S. mail. Knowing which direct mail piece garnered the response can help you the next time around.
Online Forms – These are only useful on a web site. You can use these forms to capture information about prospects (name, address, phone, e-mail, etc.) when they reach your site and are asking for further information, or possibly a tour.
While there are certainly additional ways to track and measure, rigid testing has repeatedly shown these options to be the best way currently available for finding cost effective lead sources and optimizing spending to increase the rate of return.
The traditional model for developing local, qualified leads has worked to date. In some markets, it will continue to. But with prospects doing their research online 16 percent more than they did just two years ago, there is an undeniable shift from traditional media to online. Being aware of this shift allows savvy senior living providers to leap ahead of the competition by efficiently and cost-effectively measuring and managing local advertising efforts.
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15:10
Message to the seniors housing industry: Tweet me
» G5 Search Marketing BlogThis Blog Post was originally published by Long Term Living.
By Devin Davis
Social Media Marketing. It’s everywhere. Major news outlets across the country are talking about it. Industry magazines are talking about it (heck, you’ve probably seen it in this magazine.
But, what, exactly is it? As the bard said, therein lies the rub.
Luckily, we have Wikipedia. According to the online user-generated encyclopedia it is defined as: “a term that describes the act of using social networks, online communities, blogs, wikis or any other collaborative Internet form of media for marketing, sales, public relations and customer service. Common social media marketing tools include Twitter, blogs, LinkedIn, Facebook, Flickr and YouTube.
Twitter is an excellent place to reach the crowds.
That sounds about right – using social networks to reach an audience – and possibly keep a current one. Today, we’ll focus on just one of those “channels” – Twitter.That begs the question: What is Twitter? Wikipedia
– do you have an answer on that one, too?“Twitter is a free social networking and micro-blogging service that enables its users to send and read messages known as tweets. Tweets are text-based posts of up to 140 characters displayed on the author’s profile page and delivered to the author’s subscribers who are known as followers… Users can send and receive tweets via the Twitter website, Short Message Service (SMS) or external applications. While the service costs nothing to use, accessing it through SMS may incur phone service provider fees.”
Huh? Let’s just say it’s short bursts of text (tweets) to reach your relevant audience – who has to “follow” you to receive those “tweets”.
There, that’s a little better.
What we still don’t know is: what’s the point?
Simple. The point is to use this new form of communication to make your current, happy customers a sales channel. Rather than marketing to your customers, you can use social networking to market with them.
But how is this relevant for senior housing, on a community and corporate level?
It’s a way to reach out to prospects, but also, to communicate with your current residents families. As more and more people become full-fledged Twitter users– (18 million regular users are expected by the end of 2009) –being where your potential (and current) clients are, becomes very important.
Some companies are already embracing it full force. The Arbor Company, for example, even has their Twitter feed on their homepage – they have found this to be a valuable marketing tool.
“Having our Twitter feed automatically populate has increased the value of our Web presence,” said Laura Ellen McAvoy, director of operations for The Arbor Company. “It keeps our sites updated with relevant content which in turn attracts prospective residents or their families. It also provides an avenue for current family and friends, near or far, to stay socially connected and interact with our residents.”
Keeping Caffeinated Helps you tweet
This company has been able to achieve a closer relationship with their current residents and families, while simultaneously reaching out to potential prospects — a perfect use of Twitter.The use of this ‘microblogging’ format is proliferating throughout the industry. You can find ALFA President Rich Grimes (@rickgrimes) and this very magazine (@longtermliving). You can even follow me if you want to (@G5SMarketing).
What’s Next?
This is the place where I’d love to prognosticate on “what’s next” for Twitter, and what the next, important sensation in Social Media Marketing will be. Unfortunately, I don’t have that answer for you; my crystal ball is on the fritz.
But what I can tell you is this: As the “next big thing” comes out, you will hear about it. And when the buzz, and the user base reaches critical mass, there will be an article, or a blog, not unlike this one – with tips on how to succeed.
In the meantime – get yourself a Twitter account, listen to the conversation and be ready to respond – to both the good and the bad. By making your company available to your current customers and your prospective ones, you can keep your occupancy high and your company thriving.
Devin Davis is the Director of Marketing for G5 Search Marketing. You can reach him via e-mail, Twitter (@G5SMarketing) or phone (541) 306-3389. G5 Search Marketing is the leading provider of Local Marketing Manageme
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15:23
Yellow Pages: Used (Up)
» G5 Search Marketing BlogA few weeks back, we threw a party. But not just any kind of party…
It was a recycling party…one that celebrated the death of the yellow pages. We had members of the G5 team find yellow pages wherever they could before the event. At the event, we asked everyone to bring yellow pages.
Why? You ask? Simple, really. We wanted to be able to recycle them. People don’t use them anymore, but eventually, they end up in landfills. We wanted to prevent that.
As you can see above, we created a nice chair for the event.
Of course, after the event, we had to properly recycle these materials…
First, we tried to convince our newest Paid Analyst, Jon Davis, to take the ‘furniture’ home with him, as his house was sorely lacking even a chair.
He refused, but, luckily, agreed to load them into the car, anyway…
The verdict: A great party, a successful recycling drive and a good cause – all served.
Thanks to everybody who made it out…
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16:32
Happy Hour with G5 - August 26
» G5 Search Marketing BlogCome one, come all – BendTech community.
G5 is celebrating summer and technology – and we’re using alcohol as a celebration tool.
That’s right – we’re putting together a little happy hour at G5 Worldwide Headquarters here in Bend (906 NW Harriman St.) and we’d love for you to attend.
Bring a cup, bring your yellow pages (we’ll recycle em for ya – you don’t use em anyway) and bring your networking hat.
We look forward to seeing you there!
Details:
Wednesday, August 26th
5pm – 7pm
Beer, Wine and Light Snacks will be served
G5 Worldwide Headquarters
The Old Cigar Building
906 NW Harriman St. (@ Irving) -
8:27
We’re No. 146! We’re No. 146!
» G5 Search Marketing Blog
Today, it’s official. We’ve been growing like crazy, we’ve been working long hours, skipping lunch and doing everything in our power to make our clients happy.And now, we have proof – national recognition, in fact, that it’s working.
G5 has been named the 146th Fastest Growing Company in America by Inc. Magazine.
And we couldn’t be more happy about it (well, unless we moved even higher on the list…)
Watch out for us next year Northern Capital Insurance…
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15:10
For Technorati
» G5 Search Marketing Blogtdzaxj3fk8
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15:41
What Does a Ruby on Rails Engineer Do?
» G5 Search Marketing BlogNobody knows.
This is further proven by the video our engineering team put together. They went around and asked the company. Nobody seemed to be able to put their finger on it. Exactly.
The truth, of course, is they build our Local Marketing Platform – and in so doing give our clients visibility into which of their advertising sources work. They create the backbone that makes the G5 engine run.
Great job on the video guys. And great job on the platform, too.
What does the Engineering Team of G5 Search Marketing Do? from Devin Davis on Vimeo.
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11:44
Why Search?
» G5 Search Marketing Blog
Say you’re a mid-level company who works in, oh, assisted living. Say you have around 20 communities. And let’s just say you have an occupancy rate of, oh, 80%.
Now, what you need, is more people staying in your communities. But the question is, how do you find those people.
That brings us to a blog post we read, earlier this week, from Matt McGee.
Matt runs the Small Business SEM blog – and he makes a strong point.
It’s all about your audience.
We get questioned pretty regularly about ‘what’s next’. Is it Facebook? Is it Twitter? Who is going to be the next dominant player on the Internet.
And that makes us happy. We’re proud that our clients are forward-thinking – and that they don’t want to get left behind.
But as Mr. McGee so poignantly points out – if a user knows what they’re looking for (as in the example we described, a user, or potential lead would) then, for right now, search engine marketing – a combination of pay per click (PPC) advertising, maps optimization and search engine optimization (SEO) is their best bet.
Here is McGee on what the two best ways to reach people if they’re NOT looking for your product:
1. Use traditional PR. Thankfully, sending out press releases is easy and generally inexpensive. PRWeb and PR Leap are two options worth looking at. Target your releases to individuals and publications that might be interested in your unique product/service. If you’re only doing business locally, target it to outlets in your region.
2. Get on Facebook and Twitter. SEO is about bringing people to you. But if they’re not looking for what you offer, you have to go out and find them. That’s what social media is all about. Facebook and Twitter are, in my opinion, two of the best options right now for small business owners. If you’re not familiar with the possibilities of both, see this recent Chicago Tribune article for some help and ideas.
This is sage advice. Wise and solid for those companies who are looking to get a category or a product built.
For our customer base, however, search is still where your primary market is going to be. Not only are people searching for what they need, but more importantly, you’ll find people further along in the sales cycle.
Catching them closer to decision-making time means less spend on marketing, which results further in cost-saving on marketing expenditures per move-in. And isn’t that the ultimate goal?
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9:34
Traditional Advertising - We’re Through
» G5 Search Marketing BlogA well-imagined version of how a break up with traditional media from an advertiser, would go:
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14:55
The Local PPC Rap
» G5 Search Marketing BlogOur Paid team teaches us exactly what it means to run a local Pay Per Click Campaign. One rhyme at a time…
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15:45
Branding Measurement - Not Just Any Other Yardstick
» G5 Search Marketing BlogIt’s summertime, and G5 has been quiet on the blog-front…but busy on the other side of things. However, a scintillating piece of research on eMarketer has caused us to brush the proverbial dust off the proverbial pen of our blog.
And it’s to talk about measurement – and where, exactly, branding falls into that.
eMarketer labels it as two basic components:
1. How successfully and efficiently did I reach my intended target consumer?
2. Did my advertising campaign influence the consumer’s attitudes, perceptions or behaviors associated with the brand?And what is the difference there?
“One question is about ad effectiveness, and the other is the currency that is bought and sold,” said Young-Bean Song, senior director of analytics at the Atlas Institute for Microsoft Advertising.
In a poll of 37 markeitng professionals, eMarketer asked:
“Other than the economy, brand measurement is the single biggest obstacle holding back the growth of online advertising.”
In that poll, less than half (43.2%) pointed to measurement of brand as the problem – making it clear that in 2009, it’s all about ROI.
This need for ROI was backed up by JupiterResearch and Verse Group. Measureable ROI was definitely No. 1, with the integration of an online and traditional media advertising effort a close second.
And then eMarketer gives a five prong approach to success. And here’s the funny thing. It took a lot of research. It took a lot of effort and a lot of time. It develops a handy toolkit of sorts to use. And it looks an awful lot like what our CEO, Dan Hobin, has been saying for years.
Here are the five poi
1. The first critical step for marketers when developing any measurement programs must be to identify their brand’s top marketing objectives.
2. Keep in mind that there is no single measurement system that does it all, nor will there be a silver bullet in the future.
3. A hybrid of traditional and digital approaches will be necessary, which will require a dramatic reinvention of measurement as we know it.
4. The Internet must be rolled up within existing media mix models. There is a clarion call for the traditional metrics of reach, frequency and GRPs to be integrated with the Web—but this will only be the starting point, not the end game.
5. Connecting all the dots requires collaboration. Key industry stakeholders will need to work closely together to create seamless databases that talk to each other. One top priority: continuously refining attribution models that assign mathematical weights to the various digital footprints captured along the consumer buying cycle.This is real similar to what we’ve been saying, it’s important to blend your efforts and keep it consistent with what’s working, where your company is. If you’re in a smallish town (like Bend, where we’re based) it might be worth it to continue to advertise in the yellow pages and newspaper – maybe less than before, but enough to still have a presence. Spread your dollars out. Diversify.
The point is, however, that the measurement must be done across every channel that you’re advertising in. And that your measurement metrics, and what success means, must be well defined – be in brand awareness or business growth – knowing what you’re looking for, is key.
You can download the eMarketer report, in it’s entirety, here.
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14:46
The Year The Media Died
» G5 Search Marketing BlogThis is very nearly as long as the actual “American Pie” song, but quite a bit funnier.
It is also, very, very true.
Wanamaker said it best…ROI really does matter…
Thanks to @JVascellaro on Twitter (Jessica Vascellaro from the Wall Street Journal) for sharing it with us…
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8:41
Best. Quarter. Ever.
» G5 Search Marketing BlogG5 has done it again. We’ve posted our best quarter on record. Again. For revenue. For client growth. For employee growth.
In virtually every way, G5 is getting bigger and better.
And we’re shouting it from the rooftops. Or, at least, from the businesswire. And our web site.
Here is a little snippet from the release we put out this morning:
Along with impressive revenue increases, G5 has also posted growth in its number of employees, client roster, geographic reach and services. Co-founded by Hobin and CFO Greg Meier, the company has grown from two to 40 employees and anticipates continued job growth through 2009. G5’s client base has tripled in the past year, and the company now serves more than 1,500 client locations throughout the U.S. and Canada. G5 has also expanded its Local Marketing Platform to include a Print Yellow Pages Analytics Tool, G5 Mobile Coupons and Social Media Advertising.
And, of course, how our CEO feels about the growth:
“In light of the current economic climate, we feel extremely fortunate to be in the growing local Internet advertising space,” said G5 CEO Dan Hobin. “We are now on track to hit our fourth consecutive year of 100% plus annualized revenue growth.”That’s right folks. We’re excited. But we also realize we’re very lucky to be doing so well. We’re grateful for our current situation and excited about the future…
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14:00
Dancing Machine(s)
» G5 Search Marketing BlogAt G5, we like to have fun. And dance. Dance. Dance.
But mostly, have fun. At our first annual Ocho De Mayo party last friday, we had a contest. Best dish.
There was a tie. VP of Client Services Nancy Hall and Executive Assistant Kat Merrick received an equal number of votes for the delicious dishes (Chipotle Macaroni and Cheese and Buffalo Wing Dip, respectively.)
With an equal number of votes, they needed to find a way to declare a winner. What follows is the result.
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16:29
Yellow Pages: Now Illegal?
» G5 Search Marketing BlogG5 is located in Bend, Oregon. Right in the heart of one of the greenest (lots of trees) and green-minded states in the entire country.
So it’s shouldn’t come as a surprise that we, as a company, do everything we can to be more energy efficient and environmentally aware.
For example:
- We all bring in our own coffee cups
- We all bring in our own water bottles
- We all bring in our own beer mugs (for our famous G5 Kegerator)
- The company only purchases post-consumer recycled paper products
- We have a compost container that is emptied weekly
- We have incentives built in for our employees that carpool or cycle/walk to work
- We recycle religiously as a company
- A percentage of the energy we purchase for our building is obtained through ‘green’ methods
- We have a special committee (the Green Team) to initiate environmental changes both to our building and company-wide
- Perhaps most importantly, we’re doing our part to put the Yellow Pages out of business.That’s right. As we’ve mentioned many times before, the Yellow Pages are less likely to be used for local research. The Internet is quickly replacing them in that all-important local search process.
As this has become the case, concerned citizens have seen unused phone books pile up at their homes and places of business.
In a state as eco-conscious as Oregon, this distresses people. So, the legislation begins.
According to BlueOregon.com:
The Legislative Assembly finds that the annual, if not more frequent, distribution of hard copies of telephone directories by multiple publishers to persons at their residences without first determining whether such persons want or will use the directories constitutes both a waste and misuse of paper and natural resources and a harm to the environment without justification. The Legislative Assembly declares that it is in the public interest to establish a prohibition on the distribution of hard copies of telephone directories unless a person specifically requests the delivery of an identified telephone directory. (2) A person may not distribute a hard copy of a telephone directory to another person at the other person¢s residence in this state unless specifically requested by the other person to do so. A request under this subsection may be made in writing or submitted using the Internet.
If this passes in our state, it could easily move on to other states. It is, in essence, treating phone book sellers in a similar manner as a spammer, or, more famously. the telemarketer ‘do not call list’ made famous a few years back.
It also, however, makes a point to ensure the green effects of not printing phone books are noted.
Interesting times, indeed…
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13:51
Social Media (R)evolution
» G5 Search Marketing BlogBob Dylan said ‘The Times, They are a-changin” and here at G5, we’ve both documented and participated in those changes.
Today is no exception. Late last week analyst and blogger Greg Sterling had a short post on the how more and more local companies are looking to get into the social media game.
He said: I spoke to a local marketing company yesterday that told me its clients were asking for help with Facebook and Twitter — they didn’t know how to effectively use these sites, they just knew they wanted to use them.
As you might guess - that was us. We were chatting with him about our most recent announcement, which just came out today.
Our venerable CEO, Dan Hobin, had this to say on the subject: “There is a big difference between advertising on social sites and really getting in there and interacting with your customers,” said G5 CEO Dan Hobin. “The G5 platform now handles the advertising piece and our tool kits provide direction on how to get in there and interact with your customers. You cannot automate the interaction piece as the conversation has to be authentic.”
Here is a link to that news.
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12:32
Flutter - Twitter for when you’re too busy for 140 characters
» G5 Search Marketing BlogFound this little gem courtesy of Greg Sterling’s blog Screenwerk - absolutely worth the three minutes.
A fun parody of Twitter and, as Sterling points out, the Internet as a whole:
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13:32
Change is Coming Fast Than You Think
» G5 Search Marketing BlogThe world is changing at a rapid rate. Here’s a primer on just how fast:
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11:29
Borrell Associates: By 2013 Nearly 70% of Local Advertising Will Be Online
» G5 Search Marketing Blog
Sure, we beat the drum.
“Advertising is changing” we say. “Local advertising is moving online at a rapid rate” we say. “If you’re a local business, you have to have a presence online in order to be successful” we say.
Well. We hate to say we told you so…but…well…um…yah. We’ll just imply it.
You are likely seeing it all around you. We certainly are. Newspapers closing (major ones - Seattle Post Intelligencer, Rocky Mountain News). Yellow Pages companies (RH Donnelley, Idearc) likely declaring bankruptcy.
It’s becoming a brave new world. And, frankly, that’s at least marginally because local users are moving, more and more, to the web for their news, their information and, in general, their life as a whole.
Enter a Borrell Associates report from earlier this week. The company follows the local space and the online media space. Yellow pages, too.
The report “Main Street Goes Interactive ” predicts a 275 percent increase in SMB spending on streaming audio and video, almost 140 percent increase on e-mail and direct ad formats, nearly 35 percent increase in paid search spending, and an 8 percent increase in standard display ads. According to the report, there are more than 14.6 million SMBs in the U.S.
Defining an SMB is varied depending on the type of business, of course. According to a ClickZ look at the report:
Even though the research firm cautions smaller advertiser accounts can be labor-intensive, Borrell stresses that when approached systematically and thoughtfully, the local SMB market has potential. “First you have to define what these things are,” said Borrell VP of Research Kip Cassino. “One size doesn’t fit all. The definition of SMB changes according to the kind of industry it’s in.” For example, a department store with 200 employees is considered small, but a law firm with the same number of staffers is “a damn big law firm,” Cassino noted.
At G5, we get it. Not only do we work specifically in the local space, but we’ve been watching this change occur. We know how to speak to local prospects online. We know what they want to hear and we know what they’re going to do in order to move from prospect to customer. And we’d love to show you how that works.
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10:46
Facebook, Twitter, Real-Time Web, Social Marketing and Why You Should Care
» G5 Search Marketing BlogYesterday, Facebook announced changes to their homepage. The last time Facebook changed its design, those changes were roundly criticized. This time, however, the industry has responded by simply calling the social networking giant out - suggesting they were trying to steal features and thus, users, from Twitter.
And that brings us to the thrust of this conversation. Twitter. Facebook. LinkedIn. MySpace.
Unless you’ve been living under a rock (or maybe the island from “Lost”) for the past five years you’ ve heard of at least a few of these social media marketing tools, or social networking tools, depending on what you plan to use it for.
So what’s the big deal? Simple. We often talk about the fragmentation of media consumption. You know, how prospects are moving to various different places to garner their information? Well, they are. From 5 options thirty years ago to well over 30 today. And that is why social networking sites are SO important: everybody uses them.
Or at least, they’re moving there. Don’t believe us? Well, we reported a few weeks ago about Facebook reaching 175 million users. Yes, you read that right, 175 million.
No matter what your industry, ignoring that kind of audience is madness. And, frankly speaking, many of those networks serve a brilliant purpose on the local level. If you want to communicate with customers who are near to you geographically, you can easily sort for location in most of these venues. This is a great tool for communicating with your local customers. As long as you have the time, of course.
What follows is a quick primer on the local Social Media Marketing/Networking tools we’ve seen our clients find value in:
When you join Facebook, you have to list a hometown - which automatically puts you in a “network” with everyone else in your hometown. This site has grown in such popularity that browsing through your local network can be time consuming but worth the effort to make local connections.
This local review site covers nearly 40 states and helps find just about anything in a local area that can be reviewed - from real estate to restaurants. Additionally, Yelp offers social networking through the ability to add friends, groups, events talk in forums or message contacts. Users will trust their friend’s review more than others. Yelp has a separate registration and website (www.biz.yelp.com) for business owners and rewards members with access to tracking, private customer messaging and real-time page updates.
This photo storage/sharing site has thousands of user groups, many which are local in nature. These groups offer a great opportunity to connect with your potential customers who might be interested in your business.
The use of video on social sites has been linked to some of the highest conversion rates from traffic to sales, and YouTube is the leader in the online video sharing community on the Web. YouTube allows members to easily upload and share video clips across the Internet through websites, mobile devices, blogs and email. Search the site for your industry and city or state - your competitors may already be video sharing.
This social networking and micro-blogging site is all about conversations, allowing users to post their latest updates. An update is limited to 140 characters and can be posted through three methods: web form, text message, or instant message. This site is possibly the best place to reach out and find people in your area. Twitter’s Advanced Search Page inculdesa geo-search option; list city/state or zip code and receive a list of messages (”tweets”) from people in that area.
This professional networking Web site allows members to create business contacts, search for jobs and find potential clients. Individuals have the ability to create their own professional profile that can be viewed by others in their network, and also view the profiles of their own contacts. It offers one of the simplest methods of inviting and maintaining your social network; by simply uploading an exported file from your contact manager, LinkedIn can immediately identify which of your contacts are members of this service.
The moral of this little tome’: Social Media Marketing is important for reaching out to your customers. And it’s only going to be moreso in the future.
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17:23
The Team
» G5 Search Marketing BlogG5 is growing like a weed. But in a good way. You know, quickly. Take a look at the photo below. We’ve got an awesome team and just wanted to show off a little bit…
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9:14
G5 Named to “100 Best Companies to Work For in Oregon” List
» G5 Search Marketing BlogWell, it’s official. G5 is one of just 5 businesses in Central Oregon to be named to the Oregon Business Magazine’s “Top 100 Businesses to Work For” list for the state.
It’s quite an honor, and we’re pretty excited to have received it. G5 has a pretty unique work environment that includes summer hours and, for the rest of the year, a kegerator to help Friday afternoons fly by.
The company ended up ranking 8th for the small business category and 13th overall.
Other Central Oregon winner include:
Homeshield Building Products - The Dalles
T-Mobile - Redmond
Cascade Concrete Solutions - Redmond
tbd agency - Bend -
10:53
Something FISHy is Going on Here
» G5 Search Marketing BlogWe mention our corporate culture here from time to time.
Today, we’re going to share a bit more.
Here at G5, we believe in FISH!
To be clear, while there are many an accomplished angler in the halls and offices of G5, we’re actually referring to a philosophy.
It’s really quite simple and actually based in experiences from Seattle’s Pike Place World Famous Fish Market.
The rules:
Be There
Play
Make Their Day
Choose Your AttitudeA member of our sales team, Rob Day, visited Pike Place this past weekend. While we’re happy to have him as a member of our team, he’s a member of theirs, as well. Here’s the proof:
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17:09
Facebook Matters: Here’s Why
» G5 Search Marketing Blog
Today, over at Gigaom, they posted their regular “What’s Worth Reading” blog.This is always particularly gratifying on a Friday because:
a. It’s almost always just what it advertises - stuff worth reading.
b. It’s oftentimes very relevant to our business and, thus, worth reading for business and pleasure.So it’s that beautiful work/play combo, in essence.
Today, it led with some news. Facebook is at 175 million regular users.
We’ll write that again. 175 MILLION REGULAR USERS.
Seriously, that’s a lot of eyes. And that’s one of the reasons we’re so excited about the platform.
We’ve had some success in the past with their advertising and expect to have more.
More than that, however, we expect there will be additional positive benefits from their offering, including, but not limited to the fan pages along with more interesting ways to take advantage of their treasure trove of information. We look forward to knowing what’s next, quickly learning now to use it and then passing those skills on to our clients.
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14:46
G5er Shreds Code, Mountains
» G5 Search Marketing BlogAt G5, we are a little quirky.
It’s part of our charm. This quirkiness extends to our weekly staff meetings where, in an attempt to learn more about each other, we have started having a show and tell session.
Today, a member of Cobra Kai, our engineering team (I told you, we’re quirky) shared his love of winter sports.
Below is the video proof of that love. Enjoy!
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11:30
New Trends in Measurement
» G5 Search Marketing BlogHow interesting that, purely from watching search statistics, we can see exactly which Super Bowl commercials worked and which did not.
Of course, we’re a little bit obsessed with measurement here at G5. As we see it, in order to be successful in your marketing efforts, you really need to be able to know what is working. And, thusly, what is not.
And this is where the recent results of Google searches during and after the Super Bowl are so interesting to us.
Sourced to iProspect 6/07 via Screenwerk.
Google is kind enough to share what the major searches are on their site - and, specifically, share time-sensitive information surrounding the big game and it’s commercials.
Vanessa Fox was kind enough to figure out exactly how that correlated to the commercials themselves.
And Greg Sterling was kind enough to alert us to these results (along with some well-thought commentary as to what this means for advertising, in general.)
We have been touting for years now, the move to digital for both measurement and to reach a better, more focused audience. Sterling agrees:
“In the next few years we should see almost all traditional media using digital in some fashion to extend the value of the campaign to other platforms but also to measure success: whether it’s search volumes tied to TV ads, short codes tied to radio or print or call tracking.”
This is virtually a description of our offering. We’re reaching out to market segments who need to make these moves, and helping it happen.
Sterling continues: “We’re now entering a time when the old, oft-repeated John Wanamaker maxim (”I know that half of my advertising is wasted, I just don’t know which half . . .”) may never need to be repeated at another conference — hopefully.”
And again, we couldn’t agree more. We often reference that quote because, well, that is exactly what we do for our clients - we help them find the advertising efforts that work. And then we help them eliminate the rest.
Here’s to a future of marketing efforts that work, and the measurement that makes that happen.
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16:49
Sun Shining on Search
» G5 Search Marketing Blog
While it’s no secret that the recession has had some serious impact on virtually every industry, it’s comforting to discover that search marketing has remained relatively intact across all markets.
Of course, even just keeping steady, without losing ground - in this economic climate, that’s a win.
It seems that, as of yet, search has done just that. In fact, in most cases, it has continued to grow.
Here are a few numbers, quelled from various sources, though, primarily, from The Marketing Pilgrim post by Peter Young.
“According to a report by online analytics firm Covario, search spend actually ’surged’ during the final quarter of 2008.”
Covario saw a 43% year over year increase compared to 2007. This is actually a gain over the third quarter of 2008 by 7.2%. Of course, these numbers are only based on specific Covario clients - large ones who haven’t, as of yet, seen much impact from the current economic troubles.
Google announced their earnings today. Obviously, they are the 700 lb gorilla in the search world. And they’re doing well. Very well.
Here are the numbers (courtesy of Search Engine Journal):
* Total revenue is up at $5.7 billion in Q4 2008 vs $4.83 in 2007 (18% increase) and $5.54 in Q3 of 2008 (3% increase)
* Total revenues for Google-owned sites is at $3.81 billion in Q4 2008 vs. $3.12 in 2007 (22% increase) and $3.67 billion in Q3 of 2008 (4% increase)
* Total revenues through Adsense programs of partner sites is at $1.69 billion vs $1.64 in 2007 and $1.68 billion in Q3 of 2008.And Google CEO Eric Schmidt had this to say:
“Google performed well in the fourth quarter, despite an increasingly difficult economic environment. Search query growth was strong, revenues were up in most verticals, and we successfully contained costs.”
What does that mean? Basically - even though things aren’t going well, we’ve seen that search is still a way to reach the people who are spending money. In essence, search advertising is still working.
And what does this mean for local companies hoping to reach those local clients? Cutting your yellow pages, your newspaper or magazine ads…even your television ads - well - that might be a wise decision. Users are online. Buyers are online. And we can help you reach them.
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12:09
The Shift: Kicking Into High Gear
» G5 Search Marketing BlogIn our blog, we’ve mostly focused on the shift online. And while there has been a documented drop in advertising spending across television, radio and print publications…perhaps the most dramatic of all has been the Yellow Pages decline.
What was once a powerhouse of local marketing and advertising - a veritable shout - has become a whimper.
The Kelsey Group pointed us in the direction of the news, with a piece on a few YP publishers who have closed their doors.
Specifically, two spanish-language publishers, Hispanic Yellow Pages of America and Seccion Amarilla USA, shut their doors. North of the border, Canwest, which, according to Kelsey, entered the Canadian market with a “pay for performance print directory model” also closed down.
We, of course, expect to see much more of this type of action in the coming year, and years as publishers disappear.
Kelsey warns that these publishers are in fairly small spaces and that there won’t be a full-on death of YPs this year. They do, however, admit that they expect to see further print books disappear as the year goes on.
For us, this is not a surprise. We have been expecting print yellow pages to continue to shrink and go away all together for some time.
A good example, of course, being the difference in price from yellowpages.com in 2004 ($100 million) and yp.com earlier this week ($3.85 milllion) the value of the brand is clearly dropping.
This opens up the market for companies such as G5. Our ability to measure what works and give a solid ROI to our clients is what keeps new ones flocking to us - now more than ever.
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15:50
Why a Recession Encourages Innovation
» G5 Search Marketing Blog
We have seen much written in recent weeks about the doldrums of the recession.
And while, strictly speaking, the country is clearly in a recession…we are not.
By we, I’m referring to two things:
1. The online advertising industry.
While other industries have been hard hit (we’re looking at you, auto industry) the online advertising industry has continued to grow (though, admittedly, slower than previously expected). However, in the face of what some are calling an ‘economic crisis’ to see our industry grow tells us something. Specifically, it tells us that the online advertising industry has a lot to offer in any time, but particularly in a recession.Why you (hopefully) are asking? One word: measurement. Online advertising offers an easy answer to if your advertising is working or not via measurement tools. At G5, we, of course, take it further and can measure across virtually all of your advertising sources. But that’s another story.
And then, there was 2.
2. G5.
We’re doing quite well as a company. In fact, we’re continuing to grow. And quickly. Not only in numbers of employees (though that is most certainly true) but also in regards to client base, which is also growing quite nicely.In essence, it’s good times for G5.
But on to why, exactly a recession encourages innovation…well, simply put, because there is no other choice.
Cory Treffiletti, a columnist at MediaPost, put together a great piece on this just yesterday.
Amongst his thoughts on the subject:“Challenges are also opportunities; in order to succeed, you have to have the right attitude. A down economy means that people are looking for new, innovative ways to achieve the success they had when things were easier and simpler. It’s easy to build a brand when you have lots of money to spend, but how do you build a brand when the money dries up? It’s easy to spread a message when you can afford to pay a small army to evangelize on your behalf or when you can buy ad placements and achieve a 75% share of voice, but fewer dollars translates to more creativity and more innovative ideas; that’s the opportunity we have again today.”
Couldn’t have said it better ourselves. Now, lets get to work.
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10:04
Holiday Bash ‘08
» G5 Search Marketing BlogG5 had our holiday party last week at The Blacksmith here in Bend.
Delicious food, flowing beverages and a good time were enjoyed by all.
See below for the first installment of photographic proof of the evening.
A special note of thanks to our Girl Friday, Kat Merrick, for putting together this great event.
Kat Merrick and Dawn Nason share their holiday spirit with one another.
G5 CTO Chris Kraybill and his better half Carey mug for the camera. Please note the classy bow tie.
VP of Client Services Nancy Hall (not pictured - holiday themed cast) and Senior Marketing Analyst Kim Evered did a great job of keeping bar stools in place.
Software Engineer and strange, strange man Paul Dacus avoids Kim Evered.
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16:13
The Economist: Advertising Moving Online - Will Grow During Recession
» G5 Search Marketing BlogPerhaps one of the best respected magazines in the world, The Economist, put out an expansive article on advertising and where it will likely head in the oncoming recession.
The outlook is decidely good for those looking to move online.
How good? So good that, despite a recent drop in predicted growth, online advertising is, quite possibly, the only space within the advertising world expected to continue growing in the new year.
And, in fact, it’s expected to grow at a fairly rapid pace. Here is The Economist helping us out with some of the eMarketer numbers we’ve posted in this space before:
“Spending on advertising (has become) much less speculative (than in 2002), so that it starts to be treated instead as a cost of sales. This is one reason why online advertising should suffer less than other sorts. This week eMarketer, a market-research firm, predicted that online-advertising spending in America, which makes up about half the global total, will increase by 8.9% in 2009, rather than the 14.5% it had forecast in August. The firm thinks search advertising will grow by 14.9% and rich-media ads by 7.5%, whereas display ads will grow by 6.6%. In short, online advertising will continue to expand in the recession—just not as quickly as previously expected.”
That is, of course, great news for companies like ours. But it also bodes well for our clients.
Since we have expertise in this field that is virtually unmatched, our clients are given access to that experience. This allows them to see what’s working and, affordably compete online.
Ostensibly, for them, it’s a win, win, win.
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15:33
Online Advertising: Growth Continues Despite “Recession”
» G5 Search Marketing BlogOver at the ClickZ blog, they alerted us here at G5 to a new forecast from eMarketer in regards to where the online advertising market is expected to head in the upcoming year. And, while the numbers are dropping a touch, they made a great point:
“eMarketer’s predicting 8.9 percent growth in ad spend next year, as opposed to the double-digit call they (and most other firms) were making last summer - in their case, 14.5 percent.
Glum? You shouldn’t be. Growth is growth. You’d rather be working in financial services or the auto industry and experience negative growth? Times are tough all over, but up is still up.”Here is the graph of the new numbers and the expected growth:
As you can clearly see, even with growth knocked down for the coming year, money is still shifting online. 10% growth is nothing to hold your nose at. And that’s on a national level. It’s likely that on the local level, where spending is much more restrained, and budgets smaller, the web, where ROI is easier to see, will grow at an even faster rate.
Ostensibly, this means that companies looking to move online in the local space, and the ones who jump first, will be the winners in their particular space.
Thus, moving online, and getting there quickly, can be the difference between success and failure in our current climate.
Be a winner. Get your web presence up, strong and running. We can help.
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14:10
Wall Street Journal: The Yellow Pages are Dying
» G5 Search Marketing Blog
It seems the Wall Street Journal - the bastion for business news - has seen the future of the Yellow Pages. And it is not good.Of course we’ve been talking about the shift from traditional media, particularly the Yellow Pages, to online media, such as search engine marketing (SEM) for quite some time.
Now mainstream press is pointing out that the current economic downturn just might be fast forwarding this shift a bit.
Just how quickly are things expected to change? Very quickly:
“Print and online ad spending on yellow pages will plummet 6.3% next year, more than double the rate of decline expected for broadcast TV, according to forecasts by Wachovia analyst John Janedis. Within the next four years, ad spending will fall 39% in print directories alone — the steepest projected decline across all local-media categories, according to media-research firm Borrell Associates.
“It’s pretty darn hard out there for everybody, and those that have less staying power, it just looks like it’s going to be a difficult environment to be able to hang on in the long term,” said Dave Swanson, chief executive of R.H. Donnelley, a Cary, N.C., yellow-pages publisher, during a conference call on the company’s third-quarter earnings.
Facing the real prospect of extinction, the publishers, many of which have considerable debt, have been slashing jobs, scrapping dividends and exiting unprofitable markets. Shares of two of the biggest publishers, R.H. Donnelley and Idearc, have plummeted 99% in the past year.”
That’s right, those are some pretty scary numbers for Yellow Pages publishers. The business is dropping quickly, the companies have massive debt and their stock is in danger of moving over to junk bonds in the span of a year.
This certainly shouldn’t engender comfort for potential advertisers, either. And the attempt by publishers to move online has been less than successful, according to both our numbers and the Wall Street Journal.
It seems that the next step for the small and medium-sized businesses that have been working primarily with those publishers to find new advertising sources. Luckily, the web is there, ready to jump into headfirst. And, of course, we’re happy to help.
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13:23
Where Are You Reaching From?
» G5 Search Marketing BlogOne of our favorite analysts in the local online marketing space, Greg Sterling, recently asked an interesting question about just how much local advertising, online, is actually local.
His question, was aimed at figuring out just how much of the money being spent was from actual local-based companies and how many were simply national companies using geo-targeting to speak to target audiences in specific locations.
An interesting discussion. And one that we can put some information toward, but not, unfortunately, the empirical data Sterling is looking for. Of course, we do see our clients, many of whom are regional, focusing on specific areas via the aforementioned geo-targeting. So, while not national, we are seeing companies focusing on specific segments of their market and, thus, going local while, strictly speaking, they may not be.
Sterling points out that while, volume-wise, there are more small, local-based businesses, much of the advertising dollars come from larger, national businesses. We haven’t seen this upset the ecosystem online as of yet, but can see how, with shifting budgets, it might become an issue.
“While the SMBs (Small to Medium-Sized Businesses) are more numerous the dollars at the national (targeting local) level are much greater. This is true in all media except perhaps yellow pages. My memory (I’ll have to go back and check) is that “national” advertising in print YP is about 15%,” Sterling said.
What does this mean? It means that, as of yet, local web advertising hasn’t been terribly competitive. But that it will be, at some point. And that point is fast approaching. Luckily, our clients have us to keep an eye out and find the next, innovative way to affordably keep their eyes in front of their local clients.
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15:31
Tooting our own Horn (Beep! Beep!)
» G5 Search Marketing BlogIt’s not everyday that you win an award. Even more rare that you win one for business acumen. And we’re willing to bet that in our current economic climate, those awards are falling fewer and further between.
Which is why we’re excited to announce that we’ve been named the Economic Development for Central Oregon (EDCO) Entrepreneur of the Year.
That’s right, we were the only tech company honored, and the only company in Bend (though there were five other companies honored from surrounding cities…)
Our fearless leaders, Dan Hobin and Greg Meier were honored just last night at the Inn of the 7th Mountain, where they were kind enough to bestow much of the credit to the rest of the team.
We’re very excited to have received this award and see it as a pat on the back for all the hard work we’ve been doing.
Thanks EDCO!
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14:40
Update: We’re Now Accepting CMR and Ad Agency Partners
» G5 Search Marketing BlogToday we announced a bit of news - we’re accepting partners.
And while we’re open to various possibilities, we are particularly interested in working with CMRs and Ad Agencies.
See the announcement below:
G5 Search Marketing Launches Strategic Partner Program
Developed Specifically for CMR’s and Advertising Agencies
BEND, Ore. – October 28, 2008 – G5 Search Marketing Inc., a leader in local advertising and measurement solutions, today launched p3, its Preferred Partner Program. This strategic offering provides new G5 partners with increased sales opportunities, best of breed technology and additional value-added services.
The G5 Local Marketing Platform offers CMRs and advertising agencies a complete local marketing solution powered by G5. It is the only solution on the market that includes SEO, PPC, Maps Optimization, and a media dashboard capable of tracking & measuring across both traditional and online media.
“After five years spent developing our platform and expertise in local and regional marketing arenas, we are now ready to help partners increase their service offerings,” said G5 CEO Dan Hobin. “This should allow us to extend our reach into new verticals and markets as our partners build and grow revenue streams.”
The G5 Local Marketing Platform is a natural fit for partners who serve multi-location clients on a local, regional, or national level. G5’s p3 program enables partnering CMRs and ad agencies to expand their reach into new markets without the capital expense of developing an in-house solution.
For more information on joining p3, contact Megan Minkiewicz, Channel Program Manager at megan.minkiewicz@g5searchmarketing.com or (541) 728-0326.
About G5 Search Marketing
G5 Search Marketing is reinventing Local Marketing by giving business owners visibility into what advertising efforts produce their most profitable customers. U.S. businesses spend over $100 billion annually targeting local and regional customers. As consumers shift from more traditional types of media consumption to the online world, there are significant opportunities to measure and improve the efficiency of local marketing and advertising. The G5 Marketing Platform was developed to help manage the shift from off-line to online advertising, measure what works, and optimize to the sources that provide the best return on marketing. For more information, please visit www.g5searchmarketing.com. -
9:55
Why Measurement and Online Advertising Matter More in a Down Economy
» G5 Search Marketing BlogLook around. People are worried. For every reason to be excited, for every reason to be happy with our world, a bit of economic uncertainty is scaring people. In spades.
And the result is a lot of ‘hunkering down’. Yahoo cut 10% of its workforce. Lots of other companies are cutting back, cutting budgets across the board and, especially, slashing marketing budgets.
History tells us this is a foolish move.
An Interbrand Study titled: “Leveraging Brand Value in a Downturn”:
“Merrill Lynch was seeing the return on its early ’90s branding investment in its ability to build and leverage its reputation in a broader market. It may have outspent Bear Stearns to do so, but the positive return was clear.”And according to BusinessWeek, the result was crystal clear. So clear that simply looking at a chart comparing indexed share prices for the two competitors during and just after, the 1990 recession shows that Merrill Lynch’s “outspending” (as it was seen during the recession) had a huge impact, redefining the competitive landscape between the two major financial houses and, analysts believe, leading to the eventual demise of Bear Stearns.
So what does this have to do with our current situation? Well, first and foremost, virtually every financial and marketing expert is telling companies not to cut their ad spend and marketing budgets despite the ‘economic downturn’ we are supposedly currently mired in.
But here’s the reality. Companies are going to panic. They’re going to cut their marketing budgets. It’s relatively certain. But there are still going to be advertising efforts.
And that is where we will see the difference, like between Bear Stearns and Merrill Lynch way back in 1990. Who will come out on top? What’s the right strategy?
The right strategy, and the best way to be the Merrill Lynch in your competitive marketplace: Go Online.
The online market is still growing. It will continue to grow throughout this entire ’slowdown’ according to analysts. There are very, very few markets that is true for.
And the reason is simple: Measurable Return on Investment (ROI).
Smart businesses are already moving this way. Check out this bit from Marketing Pilgrim:
“MarketingProfs has observed that online marketing is also turning into a venue where marketers can stretch their dollar while accurately targeting leads and customers. 60% of all marketers surveyed stressed that they would be increasing their online budgets while 85% would be reducing their use of traditional marketing vehicles.”
Therein lies the beauty of online. While we are seeing an increase in many markets cost-wise, it is still, by far, the most cost effective option for qualified leads. Without fail, we have seen (via our Media Dashboard, which is unique in that it can measure online and traditional media and see what’s working) that our online efforts for our clients are, generally speaking, the best way for them to attain strong leads without spending too much to do it.
However, as much as it make sense for companies to shift much of their marketing efforts online - they need help. And a company like us is perfectly built for just that reason. We’re online advertising (and measurement) experts. It’s what we do. We live and breathe this stuff. And we can get an online presence up and running quickly, efficiently and with a minimum of cost. When companies try to do this themselves, they run into problems. See this bit from a recent analyst report:
“A new Jupiter Research report surveying the operational profile of about 1000 search advertisers spending upwards of $50k/month. This report made headlines because it showed that nine out of 10 of them were willing to spend up to 22% more on search, but were hamstrung by their own obsolete internal processes, which include an almost stone-age approach to managing search campaigns (a quarter of them are using Excel to manage their bids), overloaded in-house teams, and a general frustration with the robustness of campaign automation tools.
In essence, the wise way to go is an outside expert in online advertising if you want your business to not only thrive through this downturn, but come out on top after.
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15:24
What’s Working: Online Advertising
» G5 Search Marketing BlogWe have seen over and over again that online advertising is the most effective option.
But now that the economy is tanking, our ability to measure exactly what is working and what isn’t (through our G5 Media Dashboard) is proving more and more important. Many of our clients are tightening their marketing budget belts in response. Our tool illustrates for them what is working. More often than not, what has been working is their web advertising efforts (including PPC, SEO and Maps Optimization).
And this is being echoed across various industries and on the web. For example, over at The Marketing Pilgrim today, a recent MarketingProfs survey was referenced wherein 600 marketing professionals were asked their future plans in light of the current economic downturn.
The response is surprising, even for us. Things are progressing rapidly:
“When times are lean, businesses often cut their marketing budgets. The grim news is 65% of marketers expect negative effects on marketing overall. And they expect the affects will be long term - with 75% expecting it to last into 2010. Some predict layoffs (25%) and falling salaries (43%). 17% believe they will face both layoffs and a pay cut.
So what are marketers doing? They are moving from traditional advertising to online marketing. That’s what we’ve heard for a while, but now marketers are moving budgets to online even faster than before. According to MarketingProfs the majority are spending more online.”
In essence, it seems that while we are seeing cutbacks in marketing (and, well, everywhere else for that matter) that cutback is much more present in print, television, etc.
But it’s important, even (and maybe even moreso) online, to use the right type of advertising. A recent Nielsen/Norman Group study has shown that display advertising online is almost completely useless.
No, really. Check this bit about it from GigaOm:
“(Jakob) Nielsen, in a keynote address at the inaugural Web Experience Forum in Boston, Mass., said web design is doomed to failure unless we learn from end users. And one major lesson is that other than paid search, ads don’t work.‘We call this banner blindness — people won’t see ads at all,’ said Nielsen. ‘Ads might as well not exist as far as users are concerned, except for search ads.’ The number of web users that so much as glance at banner ads, he added, is too small to even quantify.”
That’s right. While companies are moving their marketing online with more and more frequency (and with good reason) they still need to make good marketing decision once they make that shift.
Luckily, we can help.
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16:41
Study: Local Search More Web Than Yellow Pages
» G5 Search Marketing BlogA recent study suggests what we’ve been saying for quite some time: The shift is official.
What do we mean by that? Users are continuing to move away from the Yellow Pages and toward the internet for their local search needs.
The study - commissioned by TMP - points out the numbers and what, exactly, they mean:
First sources for local information
* Search Engines (31%)
* Print Yellow Pages or White Pages (30%)
* Internet Yellow Pages Sites (19%)
* Local Search Sites (11%)In the previous year, we saw the numbers between Yellow Pages and Search Engines reach the same level.
But as you can see above, in the past year, the print pages have dropped at the same time that the search engine traffic for local searches has increased.
The result is simple: online search is now the unequivocal leader for people looking to find something locally.
This means that an Internet presence is ever more important.
It also means there has been a tide change in just the last five years. And in just the last year, any argument that print yellow/white pages are the dominant local search vehicle has, in a word, evaporated.
As per usual, Greg Sterling makes some excellent points in regards to this and what it means across the board. Ironically, the single best point he makes is that this trend isn’t across the board. It’s a categorical situation. And his view on where mobile falls is still fractured:
“In terms of the outlook for print usage, it’s going to be market by market and category by category. It will be very strong in some markets and categories and quite weak in others. Mobile’s impact is a bit of a wild card at this point: does it cannibalize print, Internet or is it largely “additive” to either or both.”
These numbers were all based on a survey of 3,000 adults in various locations. Overall, the numbers are probably pretty reasonable across the U.S. Of course, as Sterling points out, that will change numbers-wise based on the location and the vertical in question.
Our numbers have consistently shown that to be the case - it’s just a question of when each of the various verticals will be moving and when smaller cities, where yellow and white pages are still relatively effective, will make the move.
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15:47
The Market Tumbles but Web Advertising Continues Unabated Growth
» G5 Search Marketing BlogThe Market is in shambles. A $700 billion dollar bailout has been approved by the U.S. government.
Last night, both major party presidential candidates agreed that we’re facing the single largest financial crisis since the great depression.
People are losing their homes at a rapid rate because of inflated mortgage payments. The unemployment rate is ballooning.
And yet. Internet advertising is up. And it’s up quite a bit.
While numbers can be manipulated many ways, we’ve seen most of the media reporting that we’re in, explicably, an Internet advertising boom.
But really, it’s not all that inexplicable. Web advertising is measurable. (So is pretty much every other media, but we’re really the only ones doing that).
So what does this measurability mean? Simple. People know what they’re getting. And while virtually every company needs to market themselves and advertise to their customers, not knowing what is working is making it increasingly difficult to do this in a down market.
Not so with the web. Check out this tidbit from MediaPost:
“Facing a souring economy, U.S. Internet ad revenue grew 15.2% during the first half of 2008 to $11.5 billion compared to the year-earlier period, according to a new report by the Interactive Advertising Bureau and PricewaterhouseCoopers.
The second quarter 0f 2008 was up 12.8% from a year ago–but growth was essentially flat from the first to second quarter this year, suggesting that the weakening economy is taking a toll on Internet spending.
Search advertising showed the biggest gains during the first half of 2008, jumping 24% to almost $5.1 billion as marketers increasingly turn to performance-based marketing as an efficient media buy in the midst of growing economic uncertainty. Display advertising, including banners, rich media and digital video, increased 19% to $3.8 billion.
Despite the downturn, “we believe the fundamental for growth in this sector remain strong,” said David Silverman, a partner in the entertainment, media and communications practice at PricewaterhouseCoopers, during a webinar Tuesday on the IAB report that also included presentations by Nielsen Online and comScore.”
Translation: while the economy is still struggling, we have seen our industry stay strong. While you can see above, technically, growth has slowed, we are remaining strong as an industry. And yes, growth has slowed, but not stopped. While many businesses are dying, companies like ours (and many who can’t truly compete) are continuing to grow at a rapid rate.
The point of all this? Simple. Now is the time to move your advertising efforts online. Soon, prices will spiral and it will become more difficult to get affordable advertising, even on the web.
In another two years, we’re going to be telling a lot of people ‘I told you so’ in regards to what we’re writing right now. We sure hope you’re not one of them.
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15:19
Why Measuring Advertising at the Local Level Matters
» G5 Search Marketing BlogRecently, our Director of Marketing, Devin Davis, contributed to the well-respected and exceptionally interesting and well-read blog Web Analytics World. It was released yesterday. The post itself is below.
Enjoy!
By Devin Davis
G5 Search Marketing, Director of MarketingAt G5 Search Marketing, we’ve made it a point to figure out exactly what advertising is working and what isn’t for the local business.
This matters not only for major corporations, but, probably in all honesty, moreso for those companies who are regional or multi-location in nature. While they may have some capital to throw toward advertising, there is still a finite amount that they can use.
This is where we come in. We recently announced our Print Yellow Pages Analytics Tool.
Why does this matter? Simple, really. With this tool, we’re able to measure exactly what kind of ROI our clients are receiving from their spend in the Yellow Pages.
Check out a dummied screenshot of one of our reports below:
Now, we have seen that, from time to time, primarily in smaller markets, there is a significant value to spending some marketing dollars in the Yellow Pages.
But this isn’t always the case. For one of our clients, who is regional with locations across four states, but primarily located in the southwest, we’ve seen that, in major metropolitan areas (for example Los Angeles and Phoenix) it is foolhardy to continue advertising in the Print YPs.
Not only are there far too many of them to make it financially viable to have a significant foothold, but we’ve also seen that, frankly speaking, the leads that come from those ads are few, far between and of incredibly low quality.
However, by enabling our clients to see what is working and what isn’t across both new and traditional media (this extends beyond just Yellow Pages and online and to virtually other forms of advertising mediums) we have seen our clients improve their marketing efforts while, in many cases, actually lowering their costs.
In essence, this is another piece of the puzzle that makes local marketing more effective at a more reasonable cost.
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14:46
Bend, Oregon Tech Scene Blowing Up
» G5 Search Marketing BlogDespite the overwhelming drop-off in the economic stability of our nation, our little burg of Bend, Oregon has seen our tech industry grow exponentially this year. We’ve seen more companies appear, and many who have been here for some time, including us, explode in size. See below for a breakdown from Economic Development for Central Oregon (EDCO).
Altrec/GreatOutdoors.com, Redmond
Mike Morford, CEO
This fast growing company is a national e-tailer and distributor of recreational gear and equipment, similar to REI but with no retail component. Company just expanded its original office location into an adjacent building.
Growing from 40 to 60 employees.Blue Reference, Bend
Paul and Josh van Eikeren (founders of IntelliChem in 1999, subsequently sold to Symyx in 2006 for $30M). Startup company is building a new software platform for Electronic Lab Notebooks which helps scientists, engineers and business professionals quickly analyze data.
7 employees, hiring for 6 additional.Bend Research, Bend
Rod Ray
Specialize in the R&D of novel pharmaceutical delivery mechanisms.
169 employees.
Bend Research has created many other small, successful spinoffs.G5 Search Marketing, Bend
Dan Hobin, CEO
Developer of integrated local search marketing for the internet and optimization services
Grown from 12 to 28 employees in the last yearGL Suite, Bend
Bill Moseley, CEO
Software developer for government licensing.
40 employees, recently added 1,700 square feet of office space.Grace Bio-Labs, Bend
Full service design and manufacture of products for custom and OEM applications in cell analysis and the molecular pathology industry.
21 employees.MEDISISS, Redmond
Third party re-processor of single-use medical devices for the health care industry, particularly the ambulatory surgery market.
47 employees.InEnTec,LLC, Bend
Mike Rockett, CEO
Plasma-based waste processing and clean energy systems.
5 full-time employees in Bend with several more telecommuters; currently hiring project managers.Medsoft, Bend
Dennis Kinion, CEO
Startup company develops software for hospitals and clinics to update and manage the professional certifications of their staff.Microsemi, Bend (Power Products group located in Bend, was Advanced Power Technologies until acquired in 2006).
Semiconductor manufacturer specializing in system-engineered integrated circuits and high reliability discrete devices for aviation and military.
147 employees.PV Powered, Bend
Greg Patterson, CEO
Manufacturer of grid-tied solar inverters
Employment at 43 (likely to increase back up to 60 with passage of solar tax credits).Suterra, Bend
Steve Hartmeier, CEO
Diversified pest control company with an environmental focus that provides products and services to the commercial agriculture market.
58 employees – Moving to 10-acre parcel in Juniper Ridge.Tri-Quint, Bend
Design and manufacture of high-performance modules and components for communications companies that create mobile handsets, RF network equipment, and defense & space systems.
22 employees. -
15:52
When Will ROBO’s Time Come?
» G5 Search Marketing BlogMichael Boland from The Kelsey Group wrote a great piece on when we can expect to see ROBO (Research Online, Buy Offline) reach you average everyday consumer. A great read with a lot of good information.
See below for his article:
I recently asked if mobile local search has finally arrived. Now it’s time to ask when ROBO’s time will come. ROBO (research online, buy offline) is the concept that a growing volume of product research is happening online while the majority (more than 90 percent) of purchases take place offline in physical stores.
This reality has been central to the business models of Krillion, NearbyNow, The Find, and a growing crop of local search engines that tell you what products are available in what stores, and how many are on the shelf. Google has also played around with this in a limited capacity.
Despite these efforts, and what many surveys indicate, ROBO features haven’t picked up on a mass market level. User demand hasn’t been heard loudly for things like inventory data and in-store pick up features. Many still search in one place, compare features in another place, check prices in another, pick up the phone to check availability, then get in their car.
Why not do it all in one place (except for the part about the car)? Supply is there from the aforementioned providers, but perhaps not on the scale to give it the awareness it needs. This is made worse by the simple fact that breaking deep-rooted search behavior, no matter how silly or convoluted, is never easy.
An Apt Solution?
Yahoo recently started an effort to get ROBO over this hump, and Warren Kay, director of emerging products, is leading the charge.
“If I’m looking for a car or a lawn mower and I want a particular make and model, I want to know the closest place to buy it,” Kay said. “Even the simple concept of where my nearest insurance agent or Target store is — one level up in the consideration phase — could give advertisers a more compelling capability.”
One challenge Yahoo faces is that some of its national advertisers and agencies don’t fully grasp the opportunity to run targeted local campaigns for their store locations. They’re comfortable with the more blunt tactics they’ve used for years, such as impression-based advertising targeted at the DMA level. They’re also confused about a point of entry into the fragmented local online ad picture.
“We don’t make it any easier,” Kay said. “Online players make it difficult for offline traditional media buyers to shift their dollars online. Our goal is to begin the education process.”
Yahoo’s first move on this front came with Wednesday’s launch of APT, its self-serve display ad platform (built on Right Media’s engine). One of its biggest goals is to make it easier for national advertisers to run localized campaigns all in one place.
The online local inventory will come from its own network and its growing consortium of 784 newspaper partners. Given the consortium’s momentum and established content network, this is a natural place to start. The San Jose Mercury News and the San Francisco Chronicle will be the first ones on board.
“Our goal is to have all [consortium] newspaper publishers on that platform by the end of Q1,” Kay said. “It will be a one-stop place where marketers can come and buy inventory in up to 800 local newspapers. Then we will [add] Yahoo inventory through a similar migration plan.”
The Long and Short
Longer term, Kay is optimistic about technologies that will provide more granular local targeting and ROBO capabilities through APT.
One of these enablers will be location awareness, which will make local search more accurate and automated for users. It will also allow for better display ad targeting that goes a step beyond city-level IP targeting. Picture rich media ads, for instance, that offer real-time product promotions for the Best Buy down the street.
This could happen through location awareness baked right into the browser, which we expect to see from Google Chrome, followed by Firefox. It could also happen with Yahoo’s own Fire Eagle platform, which pulls in location data from various sources users specify (an iPhone for example). Until then, Yahoo already directly pulls some users’ locations.
“We have 300 million registered users who have given us their location, and we also have touch points based on users providing a location, such as weather, maps, yellow pages, and movie times,” Kay said. “We need to do a better job at packaging this back to our advertisers.”
Mobile has strong implications for ROBO as well, given the phone’s presence at the point of purchase. Kay argues that search volume is still too low for local ad models to materialize. For now, he’s focused on the task at hand: reaching opportune verticals like insurance, real estate, autos and retail, where national advertisers need to more effectively market their localized franchises.
“There is a $22 billion online [advertising] opportunity,” Kay said. “So let’s take full advantage of where the traffic is today and where the opportunities are, and get that right first.”
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8:14
Purchase Cycle: Holistic View
» G5 Search Marketing BlogGreg Sterling with Sterling Market Intelligence, in a remarkably interesting post on multitasking and where our attention (and specifically that of women) end up, included an awesome graphic on the “Purchase Cycle” as it now exists (see below.)
Once again, Sterling shows us exactly what we need to see in a simple and effective way.The buying cycle is deceptively simple. While before local shoppers went any number of places, particularly in major metropolitan areas (we have numbers that back this up) things are changing.
More and more we see our clients leads are coming, not from traditional media (television, radio, yellow pages, newspaper, etc.) but from the web.
This visual is a great representation of where consumers are headed.
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17:12
Why ROI Matters in Local
» G5 Search Marketing BlogWe have been talking for quite some time about the need to measure your advertising in the local market.
In other words, success is predicated on the ability to determine the return on investment you receive from your advertising. Particularly on a local level, when the amount of marketing spend is comparatively small.
So it was quite pleasing to see someone who we greatly respect in the industry, Greg Sterling, point out some numbers to that affect.
Using numbers from a Forrester Research Study, Sterling was able to point out exactly why marketers are often shy to join the next wave of advertising, whatever it may be:
“Forrester’s annual report on interactive marketing channels, based on a survey of 333 marketers, found strong and growing interest in relatively all new channels such as social media, online video and user-generated content. Tactics involving social networks, podcasts and user-generated content all showed 100 percent increases in marketer use compared to a similar survey conducted by Forrester last year.
Yet, that enthusiasm was tempered by the pressure to measure the impact of such initiatives in new channels without established metrics. For example, 68 percent of respondents said they adopt new techniques ‘only after they’re proven.’”
Of course, today we announced the ability to track print yellow pages (a very specific and local advertising media) via our local marketing platform and the addition of our new Print Yellow Page Analytics Tool.
And while that is totally offline, we do already have the ability to follow back from the POS to the location where it started online. And that is the crossover Sterling mentions below:
“Again, the problem for local is the crossover. While it’s easy to measure clicks, e-commerce purchases, video streams and page views, tracking offline purchases/sales is very difficult for marketers and requires an investment of time, energy and sometimes money that many aren’t willing to make — yet.”
He’s right. They’re not there. Yet. But they will be. And we believe it will be sooner rather than later.
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15:20
We Can Now Measure Your Print Yellow Page Results
» G5 Search Marketing BlogToday we announced the newest addition to our local marketing platform. The G5 Print Yellow Page Analytics Tool.
This is a pretty revolutionary addition for us. We have seen over and over that, particularly in major metropolitan areas, it is time for many major businesses to cut their YP spending severely, if not altogether.
We have clients cutting millions, literally, millions of dollars in YP spending. But that’s not the whole story.
In smaller markets, the Yellow Pages, particularly the print version, can still be very useful.
Thus, it becomes a question of knowing when to cut or cut back or, maybe, in very rare cases, actually increase spending.
And that is what our Analytics Tool does.
Here is the release:
G5 Search Marketing Launches Print Yellow Pages Analytics ToolNew Addition to Local Marketing Platform Measures Effectiveness Of Yellow Page Advertising
Bend, OR. – September 10, 2008 – G5 Search Marketing Inc., a leader in local advertising and measurement solutions, today announced the G5 Print Yellow Pages Analytics Tool has been added to its Local Marketing Platform. It was developed to help advertisers with multiple locations manage the shift from yellow page to online advertising.
The tool enables G5’s Marketing Analysts to do predictive modeling on the effects of cutting yellow page advertising. Analysis includes how many customers will be lost by not renewing certain ads and how many will be offset through other channels. The analysts can then easily rank the different advertising sources and see which ones produce the best return.
According to a July 2008 report by Borrell Associates entitled “Say Goodbye to Yellow Pages,” print yellow page directories face the most uncertain future of all media. The research firm estimates the yellow pages industry will lose 39% of its annual revenue over the next five years. That would amount to a loss of $5 billion by 2013.
“We have clients looking to cut millions of dollars per year in print yellow page advertising,” said G5 CEO Dan Hobin. “The issue becomes when to cut as you don’t want to cut too soon. For businesses with multiple locations, every market is different. Our tool enables our clients to cut advertising in major metros while keeping the smaller markets where yellow pages still perform.”
About G5 Search Marketing
G5 Search Marketing is reinventing Local Marketing by giving business owners visibility into what advertising efforts produce their most profitable customers. U.S. businesses spend over $100 billion annually targeting local and regional customers. As consumers shift from more traditional types of media consumption to the online world, there are significant opportunities to measure and improve the efficiency of local marketing and advertising. The G5 Local Marketing Platform was developed to help manage the shift from off-line to online advertising, measure what works, and optimize to the sources that provide the best return on marketing. For more information, please visit www.g5searchmarketing.com.# # #
CONTACTS:
Devin Davis
G5 Search Marketing
(541) 306-3389
devin.davis@G5searchmarketing.com
www.G5searchmarketing.com -
11:43
Will Yahoo or Google Buy the Yellow Pages?
» G5 Search Marketing BlogGreg Sterling over at Screenwerk wrote a great piece on the possibility of a web-based company actually purchasing the yellow pages and if it would make sense, fiscally.
Sterling actually points to Aaron Goldman for this idea, suggesting that his column got the ball rolling with this quote:
Buy RH Donnelley. The key to search monetization is tapping the long tail. Supposedly, the reason Yahoo did the Google deal was to help it make money off those obscure one-off queries. Google, with its 1 million+ advertisers, has an ad for just about every search. Yahoo needs to get access to the hoards of small and medium-sized businesses that are only buying Google today. RH Donnelley has over 600,000 advertisers, having sold Yellow Pages ads to them for years. Yahoo and RHD already have a relationship but the print reps aren’t having much success selling search. I propose giving away YP ads as added value with search buys. Short term, it’s a money-losing proposition, but print’s a dying medium anyway. Jumpstarting the bidding on the long-tail terms will pay off in the long run.
Sterling correctly points out that whenever there is talk of Google purchasing Yell (a UK-based directory company) that it has been suggested it is simply not worth the headache for the cost.
But now that things are more cost effective (see spreadsheet below, also courtesy of Sterling) perhaps the time is ripe…
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14:57
Bridging the Gap Between Online and Offline
» G5 Search Marketing BlogMaking the leap between online and offline, in the local market has become of paramount importance.
Sure, we harp on this a lot, but we’re not the only ones. In fact, there are many minds in the space who point out that any business, particularly on the smaller side, who want to make it to the next step, need to be making the move online.
And, well. They’re right.
We have consistently seen our clients succeed further as a result of moving their marketing efforts online.
And that is where ROBO comes in. This phenomenon, which stands for Research Online, Buy Offline is really the single most common occurence in the the local search market. And it’s growing at an extremely rapid rate.
Michael Boland, one of the preiminent analysts in the space, correctly points out that how and what works in Local Search, and the ROBO phenomenon, goes both ways:
“But the online/offline opportunity goes in the other direction as well. Brand marketing in offline traditional media is known to influence and drive search behavior, in some cases. Knowing this, Google has quietly initiated a charge to tie online and offline media together and track their influence on each other.”
That’s right, even Google is following our lead in tracking what works in the online and offline world. Of course, their efforts are in their infancy, whereas ours have been active for quite some time.
Oh, and just for fun, here is Boland talking about the ROBO behaviors and how, exactly, they play out:
“This plays out in a few important ways. Though search volume continues to rise and capture a growing percentage of product research, more than 95 percent of actual purchase behavior in the U.S. still takes place offline, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. This is especially true in certain service categories and products that are too bulky to ship or are dependent on a visual purchase decision (e.g., flat screen TVs).”
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16:58
Local Search: By the Numbers
» G5 Search Marketing BlogSo you’re still not convinced that Local Search is the way to go?
Well, the good news is, you’re wrong. That’s right, being wrong is a positive thing. Surprising, right?
Why is it good to be wrong? Because, far and away, it is much more cost effective to reach your local customers online than it is through the phone book.
But enough proselytizing, here are numbers. Cold, hard numbers, that back up our line of thinking:
That little nugget is courtesy of Gib Olander, in a contribution to MediaPost.
Now lets break those numbers down.
Two billion locally targeted searches each month. That’s billion. With a B. And a full 1 out of 4 searches that occur are coming from those searches. Which means that the intent of every fourth visitor to Google, for example, is to find something in their city, neighborhood, town or what have you. And then leave the online environment and purchase it locally.
We often point out that the local advertising business is a $100 billion business. Well, according to most accounts, 1/4 of that, $25 billion, will be online by, at the latest, 2017.
Of course, the reason all of this is occurring is because consumers habits are changing. Ten years ago, if you needed to find, for example, self storage, you would simply go to the phone book and look it up.
Not so anymore. Now, more than 90% of the searches mentioned above are part of what has been coined ROBO (Research Online Buy Offline). Now, we look to the Internet first. That is our local marketplace.
So what is the answer? How does a business compete in this new, local marketplace.
Simple.
You build your web presence and focus it on the customers you’re most likely to see - the ones that live down the street.
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13:10
SES Abuzz with Local Search
» G5 Search Marketing BlogWhile we were sadly unable to attend SES San Jose ‘08, we were lucky enough to be alerted to a bit of good info in regards to one of our passions: Local Search.
Lucky for us, Internet.com was covering the show, and wanted to make sure that we (and, well, their hundreds of thousands of readers, for that matter) were apprised on what was going on.
One important panel dealt specifically with local search. What we find interesting is how very little was paid attention to the online to offline sales path. While it may be much more interesting to envision an all-e-commerce future, the reality is not that.
People use the Internet for research, but they buy offline.
And while the panel didn’t get into that so much, there was most certainly some discussion as to what local search meant, and when, exactly, it was going to really start happening.
Yup. Even Pandora knows that local is what matters:
“These are some insights and nuggets of advice search experts brought to the Search Engine Strategies conference held here this week. “Local is the motherlode,” said Tim Westergren, founder of Internet radio service Pandora. Speaking at a panel discussion Tuesday, Westergren said the challenge for search engines is to figure out how to give more exposure to sites that don’t appear in top results page. “The search war today is a great popularity contest,” he said.”
Other panelists pointed out what we already know: Local, though it’s been abuzz for months and months, is truly happening this time. Local search is what matters to your average, everyday Internet user.
And as for the next big thing. It seems most people are of the opinion that there will be smaller options, but mostly, Google will remain in charge for the near future.
Of course, that doesn’t mean that Facebook, for example, isn’t going to have a place for local advertisers. In fact, they almost certainly will. Most panelists seemed to agree on that.
Danny Sullivan from Search Engine Land probably summed it up best:
“Google has so much information across the Web and the analytics and the ad data. There is a good degree of information that’s hard for any company to match. Even Microsoft,” said Sullivan. And they’ve been trying for five years. At best, you’re going to see incremental challenges.”
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16:45
The Next Local Online Advertising Media: Not Google?
» G5 Search Marketing BlogGoogle is the single most popular search engine right now. And it’s not even close.
According to CNET, Google is way over the 60% mark as far as popularity for searches. That means, of course, that they’re also getting the lions share of advertising dollars on the Internet. To the tune of billions of dollars, of course.
And where does their success lie? To hear CNET tell it, the answer is painfully obvious: efficiency.
“And although countless tech pundits will chime in and discuss exactly why Google has been able to run roughshod over its competition, few will point out one basic fact that is too often overlooked: Google search is designed to get rid of you as quickly as possible.
Surely, some will attribute Google’s success to its better search results or Yahoo’s management troubles or Microsoft’s poor offering, but it goes far beyond that. Search isn’t simply about relevant results or the competition. Instead, search is all about getting you to your destination as quickly as possible.”
But as dominant as Google is, both nationally and locally, the real question is not who is dominant now. It is who will be running the show tomorrow.
Robert Scoble, a blogger of prolific proportions and one of the most read men in the tech industry, points to a battleground that’s been brewing for some time.
He says, and we see a lot of validity in his argument, that the next big thing is going to be reviews and how those are collated and monetized. And of course, Google is involved in that battle:
“Both Facebook and Google are beating each other up to lock up the next phase: social recommendation and participation.
Google calls this FriendConnect.
Facebook calls this “Facebook Connect.””
That’s right. Linking local search with recommendations from friends and colleagues. Be it through social networking (Facebook) or a classic search (Google). That is the battleground. And the winner will walk away with the next big payday in the Web Marketing Wars.
So who will win? That we can’t say for sure. Scoble suggests that it will be a matter of who markets better. We can’t disagree. Generally, the best marketing wins. Why would the next big advertising platform on the web be any different?
He also suggests that whoever of the two uses video more effectively will find the audience naturally moving toward them. We can’t disagree with that either.
We’ll be watching and make sure to keep our clients at the front of the heap with these changes.
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11:41
Google Fixes Map Issues for Local Search
» G5 Search Marketing BlogToday, our esteemed Search Optimizer Erik Miller has contributed a piece about updates for Google Maps and the effect that will have on local search.
Mr. Miller has a strong history in SEO and has been working hard with Google to get this problem repaired.
Please see his contribution below:
“Good News for Search Engine Optimization (SEO) within Google Local Search Results. As those of us in the Storage Industry know, Public Storage is a beast of a company who consistently dominates the top ten map results in Google, commonly known as a ‘10 pack‘.
Well folks, it appears there is a light at the end of the proverbial tunnel. In a recent interview, Carter Masian, the Director of Product Management for Google Local had this to say regarding what we see as questionable SEO tactics by Public:
‘Yes, in that case, even though there is nothing inherently wrong with a single business ranking prominently in the top results, we are working to modify the way we handle cases like that. The challenge spans multiple areas around the quality of the data, the way we index it, the way we score it, and the way we present the UI in showing it.’
Whats that mean for Google? Re-weighting their algorithm and all the back-end work that that implies.
And what does that mean for those of us who know how much the 10 pack affects local search and want users to get the best information and the best experience possible? Frankly, it’s great news to see that users will get a more authentic experience with their maps and we are happy to see Google still keeps the user experience in mind.”
-Erik Miller
Here is a shot of what Erik is talking about:
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14:03
Who’s Next In Local Advertising?
» G5 Search Marketing BlogAnd also, what?
In the Kelsey Group Local Blog, Michael Boland argues that while information aggregators like Google and Internet Yellow Pages (IYPs) will get a fair share of the advertising revenue as the oft-mentioned shift to online occurs and the money moves more online.
But what he also points to is companies like Topix. These are information aggregators of a different sort. They focus on local news content and putting it altogether in one place. And they are getting a lot of unique visitors to their site to prove it.
The argument that the audience will determine where the advertisers go is a pretty valid one. Of course, he is also wise enough to mention that there are other players in the mix, primarily video.
So who will the eventual winners be? We’re simply not quite there yet, but we remain fairly confident that Google isn’t going anywhere.
And of course there will be a marketplace for online video, especially as the cost drops.
The question is, will a company like Topix be able to compete on a long term basis with Google News, or will Google News find a way to more specifically push content that’s locally relevant to users thus rendering the competition of a company like Topix moot.
Only time will tell. But no matter what happens, we’ll be there, keeping an eye on who the winners are going to be, testing to see what works and making sure that our clients are on the cutting edge in their efforts.
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16:38
Local Search: The Next Step
» G5 Search Marketing BlogToday we ran across a well-written corporate blog written by a company that does similar work to us. Now, obviously, if they did all the things that we did, including measurement, marketing, optimization, maps and the like, we might be hesitant to share their thoughts, no matter how good the blog was.
Luckily, they don’t offer the full service package that we do.
So, with that being said, there is an optimization firm out there that did an absolutely transcendent job of telling small local businesses why they needed a web presence. And gathering a bit of data to point it out.
Now, an important factor to consider is the changing dynamic of advertising. We’ve discussed this in depth here, but it really is true. As advertisers migrate from more traditional media, they are going to have to find new ways to reach audiences who have moved on to new media such as the Internet.
To quote: “Having a small business web site that can be searched and found on the Internet by customers - and potential customers - looking for the products or services you offer in their city is becoming a key marketing tool for small business success.”
Now that sounds really similar to things we’ve said, doesn’t it? That’s because, to be perfectly frank, it’s just very, very true.
In plain and simple English: if you want to compete in ANY market, you need a web site. And one that is found on the front page of Google, at that.
And the numbers back it up:
“For the first time ever, spending on TV advertising is set to outpace spending on newspaper ads this year, according to the latest report from market analysts Veronis Suhler Stevenson, a private equity firm in the media and communications field. And Internet advertising is expected to surpass even TV advertising by 2011 - in three year’s time.”
This means that most regional and small to medium-sized businesses are making this leap. If you, too, want to be successful then the answer is simple: make the leap as well. Your competitors are, and it would be foolhardy to let them march on in front of you.
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8:46
The Power of Google Maps: Redux
» G5 Search Marketing BlogSome time ago we came across a video that showed just how brilliant, and powerful Google Maps really is.
it might’ve even over-valued that power. Just a touch. OK. Maybe a lot. But hey, the video was funny.
But here’s the deal: it wasn’t really over exaggeration. Google has gone to a street view version of their maps in Australia by putting mounted cameras on cars.
This gives an even better idea of what people are looking for if they use Google Maps to do their research before purchasing.
But it also has the chance to really make somebody look like a drunk.
For one Australian man, it did just that.
Here is the photo:
And here is the accompanying article .
The lesson, as always, is that you never know who is watching.
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17:24
What’s next in local advertising?
» G5 Search Marketing Blog
Here at G5 we’re always watching to see what the next step is as the advertising world evolves.
Of course we’ve done things like build in mobile coupons to keep our clients on the cutting edge when it comes to advertising offerings online.
It seems that the next step for many local and regional businesses is going to be video.
Today in the Wall Street Journal, there is a lengthy piece on video advertising online and some very interesting successes. Of course, we are watching to see what will work and how best to use the next step to help our clients succeed.
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10:59
Lawmakers Take Aim At Yellow Pages
» G5 Search Marketing Blog
Once again, the AP is reporting, the yellow pages are battling against an opt-out program being championed by a politician.
There has been legislation proposed in seven states to reduce the number of unwanted phone books being distributed. Not one of them has made it past legislative committees.
Of course, to hear the Yellow Page Association tell it, the books are a strong way for local businesses to advertise while being a cash cow.
They are certainly a cash cow. And, admittedly, in some smaller areas, they are still used. But in major metropolitan areas, people simply don’t use them anymore. This is, unfortunately, where they’re most common.
From the AP: “Some residents in Seattle and other communities in King County, Wash., receive phone books from as many as four publishers, said Tom Watson, a waste prevention specialist for the region. ‘There hasn’t been a good way to opt out,’ he said.”
So what’s the solution? In a country where there twice as many phone books are printed every year as there are people, at the very least, it seems there needs to be an opt-out program. And one that is easy to find.
Joseph Igoe, a city councilman in Albany NY is trying to do just that. According to the AP article he is: “trying to build support for a law that would limit the distribution of phone books and require publishers to make it easy for people to halt delivery.”
If he is successful, it would be the first time that such legislation has been successful. Similar attempts have been made in Alaska, Hawaii, Minnesota, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina and Washington but have all ended without success.
As it stands, use is flagging in the aforementioned major metropolitan areas. It should be just a matter of time until those opt-outs exist.
Until then, we’ll continue use our phone books for what we have been for years. Monitor stands for our computers.
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9:46
The Shift Continues - Advertising Investment Moving Online
» G5 Search Marketing Blog
The SF Business Times wrote an article echoing what we, along with virtually every other online marketing expert, has been saying for some time.
Advertising dollars are moving online. And the proof is simple. Online is moving past TV, radio and movies:
Burlingame-based Outsell Inc. predicted online advertising spending would best advertising spending for TV, radio and movies in 2008 for the first time. Companies are projected to spend $108 billion online and $98.5 billion on TV, radio and movie ads. Print media will still take in the lion’s share of advertising dollars, capturing a projected $147 billion.
Now obviously, this isn’t local advertising we’re talking about, but national. Nonetheless, it’s indicative of a larger line of reasoning. Local has traditionally followed in the footsteps of the national advertisers. And certainly, as the shift continues and things like print yellow pages move toward their eventual demise, we will see that local will move online while taking dollars away from other medias. It seems that, at least initially, it will be from more advanced media and not as much from print.
“You really have dollars flowing from traditional media to online media,” said Jeffrey Glass, a partner at Bain Capital Partners in Boston. “So even though there’s generally a soft economy out there, you’re seeing a massive flow of dollars from offline to online.”
So there you have it. Nationally and locally, advertisers are recognizing that it is simply more cost effective to move online. And it seems that more than anything, it is a soft economy that has helped move that shift along.
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13:47
Don’t Isolate Your Online Marketing Campaign
» G5 Search Marketing BlogAndy Beal at the Marketing Pilgrim alerted us to some new research from iProspect and Jupiter Research. It showed 45% of search marketing campaigns aren’t integrated with off-line marketing efforts. To us, this is not a surprise.
With our platform, we measure all of our clients advertising. That includes off-line. And for many reasons, we have seen that the campaigns oftentimes simply do not match up.
According to the study just over half of search engine marketers (55%) intentionally integrate their efforts with at least one off-line campaign.
So, do your efforts need to link up? Well, yes and no.
We have seen clients where this was of the utmost importance. If there was going to be a special offered, for example, they wanted consistency across all media.
There is certainly nothing wrong with that, but, depending on the business you’re in, there is nothing wrong with having multiple specials. Obviously, this is with the long term goal of an in-store sale and, thus, on the local level.
Now if you’re going for a branding play, there are ways to do that online as well. However, search marketing is mostly likely not that place as it is a much more direct route to highly motivated buyers.
When it makes sense of course, it is reasonable to integrate search engine strategies with off-line. According to Jupiter, the breakdown of integration is as follows: direct mail (34%) and magazine/newspaper advertising (29%), while both television (12%) and radio advertising (12%) trail behind.
Andy Beal had an interesting point of view as to what, exactly, these numbers mean: “It seems to me that 55% is a healthy number. Search marketing is only just finding a dedicated place in the marketing budgets of companies, so it’s still early days, when it comes to blending SEM with other channels.”
We can’t disagree with that. As search marketing grows, we expect to see the blending of marketing efforts become more pronounced.
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11:28
How To Spend Your Online Marketing Dollars
» G5 Search Marketing BlogClickZ had an interesting article yesterday on what’s working in the web.
And it got us thinking.
The point of view espoused in a recent study by OPA, is rather simple. Spend your marketing dollars online. Just do it in very specific locales. Spend that cash on your site, use it as a branding play and dump the rest in with content providers (such as newspaper web sites) online. They used Dynamic Logic’s MarketNorms database to gauge the impact of advertising across a variety of different Web environments to come up with this hypothesis. And, worth noting. This is the online publishers association that funded the study. So they clearly have a bit of a slant.
With our G5 Media Dashboard, we are able to see that the impact of good SEO and a high quality site is incredibly important. No matter how much money you spend on SEM, it can be a non-issue. If you reach a web site and what people see doesn’t make them want to take the next step to contact your business, your money has been wasted.
However, one disagreement we have is how to get there.
Sure, using a “branded content site” (ala Newspaper sites) can work. However, there is absolutely something to be said for the real advertising portals of the web: search engines.
Study after study shows that users of search engines go directly there. Numbers have actually shown that a disproportionate number of people actually google google. No. Really.
but according to ClickZ:
“Nearly all forms of online media have an important role to play throughout the purchase ‘funnel,’” said OPA President Pam Horan. “But branded content sites have a notably greater impact at the points where consumers are establishing brand preference and making purchase decisions.”So what does this mean for clients like ours? Regional businesses still need to focus on the basics. Using a content site will cost you more and deliver less for it.
Eventually, content may win users back once the shift online is complete. But not yet. Right now, it is the aggregator who is king.
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11:32
Online Coupons on The Rise
» G5 Search Marketing BlogWe recently announced the addition of mobile coupons to our platform here at G5. This is, of course, in addition to the print coupon option that was already built into the aforementioned platform.
Today, MediaPost pointed us to a survey that suggests, as we’ve been saying for some time, that consumer actions are moving online. Specifically, the MediaPost article discusses coupons.
It seems that as with all other consumer action, it is quickly transitioning online.
Here’s a snippet:
The number of American adults using online coupons rose by 39% to 36 million between 2005 and 2008, according to a new survey conducted by Simmons/Experian Research and Coupons, Inc.
Online users account for nearly one-quarter (24%) of the total 148 million consumers who use coupons, compared to 22% market penetration as of last year.
Meanwhile, newspaper coupon users declined from 96 million in 2005 to 92 million last year.So there you have it. Coupon use is moving online.
We are already moving, however, toward the next steps as noted in our recent announcement: mobile coupons.
As consumers move online, we’ll be there to usher them into those habits. And when they move again, to their mobile phone, we’ll be there again. At the forefront.
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14:32
Borrell Associates: Recession triggering shift from Yellow Pages to Online
» G5 Search Marketing BlogBorrell Associates today released a report that stated, in effect, that Internet advertising is killing the Yellow Pages.
An excerpt from their announcement: “Over the next five years, we are expecting 39% of the ad spending on print yellow pages to vanish. After 12 years as an advertising medium, the Internet has finally reached small-business owners with viable marketing opportunities in the form of keyword advertising, interactive directories and low-priced online video commercials. The recession appears to be triggering the shift. Click here to download an executive summary or the full report.”
That’s right, according to Borrell, in the next five years, 39% of ad spend in yellow pages will be gone (mostly moving online.) That equates to somewhere in the neighborhood of $5 billion according to the report (and also reported on by Greg Sterling).
The chart above, of course, shows that while it’s clear that Borrell expects the viability of both newspaper and yellow pages to slow, right now, we’re looking at by far the most significant sales forces out there. They suggest these sales forces are being trained to push online, mostly IYP. That makes sense and, as that is the fastest growing category for the Yellow Pages companies, that makes sense.
As for the future, Borrell is “forecasting another 18 months of strong double-digit growth for local online ad sales, which will settle to single-digit or “market norm” levels by 2012.” By then, they expect that the “winners” in local online advertising will be ferreted out and twill be as large as a second or third-tier media outlet for the market they are in. That’s a pretty significant change to take place in the next five years.
However, based on the numbers we’ve seen in most major markets, and what we’ve surmised from this, it’s not totally impossible. In fact, we’d go so far as to call it a reasonable likelihood.
What does all this mean? Simple. So long print yellow pages.
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16:09
SMX Local and Mobile Wrap-Up
» G5 Search Marketing Blog
After two good days of meeting people in the industry and learning tons, yes, literal piles of excellent information, we are happy to say that SMX Local and Mobile was, for us, a rousing success.
Notable and particularly interesting speakers included the panel entitled “Ranking Tactics for Local Search.”
We were particularly impressed with the proof points offered by Steve Espinosa from eLocal Listing, who really, really wants you to check out his blog (stevenespinosa.com) and Gib Olander from Localeze, who didn’t once mention his blog.
Of course, the big winner of the day in our opinion was our own CEO, Dan Hobin.
Speaking in the panel entitled “Monetizing Local & Mobile: Who’s Making Money?” with such industry luminaries as David Mihm from, well, DavidMihm.com and Ian White from Urban Mapping, it was our media dashboard that seemed to really hit home.
The industry was excited to see specific numbers and what was working. And it was rather satisfying for us, as well. It’s one thing to know that what you’re doing is interesting and really has potential to break some serious ground. It’s another thing to see from reactions of people in your business that it really is an exciting place your company is headed.
The second day was also quite interesting, with the standout for us being the last panel of the day: “Cracking the Code: Inside the Black Boxes of Local & Mobile Search Algorithms”.
In particular, it was Jordan Kasteler from Overstock.com and Mike Blumenthal from Blumenthal’s who brought up some interesting points that made us think about how we’re going to continue to improve our reach for our customers through organic means.
All in all, it was a great show were we picked up a lot of interesting information.
Thanks SMX Crew!
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7:00
Mobile Coupon Functionality - Flexibility for G5 Platform Grows
» G5 Search Marketing BlogPlease see attached for our most recent announcement. We’ve announced Mobile Coupon Functionality for our already robust platform.
Check out some visual stimulus here.
And here is the release:
G5 Search Marketing Adds Mobile Coupons to Local Marketing Platform
New Technology Enables Local Businesses to “Close the Loop” by Tracking from Online to Point of Sale Off-line
SMX Local and Mobile 2008
San Francisco, CA. – July 23, 2008 – G5 Search Marketing Inc., a leader in local advertising and measurement solutions, today announced the addition of mobile coupons to its local marketing platform. G5’s new mobile technology gives local businesses the ability to track their customer conversions from where they originate online to the point of sale off-line.
In local markets, people search online and then pick up the phone or go into the store to complete the transaction off-line. The G5 Local Marketing Platform tracks the coupon redemption, using proprietary tracking technology, back to the advertising source where it originated online – showing you what ads turned into customers. This empowers business owners to “close the loop” and find which advertising campaigns are producing their most profitable customers.
Local businesses can now see which advertising campaigns, be it from Google, Yahoo, Facebook or some other web properties, turned into customers,” said G5 CEO Dan Hobin. “They can also see which customers come from maps or optimized search engine listings.”
G5 Mobile Coupons for Local Internet Advertising are offered as part of the G5 Local Marketing Platform. For more information contact G5 at (800) 554-1965.
About G5 Search Marketing
G5 earch Marketing is reinventing Local Marketing by giving business owners visibility into what advertising efforts produce their most profitable customers. U.S. businesses spend over $100 billion annually targeting local and regional customers. As consumers shift from more traditional types of media consumption to the online world, there are significant opportunities to measure and improve the efficiency of local marketing and advertising. The G5 Marketing Platform was developed to help manage the shift from off-line to online advertising, measure what works, and optimize to the sources that provide the best return on marketing. For more information, please visit www.g5searchmarketing.com.# # #
CONTACTS:
Devin Davis
G5 Search Marketing
(541) 306-3389
devin.davis@G5searchmarketing.com
www.G5searchmarketing.com -
13:13
What Matters Most Online: Local
» G5 Search Marketing BlogSo says Greg Sterling in a post today on his blog, Screenwerk.
And of course, we agree with him. We’ve been saying for quite some time that people use the Internet for their research but then, more often than not, go to an off-line location (i.e. into a local store) to make that final purchase. We can even show that happening through our media dashboard. The way people are interacting with not just the Internet but their local world is shifting. And it’s shifting online.
But what is really interesting is that Sterling uses almost the exact same language as we do to describe this phenomenon. Here’s a sample: “I’ve have tried to argue for several years that “local” is the most important thing happening online — because it’s all about driving buyers to the point of sale offline. But one of the big, historical challenges in validating that argument and propsition has been tracking the influence of online to the point of sale.”
And then, of course, for a point of comparison - what we say: “As consumers shift from more traditional types of media consumption to the online world, there are significant opportunities to measure and improve the efficiency of local marketing and advertising. The G5 Local Marketing Platform was developed to help manage the shift from traditional to online advertising, measure what works, and optimize to the sources that provide the best return on marketing.”
Now obviously this isn’t the exact same wording, nor the exact same thrust lies behind it.
Nonetheless, it’s extremely satisfying for us to see one of the preeminent voices in our space agreeing with us and our view of the Internet and how it relates to local businesses.
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9:09
Happy Birthday, Hoff!
» G5 Search Marketing BlogWe are big, big fans of David Hasselhoff here at G5. (Ironically, of course.)
Nonetheless, we’d like to take this opportunity to wish the star of Knight Rider, Baywatch and many German songs a happy 56th birthday!
You look great! And here’s wishing you another 56 just like it!
And here’s a little song to celebrate your birthday, written and performed by, well, you:
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16:09
Yellow Pages: Top 25 Things Vanishing from America
» G5 Search Marketing Blog
That’s right folks, it’s time for another installment of “Overpriced and Under-Used” starring, you guessed it, Ye Ole Yellow Pages.
We say “Ye Ole” because, well, they’re far past their prime, to say the least.
And it becomes clear when a fraud investigator and CPA builds a list of top 25 things vanishing from America and those books you’re using to hold up your computer monitor at work, or maybe teach your child to drive with in parking lots when they’re too short to see over the steering wheel (that’s still irresponsible of you, by the way…) puts them on the list.
Here’s a quick snippet: “With every passing year, more households have internet access, and web-savvy youngsters are growing into adults with the skills that whatever information they need with a computer. Other than baby boomers and older, I know very few people who use any type of phone book anymore, white pages or yellow pages. Who needs two bulky books sitting on a shelf?”
As far as we’re concerned, those are excess. And from an advertising perspective, we’ve seen over and over again that for local businesses, it’s simply foolhardy to spend so much of their marketing budgets (often in the thousands of dollars) on something (the yellow pages) that simply does not work. With our media dashboard and our Local Marketing Platform, we’re able to measure the results.
And guess what. The Yellow Pages simply do not work.
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13:59
Competition: To Succeed in the Local Market You Must Advertise
» G5 Search Marketing BlogA simple little tome’ today over at The Local Advertising Journal got our attention. They point out that advertising is absolutely necessary for virtually any business.
In the local market, everyone advertises one way or another. Simply having a good product isn’t enough any more, if it ever was.
So, if you want to succeed, follow our advice (and that of the Local Advertising Journal) and reach out to your customers through the most direct and trackable route: online.
Here is what the Local Advertising Journal said:
Some companies that hesitate to build an online marketing campaign do so because of a firm belief that if you have a quality product and service, people will find it and come to your site. While that is true in the most minimal way, the fact is that while you are relying solely on product, your competitors are relying on product and advertising.If the best chef in the country is opening up a fabulous new restaurant in your local area, will you know it just because of the smell of wafting cuisine? Probably not. You will know about the restaurant opening because it was advertised. People saw the ads, got curious, and went to the restaurant. While there, they ordered. Luck favors those that tweak fate in their favor, plain and simple.
To make the most out of your local advertising budget, don’t be afraid to embrace both marketing and public relations. If you are opening a new local online business, you want people to know about it and show up. Just like the opening restaurant, you want to market the online business and get people to be curious, follow the links and come on in.
Whether you are marketing a local online business product, service, or facility, you need to advertise to let people know that you exist, that you are out there, and that you are ready for customers.
Don’t rely on search engines alone, look for a human factor to grow your online business.
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10:36
YouTube Going Local Should Alter Local Search Landscape
» G5 Search Marketing BlogYouTube, the ubiquitous video-sharing sites, has gone local.
Of course, since they’re owned by Google, this is almost certainly going to have major repercussions for local businesses.
This will, in all likelihood, be yet another tool in the local search arsenal as businesses migrate online.
But, it could be a very big one.
Video already plays a fairly big role in search results. It isn’t crazy to think that as video becomes more common the difference between a successful business and an unsuccessful one, especially when it comes to online presence, could be taking advantage of this new melding of Google Maps and YouTube.
Here are some screenshots courtesy of Search Engine Land and Greg Sterling:
Stay tuned…as always, G5 is keeping an eye on what creates success in the local market.
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9:31
Summer Fun in Bend, Oregon
» G5 Search Marketing BlogOur company picnic was a rousing success! With families in tow, the G5 Search Marketing crew dropped in on a Bend Elks game Wednesday.
Final Score: Bend Elks - 4, Gresham Mountaineers - 3, Chris Stringer - 1 excellent pitch. The game was decided in the bottom of the ninth, but the fun started as soon as G5 got there.
Photos by Lance Hardy
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13:25
Google Finds Another Route to Local Businesses Hearts
» G5 Search Marketing BlogThe Google AdWords program has added yet another way for local businesses to measure their online success. Numbers.
While previously, the AdWords program gave only colored bars in graph form to show how relevant and searched a particular term (keyword) might be, they are now giving approximate numbers, according to The Marketing Pilgrim.
That’s good news for local businesses who want to get a good return on their investment.
Of course, we already collate this information with our dashboard, but for those companies who, for some reason, don’t use us in their marketing efforts, this might be helpful.
This is just another in the long list of ways Google is reaching out to the local market. Much like their strategic alliance with us, it is a way for them to reach customers they might, otherwise, have difficulty servicing.
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22:12
So. It seems that the Yellow Pages DO serve a Purpose
» G5 Search Marketing BlogEnjoy!
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14:43
Why Advertising Online Matters for Local Businesses
» G5 Search Marketing BlogEverybody loves lists. So today we’re going to break it down.
It’s time for the top 5 (count em, 5) reasons that it makes sense for local and regional businesses to build and maintain an online presence.
We’ve borrowed suggestions from various people in the industry. So thanks in advance for the insights, all who are linked to.
Starting at 5 and going back from there:
5. The providers of online ads can prove their product works.
Google themselves might just say it best on their AdWords site: “Take a proven, results-driven approach to your online advertising efforts. Google AdWords lets you track impressions, clicks, and conversions - giving you accountability for your dollars and taking the guesswork out of advertising.”
4. You could be the only one on the block who is advertising online. At the very least, you could be the only one doing so effectively.
Way back in February of 2005 (!) Darby Sieben, a Canadian SEO expert, pointed to why online advertising was (and is, even moreso, today) important for local businesses through a series of questions: “The fact that your competitors are still caught in the traditional world of newspapers and print directories is the opportunity. Imagine if your business was given the opportunity to have exclusivity of your product line or message in a local newspaper? If you were given exclusive access to 1/4 million consumers everyday in Calgary, without the clutter and fight with your competitors, how easy would it be generate more business?”
3. More and more local businesses are moving their advertising dollars online. The sooner you get there, the less likely you are to have your competitors pass you by.
From a Media Life Magazine article on local advertising earlier this month: “In a report issued last week, Williamsburg, Va.-based Borrell Associates, a research and consulting firm, raised its forecast for 2008 local web ad revenue slightly, to $13.1 billion, or 50 percent more than last year. Some of the growth is attributable to traditional local media like papers, TV and radio selling advertising on their own sites, at a time when their offline revenue isn’t growing nearly as quickly, or it’s sinking. But the major local driver is what Borrell terms pure-play companies selling low-cost advertising that reaches consumers not while using the web to read the news but while researching products and prices.”
2. Advertising online is more effective and less costly (if done right).
From Entrepreneur Magazine: “Online ads are the Brave New World of marketing, an uncharted frontier of opportunity and danger. With online ads you can get an extremely high return-on-investment for just a little time and a little money.”
And finally (here would be a good place for a drumroll…)
1. The Internet is now where local consumers primarily gather information.
Way back in January of 2008 Search Engine Land had this to say: “the internet has now surpassed the venerable print yellow pages and newspapers as the primary local resource for consumers looking for services. This is not to say that print newspapers and yellow pages don’t have meaningful usage anymore, but we’ve reached an important “tipping point” of sorts.”
So there you have it. The top five reasons why advertising online matters for local businesses.
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10:00
How to Sell Online Advertising: Keep it Simple
» G5 Search Marketing Blog
The world is changing. And for those of us in the tech industry, it is sometimes difficult to remember that not everyone knows all our acronyms.
SEO. SEM. PPC. In Local Internet Advertising, these are simple, everyday “words”.
But it’s important to remember, that for the local business owner, who is used to more simple language and the easy-to-understand (though antiquated and overpriced) models of the Yellow Pages, Local Newspapers, television and radio - all our letter combinations can be very confusing.
The Utah SEO blog had a contribution from a CEO who pointed out the folly of our ways. Here’s a snippet:
“I Don’t Know That I Need Social Interaction
Digg to me is something done in the yard. Delicious is a hot fudge brownie. Reddit is a book I have already read. Facebook is for lost friends that I prefer stay lost. And YouTube is a place where wannabes try to be somebody, usually showing me what they have and usually far more than I want to see. The majority of the senior execs I know have never experienced any of these social sites and don’t need new friends, so they are naturally skeptical of being told to spend money on something they don’t feel they need.”While we, as a group, may understand the value and importance of these social media opportunities, that doesn’t mean that a CEO of a local company will.
It is important that, as the shift from traditional to online media occurs, we make certain that our role as facilitators is fulfilled properly. This means speaking to our audience. In their language, not ours.
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14:54
Numbers Don’t Lie - Local Search is For Real
» G5 Search Marketing Blog
As the world leaves the yellow pages where they belong (the recycle bin) and move toward a more total digital experience, the local market is joining in. And with a vengeance.
Here is a little sampling of local numbers to consider from Search Engine Land (along with some handy attributions):
* As much as $500 billion in off-line purchases was influenced by the internet in 2007 (eMarketer)
* 89% of consumers making in-store purchases in key categories have conducted research online (BIGResearch)
* 82% of people using local search sites followed up with an offline action, e.g. in-store visit, phone call (TMP Directional Marketing)So even though the local advertising market is $100 billion, and the web has only a small portion of that, it is already influencing to the tune of $500 billion. That’s a whole lotta clams. And it’s only going to grow.
The skinny is pretty simple. In order to compete in any market, a web presence is important. The local market is most certainly one of them. And any business who doesn’t jump into the next step in technology will be left behind.
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10:41
Documenting the Shift
» G5 Search Marketing Blog
Think of it as a mission statement of sorts.
This is the goal of this blog.
In the beginning, the goal of G5 Search Marketing was to build a web presence and increase revenue for our clients by adding an additional, affordable source of leads.
As we developed an ability to measure results, an incredibly important part of our platform, we’ve seen that by and large, the best source of leads for our clients have come not from traditional sources such as the yellow pages and local television, but from the web.
Thus we saw a trend. The market is shifting. People are changing their habits. And they’re moving online to gather information. Even when they plan to make purchases at a local level.
That’s where this blog comes in. As evidence of this shift arises (and this is happening on a daily basis, more and more frequently) we will present it for consumption.
Our hope is that you, the reader, will not fall behind your competitors because we have been able to help you foresee this transition.
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11:35
Old Media Must Migrate Online to Find Younger Audience
» G5 Search Marketing Blog
The audience for television and newspaper is getting older.
While this may not be a surprise to everyone, the average age of that audience very well could be: 50. And according to Silicon Alley Insider, that is when most advertisers stop paying for the audience. This poses a major problems for major TV networks.
Younger users, by and large, are migrating online for virtually all of their information and, in many cases, entertainment as well. This helps explain things like hulu.com. As the younger generation moves online, pushing content to them, such as TV shows, will be key to keeping the revenue flowing into network coffers.
Now, this does not imply that television and newspapers don’t still have a significant audience. The baby boomer generation is, of course, huge. And, Greg Sterling points out, older generations tend to have more money to spend.
But what this really means, it seems, is that content providers: television networks, newspapers, radio stations, etc. need to rethink their market strategy sooner rather than later. Between TiVo, Google News and other aggregation tools, it is more and more important for these “old media” platforms to reach out to new consumers - through any roads available. And by any means necessary.
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15:03
The Future of Web 2.0 Marketing
» G5 Search Marketing Blog
Here at G5, we’re constantly trying out new marketing tools and trying to find new ways to reach audiences.
Of course, we blog quite regularly, both for our clients and for our contemporaries.
In a Web 2.0 world, reaching out to audiences in the relaxed environment of a blog is becoming increasingly important. However, driving traffic to that blog, and thus increasing your readership can still be extremely challenging.
And when it’s a corporate blog, it can be even more difficult. Developing and maintaining an audience for such a blog is the real challenge.
But there are resources. In the Find and Convert blog earlier this week, there was a fantastic article on reaching out. It talked about how, though only 12% of the Fortune 500 are blogging, those who are have made it an important aspect of their marketing. And, it seems, with good reason.
Mentioned sites for increasing exposure include Junta42 - an interesting online round table for marketing and advertising ideas and Hubspot, who also clearly work very hard on their social media strategy. We think that Junta42 really has potential to be an important site, not just for the online, but also for off-line marketers as well.
This is something that’s going to be important across every business eventually. At the end of the day, content, and content that people want, is king.
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10:51
Local Video Market to Reach $1.5 Billion by 2012
» G5 Search Marketing Blog
The Kelsey Group today pointed to a TKG forecast on local video. It seems that TKG expects the local online video market to reach $1.5 billion by 2012.According to Mike Boland at Kelsey “The popularity of online video has trickled down to the local level in the form of small and medium-sized business video advertising that accompanies local listings and business profiles.”
As Boland sees it, video is a value add to the local marketing landscape. He says “Local online video for small businesses also combines the traditional appeal of television advertising with the distribution efficiencies and advantages of the Internet. For users, video in the local search environment complements listings and is watched in “lean forward” mode, as a way to assist purchase decisions and add color to listings.”
So it appears video on the web is quite possibly the next wave in advertising at the local level.
G5 will be there, as always, finding the most efficient ways for our clients to reach their local customers.
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15:23
Our CEO Dan Hobin on KOHD News in Bend, Oregon
» G5 Search Marketing BlogClick on the headline above to see our CEO discuss our recent strategic alliance with Google on KOHD News in Bend, Oregon.
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10:30
Build Them (Communities) and They (Audiences) Will Come
» G5 Search Marketing Blog
Fox, who has been taking the lead in the digital front for television as of late (Hulu anybody?) really seems to get what works.
How much do they get it? So much so that they’re launching their very own social networking community - of a sort. Not only is it invite only (the original GMail model) but it’s also actively seeking feedback on programming — all while giving unfettered access to the people who can really change that programming.
“What comes out of this community is that we’re taking 2000 of our loyal viewers and giving them a seat at the table in the decision-making process,” said Melva Benoit, senior vice president for audience intelligence and research strategy at Fox.
The initiative will incorporate that input not just into TV programming decisions, but in developing network promotions and marketing campaigns and shaping content on Fox.com.”
This means Fox is using the web as a marketing research tool (granted, one of many…)
They’re reaching out to the viewers in a national and easy-to-use forum. Really smart. The question is, how long until there is regional programming on the web as a result of this, much like the regional content we see on traditional TV now. Or are we past that?
Either way, when they start reaching out to local audiences for their regional point of views, there will be advertising there, won’t there?
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9:34
TNS Media Intelligence: G5 is Right - Advertising is shifting Online
» G5 Search Marketing Blog
Well, we have to admit. That’s not an exact quote. But it’s also not too far off.
For several years now, Dan Hobin, our venerable CEO, has spoken of “the shift from off-line to online” when it comes to advertising. It seems that the industry is finally starting to see what he’s been talking about all this time.
Today, MediaPost published an article quoting a report by advertising economist Jon Swallen - a senior vice president of research at TNS Media Intelligence.
“Some of what we are seeing continues to reflect that shift from traditional to digital media,” said Swallen, who has been closely monitoring which factors have been contributing to the slow growth on Madison Avenue. Last week, Swallen released an analysis of first-quarter 2008 ad spending across the major media, which showed a relatively tepid growth of just 0.6%.
And MediaPost and Swallen explain just why spending is moving online. Just like Hobin has said, it’s all about efficiency: “Meanwhile, Swallen said marketers have begun adjusting how and where they spend those constrained marketing dollars, with more going toward more efficient digital media–especially things like online search–and to unmeasured forms of media that are dampening the inflation of historically high-priced traditional media. In fact, the major TV networks are crowing that they managed to preserve the volume of advertising commitments in the recently completed 2008-09 prime-time upfront advertising marketplace. But they only managed to do so by packaging more inventory–including some high-demand online video advertising–into the mix they sold to advertisers to get to those levels.”
So what does all this mean? Simple. As advertisers see they can spend less for better results online, the shift will continue.
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17:10
A new friend for G5
» G5 Search Marketing Blog
Yesterday, we announced a strategic alliance with the Google AdWords program.
Of course, the journalist might ask “Why should I care?”
Well, we’re glad you asked, pretend journalist…
The answer: because these agreements don’t happen often.
And here are a few more reasons, too:
1. Google approached us for this alliance. They have come to realize that in order to reach local and regional businesses, they must work with companies like us. (Translation: local and regional businesses need help in moving to the online advertising world and we are the perfect company to provide that help).
2. Part of the reason they chose us, was they liked our ability to track the off-line transaction back to where it originated online. Basically they like that we can prove that Google AdWords does drive local customers into local businesses.
3. Local Search is the next big play in Search (Local Advertising is a $100 Billion market that is moving online) BUT - this alliance confirms that Google has realized that in order to tap into the Local Search (local online advertising) market, they need companies just like us. And, well, including us.
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14:45
Yahoogle: The perfect pairing for advertisers?
» G5 Search Marketing Blog
Two of the best ways, across virtually any media, to reach a potential customer in our experience here at G5 has been Google, and also, Yahoo. Late last week, they joined forces.
What does this mean? Well. First of all, it means $250 million to $500 million added to Yahoo coffers by most accounts. Not a huge number, but nonetheless significant. However, it’s a far cry from what Yahoo could’ve gotten for selling out completely to Microsoft a month ago — probably for somewhere around $33 a share. Even when Microsoft came back to the table, it was looking like the numbers were going to be around $1 billion initially to sell of search.
So was it a good move for Yahoo? The jury is still out. But it could very well end up being a great deal for local companies who are looking to reach their customer base through local search and marketing.
And for that, we can be thankful.
For more on this, check out Search Engine Land who has done a ton of great stuff on this subject including a side-by-side comparison on the two deals as well as an excellent story on what this means for Yahoo.
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11:21
The Atlantic - You’re Stupid. Blame Google.
» G5 Search Marketing Blog
OK, OK, OK.
So maybe it wasn’t quite that drastic of a statement. But it seems that The Atlantic does blame the Internet for, as they see it, the dumbing down of America.
The Atlantic says that, while we’re reading more thanks to the Web and, yes, text messaging, what we’re reading may be, in fact, probably is, of less consequence.
And, it seems, the brain really does change in relation to what’s around it.
Nicholas Carr writes: “The process of adapting to new intellectual technologies is reflected in the changing metaphors we use to explain ourselves to ourselves. When the mechanical clock arrived, people began thinking of their brains as operating “like clockwork.” Today, in the age of software, we have come to think of them as operating “like computers.” But the changes, neuroscience tells us, go much deeper than metaphor. Thanks to our brain’s plasticity, the adaptation occurs also at a biological level.”
In the end, it seems that we are, in fact, becoming like computers.
Of course, that has both advantages and disadvantages. Having the web as a one-stop shop is how it’s going to be. And that’s a good thing. But we all still need to have lives away from our computers.
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12:43
Local Search Going Mobile?
» G5 Search Marketing Blog
It looks like Local Search is taking baby steps to move to a mobile environment.
This is pretty exciting news for those of us who are focusing on the Local Market.
As was expected, with the proliferation of smart phones, the need for a more specialized local search option has increased.
And for Blackberry, this means a new local search client from Multiplied Media.
Local Mobile Search threw this info our way — “One of the interesting things that Multiplied is doing is expanding “local search” to include brands/products.”
Now all we have to do is figure out how to advertise effectively on those little handsets and we’ll be able to reach out to an entirely new demographic.
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9:26
IDC: Internet Advertising on the rise in stalling economy
» G5 Search Marketing Blog
Even as the economy slows across the country, it seems that Internet Advertising is increasing.
ClickZ reported on a recent IDC report which stated as much:
“The research company said the figures show the economic slowdown crushing many other industries in the nation has not had an adverse impact on online advertising. In fact, IDC said it expects Internet advertising to rapidly grow throughout the rest of the year despite a general pullback in overall ad spending.”
The reason, it seems, is that advertising on the web is more cost effective. Of course, we could’ve told you that, as our platform measurement component consistently shows the best return on local ad spend comes from the Internet.
According to IDC Digital Marketplace and New Media Program Director Karsten Weide, a bad economy forces advertisers to save money by eliminating the least-effective forms, thus speeding up the adoption of new media advertising, he said.
And the numbers back it up. According to IDC, “Internet advertising revenue in the United States reached $7.1 billion in the first quarter of 2008, a jump of nearly 24 percent compared to the same quarter in 2007.”
And it seems things are only going to get better in the online world.
IDC recently issued an Internet ad forecast that made similar points. It contended the economic downturn is actually helping the Internet marketing industry and IDC predicted the overall Internet ad revenue will double from $25.5 billion in 2007 to $51.1 billion in 2012.
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13:20
iPhone Mania
» G5 Search Marketing Blog
Though not strictly on the topic of Local Marketing, it’s worth noting that the hysteria has reached it’s apex - Apple released its third generation iPhone mere minutes ago.
Features of the newest (and, arguably, best) smart phone on the block include:
* GPS (including WiFi and Cell Phone Tower Triangulation)
* Tons of New Applications
* A $100 price cut: the 8G is now $199 and the 16G is now $299
* A fast approaching release date: July 11 in 22 (!) countriesNow all we need is a local search widget on that phone and we can make the next logical move to hyper-local advertising via mobile.
Thanks to the folks at ScreenWerk, GigaOm and Engadget for the info and the photo.
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9:14
Who Will Rule the Internet: Platform Wars
» G5 Search Marketing Blog
Time today put out a very interesting article on the future of the Internet. Much like us here at G5, it seems Time thinks that it’s all about the platform.They point to the open platforms of Google and Facebook and also question whether Apple, and it’s rumored new iPhone, will be in the mix as well. Overall, a very interesting and accessible piece on where the Internet is headed and what that means for the average consumer.
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12:49
Yet Another Reason to Blog
» G5 Search Marketing BlogThe folks over at ClickZ.com have kindly pointed out yet another reasons for businesses, even on the local level, to blog: It seems that Google is integrating their AdWords program into the increasingly popular (and Google owned) RSS feeder - Feedburner.
An RSS Feed is an easy way to keep up on your favorite news and blogs by having them come to you, rather than you chasing them down on a site by site basis.
The article talks a bit about the future of the program which may include such features as: the ability to serve formats based on the capabilities of an end user’s feed reading mechanism of choice, be it Bloglines, Google Reader or iGoogle, Google’s personalized homepage that can also double as a lightweight RSS browser.
Looks like something work keeping an eye on in the Local Marketing arena.
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12:14
Don’t Get Left Behind - Build a Web Presence
» G5 Search Marketing Blog
If you’re local and you don’t have a web site, it seems that, according to recent reports, you’re losing out on customers, and money.
Paula Hay, over at Startup Nation, pointed to a Nielsen Study that says, in essence, that without a web presence, you are going to lose local customers:
“But the era of getting by without a web presence is now officially over. In the fall of 2007, Nielsen/Netratings conducted a study…that uncovered a sea change in consumer shopping habits: 73% of respondents stated that search engines are their top resource for finding local businesses, while 85% of 18-24 year olds placed search engines in the top spot. The Yellow Pages came in at 65%, and fewer than half look to such stand-bys as newspapers, radio, and direct mail.”
So what does this mean? Well, in essence, if search engines can’t find your business, then neither can consumers. And that means you lose money.
Basically, it’s time to for every business to build a web presence or risk falling behind — and not just from E-commerce sites, but from their next-door-neighbor competitors, too.
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9:33
The Local Market is Moving - Online
» G5 Search Marketing BlogThe web is quickly overtaking the classic advertising market system (DMAs) in the United States. While markets were traditionally ranked by size, today, the Internet is quickly taking over and blending all those markets into one.
Greg Sterling over at Sterling Market Intelligence wrote an excellent post on the move to the web — and what that means for the local market.
“There used to be 210 markets (DMAs) in the United States. Now there is one: The Internet. Of course that’s a radical oversimplification. However all the separate state and local markets that could support lots of TV affiliates, newspapers, weekly shoppers, community publications, radio stations, and directory publishers are essentially disappearing.
The local Internet is comprised of thousands of sites. But few of these sites can make the kind of money that the traditional media companies have historically been able to make. That’s because few of them have the reach online that they had in their respective markets and because of the economics of performance-based advertising, which requires massive scale to pay off.
Think of these traditional media as endangered species in the media ecosystem. And as these players shrink or become extinct “media diversity” (like biodiversity) is compromised.
What prompted me to write this is a Reuters piece that appeared today, which reports on a prediction by investment firm Sanford C. Bernstein that the US Internet would be dominated by “two strong players” (Google, Amazon). This is a drastic and incorrect oversimplification but there may be a directional sense in which it’s accurate.”
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14:17
Why Social Media is Important: In Plain English
» G5 Search Marketing Blog
Social Media in Plain English from leelefever on Vimeo. -
15:30
Borrell Associates: Local Online Spending on the rise
» G5 Search Marketing Blog
Local is where the action is according to a recent report from Borrell Associates entitled “What Local Media Web Sites Earn: 2008 Survey“.
According to Kate Kaye over at ClickZ.com:
“As has been forecast for all of online advertising, local Web ad revenues are poised for growth. A new report shows local online ad spending is rising at a 50 percent clip, and will hit $13 billion this year.
Borrell Associates pegs 2007 local online ad revenues at $8.7 billion in its new “What Local Media Web Sites Earn: 2008 Survey” report. Double-digit growth over the next year and a half is projected, based on a survey of over 3,000 local media properties.”
This is big news for those of us in the Local Marketing space.
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16:21
How To Build Your Business: Write What You Know
» G5 Search Marketing BlogHere’s an interesting little tidbit from Greg Sterling at Sterling Market Intelligence and Local Mobile Search on how to build your business through blogging:
Write about Local“It takes lots of time and energy but it can be a very effective promotional tool. Matt McGee at Small Business SEM has an interesting piece of advice for SMB owners who are blogging about their industries or areas of expertise:
‘If you’re a small business blogger, it’s not enough to only write about your industry. If you hope to capture local traffic, you have to write about the location, too.’
The idea is that you’ll be picked up on local searches if you include information about your area, etc. That’s not going to be appropriate for everyone but it makes a lot of sense in the context, say, of realtors or small retailers in a particular shopping district or neighborhood.”
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12:45
G5 Partners with Wahoo Films to Offer “Virtual Business Cards”
» G5 Search Marketing BlogGood news!
Today, we partnered with Wahoo Films to release Webspots - a new addition to our stable of products.
Want to know more? Excellent.
Here’s a bit on how a Webspot works from the press release: “A Webspot is a mini-website with short video clips in which professionals answer frequently asked questions on-demand. Each webspot is optimized for search engines.”
And who has the most to gain from a Webspot? Glad you asked: “Webspots are particularly effective for professionals - such as Realtors, Health Care Professionals and Job-seekers - whose business depends primarily on personal connections. Examples of Webspots can be seen at www.michellealvarado.com and www.g5webspot.com.”
To get your own, all you need to do is contact Wahoo Films at www.wahoofilms.com.
For more information, take a look at the full release here.
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11:10
Yellow Pages - Killing the Environment one book at a time
» G5 Search Marketing BlogYellowpagesgoesgreen.org - is an organization working to educate consumers and promote the green movement to eliminate the unsolicited delivery of Yellow and White Pages books. This site is aimed at starting a national movement to solicit the White/Yellow Pages industry to proactively stop the delivery of books or to begin moving legislation to mandate the stoppage of this activity. This movement should be similar to the National No-Call Registry that have stopped and/or decreased the number of unwanted solicitations telephone calls to consumers.
That’s right folks. It seems that because of advances in technology (like the Internet, of course) we no longer need the Yellow Pages.
According to Yellowpagesgoesgreen.org “The cost associated with the delivery and disposal of these books is exorbitant. Unfortunately, these unsolicited costs fall heavily on consumers. Why are we paying for something that was delivered to our homes and offices that we did not ask for.”
Luckily, G5 is here to help you reach your local customers. And it will be cost effective. So you’ll never have to worry about us passing on exhorbitant costs.
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9:32
John Wanamaker - We’ve got you covered
» G5 Search Marketing BlogJohn Wanamaker was “a United States merchant, religious leader, civic and political figure.” But perhaps most importantly, he was considered “The Father of Modern Advertising.”
As the man responsible for the advertising system we see today, he famously said advertising was impossible to measure in the following quote:
“Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is I don’t know which half.”
It may have taken nearly 90 years, but, Mr. Wanamaker, we’ve got your solution: G5.
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indie girl in a mountain town
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Virtual Teahouse
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BendTech
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Finding Ground
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Good Fitness, Great Life [xml|www]
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Lean Startup - smsDrone [xml|www]
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Cheri Smith's Bend Oregon Real Estate Blog
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monkeyinabox [xml|www]
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Rob Umphress [xml|www]
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Lance Hardy Photography
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Moving On [xml|www]
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Wandering Words
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MYC Yoga Bend
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Bend, Oregon Real Estate Blog [xml|www]
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The Blacksmith Restaurant [xml|www]
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Lifestyle Bend
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Leave it to Barney [xml|www]
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Steve Bennett Builders [xml|www]
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Foot Zone Blog [xml|www]
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Dating Is Weird [xml|www]
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Trying to live the raw food life in Bend, Oregon [xml|www]
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The Lone Cowgirl [xml|www]
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Planker Sandwiches Presents: Traveling Sandwiches
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Wiggling Around [xml|www]
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Peachy Green
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propaganda and lies
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Campbell PR Blog [xml|www]
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Good Dirt Jewelry [xml|www]
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Escape to Books [xml|www]
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robertwrose.com
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Run Girl Run! [xml|www]
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The Blender [xml|www]
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Bend Tax Tips [xml|www]
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Professional Counseling Services [xml|www]
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Bend Wild [xml|www]
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knives and lanyards
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David VanKeuren's Photography
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The Bend Beer Blog [xml|www]
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Latitudes and Lassitudes [xml|www]
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Forever Family Designs [xml|www]
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WAVE Journey.com [xml|www]
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A Day on the Bike [xml|www]
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Run Bitches Run [xml|www]
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Central Oregon Landwatch [xml|www]
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The Little Things
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Hydro Flask Blog [xml|www]
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pinkwik
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Bend Oregon ... and a little beyond! [xml|www]
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Kids@Heart [xml|www]
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Fleet Feet Sports Bend Blog [xml|www]
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to knit in peace [xml|www]
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Cooking For My Guy
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Paula Watts Photography [xml|www]
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RankByDesign
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Pastor Mike's Faith Journey Adventure [xml|www]
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Fade Away... [xml|www]
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Build Baby Build [xml|www]
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Play Outdoors Campfire
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The Social Business Blog [xml|www]
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A Year In The Life of Krystal
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The Share House
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Sentences We Love [xml|www]
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True North [xml|www]
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The Beeb, the Beagle & My Bestfriend [xml|www]
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Craving [xml|www]
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Gill Adventures Blog [xml|www]
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Central Oregon Web Professionals Usergroup
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Camalli Book Company [xml|www]
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The Central Oregon Veteran [xml|www]
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Sagebrush Blog [xml|www]
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Occidental Tourist
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The Wagger [xml|www]
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Marvin's Blog: CEO of Bend Memorial Clinic
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The Map [xml|www]
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Amerine.net
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Forget-About-It Golf
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Barker Bass Blog [xml|www]
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Sagewind Voices [xml|www]
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Matt Hand - The Media Geek [xml|www]
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Awbrey Dental Group Blog
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Seth Anderson, Architect
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WOW! And I say it louder. [xml|www]
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Dylan Darling's Real Estate Blog [xml|www]
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Greener By Design [xml|www]
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Alt Blu [xml|www]
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TBD blog [xml|www]
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Pacific Crest Stock Photography Blog
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Nosler
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COTA News
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Martha Knows
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Don's Sunnyside Blog [xml|www]
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Until All have Heard [xml|www]
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COISUG
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The Trading Desk [xml|www]
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Tangled and True [xml|www]
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Carpet Cleaning Bend Oregon [xml|www]
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Buzz By Annie's [xml|www]
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Ms.E. [xml|www]
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My Tangerine Dreams [xml|www]
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Blooming Eventually [xml|www]
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Learning Conversations [xml|www]
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The Pure Ingredients [xml|www]
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3:18 Theology [xml|www]
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CS Distributors and Creative Smocking [xml|www]
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yarrow [xml|www]
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Ginger's Kitchenware [xml|www]
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View From The Cliff [xml|www]
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Create and Relate [xml|www]
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Parenting A Complex Special Needs Child [xml|www]
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KerryONeal.com
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BluSportz
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Dudley's BookShop Cafe [xml|www]
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Postcards from the Edge [xml|www]
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Parking Lot Mamas [xml|www]
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Central Oregon Life
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Ethereal Graphics
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It Was Written [xml|www]
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breaking the rules [xml|www]
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Be Well with Qigong [xml|www]
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Spiritual Awareness Community of the Cascades [xml|www]
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Slightly Twisted!
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Gamalnotes
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Blessed Wanderer
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BendNights Dot Blog [xml|www]
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The Speed Test
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Olive Stew - All the Ways We Eff-Up Love [xml|www]
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Liana's Lifetime [xml|www]
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The Huni Family (Almost) Daily Diatribe [xml|www]
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Bend Attachment Parenting
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life is weird (and so am i) [xml|www]
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BendBubble Phase Three [xml|www]
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coldframed tomatoes [xml|www]
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On The Record
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NeighborImpact Food Bank News [xml|www]
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Parenting An Adult with Complex Special Needs
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The Sorted [xml|www]
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AdFedCO Blog
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Invest In Oregon
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IronHorse [xml|www]
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Dustin Cowell Enterprises Blog
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THEMdidit
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Edwards Photography
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Wannabe Hipster Mom
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Mike Toth Art
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Shopping With Katrina [xml|www]
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BrianInBend [xml|www]
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Big Star Farm's Blog
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Think, Love & Live Green
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Pale Musings
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Blueturtle's Space [xml|www]
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Central Oregon Critic [xml|www]
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olivefingers
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Brewerman [xml|www]
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Images by Jeff Kennedy [xml|www]
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Alpine Blogs [xml|www]
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Central Oregon Savings [xml|www]
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Merlot Mortgage Blog [xml|www]
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Katie [xml|www]
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Training For Fun! [xml|www]
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Juniper Seahorses [xml|www]
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Ignite Bend
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Bicycle43 [xml|www]
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Sunriver Google Fiber RFI Response
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High Desert Diva [xml|www]
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Tom's Book Publishing Blog [xml|www]
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THE JC PEOPLE [xml|www]
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Living With Music [xml|www]
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The Grumpy Forester [xml|www]
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Central Oregon Food [xml|www]
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Bend Spirit Club
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Mom2Mom Bend, Oregon [xml|www]
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Brysons of Bend [xml|www]
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Birdies 4 Babies Golf Charity [xml|www]
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On The Bright Side.net
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Backporch Coffee Roasters
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How the Real Mother Hen Sees the World [xml|www]
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Garage Improvement [xml|www]
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Bend, Oregon, Daily Photo [xml|www]
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The Gardener's Husband
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PPP (Pole Pedal Paddle) [xml|www]
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End Times [xml|www]
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WebCyclery Blog
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Elise Michaels Media [xml|www]
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The Commercial Photographer [xml|www]
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RAMBLETRON 4.75.269 [xml|www]
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Elan Vital Anthology [xml|www]
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Peebo the Bike Commuter [xml|www]
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Bend Mothers Acting Up [xml|www]
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Bend Drum Circle [xml|www]
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Bend Chiro Blog [xml|www]
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It's the little things in life... [xml|www]
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Holly Contracting and Design [xml|www]
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Snowboard Mt Bachelor
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there once was a girl [xml|www]
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Things that go great with coffee, friends and waffles [xml|www]
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Dwyer Williams Potter, Attorneys, LLP [xml|www]
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dopeblend news
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Stroller Strides - Bend, OR [xml|www]
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Cowgirls Blog [xml|www]
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Isabella Acosta Barna [xml|www]
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Search Consulting Service Blog [xml|www]
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Bend Morons [xml|www]
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bent and beat [xml|www]
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The Minkz
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backstage pass [xml|www]
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If you're not ready to die for it... [xml|www]
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The Debut Effect [xml|www]
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Stride Steady [xml|www]
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bent paradox
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Victoria's Secrets Told [xml|www]
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disturbing the comfortable [xml|www]
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XC Oregon [xml|www]
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Ania Designs [xml|www]
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There Goes Today, it Slowly Fades Away [xml|www]
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Dusty Tales [xml|www]
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Bring Back the 80's! [xml|www]
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Life Behind the Lens [xml|www]
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Bend Oregon Photos [xml|www]
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Bend Gazette [xml|www]
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Our journey to Paige [xml|www]
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Live on the Fly Studio [xml|www]
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Pensees [xml|www]
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The BF Stop: The Official BIG Folio Blog [xml|www]
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Bivwak Outdoors [xml|www]
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the ecomoderate
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eMusings [xml|www]
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Scam Protectors [xml|www]
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bikebuzz
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Tom Cornilliac
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Call Me Ed [xml|www]
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I intentionally wrote it out to be an illegible mess [xml|www]
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Gregg Zivney [xml|www]
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Music and Musings [xml|www]
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The Adventures of Rich Jandt [xml|www]
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The Christensons [xml|www]
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Kitchen Weech [xml|www]
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Juniper Ridge Info [xml|www]
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Lighthouse Parents [xml|www]
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Not So Sex and the City [xml|www]
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Laura @ Curl Up & Dye [xml|www]
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Media Review [xml|www]
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Chinook TC
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