So here I share some of their Internet marketing predictions for 2012, along with my thoughts of what they mean to you, the small business owner (because after all, that’s really what you should care about.)

Google+ will continue to grow but…

Still haven’t tried Google+? You’re not alone. Many experts, like Susan Payton in a post on Small Business Trends  say it’s picking up momentum but is not even close to matching Facebook in terms of users.

What this means to you: Now that brands can have their own account, it’s really not something you can afford to ignore just yet. If you already have your bases covered on Facebook and Twitter and have built up followings, devote  time to Google+. (See its connection to SEO trends below.) But if you are new to social media, you are probably better off sticking with Facebook or Twitter for now (unless you know for sure your target audience is a Google+ audience – then focus your time there.)

Google appeared to make a much more public push for Google+ then it ever seemed to do for Google Buzz or Google Wave  (which while not exactly like Google+ were aimed at sharing content.) Both Google Buzz and Google Wave will be no more in 2012. So even Google can get it very very wrong. That is why you should be cautious before jumping wholesale onto the bandwagon.

However, Google is the reigning king of search engines and it is expected that Google+ will have impact on search rankings. So if you do nothing else with Google+, do add the Google+ button to your sites and blog posts. Doing this encourages your visitors to “plus one” something even if you aren’t active on the network.

Understanding “social search” and seeking to connect with influencers will gain in importance

Accoriding to Sam Fiorella in his post “Trend Currents: Social Media in 2012“, Social Search will make “Influencer Outreach” the No. 1 activity for brand marketers.

…search engines will push relevant content from our personal engagements, not our Web sites to the top of search results. ….the impact of Social Search will dramatically change the focus of marketing. It’s no longer about relevant content but identifying and influencing people that can help you to “ENGAGE” your target customers in social engagements.

While consistent sharing of content will get you more followers (see research by Dan Zarrella of Hubspot), Sam’s point dovetails with the idea that not all followers are equal. Some are more equal than others and you should find those that share, those that share a lot. Google and Bing are paying attention to the “sharegraph”, if you will, of content. So focus on sharing yes, but also focus on finding influencers to notice you.

Buzzword of 2012:  SoLoMo for “Social, Local, Mobile”

According to an article by Outspoken Media’s Lisa Barone, “The year 2011 saw a 400 percent increase in the number of mobile searches, with 74 percent of people using their mobile phones to search while running errands.”

What this means to you: All the experts say mobile is hot, this is the year of mobile, etc.. Okay, I think we’ve heard this one before, but this year, if you’re a business that depends on local customers, it’s time to take the prediction seriously. This can mean making sure you have a mobile app (especially if you are restaurant, nightclub or other entertainment venue), making sure you enable the mobile listing in your Bing Local account, and use check-in deals to encourage people to share where they are with their social networks.

And while you are getting your mobile on, you should be making sure your local listings are in order. Here at Juicy, we’ve seen clients make great strides in their business, simply by paying attention to their visibility on local listings. Ranking for local searches is only going to get more difficult, so jump on this now. It’s the easiest of all tactics to get started with in Internet Marketing.

So where does the social come in? The listings are one thing, but getting people to talk about you is something else. Reviews are one of the single biggest factors people use when making a buying decision. (Barone cites a Nielsen study that shows “that 63% of social media users list ‘consumer ratings’ as their preferred source for getting information about a business, product or service.”) Reviews are also a ranking factor for Google Places. Get customers to give you reviews.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) predictions

We all have our gurus and mine for SEO is Rand Fishkin of SEOMoz. I share with you 3 of his 8 Predictions for SEO in 2012:

Prediction 1:  SEO without social media will become a relic of the past

Prediction 2: Google will make it very hard to do great SEO without using Google+

SEO will rely even more heavily on social media signals. The integration of Facebook results in BING and (at one time Twitter in Google) was only the beginning. Google, with it’s 80% plus share of search traffic in the US, has made it clear that it will not only show you your own social network results in the total list of organic results, but will use the social cache of an item in its ranking algorithm. Many in the biz think this is Google’s way of pushing Google+.

What this means to you: If you are depending on search to deliver the goods in your internet marketing plan, you need to ramp up the social and get started with Google+, especially if you are in a market that is already highly active in social media – think restaurants, specialty/boutique stores, salons, gyms, etc. But as we mentioned above, don’t do this at the expense of Facebook and Twitter.

Prediction 3: Google Will Finally Take Stronger Action Against Manipulative Link Spam

Over 2011, a lot of sites lost rankings in Google because of what is known as “Panda updates” which are in simple terms changes to Google’s algorithms. The main target of these updates: sites that engage in link spam or low quality, junk links.

What this means to you: If someone comes a knockin’ saying they can get you to rank #1 for a highly competitive keyword in a few months, run. If someone says they can guarantee you 100 links to your site in a few days, run. Link building the right way, that is getting quality, relevant links is hard work. Relevant links from quality sites to your site is what you need, not links from pornography sites or “blogs” that are nothing more than spun articles in bad English. This has always been true. Now it’s just more true.

Okay here’s a few of my own (and even if they don’t come true, they are still good advice.)

Prediction #1: Small businesses and start-ups that talk to customers like they are people and not just the means to a “bottom line end,” will win customers over those businesses that stick to the old-school corporate-speak way of communication. If you are using words like “leverage,” “value proposition,” “world-class,” or “exceed expectations”—stop. If you have mission statements and a list of corporate values on your website, delete those pages. Seriously. With our new social media-ized culture, people feel a little more personal with the business they choose to work with. Be that personal business.

Prediction #2: Small businesses will get more used to using social media as a way to enhance, not replace regular networking. How many people do you network with on a regular basis that you are not LinkedIn to or following on Twitter? Small businesses need each other for referrals. That’s why you network. Why not extend that networking online? Why not form a small group of online network buddies where you are particularly attuned to sharing each others’ content? See where I’m going with this? (You can read more on this subject in Supercharge Your Business Development.)

Okay, now go out there and make 2012 a great year for your business!

Local searchers deserve pre-sale information

Just because you sell primarily to a locally-based audience doesn’t give you an excuse to have a horrible looking website. In fact, having a horrible one may hurt you more than not having one at all. Poorly designed websites can make you look less trustworthy.

Even local customers will do research before they hop in the car and come to your business. They’ll probably want to research and compare you to others before they even call you. If you’re anything like me, you’d probably call a vendor that had a yellow page ad before one that just had a listing. Why? Because you had more info about the company that had the ad.

The same thing goes for local seo listings. While some sites let you have tons of info, the big daddy of them all, Google Places is cutting back on the info it allows you to show. So think of a Google Places page as the plain vanilla yellow page listing and your website like a full page yellow page ad. (Okay there are reviews which yellow page ads don’t have, but stick with me here.)

A real world example

A few months back I needed a car detailer, specifically one that could get rid of hard water spots. Figuring I might have to actually leave my car at the detailer’s location, I wanted to find one close to where I work. So I turned to a Google Places search. Here are the companies I found among the top 5 local listings at the time:

Company A

Click image to enlarge

The main problem with Company A’s site is that it looks unfinished and therefore unprofessional, as if they don’t care. Plus the site has not been updated since 2009 so I may think they are no longer in business. Don’t get me wrong. You don’t have to continuously update your site but if you’re not going to, then leave off the dates. Makes sense right?

Company B

Click image to enlarge

This site is much more professional than the one above. It has more of a traditional website (less blog-like) feel and tells me immediately how much I might pay. That’s what I’m looking for. But I’m also looking for information about hard water spot removal. So I go to click on “Menu Services” but it’s not clickable! None of the items in the top nav are clickable. What where they thinking?

Company C

Click image to enlarge

Click image to enlarge

This site has a professional feel. It’s clean (like I want my car to be); it feels like a reputable business. I don’t know for sure that it is; but if they company cares to be “dressed-well” on the web, it probably cares about its customers. There is lots of info, deals and pictures.

Okay, which one do you think I actually contacted? If you said Company C you would be correct. They had awesome reviews and that coupled with their professional online presence made me want to contact them, even though they were more expensive. Plus it was 10pm when I did my search so I had to email them to see if they could really take care of my problem. The next morning I had a reply and we emailed back and forth a few time as the service rep answered my questions about removing hard water deposits. He made me feel he knew what he was talking about. The company seemed big but personal.

Local SEO is about more than just the rankings

The take away is this: even if serve a very limited geographic area, people still want info on you before they visit you in person or pick up the phone. This is especially true if you are in a knowledge based profession such as medicine, insurance, accounting, legal or finance. You need a professional looking web presence, even if it’s just a few web pages, to answer people’s questions and make you look like the #1 expert even when you are listed fifth in the rankings.

Get Free Word of Mouth Advertising with Facebook Places

As we’ve mentioned, we think your business should be paying attention to Facebook, because that is where your customers are spending their time. This is especially true if your business is a physical establishment where people shop, dine, receive services or just hang out.

This is because of the social nature of Facebook Places, which allows any Facebook user to check into their current location and find others nearby. Each time they do, the location—which is often a business—is broadcast to all their friends. That’s free, third-party exposure for that business. Who doesn’t want more of that?

Users can comment on checkins, which can increase their visibility.

Even though the future of places is a little bit uncertain, we still think it’s something your small business should be aware of. It doesn’t take much time to set up, and the exposure can be huge.

First, you need to claim or add your place on Facebook. Once you’ve claimed the place, you can make all the edits you want to the page and add deals and even promote your place on Facebook.

Here are some ideas for promoting your Facebook Page to get the most out of your listing.

• Complete your listing and much as possible, including hours and a photo of your venue or a logo.
• Place signs within your business encouraging users to “check in.” Many bars or restaurants will offer a free beverage or discount if you show your server that you’ve checked in.
• Ask your employees to “check in” each day when they come to work.
• Add an advertising campaign on Facebook for your place. People will see the ad and “like” your place. Again, this action will broadcast your place to all of their friends.
• In the future, you will be able to add deals to your place based on location. This can attract walk-in traffic.

It’s never a good idea to pass on free exposure, especially when it’s so easy to get started. Juicy Results can help you set up your Facebook listing, along with your search engine listings, as part of our Local Juice product. Call us to learn more about it.

If you have been told once, you’ve been told a hundred times…you have to be involved with social media marketing. It’s the wave of the future; it’s the new paradigm for customer engagement, blah, blah blah. So you’re out there tweeting, posting status updates on Facebook, Digging, Diigoing, Stumbling and posting content on YouTube.

But do you know how well you are doing with all of these social media tactics? Are you monitoring the effects of your social media outreach?

Many times the effects of this outreach can go beyond simply driving traffic to your site. You have to monitor and measure the social chatter. Do you know if most of the time people are mentioning your business or brand in a positive, neutral or negative manner? How about the number of unique people talking about you? Would you like to have a way to know precisely who is talking about you across the social web?

That sounds hard you say. That sounds expensive you think. Oh ye of little faith. If you are not ready to invest in a pricy monitoring tool, you can easily use a free social monitoring tool called SocialMention. SocialMention will aggregate all “mentions” across the social web including social networks, news and blog posts into a single social media dashboard.

Before we show you how, let’s discuss a few reasons why you should do this. Monitoring what people are saying (or not saying) about your brand will do several things:

1. Let you know immediately if you have an image problem, a problem that can be addressed in several ways, including, you guessed it, with social media.
2. Let you see if you have any brand evangelists or grumpy customers, people you can reach out to with a “thank you” or “how can we do better”.  Again, you can do this via social media.
3. Let you see where people are who are talking about your brand. Are most of the mentions on Facebook, Twitter or somewhere else? Very helpful when you are planning a social media campaign.
4. And finally, let you see at a glance if your social media campaign is paying off with more and better mentions.

How to use SocialMention

Start by typing your company name or brand in the search field. Sit back and wait for the results. That’s it. But if you want to get the most out of this social media monitoring powerhouse tool, read on.

The Anatomy of a SocialMention Page

At the very top, you can select to view all results or only those that come from blogs, news, or  comments, etc.

On the right hand side, are tools to allow you to export data or grab an RSS feed

In the middle, you see all the results which you can sort by data or source. Additionally you can see the results just for the past month, the past week, or even the past hour.

Along the left hand side you’ll see two sections: Stats and Filters. If you roll over one of the stats boxes such as “sentiment” you’ll see a nifty popup that will explain what the number means.

The filters will show you at glance things such as the top keywords people are using, the top users who are talking about and well as how many mentions are in that “filter.” Want to see just the mentions for a single keyword or user? A single click of the filter will show you just the results you want.

Click around to see how things changes. You will see that the stats (strength, sentiment, passion, and reach) will change each time you dig deeper. This is important. It shows you how a particular segment feels about the brand and as we mentioned in a previous post, segmenting data is very useful.

Other things SocialMention can Tell You

Ever wonder what keywords most people are using in their social media conversations? Or the top hashtags they’re using in Twitter?

It can even help you measure ROI…sort of. What’s it worth to you to have lots of people talking about your brand in a positive manner? What’s it worth to you to easily spot the people who talk about you the most? What’s it worth to you see those people spread your message? I’m not going to lie. Determining ROI with social media can still be a lot of art and a lot less science but having some numbers to work with that you can use to compare against customers and sales per campaign will start to make social media ROI more concrete.

Additionally you can use it for competitive intelligence. Monitor your competitor’s brand and see if you can gain some insight into how they are connecting with their customers.

In part I of Local Online Search, we outlined steps to get started checking the status of your local listings, what info you should have on hand to correct and beef them up and how to navigate what can often be a frustrating process.

In this post, we’ll discuss tips for listing optimization as well as go into a little more depth about how local search works.

Local search is personal

The first thing you have to understand: local search results will depend on location. Where the user is located or what location the user is interested in searching will be taken into account when the search engine or other local directory returns results.

Therefore you must accept the fact that just because you see your listing at the top of the results does not mean everyone does. That is how it is designed to work. Google especially, is smart and adept at presenting the search results it feels is most relevant to the searcher. Since Google is still numero uno for search, most of our examples will be based on it.

Location, location, location….determines results

What users see depends on where Google believes the user is located. It can auto detect the IP address of the user’s computer and determine the location that way or a user can set the location manually as seen in the image below:

Then of course, a user may actually type in a location they are interested in searching within. Note the differences in search results seen when searching for an auto insurance agent.

If I just search for “auto insurance agent,’ Google suspects but is not certain that I want agents in Boca Raton, FL (my default location).

If I add the words “Deerfield Beach” to my search, then Google knows for sure that I want agents near Deerfield Beach and returns those results in a tidy list at the top of the page.

Disclaimer: in both of the above examples, paid listings were removed at the top of the page for illustration purposes.

On Google Maps, consequent search results will also depend on previous searches during the same session.

Tips to optimize local listings

Now that you understand that smart search engines and user settings can affect what a user sees, it’s time to understand what you can control.

Local search seems to rely on local information that is consistent.

As of now, it appears that the more places your business is cited across the web, the more likely you are to rank closer to the top of the search results.

Keep your business address consistent. We have found that making sure every listing added or altered has the local address written exactly the same way can help the search engines and local directories to recognize with no uncertainty that yes, these two listings represent the same business. So for example, I would want to avoid having some listings show my city as “Delray” and some as “Delray Beach.” I would want them all to show my listings as “Delray Beach.” Certainly this is not a hard and fast rule and search engines are smart enough to recognize variations of a city name with the same zip code, but why take the chance? Likewise ensure the local information on your website is consistent with your listings.

Use a local phone number if possible. Area codes still designate locale so be sure to use the local phone number that matches up to your business address. Many listings allow for additional phone numbers, so you can usually include a toll free or alternate cell number as well. Just be sure it’s the local number that is primary for the listing.

Multiple business locations require multiple listings. If you have multiple places of business, you can have a listing for each address (P.O Boxes don’t count). Create a special location page for each office that includes the address and phone number just for that location. You might also include other information that is unique to that location such as the office staff, specific services or brands, nearby places of interest, etc. Tailor it to the location and consider pointing your local listing, especially a Google Places listing, to that page.

Optimize your local business listings even further

Make your company name count. If possible, include what you do within your company name. For example, we could list our company as Juicy Results or we could list it as Juicy Results Internet Marketing. We can do this because, we are indeed an Internet Marketing agency, our site is optimized for this term and we do not look like we are keyword stuffing. We would not want to list ourselves as Juicy Results Website Design, SEO and Internet Marketing Agency of Boca Raton. That looks like keyword stuffing. Google frowns on including location information in your business name unless it really is part of your legal business name.

Include keyword rich, helpful information in your company descriptions. Limited space means you should leave out the market-speak and only include copy about the services or products you provide—anything concrete that someone might search for. So in the case of Juicy Results, we might want to include keywords such as SEO, PPC and website design along with Internet marketing. It is helpful to repeat keywords used in your company name in the company description or list of services/products.

Include a photo(s) and reviews. We have seen first hand that at least with Google Places, it does matter. However, never submit reviews on your own behalf and never hire a company to submit fake reviews. Real clients must submit real review with real accounts. Yelp will find it suspicious if all of a sudden your business listing goes from zero to sixty with reviews. Be smart. If something you are about to do feels a little smarmy, then it probably is.

Analyze your listing competitors

First determine who your competitors truly are. Search like a real user, using  a mixture of keywords and location information. Do these searches both as a regular Google search and as a search directly through Google Maps. Instead of searching for your company name, pretend you don’t know who you are but are looking for your type of business within a certain geographical region. Do this enough, and you will probably see some of the same names floating to the top of the results.

Now, reverse engineer what your competitor is doing. Do they have more reviews, a better optimized company name, a video? What keywords do they have in their company descriptions?

Next, Google their name. Where are they getting links from? Everywhere an address and a company name match up is a vote of confidence to a local listing provider (especially Google) that the listing they have is accurate and relevant.

Finally, try to get links and listings in the same places as your competitor. Simple enough concept but we warn, it can be tedious and trying. When doing this though, remember to space out this “linkbuilding.” so that no red flags are raised in the search engines. We recommend attacking 5 or so a week.

Did you know that 5% of time online is spent on YouTube?

It’s true. Or, at least that’s what YouTube claims. That’s not a figure you can ignore as an Internet marketer or small business looking to grow your website traffic.

I know a fair amount or small business owners don’t consider YouTube a business tool because their interaction with the site has been limited to high school kids spoofing TV shows and double rainbows sightings. In reality, a large number of people use YouTube to learn things and to discover new artists and trends. These people can be extremely receptive to targeted advertising while in this state.

For example, if I am searching for movies with “how to make pizza dough,” I might be very interested in your Italian cooking classes. If I’m watching videos about how to take a company public, maybe I’m ripe for your auditing services.

You can chuckle, but there are actually a number videos on that last topic on YouTube!

There are a few ways to use YouTube for advertising your business—two of which, we will cover here.

Promoted Videos

Your company can create the how-to and educational videos that your target audience would find compelling. This allows your prospective customer to grow familiar with you, your point of view and your products in a high-fidelity way without requiring a lot of your time.

With Promoted videos, you can bid on keywords and categories, similar to the way Google Ad Words works. If you have compelling video content that will spread your message, use Promoted Videos to increase your video’s audience.

This will cause them to appear high in search results, and appear at the top of the page when a user is viewing a relevant category. You pay each time someone clicks on your video and watches it in a promoted position (you don’t pay anything when they share it or come back and watch it multiple times!).

Even if your company doesn’t have videos to send users to, you can still take advantage of YouTube advertising with in-video ads.

YouTube Video Targeting Tool and In Video Ads

As a marketer, you likely has some insight into who your target audience is and can make some assumptions about the types of videos they may be watching. Remember the example of the pizza dough video? Use the Video Targeting Tool to find videos that you think your audience will be watching. You can search for videos by keyword and country, or search for videos being watched by your audience.

Once you find the videos and channels that you want to market in, you can place graphic or text ads right in the videos. Below is an example of each:

You can place text or banner ads in Videos on YouTube

In Video Ads are a bit of a throw back to traditional TV advertising, but more targeted and more accessible to small businesses, given your ability to test with limited ad dollars.

Spend a little time thinking about what videos your target customers may already be watching and explore the available content on YouTube. Just don’t blame me when you realize three hours have gone by and you’re still watching videos at work. Of course, then you’ll understand why so much time is spent on YouTube.

Advertisers haven’t arrived in mass yet, so the advertising rates can be more attractive than straight pay-per-click advertising on Google. I encourage you to consider the medium when planning your small business marketing.

Below are some resources to help you get to know YouTube advertising.

• An advertiser’s guide to YouTube
• Bubble: the best of advertising on YouTube
• YouTube advertising overview