Dealing with bad reviews in Google Places

Everyone has a bad day, tempers often flair and it is easy to strike out when your facing your opponent through a computer screen. The bad news is that a review whipped out in anger can live on the Internet for a long time. Highland Hardware had an unhappy customer and despite their best efforts to resolve the issue the customer was still unhappy. However when the customer struck out at them publicly, its owner and founder Chris Bagby took action and sending this letter to his customer base: ...
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Eight Tips for Better Ranking

Optimizing your site for search can be a daunting task.  Here is a list of eight things you can do to help your content rank better in Search Results. Optimize the Structure of Your Site (Information Architecture) Clearly communicate the organization of your site through navigation, breadcrumbs, and file path. Organize Your Content Display whatever you are promoting by category and cross-link to related categories to support searches for category, location, country of origin, brand, etc....
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PubCon Social Media & Search Conference 2010

I attended PubCon in Dallas last week. I have attended several Search Engine Strategies (SES) and Search Marketing Expos (SMX) over the years, but this was my first PubCon. PubCon is driven by the folks at WebmasterWorld, which is the leading source of what is happening in search and is a different crowd than either SES or SMX. I went to PubCon to get a fresh perspective on the SEO universe and I have to say, I wasn't disappointed. I picked up especially good information on reputation management...
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Need a Website, Hire a Design Professional

Your company website has the role of a sales person, working 24/7, representing your company, answering questions, educating the prospect. Many times it will be the first impression prospects will have of your business and should convey quality at every turn. Like any good sales rep, its appearance should be a reflection of its audience, wearing tennis shoes if it’s selling skateboards and a suit if it’s selling financial advice. A website is in many cases the first impression someone has of ...
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The Phonebook is Dead

Increasingly people are going on-line, not only for phone number and addresses, but for reviews and recommendations. Website’s not only give you the opportunity to list the standard phonebook info like you’re address, when you’re open and years in business, but also detailed information and photos about your products and services. You can explain who you are and why someone should do business with you. You can post videos not only about your company, but about the work you have performed and of ...
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Link Building with Directory Services

Carrie Hill just published a summary of directories that should be on every one's link building list. These are credible sources that the search engines use to help determine the relevancy of your site for things like products, services, or locality. See Carrie's list of  Must Have List of Directories   Related: Building Incoming Links Directories and Incoming Links
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Launching a new Website / Changing an existing one

Whether launching a new website or changing an existing one it is important to do a little upfront work. I have had a couple of clients come to me recently either wanting to toss out their old site and start over or who have sadly, already made wholesale changes to page names or content only to find that their website can no longer be found in search results. Things to consider when launching a new Website or changing an existing one: Never rename or delete a page (well almost). If you a...
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Building National Campaigns for Local Business

I attended an Advanced AdWords seminar last week and am revisiting the topic of Building National Ads for Local Needs . This seminar was sponsored by Google and lead by Brad Geddes of BG theory . While most of the Advanced Class was more a refresher than anything new, it has prompted me to make a change in my national campaign strategy for local business. In addition to the negative terms I use (listed in the original article), I now also use exclude cities, regions and metro areas in the cam...
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