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Internet marketing experts say that a significant chunk of web searches contain “local intent.” I’ve found figures ranging from 20 to 40 percent. In other words, lots of people are going to Google looking for products, services, and experiences in their geographical vicinity.
Starfall Graphics’ local-search listing
The big search engines know this, and in their competition to provide the highest-quality search results, they’ve created systems to provide highly relevant results to people searching with local intent. They’ve set up localized directories and made their own sites location-aware. That means that when you visit search engines, they check your IP address to get an idea where you are in order to tailor search results …[more]
 Getlisted.org is a portal that aggregates several leading local-search sites into one convenient interface. Plug in the name of your business and your ZIP code, and Getlisted.org will check the status of your listings on Google, Yelp, Bing, Yahoo, and Best of the Web and give you a score for completeness. It also supplies links you can follow to add your business listing to those sites’ local directories or to edit your existing listings.
You can register with Getlisted.org to get a user account …[more]
The Social Media Widget adds a set of buttons to the sidebar of your WordPress site to allow visitors to connect to you through a variety of social-media sites. The latest version of the plugin (2.4.1) comes loaded with icons for more than 30 sites, including all of the most popular ones, plus icons for your site’s RSS feed and e‑mail subscription link. The developer, Brian Freytag, has maintained the plugin in very active development recently, with each update adding a few more resources. It also includes three slots in which you can insert custom links with icons that you supply yourself.
The plugin comes with three sizes of icon sets—16, 32, and 64 pixels—in four styles …[more]
Preparations
Here’s what you’ll need to bring with you to the workshop:
- Laptop* and power supply
- Software: web browser(s) of choice, e‑mail client of choice. (Or user name and password for a web‑based e‑mail account, if your laptop is not configured for e‑mail access. Some of the resources we’ll be exploring will require verification by e‑mail.)
- User name(s) and password(s) for your own WordPress site(s)
- User names and passwords for your accounts on any or all of the following social-media sites: Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter
Please give us a call at 713-562-1813 if you have any questions or need help to prepare for the workshop.
*A few computers will be available for participants who don’t have access to a laptop. Please send us e‑mail to discuss details.
Featured Strategy: Local Search
Homework
Revisit Local.com and Getlisted.org to finish creating your free local-search directory listings or to set up new listings for your business.
WordPress Mod-of-the-Month
Plugin: Social Media Widget
The Social Media Widget adds a set of buttons to the sidebar of your WordPress site to allow visitors to connect to you through a variety of social-media sites. Read a full review and tutorial of the Social Media Widget.
Homework
If you haven’t already installed and configured the Social Media Widget on your WordPress site, take a look at the tutorial. Install the plugin, add the widget in the desired area of your site, and fill in data for the social-media resources you’re using. Feel free to contact me if you need any help!
Questions
Feel free to post your questions, feedback, or suggestions for future workshop topics as comments at the bottom of this page, or using the Comment Wall area at right.
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About Community & Conversation Community & Conversation is the communication strategy blog of Edward F. Gumnick, a writer, consultant, and designer based in Houston, Texas.
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