Did you know that Google Caffeine makes everyone's search results different?

I'm not talking orders of magnitude different - but noticeably different.  Different enough that you can optimize your site in a way that helps you target even more qualified buyers to your local business.

Check out this video for a quick snippet of how Google Caffeine provides different results for the same exact search terms Googled by different people, in different cities at just about the same time.


Did you notice different search results?

1. The top three results were not consistent
2. The fourth result was always a local map unique to the searcher, be it Erin in San Francisco or Dan in Phoenix

Why is does Google Caffeine serve varied results?

1. Personalized search preferences, like sites you've looked at before, can impact what results you see in the future.
   
2. Google knows where you are and wants to give you results that might meet your local needs best.

What should your business do to have a chance to be included in that fourth map view listing?1. Register your business with Google Local - Free

Google wants you to register your business online, then verifies your listing by either calling you or sending snail mail to your address. Once registered, your business has the chance to appear in Google's Local Business Results for a given search term. But, your ranking inside the Local Listings is based on Google's ranking algorithm that awards well-optimized pages and inbound links to your website from other websites, so be sure to do step 2.

2. Blog about local topics and optimize all your content for geographic keywords

For most locales and industries, this is a quick and easy way for your site to start ranking keywords that local buyers are using to search across Google, Yahoo! and Bing. You should include your geo keywords in the major on page SEO items like: Page Title, URL, H1 tag and page content.

What is next?

It turns out that social search is having the same impact on results.  So, once you've ensured that your business profile and local listings are great, get yourself on Yelp!, Angie's List and local publications and review sites.

Learn something new?  Let us know and share your local stories and tips with us.


Learn more at Hubsport Blog here: 

Read more: http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/6033/Understanding-Local-Optimization-to-Improve-Your-Search-Rank.aspx#ixzz1k1WzYPSm 

Have a new marketing project you need copy written for? Thinking about doing it yourself? You may want to think again. While most everyone knows how to write “that is, put ideas down on paper” most people don’t know how to sell through writing. And that’s what copywriting is all about: effectively selling a product or service through the power of words. 

Think about it this way. You wouldn’t perform surgery on yourself, would you? Nor would you replace your car’s transmission, rebuild your computer’s hard drive, or design your own website. Nope. You’d hire a surgeon, mechanic, IT expert, or web designer for these tasks. Likewise, when you need marketing copy written, you should hire a professional writer. Here are seven reasons why:

Reason #1: Quality.

A writer writes. Period. That’s all they do. They know how to write persuasive copy that packs a punch, gets attention “and sells more.

Reason #2: Positioning.

Yes, it’s true, some people have a knack for writing. But developing copy for marketing materials (things like brochures, websites, and campaigns) goes beyond good grammar and spelling. It’s about knowing how to properly position your product or service so that it stands out and motivates your target audience to take action. A professional copywriter knows how to do that.

Reason #3: Perspective.

You’re in the middle of preparing for a new product launch, scheduling an investor’s meeting, hiring a new assistant “and a myriad of other tasks. Sometimes you get so busy that you lose perspective about your company “and about what makes it unique in the eyes of your customers and prospects. In essence, “you can’t see the forest for the trees.” But a professional copywriter can bring fresh eyes “and fresh ideas “to the table. They are not caught up in the day-to-day inner workings of your company and can therefore, many times, do a better job of communicating “big picture” concepts about your business.

Reason #4: Clarity.

Even if you are a good writer, you may not understand how to write for your target audience. A professional copywriter can take a complex concept “one that you may easily understand, but your customers may not “and turn it into easy-to-read copy.

Reason #5: BrevityLet’s face it. In today’s too-much-information age, everyone is deluged with more then they can possibly read. But a professional copywriter knows how to get ideas across using words economically. They can take all the information you provide and translate it into succinct and relevant points. With the help of a professional writer, your copy will take on a new energy, crispness, and focus.

Reason #6: Convenience.

Your time is valuable “and effective writing is a time-consuming task, constricting your already tight schedule. By hiring a professional copywriter, you’ll be able to focus on other tasks, while the writer does what he or she does best “writes.

Reason #7: Supporting the design.

A well-designed website, brochure, or direct mail campaign requires strong copywriting. If you have eye-catching graphics, you’ll invite your audience to begin reading. Compelling content will keep them reading. A professional copywriter can ensure the success of your design efforts by holding the attention of your audience.

The Bottom Line.In today’s economy, business is as cutthroat as ever. As the saying goes, “only the strong will survive.” You need every tool in the box to stand out and persuade your target audience to act. A professional copywriter may just provide the edge you need.

The only way we stand a chance of having the content of our business character judged in the age of social media is by creating Web content that is full of character. 

In his immortal speech delivered on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, Martin Luther King Jr. shared his dream for this country.  In one of the most quoted parts of the speech, he spoke of his wish to see his children judged not by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.  Those words will live on forever to inspire generations of people to come.  Because the content of our character is what tells people who we are, what we believe in and what we stand for.  And through this speech we understood the content of this remarkable man’s character.

So if we’re to be judged, we’d like to be judged by our accomplishments, capabilities, and by what we’re made of.  And from a business perspective, we not only should want to be judged in this manner, we need to be judged as so.  However, the people we seek judgment from do not preside over courtrooms and pound gavels, but rule over social networks and comment on blogs.  But shrinking attention spans coupled with an exponentially-increasing supply of online information is making it harder for us to plead our case to the judge.  One thing we do know — the only way we stand a chance of having the content of our character judged in the age of social media is by creating content that is full of character.

Some may confuse character-filled content with colorful content.  Others may feel images, pictures, and videos will turn heads and focus eyeballs.  And they absolutely can, but only for a minute if there’s no real substance accompanying the color.  Because substance is what our online judges are looking for to allow them to make important decisions.  And while it is important to offer up content on a regular basis, the quality of it is the most important factor.

Quality of content not quantity

Many feel it’s too time consuming to create good content, or that it’s too daunting a task. But you don’t have to write volumes to share the content of your character.  Abraham Lincoln needed less than three hundred words to express his feelings for what took place on a battlefield in Maryland during his Gettysburg Address.  What many feel was the most important speech in our country’s history is shorter than the average blog post.  No Flickr picture or YouTube video necessary.  But even today those words move people to tears. Just as Martin Luther’s words, nailed to the door of a church in Germany, started a religious revolution that’s still being felt almost 500 years later. 

Using content to display our true character, as individuals as well as business entities, is not a new thing.  But we have to be ready and willing to make sure the content we produce represents us in a truly meaningful way.  Meaningful to us — as we need to represent ourselves and our businesses properly.  More importantly, we need to make it meaningful to the judges out there who have to make the important decision on whether or not we have the expertise, experience, and character to help them answer the challenges they face. 

Despite the obstacles we are faced with, in terms of creating content that captures the attention of our online judges, it’s time to get over it.  Don’t tell it to the judge, because they have their own issues and concerns to deal with.  They are looking for help — good help. They’re willing to search for it, discuss it, and share their story in order to find it.  So use pictures, videos, blogs, and whatever you need to share your story.  Post once a day, once a week, or once a month.  Automate, co-create, and user generate it if it can help streamline the generation process.  But remember one thing: All the judges ask is that you make it as easy as possible on them to find the real you, by creating content that allows them to understand your business’ character.  Now go out there and throw yourselves on the mercy of the court.

Brent Leary is a small-business technology analyst, adviser, and award-winning blogger. He is the co-author of Barack 2.0: Social Media Lessons for Small Business (http://barack20.com). His blog can be found at http://brentleary.com, or follow him on Twitter athttp://twitter.com/brentleary.

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A couple of weeks ago, one of our guest writers wrote a post about a powerful copywriting technique that can be used to get great results even if you aren’t a professional copywriter.

In fact, we write a lot of posts on Copyblogger about how entrepreneurs can apply the techniques used by professional copywriters. Strong calls to action, compelling benefits, fascinating bullet points, magnetic headlines.

With all of this information, no one should ever need a pro, right?

Well … I wouldn’t say that.

Sometimes it can make sense to do it yourself, and sometimes it’s a very good idea to call in a professional writer. Today we’re going to talk about five scenarios when you’ll want to bring in a pro.

1. You just aren’t any good at itTalent is about 90% a function of putting in the work, but it’s hard to put the work in for something you don’t feel any connection with. Plus, sometimes you have a pressing need where you don’t have time to get good enough to do it yourself.

Lots of people hate to write. If it’s just a phobia about hitting those keys, you can try speech recognition software, which can be a fantastic time-saver. But if the thought of writing is about as appealing as dental surgery, you’ll never put the work in to get good.

Do more of what you’re good at and less of what you hate. If writing isn’t for you, hire or partner with a really good writer to make sure that part of your business is getting the attention it needs.

It doesn’t matter how fantastic your product or service is if you can’t communicate that to customers. Every company needs to communicate a powerful message — and that means you need strong writing.

2. You don’t have the bandwidthEven if you love writing, there’s a limit to how many words we can consistently get onto the page or screen every day. Marathon writing sessions can work for some people, but they can also lead to burnout and sabotage your productivity in the long term.

Copyblogger Media is a writing-based company. All of our founding partners have written their own content at various points in our business lives. And of course, Brian Clark built Copyblogger in the early days purely on the strength of his own writing.

But as our business has grown, we’ve needed to grow our writing staff with it. We pulled in additional writers to help us out with the sheer volume of content and copy we need to create.

Professional copywriters know “the more you tell, the more you sell.” And that’s even more true in the content marketing world — the more high-quality content you can create, the more authority and customer connection you can build.

Just realize that you need to understand the strategy behind the content you’re creating. Don’t add a writer for the sake of getting more words generated. Understand the business purpose behind allthe copy you create, whether or not you do the actual writing.

3. You need particular expertiseYou may create really good daily content for your blog, but you need a persuasion specialist to write sales letters that convert fans into customers.

Or you may need a subject matter expert to write a white paper.

Or a strong SEO copywriter to write content that both serves your business needs and can rank well in search engines.

Realize that you’ll pay more for a copywriter with specific expertise, rather than a generalist … just like you pay more for a Mercedes mechanic who’s been in business for 30 years over some kid at the quickie oil change who’s always wanted to try fixing a Mercedes.

4. You’re too close to the topicThe reason it’s so hard to move from features to benefits is that it can be really tough to be objective about your own business.

You know all the blood, sweat, and tears you put in to make your product or service great. (In other words, the features of your business.) You understand the details behind the scenes.

But your customer may have no interest at all in those things. In fact, they might care deeply about something that’s barely on your radar.

Sometimes a pair of outside eyes can be just what you need to communicate your most important benefits. Your winning difference could even be something you take for granted, but that your customers find wildly impressive.

Just make sure that your writer is looking at real customer feedback. This could come from survey responses, from social media listening, or from conducting interviews with customers. Your copywriter should have direct access to real customer language about why people like doing business with you.

5. The stakes are highIf you’ve got a big launch or an important marketing campaign, you need to make sure your copy is making a great impression.

• That means a terrific headline that gets attention immediately.
• It means well-structured content that conveys your authority.
• It means writing that gets to the point without a lot of fluff or verbal clutter.
• It means customer-focused copy that clearly conveys valued benefits.
• It means making sure you know the difference between your and you’re.

Professional copywriters are perfectionists about language. They’re obsessive about tone, subtle shades of meaning, copy structure, and the finer points of grammar and usage.

If that’s not you, you may want to bring in some help. Clunky, error-filled writing is a serious credibility killer.

But … the message still belongs to youWhile a talented, well-trained copywriter can help you find your strongest possible marketing message, ultimately that message does need to come from you.

You know the customer you want to reach. You know the little details that will make your copy more interesting. No one will ever know your business like you do, and you need to recognize the hidden remarkable benefit that becomes your best marketing story.

That’s why it pays to study copywriting and marketing even if you turn over every word to someone else. A terrific copywriter can make you sound fantastic — but as the business owner, you’re the one who’s ultimately responsible for your story.

About the Author: Sonia Simone is co-founder and CMO of Copyblogger Media. Share your charming, colorful, vivacious self with Sonia on twitter.