Look how old this is! I post at SearchCommander.com now, and this post was published 14 years 6 months 12 days ago. This industry changes FAST, so blindly following the advice here *may not* be a good idea! If you're at all unsure, feel free to hit me up on Twitter and ask.
I received a marketing e-mail that was cleverly worded, and since I’m interested in local marketing, I clicked the link. When I got there though, the message I received wasn’t exactly a perfect sales pitch.
The e-mail I got told me that my business name was listed incorrectly on the major search engines, and I could get a complete online visibility report by following the link.
It sounded interesting, so I followed the link, and this is what I saw –
If I’m better off than all 111 of my competitors, how can they help me?
And what’s “Multnomah” Oregon? (Actually, Multnomah is my local marketing county, but even if their email software doesn’t know that, their website for mining local leads should, don’t you think?)
Here’s what the email said…
My name is [snip Name] and I’m researching the online visibility of Multnomah small businesses.
I came across Search Commander, Inc. (11124 Halsey St) on Google, Yahoo and yellow pages sites and noticed that the business is listed differently on these sites. I invite you to check if the business details are up-to-date and take a look at your complete online visibility report.
I hope this information will be useful to you and would appreciate any feedback you may have. If this is not your business or if you would not like to receive these reports, please click the unsubscribe link at the bottom of this email.
Sincerely,
[snip name]
Business Analyst
[snip Email]
I’m not writing this to slam ’em, I think it’s an interesting campaign, a good looking site, and they DO have a point – Listings should match identically from site to site, (something I learned from David Mihm) and my own local marketing is something I confess to being less than diligent about, at Search Commander, Inc.
But if you make sure all listings are exactly the same, you forgo your ability to earn multiple listings. Sounds like advice Google would offer, or a bleach-hat marketer.
heh – “bleach hat” – good one 😉 –
For a local brick and mortar business, the consistency of listings from place to place adds credibility – i.e. it’s the one place that duplicate content is actually preferable…
Oh Chapeau Blanc, I couldn’t disagree more, in local search, consistency is key, if you have misspelled your business name, how credible would you look in the eyes of potential consumers? The way to earn multiple listings is to research the best places to list your local business and submit them, making sure you list them with all the necessary components!