Big Changes at Google Today, Don’t Worry LTCEP Clients, We Are Ahead of the Game, and Now You Are Too!
Google PLACES has changed TODAY
Google is trying to FORCE you, me and everyone into using Google Plus.
To do so they merged the G+ and Google Places.
SO If you've set up a "Google Plus Page for Business," great.
If you are a client of LTCEP, great, we've already done that for most of you. (assuming you are enrolled in that program)
If you haven't, you should get busy, even this update has not made anyone "invisible", it doesn't mean you should get comfortable and neglect the G+ business profiles.
As if it wasn't enough of a PAIN to get customers to leave reviews, now they gotta jump through hoops and loops.
Basically, they have to create a Google Plus page, log into it, search for your business in the "Local" tab in Google Plus, and finally write the review. yadi yada… YUK!
Ok without freaking out, it's NOT much more complicated, but it certainly requires the customers to REALLY want to leave you a review!
But, as you might imagine, LTCEP answers the call and the challenge with a review program coming soon.
Great reading if really want more scoop is here:
Essential:
- http://googleandyourbusiness.blogspot.com/
- http://www.smallbusinesssem.com/google-places-marries-google-gives-birth-to-new-google-local-pages/5828/
- http://blumenthals.com/blog/2012/05/30/google-places-pages-are-no-more-but-what-has-changed/
- https://support.google.com/local/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=2623007
Additional Info:
- http://www.davidmihm.com/blog/google/plus-places-merge-here/
- http://searchengineland.com/google-places-is-over-company-makes-google-the-center-of-gravity-for-local-search-122770
To sum it up:
It basically the same as before, nothing crazy drastic worth freaking out about…. YET.
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1)The display (search result or otherwise)
2)The SMB management interface
3)The back end architecture that assembles Places listings, dedupes the list, attaches reviews to a listing (or not ) Lets look at #3 first. This might be upgraded but it appears that the technology to automatically generate a business directory world wide will continue to persist and will survive any changes. Google is actively investing in the architecture with recent changes and tools & staff to fix the artifacts of its workings. #1 – Certainly Google is interested in displaying search results where ever and when ever they make sense and can generate ad revenue. While Place Pages are perhaps being directly displayed less on the desktop they might still make sense in mobile. They most certainly would make sense in the context of Plus in the many ways that you point out. #2 the Dashboard – It is likely that an SMB dashboard will continue to exist in some form or another. It will likely undergo a radical redesign so as to be able to provide a simple self service interface to Adwords, Analytics, Offers, Punchd etc. It makes all kinds of sense to add Plus to that mix for all the reasons that you point out. There certainly needs to be more reasons for SMBS to return to it but it seems unlikely that the primary interface for SMBS with Google will go away. Essentially this has transpired. The Dashboard is still awaiting an update but Google hasconfirmed that it will remain the point of contact for creating a business listing. The algo, while it will evolve to include more social signals, is still the algo and it will still rank businesses. It has been evolving right along but Google rarely throws away ranking algos rather they add and change the important elements. As for the backend that assembles the listings, dedupes the list, merges similar businesses that too will stay. It is being improved and enhanced but over the past year signficant investments in this technology has been made and it will not disappear. Google is still rolling out the change so the details of how all this will work are not yet clear. But they note “If you don’t yet have a Google+ Page for your business, we encourage you to create one now. And if you do already have one, hold tight for news on how to get it linked to your local listing.” So while some has changed, and the change is important, it is incremental change and not revolutionary change. It is a change that will hopefully engage more businesses in claiming and keeping their “place” current and one that will hopefully engage more customers with the business. But it is not a change that will fundamentally change (at least initially) how a business is ranked in the main search results nor how listings are created and assembled.
Regards,
Register for our webinars and marketing videos: http://LTCSocialMark.com
Posted via email from Marketing Elder Care and Marketing Senior Services
Home Care Marketing: Saturday Time Saver Tip
- Either click 'Add alert by URL' and just type in the URL for the Facebook page you'd like to monitor (For example: www.facebook.com/homecaredaily ), or you can select from a list of pages you administer.
- You can add as many alerts as you like, and even multiple alerts for the same page.
- Maybe you want an alert immediately, as well as a weekly report of all activity.
- The 'Own content' checkbox means comments and posts by the page administrators.
- You will only get alerts on posts newer than one month.
Register for our webinars and marketing videos: http://LTCSocialMark.com
Posted via email from Marketing Elder Care and Marketing Senior Services
Home Care Leads Part I: The Difference Between a Home Care Website the Generates Leads, and One That Does Not.
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Posted via email from Marketing Elder Care and Marketing Senior Services
Home Care – Generating Online Leads Webinar
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Posted via email from Marketing Elder Care and Marketing Senior Services
The Top 10 Reasons Home Care Agencies hire LTC Expert Publications as their Online Marketing Partner.
1. SAVE MONEY AND MANAGEMENT TIME.
By outsourcing all aspects of your online marketing program, for one flat fee per month, you have a dedicated team managing all of your online marketing programs. You get the job done right and spend your precious time supporting your clients and managing your staff.
2. MINIMIZE YOUR TIME TO MARKET.
Your complete new program is up and running in 4 weeks. The time it takes to rank high in your local area on Google is quicker because of our unique local search optimization techniques.
3. COMPLETE SOCIAL MEDIA.
Get all your major social media accounts set up, optimized and connected to your website so that content is passed through automatically.
4. ONE PLACE TO CALL.
Eliminate the frustration that occurs when different consultants manage your website, SEO, PPC, Newsletter, Social media, Google Places, etc. You save the wasted time coordinating this highly technical and fast changing field.
5. BEST PLATFORM.
Your website resides on the most ubiquitous publishing platform available, WordPress. There are tons of open software options to expand and scale your site while you grow. It is designed to be search engine and content management friendly. No need to change platforms as your business grows.
6. PROSPECT NURTURING TOOLS.
Your company newsletter will go out each month with rich content to prospects, referral partners and existing clients. You saves hours of in house admin and marketing time each month.
7. CONTENT THAT POSITIONS YOU AS A LEADER.
You rest assured that your publisher knows your market and will never embarrass you with inappropriate content. LTCEP is tightly connected to the elder care market and has excellent writers.
8. EMPHASIS ON LOCAL SEARCH.
We use the latest techniques to get your website highly ranked for the group of towns that you target.
9. PUBLISHING NETWORK AND BACKLINKS FROM THE START.
You immediately become part of our "Elder Care Publishing Network" of senior care websites. While raising your image and visibility as an expert in the field of senior care, you also acquire high ranking in-bound links to your website. These high ranking links are an essential ingredient in any search engine optimization plan.
10. TRACK YOUR ROI AND MANAGE YOUR MARKETING INVESTMENT.
Know exactly what return you are getting from your online marketing with reports that tell you the real story. You know how many of those phone calls each month were home care leads vs. job seekers.
Regards,
Register for our webinars and marketing videos: http://LTCSocialMark.com
Posted via email from Marketing Elder Care and Marketing Senior Services
Google’s Latest Changes- What They Want, What They Don’t Want, and How to Keep Them Happy! (Hint: Relevancy is King)
"Relevancy plus common sense plus content"- we like those words at LTCEP and we are VERY glad that Google likes them to.
This information comes from Search Engine Journal's Scott Krager:
In his opening keynote at SMX London, Amit Singhal, VP and Google Fellow, who rewrote the original Google algorithm upon his hire in 2000, said today that “Relevancy is King”. He added that Google looks at a combination of three signals (links, social, user actions) and how those signals support each other to build the organic result set.
While declining to “whiteboard the algorithm for you” Singhal did give hints of where Google is going and what they look for with the current algorithm.
Everything came back to “relevancy”. Google wants to always serve the user the most relevant result to the individual. And they will use whatever data sources they can to determine that.
Here are 5 points I found interesting from Sinhal’s talk.
1. Author Rank
Singhal mentioned that the author of a page influencing rankings. This may seem common knowledge, but it’s not something I had heard confirmed.
But keep in mind, Google looks at all signals in combination, not just one signal by itself.
2. Aberrations in Ranking Signals
The algorithm looks closely at aberrations in all signals. So buying that 1000 tweet package for $10 probably isn’t the best bet.
3. Search Plus Your World Redesign Holding Up International Releases
Singhal disclosed that Search Plus Your World was getting a bit of an overhaul in design and that until that was complete it would not be rolling out internationally.
4. Google uses human quality raters extensively in testing algorithm changes
Singhal discussed how Google tests new algorithm improvements, and one part I thought was interesting is that once an engineer writes an improvement, it first goes out for A/B testing to Google human quality raters before coming back to Google to potentially run live, real Google search traffic tests of the change.
5. Google’s new direct answers results in more searches
A webmaster in the audience asked a question “why even give Google our content if you’re just going to provide answers to users without sending them to our websites?” Amit replied that they found an increase in searches by users that get served a Google answer set (ie, what is the capital of Oregon?) and thus actually send out more traffic to websites because users have more time to dig deeper with more advanced queries once their initial basic query answer is found. (ie, why isn’t Portland the capital of Oregon?)
While this direct answer feature hasn’t been widely rolled out yet, it’s coming soon according to a recent WSJ article on the topic. And apparently this feature will actually result in more searches and more traffic to organic result sites. I’ll believe that this will really drive more traffic when I see it in analytics.
Regards,
Register for our webinars and marketing videos: http://LTCSocialMark.com
Posted via email from Marketing Elder Care and Marketing Senior Services
5 Cool Things You Can Do With Google’s New Knowledge Graph
Look up "post office" and alongside the original listing of US Post Office locations near you, Google now adds a handy map. If you want to mail your package from a different area, add the name to your search. Those maps also show up if you search for "campground" or "waterpark," as well as "Chinese takeout," "Italian restaurants," and, more specifically, Starbucks or Target. This is pretty neat: Rolling over the marker on the map highlights the corresponding place listed in the search results. 5. Find Out What Time It Is in Another City Finally, quickly find out what the local time is in Milwaukee, Osaka, Auckland, or any other city by just typing it into the unibar and hitting enter. Find the entire post here: http://lifehacker.com/5911330/five-handy-things-you-can-do-with-googles-new-knowledge-graph-search
Regards,
Register for our webinars and marketing videos: http://LTCSocialMark.com
Posted via email from Marketing Elder Care and Marketing Senior Services
AlzheimersCareToday.com Announces the Addition of a New Alzheimer’s Care Expert Contributor
Valerie VanBooven RN BSN
888-404-1513
For Immediate Release
(St. Louis, MO, May, 2012) LTC Expert Publications is proud to announce that Tom Merlin, Co-Owner of Home Helpers in Des Plaines, IL, is the featured contributor this week for a new website dedicated to Alzheimer’s Disease Care.
AlzheimersCareToday.com contains articles and information specific to the care of family members suffering from Alzheimer’s Disease, including Alzheimer’s Treatments, Dementia Care, and Signs and Symptoms of Alzheimer’s Disease, tips and articles. All content is written by experts in the home care and assisted living industries.
“We have dozens of experts nationwide who are happy to share information and advice to families who have a loved one with Alzheimer’s Disease. Many are home care agency owners who speak to family caregivers every single day. They know and understand the challenges of Alzheimer’s Disease and deal with these challenges full time. We are sharing their expertise on this new website,” states Valerie VanBooven RN BSN, Co-Owner of LTC Expert Publications, and author of three books on senior care, elder care, and caregiving.
AlzheimersCareToday.com will highlight and feature a different expert who will share tips and information on Alzheimer’s Disease Care each month.
“We are honored to have Tom Merlin, (www.NorthSuburbanHomeCare.com) as one of our official featured experts. Tom is co-owner of Home Helpers in Des Plaines IL together with wife Lisa, and business partner Joy Schaefer, offering families the services of professional caregivers to assist them with activities of daily living and aging in place. He just submitted a new Alzheimer’s Care article, “Advances in Alzheimer’s Care: The Power of Storytelling” adds VanBooven.
Home Helpers of Northeastern Illinois has received the Home Services Agency license required by the Illinois Department of Public Health as of September 2008. We are proud members of the Des Plaines Chamber of Commerce, the Skokie Chamber of Commerce and the DBR Chamber of Commerce Tom and Joy have both taken the course of study and passed the examination to become Certified Senior Advisors. We have also taken the “Best Friends Approach” train-the-trainer course offered by the Alzheimer’s Association.
Tom Merlin says:
CALL (847) 780-7507 to speak with a Home Helpers Home Care expert in Des Plaines IL.
Posted via email from Marketing Elder Care and Marketing Senior Services
LTC Expert Publications Announces the Launch of a New Authority Website Dedicated to Alzheimer’s Disease Care- AlzheimersCareToday.com
LTC Expert Publications
Valerie VanBooven RN BSN 888-404-1513 www.LTCSocialMark.com For Immediate Release (ST. CHARLES, MO, May, 2012) LTC Expert Publications is proud to announce the launch of a new authority website dedicated to Alzheimer’s Care. AlzheimersCareToday.com contains articles and information specific to the caring for family members and individuals with Alzheimer ’s disease. All articles are written by experts in the home care and assisted living industries. “We have dozens of experts nationwide who are happy to share information and advice with families dealing with an Alzheimer’s disease care situation. Many are home care agency owners who care for folks with Alzheimer’s disease every single day. They know and understand the challenges of this diagnosis and the types of care strategies that work best. We are sharing their expertise on this new website,” states Valerie VanBooven RN BSN, Co-Owner of LTC Expert Publications, and author of three books on senior care, elder care, and caregiving. AlzheimersCareToday.com will highlight and feature a different expert who will share tips and information on caregiving each week. For more information about how to submit your original articles or content to AlzheimersCareToday.com , please contact Valerie VanBooven RN BSN at Valerie@ltcep.com LTC Expert Publications’s services make it possible for elder care and senior service providers to dominate the internet and generate leads. They are a full service internet marketing company specializing in the following:
- Lead generation
- Website development
- Online Marketing Programs that drive traffic and leads
- Search Engine Optimization
- Google Places Optimization
- Natural Search Engine Results
- Pay-Per-Click
- Video Production/ Video Marketing
- Social Media Marketing
- Full content management (blog posting, article marketing, press release marketing)
### Regards,
Valerie VanBooven RN BSN
Owner/ Managing Partner
LTC Expert Publications
Phone: 888-404-1513
Email: valerie@ltcep.com See our client samples: http://MySeniorService.com
Register for our webinars and marketing videos: http://LTCSocialMark.com
Posted via email from Marketing Elder Care and Marketing Senior Services
The 4 Top Home Care Marketing Strategies for Success
Oh and then there is following up with every lead, referral, referral source and on and on…..
- Yellow Pages online- I'm a big opponent of this type of spending. Wouldn't do it. My opinion.
- Yellow Pages Offline- Depends on your market. You MUST calculate your ROI. If you are getting good leads, keep it , if not , save your money for something else.
a. Great call to action.b. Great content.c. Easy contact options.d. Excellent organic keyword strategy.e. Search engine optimization for better visibility.
3. Social Media is very important. For home care agency owners and marketers, this is the order of importance:
a. #1 is LinkedIn (surprised?)b. #2 is Facebookc. #3 is Twitterd. #4 is YouTube
4. Back to Content- Great Content, Local Content, Unique Content.
Seems overwhelming, but generating leads online that are EXCLUSIVE to you and your office, and not SHARED with 5 other agencies in your area is not only smart, but those leads are much easier to close, and much more interested in YOUR services.a. Blog posting is not an option, it MUST BE DONE.c. Turning those posts into videos, creating videos, posting videos is essential in 2012.
Regards,
Register for our webinars and marketing videos: http://LTCSocialMark.com
Posted via email from Marketing Elder Care and Marketing Senior Services
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Valerie VanBooven: New Home Care Agency Report – Who’s Opening in Your Area?: As the senior care market continues to grow more comp...... http://t.co/6cdzKvK1
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Valerie VanBooven: #homecare New Home Care Agency Report – Who’s Opening in Your Area? http://www.homecar http://t.co/KsqzZ266 http://t.co/oDRrvbIv
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Valerie VanBooven: #homecare New Home Care Franchise Report – Who’s New In The Home Care Market http://www.... http://t.co/iOYW8eMO
