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Google Tags for Bulk Listing Uploads… or Not?

August 25th, 2010

A few weeks ago, I wrote a post on how different hair salons were using Google Tags. This time, it’s the same subject with a different twist.

Something odd appears when creating Google tags for bulk listing uploads. In a picture…

I left the name of the company out but notice you can create a tag for the first one and not the other three (actually, there are 26 others). The first listing was created manually and the rest were created through Google’s bulk listing format.

I did a quick search, didn’t find much but did notice someone else had the same issue.

As of this writing, no one has answered his question. Maybe not being able to create tags in bulk listings is just a glitch on Google’s part, maybe it’s one of those things that’s a simple fix from the user end. Figured I’d throw it out there for you smart, local search folks. What are your thoughts?

Posted in Google, Local Search | 1 Comment »

Yellow Pages, Let’s Make Seattle More Pretty

August 19th, 2010

Yep, another post about the yellow pages, but I have a genuine offer for a couple  print yellow pages advocates. More on this below.

Apparently, Seattle has a yellow pages opt-out program in legislation which would penalize those who deliver these books to homes and businesses who have requested to not receive them. A guy named Ken has something to say against it. He thinks delivering multiple yellow pages to doorsteps each year is a good thing.

I did leave this comment last week, although he didn’t accept it.

An acquaintance of mine named Eric had something to say which was accepted, then had another thing to say which was not accepted.

Apparently, those of us who do not find print yellow pages valuable have awakened a sleeping giant named Wayne Mulling who had something to say. Nope. I haven’t heard of him either.

“I will guarantee you that the gentleman (and I use the term loosely) that is sponsoring this bill, has probably never run a business before going into politics, has never had to go to sleep at night worrying about how to keep his business viable, how he’s going keep the people he has employed (whose families look to that job for a living), or any of the other 1000 concerns small business owners have – which includes how do I best promote my business.”

The gentleman Wayne is talking about is Seattle Councilman Mike O’Brien. After about a 30 second search on him, it turns out he doesn’t just hold a MBA, but has been the chief financial officer for a $10 million law firm for ten years.

I’m guessing Mike is very knowledgeable about running a business. As a CFO of a good size law firm for over ten years, he has probably been in charge of a ton of advertising dollars spent with the print yellow pages. It turns out that attorneys like to advertise.

Wayne Mulling, you shouldn’t be slamming Mike. You should be thanking him for every dime he spent in your industry.

Here’s where the offer comes in. Thanks to a wonderful Sun Country Airlines promotion, I’m able to travel at-will on weekends for over a month. Ken and Wayne, I hereby invite you to join me in Seattle to recycle unwanted phone books. Sometime in September, SuperMedia should be dropping off these books.

A week after these books are delivered, it’s safe to assume that books left on lawns and abandoned homes are unwanted. Seattle happens to be an available city for the Sun Country promotion. Would you like to meet me there on a late September or early October weekend? Together, we can help make Seattle more pretty.

Thank you for your consideration. This is a sincere offer.

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Posted in Uncategorized | 4 Comments »

Sun Country Airlines Promotion Taking the MN Out of LocalMN

August 18th, 2010

The title of this post looks negative at first. It’s not. It’s awesome!

Thank you, Sun Country and your Fall Free for All promotion for allowing me to take five straight weekend trips for not a lot of money. This way, I get to visit new destinations, meet people through social media connections, interact with businesses all while being in Minnesota during the work week.

So glad I saw this Twitter message:

When I visit local places, I plan to be social not just in person but online as well. Businesses who treat me well deserve to be mentioned on sites like Google Maps, Citysearch, Yelp, Twitter, Flickr and this blog.

Note – aside from the print yellow pages industry, I almost solely have positive things to say about businesses.

I’ll also be looking for hotels to stay. I’m not too picky. Fancy hotels are great although my needs are basically room Internet access and a bed.

Nonetheless, ten hotel stays in just over a month adds up. I would love it if a hotel chain (or any other business) would help sponsor this experiment in some sort of way. So far, I just followed a few hotels on Twitter, including:

I’ll try to follow a few more, too. Now, most marketing departments in the hospitality field will have some type of online reputation management program, which hopefully means they’ll see this blog post + notice that I follow them on Twitter.

So, wonderful hospitality industry folks. Please consider sponsoring this experiment in some sort of way. We all know that Word-of-Web marketing is like Word-of-Mouth except when online you’re telling everybody. I want to say nice things about you!

I have decided on four weekend places to visit: San Diego, Los Angeles, Las Vegas and Boston. The other place or two will be decided later.

The plan will be to arrive at my destinations Friday evenings and find an event/attraction/anything blog worthy that night or Saturday. Then, I’ll make sure to use Twitter, Flickr, YouTube, local review sites and this blog to mention what hopes to be fun experiences. Sundays will mostly be returning to Minnesota.

I’m really looking forward to this and hope to showcase many worthy businesses across the country.

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Posted in Social Media | 5 Comments »