Yodle

The big question is: Does Yodle Organic Actually Work?

There is a large amount of speculation in the seo world, and rightfully so. Small businesses owners are being smothered with seo garbage that promises the world and delivers nothing – is Yodle any different?

I took 10 Yodle Organic customer websites and thoroughly analyzed them for best SEO practices and how their rankings & traffic really stack up – can you expect Yodle Organic to work for you?

Company Name: Lone Star Roofing
Yodle Organic Website: www.flatroofspecialist.net

I’ve been watching the progress of FlatroofSpecialist.net for several weeks and have been closely monitoring their SEO progress with regards to both off-page seo and on-page SEO, link building while monitoring ranking progress in  Google, Yahoo and Bing.

Gradually Increasing Ranks with the Major SERPs represent Positive SEO

GOOD & BAD SEO IS EASY TO MEASURE…

I monitored 32 keywords in the top 3 search engines and found pretty good progress for most of them…

The graph to the left indicates continual growth in Google for one of the 32 keywords monitored. This specific keyword grew 47 positions in two short days – pretty cool eh?

Of the 32 keywords monitored, 3 landed prominent first page positions in Google, 13 in Bing and 4 in Yahoo.

The remaining keywords will most likely land 1st page positions with a little bit of link love and a few on-page SEO enhancements…

Steadily increase in rankings = good SEO!

IS YODLE ORGANIC WORTH THE $$?

You can’t beat a Good SEO campaign for under $1K/mo, it just doesn’t happen, until now…

Most small business owners cannot afford to hire local seo agency’s who in many cases cost well  over $1,000/mo for an aggressive seo campaign.

Yodle’s found a niche… and that niche is leveling the playing field for small businesses.

Prior to Google, Yahoo, Bing etc… the only businesses who survived were the companies who had the cash on hand to dump into their advertising, luckily that has changed and companies like Yodle allowing small business owners the chance to compete with their largest competitors for the first time ever.

2 SEO Tips I would use to enhance organic SEO rankings  for FlatRoofSpecialist.net

• Add Dallas to your H1 tags…
• Add rel=”nofollow” to outgoing links…
  There is a general misconception on how to link to outside websites. Many think that linking to an authority website will help your rankings… I am not entirely sure what Yodle’s thinking is behind this but my personal recommendation, especially to newer websites which don’t contain much authority is to preserve it using the rel=”nofollow” attribute to outgoing links.

That’s all for now.. Stay classy.

Related Posts:

• YODLE CONTINUES INNOVATION WITH LAUNCH OF YODLE ORGANIC
• Yodle Goes Phishing – Twitter Account Hacked
• Yodle Raises $10 Million in Series D, Financing
• Setting Realistic Expectations For Outsourced PPC Management
• Is Yodle a Scam?

Liberty Bell Telecom

I was somewhat excited yet skeptical about Liberty Bell‘s new Growth Service Bundling – how well does it work, and how powerful is it for small businesses?

Because I am not on the market for outsourced SEO and Web Design, I find it fun to dig in and review other local businesses who offer SEO, Web Design, Search Engine Marketing (SEM) etc… Colorado is flooded with talented Web Designers and Search Engine Optimizers which makes it hard to pick players vs. posers. So here we go, my official review on Liberty Bell in Denver’s, Growth Services.

Liberty Bell Takes a Stab at Online Marketing & Development Services – Read more

Liberty Bell Growth Services:

• Web Design & Development
  Think it will take thousands of dollars and months of time to get your presence on the web? Not with Liberty-Bell. We’ll listen to you and help you determine what your site needs to look like and how it needs to function. Then we’ll design it and build it to meet those needs. We can get you started for less than you’d ever expect.
• Video Production
  Give your business more than just a bunch of words on a screen. Give it a face with a video. Videos can be powerful ways to inspire confidence in you and interact with your customers and potential customers on a more human level. Plus, with free use of our video studio, it doesn’t have to cost a fortune anymore.
• Search Engine Optimization
  SEO is all about content. What words do you use to describe your business or products? Without the right words search engines will put you at the bottom of their list. We can help optimize your content to get you higher in search results. If you’re building a new site we can include SEO as part of the process. Already have a site? We will help improve the content to get better search placement.
• Google AdWords Management
  With Google AdWords you can get the word out about your business to potential customers who are ready to buy. Why? Because they are searching for what you sell. AdWords uses your keywords to place you in Google’s content network where it is most relevant for your business. It provides a level of exposure above and beyond what SEO provides. Our web marketing experts can get a campaign set up, monitor the results and adjust the campaign to be more effective. All at a price that is as flexible as your budget.
• Social Media Marketing
  Now you can connect with customers on the web through social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter. These sites let you start truly communicating with your customers so you aren’t only talking to them but they are talking to you. This provides you valuable opportunities to build brand, establish a community of customers and gain valuable insight into what you customers want. We can help get you started in social media marketing by helping you plan the best strategy for your business.

When managed correctly – a professional PPC (pay-per-click) campaign can be very not only cost-effective but extremely powerful for any small business.

We recently tested out some PPC Management campaigns on our iClick Websites brand and have a formulation that is not only stunning  – but driving some of the lowest cpc (cost-per-click) rates in the industry. We have mastered not only Quality Scores (leaving a lower CPC rate) but have maximized conversions to an all time high – sure clicks are great, but calls are better.

Lean more about Denver PPC Management.

The ReachLocal IPO is a subject that was well expected in the local online advertising – the only question was when. Now that we have that answered what we expect? ReachLocal has a promising service and  now has the money to back it up.

[ReachLocal Form S-1 is available to download at the end of this release]

First – what ReachLocal is… ReachLocal is a one-stop online advertising solution for roughly 15,000 small businesses. It’s revenues, profits, and financial show they now have a sliding change to become the leader and take over a majority of the market share among other local internet advertising providers. According to SEMShowdown.com, a SEM Review website, ReachLocal was recently awarded the Best Value for Mid-Size Companies as well.

With 525 sales people who generated $143 million in revenues the first three quarters of 2009, you can rest assured that ReachLocal’s plan will be to quickly vamp up an already prospering sales force to leach towards market share control.

Official Press Release:

ReachLocal, Inc., a local online marketing company, announced today that it has filed a registration statement on Form S-1 with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) relating to a proposed initial public offering of shares of its common stock. The shares of common stock to be sold in this offering are proposed to be sold by ReachLocal and certain stockholders. The number of shares to be offered and the price range for the offering have not yet been determined. J.P. Morgan Securities Inc. and BofA Merrill Lynch are acting as joint book-running managers. Citi is acting as lead manager, and Piper Jaffray & Co., Needham & Company, LLC and Broadpoint.Gleacher are acting as co-managers.

The offering will be made only by means of a prospectus. When available, copies of the preliminary prospectus relating to the offering may be obtained from J.P. Morgan Securities Inc., Attention: Broadridge Financial Solutions, 1155 Long Island Avenue, Edgewood, New York 11717; or BofA Merrill Lynch, 4 World Financial Center, New York, NY 10080, Attn: Preliminary Prospectus Department.

A registration statement relating to these securities has been filed with the SEC but has not yet become effective. These securities may not be sold nor may offers to buy be accepted prior to the time the registration statement becomes effective. The registration statement on Form S-1 may be accessed through the SEC’s website at edgar.sec.gov.

This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy, nor shall there be any sale of these securities in any state or jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such state or jurisdiction.

About: ReachLocal, Inc.

ReachLocal, Inc.’s mission is to help small and medium-sized businesses acquire, maintain and retain customers via the Internet. ReachLocal offers a comprehensive suite of online marketing and reporting solutions, including search engine marketing, display advertising, remarketing and online marketing analytics, each targeted to the small and medium-sized business market. ReachLocal delivers these solutions to SMBs through a combination of its proprietary platform and its direct, “feet-on-the-street” sales force of Internet Marketing Consultants and select third party agencies and resellers. ReachLocal is headquartered in Woodland Hills, CA, with offices throughout North America and in Australia and the United Kingdom.

SOURCE: ReachLocal

What does this mean for competitors – Yodle, Idearc, DexKnows.com and other Local Online Advertising company’s? It means its time to step up your game, look at  your offerings and find a quick solution to let small business owners your service is better – and why.

• Download ReachLocal Form S-1 here.

Related Articles:

• Setting Realistic Expectations For Outsourced PPC Management
• ReachLocal: Best Value for Mid-Size Companies

–noun

1. a confidence game or other fraudulent scheme, esp. for making a quick profit; swindle.

–verb (used with object)

1. to cheat or defraud with a scam.

So let’s get to business - Is Yodle a Scam?

First what Yodle is not: Yodle is not a confidance game or a fraudulent scheme and they most defiantly do not try to cheat or defraud small businesses with a scam. – there you go, this automatically disqualifies them as a scam.

What Yodle is: Yodle is a Internet Advertising Agency (a big one at that) that provides everything from Pay-Per-Click management, to web design and search engine optimization. One thing I know for sure is that Yodle’s management team cares a lot about their advertisers and drives a product that they really believe in.

So what do you do if Yodle doesn’t work for you?

Try something new. Too many businesses blab about things they really know little to nothing about. Part of small business ownership is finding out what works best for you. If Yodle doesn’t work for your company (and we know it doesn’t work for every business), try something new. Don’t get your shorts in a knot and make yourself sound uneducated by ranting. I have NEVER affiliated nor wanted to affiliate myself with other businesses who rant.

There you have it. Yodle is not a scam and its not for everyone – but it works.

Sean Hakes, Inc and subsidiary clients now have the ability to rate, listen and review calls driven through it’s organic and paid advertising services. Advertisers have the ability to not only listen to the quality of phone calls, but they now have the ability to control which sector and keywords drive calls and prospect sales.

About Sean Hakes, Inc:

Sean Hakes, Inc is the parent company for Big Nose Media – a local internet advertising agency that provides Search Engine Optimization, Search Engine Marketing and Digital Advertising for local small businesses.

For more information about the new features please visit www.seanhakes.com.

There are many myths floating around about Search Marketing / PPC Management company’s like Yodle, ReachLocal, WebVisable etc from various  people in, and out of the industry that in many cases are reckless attempts to justify a reaction of someone or something else unrelated to your PPC Management company.

Keep an eye out here as well as our new official 2009 SEM Showdown webpage at www.SEMShowdown.com for the latest SEM Myths dispelled.

We are traveling through time and reading various forums to collect real time, legitimate fresh outta the water Myths to BUST!

Here are a few of the myths we’re going to look at:

1. YODLE WILL AFFECT YOUR SEO RANKINGS
2. REACHLOCAL WILL AFFECT YOUR SEO RANKINGS
3. SEM IF NOT MANAGED  CORRECTLY CAN HURT YOUR SEO RANKINGS
4. ITS CHEAPER TO MANAGE PPC YOURSELF, SEM COMPANIES TAKE AT LEAST HALF YOUR MONTHLY BUDGET FOR “MANAGEMENT FEES.”
5. SEM PROVIDERS CANT TRACK WHICH KEYWORDS  GENERATE WHICH CALLS THEREFORE THEY CANT GIVE YOU A TRUE R.O.I LIKE THEY SAY.

Hello and Happy Thursday!

I was shifting through old email pertaining to SEM and found my first correspondence with Yodle – This is a quick recap that tells my story on how I was first introduced to Yodle in 2008. Here is my story:

In August of 2008 I owned a Search Engine Marketing / Search Engine Optimization agency called Think Thinker. We were a full in-house SEM/SEO Agency who provided who also provided web design and graphic design services.

Think Thinker managed all online marketing efforts for it’s clients. This means sales calls from ServiceMagic, Yodle, ReachLocal, Dex and so on. My clients entrusted me to manage their marketing  budget and ensure their budgets were well spent.

My introduction to Yodle was bitter sweet and somewhat disconcerting. This is the email that was sent out to a few of my clients from a Yodle sales rep (I will leave out his name) it went something like this…

Chris,

I checked out thinkthinker.com, and I got to be honest Chris, I wasn’t impressed.  Because online advertising is relatively new, I understand that it is difficult to shop around.  Just check out the info below on our company, and in the future be weary of what some of our competitors will lead you to believe.  If they haven’t locked you into a long-term agreement – I sincerely hope they haven’t – I would like to schedule an online demonstration of what we can do for your company (it takes roughly 30 minutes).

Yodle, or www.yodle.com, is an official partner of Google that specializes in search engine marketing.  Feel free to click on our link to get a general understanding of our platform; I also encourage you to search “yodle” in any major search engine in order to get some third-party perspectives on our company.

Sincerely,

Sales Person

————————————
Sales Person | Marketing Consultant
Yodle.com | “GET FOUND.”

“Clicks are great but CALLS are BETTER”

WOW…Now that’s an aggressive email – not a big deal.. that’s part of sales and competition right? I was somewhat bothered based on the email and the conversation my clients had with the sales reps so I decided to e mail Yodle CEO, Court Cunningham – this was his response.

Sean,

We take sales integrity very seriously here at Yodle and do not tolerate sales reps using false or misleading formation to close new business.  In terms of the email below, I do not see anything false or misleading.  The sales rep gave his personal opinion that he was not impressed.  He did not make any statements about the quality of what you are doing. If you have any more detail that you think is clearly false/ misleading please send it to me.

In terms of harassing your clients, I do not think calling a small business owner and trying to educate them about Yodle, which  we feel offers the most value of any product in the market, is harassment.  It is a service to the owner who could be generating more business by using our services.

We are proud of what we offer and want people to know about it.

Best Regards,

Court

When all was said and done I wasn’t excited about Court’s response. The best  way at that point for Yodle or any other advertising company to win my clients over was to win me over. This didn’t happen; at least at this point.

This my friends is how I was introduced to Yodle.  This will be my last Yodle / ReachLocal post until we release our results from the Showdown – but I must say, both companies had very good reviews.

SkyRun Vacation Rentals has served thousands of families and guests since we began renting vacation rentals in Keystone Resort in 2002. Their focus is on providing premium quality vacation rentals with premium full-time service, but at a discount from what it costs to rent the same unit from the resort itself.

Potential renters can find great deals on vacation rentals including Steamboat lodging, Keystone Condos, Copper Mountain, Summit County Colorado, Savannah Georgia and many more – you can even find great deals on Steamboat Ski and Snowboard Rentals!

Business and Franchise owners around the world have realized that dipping into secret sauce like Twitter, Facebook and Digg have many benefits but combining a strategic SEM and SEO toppings add to an award winning recipe.

Check out Sky Run today at skyrun.com.

Many businesses are finding out and finding out fast that having a pre-designed search engine marketing or search engine optimization campaign might have been the way to go – is it too late? Not at all, below are some reputable companies I recommend for Web Design, Search Engine Optimization and Search Engine Marketing.

• LunaWebs.com (Custom Web Design)
• ReachLocal (Search Engine Marketing / PPC)
• Colorado Website Design (ColoradoWebsiteDesign.com)

Until next time…