If local search isn’t on an businesses radar, it definitely should be. In my job, it’s been a priority for the past six months to organize and optimize our efforts to become more effective at local search. We want our locations to attract as much attention and take up as much real estate as possible when someone does a search for a product we carry in their neighborhood market. As more people search on the go and as search engines place more emphasis on displaying local results, the better you understand what’s going on, the better you’ll be in the long run.

Search Engine Watch came out with a good overview article to what you should be doing – http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2094582/Understanding-the-98-Google-Local-Ranking-Factors. Most of the suggestions are common sense but I’m still amazed how many businesses, both large and small, aren’t even doing the basics.

Here’s what I consider to be the basics:

• Updating all fundamental information such as store hours, address, phone number, etc. so they provide users with contact information and a way to find you.
• Selecting pertinent categories that describe your business. Each local review site (Yelp, Citysearch, and Places) had different categories to select from. Most offer you the ability to choose more than one. This helps you to show up in search results or when people are drilling down into specific categories.
• Adding a description of your business and services targeting specific keywords. This not only gives the user some context to what you do but it also has SEO benefits.
• Adding links to all your social media profiles including Facebook and Twitter. It’s easy to do and it gives more ways for the user to connect with you.
• Encouraging users to post reviews. Make sure employees mention that they’d appreciate a review to satisfied customers, offer signage in-store reminding visitors, etc. The more reviews a store has (especially positive ones), the more authority and relevance it’ll have in local search.

The new Gap Logo is starting to look like a pretty good case study for what companies need to prepare for in this fast-paced, info-centric society. Gap seems to have made a pretty big goof by messing with an iconic logo, especially when no one knew that the change was going to take place.

A quick synopsis of the issue is…

1. Gap changed their logo on Monday.
2. Pretty much everyone hated it.
3. Gap quickly used social media channels to help reach out to its customer base.
4. Gap partially backpedaled from the logo change admitting that they love their new logo but would “like to see other ideas”.
5. Gap will try to use crowdsourcing to harness customer engagement and user-generated logo ideas.

Will it work? I think so. They seem to have addressed the issue and are engaging its audience from the ground up. By the looks of the wall post they made on Facebook about the logo, their customers have awoken and will definitely be participants on the issue. They got over 600 comments while most of their previous wall posts had under 100 comments, with most being around 50.

How Gap handles the crowd sourcing project will ultimately determine how this future case study ends. If they receive a lot of entries but stick to their new design, the outcome could be disastrous. Gap wants to reconnect and become more relevant to its customers. Here’s their chance. What do you think will happen?

I must give props to Nissan for this commercial. It actually made me stop what I was doing to figure out what it was for. The image of a Polar Bear walking in a cityscape was able to breakthrough the clutter. I actually missed the beginning of the commercial and had to look it up on YouTube. Nissan did a few things right and there were a few things they could do better. It was great that they had a YouTube account called Nissanusa and uploaded a copy of the commercial onto YouTube. The quality was excellent, the title was clear/searchable, and it seemed official due to the account name. The video has already garnered over 700,000 views and over 1,100 comments.

A few things they could have done better:

• Have a better description that includes more keyword terms to make it more SEO friendly. The description doesn’t mention “Nissan”, “Leaf”, “Electric”, “Car”, “Automobile”, “Eco-Friendly”, etc. All keywords I’m sure Nissan would like to associate with the LEAF.
• Have a link to the Nissan LEAF website from the video. It really should be easier for viewers to find out more about the car. I just saw the commercial then I had to do a Google search to find the website (btw, it’s http://www.nissanusa.com/leaf-electric-car/index#/leaf-electric-car/index…you can thank me now Nissan). If Nissan had just put a link within the description, it would be an simple trigger point for viewers to engage more with the vehicle.
• Speaking of the website, have some imagery or reference to the television commercial. Even something as simple as posting or linking to the YouTube video would create some cohesion and relevance to the advertising campaign. The commercial could be a good starting point to introduce the vehicle to the consumer if they hadn’t seen it on TV. Since the money was already a sunk cost for the commercial, you might as well reuse the content to maximize its value.
• Add social media links to your website. The Nissan LEAF Facebook fan page (http://www.facebook.com/nissanleaf…thank me again Nissan) has over 73,000 fans, why isn’t there a clear link to this from the official website? Possible consumers of the Nissan LEAF are most likely social media savvy. Again, make it simpler for your company to engage with your potential buyers.

In the end, I worked pretty hard to find information about the Nissan LEAF. I had to do multiple searches to discover more. Nissan could have easily optimized their efforts with a few simple changes. I see this less of an technical implementation hurdle but rather an internal communication one to get all of these touch points connected.

It’s crazy to think that the future might be sneaking up faster than we think. Remember the time when people were scared to give their credit card information over the Internet? Concerns about identity theft, unfamiliarity with ssl pages, the need to see the product in person were typical excuses. Times have most certainly changed as e-commerce is booming and just apart of the way we live today.

M-Commerce or mobile commerce is definitely coming and soon will be “just apart of the way we live”. As smart phones and other portable devices like the iPad become more ubiquitous the amount of commerce will follow. For example, I was at the airport tonight waiting for my trip to New Zealand/Australia with my wife. We quickly realized that we probably should’ve make reservations for the spa/hot springs we had planned to visit in less than 48 hours. I quickly jumped onto my iPad, found their website, filled out a form, and submitted my credit card information. I got an email 10 minutes later with times to choose from. One email reply later and our reservation was confirmed. Pretty powerful stuff. In a matter of 15 minutes we were able to purchase a service in a country across the globe for a place we had never been that would be fulfilled in less than 48 hours. The amazing part is that we were sitting in terminal 43 of LAX…the walls of commerce are being broken down as I type.

The experience I had is probably not common today but it will be very very soon. I’m guessing in less than 2 years this will be commonplace. The speed at which things can be purchased is truly game changing. Mobile is definitely where business should start to think about optimizing. By optimization I see a few key areas:

- Simple easy to use websites or app – if I’m mobile I want to be able to find what I want quickly and fast. This probably means shorter forms, quick forms of payment, etc.
- Fast response – Let me know my purchase went through. Notify me quickly that there are problems. Reply to support and service questions instantly.
- Full selection – I should be able to purchase anything and everything that I could from a physical location or website.

Thoughts about m-commerce? Leave some comments…would love to discuss.

Announced yesterday was the all-new Apple TV at a $99. A much more attractive price point that actually made me pause, think, and research if this was something that I wanted to buy. A win for Apple (and others like Roku and Boxee) as I wasn’t even in the market to buy this type of product. Apple’s marketing machine has again placed a seed in my head to consider a product that I didn’t even know I possibly wanted (e.g., the iPad, which I currently now own).

I did a bit of digging last night and here’s a few pros and cons as it pertains to my current situation…

Pros

1. Netflix Streaming – With Blockbuster in bankruptcy, our favorite local video store might be kaput. It would be great to get access to movies without leaving the couch.
2. AirPlay Streaming – We have iPhones and an iPad in our household so it would be seamless to stream music and videos onto the player.
3. Apple Design & Functionality – We love our current Apple products. They are not without fault but in general they work really well and are used on a daily basis.

Cons

1. Lack of Content – The biggest problem with Apple TV is that I’m not sure if they’ll have enough good programming to purchase. For TV shows they only will have ABC and Fox shows. What about my Amazing Race and How I Met Your Mother?
2. DVR - Do I really need another product to buy more things to watch on TV? I already pay $100 for cable and the DVR function means that I always have something that I want to watch.
3. Price - Yes this was the main head turner but for $99 is my money better spent somewhere else? Similar streaming content devices cost cheaper or I could spend a bit more and get a Blu-Ray player with streaming capabilities. The other issue is that if I had the Apple TV would I be locked into spending even more money buying shows/movies? The answer is probably yes as I would need to justify the purchase.

The product has its initial temptation but I think I’ll end up in a wait and see approach. If more studios provide content to Apple for shows and movies then I might be more inclined to kill my cable service and try a product like the Apple TV.