Recently Miller High Life launched their New iPad App for those who love to Work hard and Party Harder !

We got to review the app and must say its fun to play.

Check out the detailed review and download the app TODAY ! After all its FREE !

Rating:

.

.

Are you living the Miller High Life? If you’re reading this blog then most likely you already do ! Miller High Life lovers believe in ” Work hard and play harder”. It’s after all the American Dream. For our American readers, Miller High Life is the Indian equivalent of Miller Lite back here in the US.

Miller High Life recently launched in India and i had been selected to be part of their “The Coolest Job” Contest and it was great to be a part of such a cool product launch.  The new Miller High Life app is from developer KRDS.  Read more on this app review here .

REMEMBER: This app is for users 21 and up.

You can also watch a Video review of the app here

Look forward to hearing your thoughts on this post, feel free to share them with us in the comments below. I can be followed on Twitter and you can Fan me on FaceBook . Also feel free to sign up for my Free Newsletter for more exciting articles.

This Review is a paid review, however the review is honest and non biased. In case you’d like to have your product reviewed do contact us directly on our contact page here.

Do you know which Global Beverage Company’s Spirit is  “Work Hard, Party Hard”  ?

The Coolest Job is the latest Social Media Marketing Strategy being used by this Beverage Firm to launch a New Product.

They are using Facebook to hire for a their latest product launch in India, getting over 60,000 FaceBook Fans in under 10 days. 

The Newspaper Advt read

“Have you been walking the earth for over 21 years? Do you work till your last breath and still come alive in the club? Are you the kind who meets deadlines by the day and best friends by night? …we have a job for you !”

There was a link to their website The Coolest Job . The site referred users to Like their Page on facebook and enter the contest for a possible Job Opportunity earning INR 100,000 ( approx USD $2200 ) to party parttime. Getting paid to party is awesome while promoting this mysterious Brands Product.

The FaceBook Fans have increased rapidly and their Social Media Team is doing a great job interacting with the Fans to keep them involved. I did apply for the Profile and i’ve got over 1200 Fans Support me and Vote for me on my Profile here .

A Fan of Mine did an Awesome Video to show her support for me – Check it out and share your love below in the comments.

Everyone keeps guessing who the Brand might be.  My Guess would be SAB Miller !

Look forward to hearing your thoughts on this post, feel free to share them with us in the comments below. I can be followed on Twitter and you can Fan me on FaceBook . Also feel free to sign up for my Free Newsletter for more exciting articles.

Lets say you’re researching Local Car Dealerships while shopping for a New Car.

How can you be sure if the Reviews posted on the local Business Listings is real or not.

See what this Honda Dealership is doing to get Reviews from Customers that are 100 % Believable.

Every Business should be doing what they are if you’re not already !

Every day customers research local businesses before deciding who to buy from.  Recently there have been lots of cases where some Businesses have hired Internet Marketing Firms that have their employees post Fake Reviews on behalf of their clients. A quick search for such services in Google reveals lots of providers willing to post fake reviews on Google Places Listings.

Now one should be aware that

a) Customers can see that the Glorying 5 Star Review posted is Fake

b) The FTC comes down hard on those caught posting Fake Reviews.

Take a look at this review Posted for a California Dealer. Now i’m not saying that the review posted is fake but it did ring a red flag in my mind seeing that the reviewer has never posted any reviews for anyone else before and just posted 1 review for this dealership. ( I’ve blurred the name of the dealership to protect them just in case. Of course i’m not liable in any way should you find out who this dealer is )

I recently came across a video while working on a YouTube Marketing Campaign.  I saw a Video Channel for DCH Gardena Honda and saw that they were recording short 30 Sec video clips of their Happy Customers at the time of delivery of their cars. Take a look at one of their video’s below

Dont you agree that a short video clip like this is more effective in showing prospective customers that you take care of your customers and ensure 100 % Satisfaction.  I’d say that the Internet Marketing Team at DCH Gardena Honda are doing a great job using these strategies.

Now isn’t it time you do the same for your Business ? 

If you are a Local Business and need help Creating a Video Marketing Campaign or Getting your Local Listing Top Ranking on Google Places, do connect with me and we’d be glad to show you how effective Video Marketing can be for your Business.

Look forward to hearing your thoughts on this post, feel free to share them with us in the comments below. I can be followed on Twitter and you can fan me on FaceBook . Also feel free to sign up for my Free Newsletter for more exciting articles.

While Searching for Houston Hotels for a research project i came across a new Beta Experiment from Google.

Google Hotel Finder

It is a Map based search filtering tool that allows one to find Hotels in the selected area.

What Makes this tool different from others ? Read on to find why i liked it.

        As i mentioned before Google implements Map Based Search Filtering. The user gets to select the city that they are interested in finding a Hotel in. You can drag the Map to include the exact locality you wish to stay in and see all the Hotels in the selected Map area. Further Filtering is allowed based on Reviews from Google Places ( As you know with Google’s Latest update only Google Members Reviews will show), Ratings of Hotels,  Price Range  and it also lets you see how this hotel costs for the time period selected as compared to normally.

Clicking on a Hotel allows you to see several inside and outside pictures of the Hotel, the Google Places Reviews,  the description from the Places Listing for the Hotel and  clicking on Book Hotel  shows a quick Price Comparision between 3- 4 different online providers .  I saw Travelocity, Expedia, Hotels.com and the Hotel Site itself  competing among themselves.

A few interesting observations that i noticed.

1. The main reviews are from Google Places , however when you click to see all the reviews at the very bottom almost hidden you’ll see links to reviews from TripAdvisor and Citysearch present.
2. All the pictures for the Hotels are NOT from the places listings but from a third party firm called VFM Leonardo. They seem to be manage photo distribution and syndication
3. Only available for the US Market for now
   

This is a Great way for Google to use their Search Engines, Places Listings and Pricing Engine to make a Killer Tool for all Online Hotel Reservation Sites.

Let me know your thoughts on this beta tool. Whats Google coming up with next ? Google Vacations i would have to say

Look forward to hearing your thoughts on this post, feel free to share them with us in the comments below. I can be followed on Twitter and you can fan me on FaceBook . Also feel free to sign up for my Free Newsletter for more exciting articles.

With Local Search on the Rise, Google has been working hard on penetrating the local search market.

Its Latest Beta Product – Google Top Places !

They have combined the power of Google Places, Google Boost, Google Talkbin and Google Offers.

Its Google’s version of Yelp. They are helping local businesses get found.

Google Top Places is currently available in :

Portland, Austin, Madison and San Diego. 

.

Google Top Places connects buyers with sellers while allowing people to discover the happening spots in the city.

One gets to Choose categories and experiences to find Places recommended by the local community.

Check it out for yourself and share your experience below.

Visit Google Top Places .

Are you aware that Google has a Adwords Referral Program that could make you upto $1000 in Adwords Credit ?

Yes thats True !

And everyone one that you refer gets a $100 Adwords Coupon !

Happy Holi everyone.

Refer a friend to Google AdWords!

Here are the details:

1) You’ll need to fill out your Adwords Account No along with your friends First and Last name and email address on the REFERRAL PAGE.

2) Your referral will receive an AdWords offer with a unique $100 voucher code for them to try Google AdWords.

3) Once your referral’s goes live with advt, Google will apply a $200 advertising credit to your account. It may take upto 12 to 15 weeks for you to receive the referral credit from Google.

Remember!

So for each referral with Live Ads on Google, you’ll get $200 AdWords advertising credit. The max you could receive is up to $1,000 ( 5 Referrals )

Your referrals must not be existing AdWords advertisers, or related to your business in any way.

This Referral Program Ends March 31, 2011.

Of course we are NOT responsible if Google does not pay you for any reason as this offer is from Google and not from us.

Do remember that EVERY referral you enter will get a $100 Adwords Coupon ! Maybe that’ll help your “friends” !

If you appreciate this info, feel free to thank us below in the comments. I can be followed on Twitter and you can fan me on FaceBook . Also feel free to sign up for my Free Newsletter for more exciting posts.

You’ve finally got your Car Dealership listed on Google Places (Google’s Local Listings for Business) and your listing is ranking!

Then you happen to see someone has left you a review there …. A Negative Review

What to do? How to Respond? Should you respond?  I’ll show you what to do.

The first thing buyers do today is research your Dealership online. Most of them will “Google you“ and land up on your Google Places Listing or your Yahoo Local Listing. Now it’s important to have your listings not only look professional but also show that you care for your customers. That means addressing any negative reviews properly.

When was the last time you Googled your Dealer Name?

FACT: 20 % of all Google searches were related to Local Search

For this post we’ll take a look at the reviews for Darcars Toyota of Silver Spring, Maryland.  (Disclosure: I’ve worked there back in the day. I am not getting any compensation from them for this post) It’s the biggest Toyota Dealer in the East Coast and extremely aggressive on pricing and has a huge inventory. (At least while I was working there)  When you search for them on Google you’ll see that they have several reviews online. Some great one’s on DealerRater and some not so good one’s from Yelp and Yahoo Local and Google Places. Now even though they have lots of excellent reviews on DealerRater, if you were to visit their Google Places Listings (Btw they have several listings as they tried to separate their service and sales dept but used the same tel no and details so Google is showing the same reviews in error for both.) you’d see the negative reviews stand out. Now when a potential customer sees negative reviews while researching any car dealership chances are they would not buy from that dealer even if they were to offer the best service and price in real life.  So what can Car Dealerships do about this?

Address the reviews online!  Both Positive and Negative Reviews.

Positive Reviews:  Thank the person for taking the time to write a positive review. People like to be recognized and appreciated. It shows that you care for their business and you could end up making a lifetime customer who buys only from your dealership. I had Customers that would buy only from me regardless of whether I was selling Toyota’s or Honda’s. They were loyal to me.

Negative Reviews: A lot of Car Dealerships refrain from responding from negative reviews thinking that no one will pay attention to them.  Now with Google Places allowing you the ability to connect with those who placed the reviews, one should take advantage. Connect with reviewers and show them that you recognize their concerns and are ready to address them.

HOWEVER before you do that, there are a few things to consider:

1) Relax till you’ve cooled off:  You want to avoid responding to a negative review in the heat of the moment.  Chances are since you’re upset your choice of words may not be the best and may come back to bite you. If the review upsets you, write your review on a piece of paper and comeback to it to read once you’ve cooled off. I’m sure you’ll realize that your response would have ignited the situation more and done more damage.

2) Listen to the Customer: By Listen we mean, understand what the customer is trying to tell you.  People normally complain when they feel mistreated or taken advantage of. ( remember I use use the word “normally”  ) Did your Sales Person ignore them for hours? Did they feel they were lied to by your advertised special car? Did you service dept promise the oil change would be done in an hour and not deliver till 3 hrs. later? Sometimes it not what happened to them, but the manner in which your sales and service staff handle the situation that makes customers irate and leave negative reviews. Train your employees to have genuine care for the customers.

3) Take Responsibility: After reading the review and talking to your staff about the incident, if you find that the customer is right, then own up to it. Apologize and let the customer know that you’ll get in touch with them with a solution to rectify the situation. If you promise to connect with the customer then you MUST do that. False promises will get another negative review from the same customer. If there is nothing you could do at the time, do acknowledge that you are aware of the situation and let them know that you are putting steps into play to ensure that it does not happen again.

4) Take Discussion offline: Never discuss details of the customer complaint online. Take it offline. You don’t want to build more links and traffic to the negative review.  Offer an email or a medium for the reviewer to communicate with you other than on the review site. I’d recommend providing an email.

5) Be Honest and Don’t Try to cover up: If the Advt car was sold before the customer got to the dealership, let them know that it’s been sold. Don’t let your sales rep pretend like the car is still there and take the buyer on the lot and spend an hour pretending to look for it and then say “oh no its sold, how about this blue one ?” Darcars Toyota was good about placing VIN No on all advt cars to prove that the advt car did exist and be able to prove who it was sold to, if needed.

Now there are times that one should NOT respond to a Negative Review:

1) Reviewer is upset at the world: Sometimes the person leaving the review is really upset and themselves and the world, not you in particular. Recently someone left Darcars a review about 401 (K). There really is no point on responding to this review in my opinion.

2) Spammers: These usually consist of people who are working for competitors to steal your customers away. Responding to them usually leads to a war that is designed to make you look bad. If you can have the review removed as inappropriate. (Google does allow you to mark review as inappropriate and have it removed. The process could take 8 -12 weeks) If you do respond, try to keep it polite and discuss offline.

How to Surprise Customers Who Left A Review

Offer a Free Oil Change and update their customer service records to ensure the service advisor gives them VIP Treatment. Make sure your service department gets them  in and out quickly and not have to wait 3 hrs. for the free oil change. If the oil change is free then it should be free, no hidden charge for filter etc. Also do not try to upsell other services on that service.  An oil change is not going to cost you much but will go a long way in reputation management. Don’t make it look like you are trying to BUY a Positive Review from them. Also don’t offer a free oil change in exchange for a positive review, as that’s in violation of Google’s Rule of Soliciting Reviews.

Now you should also offer Positive Reviewers a Free Oil Change as well randomly. They don’t expect it but it goes to show that you care for their feedback and appreciate their business. You will get them to be a loyal customer and tell all their friends about the free oil change they got. Word of mouth is the best friend for you.

How to Avoid Negative Reviews Being Placed Online

Offer a place for customers to place feedback and reviews on YOUR own Website and advertise this. It’s best for your customers to place negative reviews on YOUR site then on Google Places. At least you can control the damage online.

Better yet, take care of your customers well so that they are happy!

On a key note, i have to clarify that I have no current affiliation with any Dealership. Also am not liable to any loss of business that any firms used in the eg’s may face due to this post. Also i would not be liable if google decided to ban the local listings for any firm mentioned here for any reason. I am not saying that they indulged in any unfair methods.

Look forward to hearing your thoughts on whether you think that dealers should respond to  reviews at all. If you have thoughts on how best to respond in certain cases, feel free to share them with us in the comments below. I can be followed on Twitter and you can fan me on FaceBook . Also feel free to sign up for my Free Newsletter for more exciting articles.

ATTN Automotive Dealers :  I am available for consultation on how to Claim your Google Places Listings and how to Optimize all your local listings and implement an automotive reputation management policy in place. Feel free to contact me HERE or reach me directly at (310) *961 *4664.

I’m always looking to share ideas about Local Search with fellow bloggers.

I noticed that no one had a list of quality Local SEO blogs put together.

So here’s my List of Top Local Search Engine Optimization Blogs for 2011.

.

I also thank all of you who emailed or tweeted me their recommendations. Always Appreciate the suggestions. If i missed someone or if you would like to recommend someone, do post a comment below.

Top List Of Local SEO Blogs For 2011

• David Mihm :  David is well known for putting together The Local Search Ranking Factors. An article that was put together after involving over 36 SEO experts. He’s also the man behind Getlisted. You can connect with him by:       Visit his Blog or         Connect on Twitter or        Connect on Facebook

• Mike Blumenthal : If there’s anything you’d like to know about Google Places then Mike’s blog is the place to read. He’s on top of all the latest news related to google local listings. You can connect with him by :                                        Visit his Blog or     Connect on Twitter or      Connect on Facebook

• Matt McGee : I first found Matt thru his blog HyperLocal which he’s stopped blogging in late 2010. He’s been into local search and assisting small businesses market online since the late 90′s.  You can connect with him by:                       Visit his Blog or    Connect on Twitter or      Connect on Facebook

• Mathew Hunt : Matt is one of Toronto’s top local search bloggers who runs smbusinesscoach. He offers small businesses training in courses such as Google Maps Marketing. A great person to connect with and quite helpful.                        Visit his Blog or         Connect on Twitter or    Connect on Facebook

• Dev Basu : Dev is the founder of Powered By Search a Toronto based Local Search Firm. An experienced  local search blogger on Search Marketing Insights. Visit his Blog or      Connect on Twitter or     Connect on Facebook
• Andrew Shotland : Andrew used to work for InsiderPages and left them to start his own local search marketing firm. His blog has good info on local search.  Visit his Blog or      Connect on Twitter or   Connect on Facebook

• Chris Silver Smith :   He’s well known as Si1very online. He blogs on Nodalbits on Local Search, PR and  Heat Maps. A key contributor to David Mihm’s Local Search Ranking Factors.                                                                                    Visit his Blog or      Connect on Twitter or     Connect on Facebook

• Greg Sterling :  Greg is the founder of SMI and an editor on Search Engine Land. Do visit his blog for posts on Local and Mobile marketing.                       Visit his Blog or        Connect on Twitter or         Connect on Facebook

• Steve Hatcher : Steve runs Axemedia and GeoLocalSEO  where he offers great tips on local search. He’s one of the first guys to have put a list of fellow local search blogs.                                                                                                  Visit his Blog or      Connect on Twitter
  

• Miriam Ellis : Miriam runs  SolasWebDesign and her blog on Local Search is always interesting to read. Love her creativity and way of digging into details.  Visit her Blog

• Martijn Beijk :  Martijn is a local search expert working at OnetoMarket in Netherlands. His blog is a great place to read about location based material.     Visit his Blog or Connect on Twitter or Connect on Facebook

• Don Campbell :  Don’s the founder of Expand2web and helps small businesses get sites ranked in local searches. He’s also running MyReviewPage assisting firms manage your reviews online.                                                                    Visit his Blog or Connect on Twitter or Connect on Facebook

• Scott Gallagher :  If you’re looking to learn local search marketing then Scott is the man to connect with. He offers local search courses thru LMS that cover over a 6 week period  topics from Local Search to PPC to Social Media.                Visit his Blog or Connect on Twitter or Connect on Facebook

• Mary Bowling : I first came across Mary when i read her whitepaper on Local Search Engine Marketing for the Travel and Lodging Industry . Her personal blog has some great post on competitive analysis for local search results.               Visit her Blog or Connect on Twitter or Connect on Facebook

• Larry Sullivan : Larry’s an 8 yr Veteran of Internet Marketing and blogs on LocalBizBits .                                                                                                     Visit his Blog or Connect on Twitter or Connect on Facebook

• Ed Reese : Ed’s the man behind Sixth Man Marketing. He’s a faculty member of GetListed Univ. Great person to connect to.                                                  Visit his Blog or Connect on Twitter or Connect on Facebook

• Tom Crandall : Tom runs SEM Report Card and was a SEMMY 2010 Nominee. His blog posts are worth reading.                                                                  Visit his Blog or Connect on Twitter or Connect on Facebook

• Aaron Weiche :   Aaron runs Syder Trap and Five Technology and has interesting blog posts on Local Search.                                                               Visit his Blog or Connect on Twitter or Connect on Facebook

• Jim Rudnick :  Jim’s been running KKT Interactive and blogs at CannuckSEO for a long time and has great case studies on local search.                                    Visit his Blog or Connect on Twitter or Connect on Facebook

• Darren Shaw :  Darren’s the founder of WhiteSpark which has an awesome Citation Finder Tool .                                                                                           Visit his Blog or Connect on Twitter or Connect on Facebook

• Paul Jahn:  Paul’s been involved in marketing since 2003 and a contributor to David Mihm’s Local Search Ranking Factors.                                                      Visit his Blog or Connect on Twitter or Connect on Facebook

• Nyagoslav Zhekov: A new edition to the world of Local SEO and Google Places, but increasingly getting noticed. Visit his Blog or Connect on Twitter or Connect on Facebook

• Ramit Narang :  That’s me! I don’t need to brag about myself, if your reading this on RamitNarang.com you know what i do best .                                            Visit my Blog or Connect on Twitter or Connect on Facebook

.

If you have any suggestions for other Great Local Search related blogs to add to this list, do write a comment below. In case i have any incorrect info above i do apologize and do let me know so that i could update it.

The above list is in no particular order. The people in my List of Local SEO Blogs is one that anyone interested in  Local Search should connect with on Twitter and Facebook and subscribe to their feeds.  I’m working to put together a blog that connects to all of their feeds with their latest blog posts. Stay tuned for updates on that.

I’m putting together a list of the Top Local SEO Leaders and Bloggers for 2011.

Would appreciate your thoughts on your Top Local Search Leaders and Bloggers along with their Credentials and website URL.

Will use your inputs in putting together this Top Local Search Bloggers List.

.

Of course you’re welcome to nominate yourself if you have a Local SEO related Blog.

You may share your input by writing a comment below or send your input using the contact page.

Local SEO Bloggers get your pics ready !

.

.

DEADLINE: Please submit all submissions by January 28, 2011 7 PM PST

You’ve got your backlinks done, but how to get them indexed in Google ?

I get a lot of emails from readers of my blog asking me for help indexing their links.

In this tutorial i’ll share with you how to get your backlinks indexed fast in Google.

Happy Holidays !

.

I’ve used this method in the past and it works. If you follow the steps, you too can get your backlinks indexed in Google quickly.

Got your Backlinks done from your SEO Guy but dont see any rise in Rankings yet ? Here’s how to

Step 1: Collect all your backlink URL’s created for your site from Article Submissions, Blog Comments, Profile Links, Blog posts, Press Releases into a Text File. (Text Doc)

Step 2: Create an RSS Feed using the text doc containing all your backlink URL’s. You can use IceRocket’s Free RSS Builder Tool. Make sure you add your relevant keywords to your description for the feed.

Step 3: Submit your Backlinks Feed to RSS Aggregators. You may do this using RSS Submit. Its easy to use and the basic version is free. (if you’re a verified newsletter subcriber to my blog, email me  asking for how to get the full version for free !)

Step 4: Bookmark your RSS Feed on multiple Social Bookmarking sites like digg. You may use BookMarking Demon or a free app like SocialMarker.

Step 5: Ping your feed. You may ping your feed using Pingomatic which is free to use and quick.

Now all you have to do is wait for the links to get indexed and for your site rankings to go up !

.

I’ve moved on from using this technique to using an awesome paid tool that gets all my links indexed within minutes. I’m not going to share that tool details yet ! Maybe next year

.

I hope you found this write up on How To Get Your BackLinks Indexed Fast in Google  helpful. Do share your thoughts and feedback  in the comments below.  We do reward regular commentators with do follow links.  Don’t forget to sign up for my free newsletter and follow me on twitter ( i will follow back )