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In the past 90 days since December 2009 a lot has happened in Local Search on Google.

The local search which shows ten results has now been shrunk to top 7,

A thru J became A thru G.

We are seeing company phone numbers disappearing from the top 7 Local Search results

Top Google Map listings are now ‘paid’ listings in some local markets.

Android 2.0 has made its debut, and it’s making a big impact on "Local Search" !

We have every reason to believe these changes are only the beginning. If you are doing some online marketing (or relying on your web presence as a source) for your business, these changes will impact you. You need to know how to deal with it because there IS a science to it but alas, many marketers or companies aren’t even aware of these changes and happily (or unknowingly) rely on traditional SEO that they did a while ago one time.

I’ve demonstrated this at a seminar that I gave recently at Association of Small Business Enterprise (ASME) of Singapore and one company did it with great results in 48 hours.

Couple this with the fact that Local Search is primed to eclipse the importance of Yellow Pages (if it hasn’t already for many businesses).

EVERY business with a phone number already knows the marketing importance of Yellow Pages, historically speaking, and  it’s easy to conclude these very same businesses are awakening to a monstrous PROBLEM… They are fast realizing that a good listing on Google Maps and Local Search is becoming MORE important than their Yellow Page listing!

…and they have no choice but to pay somebody to manage their Search Listings just like they do their Yellow Page Listing.

Getting a local business well listed, getting them properly verified, and building an arsenal of favorable reviews takes a fair amount of expertise that exceeds what most business owners are willing or able to gain. The Local Search wave is cresting…and it’s about to crush the Yellow Pages…which is destined to drown in a rip current of change and drag down any business that doesn’t make an orchestrated switch from Phone Book to Google Maps.

Ok, I might be a little dramatic but the numbers are showing this to be true.

I’ve talked to businesses which have spent thousands on Yellow Pages and are not able to track or see the results. With omnipresent internet, many are turning to their PC, Smartphones, netbooks and Ipads/tablets to look up a business instead of the yellow pages.  And in online search, Google is king and then the other 2 big search engines Bing and Yahoo take the rest.

Local search , classified sites and directories are fighting for the pie in Singapore e.g Rednano, Mocca, InSing, AsiaOne and in this game, Yellow Pages is not a dominant force.

If you aren’t already looking at putting your business on local search or don’t know how,  you’re losing out on a wave of consumers that are looking for their solution and businesses there.  Here’s a video to get you started if you aren’t already listed. (Many SEO companies charge for his but we like to think our kind of customers are smart enough to do this easily without being ripped off. I included a step by step and some things to look out for.  So here you go FREE of Charge).

There’s more you can do to enhance this to rank it higher in a competitive niche which takes more time and effort. I might cover that in another upcoming workshop for business owners that we are doing and we have a system that we do this for customers.

That’s what I often ask my clients.

I came across this ad from none other than Google and it was a moving story , simple and emotional.

It is very effective in delivering the message of how Google is an integral part of a young person’s life.

I watched it a few times and this is great emotional advertising for a product that is not sexy and there’s no need for distracting models and such. It’s about a story.

We help our customer’s pull out their stories and deliver their message , straight from the heart. More often than not, it’s unpolished and raw. I am often moved when we do this exercise successfully.  You can feel the passion ignited, the original values surfaced and the WHY comes out powerfully.  Nothing pretentious or highly polished.

And guess what, it’s way more powerful than a contrived ‘branding’ kind of ad. Talk to us if you want to try this out.  It’s a great journey of discovery. And we love it.

Can you imagine the top 10 in demand jobs in 2010 did not exist in 2004?

Our current education is preparing students for jobs that Don’t Yet exist.

The explosion of information is accelerating and it demands new ways to thinking and solving problems.

For businesses, it represents a phenomenal opportunity (or challenge for those who are stuck to old ways) to gain new markets , acquire customers , speed transactions on a global basis with new channels that are instantaneous, far reaching and probably didn’t exist few years ago.

Have a look at this video that showcase progression of information technology, researched by Karl Fisch, Scott McLeod, and Jeff Brenman which is intriguing and mindblowing.

As you view it, think about what it could mean for you and your business. We at ThinkAccelerator keep ahead of the curve and help our customer ride the wave and use the best tools and channels to achieve accelerated results.

So much has been debated and speculated about Adwords Quality Score and how people have been slapped by sudden penalties for pages that have worked without problems in the past.  Many people (including pro marketers spending thousands per day on Adwords) have been hit with skyrocketing bids and some have had a surprise in their account spent.

So much theories have been bandied about and I thought this video provides some good insights from the horse’s mouth.

Here’s the latest from Google Chief Economist that sheds some light on this puzzling issue.

Just a short story about one interesting chap I met. He has been doing a killer job at Adwords and is pretty much underground, heck he is called X as his handle. Whilst he keeps underground , he  kicks the butt of pro marketers and ad agencies. I met him in Florida and he has some killer strategies and unconventional thinking that makes him top of the game. He recently wrote a book and sharing his strategies on a monthly basis on his site. Check it out at Affiliate Black Book

It is a culmination of his experience as marketer and a merchant, so he has seen tricks from both sides. Fascinating story. Often I find the entrepreneurial marketers are at the cutting edge and more nimble than the Agencies.  Hence, we keep updated with these marketers and the strategies to ensure we can compete effectively and bring out the best ROI in the shortest time.