Mike Dorausch (aka @chiropractic) drives home the point of local reviews being a huge deal for local businesses on today’s USA today. I became friends with Mike at SMX Social Media and congratulate him on the exposure! Also mentioned in the article is my new friend Chris Winfield, who I met in Long Beach also. Nicely done, Chris!

In the article by Jefferson Graham, Mike points out:

…”Online reviews is how people find us,” Dorausch says. About 80% of his new business stems from customers finding online reviews about him and booking appointments, he says…

Yes, he does have signs in the office asking visitors to leave their Gmail address (you must have a Google account to leave reviews on Google’s local pages), but he won’t ask before working on your back.

Dorausch says he waits for patients to say how they enjoyed their visit. “That’s where the opportunity is to ask if they’d like to share that in a review,” he says. (He follows up with an e-mail with Web addresses for review sites.)

“I would think most businesses would not go wrong with that approach,” he says…..

I’m an advocate of proactive local reviews and getting your business listed. If you’re interested in local pay per click, check this article out.

Dear Retailer who sells very nice gift items in Lexington Green. When I snap a photo of something, I’m not here to scam you.

I’m not the front for a big Chinese manufacturer who is about to knock off your stuff and put you out of business. I’m not planning out an elaborate “Mission Impossible”-style robbery.

My wife and I are multi-tasking. I need to send her a picture of something I like and see if she wants to swing by and look at it. I’ve spent hundreds of dollars in your store and you don’t need to break the delicate positive brand image I have of you with some petty “We don’t allow pictures in the store” rule. I explained what I was doing, nicely, but it didn’t matter.

It’s amazing that I’m even in the store - with as much as I buy online. Since it’s an artsy-store, I flip the tag over on the item I’m photographing. … yep, URL. I surf to the address, yep. photos. Get a clue. This small, unique retail shop is one example, but not a unique one, and it’s about to collide with new technologies for comparison shopping we discussed at SMX Local Mobile in Denver last week.

If this were a one-time situation, I’d blow it off. But it happens to others, who blog about it too. I’m pretty fast with my camera, just hold it up and snap a quick picture, so I’m not making a scene or asking people to move, etc. I guess I could get better at it. I’m also not there photographing every thing on the shelf. I’m the best type of interested customer.

Seth Godin was busted for photographing oreos, and had this to say:

The irony of the Stop & Shop approach is that the people who you don’t want taking pictures–snoopy journalists or competitors–can easily conceal their cameras and you’ll never know. But the raving fans, the bloggers, the folks twisted enough to want to take and flickrize their supermarket experiences are your friends.

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A terrific brain trust of folks answered great questions that I’ve tried to aggregate into an organized list you may find very helpful. Enjoy! The Q/A was especially helpful and added a lot to the session.

Moderators:
Chris Sherman, Executive Editor, Search Engine Land
Greg Sterling, Founding Principal, Sterling Market Intelligence

TIP: See the end of this post for other coverage on the conference too.

 

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Mobile Search: Beyond 10 Blue Links

Fascinating presentation at SMX Local Mobile.

Mobile searchers don’t want lists of web pages - they want answers or fast ways to take action. Mobile search providers are increasingly experimenting with alternative interfaces, such as location-aware browsing, voice recognition, text messaging and other innovative approaches. Learn about these new efforts and how they potentially impact mobile search marketing efforts.

(room sparse, but excellent presentation!)

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Show Me the Money!

So there are Billions out there. But who’s making money now. How will SEMs place bets now to ensure their success? Show me the money!

Moderator:
Greg Sterling

Speakers:

• Ian White, CEO, Urban Mapping
• Shawn Riegsecker, Chairman & CEO, Centro
• Justin Sanger, CEO, LocalLaunch
• Alfred Chow, Head, Yellowbook

 

Lots of energy in the room for this one. Big variety on the panel. PACKED ROOM.

 

Live Blogging after the jump

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Local businesses want leads and customers, not clicks. Although pay-per-click and pay-per-call are the two prevalent ad models to reach local searchers, will other models like CPA/PPA ultimately be more effective?

(Partial Liveblogging - other presenters not blogged… couldn’t get a coherant flow going :-P)

Steven Chuck, Director of Strategic Alliances, Yahoo! (more…)