Local Focal Fun You Missed ━ SEM Synergy Extras

Another week, another SEM Synergy to dissect! If you’d like to hear today’s show where we mull over the power of infographics and nibble on local biz Internet marketing food for thought, have a listen over at SEMSynergy.com. With the show available for streaming and podcasting (we’re on iTunes!) it’s never too late to enjoy the smooth search croonings of Bruce and crew navigating the airwaves.

It is too late, however, to join the weekly chat party. (Sad face!)

So there are a few things we can learn from @MichelleDLowery‘s tweetversation above.

1. All work and no SEM Synergy makes Michelle a sad girl. :(
2. Mark your calendars. Set your alarms. Do whatever you need to do to get your butt in the WebmasterRadio.fm chat Thursdays at noon Pacific.
3. Jessica is awesome.

(Oh wait, that last one doesn’t count. We already knew that.)

If you couldn’t make it this week, here are some of the highlights from the show and chat today.

Making Data Pretty with Infographics

Sparked by Bruce Clay Australia’s SEO manager Kate Gamble and her article, Art and Science of Great Infographics, Bruce, Jessica and I start the show looking at how to generate ideas for infographics and how to benefit from them.

Some additional reading/viewing material that came up during the chat, some serious, some not so much. All awesome.

First off, I couldn’t help but wonder if infographics have been overplayed, what with the abundance available these days. But this piece on the future of infographics convinced me otherwise. From the post:

“As he describes it, we are seeing the death of the novelty of infographics, not a decline in their value. […] he data boom and growing need to display complex concepts simply ensure that these opportunities for graphic visualizations will be plentiful in years to come.”

Read that piece for more on infographic iterations, such as motion infographics and interactive infographics, that will raise interest and relevance as time goes on.

As far as compelling infographics are concerned, here’s an example that uses humor and stands out from the crowd: The Trustworthiness of Beards. Probably a good idea to stay away from werewolves, for reasons beyond the facial hair.

And here’s a fun one for our industry shared by @JoshuaTitsworth in today’s chat: Matt Cutts Q&A Infographic. Slicing and dicing data is nifty.

Also requested during the chat was an infographic on infographics. And what do you know? Such a meta masterpiece does exist.

Internet Marketing for Local Business

The remainder of the show focused on needs of local businesses building and maintaining a competitive presence online. I interviewed Mark Knowles, CEO of Pixelsilk, to learn more about some of the super functionalities of the SEO-friendly, fully customizable content management system.

Bruce Clay, Inc.’s newest offering, Localware, includes the Pixelsilk platform, with multi-site management capabilities that lend themselves perfectly to businesses requiring separate sites for different locations.

As Mark explains on the show:

“We have a lot of customers managing all their sites in one place. We do that through a thing called site groups, where you just create a site, make it a member of your group, and all of your code is managed in that single location. It just really makes it nice and clean and simple, as opposed to having lots of installations of different versions of software running in different platforms ━ it just gets a little messy and hard to keep your head around it. Pixelsilk really does simplify that. You can have as many site groups as you want, and your site groups can have site groups, so you can basically build up hierarchical tree of all your portfolio.”

There are lots of unique challenges when marketing a local business online, not the least of which is keeping up with the competition. Local business owners are asking themselves, where will limited marketing and advertising resources receive a better return? From a sign twirler on the street or by making sure my Google Places listing is optimized? It’s an individual call, of course, but if you want to know our reasoning, I think you can figure out where to hear it. :) Happy listening!

Virginia Nussey is the director of content marketing at MobileMonkey. Prior to joining this startup in 2018, Virginia was the operations and content manager at Bruce Clay Inc., having joined the company in 2008 as a writer and blogger.

See Virginia's author page for links to connect on social media.