I was ready to blame Google for this frustrating and expensive exercise in frustration.  However, it turns out that nearly all vendors are terrible at listing their correct, up to date information on the Internet.  Phone numbers were wrong and information outdated. Lots of records were sketchy.  Others were clumsy, deceptive-looking duplicates. Surprisingly, I received few hits for “emergency plumber” search terms in my city, despite the abundance of such vendors in the area.  Even some of the Google ad numbers were wrong, unresponsive or staffed by grumpy, unhelpful answering services. I was ready to spend a bundle to avoid further damage to my home, yet I couldn’t find anyone.  I ended up just blindly dialing down the fragmented list, until, finally, and in extreme desperation, I reached for (gasp!), The (paper) Phonebook. 

The digital domain had failed me. Even worse for many recession pressed small business owners, it had failed those who wanted and were eager to serve me.  However, these small businesses and local service vendors need not fault Google as much as themselves.  Despite the fact that many of these folks pour thousands into pricing advertising and marketing, the best “ad” that they could possibily run is free and only requires a little time to set up.  

Cleaned up and dried out later, I decided to check out this problem as part of my “day job” as an employee benefits and health insurance wholesaler.  As I wholesaler, I vend my products to independent insurance agents and brokers. These folks can range from the small Farmers agent down the road, to large, speciality employee benefits firms. However, despite the business size, I found the story was largely the same for the insurance folks as it was for the plumbers.   Only a few health insurance brokers were listed in many cities I searched.  Those that were, almost always appeared with jumbled, multiple listings or incorrect and laughably outdated information. After a few calls, it was a shock.  More than half of the benefits and insurance firms listed were no longer in business. 

However, I did get strong hits for a handful of folks. I contacted these agents and found that a few local community blog post mentions and recommendations of them by name, some up to five years old or more, were a treasure trove of leads and calls from potential new clients.  Many of these insurance agents got a third or more of their new business leads from the internet, even though they had NO paid ads.  

It turns out that in the mysterious world of Google rankings, informal discussions and recommendations on community and industry blogs are highly ranked. If these blogs are tightly screened to avoid blatant marketing, they become the Gold Standard of “current and relevant” content that Google and other search engine algorithms look for. 

Closely ranked behind blog sites, however, were simple local-search community rating and ranking sites.  These sites sift the Internet for local businesses and automatically post whatever they find, in the never ending quest for eyeball drawing content.  If you own a business, you are probably on there, whether you like it or not. Since most companies ignore these free listings, “Local Search” providers, such as Yahoo Local, Best of the Web or Merchant Circle give those few with custom content a top ranking, at no cost. For even a single customer added comment or an owner uploaded picture, many companies will top out a search category. Customer comments in particular tended to zoom the local insurance agents I saw up well above the listings, and six figure websites, of much larger firms nearby.  

In an odd way, this has suddenly turned the world of conventional marketing on its head. Bigger and more expensive is no longer better. Even PPC ads are now questionable.  Google, and other search engines today highly value plain-old customer commentary as unique and relevant information.  Fancy images and brands matter less than giving potential customers the information they need to trust and do business with your company. 

There is A LOT more to this topic. Thus, I will break this up into parts for discussion at another time.  Basically, it is pretty easy to waste A LOT of time on this if you don’t know what you’re doing, but very quick AND EFFECTIVE if you do. 

However, in my many discussions in the field, I have been surprised by how many conventional marketers and small business owners seem baffled by what would seem to be pretty simple stuff.  Most health insurance agents I spoke with remain stubbornly suspicious of marketing, and the Internet as a marketing venue overall.  Many had wasted thousands on PPC ads and “shared lead” programs over the years. 

Yet, even in this sluggish economy, I know that  customers are looking, sometimes desperately, for them. Local Search providers, and Google, are ready to reward these small insurance agencies, or any small business, just for taking a few minutes to help potential new clients to find them.