In addition to supporting existing clients, such as AT&T, US Airways, and The Darden Restaurant Group, Location3 provided digital marketing solutions to 39 new clients in 2011 and an additional nine clients were added in January 2012. One new major client is The Center for Medical Weight Loss (CMWL).

CMWL is the largest network of non-surgical medical weight loss providers in the United States. They needed a digital partner to improve paid search advertising campaigns for each of the many affiliated locations across the country. CMWL turned to Location3 to create and optimize more than 500 coordinated pay per click campaigns for search, display and mobile advertising. The new local search campaign launched in December 2011 and is already generating positive results.

“Local search is a crucial element to our marketing mix.  We were impressed with Location3′s capabilities and credentials as well as their track record of success for their other locally networked clients.  We look forward to realizing the same great results for our network with our new partnership,” says Kevin Eberly, CEO of The Center for Medical Weight Loss.

Eighteen new employees were hired in 2011 to provide excellent customer service, new technologies and integrated strategies for new and existing clients. This represents a 22 percent growth over 2010. An additional four new team members joined the company in January 2012. A majority of these hires are bolstering the Client Services Department’s ability to provide optimized campaigns and personalized service. The Technology Team also brought in fresh talent to improve current proprietary tools and build new solutions for cross-channel tracking, reporting and analysis.

“Our success can be tied back to our vision—increasing the findability and performance of our clients’ digital marketing programs,” says Alex Porter, president of Location3 Media. “We’re always working toward this objective, but we don’t get pigeonholed into specific strategies or services. It’s allowed us to be nimble and adapt in the ever-evolving digital environment.”

This level of growth hasn’t gone unnoticed. In 2011 the Denver Business Journal ranked Location3 Media as the tenth Fastest-Growing Private Company in the Denver area in the second flight. This annual list is based on percentage growth in the past three years, and groups companies from every vertical into five flights based on gross revenue. Location3 was also ranked #2214 on the Inc. 5000 list of fastest growing private companies in America. The Inc.5000 list is a supplement to the Inc.500, created to recognize the small and mid-sized companies that support the American economy. With these pieces in place Location3 hopes to continue this rapid expansion through 2012 and beyond.

SES New York brings up to 4,000 online marketing professionals together each year to keep up on best practices, walk the marketing services and technology exhibit hall and network with their peers. For 13 years the global SES Conference & Expo Series has educated thousands of delegates, with a 98% satisfaction rate.

Follow Andrew @Andrew_Beckman to keep up-to-date on the latest digital marketing news and events.

Since there is more than enough coverage on this hot topic already, I’m going to use this post to take a snapshot in time of January 18, 2012; “The day the internet died….” (well at least for a day anyways).  Someday in the future we’ll look back and say, or sing maybe:

“A long long time ago… I can still remember how”

“The Internet used to make me smile”

“And I knew if Mozilla had a chance”

Mozilla Firefox SOPA PIPA Blackout

“That Craigslist and WordPress would take a stance.”

Wordpress SOPA PIPA Blackout

“And maybe Namecheap would be happy for awhile.”

Namecheap SOPA PIPA Blackout

“But SOPA and PIPA made me shiver, until TheOatmeal made me giggle.”

TheOatmeal.com SOPA PIPA Blackout

“With every tweet HuffingtonPost delivered.”

Huffington Post Twitter SOPA PIPA Blackout

“Bad news on the doorstep, Destructoid took one more step.”

Destructoid SOPA PIPA Blackout

“I can’t remember if I cried, when I read about how Imgur tried.”

Imgur SOPA PIPA Blackout

“But “End Piracy, Not Liberty” touched me deep inside.”

“The day, the Internet died.”

“So…. bye, bye Wiki-pe-dia”

Wikipedia SOPA PIPA Blackout

“Drove my mouse to Reddit, but Reddit was dry.”

Reddit SOPA PIPA Blackout

“Them Google boys, were fighting the fight.”

Google SOPA PIPA Blackout

“Singin’ this’ll be the day that Wired dies.”

Wired SOPA PIPA Blackout

“This’ll be the day that SOPA and PIPA die.”

Ok, totally cheesy, but I figured that this day could only be captured through song.  By the way, I’m pretty sure this post would be in violation of SOPA (censorship TBD).

This sea change will have many deep reaching effects on search marketing. Let’s take a look at some early predictions:

Social Impact

This could be a fantastic way for brands to increase awareness. Google accesses individual’s information from Google+, so searchers will be shown results based on their contacts. Say I search for pizza in Denver. I could be shown a picture a Google+ friend posted of The Walnut Room’s Mean Green Pizza, decide it looks delicious and order from there. This result wouldn’t have previously ranked because it may not have had the weight without the personalization.

This is another reason brands need to be using Google+, regardless of whether a large percent of their current demographic is on the site. If Google is making it a priority, so should brands.

Of course, this opens up a flood of issues around privacy. Users should be warned something shared as private could be shared publicly by others. This has already been an issue in Google+, despite the fact the site warns you a piece of content was shared in a limited capacity before you try to share it with someone else.

Google+ profiles are also showing in search results, similar to direct connect for pages. This is important for entrepreneurs or those who are their own brand. Begin to type a name into the search bar and people you are connected to through Google+ will automatically populate.

People and Pages suggestions from Google+ will also start showing on the right side of the search results, when Google deems them relevant. The company has not revealed how this is determined but if you wish to take advantage of it, placing relevant keywords in your Google+ profile is a good place to start.

Image from searchengineland.com

The content displayed with Search Plus Your World only shows information from Google+, not Facebook or Twitter. Google claims it’s because these sites don’t allow it, which has sparked a bit of a cat fight.

An additional downside is that Search Plus Your World may not work as intended for individuals with multiple Google accounts. However, this is probably only an issue for those of us in the industry (or tricky online daters with multiple email accounts).

Paid Search Impact

On the paid search side, there appears to be no immediate impact from this change. The only exception is if the  “+1” social extension is enabled your ad may stand out more if people are looking for personalized results. This can impact click through rates and quality score, and may result in higher positions at the same cost per click. Advertisers should definitely add the social extension in AdWords and continue to or begin being active on their Google+ business page.

Google tells us the launch of Search Plus Your World will not impact the way ads are shown for searches because the ads are targeted based on the query, not the content of the search results page. However, they confirmed ads with a high number of +1 recommendations have the potential to perform better.

SEO Impact

From an organic search perspective, this will obviously have a huge impact because the new program is listing G+ results at the top of the search results.

Brands should make sure the content posted on their Google+ pages are well optimized for their key search phrases. This will give them a better chance of showing up in the search results. It should also be a huge carrot for brands to share more (SEO-optimized) content through their Google+ network.

Building this network is also a worthwhile strategy. If your account doesn’t have much of a following, actively seek out people in your industry who do. Find some early adopters or influencers and develop a relationship for content syndication. It seems very likely the more people that share and +1 your content, the better positioning you will see in the search engine results.

These are all early predictions and only time and use will tell how Search Plus Your World will really impact digital marketing. This is by no means the first change towards personalization in Google’s search results (geo-targeting and primary language selection are nothing new) but there is no doubt this is a major step towards the merging of social and search.  Obviously Google including personalized results from other major social networks like Facebook and Twitter would be another big game changer. Check back as we post updates on changes and shifting strategies.

Shopping malls and large stores can be difficult to navigate, especially during the busy holiday season. The last minute shoppers can now get a better sense of where their store is located with two exciting Google Maps updates:

Looking for Stores in a Shopping Mall or Doctors in a Hospital?
Google Maps links individual Place pages to overarching location page.

A New Frontier for Google Maps: Mapping the Indoors
Google develops interior maps for large buildings and businesses.

Check them out and let us know what you think!

The weather outside is frightful, but we’re keeping warm by preparing for IFA in Orlando!

Location3 will be exhibiting at booths 607 and 609 for the 52nd Annual IFA Convention February 11-14, 2012 at the Orlando World Center Marriot.

The event will feature informational lectures and round tables on the latest developments in franchising. Key speakers include Bill O’Reilly of FOX News, David Novak of YUM! Brands, Inc, and Guy Kawasaki among others. To learn more or to register, visit the IFA Meeting Center.

Be sure to stop by our booths and talk with our team about how we can integrate your local digital marketing solutions across corporate and franchise levels!

The recently announced AdWords Premier SMB Partner Program connects Google’s trusted and experienced AdWords partners with small- and medium-sized businesses that want expert help in creating, managing and optimizing their online advertising campaigns. In addition to in-depth AdWords expertise, PSP partners provide full-service campaign management, detailed reporting, one-on-one customer support, and broad marketing guidance to help advertisers make the most of their campaigns.

VP of Client Services Erik Whaley said, “Our focus as a company is on franchises and multi-unit businesses, which sets us apart from many of the other partners in the program. Franchise campaigns are dynamic and can be challenging to manage at our scale. We look forward to increasing our efficiency and effectiveness with the additional tools and support now available through the Premier SMB Partners program.”

Premier SMB Partners meet Google’s highest standards and criteria for qualification, transparency, and customer service, which includes completing extensive Google product and account management training. This ensures they can provide businesses with the most effective AdWords™ advertising solutions.

“We are excited to launch the Google AdWords™ Premier SMB Partner program with hand-picked, highly qualified companies like Local Search Traffic,” says Ben Wood, head of Google’s Americas channel sales partnerships. “Small- and medium-sized businesses will not only benefit from Local Search Traffic’s in-depth training, but from their years of experience in the local market.”

With more than four years’ experience in strategic local management for national brands, Local Search Traffic is an industry leader in the local search marketing and franchise marketing verticals. In July 2011, comScore reported in the Whitepaper State of Local Search that 13% of core search activity has local intent, a growth of 10% from the previous year, indicating that local search is becoming an increasingly important way for consumers to find businesses in their area.

For more information visit Local Search Traffic’s Premier SMB Partner page or  contact Angie Pascale (apascale { at } location3.com or @angiepascale).

Location3 was ranked the 10th best medium-sized company in The Denver Business Journal’s annual “Best Places to Work” survey.  The company ranked by a confidential survey completed by our employees. The survey touched on management style, work environment, compensation and employment perks.

“We understand work is a huge part of people’s lives. I want people to be able to enjoy coming to the office and know there are rewards for working hard. Providing a fun work environment has helped Location3 experience a lot of success over the last few years,” said Andrew Beckman, CEO.

Take a look at a few of the reasons it’s pretty great to work here:

Halloween Party 2011

Nerd Photo Shoot Celebrating 32 Employees becoming Google Analytics Individual Qualified

A Chipper Lass at Golf Day

Ski Day at Arapahoe Basin

Things got rough and tumble during Field Day

ad2 Kickball Tournament Team

“There are so many situations where companies encounter basic questions about online performance, but don’t know where or how to begin finding the answers,” says Samantha Bedford (@SamanthaBedford), senior VP of digital media.  “Having a proper web analytics game plan can answer these vital questions, and lead to a better understanding of their return on investment. We developed this white paper to provide the foundation for that game plan.”

We devised this white paper to help businesses of all sizes get the most out of their online presence. The paper provides tools to help companies get a better understanding of how users are interacting with their website.  The white paper also addresses the complex but critical question of: “How is our offline campaign affecting our online traffic?” This information can give valuable insights into the effectiveness of campaigns.  We also touch upon the importance of attribution, and helps find answers to the age-old question of: “How can I allocate my marketing resources more efficiently?” Finally, we provide some best-practices when using web analytics.

To download the free white paper, visit http://www.location3.com/expert-analytics.

Location3 Media’s emerging video department has already scored a nod from one of the film industry’s top awards. Location3 and production partner LIGHTGROUP were honored with a Bronze Telly Award for “Local Search Traffic,” a digital video featuring innovative clickable technology.

With nearly 11,000 entries from all 50 states and numerous countries, the 32^nd annual Telly Awards was very competitive. The Telly Awards is the premier award honoring outstanding local, regional, and cable TV commercials and programs, web commercials, videos and films.

The video (below) shows small business owners how to optimize their local listings and develop a successful local advertising campaign, lets viewers click on tagged objects to reveal enriched, interactive content. Location3 was the first in the United States to partner with U.K.-based wireWAX for this plug-in. Additionally, the production of “Local Search Traffic” marked the first integration of this clickable technology with the Brightcove Express online video platform.

“The innovation of this technology is apparent in the fact that the Telly judging panel was confused about our submission. They were used to getting DVDs and the fact that our submission only included a link hosted on Brightcove was a first,” said John Evans, Vice President of Business Development for LIGHTGROUP.

“Local Search Traffic” was a true team effort. Video Manager Nathan Evans wrote and directed the piece; Director of Local Search Traffic Erik Whaley wrote the original score; and many other Location3 staff and family members helped with production and filled in as extras.

Nathan Evans reflected that, “Writing and directing for this technology is a unique challenge. The interactivity adds greatly to the viewing experience, but requires thoughtful integration into the story. I’m pleased with how we creatively leveraged the technology and to be recognized by the Telly Awards.”

Check out the award-winning production: