I've just completed a little piece of research on the new Google Places, and more specifically the type of information that Google tries to pull in about certain businesses.

This all started from a recent discussion on a LinkedIn Group (North-West England Business Association).  We've been formulating a marketing plan over the last few weeks to help our clients get the most out of Google Places.  Part of our theory is that Google will continue to look for more and more information about that business, to give users a more rounded profile.

So that's great, right?  Google will identify where your business is, what your phone number is, some nice pictures, a logo and your website name.  No problems so far.  These are all things that a business can control for itself.  Next, Google will go out and find some customer reviews.  If you're a restaurant, it will go to Sugarvine, UrbanSpoon, TheBestOf, and many others, and pull in whatever it can find to display on your Google places profile.  Hmm, so not so easy for a business to control this.  But still, if you're a great restaurant with lots of happy customers, then this is generally a very good thing.  A list of positive customer testimonials is a powerful marketing tool.

OK, but what about taking it a stage further.  How about this little scenario:

"Dentists in Preston" - I tried this search yesterday and did a bit of digging around.  Clicked on various buttons in the Maps section, read some customer reviews (one excrutiatingly bad review for a particular Dentist in Fulwood.  It seems a little unfair to repeat the name here, but if that was my business I'd be wanting to manage my online reputation very carefully), and finally I clicked on the little known "related maps" button.

Well, what a goldmine!  What appears is a page created by a guy called Alan in 2009, who seems to have cold-called every dentist in Preston, trying to sell something (it wasn't clear what), and has written a summary of every call, including a running commentary on the politeness (or rudeness) of every dentist's receptionist in Preston, personally naming them.

Even now, I'm not sure where Google has pulled this data from.  Some kind of online CRM or business database, perhaps.  I'll have to dig some more.  But it's scary stuff, and I'm sure the dentists in question have absolutely no idea this information lives out there, for the inquisitive customer to find.

Reputation management has always been important for businesses, but the traditional ways of PR and Marketing allowed companies to centrally control the flow of information.  But these days, we're all our own PR agents and the web is full of user-generated content.

Dental practices in Preston is just the tip of the iceberg; companies everywhere need to keep pace with the internet, and they have a duty to themselves to take a seriously informed view of what's going on out there and what's being said about them.

The internet is a great leveller, no doubt, but it's also fraught with danger for the unwary traveller...

Patients are Using the Internet to Find Doctors and Medical Information

The internet is a vibrant market place.  People are looking to buy, companies are looking to sell.  Whether it's consumer products, houses or jobs, the web is a stunningly efficient place to find out what you need to know.

This applies equally to diagnosing our own illnesses and looking for medical treatments.  In a situation where we might be reluctant to tell our friends and families what's bothering us, we have no such problem telling Google our most intimate health concerns.

When it comes to life-changing medical conditions or impending surgery, more and more patients (including the rapidly increasing silver surfer population) are going online to do their research.  Some of the things they look for include:

• A new doctor
• A private clinic near them
• Doing a background check on a surgeon for their upcoming surgery
• Reading up on their recently-diagnosed health condition

In the same way that many companies are competing to have their websites found for appropriate search terms (Search Engine Optimisation), doctors and medical professionals also need to have a presence and maintain their online visibility.

The information that is found by the search engines needs to be well managed and appropriate.  A well designed SEO campaign can ensure a consistent brand is created for a healthcare professional and his practice, and that the most informative and appropriate websites are ranked highest in the search engines.

Rather than leaving it to chance, it is better to take a proactive view and manage the information your patients are finding.  Patients want to be reassured by a consistent, professional brand, and those who provide this are naturally a more attractive proposition.

Press Releases are a valuable Internet Tool, but are you optimising yours?

A Press Release is a highly effective way of spreading the word on your new product launch or service offering.  In the offline world, businesses distribute press releases through the traditional media channels of trade journals, newspapers and magazines.

In the online world there are countless outlets to publish your Press Release, and writing one is no longer the preserve of the coroporate PR people.  However, writing an effective one does require the principles of SEO, since the idea is that you want to attract natural traffic to your press release though the search engines.

So, to be found by Google and the like, here are 5 tips for improving the SEO value of your Press Release:

1. Keyword Selection

As with all written content on the internet, the words and phrases you use in the body of your text define how attractive you are to the search engines.  Before charging into it, think carefully about what words people may be using to search for your particular subject to give you the best chance of being found in those searches.

2. Keyword Density

A particular passage of text is more "sticky" to the search engines if it has a higher density of a particular keyword or phrase.  That's not to say you should pointlessly repeat your word at the bottom of the page just for SEO value, but you should aim for a keyword density of 2-3% and place that word(s) throughout the text - beginning, middle and end.  That reinforces to the search engines what the Press Release is all about.

3. Format

As with all good copywriting, the Press Release should be structured in a logical, easy-to-read format.  Bear in mind the following:

Title - it should be simple and attention grabbing.  That's it.

Summary - an executive summary is useful to get your point across quickly,  Remember, people have limited attention spans online.

Body - the main body of text should be informative, interesting, and as far as possible written in layman's terms. 

Press Contact - make sure people know who to contact for further information.

References - Back-up your claims and statistics with good references, with the appropriate hyperlinks where possible.

4. Content is King

Don't use technical jargon.  Don't use lots of industry acronyms.  Your main objective is to tell a compelling story and leave the reader wanting more.  If your Press Release is found by people doing Google searches, they won't all be experts in your field so write in simple language.

5. Write for People, not Google

Forget everything we've just said about SEO-optimising your Press Release.  First and foremost it should be written for human eyes, not the search engines.  SEO will certainly get your Press Release found, but good quality, human content will get it read.

Talk to WSI Internet Marketing about your online brand management and Internet Marketing strategy.

Are you confident you're doing enough to measure and manage your online brand reputation?

We have published another white paper in our ongoing series.  This one talks all about the subject of brand management.

In the days before Social Media and Web 2.0, brand management was done in a very centralised way, closely controlled at corporate headquarters by specialist teams of PR and Marketing men.  Even smaller companies without these resources could manage their brand, if by doing nothing more than doing nothing.  No news was good news.

But we're way beyond that now.  In the online world, brands are shaped by the conversations that take place around them.  Supporters, detractors and even neutral bystanders can all have their say, and reputations can be won or lost.

Online brand management is all about being proactive and shepherding your business through the Social web.

The message is clear:  Be involved, be visible, have a voice.

Read our whitepaper and give your business a headstart.