The google maps section has been one of this year’s best roller coaster rides. At the beginning of the year it seemed that many of the maps were being manipulated and dominated by map spammers. It progressed and the maps became more sophisticated. Then the ride took a huge drop when it became “Too sophisticated”. In an attempt to squash out the bugs in the maps and eliminate the pests, i.e. spammers, the maps began a rampart merging. The following is a story of near tragic results from an inaccurate merger made in the maps…

“Google merged the records for Dr John G Moe and Dr Kenneth Landis and this almost led to a tragic patient outcome this weekend. An emergency room doctor from Kansas tried to contact Dr. Moe to see if a certain drug could be given to our patient. Since the patient was unable to give the ER our phone number, the googled Dr John G Moe. Since Google linked our record, the saw the phone number for Dr Landis and left a message on his answering machine and since he wasn’t on call that weekend, we didn’t learn of the problem until much later. So – how do we get Google to unmerge our records. We share an office – but are not a group practice and do not cross-cover on call? Is there an email address or phone number we can use to get this fixed?”  Ellen

http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/maps/thread?tid=6c515a66e1584e5e&hl=en

Today many other map results are doing the same.  Its fair to say that google wants their information to be accurate.  That is why they making the mergers.  But this doesn’t stop the pain of those that are being hurt.

You also have un-mergers happening.  Locations that were accurately merged with review sites like insiderpages.com, that are now split off and forming two listings for the same business, same address, with a few mismatched items,  like one listing with “St.” and the other “Street”.  Or a listing with “Ste” and another with “Suite”, these discrepancies can result in un-mergers.  So mergers and un-mergers can both take their toll.

The other side of this are spammers that are still getting through.  Like when you search for Houston Pest Control in Google, you get a one box for a site that is a listing service for a pest control company… zone profiles.

Google gives a profile page a one box for Houston Pest Control. SEO teams are constantly calling and bombarding PCO's with offers about Local listings on Google. Beware, spammers will be caught. Will the pest control maps ever be right?

Map of interest on Google.  Pest Control Companies with positive reviews.

Is there a happy ending to this story?

Give google some time.  They are very good at what they do.  I am confident that they will get all of this straightened out.  In the meantime, play nice! Just because your competitor has an edge on you doesn’t mean that you should give him a bad review… Like the Dixie Rebel’s review for St. George Pest Control. Funny thing… this little review pushed Bulwark to ask it’s customers for help in fighting the falsehood spread by this review.  The result… 89 positive reviews!

Further, Don’t lie and pad your reviews…  Sorry not going to name pest control companies I am suspicious are doing this, but a little investigation into the reviews and it’s pretty easy to spot a fake.  If you want my opinion on a guy that looks like a fake then post it below and I will give you my scoop.

If you want additional help with google maps then email a friend of mine at tshirtseo (at) yahoo.com

Thanks for visiting and please add your comments!

-Pest Control Austin TX

This just in from WebProNews.

Google will be adding tweets to search results…

Love you guys, but this is a little delayed!  I posted a new website purely for the fun of it… Yes I love my job!… about 3 weeks ago.  Then I tweeted it.  Well the tweet showed up on google long before the website ever did.  And the only location you find a link to this new website is on my tweet.  Check it out… Google BlackShirtSeo.com… By the way… the only thing black about it is the shirt. I bought it purely so I could make a T-Shirt. I am sure it will be one of the most expensive T-Shirts I have ever bought.

Your results will show the actual domain now and then tweet under it.  If you didn’t think Google was interested in your tweets then you are falling behind. Tweets on the other hand, are typically not going to rank well.  They are supplemental to good SEO.  I like twitter, but I would never build my optimization plan centered around Twitter, or Facebook or any other social media.  Including google’s new Wave…  If you haven’t checked into the wave then go read up on it by someone who’s taking a test drive on it now… GOOGLE WAVE.

With that said, YES YOU SHOULD TWEET.  NO YOU SHOULD NOT SPAM TWITTER.

Tweet Tweet, but please be Sweet…

PEST CONTROLLERS- Don’t just send out endless ads about your company.  You won’t make many friends on twitter that way.

I hate to bring up past experiences that I would rather forget, but I can’t ignore the lessons I have learned.  I once was involved in a MLM – Marketing Pyramid.  I tried to sell everyone I knew and everyone I didn’t know.  Perhaps it was just my leadership who told me to go steal hourly employees from the mall, but I chased people away.  I looked at everyone as if they were money bags.  That is absolutely a horrible thing to do.  I have since repented… I was very young and naive at the time…. sorry making excuses… I told you I didn’t like to bring up the past!

Morale of the story, Don’t just tweet to sell your service.  Tweet to connect and communicate.  Sure, I support sending out a reminder on occasion about what you do, but every 5 minutes is not an occasion.

… If I could only control the pests on twitter.  =)

-Thos003

Phoenix Pest Controller for hire.

Google has been undergoing a lot of face lifts recently.  As of date, google’s 2009 maps addition have made a huge impact on search results and overall website traffic.  The maps are stealing some if not most of the spot light for many searches.  And if you haven’t caught this google wave then built your ship and get on board.

What’s new as of today, is that the coveted “10 box” or “pack 10″ for local searches is now down to 7!

That’s right, you will find only 7 local companies now when you search for “Pest Control Austin AZ“…   Let’s try again 7-box when you search for “Pest Control Mesa AZ“. Just barely above the cut on that one…

The new limit is 7! Which may not be a big deal,… unless you were 8, 9, 0r 10.  That is just the way google crumbles.

Wait, your not seeing what I am seeing in your results?

Oh yeah, as of today on 3 separate pieces of equipment from, 3 different IP addresses, I got 3 totally different results.  Google Local Search Results are now popping up everywhere!

Here is a quick tally for www.BulwarkPestControl.com search term “pest control” (of course)…

I-Phone – #19 (used to search this before) Different top placements for 1,2,3…

PC – #19 (used to search this before) Different top placements 1,2,3,…

Blackberry – #13 (Never searched for pest control before) Similar top 1,2,3, as I-phone different than PC.

GOOGLE!!!! Quit changing my results!

Oh, and as far as the maps go… If you put in your location, or let it locate you through your IP address it will give you map results based on proximity.  If my IP is in Raleigh, NC… it gives me a different 10, I mean 7, on the map results.  If I change my location to a zip code it changes, if I change my location to a city it changes again.  Each time it pulls the listings that are closest to your IP, Zip Code, or City location and the listings that are most relevant to your search.

Soooo, forget optimizing your location for the entire metro area!  Unless, the niche isn’t that competitive. It is internet real estate where value is based on location, location, and location.

Hope this helps!

* Search results will vary based on user, device, browser, IP address, web history, search term, and other undetermined factors, therefore we are not sure what results are typical and make no claims as to testimonials given hereof, or thereof.

** and for my FTC disclaimer… If you consider this a Google review then your wrong. It’s a Google Report, either way Google did not pay me for this.  I am however associated with a pest control company, so if you see a link that says Exterminator Tulsa and it points to a particular website then yes I did that on purpose and yes they pay me to work for them, but, this is kinda not work stuff… so classify it as you wish.  Man I love my job!

P.S. You can optimize for an entire metro as a key word… try “Austin Pest Control”, but google is changing the way people search by adding local results to service terms, like “pest control”.  Why add in my location if google will give me results based on my location?

Interesting read today from Fox news on the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).  This is something that would effect SEO companies as they are prone to adding links and building blogs to get more traffic.  The FTC has voted to regulate blogging and fine those that are posting product reviews for money.  They believe that these reviews are misleading in that the consumer is unaware if the review is a organic unsolicited review or if the review is paid for by the product company.  Further, many of these sites and reviews sign on as affiliates and receive a commission if the product is bought through their site.

The law will require that bloggers must make it known that they are being paid in a “clear and conspicuous” manner and the law goes into force December 1st, 2009. The law does not require notification for “free” products, meaning if I were to offer you free pest control service in exchange for a review then you are not required to disclose that you are receiving free service. While these regulations may make many bloggers nervous, the FTC says that they intend to target the companies and advertisers.  This actually makes me more nervous as a pest control company.

Let’s say that I am paying an SEO company to build my site and back links.  How can I be sure that the SEO company I hire is adhering to this law?  Who then is responsible, the SEO company or the pest control company?  Further, this law seems very inadequate.  How do you define a “review” of a company or a review of a product?  How will the FTC distinguish between legitimate customers reviewing a product or service versus the paid reviews? And what about blogs that benefit indirectly from their reviews (i.e. Google adsense)?

Or better yet define “clear and conspicuous”. How do I know if this site “clearly and conspicuously” show that I am a Bulwark employee.  Is the facebook profile on the left sufficient or do I need to disclose this in every post?  Beyond that this blog isn’t purely a Bulwark blog, its my own blog and thoughts as well.  Bulwark does not sanction everything written on this blog and I am not really getting paid directly for my content.

Overall, however, I applaud the FTC’s attempt to regulate this gross flood of solicited reviews. It is unfortunate that so many companies and individuals are cashing in on the naive public.  Having worked on the internet for sometime I  spot the propaganda reviews and comments regularly. In fact, there are entire blogs that look like just a single user reviewing everyday products, but in fact are a paid blogger.

As far as I am aware Bulwark has not overstepped these requirements.  But, again, I am unaware of every attempt hired SEO firms have undergone to boost my web presence. Further, I don’t know how they define “clear and conspicuous”.  Hopefully a site that is owned by Bulwark is clear. But, it does sound  like I will need to check in on my SEO team, and I would advise all internet advertisers and business owners to do the same. Don’t get caught with your pants down.

From your Pest Control SEO guy.

This post was not directly paid for by Bulwark Exterminating, however the writter is biased as to which pest control service is the best.

I recently attended an SEO class that talked about “selling the dream.”  The premise was that the content you write should be geared toward the driving motivating desired outcome the client has.  “Sell the dream”, was showing them the dream situation that your product or service creates.  So the pest control dream, is…. “A pest free home.”, “A bug free Life.”, “A scorpion seal to keep scorpions out.”, “Never see another bug inside your home.” …. really there’s not much more to say.  People want pest control because they want to get rid of bugs.

Honestly, some of these other “Dream” things were pretty far fetched for me.  Like selling the “Win a date with this internet super model”…. Yikes.  People actually buy into that?  I personally am extremely annoyed by the newspaper advertised price for a new car, a car that never seems to exist on the lot because it was model 871XXX_BUG-ME&NOTreal1 and it was already sold… “Buy this gadget and never lose your keys again.” … unless you lose the gadget.   “Never get caught by a photo radar ticket.”  That one is a little more appealing to me.

Either way, the concept is correct.  You talk to the customer’s desire.  It’s the whole catch a fish thing.  Some baits work and some don’t, but you’ll never catch a fish with just a hook. So in line with this thought I happened upon this email that didn’t make it to my junk folder and man is it good.  Its a near flawless example of a good campaign…

Dear Sir,

I hope that I am not embarrassing you with this mail because you did not expect it or know me before. But kindly rest assured that I have irresistible urge to write it believe me, the mail is an indication of love for you and happiness I shall always wish you. I am Miss Martha. K. Pierre 20 years old and the only daughter and child of late Mr. and Mrs. Ferdinand. K. Pierre the former diamond merchant in Guinea Conakry.

My late father was a wealthy Gold and diamond dealer my mother died ten years ago and my father was poisoned to death by his political members, before his death my father told me that he made me the next of kin of a fund he deposited in his offshore account with a financial institution in the Commonwealth of Dominica.

I have contacted the bank and confirm that my father really make me the next kin of the deposit, now I want you to assist me to transfer the money into your account in your country because the people that killed my father is after my life now to make sure that our family are drastically wiped off, infarct as I am writing to you now I am in hiding here please if you can help to save my life and transfer the fund to your account.

I am deeply interested to offer to you 25% from the total money that is involved for transferring it into your own designated account, again I will hand this money over to you to invest it wisely for me, as you know, this is the highest confidence and trust any person can repose on the other especially when it is considered that we did not know ourselves before then you are expected to display high degree of maturity, responsibility, and understanding in handling this information so that our family enemies will not know that I am getting around in me through your information.

The main aim of contact you are to assist me in three ways (1) to help and transfer the money to your country (2) and to help me get a profitable business for investment in overseas any where all is based on your professional advice and acceptance to assist me. (3) To help me have a stay in your country when I might come over to meet with you and continue my education (4) to help me manage whatever investment you will get for me until I finish my education.

I will give you every detail about the deposit for the transfer to carry on to your account. After you have indicated your interest and willingness to help me out of this problem to secure the money for a proper investment in your country. Please write to me as fast as to acknowledge this mail and thanks in anticipation. For the confidentiality of this transaction please strictly reply me at XXXXXX@XXXXXXX.com, for scurity porpourse thanks.

Remain In Bless the Lord.

Best Regards
Miss Martha. K. Pierre

Did you make it all the way through that email??? If you didn’t then I understand.  Here are the Highlights:

Starting from the beginning-

1-Attention grabber – “embarrassing you…”  Draws you right in.  Your asking yourself… “What is she talking about?”

2-Appeal to emotion- “irresistible urge”,”indication of love”, “happiness”.  Wow lay that on thick!

3- The story- Everyone loves stories.

4- The benefits – What’s in it for me?… Gold, wealth, a young woman.

5-Call to action.

What about the dream?  The whole thing was a dream and the perfect guy dream at that…. Wealthy 20 year old in love with you, pleading for you to save her. What man could resist?

Well that was great.  They almost made it through a perfect pitch… minus the few misspelled words at the end and possibly because it’s “Too Good to be True.” Therein lies a very thin line.  When are you overselling?  Where is that line?

To be continued in Part 2 next week….or next month.

In attempting to diagnosis the accuracy of the recent Healthcare Facebook Poll I have launched a new poll to determine how the facebook users classify themselves.

TAKE FACEBOOK POLL – CONSERVATIVE or LIBERAL?

It would be fascinating to know how facebook users classify themselves.  Are facebook users conservative?  Are facebook users Liberal?  Or are they neutral?  How good of a sample are the facebook users?  Perhaps the polls started are reflective on the individual’s bias since facebook is a social media network and therefore individual typically associate with like minded individuals.  And since polls and comments are only shared within that network the results are going to be skewed.  For that reason, when I launched the above poll I did nothing to promote it.  Currently there are not enough pollsters to be accurate, but the scale is tipping to one side. Take the Poll.

Conservative or Liberal?

]]> http://pestcontrolseo.wordpress.com/2009/08/26/are-users-of-facebook-conservative-or-liberal/feed/ 4 thos003 http://pestcontrolseo.wordpress.com/2009/08/21/seo-certified-what-does-it-mean/ http://pestcontrolseo.wordpress.com/2009/08/21/seo-certified-what-does-it-mean/#comments Fri, 21 Aug 2009 19:08:13 +0000 thos003 http://pestcontrolseo.wordpress.com/?p=114 ]]>

I am happy to say that I now possess a Certification in Advanced Search Engine Marketing Strategies. Yes, I can hang a piece of paper on my wall signed by an instructor verify that I not only spent the time in class but that I passed their SEO test. But what does that mean to the rest of the world?

Well lets relate this to my favorite subject, Pest Control.  The State and Federal governments mandate that technicians be licensed in order to apply pest control products in and around structures for the purpose of controlling pests.  The above license requirements vary by state. Some states requiring hours spent under supervision of another authorized and licensed technician. Some states require so many hours in a classroom training environment.  Some states require continuing class room time to renew licenses.  And all states that I am familiar with require a successful completion of a state exam.  But does that mean that every state licensed pest control professional does the same work?  Does being state certified equate to being able to control pests?

An SEO certification is a little different in that there is no governing body mandating the completion of a SEO course prior to advertising that one is a SEO Guru.  There are no regulations for an SEO expert.  The value of a SEO certificate is determined by the course given and the individual’s application of the principals taught in that course.

With a State certified pest control technician I can at least assume that the technician is aware that he should not clean out a spray nozzle by putting it to his lips and blowing. (Yes this was an actual question on a state pest control exam.) With a certificate in SEO there really is no guarantee as to what they might know.

Even with the lack of a standard for SEO certification, one should be able to assume the following standards are met:

1- Knowledge that Black Hat SEO may get you banned from search engines.

2- Understanding of the bare essentials in meta tags for  a page: Title, Description, Keywords.

3- Understanding keyword rich content, and now a days, LSI or better said subject related content.

My opinion, those are the bare minimum standards that an SEO certificate should insure.

As for hiring a SEO team, does having a certificate make a team any more qualified?

Yes, to some degree a certificate verifies that someone has at least a general knowledge of SEO.  Yes, it attests that they have some SEO training.

No, having a certificate does not insure that an individual is more qualified then another non-certified SEO guy. The only credible measurement of an SEO’s ability is their portfolio.

Since there is no governing body or recognized standard an SEO certificate does not insure anything.  However, if all things were equal then I would take a certified SEO guy over a non-certified SEO guy.

What does that have to with pest control?

Just got through reading a post on marketing and they questioned the use of facebook and twitter. I agree, similar to my previous post there is a lot of hype about SEO tools and SEO stuff all of which is bugging me, because its like the emperor’s new clothes a bunch of hype with no fabric to it.  Or this year’s big “Green Washing” marketing tactic. For many its a pitch.  No substance to it.

Good business is good business.  Good marketing on the other hand….
Twitter – A tool.
Facebook – A tool.
Hammer- A Tool.
What you do with the tool is what makes the difference.  You can use a hammer to build a building or use the same hammer to bring a building down.

If you can combine good business with good marketing then you’ve got a two punch combo worth talking about. That’s where SEO comes to into play.

There is no sense pushing a product that does not carry its weight in gold.  Pushing products that don’t give a customer what they want is a short term mentality.  Its a losing game plan.  But adding a little push to a product or service, like Bulwark’s pest control service, that already has momentum, well then you are just fueling the fire.  And big fires get noticed. So start by building a good service,  find under served customers, ask them what’s bugging them, and then fix it.  Create a solution to someone’s problem.  See a need, fill a need.

SEO signing off.

Get your SEO here.

Yes, I am sure that everyone has heard enough about Universal health care plan or the governmental health care plan.  But I found this interesting…

Health Care Plan Losing in Polls on Facebook! One poll shows 70% oppose the health care plan. Another shows that 75% oppose a government run health care system.

300,000+ votes... that means it should be accurate.

Facebook Health care poll #2 175,000 votes.

Interesting that the different questions have a 5% spread.  Either way the first one show 75% opposed to the Government Health Care. And the 2nd shows 70% opposed to Universal Health Care in the US.

These images were taken from a screen shot today at 6:48 PM Arizona Time.

If these polls are accurate then Obama didn’t win off his Health Care initiative… unless the poll has changed that much since the election.

Yes there are flaws in this poll.  The demographics on facebook only apply to individuals online, those that can’t afford a PC or internet access may be in favor of government health care.  However, I would still argue that the majority of the US does not support Government Health Care.

Wingless Ladybugs used for “Organic Pest Control”. Fantastic, I can now go down to the local Home Depot and buy myself a bag of chilled close to frozen ladybugs dump them on my rosebushes and whala!  Clean, green, organic, natural pest control.  Ladybugs, nature’s best defense against aphids.  The problem is keeping my investment to stick around.  Until now, with the invention of wingless ladybugs!  Now they can’t fly away.

Its pretty amazing how far science has moved forward.  This latest invention is probably the best DNA alteration since the seedless watermelon!  Its not only a very green way to save rose bushes from aphids and other nursery pests, but its completely natural!!!… or is it?

Honestly I think its extremely hypocritical, very ironic, and even oxymoronic.  The garden loving organic growing groupies love the idea of using all natural pest control solutions.  They love the idea of using completely organic pest control.  So the idea of using lady bugs is very appealing.  Heck its even appealing to me, not for the organic side but the sheer fact that rose bushes are so sensitive to any and all products sprayed on them, organic or not. But come on, you are okay with altering a living organisms DNA so that it no longer has wings, but creating man made synthetic pesticides is wrong?

Pyrethoroid, man made products based on pyretherins the all natural product derived from a Chrysanthemum flower. Same chemical make up, but not organic because its man-made.  The same debate goes on with Hexa-Hydroxyl, when EcoSmart made a product with all natural ingredients to formulate Hexa-Hydroxyl, the EPA said, “No Way!”.  Even if it looks the same and acts the same its the man made alternative, so you can’t use the term Hexa-Hydroxyl.

But when it comes to altering a bugs DNA, then its okay? So DNA altered Wingless Ladybugs for natural organic pest control is okay, but a man made pesticide that memics natural pest control products isn’t. Like I said, its ironic, hypocritical, and an oxymoron…. Gets your all natural DNA altered ladybugs for organic pest control today!