Since the SES Search panel on Thursday is here in NYC, I thought I would introduce contestant #3 with their big news about radio station WNYC:

EveryZing, a leader in next-generation universal search and search engine optimization (SEO) technologies, announced today that WNYC has chosen EveryZing to power its online audio search capabilities. With more consumers turning to the Web for content, WNYC needed a viable, proven solution to translate its broadcast success to the WNYC.org Web site. EveryZing’s ezSEARCH and ezSEO products enable WNYC to create a high-quality, high-consumption online channel that will drive even greater listener interaction. Reaching more than one million listeners weekly, WNYC 93.9 FM and AM 820 represent America’s most listened-to public radio stations.

WNYC produces and broadcasts a range of award-winning local and national news, culture, and music programming, . With EveryZing’s ezSEARCH, listeners gain access to WNYC broadcasts online, including daily interview programs hosted by Brian Lehrer, Leonard Lopate, and John Schaefer, as well as nationally broadcast shows such as “On the Media” “Studio 360 with Kurt Andersen,” “Radio Lab” and “Selected Shorts.” Whether searching for analysis of Hillary Clinton’s latest speech or Andersen’s interview with renowned actor / director Sean Penn, listeners can simply search WNYC.org to find all of the shows discussing those specific topics, as well as pinpoint the exact time that particular discussion occurs within the show.

“WNYC has an extensive library of rich audio content, ranging from local, national and international news and politics to musical performances and cultural reporting,” said Howard Parnell, executive director of new media at WNYC. “It’s wonderful to have a tool that gives our listeners a seamless Web experience and the unique opportunity to discover the audio content they want simply by entering a search term, then clicking on a keyword and jumping to that exact point in the broadcast.”

EveryZing’s world class speech-to-text technology has the unrivaled ability to extract a full-text output from audio and video files across the Web. With this technology, EveryZing created ezSEARCH, the Web’s first integrated universal site search solution, enabling multimedia content to be indexed and searched just like any other Web document. ezSEARCH, together with EveryZing’s ezSEO, makes multimedia content an integral part of the burgeoning online search economy.

“Consumers are increasingly spending more time on the Web in search of premium content,” said Tom Wilde, EveryZing CEO. “For stations like WNYC, EveryZing’s technology allows listeners to easily search and access all of their programming, while simultaneously opening up the content to the big search engines to further increase online consumption. This type of access is becoming paramount to the success of traditional media outlets, as the focus for content continues to shift to the Web.”

Local Search Marketing Tactics

This session looks at ways search marketers are tapping into an audience using local search engines, online yellow pages and other local search methods.

Moderator:

• Jon Myers, Head of Search, MediaVest

Speakers:

• Gregg Stewart, Senior Vice President, Interactive, TMP Directional Marketing
• Steve Espinosa, Director of Product Development and Management, eLocal Listing, LLC

8 out 0f 10 consumers are using local to research products and services, but local is only 4% of business marketing $$.

Note to self: why must conf speakers compete to see who can talk the fastest?  Is there a prize?  Is it self-selection?  Maybe I just type too slowly… <sigh>

Yes, you need to optimize your mobile sites (if you have one, or are planning to have one soon).

Use Yahoo!  marketing solutions, and for Google, use their Local Business Center.

Use A/B variant teesting, negative keywords and Social Media (e.g. digg, MySpace).

To help with tracking, use online coupons!

Automotive, Legal, Restaurants, Home Improvement, Real Estate, and Healthcare are the top categories.

<nice chart>

On a website, if you have a video on it’s own page, even if no one ever watches it, it may rank in the Top 10 search results and push a competitor down on to the second page.

What’s coming: Google TV AdWords.

Don’t forget User ratings and reviews – they’re an important factor for the user. (Yelp, Angie’s list)

If you get a bad review, try to work it out directly with that customer. Hey!  If you just can’t, be sure to post a comment / rebuttal telling your side of the story (once – dpn’t start an argument online!).

No one has ever written a review for their own business, right?   

Tracking:  Google Analytics – Lead generation forms – Call tracking – call back surveys – online coupons used in store.

<technical stuff>

QnA

<end of session>

Why Local Is Different

After some hype, local search has earned the respect it deserves. The massive opportunity cuts across the yellow pages, direct mail and in-store marketing programs. What emerges is a notoriously difficult market of small and medium-sized businesses that number close to 20m, but fewer than 25% even have a website.

The prospect of converting local advertising to an online channel requires more than adding a ZIP code. It means understanding local geography and how small business owners think about advertising programs. It involves ad procurement systems, user behavior and other factors, which all add up to a complex puzzle that is challenging but rewarding to solve.

Learn about how geotargeted campaigns are designed and the status of inventory and distribution for local ads on web and mobile devices. Attendees will also better understand the pull on advertisers from search engines, who employ a technology-first self-service procurement approach, and yellow page publishers, who nurture established relationships to drive online campaigns.

Moderator:

• Ian White, CEO, Urban Mapping

Speakers:

• Gib Olander, Director of Business Development, Localeze
• Benu Aggarwal, Founder & President, Milestone Internet Marketing
• Chad Schott, Vice President, Business Development, Marchex, Inc.
• Vik Advani, Co-founder & CTO, UpNext.com

Day Two – Tuesday

Chad Schott / Marchex:

They work with national brands to bring in traffic from the Internet.

Local is the next big Mega-trend (they say) The on-line equivalent of old media local, newspapers, Yellow pages, etc.

There are 15 million small businesses in the US, most w/o online advertising, so there is a huge potential for dollar$.

Local search is very , very fragmented – there is no one place to go and place and ad; it is the opposite of Google where you can just go to one place to place a nationwide ad.

Novel – many small businesses would rather have the phone ring or “feet in the door,” then a click on their website.

So “PPC” = pay per click, and “PPPC” = Pay per phone call (or PPA = Pay per action.) See blog.kelseygroup.com

Benu Aggarwal:

Important ingredients your web site should have:

1. Web site research

2. Site Design

3. Local search engines & maps

4. Internet Yellow Pages

5. Business databases (e.g. Info USA)

6. Web 2.0 and local search

7. Optimising local videos

Vik Advani UpNext:

Geotargeting: City > Zip code > Neighborhood> Block > where the user is standing

With a Map – the user explicity tells you where they are – you don’t have to know.

*Now you can have your ad appear if a certain map “tile” appears – Not if a keyword appears *

Gib Olander localeze:

People still overwhelmingly want to make purchases from a local, physical store.

(Less then half of all business have web sites)

Note to self: Are these speakers trained to talk as fast as possible because they want to share 15 minutes of a PowerPoint in a 10 minute slot? I would give then a 15 minute slot or ask them to share a 10 minute PP. Or is it just me?

For tiny mobile screens or auto GPS tools or Tivo or other devices, they require small, more concise bits of content.

<Ian> Trick or treat: Order something online and use a “fake” middle initial, then see what marketing you start to receive.!

QnA

If you have a local business, it’s not a matter of your financial budget, it’s your time budget – time spent submitting your specific local information to many database, directories, search engines, etc. And make sure that you web site is at least basically optimized (SEO) before you do anything like a PPC campaign (SEM) which will cost you some bucks.

I’m not sure why this moderator is essentially giving a presentation…oops, now he’s back to the panel.

With Google’s street view images, the minute an imagfe is captured, a business might go out of business. It’s very hard to keep every street scene in America current. Good one, moderator!