Just some fun on a Friday night.

Sometimes surfing on a Friday night just gets plain silly.

Made using the site quickmeme.com :-)

TGIF, Peter

If You Want to Make Google Laugh, Tell It Your Plans

"If you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans." - Woody Allen

So, dear readers, if you were reading this blog about 24 hours ago, the ever-silly Google Guy put out his ideas on what would happen with Google in 2012. HA! In the course of under a day, I was proved both right and wrong and perhaps wronger at the same time. But I digress.

Today, Google unveiled (without even consulting me) a very large change to how, and they process search engine results. It's called Google Search plus Your World, and to net it out, they integrated social network results with their old search results to create a totally personalized set of results for each searcher.


Oy vey! Throughout the planet right now, SEO consultants are losing sleep figuring out how this will impact their current Page 1 rankings, and how they will measure success for their clients, now that everyone in the world will see different %*@#$ results. UGH! This does make one of my predictions come true, though!

I still don't know if this will drive people to really *use* Google+, but darn, it will make every web marketer and SEO consultant to include it in their implementations.

OK, I am off to study this a bit more. Let's see how this will all shake out.

Best, Peter
Getting Therapists on Google

Web Marketing for Therapists – Predictions for 2012

 So it’s that time of year – predictions time! What does Your Google Guy see in his crystal ball? Besides a lot of political ads on TV? OK, here we go…

Many Trends Continue – Video, WordPress and Twitter will continue to all grow and become a normal part of web marketing this year. The bleeding-edge and leading-edge marketers have blazed a trail, and the middle of the pack will follow. #JustDoIt

Google+ Straggles Along – Remember all that noise in the middle of 2011, when everyone was SO excited about Google+? Yeah, now it’s crickets. I believe Google+ will be one of those things you do solely for SEO purposes (a +1 page for your business, a +1 button on your website) but don’t spend a lot of time on. But I would spend the time to do those two things, folks.

Facebook – Ch-ch-ch-changes! Facebook continues to change, and the question is whether they will manage it well (and continue to be the “stickiest” site on the Internet) or whether some combination of privacy issues, “spooky” or invasive advertisements, Timeline-backlash, or the depressing impacts of its use will cause the kingdom to start to crumble. I’m not saying it’s going anywhere, folks, just that the win-streak will end at some point.

Facebook Ads – will come of age, as marketers really learn how to take advantage of the treasure trove of demographic data they are sitting on. First adopters will learn lessons, and others will build on them. (Oh yes, keep an eye on YourGoogleGuy.com – you might see something on this soon).

Google – three solid, non-glamorous predictions. First, Google’s classic search engine (the core that most people think of as Google) will only change incrementally. They are too smart to mess with success too much, especially with no one currently nipping at their heels. Second, I predict the same for Google Adwords. Adwords is the “Golden Egg” for Google – it’s where the money is made. They won’t mess with it. What you created in 2008 should still work (with some increased bids). But prediction #3 is – ORGANIC results will continue to change rapidly. They’ll become more personalized. SEO will continue to become more difficult to predict & control. It will be harder to hold onto ranking, and you’ll need more attention on it, if organic rankings are what drive your web traffic.

Smart Phones – since they have become a center of human activity, it will be interesting how it will impact their use. I personally use mine to find things like restaurants, movie theaters, stores, etc. I still use the trusty computer when I am doing more in-depth research. In 2012, I would start making sure your website shows up to some degree on smart-phone browsers.

Siri – Danger, Google, Danger! What some wise people have noticed is that Siri now jumps in where a search engine might have been before. And chooses the results, editing them down for you. This might be the year we start seeing S.R.O. – Siri Results Optimization.

All the best, Peter

P.S. – Superbowl XLVI – Saints over Texans (since my Seahawks are out)

P.P.S. – 2012 Election – Obama over Romney (not politicking, just predicting, folks)

So You Think Adwords Clicks Cost a Lot for You?

Ran into this amazing graphic today. I often hear from therapists how they think paying $1, $2 or $3 for a hot lead.

Well hold on to your hats. You could be in the insurance, loans, or mortage businesses, who pay OVER FORTY DOLLARS PER CLICK. Sorry for the all-caps yelling. But GEEZ, $40 a click! Whoa!

There is a local private practice business that has it just as bad. Attorneys come in at over $47/click. Yowch.

Anyway, here's the info:
http://ppbh.com/how-much-do-ads-on-google-cost

Best, Peter

Revisiting My Predictions for Therapist Web Marketing - 2011

I rarely read or see pundits (political, financial or otherwise) go back and review their predictions. I'm going to try (and maybe see why those others don't!) :-)

So here's what I predicted on January 2, 2011, with my view of what really happened.

1) Google Stays #1, But Something Lurks in the Shadows
What Really Happened: I predicted others would try to eat away at Google's supremacy. But no one has truly come close: not Bing/Yahoo, not Yelp, not Groupon, not even Facebook (yet). I pondered Bing/Yahoo combining with Facebook to have FB be a place you search, too. Didn't happen. We still see three giants with three rather distinct kingdoms: Twitter for microblogging, Facebook for social, and Google for search.

2) The Therapist Directory Wars Continue
What Really Happened: Well, it was more an evolution than a revolution. Psychology Today brought in a new feature that tracked people calling you from their directory - helping prove their value (that the referral came from PT). Despite this, the murmurs I've heard from many therapists is that PT doesn't provide enough value for the higher cost. What I've really noticed is an upstart quality of smaller directories aimed at using video technology (doing the filming, editing and posting themselves). Examples include Therapick and NW Therapy Finder. This, by the way, plays into Prediction #3.

3) Video Takes Off
What Really Happened: It's finally happening, folks. When I go Google a therapist in my city and find new people ahead of ME each month in the video results you see on many search results pages. With the advent of Flip cameras, iPads, iPods, HD webcams and the like, the thing I've been waiting for is finally here (in my estimation). What do you think?

4) Dynamic Website Technology Takes Over
What Really Happened: I'd say I was right on this one. If you built a website in 2011, or started looking into it, I would bet you came across WordPress. Most of the new sites I see are WordPress now (if they are being done as a custom gig, not through GoDaddy, etc.).

5) Reputation Management/Social Media Optimization Becomes a New Focus
What Really Happened: I don't think the reputation management idea really took hold (though if you have gotten a bad review on Yelp or InsiderPages, you have painfully been initiated into it). Social Media? Well, hell yeah it bloomed in 2011. Look at all the Twitter handles you see on every TV show now. Look at the prevalence of "hashtags" now. I'll give myself a point on this one. #selfcongratulation

6) Mobile & How to Deal With It Enters the Conversation

What Really Happened: While the smartphone became ubiquitous, it's impact on therapy was less on marketing than on what happens in the room (from it disrupting families and marriages, to every gosh-darn client pulling out their phone when it's time to schedule the next appointment). But read my upcoming posts to see a NEW twist on this point in 2012.

7) Local! Local! Local!

What Really Happened: I'll give myself points here. The Google Places map took even more prominence in the search engine results. Google Places optimization is much hotter right now than engineering the organic results below. This has driven some people MORE towards Adwords, as the ability to show up for multiple city searches (especially a city you are not located in) did get harder in 2011.

8) Bing + Yahoo = Yawn

What Really Happened: Points, again. Have *you* been all hot and bothered over Bing or Yahoo? I didn't think so. Have you "Binged" anything lately? Have you "Yahoo'ed"? Yeah, me neither. But I Google things every day. Every. Day. Many times a day,

9) Twitter. OK, I Relent.

What Really Happened: From an SEO perspective, a marketing perspective, and a real-life use perspective (for news, fantasy football, breaking stories and the like), I really adopted Twitter in 2011. OK, so I was not a first adopter here. Give me a break, I have a toddler. And perhaps the kick-ass Android phone I got in mid-2011 helped me get into true Twitter-user mode. It's a fun way to kill 2 minutes waiting for a client. After I post this to my blog, I'll Tweet out the news of the post. #isurrender

9) More Use of Paid SEO Consultants

What Really Happened: I would give myself more points if I had said "more %&#@*% cold calls from SEO companies". Really, I get at least one a week, usually with some pseudo-truth about being "Google-authorized" or a "Google Partner". Ha! I've also, in selling SEO services myself, found myself competing against more people this year than ever before. I would bet a dollar you got a cold call from an SEO company this year, too.

OVERALL, I will give myself a solid "B+" grade on my predictions for 2011. But just you wait, I am cooking up a new set of predictions for 2012, that should come out sometime in early January.

Until then, happy marketing!

Sincerely, Peter Hannah

Your Oh-So-Googley Guy

Web Marketing Consulting for Therapists, Counselors and Psychologists

A New Take on Website Video for Therapists

The world just keeps inventing new things, though few make me pay attention. This one did.

A website for a therapist in Montreal, Bianca Saia, includes a new kind of use of video. Apparently, the website uses a service call VYou, which in essence makes it looks like a) you're sitting there online on a webcam when people visit, and b) you can answer questions.

It seems you must record answers to some questions and the VYou service must use some kind of artificial intelligence to pick the right video answer to play.

It is sorta damn cool. And maybe a little spooky. Take a peek and tell me what you think! Peter

Google Adwords ads - some now appearing at the bottom of the page

Hi fellow therapists,

If you are already an Adwords customer, you may have been looking at the Google search results lately going "where is my ad?" You may want to scroll down and look for it at the bottom of the page.

According to this November 2nd post on Google's Inside Adwords blog Google has decided to move ads for some searches (seems like local service searches, mostly) from the right side to the bottom. It appears ads that were able to have a high enough CTR/bid for that keyword will still show at the top of the page. This will only impact the ads that were showing on the right side of the screen.

They claim this will often result in an INCREASE in click-thru rate. I don't know that I believe that will be true, but I don't have any data yet to back it up.

I do believe it will cause an increase in worried emails to Your Google Guy :-)

I'll be watching this to see what the impact of this change is.

Best, Peter