SEO’s aim has traditionally been to cultivate a global Internet audience anytime, anywhere. However, Facebook’s recent initiative to improve its local search capabilities – partly in response to Google+ Local – shows the re-emergence of localized directories as a way to connect businesses with a targeted niche within their communities.

The emphasis on local has created service adaptations from solutions providers.  Texas-based BizVizable focuses exclusively on local SEO.  The company also provides related services such as web design, pay per click (PPC) services, social media advisory, reputation management, and reporting analytics.  On March 20, the company’s blog stated, “Many websites are now focusing on local SEO and optimizing their website to rank high in the SERPs for local keyword phrases . . . . [There] is usually little competition for local keyword phrases in different niches, yet these same phrases can provide massive amounts of targeted traffic locally.”

The explosion of internet marketing has also led to consulting opportunities for entrepreneurs who have the foresight to utilize the best technologies in the marketplace.  B2B and B2C digital marketing is increasing by 10 percent each year.

Many techies, in the tradition of craftsmen from the Industrial Age, purchase professionalized software and other online tools which are then used to provide advisory or outsourced services to corporate clients.

A recent college grad can simply purchase a reporting analytics tool and promote his digital consulting practice through a WordPress website.  Such a venture would not be unlike a CPA firm conducting audits for a corporate client needing independent assurances of key metrics.  Innovators create and sell.  Service providers apply the technology in practice.

In terms of localized SEO, small businesses will need to become visible to nearby prospects in order to generate referrals online.  Last month’s editorial by Brafton observed that Facebook’s Local Search app “clearly indicates that local businesses can be found through the feature. Today, the local search tool helps Facebook members find business recommendations based [on] geographic boundaries, specific queries and social referrals.”  Facebook’s localization and business directory program is seen by many as laying the groundwork for monetization through affiliate sales and web-based transactions.

It’s no coincidence that Google (500 million users) and Facebook (one billion users) have been incorporating localized search technologies that enable users to find relevant places near their own communities.  Local search results are filling a void created ever since people stopped using the mammoth, paper-based Yellow Pages directories that were popular prior to Google’s dominance as a search engine.

In April, Search Engine Journal provided the following caution to businesses who are thinking of purchasing local SEO services.  “Local SEO is probably one of the toughest on-line marketing strategies to implement.” The SEO advisory site added, “This is partly because of Google’s strict local algorithm” where link building is merely one of several factors in determining SERPS.

In this age of mobile platforms, local SEO could make or break a mom-and-pop shop, especially those not located near prime, high-traffic real estate.  Despite the challenges these businesses face in ranking high on local web directories, market forces are mandating small businesses to obtain street credibility within their own communities.

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Most travel agents know that the popular travel destinations remain consistent year after year.  Italy, France, and the Caribbean are predictable hot spots for tourists every year.  However, there are emerging trends in the travel industry.

Here are some of them:

Price Competition and Deals

An increasing number of tourists are bypassing traditional travel agencies and going directly on the Internet to shop for deals and price discounts.  Many, including recent graduates and young professionals, are taking advantage of non-peak seasons in order to book hotels and flights at steep discounts.

As an example, web portals such as ResortsandLodges.com provide reviews, descriptions, and price listings of destinations.  More information and a weak economy are resulting in price conscious travelers.

Mobile

According to McKinsey & Company, global travel-based revenue amounts to nearly $100 billion online.  That figure accounts for one-third of all e-commerce spending worldwide.  Younger users are switching over to smartphones and mobile devices (i.e., tablets) in order to browse for information and to conduct their shopping.  Thus, travel sites are seeing a growing need to optimize their presentation for mobile shoppers.

Travel apps could also make life a lot easier for tourists as they decide where to go next on their mobile devices.  Websites that make their portals efficient and differentiated will have a competitive advantage over those that appear to be “cookie cutter”.

Experiential Travel

The availability of information online as well as the opening of borders have facilitated the growth of experiential travel to exotic locations.  Popular places like Italy, Hong Kong, and New York are being seen as commoditized places by seasoned travelers.  Thus, tourists are seeking unique spots such as Bhutan, Myanmar, Macau, Madagascar, and Hangzhou in China.

Jet-setters are looking for authentic experiences in harder to reach places.

Contact: Marv Dumon

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Earlier this month, Las Vegas-based Zappos released an update update to its app for Apple’s iOS which improves a mobile shopper’s control over his online account.

The Amazon.com subsidiary announced on its website:  “In addition to being able to modify saved billing information and saved shipping address information, users can also modify their account password. We’ve also added the ability to set a primary billing information and shipping address for faster checkout.”

The internet retailer has seen increased sales from mobile shoppers and tailors recommended products based on a shopper’s purchasing history.  “We’ve always considered the detailed order history within Zappos mobile apps a key differentiator . . . . We put a cherry on top with 2.9.0 by adding product images to order numbers on the order history page so it’s easy to tell which order is which. Tap the product image to see the other items in the order.”

Zappos’ move to streamline its mobile shopping experience will likely be followed by other online retailers.  Smartphones and tablets have unique sizes and offer a different user experience than shopping on a pc or laptop.  Thus, websites are having to tailor their presentation based on smaller and more dynamic dimensions.

Online shopping is also moving towards curated, niche portals.  Sweet Couch, which targets Asian and Indian buyers, has recently created a mobile portal and seen increases in revenue from shoppers using Android and Apple devices.

Other mobile features on Zappos include:

• Detection of out-of-stock items prior to checkout process

• Notification of when Zappos has an item in stock

• Streamlined product category

• Enhanced filtering search

• User’s selection of fun animation while shopping

According to comScore, the amount of time consumers spent with online retail jumped 104 percent to 34.9 billion minutes in February 2013 compared with just 17.1 billion minutes in February 2010.  Mobile devices accounted for a large portion of the increase.  In March 2013, 52 percent of time spent with online retail was on a desktop, 34 percent on a smartphone, and 14 percent on a tablet.

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The Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University has announced a $125 million gift from alumnus Hansjörg Wyss (pictured above).

This second gift of $125 million will allow the department to significantly increase their efforts in their mission to creating products that will help humanity and to solve complex bioengineering  matters.

“We wanted to create a place where the innovation and imagination of the world’s best minds could work beyond disciplinary boundaries to deliver life-changing medicines and technologies that are inspired by nature,” Wyss said. “I could not have dreamt of the institute’s remarkable discoveries thus far, and am proud and excited to help them continue to build, explore, and improve lives.”

This month they were involved in a study using clay to grow bone along with the Brigham and Women’s Hospital Communications which is another Harvard University affiliate. Synthetic silicate (layered clay) is shown to cause stem cells to become bone cells in this study. The research that was done was recently published in Advanced Materials.

“Based on the strong preliminary studies, we believe that these highly bioactive nanoplatelets may be utilized to develop devices such as injectable tissue repair matrixes, bioactive fillers, or therapeutic agents for stimulating specific cellular responses in bone-related tissue engineering,” said Akhilesh Gaharwar of the BWH Division of Biomedical Engineering, the study’s first author and a visiting fellow at the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University. “Future mechanistic studies will be performed to better understand underlying pathways that govern favorable responses, leading to a better understanding of how materials strategies can be leveraged to further improve construct performance and ultimately shorten patient recovery time.”

Philantropist, Hansjörg Wyss’s gifts are going to good use and could soon benefit the world in many ways. The institute focuses on six technology platforms for research: bio-inspired robotics, programmable nanomaterials, biomimetic microsystems, adaptive material technologies, anticipatory medical and cellular devices, and synthetic biology. 

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The Phoenix Police showed up in force to support 5-year-old Tatum Raetz during her graduation from kindergarten on May 22,2013. Those officers were there because little Raetz’s father was killed in the line of duty just a few days before she was to graduate to the first grade. The photo above was originally posted on Reddit and showed the young holding flowers and being escorted by her mother while police officers stand on both sides of her.

“The purpose of us is to be here in proxy for Daryl and to let her know that we’re here for her,” Police Officer Keith Garn told CBS5.

Officer James Holmes told AZFamily.com that only a handful of cops were expected to attend Raetz’s graduation. “But the word got out that this was happening and it went viral within the department and there was absolutely no way that you could keep officers who could be here away from here. they came, even with their families,” he explained.

During the actual graduation ceremony, everyone present took a moment of silence to further honor Raetz’s fallen father. “Officer Raetz truly embodied the type of great American citizen that our school and our teachers aim to create,” school director Keven Barker said.

I.M.

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Charles Ramsey, the hero from Cleveland who helped free Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight, is being honored with a special card that will grant him free burgers for life. Ramsey became a household name for his selfless deed and the colorful interview he gave reporters after his rescue efforts.

“I heard screaming,” Ramsey told reporters after the rescue on May 6. “I’m eating my McDonald’s, I come outside, I see this girl going nuts trying to get out of her house. So I go on the porch and she says, ‘Help me get out, I’ve been here a long time.’”

Ramsey’s interview quickly went viral and the whole internet latched onto it, lobbying McDonald’s to give the burger loving hero some sort of reward for what he did. He came out in another interview and said that he would give any reward money to the girls because they truly deserve it, but that still didn’t stop local restaurants around Cleveland from coming together to offer him the “Chuck Card,” which will give Ramsey a free burger at several establishments in the city.

The “Chuck Card” is the brainchild of Scott Kuhn of the Driftwood Restaurant Group.

“We want to honor our local hero with local food,” Kuhn told the news outlet. “He stopped his meal midway through to help those women. We’re now making sure he has other opportunities to go out and fully enjoy his burger.”

I.M.

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The word “miracle” gets thrown around quite frequently in today’s society, but this story about what Erica Nigrelli went through during the birth of her daughter is definitely a miracle.

Nigrelli, an English teacher at Elkins High School in Missouri City, Texas, was 36 weeks pregnant when she felt sleepy and passed out in her classroom one February morning. “I put my head down and I essentially just passed out,” she told local NBC affiliate KPRC. Nigrelli’s husband and fellow teacher Nathan found her in the room unresponsive and immediately called 911.

“My wife is having a seizure. She’s on the floor,” Nathan Nigrelli told operators. “Oh my God! She’s pregnant and she’s foaming, unresponsive.”

Nigrelli’s co-workers Jennifer Longoria, June Tomlin and Maxine Reeves rushed in to help and started performing CPR to try and bring back her pulse. Once she arrived at the hospital, doctors stopped performing CPR so that they could deliver Nigrelli’s baby by emergency cesarean section, reports the Fort Bend Star.

“The doctors told me that Erica delivered post-mortem because she did not have a heartbeat when they took the baby out,” Nathan Nigrelli told The Star. “But I married a fighter, and now I had a baby girl who was a fighter, too.”

While at the hospital, doctors diagnosed Nigrelli with a rare heart condition called hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and put a lifesaving pacemaker in her heart. Both the mom and daughter are doing just fine now.

I.M.

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He also prosecuted a multi-million dollar breach of contract case against the State of California, as well as, obtained a $33 million dollar verdict against various corporate and personal defendants in a RICO/fraud trial.  Mr. Elardo’s tort practice focuses on defending large self-insured organizations and insurance companies.

An economics graduate of Southern Methodist University, Elardo earned his law and MBA degrees from Drake University in 1993.  He practices exclusively in the areas of tort and commercial litigation.

Elardo has been involved in hundreds of trial proceedings including over 75 jury trials to verdict. He has also been involved in numerous cases in the Court of Appeals including the reported cases of Cox v. May Department Stores, Drucker v. Greater Phoenix Transportation, Johnson v. Elson, and Western Corrections, Inc. v. Tierney.

Among his professional achievements, Elardo was named a Top 10 Arizona Verdict winner of 2008.   In 2010, he was selected as one of Arizona’s Finest Lawyers.  In 2011, Mr. Elardo became a Member of the Council on Litigation Management.  In 2012 Mr. Elardo was selected for membership in The National Trial Lawyers – Top 100 Trial Lawyers.

Contact: Marv Dumon

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The disagreement between the two companies shows how intellectual property rights can be used as a competitive tool in ecommerce and Internet-based lead generation and transactions.

American Home Realty Network Inc. (AHRN), which owns and operates NeighborCity, is countering that the listing services (MLS) are unable to show the chain of title to the photos of the houses in question, and thus, unable to prove that the company has violated any copyright laws.  In the real estate industry, photos published on listing websites typically come from the homeowners themselves or their agents.

In response to the copyright lawsuit, AHRN has filed a countersuit against the original plaintiff citing anti-trust practices.  The anti-trust suit alleges that Berkshire, which owns the HomeServices of America as a subsidiary, is merely bullying smaller players in the real estate industry.  AHRN’s executives that the un-publishing of content, such as images and multimedia, related to listed residential property would drive NeighborCity out of business.

Aside from Berkshire, Maryland-based Metropolitan Regional Information Systems Inc. (MRIS) and Minnesota-based MLS filed complaints against AHRN.

Last month, Ron Peltier, CEO of HomeServices, announced that the residential real estate company will have about $50 billion in revenue for 2013.  The company has received criticism as of late.  HomeServices’ moves in the housing market are being criticized as anti-competitive by other real estate firms.  A few years ago, the company settled a class action lawsuit for illegally fixing real estate commissions.

Jonathan Cardella, CEO of NeighborCity, is accusing Buffett’s holding company of attempting to limit the dissemination of real estate offers for sale, as well as, attempting to reduce transparency for residential home buyers.  According to Cardella, HomeServices’ actions would limit the eventual sales price of housing properties.

For the past couple of years, Warren Buffett has been bullish on what he sees as a recovering housing market.  At a real estate convention held in Texas earlier this year, Buffett said that “the coming years are going to be a lot better.  We see it in all our housing related businesses. We have a brick business; we have a carpet business; we have insulation. We’re in all aspects of housing, and they’re all coming back strong.”

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Inspirational singer and songwriter Zach Sobiech passed away on Monday this week at the tender age of 18. He was best known for his viral hit “Clouds” that he recorded as a way to say goodbye to his friends and family.

18-year-old Sobiech has been battling a rare kind of cancer called osteosarcoma since he was 14-years-old, before finally succumbing to it this past Monday. He recorded and uploaded an original song called “Clouds” onto YouTube in December that was meant to put his loved ones at ease with his passing, and it ended up touching millions of people around the world who were going through their own trials.

Sobiech signed with the Broadcast Music Inc. performing rights organization after “Clouds” started getting more and more popular. His story of courage and bravery caught the attention of Rainn Wilson, who created a short documentary about the teen called “My Last Days: Meet Zach Sobiech.”

The documentary helped viewers learn all about Sobiech, his condition, and what inspired him to create “Clouds” through interviews with his family, close friends and his girlfriend, Amy.

“He’s shown me it’s not all about the grades you get, or how cool you are in high school,” Amy says. “It’s about doing what makes you happy and no matter when you’re going go to, live life to the fullest every day.”

The Sobiech family has started the Zach Sobiech Osteosarcoma Fund to support research into Zach’s rare form of cancer.

I.M.

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