Reach Local Blast..And Reseach

[JohnScott]

Sorry for so many posts but I wanted to break up my responses. I don’t want this to be a shouting match, maybe RL has tons of happy customers, I just haven’t really come across too many of them. Here is an example of what your PPC “experts†run for clients. I don’t really want to point out a client but since you have claimed my thoughts as untrue here is a real world example


On search term “2009 vw jetta Milwaukee†the first results is one of your clients…good work so far…lets look at the ad.


Hall Volkswagen Milwaukee

Online Quotes, Inventory & Savings.
Hall Volkswagen in Milwaukee.
hallvwmilwaukee.com

This ad is terrible wouldn’t you agree? I don’t write PPC ad copy but if I did A Much Better ad would be something like:

What ad are you talking about? Adsense?

The reason I ask is because with AdBlock Plus they're blocked. So far, from mozillas site alone its been dowloaded 54,535,005 times.

I guess you probably have numbers on how often Adsense ads are actually clicked, be interesting to see those numbers, and the effect plug-ins have had on it.

When its blocked, as in I cant see it because I have a plug-in, does it still show up on reports as being viewed?

 

[kennix]

We'll I've got a few questions I've got to ask too.

Why is there so many complaints about Reach Local on the net if you're such a great company?

Do you use a proxy?

Can your program hurt SEO of a site in any way? (be careful, You may be held accountable)

Has Reach Local ever sold leads to a customer that was looking for that customer to begin with?

Does Reach Local compete against the customer's website for leads?

You mentioned you did business one way previously and another now. Do you intend us to believe you changed overnight? What prompted this big change?

If your ads are computer generated so as to take out "human" error, were they also programmed and built by computers that were not built by humans?

I've personally witnessed huge discrepancies made by computers because of bugs. Are you saying your software is 100% bug free and will never have a problem, unlike a human?

 

[NickCybela]

I think ReachLocal does a great job getting dealers into paid search in a way they can understand and track. One of the difficulties from a technical side is getting the sites tagged so you can actually track the results. Of course, from a SEO standpoint and site experience that can be a little less than desirable for a more advanced dealership. One of the reasons they have so much mass is the simplicity they alluded to.

I'm always cautious to make sweeping statements about companies. Are there more efficient, better performing options available? Absolutely-- depending on your goals and expertise. Can ReachLocal give you a campaign that will drive results? Sure. It's paid search, not brain surgery.

The keys for any successful campaign get down to your goals and strategy. Paid search vendors are easily accessible and interchangeable, you should find one that produces results for you, helps you understand what they're doing and where you're going and do what it takes to be successful.

 

[ghen]

Reach Local ran campaigns for my dealerships for about a year with different campaigns starting and ending at different times. Using Google analytics I determined the impact on total website visitors was about half of what was promised and the campaigns grew to be very expensive.

That being said, I think Reach Local is a very good company for hands-off internet advertising. The only thing we did with them was PPC and only dabbled in it really. When I said it was expensive above, that's just compared to our normal online budget and not compared to radio/newspaper. I may end up going back with Reach Local and jump in with both feet to do both PPC and real website ads both passive and active based on a cookie they would put on our websites.

My question to you is, are there any other offensive online marketers in the business that provide the level of control or lack of control that I may want at any given time? My website provider already does SEO for me, so I just don't need that service. Plus, I conciser SEO to be defensive marketing. Necessary to stay in the game but certainly not in the customer's face.


P.S. : The best part of reach local's service by far for us was tracking and listening to phone calls made through their system. Truthfully they should market that feature more because it really got us to look at phone etiquette in a big way.

 

[ghen]

What ad are you talking about? Adsense?

The reason I ask is because with AdBlock Plus they're blocked. So far, from mozillas site alone its been dowloaded 54,535,005 times.

I guess you probably have numbers on how often Adsense ads are actually clicked, be interesting to see those numbers, and the effect plug-ins have had on it.

When its blocked, as in I cant see it because I have a plug-in, does it still show up on reports as being viewed?

Adblock Plus has a negligible affect on the overall internet marketing scene. I use it as well as you, but it just doesn't have the market share to make a difference in the numbers.

When ads are blocked by adblock plus they don't count at all ever for an advertising company, so that would include adsense. The ad is never even downloaded as the plugin blocks connection to the ad server. That is why webpages load so fast with adblock plus turned on.. You aren't contacting those slow ass doubleclick or other advertising servers for large pictures or flash animations

 

[joe.pistell]

ghen (or is it jason?),

re: PPC campaigns and Call Tracking.

Google Pay Per Click.
I was a DIY'er. The Learning curve was killing me. I hired Umer (seen here in the forums). Everything he does is completely transparent. In 3-4 weeks of set up and optimizing, Umer completed what would have taken me 6 months (or more) to execute. Our PPC has 8,200 keywords and phrases and now accounts for 20% of our total site volume.

Call Tracking:
Recording incoming calls is EASY and you don't have to bundle it with another service. We use Callsource.com, it's way cheaper than it's competitors, has no contract!! I highly recc my rep at CallSource (Vince Pierce) he is a real pro.

FYI:
It took me months and months of research to weed thru the junk and land these two vendors. They are both key players helping me reach my goal of total world domination!

 

[ghen]

ghen (or is it jason?),

Believe me, its both


I contacted callsource immediately for more information, thanks for the recommendation.

 

[DrewAment]

P.S. : The best part of reach local's service by far for us was tracking and listening to phone calls made through their system. Truthfully they should market that feature more because it really got us to look at phone etiquette in a big way.

Have you considered or looked at call tracking services?

WhosCalling
CallSource
CallMeasurement (owned by a dealer group)
etc

Even our service records calls, and these are the OUTBOUND calls your salespeople are making. FYI- some of the above mentioned also record outbound calls (laws vary by state)

-_Drew

 

[Shereef]

I used reach local when I was with BMW at a dealership in Florida. We had great results, we increased our website traffic by 23%, and with the ability to see what key word generated calls and form fills, it was easy to adjust our key words to get the best ROI. I highly recommend them. Our clients that use them now are getting a higher than average chat click through volume, and are doing a good job penetrating their competitors market areas!!

 

[ChrisChatt]

question do your customers have access to the keywords you are bidding on? Can your customers write ad copy? Can your customers split test landing pages Can you customers split test ad's?

Calling Kettle on this one... Jeremy you say that your company is pure SEO but on your site they offer PPC services.

I would also ask the same question above of your company.

Speaking from a technical perspective I have worked in the automotive web/sem space for over 8 years at some of the best companies. That being said I doubt you will find a PPC vendor that will allow the level of access you are talking about with regards to giving the client access to their publishers accounts to change ad copy and or keywords themselves (Keyword – Themselves). As with any company there is a level of proprietary knowledge (How Campaigns Are Structured) and or software that is protected and should be.

Now if you are referring to a client communicating/requesting the vendor to add keywords, view keyword lists, and or sending their ad copy to be incorporated in the existing campaign then it's a different story and I know for a fact that ReachLocal absolutely does this.

Now lets not get it twisted here not trying to start a flame war just want to make a statement.


P.S. your still using tables? Really? .. j/k.. oh and you forgot your robots.txt.