How to Write a Local Business Review and Why You Should

Think back to the last time you received excellent service from a local business in your neighborhood. What did you do to show your appreciation? Did you know that writing a local business review on websites such as Google Places, Yelp and Citysearch is one of the best things you can do to bring in new customers for your favorite merchants? Let's take a look at why local business reviews are so powerful and how to write one on three popular business review services.

The Benefits of Local Business Reviews

Local business reviews help persuade potential consumers that your favorite local business is better than the competition and worthy of new business. Seeing positive reviews for a business sends a powerful psychological signal to our brain that allows the content of the reviews to shape and guide our decision, bypassing many steps in the research process.

Local business reviews also have far-reaching effects within search engine rankings. Search engine optimization (SEO) practitioners advocate tactics that include leaving reviews to help a business appear higher in search engine results and thus bring in more website traffic and customers.

How to Write a Local Business Review

A one-time tip or single word-of-mouth referral is a nice gesture, but to really help your favorite neighborhood establishment get new business, nothing beats writing a local business review. It takes just minutes and you can leave one on a dozens of local business directories. Here are a few brief tutorials on how to write a local business review on the most popular review destinations: Google Places, Yelp, and Citysearch.

How to Write a Local Business Review on Google Places

How to Leave a Local Business Review on Yelp

How to Leave a Local Business Review on Citysearch

A Strategic Note for Local Businesses

With all the benefits of local business reviews, you're missing out if you don't make requesting them from your customers part of your marketing strategy. And while it is against Google's policy to compensate customers for a review, many will happily oblige if you simply ask them to do it.

Create an email template, one-page document or a page on your website that explains the value of a review and demonstrates how to do it (you can link to this blog post and videos if it helps). Be sure you kindly and respectfuly request that they leave a review on one or more local business review websites if they enjoyed their service and thank them for their patronage.

Local business reviews are the new gratuity. Writing one goes much further than telling a friend or two or even leaving a generous tip (although those things are nice too).  The next time you experience excellent service from a local establishment, be sure to leave a review on a local business directory such as Google Places, Yelp and Citysearch.

Exploring Squarespace Version 6 and the Future of Squarespace

Squarespace has been growing since its founding in 2003. Over the years there have been five major versions with a series of core updates. Squarespace version 5 was released in the summer of 2008 and while it has served the Squarespace customer base well over the least several years, the calls for an upgrade to Squarespace v6 are growing. This week we take a look at what is known about Squarespace version 6 and why it may be a game changer for the small, yet growing web publishing company.

Why Squarespace Version 6 Will Be Huge

As a follower of Squarespace news, it's clear to me that the next version of Squarespace will be an amazing upgrade to the already excellent web publishing platform. A number of factors are working in favor of Squarespace v6 include:

• Suprising the Users. Squarespace founder and CEO Anthony Casalena said in January on This Week in Startups that they look to create loyal fans by "surprising the user" with a great web publishing experience. Version 6 won't just be a slight upgrade. Expect to be surprised.
• Serious Funds for a Great Product. Squarespace received $38.5 Million in July of 2010 in venture capital from Accel Partners and Index Ventures. These are the giants that helped launch the likes of Facebook and Skype. You can bet they know a good product when they see it and will do what it takes to help take it to the next level.
• The Luxury of Time. Although calls for version six are growing in number within the Squarespace community, Squarespace has been able to depend on version 5 of its software since releasing it coming up on three years ago. In that time it has been able to grow in a number of different ways and take the time to focus on making a quality product in the upgrade to Squarsepace version 6.

What We Know So Far About Squarespace Version 6

While there hasn't been an official list of features announced for Squarespace's v6, there have been a number of statements made by Squarespace officials over time that illustrate what has been going on behind the scenes of the well-funded New York City start-up:

• Infrastructure. Casalena cited a large infrastructure update as a major part of the v6 intitiative in a March 2010 Squarespace Roadmap blog post. These changes will likely help Squarespace scale as it takes off in popularity, as well as enable them to make more updates in the future with less effort.
• Template Flexibility and Portability. Squarespace V6 will allow developers to create and port templates from website to website, according to the 2010 Roadmap. It's easy to imagine an entire market of Squarespace templates cropping up with a change this big.
• Deeper Developer Control. In November of 2010, Casalena provided another update on V6. This time he  also mentioned entirely new datatypes and editing interfaces. Squarespace users should anticipate much more control of the page templates of V6.
• Major Media Improvements. Casalena also mentioned a new way of controlling and managing photo galleries. Although he said this feature is a mid-term project, I wouldn't be surprised if it becomes a centerpiece of the v6 update. 
• Mobile. Casalena's This Week in Startups appearance in January saw him revealing several features of Squarespace v6, such as the fact that Squarspace websites will have a native mobile format with the upgrade to version 6.
• Six Major Initiatives. In a statement released to my friends over at OkayGeek, Casalena hinted that version six includes six major initiatives.

The Squarespace V6 Timeline: 

• July, 2008 - Squarespace V5 is released.
• February, 2009 - Squarespace V6 prototype built.
• October, 2009 - Squarespace V6 storyboards nears completion. Engineering set to begin.
• March, 2010 - Founder Anthony Casalena publishes the Squarespace 2010 Roadmap. 
• July, 2010 - Squarespace receives $38.5 Million from Accel Partners and Index Ventures
• November 2010 - Major engineering underway at the core of Squarespace during the Fall 2010 update.
• February, 2011 - Anthony Casalena appears on This Week in Startups and mentions accelerated progress on v6. 
• March 2011 - Anthony Casalena alludes v6 is nearing completion during Stated Magazine interview.
• March, 2011 - Squarespace feeds thousands at SXSW Interactive marketing conference.
• ??? - Squarespace releases Version 6.

What's Next for Squarespace Version 6?

We now have a decent idea of what to expect with Squarspace's v6. The only question remaining is when will Squarespace release version 6? It's clear that Casalena has never liked making timelines public. In the This Week in Startups interview he mentions liking flexiblity in the release schedule in case something more important comes up.

But in the same interview he also stated having a renewed focus and improvements in progress on finishing version 6. In the Stated Magazine interview he says "I feel like Squarespace v6 is the best thing we've ever produced." Produced is past tense. Does this mean that Squarespace v6 is right around the corner? Only time will tell.

What do you think will be in Squarespace v6 and when do you think it will be released? Have you heard about specific features included in v6 that I haven't included in this post? Leave your updates and opinions in the comments below.

The Facebook Effect: 2011 26 Book Challenge #3

Nearly two months ago I announced my plans to read 26 books throughout 2011, along with fellow bloggers Arik Hanson and Patrick Garmoe. I recently wrapped up book number three, The Facebook Effect, by David Kirkpatrick, thanks to the daily commute on I-494 and Audible at 2x speed. Read on to see while you'll probably enjoy The Facebook Effect, as well as a few quotes that I felt best summed up the book.

First of all, Arik suggested I read The Facebook Effect so we could attend the KaneCo Book Club on March 29th and discuss the book with some smart social folks in the Twin Cities. There's plenty of time between now and then in case you haven't read it yet.

Arik finished and reviewed The Facebook Effect a few weeks ago and posted some of what he felt to be the most powerful quotes from the book. For my review, I'll focus on a few key quotes from Arik's review and why I think they're important.

The Psychology of Facebook

"I concluded in that first lunch that the key to Mark is that he is a psychologist."

- Chris Ma, Washington Post Co.

A large part of Facebook's success is due to the amount of attention the company pays to how people interact with social software. Mark Zuckerberg has insisted from the very beginning that the experience of the user is critical. His goal was simply to promote the maximum amount of engagement between Facebook and its users. As a result, new Facebook users sky-rocketed each time they allowed more people to sign up for the service. Create an excellent experience and customers will reward you. Take this as a lesson in the value of understanding your customers and their needs.

Facebook Vs. Google

"Facebook has the opportunity that Google only wishes  it had - the ability to build a credible position for the largest brand advertisers."

- Alan Gould, Nielsen IAG

Some of my favorite parts of The Facebook Effect came from the dynamics between the two Internet giants, Facebook and Google. Personally, I think the two companies appreciate eachother more than anything. Google's motto is Don't be Evil. Facebook's is Don't be Lame. Google's bread and butter is understanding what people do on the Internet. Facebook's forte is understanding what they save about themselves. The two companies are modern contemporaries with surprisingly similar goals and missions.

Plus, Google and Facebook can always point at eachother whenever anti-trust talks fire up. The two tech giants almost seem to rely on eachother and a few other players such as Microsoft and Apple in almost every market as they collectively orchestrate their online oligopoly.

Facebook and Privacy in Social Media

"We've made a lot of mistakes building this feature, but we've made even more with how we've handled them. WE simply did a bad job with this release and I apologize for it."

- Mark Zuckerberg after a new feature was met with resistance

Within the quote above is a textbook response to a mistake from a company that embraces and understands social media. Zuckerberg straddles the line between simplity in sharing and intruding on our lives, and owns up to making mistakes in which he makes people share too much, too quickly. I admire this type of transparency and accountability.

Before reading The Facebook Effect I was a little leary of Facebook and Mark Zuckerberg. After reading it, I have to say I have a newfound respect for both the social media phenomenon and the man behind it.

Have you read The Facebook Effect? What did you think? What was the number one thing you learned about Facebook and/or Mark Zuckerberg? Has your opinion of the social media service changed since reading the book? Share your thoughts in the comments below and be sure to register for the book club so we can discuss The Facebook Effect in person on March 29, 2011. (At this point there are only a few slots left. Hurry if you want to join us.)

Integrating Feedburner With Your Squarespace Blog

Not all visitors to your blog are the same. Some readers find you randomly through search engines while others seek you actively each time you post new content. RSS (really simple syndication) subscribers are some of your most loyal readers and are truly the types of relationships that are worth having. I use Feedburner to provide readers with a way to subscribe to Squarespace blog via RSS. Today I'll tell you why you should too and how to integrate Feedburner effectively with your Squarespace blog.

Why Use Feedburner with Squarespace?

You may think, "Why use Feedburner to handle my RSS when Squarespace already has great RSS support?" While I do think Squarespace has done a great job with the RSS feeds, there are a few key advantages to installing Feedburner on your Squarespace blog to compliment Squarespace's existing RSS functionality:

• Subscription Interface - Clicking on the standard Squarespace RSS integration results in a basic XML page which makes users go through the cumbersome process of copying and pasting the feed URL into their RSS reader. The Feedburner subscription process involves a few clicks for seemless integration into Google Reader and other popular RSS readers.
• Feedburner Onboard Tracking - Feedburner features a growing set of tracking and analytics tools that allow you to monitor the growth of your RSS subscribers.
• Feedburner Integrates with Google Analytics - Best of all, Feedburner integrates seemlessly with your Google Analytics data. If you've installed Google Analytics on Squarespace, you can quickly identify your RSS subscribers within your visitors.

Creating a Feedburner Account for Squarespace

To set up Feedburner on your Squarespace blog, you must first create a Feedburner account. The setup process for Feedburner is very simple. To begin, enter your existing RSS feed URL address and existing Google Account information at the Feedburner signup screen. Your existing RSS feed URL should be as follows:

Your domain name + / + Your Blog URL identifier + / + "rss.xml"

For Example:

http://www.bigpictureweb.com/blog/rss.xml

Use this URL in the first step of the Feedburner setup process.

Next, give your RSS feed a title and set your custom Feedburner URL.

Configuring Your RSS Syndicate Squarespace Widget

Your RSS Syndicate widget within Squarespace is the widget that produces a link for people click on to subscribe to your blog via RSS. This is the widget you'll want to integrate with your Feedburner account.

Log in and go to the configuration screen of your blog. Enter your new Feedburner Feed Address into the (optional) Fixed Feed URL field within your blog's configuration screen.

Use your Feedburner RSS feed URL for your RSS Syndicate widget.

The Social RSS Widget and Feedburner

The RSS widget within the Social Widgets tab of the Squarespace widgets menu is different from the RSS Syndicate widget on the main widget tab. The Social Widgets RSS widget displays a list of recent blog posts given an RSS feed URL while the RSS Syndicate widget allows people to subscribe to your blog.

To configure your Social RSS widget, I recommend using the default Squarespace RSS feed URL instead of the Feedburner feed URL because the former helps provide links and search engine optimization (SEO) benefit to the blog posts in your feed.

Use your default RSS feed URL for the Social RSS widget.

By using the Feedburner URL for the RSS Syndicate widget and the default Squarespace RSS URL for the Social RSS widget, you maximize the ability to track your blog's ability to attract new subscribers as well as create an optimal RSS experience for both your readers and search engines.

What are you using to manage your RSS feeds with your Squarespace account? Are you using Feedburner or something different? Leave your thoughts in the comments below.

Would You Listen to a Squarespace Podcast?

Each day, more and more people discover Squarespace's powerful yet simple website publishing platform and decide to host their blog or website with Squarespace. And as the community grows, so does the need for its members to connect and learn in new ways. A podcast is one such way for online communities to connect. Today we explore the idea of a Squarespace podcast by and for Squarespace users and ask for your input on how to make it rock.

There are tens of thousands of Squarespace users according to founder Anthony Casalena during a recent interview on This Week in Startups. Two of those users happen to be designer/developers Alan Houser and Eric Anderson. In addition to having built dozens of Squarespace websites, Alan and Eric also host the always-entertaining Workers of the Web podcast.  

Recently they invited me to start a new Squarespace-centric podcast with them, combining their talent as Squarespace designers with my background in online marketing. Our goal will be to help the Squarespace community to the best of our collective abilities and to have fun along the way.

And on that note, here's where you can help. Spare two minutes of your time and complete the survey below. Tell us what you think of the idea and how we can make it amazing.

Eric, Alan and I look forward to sharing more details with you about the Squarespace podcast in the near future. In the meantime, please take the survey so we can be sure to plan for your preferences.