Linda Buquet
Member
- Joined
- Jun 28, 2012
- Messages
- 13,313
- Reaction score
- 4,148
There has been so much local search news & tips, as well as critically important information about Google updates and changes that breaks here at the Local Search Forum, that it often just gets buried.
Missing one important post can cost you hours of frustration and extra work! I know many of you suffer from info overload and can't get here everyday, so I'm going to try to help ensure you get the info you need.
The other reason I'm writing this detailed post is that we've had email problems and many of you are not getting updates and subscriptions that you have signed up for. I also had to kill the weekly newsletter due to the email problems and it turns out many of you were not getting it anyway. So I'm giving you a few options to try to say informed.
TOPICS
1) Why it's important for consultants to subscribe to the Google + Local IMPORTANT forum
2) How to Subscribe to the Google + Local IMPORTANT and other indiv forums and threads too
3) Feedburner RSS Feed - Subscribe to Daily Email Digest and/or RSS
4) BE SURE TO white list and set up filters so all this important news can get through to you
5) Ways to search and find the info you need here at the forum
1) G+ Local IMPORTANT Forum
(Why you must subscribe to this forum if none other)
If you are a full-time consultant, you really must subscribe to: Google+ Local IMPORTANT
That's where all the most important Google updates, changes, new features, gotchas and bugs get posted. I'm the only one that can post new threads in that section and I only post there for important Google updates and news - no help threads or minor stuff![/B]
WHY SUBSCRIBE? I can't tell you how many times, even serious pros have come here freaking out lately because a client's listing was marked as spam and disabled, or marked as a dupe and disabled, or they tried to delete a dupe and it warned them it would delete the entire account or any number of other concerning things happened. These were all things that were explained in detail in the IMPORTANT forum, the day the problem 1st started to hit.
All the background, the explanations from Google, the advice about how to handle was all here. Had these consultants read the news as it happened, they could have proactively handled problems, not been blindsided. And in many cases would have realized it was bad Google messaging or the problem was not as dire as the warning lead them to believe.
EVEN MY PROs NEED TO SUBSCRIBE and I've been stressing that in training. Quite honestly, there have been so many changes that I can barely keep up with posting about them in that "Important" forum much less posting them to all the different related training threads. So you really need to watch that forum AND the others to make sure you don't miss anything.
2) How to Subscribe to the Google + Local IMPORTANT forum
(And other individual forums and threads too)
Click to go to Google+ Local IMPORTANT. Then just click "Forum tools" at the top of that forum and click subscribe then you'll get an email alert for every new post in that section. You can select daily or weekly alerts. I'd do daily because again only I can start a thread there and stuff that's important enough to be posted there only happens once or twice a week if that.
Then if you want to get posts from other forum sections like Local Search or G+ Local you can subscribe to those individually as well. Or if you focus on SABs or citations alot, subscribe to those or any other specialty forums.
If there is a hot thread you have not posted in but want to watch for new tips and replies you can do the same thing to subscribe to that individual thread.
However I post tons of other important stuff in other respective forums and other users do as well. so subscribe to the RSS feed below too if you really want to ensure you catch all the news.
But at minimum subscribe by email to the "Important" forum.
3) Feedburner RSS Feed - Subscribe to Daily Email Digest and/or RSS
I think many of you get the RSS feed. SEE RIGHT SIDEBAR. HERE IS DIRECT LINK
But additionally, you can subscribe via email and get a really nice daily digest.
Below is a PARTIAL screenshot from the 4/29 email digest.
AND that was a relatively slow day cuz I've been sick and have not been posting like a crazy woman.
When the forum email problems started I finally subscribed to test it and it works great.
PROs (My training clients) None of the posts in the "Private Pro Forum" and other private training forums show up in the RSS feed so you still need to check those forums. But you can subscribe via the tactic in #2 and you'll get alerted to new threads that way.)
I have daily email digest set to go out between 11 - 1 PST so you can watch your inbox for it.
4) BE SURE TO white list and set up filters so all this important news can get through to you
Even though that digest comes FROM Google Feedburner TO my Google Gmail it still gets filtered and marked as spam OR goes to "all mail" in Gmail which no one ever checks. (See the spam warning at top of digest?)
So white list linda AT catalystemarketing DOT com. And also set up a filter if you use Gmail on the 1st one after it comes in. You can filter on subject "Local Search Forum Daily Digest".
It stinks that my emails are being filtered when everyone at the forum as well as via Feedburner is totally opted in, but it's a Time Warner problem and after weeks TW and Gmail still can't get it figured out.
5) Ways to search and find the info you need
I need to rename the "Local Search Forum" and call it "Info Overload". There is seriously so much info due to the help of all our great member. So here are some ways that may help you more easily find the info you seek.
A) Search box works well for most things except...
B) Google is still your friend. The forum does not find words 3 letters or less and is not semantic search so if you don't know the exact phrase it may not find it. But Google site search WILL! Here is a handy link.
C) Forum categories - I've done my best to organize into sections like dupes and merges, service area business, reviews, Map Maker, etc.
D) Tag Cloud - See link in top nav bar. When I have time I try to organize posts with hashtags. There are tags for #warnings, #bugs, #important, #bestof and many others. I don't bother to categorize unless it's an important post so all those are worth checking.
But on the other hand I don't have time to categorize everything, so "subscribe" one or more of the ways above and try to keep on top of everything.
This post is long overdue and I'm hopeful it helps you stay informed!
Missing one important post can cost you hours of frustration and extra work! I know many of you suffer from info overload and can't get here everyday, so I'm going to try to help ensure you get the info you need.
The other reason I'm writing this detailed post is that we've had email problems and many of you are not getting updates and subscriptions that you have signed up for. I also had to kill the weekly newsletter due to the email problems and it turns out many of you were not getting it anyway. So I'm giving you a few options to try to say informed.
TOPICS
1) Why it's important for consultants to subscribe to the Google + Local IMPORTANT forum
2) How to Subscribe to the Google + Local IMPORTANT and other indiv forums and threads too
3) Feedburner RSS Feed - Subscribe to Daily Email Digest and/or RSS
4) BE SURE TO white list and set up filters so all this important news can get through to you
5) Ways to search and find the info you need here at the forum
1) G+ Local IMPORTANT Forum
(Why you must subscribe to this forum if none other)
If you are a full-time consultant, you really must subscribe to: Google+ Local IMPORTANT
That's where all the most important Google updates, changes, new features, gotchas and bugs get posted. I'm the only one that can post new threads in that section and I only post there for important Google updates and news - no help threads or minor stuff![/B]
WHY SUBSCRIBE? I can't tell you how many times, even serious pros have come here freaking out lately because a client's listing was marked as spam and disabled, or marked as a dupe and disabled, or they tried to delete a dupe and it warned them it would delete the entire account or any number of other concerning things happened. These were all things that were explained in detail in the IMPORTANT forum, the day the problem 1st started to hit.
All the background, the explanations from Google, the advice about how to handle was all here. Had these consultants read the news as it happened, they could have proactively handled problems, not been blindsided. And in many cases would have realized it was bad Google messaging or the problem was not as dire as the warning lead them to believe.
EVEN MY PROs NEED TO SUBSCRIBE and I've been stressing that in training. Quite honestly, there have been so many changes that I can barely keep up with posting about them in that "Important" forum much less posting them to all the different related training threads. So you really need to watch that forum AND the others to make sure you don't miss anything.
2) How to Subscribe to the Google + Local IMPORTANT forum
(And other individual forums and threads too)
Click to go to Google+ Local IMPORTANT. Then just click "Forum tools" at the top of that forum and click subscribe then you'll get an email alert for every new post in that section. You can select daily or weekly alerts. I'd do daily because again only I can start a thread there and stuff that's important enough to be posted there only happens once or twice a week if that.
Then if you want to get posts from other forum sections like Local Search or G+ Local you can subscribe to those individually as well. Or if you focus on SABs or citations alot, subscribe to those or any other specialty forums.
If there is a hot thread you have not posted in but want to watch for new tips and replies you can do the same thing to subscribe to that individual thread.
However I post tons of other important stuff in other respective forums and other users do as well. so subscribe to the RSS feed below too if you really want to ensure you catch all the news.
But at minimum subscribe by email to the "Important" forum.
3) Feedburner RSS Feed - Subscribe to Daily Email Digest and/or RSS
I think many of you get the RSS feed. SEE RIGHT SIDEBAR. HERE IS DIRECT LINK
But additionally, you can subscribe via email and get a really nice daily digest.
Below is a PARTIAL screenshot from the 4/29 email digest.
AND that was a relatively slow day cuz I've been sick and have not been posting like a crazy woman.
When the forum email problems started I finally subscribed to test it and it works great.
PROs (My training clients) None of the posts in the "Private Pro Forum" and other private training forums show up in the RSS feed so you still need to check those forums. But you can subscribe via the tactic in #2 and you'll get alerted to new threads that way.)
I have daily email digest set to go out between 11 - 1 PST so you can watch your inbox for it.
4) BE SURE TO white list and set up filters so all this important news can get through to you
Even though that digest comes FROM Google Feedburner TO my Google Gmail it still gets filtered and marked as spam OR goes to "all mail" in Gmail which no one ever checks. (See the spam warning at top of digest?)
So white list linda AT catalystemarketing DOT com. And also set up a filter if you use Gmail on the 1st one after it comes in. You can filter on subject "Local Search Forum Daily Digest".
It stinks that my emails are being filtered when everyone at the forum as well as via Feedburner is totally opted in, but it's a Time Warner problem and after weeks TW and Gmail still can't get it figured out.
5) Ways to search and find the info you need
I need to rename the "Local Search Forum" and call it "Info Overload". There is seriously so much info due to the help of all our great member. So here are some ways that may help you more easily find the info you seek.
A) Search box works well for most things except...
B) Google is still your friend. The forum does not find words 3 letters or less and is not semantic search so if you don't know the exact phrase it may not find it. But Google site search WILL! Here is a handy link.
C) Forum categories - I've done my best to organize into sections like dupes and merges, service area business, reviews, Map Maker, etc.
D) Tag Cloud - See link in top nav bar. When I have time I try to organize posts with hashtags. There are tags for #warnings, #bugs, #important, #bestof and many others. I don't bother to categorize unless it's an important post so all those are worth checking.
But on the other hand I don't have time to categorize everything, so "subscribe" one or more of the ways above and try to keep on top of everything.
This post is long overdue and I'm hopeful it helps you stay informed!
