Susan Stern - Stern PR Marketing Omaha

Oct202018 by Susan SternNo Comments

Google Prohibits Rewards-for-Reviews

Google Business Listings, Latest News, Online Reviews

By Susan Stern - Omaha, NEBRASKA -- An appliance repair shop takes 30 percent off - if you pen a Google review. A dentist office enters you into a contest, and your favorite restaurant gives you a FREE cocktail - in exchange for Google reviews."Wrong, wrong, wrong. Companies offering incentives for reviews - violate Google's Terms and Conditions," emphasizes Omaha branding consultant Susan Stern, of Stern PR Marketing.Businesses giving rewards-for-reviews are a widespread problem from Maine to California. In fact, here in Omaha this marketer has found dozens of metro-area small businesses violating Google's review policy. A quick Google image search found a plethora of inappropriate review incentives nationwide, too. Our digital marketing firm mashed a few together for this informative montage - what not to do.Google's Official Business Review…

Jul112018 by Susan SternNo Comments

Google Punishes Websites for Pop Ups

Internet Marketing, SEO, Website Security

Google Penalizes Annoying Pop-Ups In SearchBy Susan Stern - Omaha Marketing Firm Consultant(OMAHA, Nebraska) - Stern PR - In step with its dedication to improving the mobile user experience, Google rolled out a mobile search penalty for intrusive pop ups called Interstituals that launch at page start up.Interstituals tend to tick off website visitors. The pop up blocks page content until a user clicks the 'X' to dismiss or waits for a count down. The delay in accessing main content is what Google's mobile rank juice penalty targets.Popular news sites, for instance, tend to use a lot of interstituals. Advertisers (merchants & brands) tend to prefer these intrusive pop ups for high engagement and conversion rates (from looker to buyer). Publishers (ad agencies & mobile ad networks) like them for the…

Jun172018 by Susan SternNo Comments

Mobile Messaging Marketing for Business

Text Marketing

Do's & Don'ts. Hazards. Benefits of Text MarketingBy Susan Stern - Digital Marketing, PR Consultant in OmahaPublished July 15, 2018, Updated August 16, 2018The stats may blow your mind! The numbers are a marketer's dream! SMS (text messaging) read rates are as high as 98%, compared to 22% for email marketing according to business2community.89% of people surveyed admit they can’t live without their smartphones, and/or always have them within arm’s reach reports CTIA.Mobile phone ownership over time"The vast majority of Americans – 95% – now own a cellphone of some kind. The share of Americans that own smartphones is now 77%, up from just 35%" in 2011, reports Pew Research."America today, among most ages & incomes, lead a mobile-first lifestyle observes CTIA, the organization representing wireless carriers. Why should you care? SMS…

May102018 by Susan SternNo Comments

Few Omaha SEO Companies Actually Local

Opinion, SEO

An observation of the Omaha SEO marketplace. May 10, 2018By Susan SternNeb. Public Relations Practitioner/SEO Creative Getting to know them! One day recently, I picked up the telephone and called a number of metro Omaha SEO service company owners to get feedback concerning a local industry matter. It was really cool to talk shop. All the owners are so friendly. Each has a story to tell, and interesting history of how they came about. I also observed most owners are men. One has a husband/wife team. Stern PR may be the only female-owned and operated internet marketing firm! The entire exercise of reaching out to chat with competitors taught me something unexpected. Omaha's search engine optimization marketplace is saturated with non-local digital marketing companies. Turns out, only a handful of Omaha…

Apr222018 by Susan SternNo Comments

A top Omaha SEO company provider

Internet Marketing, SEO

Stern PR Reacts to Upcity Award Stern PR Awarded[/caption] "It's exciting to be recognized for hard work and perseverance for Omaha SEO products/services. We owe it to our awesome clients," said a thankful Susan Stern, owner of Stern PR Marketing after she learned that UpCity chose the company she owns/operates as one of the best SEO companies in the metro. The designation earns Stern PR a key spot on UpCity’s marketplace, an online business directory “resource designed to connect small and mediums sized companies” with a “provider of high-quality digital marketing service providers in their local area, allowing business owners to get the services they need quickly, from a service provider they can trust." Susan Stern, Omaha Creative Consultant[/caption] "Who doesn't like an award!" joked Stern. Here's UpCity's criteria for becoming a directory-listing top…

Mar262018 by Susan SternNo Comments

Omaha Digital Marketing Company Q&A

Digital Marketing, Latest News, SEO, Small Business

You have questions. We have answers!By Susan SternOmaha Digital Marketing company consultantMarch 20, 2018 -The below comes from answers posed to Stern PR Marketing on the social media platform Quora. Follow, if you like. Each answer was rewritten to avoid a search engine penalty for duplicate content.Q. Does Google charge for a business listing in their search results?Answer.No. There is zero cost to create a Google business listing, and it may be auto-generated. The best advice for any business, non profit, institution and government agency is to outsource business listing set up and maintenance to a local PR digital consultant.She/he will manually set it up, upload custom photography and graphics (no stock images!), and write an SEO-friendly business summary. In addition, your consultant, in your monthly SEO plan, will reply to…

Feb82018 by Susan SternNo Comments

SEO Company Omaha Tips NOT Tricks

SEO, social media marketing

Affordable Omaha NE SEO Company - How to 'Ethically' Rank Better Engage, engage, engage. This Omaha SEO agency and digital marketing company offers tips on how to increase search engine ranking for small business and nonprofits. For most organizations, there's zero time to run a business and manage the Brand. D-I-Y risks mistakes. Stern PR offers search engine optimization (SEO) services to help clients move up on Google, Bing and Yahoo - using ethical, white hat techniques - only. As an aside, beware of local SEO providers that may use dirty tricks (black hat SEO) to manipulate search engines. Don't depend on reviews or even the BBB. A black hatter's testimonials may be faked. Unscrupulous search marketing providers will do just about anything to achieve high ranking, and kill competitors. Techniques include…

Sep302017 by Susan SternNo Comments

Alert: Fake Google Robocalls

Google, Small Business

[caption id="attachment_8801" align="alignleft" width="76"] Susan Stern[/caption] [heading animation_iteration="1" align="aligncenter"]Google, FTC and FCC Cracking Down on Rampant Illegal Robocalls[/heading][vc_column_text] Updated October 10, 2017 By Susan Stern, and Allison Schwartz, Contributor - Stern PR Marketing Omaha (OMAHA, Nebraska) - Small Business Owners Beware. If you receive an "extremely urgent" robocall "to update your Google business or Maps listing" asking you to press a key to speak to a live local "Google" sales rep - hang up. [audio mp3=https://sternprmarketing.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/Google-Business-Listing-Scam-RoboCall.mp3"] Don't be fooled. It's not Google, it's an impostor up to no good: "many unscrupulous individuals and companies make these calls, even though they are breaking the law. Sometimes, robocalls falsely claim to be working “with Google” or “for Google” in an attempt to sell different schemes and online marketing services to unsuspecting individuals and…

Sep292017 by Susan SternNo Comments

Set Marketing/PR Goals In the New Year!

Google, Other, SEO, Small Business, Website Security

[vc_row][vc_column][heading animation_iteration="1" align="aligncenter"]Google Chrome's HTTPS Campaign Underway[/heading][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text] [caption id="attachment_8522" align="alignleft" width="125"] Susan Stern, President, Stern PR Marketing Firm Omaha Neb[/caption] By Susan Stern, Stern PR Omaha Updated Fri September 29, 2017 Originally Published October 2016 Google Chrome,'s 'HTTPS Everywhere' campaign making the web safer - is in full swing. At the end of January 2017, Chrome began labeling all websites that failed to jump on the SSL encryption bandwagon with an upside down explanation point. When pressed, users discover a warning of an insecure connection - giving the impression the site may be compromised. All websites, from mom and pop blogs to big news sites are expected to do it. As of September 29th, the NBC site, has not added SSL encryption nor have CNN, Foxnews, and ABC News. The…

Jul232017 by Susan SternNo Comments

Strict Yelp Review Policy – Don’t Ask

Online Reviews

By Susan Stern -- The social media review giant has one of the strictest terms and conditions on the internet. So, if your in-house marketer or outside public relations consultant is asking customers for Yelp reviews with a link to do so, you'll want to carefully consider what you're doing. "It's clearly unethical when a business offers incentives like a discount or contest entry to write a review. That creates bias, and a conflict of interest. But Yelp's policy banning asking your customers for online review feedback goes too far," notes Omaha marketing firm consultant Susan Stern. Here is a graphic we produced of Yelp's terms and conditions: [caption id="attachment_8489" align="aligncenter" width="603"] Click to Zoom In[/caption] Without a doubt, a business should never offer cash-for-reviews, discounts or contest entries. Doing…