(via @sengineland) “If you haven’t heard, local SEO is taking over. More than 20 percent of Google searches are for a local business. That number doubles on mobile devices, and it’s starting to show in the SERPs. When was the last time you searched and got only the traditional 10 organic listings? SERPs are being inundated with images, videos, rich snippets and above all, local listings, and these are exactly where consumers are navigating to.

“Recently captured eye-tracking data for Google searches found that users are gravitating toward the Google Places listings over the organic listings, whether it’s the 7-pack or mixed with natural listings, as noted by the heat map.”

Read the full article at Search Engine Land

For those of you who need it, here is a great collection of articles on conversion rates and landing pages:

Do Your 2012 Resolutions Include Increasing Conversion Rates?

“That’s a trick question. Of course the answer should always be yes. Hopefully your website conversions in 2011 have already resulted in a banner year. But if you feel like you have room to improve (and there always is), then it might be time to review what advice our conversion experts shared with readers throughout the year, and put these tactics on your agenda in 2012.

Here’s a recap of our most popular advice from 2011 on improving landing pages, testing and fine-tuning your website calls to action to improve conversion rates:”

View the collection of articles at Search Engine Land

Distraction.

If you can keep industry leaders in a protracted pissing match long enough you can find your opening. In war, this is finding your opponents weakness and seizing the opportunity. Pouring everything into that weakness and coming out victorious.

Sure, the Wii’s graphics aren’t the best. You also cannot play many of the popular games you can on the other two consoles. But it doesn’t matter. Nintendo made a human connection. It is those human connections that defy “processor speeds” and “graphic acceleration” which tend to quantify the two industry leaders.

It’s the same reason why, during the summer movie blockbusters, some innocent family friendly movie ends up being number one. While the latest superhero pics, sci-fi epics, and biopics on the latest hipster obsession-of-the-month vie for your attention – studios often forget that families like to go to the movies too. The studios that don’t usually end up laughing all the way to the bank.

Yes, the movie blockbuster’s strength is also it’s weakness. In the music world it happens all the time. Look at SubPop, Kranky, or Dischord – labels that create entirely new music scenes – ignoring what contemporary industry may define as “popular” music. (Interestingly, the music industry is in one of the most exciting rule changing eras in decades.)

When finding a niche for your blog, or product, think about Nintendo as you try to battle it out with the A-List players in your vertical market.

Instead of playing on their field by their rules, the best strategy may be creating your own field where you make the rules. Welcome to the world of niche marketing.

Disclaimer: My daughters got a Wii over the holidays. I cannot begin to tell you the amount of laughs, fights, and just plain fun times we have had over the past few weeks.

Read the Forbes article: Why XBox and SONY fell behind Wii

I discovered a lucky secret the hard way about thirty years ago: you can outlast the other guys if you try. If you stick at stuff that bores them, it accrues. Drip, drip, drip you win.

No one likes to write content for their BANS sites. Every category? Really? Do I have too? What If I just promote the hell out of it on Twitter or Squidoo? Nope. You need good content. You need to keep people coming back.

Seth continues:

It still takes ten years to become a success, web or no web. The frustrating part is that you see your tactics fail right away. The good news is that over time, you get the satisfaction of watching those tactics succeed right away.

This is why 90% of bloggers fail. This is why people will buy BANS software, setup a couple sites, and give up shortly thereafter. Seth continues on with a similar premise:

The trap: Show up at a new social network, invest two hours, be really aggressive with people, make some noise and then leave in disgust.

The trap: Use all your money to build a fancy website and leave no money or patience for the hundred revisions you’ll need to do.

The trap: read the tech blogs and fall in love with the bleeding-edge hip sites and lose focus on the long-term players that deliver real value.

The trap: sprint all day and run out of energy before the marathon even starts.

There are overnight success stories. There are guys that accidentally stumbled upon something great and now work just a few hours a week for a six figure income. But those guys are the exception. Not the rule. Chances are, if you are convinced you are one of those “exceptions”, you’re not.

Seth:

The media wants overnight successes (so they have someone to tear down). Ignore them. Ignore the early adopter critics that never have enough to play with. Ignore your investors that want proven tactics and predictable instant results. Listen instead to your real customers, to your vision and make something for the long haul. Because that’s how long it’s going to take, guys.

Amen. Seth, I want to have your baby.