Who would you rather go to for a referral to a dentist, doctor or plumber? A good friend who knows one, or go to Google and search for one?

Think about it just for a moment…

Research shows over 80% of us will talk to our friends and ask for referrals for the services we need…

And, only some 3-6% of us will go online, or look it up in the yellow pages.

How come?

Simple – we want someone we can TRUST.

I uncovered some interesting news that will change the face of business in the SME sector for those who are awake to how things work these days …

Google discovered a way to take human behavior to the next level and have just launched another experimental feature… Google Social Search. It’s a new way to make your friends and contacts a key part of your searches online.

As a business owner this also opens up a wealth of possibilities. If we are smart, we will start or ramp up our referral strategies. Some people currently, for example, ask a satisfied client to give them referrals as part of payment. Now, you might ask or require a satisfied client to make entries about you in their social networks.

Go here to learn more about Google’s experiment and see how it works.

As always comments are happily received.

Yellow pages and an industry magazine. Around $22,000 last year.

According to him “a complete waste of money”.

The solution – laser targeted local internet search. But hey, the terms he wants will be in the top spot even without the geo-targeting for which we are so famous.

Will keep you up to date, because his site isn’t ready to go yet.