Spent the weekend cutting and pasting and doing graphic editing to make the custom ranking reports I need to show clients and I’m SICK OF IT! No one else does all this extra work and no one should have to! Grumble, grumble… Read on if you want new tools that can do all the manual labor I just did, automagically!!!

Here is a really bad example of a report I just wasted a ton of time cutting/pasting creating by hand. But hey, it helps me get paid for the next month of service! ;-) Read on, below the image, for explanation and to learn how you can benefit from this post.

My Ugly Jerry-rigged Before & After Ranking Report
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Sorry, really low res, copy of a copy. (Original didn’t look this bad but I blanked out City/client due a shady Dental SEO company that copies everything I do.)

NOTE: Reports above were generated by Places Scout which is my fav because it shows what type of ranking – 7 pack, blended, organic or Places. But I had to cut and paste 2 different reports, screw around with a graphics editor, re-size til it all fit, add the title and border etc. What a PAIN!!!

BACK STORY – I run ranking reports on my clients weekly for my OWN benefit, but I seldom show clients, because all the crazy Google dancing ups and downs are just confusing to them. But I do want to show before and after milestones. I’ll typically show a client a before and after of their results after I optimize their Place page and send it along with their 2nd month invoice so they can see the progress we’ve made. Then I’ll send another before and after, once I do their on-site SEO and their rankings make another jump. I send this with their 3rd month invoice, again so they can see how far we’ve come. The report above is one I just did this weekend.

HOW YOU CAN BENEFIT – I use both Bright Local and Places Scout. Each does different things I like and presents different data in different ways. Wish there was one program that did everything I need, the way I need it! Sigh…

I just emailed the head honcho at both companies on Sunday and showed them a copy of my jerry-rigged reports and explained how many steps it takes and how much time it takes to create these reports. Both companies got back with me IMMEDIATELY. How’s that for support? Both companies said they are working on a solution. However the “squeaky wheel“ gets the grease with coders and can move a new feature up the to-do list. So if you want this report comparison feature SQUEAK BELOW IN COMMENTS so I can show them how much you guys want this feature added!

BOTH COMPANIES are working on other MAJOR updates.

Places Scout is working on a HUGE new reputation management module. In addition to monitoring for negative reviews and bunch of other hot features, I just asked Mark to add 2 other features that are sorely needed in the industry. 1) Notification of ALL Places reviews so business owners will know about EVERY new review as it comes in. 2) Google Places review backup, so you’ll have a copy saved in case Google loses your reviews. I’ve had the report comparison feature on Mark’s to-do list, but his priority is getting the rep management update finished 1st. SQUEAK below to push comparison reports up the list.

Bright Local Rank Checker Myles got back with me right away on Sunday and it sounds like they already have something in the works that will satisfy this need. Myles replied “In February will be launching some new HTML reports which allow you to select start/end reports to compare against – you simple toggle the dates you need and the table updates. We will also be adding in some nice charts/analytics to make the data more visual and granular – you can see the performance of each individual keyword over time. We will make sharing ranking reports more easy by publishing them onto a generic URL which you can share direct with clients or pull in via iframe into your own site.”

So hooray! Awesome updates coming from both companies. Can’t wait to get the goods!

Am I too anal? Does anyone else see the need for this type of before and after ranking comparison report?

SQUEAK below if you’d like to help me push the developers to get this feature added to Places Scout and Bright Local, sooner rather than later.