A Beginner’s Guide to
Local Search Marketing
I don’t know about you, but I haven’t used a phonebook in over two years. I feel a slight twinge of guilt when the new one shows up on my doorstep, because I know it’s making a short trip from my front porch to the recycling bin. I started performing my searches for local goods and services online ages ago, and I haven’t looked back since.
It seems I’m not the only one. Recent studies indicate that print Yellow Pages will be all but defunct in the next four years. The myriad of local business information available on the Internet and the bevy of options you can use to find that information have made it easier, faster, and more convenient than flipping through that bulky yellow book.
What does this mean to you as a local business owner? Well, if you haven’t taken the time to list your business online, your competitors may be leaving you in the dust.
Whether you run a restaurant, auto body shop, pet grooming service, or landscaping company, taking the steps below to position your business in front of local customers will make a big difference to your bottom line.
The Anatomy of a Local Business Listing
There are certain elements of your online listing that will be similar across the board - in a local search engine, Internet Yellow Pages site, or customer review site. Not just limited to your company name, address, and phone number, online local business listings allow you to display a ton of information about your business - for free! I’m always amazed when I see bare bones listings that aren’t taking full advantage of this opportunity for free advertising, but it happens fairly often. Below is just a sample of the information you are usually allowed to display:
- Company Name
- Address
- Phone Number
- Fax Number
- URL
- E-Mail Address
- Short Description of Business
- Services, Products, and Brands Offered
- Specialties and Amenities
- Payment Options
- Hours of Operation
- Logo
- Photos
- User Reviews
Wow!
Right about now you might be saying, "But my local business listing only has my name, address, and phone number. What do I do? "The more information you can include with your listing, the more likely it is that you’ll attract a targeted customer. So let me show you the sites you need to visit to include more information.
Internet Yellow Pages
The most logical places for many people to start looking for local goods and services are the Internet Yellow Pages sites. If you are brand-new to updating and optimizing your company’s local listings, begin with these.
Just like the print Yellow Pages, the Internet Yellow Pages will automatically have a basic listing for your company. (It’s up to you to make the listing pop and really work to drive customers from their computer screens to your storefront.) And in addition to your free listing, many Internet Yellow Pages sites offer advertising and fee-based enhanced feature options.
Some of the most popular Internet Yellow Pages sites for you to start with are:
- YellowPages.com
- SuperPages.com
- YellowBook.com
- Local.com
Upon locating your listing, you may be surprised to find that it contains information that you didn’t provide. This is because customers, too, are allowed to update and add to the listings - all the more reason to take action to make sure your information is correct.
Local Search Engines
It didn’t take long for the major search engines to get in on the local scene. Each of them has a local version. Google has Google Maps, Yahoo has Yahoo Local, and Ask has AskCity.
They all have impressive features. But because of my unhealthy obsession with all things Google, and to give you a head start on the most market share, I’ll talk about Google Maps here.
As with the Internet Yellow Pages, your business will likely already have a listing in Google Maps. You can spice up that listing from Google’s Local Business Center. To edit your listing, Google requires you to "claim" your business first. So they send a postcard to the mailing address listed with a special PIN (personal identification number) that you will use. Naturally, this takes a few days. Once claimed, however, you can edit your listing to your heart’s content.
Your local business listing on Google allows for all the information listed above. Google also pulls a lot of user reviews from customer review sites (which I’ll explain in a moment). Additionally, Google offers a couple of really cool features that you simply must take advantage of:
1. Coupons. You can create a special offer coupon right alongside your listing and update it as often as you want. This is a great way to encourage people to visit your store.
2. Video (a feature that has been added fairly recently). That’s right. You can add a video that you’ve posted on YouTube to your Google Maps listing. How cool is that? Think of the possibilities! You could shoot a short commercial, record testimonials from happy customers, or even shoot footage of your clean restaurant teeming with enthusiastic diners.
Once you’ve perfected your listing on Google Maps, you can promote it through Google AdWords and target a particular region, city, or even neighborhood. For more information, and to get started, go to Maps.Google.com or Google.com/local/add.
Customer Review Websites
Customer review sites are arguably the most important of the three local search areas, because the content is user-generated. And, like I mentioned above, Google (and other local search engines) pulls customer reviews from these websites to display on your listing. So it’s important to be aware of what people are saying about your business.
Get a little PR for your business by encouraging your happy customers to post positive reviews of your company and its services. You can also benefit from monitoring any unfavorable reviews about you on these sites to see where you can make improvements.
Popular customer review sites include:
- Yelp.com
- InsiderPages.com
- CitySearch.com
- JudysBook.com
There are even specialized customer review sites like AngiesList.com for home improvement and MenuPages.com for restaurants.
A Quick Word About Mobile Search
Mobile search is usually mentioned in tandem with local search. After all, people are usually on the road when they are looking for things like food, gas, lodging, or the nearest pet store. The good news is that if you do the work to enhance your listings on all the sites mentioned in this article, you will be more than covered in the mobile search arena. Most, if not all, of the local search engines and Internet Yellow Pages have special mobile versions that are readable on mobile phones and other handhelds - including the ever-popular iPhone.
So get to work on your listings on Internet Yellow Pages sites, local search engines, and customer review sites. You’ll soon see a big improvement in your business - whether you run a one-person dog walking service or a local pizza franchise. And when delivery of that big, bulky print phonebook finally comes to a grinding halt, your business won’t miss a beat.
Contributed by Alexis Siemon
Guest Contributor
THE TOTAL PACKAGE
Alexis Siemon is the Search Engine Marketing Specialist for Early to Rise (www.earlytorise.com). Early to Rise is a free, daily, online newsletter full of useful ideas about marketing, business building, investing, natural health, and much more. Click here to sign up for this unmatched free resource, and learn new ways every day to make yourself healthier, wealthier, and wiser.
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Comment by Leon — September 9, 2008 @ 2:42 pm
Why pay for YellowPages.com, SuperPages.com, YellowBook.com, etc. when their ads just send users to a directory page filled with listings of competitors?You’re better off with your own local pay per click campaign that leads to your website instead of a directory listing. Plus, by putting keywords into tightly focused adgroups, which YellowPages.com, etc. do not do, you wind up paying less.
Comment by Gerard LeBlond — September 9, 2008 @ 3:21 pm
Last week I got a 20 page free report, written by marketer Dan Hollings called: "10 Top SecretInternet Assets & StrategiesFor Anyone In A Local Service Business". It covers many of these points but goes into more details and provides very specific steps to shine online in your local community. You can get a copy by opting-in at joepolish dot com forward slash dan
Comment by John Deck — September 9, 2008 @ 4:03 pm
Yellow page usage is dropping like a rock. Why look a business up in YP when in less time it takes to type in the search string you can get results back from your favorite search engine. If I need the phone number for the local hardware store I just type in ‘hardware garden valley ca’ and there it is. I have been advising clients that used properly the internet can make them giant slayers. Ignore the internet and you will loose more and more business to big and small competitor who have learned how the interact can anchor their business.
John
John R. Deck
http://www.DirectMarketResults.com
Comment by Dale — September 9, 2008 @ 9:16 pm
Having the phone directory online really helps. You don’t have to wait a year to get the updated version or change out of date info. Plus, you can search any city you want without calling the phone company. One thing many businesses fail to do is list their website in either print or online listings. You know most of them have websites. Sure a few businesses don’t need a website, like your chid’s lemonade stand, but they don’t need a directory listing either.
Comment by Larry Sullivan — September 10, 2008 @ 6:10 pm
Local Search Marketing is all about small business getting their information online in front of searchers. More and more people are searching for local products and services online so small business need to tap into this. You submit your information as a way to help dominate the search engine results pages for your business and location.
LocalBizBits.comLocal Search Marketing Information & Services
Comment by Don Marsh — December 12, 2008 @ 5:31 am
My window cleaning business website is now a blog. It’s the number one search result in Google for window cleaners in my area. I got that with no ads and no money. My site is updated regularly, and that seems to be the trick. It’s always fresh, and the content is of interest to people who want to clean their windows or power wash their homes. It positions me as an authority in my field, and an ad will never do that.