Your Neighbor's Are Searching Local - Is Your Local Search Strategy Paying Off?
Are you doing enough to get noticed in Local Search Results? Resources are limited so it's important to maximize your effort in getting your business website seen.
Locally you can parlay your physical address into a local listing. People want information to be fast and accurate.Those users searching want their needs fulfilled now, those needs include food, clothes, flowers, doctors and entertainment. The surveys point to 70% of all searches having local intent, this makes it imperative you list your business locally and do so in multiple directories and social venues.
Point your local listing to your contact page and not just to your front page, this tactic will showcase the physical address of your business and help you show up in the Google 7 pack or the Bing 8 pack above the organic search. Diversify the pages you link to in directory listings and in your utilization of social media.
Locally you can parlay your physical address into a local listing. People want information to be fast and accurate.Those users searching want their needs fulfilled now, those needs include food, clothes, flowers, doctors and entertainment. The surveys point to 70% of all searches having local intent, this makes it imperative you list your business locally and do so in multiple directories and social venues.
Point your local listing to your contact page and not just to your front page, this tactic will showcase the physical address of your business and help you show up in the Google 7 pack or the Bing 8 pack above the organic search. Diversify the pages you link to in directory listings and in your utilization of social media.
Vertical Directories & Neighborhoods
Vertical Directories showcase local business and organization using niche categories that best define what each business does. Vertical directories come in all flavors from Auto's to Travel and very often include industry new and or blogs.Many Vertical Directories offer businesses the opportunity to add much more then just an address, some let you include lots of text and pictures, with a few letting you add video.
People searching can quickly find a local business within a Vertical Directory and avoid digging through a catch all directory with thousands and thousands of unrelated entries.
Vertical directories deliver to consumers an online index of local vendors in well-defined categories, from automotive to health care to legal. Similar to niche market trade publications, these sites typically also offer valuable, specialized content for their particular industry.
Neighborhood is a huge factor in Marketing and the definition can be broad. Neighborhood is much more then a physical address, and can include social, virtual and cultural aspects and connections.
People searching can quickly find a local business within a Vertical Directory and avoid digging through a catch all directory with thousands and thousands of unrelated entries.
Vertical directories deliver to consumers an online index of local vendors in well-defined categories, from automotive to health care to legal. Similar to niche market trade publications, these sites typically also offer valuable, specialized content for their particular industry.
Neighborhood is a huge factor in Marketing and the definition can be broad. Neighborhood is much more then a physical address, and can include social, virtual and cultural aspects and connections.
- The area or region around or near some place or thing; vicinity:
the kids of the neighborhood; located in the neighborhood of
Jackson and Vine streets. - A district or locality, often with reference to its character or inhabitants:
a fashionable neighborhood; to move to a nicer neighborhood. - A number of persons living near one another or in a particular locality:
The whole neighborhood was there - Neighborly feeling or conduct.
- Nearness; proximity: to sense the neighborhood of trouble.
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Search - No Longer Colored Yellow
In the past a local business called their local Yellow Pages representative to buy some local business clout. The local YP would have you believe they still deliver the fabled clout of yesterday, but anyone involved in local business marketing will tell you that is no longer the case.
People Are Looking Local
How can I promote my business website locally? That is a question I hear all the time, and the answer can be complicated and require research and paying an expert. We can put some of the complications aside by using this list below. Take some time and get your Business Website registered with in many different areas and then go back every 3 months and update the information as necessary.
- Business Directories
- Craig's List
- Chamber of Commerce
- Better Business Bureau
- Local Newspapers
- Regional Blogs
- Regional Tourism Sites
- Merchant Circle
- Yelp
- Linked-in
- Face Book
- BOTW Local
- Niche Directories
- Niche Search
Local Search Question
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Call To Action #1
Claim Your Business Listing on Google and Yelp Today!
What is Google Looking For in Local Listing
Google is looking to build trust with your business within their listing and to achieve this they send you a verification card to the address you say your business is located at. They are saying and I'm seconding the thought, don't deceive your customers and clients with false addresses as a ranking ploy. Create one listing for the main office
More Google Listing Guidelines
maps help center
- 1. Use the physical address where your office or store is located.
2. Do not create multiple business listing for each location within the same account - Google is very clear about this
3. Don't create separate listings for each service or product you offer. Example: if you are a lawyer don't create a listing for each kind of injury specialty you you focus on.
4. Standardize your business name and address across all directories and listings
More Google Listing Guidelines
maps help center
Focus Your Local Search Efforts - Help Potenial Users To Find You
Local Search Love
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Call To Action #2
Hyper-Blog
Talk About Your Local Area
Use Street Names & Landmarks
Local Search Engines
if you're local you need to be on all of these
People like doing business in their hometowns and local areas. Now more then ever you need to rank in Google Maps and all other major local listing directories.
- Yahoo Local
- Remember the Yahoo web portal receives tons of traffic, don't forget to claim your local listing
- True Local
- This local directory helps build your brand
- Local.com
- When they say local they mean it. This local search engine seems to be everywhere
- City Slick
- Another great resource to help buttress your web presence.
- BOTW Local
- Connected to one of the web's oldest directories, don't forget to go here
- Pandia
- Around since 1998 and going strong, don't let its lack of flare fool you.
- Hot Frog
- It's new in town but growing by leaps and bounds.
- Merchant Circle
- Many swear by this local portal
- Local List
- You may find it a bit dull but your business listing won't
- City Search
- Lots of ads but lots of promotion power as well.
- City Squares
- This local portal is growing by the day.
- Yellowee
- a funny name backed by lots of hits
- Google Local Business Center
- If your not here then your out in the cold, claim your listing today.
- Bing Local Business
- Bing is coming on strong in local search
- Yelp Business Listings
- yelp is heaven for reviews
Vertical (Local Niche) Directories
10 examples of Vertical Directories
Vertical or Niche Directories have been around since the beginning of the Internet but in the last couple of years they have mushroomed and are everywhere. One of the reasons for their growth is the low cost of creating a directory and second the major search engines have become more and more interested in the local search market.
Google's attempt to acquire Yelp put to rest any questions people had when it comes to the importance of local search.The directories below are just the tip of the iceberg, do your own search engine research for Vertical, Niche or Local Directories. If you can't find what you are searching for, create your own.
Google's attempt to acquire Yelp put to rest any questions people had when it comes to the importance of local search.The directories below are just the tip of the iceberg, do your own search engine research for Vertical, Niche or Local Directories. If you can't find what you are searching for, create your own.
- Bed And Breakfast
- BedandBreakfast.com is a comprehensive worldwide listing of bed and breakfasts, B&B homestays, country inns, urban bed and breakfasts, guest houses, lodges, cabins, historic hotels, small resorts, guest ranches, farmhouse accommodations, working farms, and ranch vacations.
- Lawyers.com
- Martindale-Hubbell has provided a variety of features in lawyers.com that will educate you on various legal matters. Whether you are just curious about the law or you need to hire a lawyer immediately, you can be confident that lawyers.com will inform you about the legal resources that are available.
- Home Gain
- HomeGain is a leading provider of online marketing programs that connect real estate agents and brokers with home buyers and sellers. HomeGain offers free services to find and compare real estate agents, research home values, and view homes for sale
- Restaurant.com
- Restaurant.com serves as the community matchmaker, introducing great restaurants to great people. From appetizers to dessert, from wine to dinner, Restaurant.com helps restaurant owners promote the new and unique aspects of their restaurants while providing diners with great value in a fun, new and cost effective way.
- Lawn And Garden
- How do I find products and services on www.LGYP.com?To find products and services on our web site, please refer to our detailed How to Use LGYP section above. Here we explain every way you can find companies that provide the products, services, and plants that you are looking for.
- Online University Degrees
- Education is one of the most powerful tools available! All of us at Online-University-Degrees.info value the positive influence it has lent in our own lives. After all, your education is an asset that can never be taken
- Golf Link
- Since its creation in 1995, GolfLink has been the most complete online golf resource available on the web. With a host of useful information valuable to golfers of all abilities, GolfLink is the ultimate one-stop shop for every golfer, from duffer to pro
- Web MD
- The WebMD content staff blends award-winning expertise in medicine, journalism, health communication and content creation to bring you the best health information possible. Our esteemed colleagues at MedicineNet.com are frequent contributors to WebMD and comprise our Medical Editorial Board.
- Search Boston
- Search Boston, founded by Roger Kruppa in 1997, is a comprehensive online resource for and about Boston, Massachusetts. The site contains many features to assist visitors in quickly finding what they are looking for - a search engine, a business/links directory, a city guide and much more.
- Local Catering
- Before LocalCatering.com, the tools at the disposal of the planner (whether professional or otherwise) were references from friends and family, the Yellow Pages and an unorganized amalgamation of information on the Internet, leaving the party host or planner with the daunting task of faxing, emailing, or calling in the same information time and time again.
Call To Action #3
Get Citations
Have Others Talk About
Your Business Using
Your Address and Phone
High Value For Local Marketing
Citations = High Local Value
In the Backlink Economy in which we live it may seem hard to believe having someone talk about your business without a link is of any value, but it's true, and that Citation comes with high value. Search Engines see your business name mentioned on regional websites or local blogs and it builds trust with them, and if that Citation comes with an address and phone number all the better.
“Local Search....
share a thought or idea about local search”
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Mortgage411
Jul 25, 2011 @ 7:55 am | delete
- Excellent lens. Learned a lot.THanks for the info!
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jp1978
Dec 26, 2010 @ 12:28 am | delete
- HAven't paid much attention to local search, but it seems like there are big opportunities here.
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Sylviane_Nuccio
Dec 12, 2010 @ 2:58 pm | delete
- Local search is a growing business, and we as internet marketer have skills and knowledge that our business neighbors are willing to pay big buck to be well ranked on Google. Great lens.
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webnh
Dec 13, 2010 @ 9:58 am | delete
- Thanks for dropping by, Local will only continue to grow in importance.
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Marketing Your Business
Creating a Squidoo Page for your company is a good start in your online marketing & seo journey, but your competitors are doing much more and you need to as well. No matter if you are in Manchester NH or in San Francisco I can help you setup a comprehensive plan for marketing success
It's All About How You're Found
What Kind Of Map Are You On?
It used to be you put a listing in the Yellow Pages or in some Tourist Map then sit back hoping someone comes across your listing and visits your business. Now the competition is not just local it's worldwide, and you not only need local shoppers you also need people miles and miles away from your shop to know it's worth visiting to spend money on your goods and services. Local search results can deliver.
by webnh
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