Nowadays, when consumers want to find information about a business in their local area, they turn to the Internet. The use of the Yellow Pages to find local businessinformation is in rapid decline, which is why businesses are now competing for the top spot on the first page of the search engine results. Local search is a way for businesses to market themselves online to consumers in their local area. If you have no understanding of local search and what it entails, you are in danger of letting your competition leave you in the dust.

What is local search?

Local search is any activity that is targeted toward finding information about a local business using a search platform. A search platform could be anything from a searchengine like Google, to an Internet yellow pages Website like Superpages.com.

Local SEO basics:

Currently, Google is the most widely-used search engine for local search. The Google Maps show consumers a wide variety of information including driving directions, contact information, a business description and a “click to call” option for mobile devices. Getting found in the Google Maps is a great starting point for any business that hasn’t started optimizing for local SEO.

90% of consumers start purchase decisions online. This is why making sure your business is found online is so important. The beauty of local Internet marketing is that you don’t need to have a Website in order to get found online. With a business listing, your company can get found in the Google Maps and Places results, which will give potential customers the necessary information they need to contact you.

The first step in getting found in the search engines is to submit your business information to various local search directories. The most popular one is Google Places. In fact, unless your business is new, odds are you’re already listed in Google Places. But just because you’re listed doesn’t mean you’re all set. You need to claim, update and enhance your listing’s information in order to really get a leg up on the competition.

Many unclaimed listings have incorrect or outdated information that could be confusing to your customers as well as hurt your rankings in the search engines. This is why claiming your listing is so important. Claiming your listing also gives you the opportunity to optimize it for local search. Using relevant keywords and categories in your listing as well as providing as much information as possible to make your listing complete will help boost your local SEO and get you ahead of your competitors in the Map results. Adding enhancements like photos, videos, coupons and more helps increase your ranking and makes your customer’s local search experience more pleasant.

Once you’ve claimed your listing in Google Places, start submitting your business information to other top local directories such as Superpages.com, Merchant Circle, Yelp and more. One way to figure out which directories are the best is to perform a search on Google yourself. Think of a search term that you would like to appear on thesearch results for. Look at the local businesses that pop up in the results. These are your competitors. Make a note of where their listings are coming from. If you’re seeing results coming from Yelp, you’ll know that’s a directory you definitely need to submit your information to.

The advantages of local search

There are many advantages to local search that other marketing channels can’t provide. Here are the top reasons why you should start your local search campaign today.

Local search allows potential customers in your local area to find your business onlineand via mobile devices. More people will be able to see your business information, which will lead to increased sales and profits.

Your business can be found on the first page of search results (if you use the best practices and techniques).

Local search allows smaller businesses to compete with national chains and franchises with large marketing budgets. The best part is that it’s common for smaller businesses to appear above the larger chains in the local search results.

Local search is more cost-effective than print advertising, Yellow Page ads or radio and TV advertising. You don’t even need to pay large sums for a Website, local search requires off-Website SEO, which means even without a Website, you can achieve high rankings with your business listing. If you have the time and knowledge, an effective local search campaign can be done for free.

Local business listings validate the credibility of your business. Many local directories allow reviews, which gives your happy customers a chance to tell others what they think of your business. You can also lure new customers in with photos, videos, coupons and more.

In order to succeed in your local SEO efforts, make sure you fully understand how to optimize your listings. Include keywords and make your content persuasive with the goal of moving the sales process forward. Also remember that reporting and analyzing your results will help you figure out what is working and what is not in your local Internet marketing campaign. Keeping up on the changing Google algorithms requires constant education, but with hard work and effort, you will be able to get your business to the first page of the search engines and stay there.

About the Author

Top local SEO service provider, Local Splash is part of Relevant Ads, Inc., and is headquartered in Santa Ana, California. Its proprietary technology and process secure high local search engine placement for local businesses and national chains with a local presence. To learn more about Local Splash and its local SEO services, visithttp://www.localsplash.com.

About one-third of people deliberately search for information about local businesses through the internet rather than through the phone book or other traditional media. Ignoring this fact can be detrimental, but those that take advantage of local business internet marketing will see the advantages that are available. There are three basic steps that a local business can utilize in order to market itself online. They are not necessarily followed in any particular order, but they include managing online business profile information, optimizing web pages for local internet searches, and increasing the local popularity of the site by dominating the search results.

There are various sites that provide business profiles, and the most important ones are those run by the primary search engines. In order to ensure that the search engines have an accurate profile of a business, it is necessary to improve and correct profile data through various online channels. These include data providers such as Amacai, infoUSA, and Acxiom. The search engines themselves have business profiles as well. These include Google Maps, Bing Local, Yahoo Local, Local.com, Ask.com Local, and TrueLocal. The search engines obtain information from the national data providers, but allow businesses to submit their information as well. Internet yellow pages such as Switchboard, YellowPages.com, SuperPages.com, and Citysearch should also contain up-to-date information.

The next step is to optimize the primary website. This means performing keyword research, providing relevant local information, organizing the site both for users and search engines to understand, and obtaining links from high quality sites related to the subject of the business. In addition to these tasks, which are relevant to all online businesses, a local business marketing strategy will target keyword phrases that reflect local needs, and information on the site will seem targeted to local traffic rather than a generic audience. Furthermore, a local phone number and address should be listed on all prominent pages of the site, or even on every page. Display a local phone number even if a toll-free number is also available, as this is helpful for the search engines and people to determine the location of the business. Driving directions can also be helpful.

The final step is to dominate the search results for keywords related to the business. The first two steps contribute to this. There are three locations that a search engine can display a website: the general search results, the local listings, and the advertisements. The first step focuses on a high location in the local results and the second step focuses on a high rank in the general results. By taking advantage of pay-per-click opportunities, a business can advertise next to the search results as well.

About the Author

Author is a freelance writer. For more information on local business marketing, please visit http://www.local-marketing.com/.

As a website owner or business owner you must understand the benefits of SEO (search engine optimization) to your business. In regards to the internet there is a lot more happening as far as searching is concerned and much less going on as far as browsing. If you want your business or website to expand and get more traffic and possible customers then you must understand the greatest method for them to get there is with the search engines.

Did you know that roughly 35 percent of searches return local results? The reason this happens is because companies and online businesses understand that their customers are using search engines to get information and if they want to be located then they must be on the search engine. Are you beginning to understand the benefits of SEO now? There are many advantages to search engine optimization but the fact is that you need to do something in order to be found on the online.

Another important factor regarding SEO is that you not only will be found by possible customers but you’ll also earn brand recognition. If your name is your brand then you want that to be out there for individuals to see, there is nothing better than somebody tossing your name out there for people to hear and that’s exactly what the search engine is making happen. Now that you know the importance of SEO to your business and you it’s time that you know a few tips to get to the top of the search engines.

Tips

Local business – The first method to get on the top of the search engine is to have your business listed as a local business but this isn’t always the best method. Many times individuals won’t click on a business website just because they are just looking for information so you want to do more than only that in order to be placed in the search results and in the local business results.

Content – If you’ve got a website then you need to have articles. One of the determining factors in where you rank on the search engine is what type of content is on your website and how important it looks. Lots of people think that articles are everything and in some peoples eyes it is but it is not that important to Google. Articles are important for the mere reason that it needs to be unique and read well, if neither is true for your site then your website will rank poorly.

Links – Now when it comes to Google the most important thing are links pointing back to your website. If you would like to rank at the top of the search engine then it is imperative that you receive as many decent quality links as humanly possible all pointing to your site. Lots of people think that quantity is what makes the difference but it is a mix of quality over quantity with the main thing being quality. In my mind the best way to earn links is to submit article to article directories and to just provide a lot of fantastic content and hope other websites will link back to you.

Something you should think about in regards to Local SEO is to hire a Local SEO company to help you out.

About the Author

To learn more about Local SEO click here and visit my website you will ever see.

How does a local business directory listing, help your local business website to rank fast in Google, and the other main search engines? This and many more similar questions will be answered in this article, so you will need to read it in its entirety.

Local Internet marketing has changed recently since it has become clear that Google and the other main search engines have changed search results to favour local business, by presenting local results first.

This presents a golden opportunity for the wise business owner, who acts fast before his competitors, and lists his business in Google places, giving him a chance to get his business onto the first page of Google.

Having said that, let’s not forget to also list your local business in the free business directories and let´s make a listing in as many as possible, the more the merrier.

The more business directories that you list your local business with, the greater the exposure for your business, and it´s free exposure too.

To take full advantage of this you should link your local listing to your local business website, if you haven’t got one, then you need to get one fast, as local internet marketing is changing as the days go by.

Most businesses are not prepared for these major changes that are happening, and your business can take advantage of this information, but I cannot stress the importance of this enough, you have the chance to dominate your local area in your trade or service, so act fast.

Your Local listings in Google places and business directories as well as your website should be well optimised for the search engines as well as your prospective visitors, don’t forget these local visitors are targeted traffic who are looking for your local business or service and up to 60% of them are likely to buy from you.

Not only do you have to optimise your listings and website, you also have to make your listing as complete as possible, giving as much information as you can, and use photos and videos where possible, to get the most that you can out of them.

This is very time consuming work, but it’s worth the effort (or money spent getting a professional to do it for you), you will be rewarded for your efforts, with more sales and profit for your business, but you will need to do this properly.

When this work is completed, provided that it is done correctly, you will soon see the benefits of it in your rankings of your local website (as long as you make sure that your full business address and post code is on it) you should see that not only do your local listings show up on the first page, one after the other, but also your website should also show up there as well.

It doesn’t take long for the search engines to get the idea that your local listing and your local business website are closely related, usually only a day or two.

By now I think that you should have a good understanding of how you can rank your local business website fast by using Google Places and local business listings in the free business directories, even if you are not sure how to do this yourself yet.

If you feel that this article has been helpful to you please feel free to comment on it, and share it with others who may also find it interesting.

To your Success,

Wolfgang Bloomfield

About the Author

Wolfgang Bloomfield is a full time internet marketer, and he has studied SEO in detail, as this is what makes or breaks any business that is using the Internet. Find out more how he can help to get your local business listed on the first page of Google by visiting his website.
Visit Our Site

Check it out:

www.localsitesubmit.com/local-blog/the-best-local-directory-list

And here is a form Auto-Fill add-on for Firefox that should help you out:

addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/autofill-forms/

With yellow pages being out of date before they’re even off the printing press, it’s no surprise that Local Search on the Web has taken the place of dusty old “yellows” as the preferred method for finding local products and services.

Local Search allows you to generate search results by neighborhood, city, state, or zip code. It’s ideal for physicians, dentists, contractors, realtors, restaurants, retailers, or any businesses that serve customers/clients who come from a limited geographic region.

For example, if you’re a Northeast Ohio-based orthodontist, most likely your patients are also going to be from Northeast Ohio. Your primary objective should be gaining search engine rankings in the immediate region because that’s your “bread and butter”. A patient seeking orthodontic help in California isn’t going to do you much good, but one in Akron is a potential new customer.
Even if you need to have a national presence in the search engines, it still may be important for you to have a local presence. We’re a Canton Web Design and SEO firm. While we serve clients across the country, the majority of our clients come from a 50 mile radius. So while we don’t limit our Web Marketing to Local Search techniques, it’s critical that we have a strong presence in the local search results.
How Local Search Works

There are three ways to go about searching for local results. First, you can use a local search engine such as Google Local, Yahoo! Local, or http://www.local.com. Second, you can use an Internet yellow pages site such as yellowpages.com or superpages.com. Third, you can use a regular search engine like Google, but use geo-modifiers, such as “Canton, Ohio Web Design”.
Local Search Benefits

Local Search isn’t just convenient for users; it’s also loaded with benefits for the businesses being listed. Here are a few of the benefits:

* Free or inexpensive local visibility and awareness
* Additional links to the site
* More visibility in the search engines
* More targeted traffic to the website
* More traffic to the brick-and-mortar store

Popular local sites

We’ve listed a few popular sites where you’ll want to make sure you create a listing. Of course, there are many more in addition to these, and your own community will have its own sites you’ll want to consider. These, however, are a good starting place:

* superpages.com
* Yahoo! Local
* Google Local/Google Maps
* yellowpages.com
* local.com
* citysearch.com

(Note: some of these sites charge a fee for inclusion.)
Local Search Best Practices

Getting effective local search results doesn’t just happen by virtue of having a website. You need to ensure your own site is in tip-top shape by following a few best practices. Be sure to put your address on the Contact page of your website and any other appropriate pages. You’ll also want to explain on your site how your business relates to the community. If you serve on any local committees or board or have any local media mentions, you’ll want to be sure to mention this on your site. Finally, be sure to spell out state names (OH Web Design vs Ohio Web Design).
Social Media and Local Search

With Social Media sites absolutely exploding with new users, it’s no surprise that some Social Media sites are offering Local Search options to help people connect within their local communities:

* Facebook – network with others from your hometown
* Flickr – join one of Flickr’s photo-sharing groups, many of which are location-specific
* Twitter – use the advanced feature to do a geo-search for local members
* LinkedIn – look for and network with professionals in your area

Recap

With Local Search making up anywhere from 60-75% of all Internet searches, there’s no question that Local Search is crucial if you have a geo-specific business.

When it comes to Web Marketing, local businesses actually have certain advantages over businesses with a national presence. Instead of having to compete on a national scale, local businesses can focus their web marketing efforts on a more targeted geographic area and even find success a bit easier.

About the Author

Collyn Floyd is a marketing and public relations specialist with The Karcher Group, a web development and search engine marketing firm based in North Canton, OH. She is passionate about helping The Karcher Group’s clients achieve greater online traffic, leads and sales through search engine optimization and marketing.

The basic concept of location based marketing has been around for years but the internet, social media websites as well as ‘smart phones’, together are set to change it forever.

Simple yet brilliant phone applications such as Foursquare and Gowalla which rely on Global Positioning Satellites (GPS) have made it possible for business to communicate with their customers online. More commonly known social networks such as Facebook, Google Maps and Yelp too are catching up and helping make social media become an integral part of real world commerce.

Social networks and the so called ‘lo-so’ networks are an all new medium for Advertising and Marketing and the quicker do business comprehend them and adapt to take their advantages the better it is for them.

How does it all work?

Everything’s digital. Gone are the days when everyone kept a phonebook and a hefty copy of the Yellowpages directories, most of us today look for services and businesses online. Say it’s your first ever evening in San Francisco and the only thing in on your mind is ‘Sushi’. What do you do? You pull out your smart phone or switch on your laptop, visit a search engine website like Google and type “Sea Food in San Francisco” or perhaps even “Sushi in San Francisco”. Trust me, Google will let you in on thousands and thousands of results and is quite capable of leaving you all confused. What do you do? You click on the new Local Search Result Only feature. This would enable the search engine to provide you with results relevant to your physical location. You can then choose from a handful of restaurants, where you may relish your Sushi.

How does Local Marketing help Businesses?

Anyone on the streets, round the corner or even a mile away can, only with a couple of clicks on their ‘smart phones’, instantly find out about the services and goods your business offers. This new possibility naturally increases the on-foot traffic to your store and also encourages impulsive buying. Being published on online business directories allow anyone in the city to find your goods and services.

Local social media marketing is a form of direct marketing; your promotional material reaches out to real potential customers who are already making an effort to find you. Your promotional material is delivered electronically and on demand. It is, in comparison, an eco-friendly form of advertising as there is no hard copy paper wastage involved.
How do Businesses use Local Marketing?

Business register themselves on local marketing feature of search engines like Yahoo, Google, Bing etc, and on Business directory websites such as yelp to gain online visibility. It’s important to fill the business profile on such websites carefully.

Some companies opt for professional search engine optimization (SEO) for their websites. The importance of (SEO) is only to rise in the near future for not only would the website require to be indexed properly so they may be found within the general internet top search engines but would soon also require to be found by physical, geographic, location as well.

Another way businesses are using social media and location based marketing is to engage with their customers. Applications like Twitter allow building an intimidate relationship with customers. They act as an online mouthpiece where a store may talk of a new product launch or an art gallery may speak of a special event.

About the Author

Ajay Prasad is founder of Global Marketing Resources LLC that runs a number of ecommerce websites under its umbrella. Ajay’s functional expertise includes website strategy, marketing management, business development, consumer research, market analysis and strategic planning. SearchLocalHQ is an Orange County Internet Solution company that aims to develop an overall Web Marketing and Local Search Marketing solution for a small local business. For more information visit: http://searchlocalhq.com/

Builders and Contractors are you doing anything different in these hard times to increase your business? Or are you doing the same ole same ole? There is an old saying that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result?

Is that you?

What I’m trying to say is the old ways no longer work. In by gone days all a contractor had to do was give the customer good quality and good service and he/she would be set. Then set back and let your customers do your selling for you. They would tell a friend and then that friend would tell a friend. Your phone would be ringing off the hook. I remember as an Architectural designer some days I would have up to four people wanting to schedule appointments for designs. That was the good ole days. But now!

There are problems. Most of us in the construction industry we’re not prepared for what happened. We never marketed ourselves,
never had to. So what do we do. Answer: start by doing the basics. Below are a few simple but powerful must does marketing.

*You must Brand your name. That means you have to become known in your town. Think of insurance company’s. There might be
50 insurance company’s in your area but there is always a few that are known by name. Example: “All Davis, State farm” see what I
mean, make your name synonymous with building.

*Become easier to find. “The phone never rings”,boo hoo hoo. Well why would it? Customers don’t mysteriously know who you are
or what you do. If they are looking for your service they will use the internet to find you. You have to have a Website.

*Easy payments. This day and time credit still is king! You have to have the ability to get customers financed or at the very least take credit cards. It is just the way the world does business.

The above are just a few of the things you have to be doing to survive in the building industry. As you can see they are not hard but you do have to take action.

If you would like more tip’s and help you can follow my news letter the Construction Times

About the Author

George Michaels has spent his entire life in the construction industry. He currently is editor of the the Construction Times a weekly ezine dedicated to the help and support to the Building Contractor

Most Search Engine Service providers have to work with existing web hosts and domain names, leaving little opportunity to use these important elements as part of their overall local SEO strategy.

These tips are sure to help you execute your SEO strategy and choose your host and domain names with SEO in mind.

SEO tips on choosing a web host

• The server of your host should be local, where most of your customers are, as Google will consider the IP address in its algorithms. If the main server of your host is in China your site will rank well on Google.cn, but not so well in Australia, on Google.com.au. So for example; you should host your main website in Australia, but when you build a micro-site of your website for your Chinese customers, make sure it is hosted locally, so both sites are ranked well in their respective local Google rankings.
• Your web host should offer a fast service. If your pages load too slowly the search engine spider will ‘time out’ and your site will not be fully indexed.
• Your web host should also be reliable and not have a lot of down time. Even if your site is down when your customers are not on it, if the spider happens to visit your site at that time, the same time-out code will be activated. The total number of timed-out queries will negatively affect your rankings.

SEO tip on choosing domain names

Google attaches the greatest importance to the words it sees first and the very first block of text a search engine spider sees is your full URL (so your domain name and directory structure). This has two important implications;

• A domain name ending in .com.au is a clear indication of your location, Australia, and helps you in your rankings on the local SE.
• It’s fair to say a keyword heavy domain name would be an ideal way to boost your rankings

If you are fortunate enough to start a website from scratch, you should obviously do keyword research first so you can use the outcome to choose a domain name. This ensures a huge head start on Google rankings.

I realise this is difficult for most as a keyword heavy domain name may appear spammy or you would prefer to use a business name instead. Fair enough of course. In that case you could get some keyword heavy domain names to use as landing pages of certain campaigns, or use them as your business blog.

Good luck!

Jennigje Galama is an expert on Search Engine Optimisation and Search Engine Marketing and works for an SEO company in Australia. Download a free report “5 Secrets to Unlimited Free Traffic” instantly on her website…
http://www.TrafficAct.com.au

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com