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A local search is performed when someone uses a local search engine to find products or services in their area. There are many local search engines that are used billions of times per day such as Google Maps, Yahoo Local, MSN Maps and Local.com. These local search engines are internet versions of the outdated yellow page book that no one uses much anymore. Fact: 70% of U.S. households use the internet to make decisions when shopping locally for products and services (Kelsey Group, 2005). My business already has a web site.Well, unfortunately a web site will not help you in the local search engines because it's a completely different area of internet advertising. Google Maps, Yahoo Local, MSN Maps as well as all the other local search engines don't look at your web site to build information about you business. The local search engines create local listings for you whether the information they obtain is correct or not. Also, there is special formatting that should be present on your local search engine web site to allow the engines to "verify" your listing and correctly database your information. This formatting is known as hcard microformating, and is used in all Search4ItLocal profiles. What is a local listing?A local listing already exists in most of the major local search engines for your business right now. The local search engines want to populate their search engines with the most local business information to compete against each other as the best local search engine. This is great for people who want to search for products and services online and buy locally because they want to have the largest and most relevant business listings to make the best decision.
I didn't know I already had a local listing?Chances are your local listing may have inaccurate information or not enough information at all. The local search engines by default have only added your business name, address and phone number. While this may seem like enough information we can guarantee that one of your competitors has already heard about local search and has greatly increased the information in their local listing. The information they may have added can include products and services, brands offered, business hours, specialties, coupons and more.
How can I make sure I stay competitive in local search?Well, you need to go to all the local search engines and add as much information describing your business to each listing as possible. This process could take up a lot of your time especially if you need to change your business information from month to month to stay relevant to potential customers. Ok. So what will Search4ItLocal do for me? - First, we will collect all of the information about your business. This not only includes name, address, phone, email address, and products/service, but also such detailed information as certifications, promotions, associations, payment methods, and more.
- Next we will do some research in your industry and make sure we've covered all the bases in terms of keywords, descriptions, and categories.
- We'll take all of this information and create a optimized (both content and programming) profile for you which we will use when we submit your information to the local search engines (about 20 in our network).
- and Finally, we will take all of your information and manually subscribe you to the 1st tear local search engines, directories, and portals.
Great - Have An Internet Consultant Contact Me! Or Take A Look At Our Semi-Self Service Visibility Packages
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Why Should I Care?
