Take the "Local Leap"

Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/sblackley/

If you’re a small business owner and you think the internet is only for businesses who want international reach or who want to export overseas, its time to reevaluate your thinking.

Every year Google, Yahoo and Bing (probably soon to be called “Ying” – just kidding) are expanding on and improving their local business search services.

People are searching more and more for local businesses and services online. They’re looking for mechanics, gyms, golf clubs, plumbers… any kind of business you can think of, online.

Local search is the new Yellow Pages

Now is better than later if you’re thinking about having an online presence of any kind. And if you don’t want an online presence, I’d be inclined to ask if you also don’t want a Yellow Pages entry. Almost 100% of businesses should be online. I struggle to think of a service or industry that shouldn’t be.

Depending on where you live and how big the local market is for your service, you’ll face varying amounts of competition locally in the online space.

You might find it difficult to rank for “Pizza” in Sydney, or “bed and breakfast” in heavily promoted tourist areas, but you can do it with some persistence and a commitment to a variety of local ranking factors.

Type your service, product, niche or industry into Google and include your city name. Does your business show up?

This is a screen capture from a search for “Adelaide Plumber”.

Results for "Adelaide Plumber". Note the map and local listings adjacent.

If you look closely you’ll see that 4 of the 7 listings are actually for plumbers without websites. You don’t necessarily need a website to appear for local searchers.

The listings immediately to the right of the map (as indicated) are all free. Simply click here to be taken to the Google local business center to add your own business.

The listings just above the map, and along the right edge of the page are all paid listings. Each time those listings are clicked Google will charge the advertiser around three dollars per click for plumbers (at a wild guess). If the listings were for lawyers… who knows. Maybe twenty dollars a click.

The point I’m trying to make in this post is, Google, Yahoo and Bing local listings are worth their weight in gold if you can get your business onto the front page of the local business listings for your particular search phrases. And right now, its relatively low competition in a lot of markets.

At the very least get your business onto Google local now, it’ll take you 30 minutes tops to get your listing on there.

After that?

I’ve submitted Google local listings that have generated thousands of dollars worth of leads with very little optimisation. Take the leap – list on Google local, assess any impact it has (ask callers where they found you), and go from there.