There has been a recent trend with all of the major search engines, that you need to take advantage of now. That trend is local search. Going back as recently as 8 months ago, when searching for your company on the internet, a person would have to enter your company’s name and city in the search box. What if the customer knew you were a general contractor, but forgot your company’s name. The same sort of search would be made “general contractor sacramento”.

Local search has changed!

Today, search engines have gotten smarter. To find a roofer in your locality, all one would have to do is enter the term “roofer” and depending where the client was located Google will display a map with 10 options. That too has changed, Google has upped the ante to include just 7 possible choices. This has made it critical to for you to ensure your presence, otherwise you’ll get lost.

I’ve written before about local search, social media and website optimization as sorely needed tools for any business looking to get found on the internet.

Well today, I have good news! You don’t have to spend a fortune to accomplish high rankings in local search. Frankly, most company’s offering similar services are newbies in local search and charge “big bucks” for their website optimization services. That would be great, if you are looking for top rankings in a broad market. What I mean by that, is getting ranked highly for the term electrical contractor means you would have to compete with all of the contractor directories and national organizations.

What’s missing is a laser targeted placement in your local hometown, listing your company and your specialty. And come to think of it, wouldn’t it be nice if you were a dentist, let’s say, and you were listed in the top spot for “emergency tooth replacement”. We all know not many people are searching for that particular service, but when they do, they are willing to pay a premium if your comapny could be found. The same analogy could be used with a roofer, “emergency roof replacement”.  This is where a targeted local search campaign can reward your company with bushels of money!

Until now, if you wanted to take the time to list your company with 40 or more website directories and yellow page sites, you would have to spend a minimum of 10 hours! I know this to be true, because this is one of the most important ways to get your company listed and ranked highly with search engines. Using this strategy alone has quadrupled or more the number of visitors to my clients’ websites. The downside has always been the time it took to get listed.

The good news is, after spending numerous hours of submitting and systematizing my work for my clients, I have been able to offer an affordable option. Starting today, for an annual fee of just $199 I can have your company listed in all of the major search engines and over 40 internet directory and mobile search sites.

So where will my company get listed?

LOCAL SEARCH / MOBILE

Yahoo! • MSN / Live.com • Google • AOL • Citysearch • YellowPages.com • SuperPages • WhitePages • Yelp • Local.com • Quebecor/canoe inc. • InfoSpace/Idearc • Ask • BlackBerry/RIM • infoUSA • Express Update • Acxiom • Dex • iBegin • Insider Pages • OpenList • Yellow Book • Yellow Page City • Yelp • Disney • Topix • VP.com • Zingy • Deep Data • AllPages • LocalMatters • BeanPool • HelloMetro • OneCallNow • Search Iniatives • Switchboard.com • Electronic Directories (Yellow Pages, Inc.)

GPS Navigation / Mapping

MapQuest • OnStar • tomtom • Lowarnce • TeleAtlas • DigiWalker • ALK • ViaMichelin • Zenrin

411

LSSI • INFONXX • V-enable • TellMe

Some list, eh?

I don’t want to turn this blog into a sales page, if you would like to do this yourself, I just provided a great list of websites to go to and sign up and submit your company. If you would like to have our company submit for you, then you’ll have to visit our client services website by clicking here!

In the meantime, I hope this helps to understanding how you can get your business found on the internet. Please feel free to leave us your comments. If you would like to speak to me personally, click the “Call Me Now” button on the right hand side of the page and I will be happy to speak with you.

74.1% of all consumers in the United States use the internet to find and locate companies – Nielsen Online

In today’s economy, if you aren’t marketing your company on the internet you are losing business to your competitors who are.

How To Get Listed, Updated or Delete Bogus Listings.

There are three main types of internet web sites

• Local Search Engines
• Online Yellow Pages
• Local Social Media

So what are these and why are they important.

Local Search Engines - Over the past year or so, all of the major search engines have made changes in the way they display the results for local businesses. They all have gotten smarter. What do I mean by smarter? When a user types in a search, for example “roofing contractor”. The search engines will not only display the top “Roofing Contractor” sites, BUT they will also provide a local listing of companies based on the searcher’s location. They are able to do this because every computer connected to the internet has an unique address or IP address. Here are some examples.

What you notice, is the IP address identifies the Country, Region, City and Zip Code (if in the USA) for any computer connected to the internet. What I haven’t shown you in the above table, is it also indicates the Longitude/Latitude. See sidebar for more information.
Here are a couple of examples from the major Search Engines.
GOOGLE – local search is combined with the rest of the internet results.

BING (formerly MSN) – does combine local search with the rest of the web like Google, but in Bing’s case, it is the first result.

YAHOO – unlike Google and Bing, does require a location keyword. This example if for the search “roofing contractor roseville ca”

Online Yellow Pages - Sites like YellowPages.com and SuperPages.com offer a typical yellow page style ad. Those listings with logos are paid listings

Lastly, Local Social Media - These sites include user submitted ratings and reviews with the listings. It is important to note, you could have bad reviews which will affect your company’s reputation. It is important to monitor your company’s online reputation! In another article, I will take you through the steps to monitoring your company’s reputation using the service Google Alerts.
For the most part, these sites all have an online submission form. Typically this takes approximately 10 to 15 minutes each to submit. Below you will find a listing of some of the top websites to list, update or delete your listings:

LOCAL SEARCH ENGINES
	Get listed on Yahoo!
GOOGLE LOCAL	Google Local Get your copy of a free report with step by step guide.
	To add a free listing on Local.com
	To add or update your listing, you need to submit to infoUSA which provides the data for MapQuest

INTERNET YELLOW PAGES
	Get a free listing.
	Add or edit your listing
	Add or edit your listing
	Claim your listing

LOCAL SOCIAL MEDIA
	To add or edit your listing
	Sign up for a free account
	Sign up for a free account
	Sign up and get listed

These are just a few of the popular sites to list your company.

In today’s economy, it is more important than ever to expand your company’s online presence. With a little bit of time on your part, you can harness the power of the internet to drive more customers to your company.

Be sure to check out our complimentary 30 page guide to getting your company listed with Google Local Business.

If you would like to have our experts list your company to all three of the top internet search engines and 7 other internet directories and local social media sites visit SiteDesign.HomeBuildR.net We provide a very affordable service to help expand your company’s presence on the internet, with or without a website.