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.

Yellow pages are DEAD!

4 out of 10 consumers use local search to conduct research and make purchasing decisions. – Business Wire

So what is local search engine marketing?

Your potential customers have rapidly changed their buying habits. Right now 40% of consumers use the internet when making their buying decisions, and this number has grown 31% in just the last year 2008.

Which brings up the question, how do consumers use the internet to find you?

• Area search – An example of this is “roofing contractor sacramento”
• Hands On search – This is a search where the consumer is looking to visit your place of business to see what options are available or to compare prices first hand. Example – “tile store chicago”
• Finding a specific business – This type of search was traditionally done with the yellow pages, which is time consuming at best. Instead, using the internet one can quickly find the business they are looking for – “lumber yard sunrise blvd”

Consumers looking to do business with contractors use the internet to find you. By far the most common type of search for contractors is an area search. And for those of you who rely on a storefront, like kitchen and bath design centers, to aid in your sales process, the hands on search is also relevant.

Your sales are impacted by local search!

Let’s take a moment to see exactly what is seen by your consumers when they do a local search for your company. Google is constantly trying to determine if the search has local intent. For example, when someone is looking for a specific company in an area Google will display a specific location.

At other times, Google can’t determine if the consumer is looking for a specific company. In this example, the consumer is looking for a contractor in an area. When Google see this, it will display a map with many of your competitors. If your company isn’t shown, you are not going to get the call!

One last way, that Google serves up a search is when they know the business, but can’t determine the location. This is what I call a 3 pack.

As you can tell, local search is important for your company to embrace. As a business, you need to take the steps necessary to list your company and take control over your listing. Doing this well, will have you placed near the top of Google’s local search.

Consumers are using the internet to find contractors and businesses. Can they find you?

In the next article in this series, I will discuss mobile search and the rapidly changing way your customers are using not only their computers to find you, but their iPhones and other smartphones.

Please feel free to give me your comments and suggestions as to what you would like to learn in future articles by commenting below.