Expand Your Local Horizons
For the small-business owner, getting your name out via local search is a must. And to many marketers, that means optimizing for Google's universal results. After all, Google is the leader of the search-engine pack these days. But as David Mihm points out in a recent article at Search Engine Land, it's critical to think beyond Google for local search success. He offers some other groovy go-to's to consider:
Internet Yellow Pages. Usage of online Yellow Pages is not only healthy, it's thriving, Mihm reports. And YellowPages.com has recently boosted its rep even further through its partnership with the new Microsoft search-engine Bing. Superpages.com also has become a trusted source of data. And newbies InsiderPages.com and Yellowbot.com [in beta] are developing passionate user bases as well, Mihm reports.
Online Classifieds. Craigslist has almost become synonymous with online classifieds but there are other good options as well, says Mihm. Check out Oodle.com and Kijiji.com.
Vertical Local Search. "Success in local also means promoting your presence on sites with strong market shares of their own in particular industries," Mihm says. Pay attention to what people are saying about you around such sites, and respond to their feedback to boost their perception of you.
Social Local Search. Searchers often turn to purely social sites for recommendations and sale information about local businesses, Mihm reports. Be there and participate!
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Kashless.org is another online classified site. It's free, too, which is nice. Everything posted on the site is free - so if you have a service or a trial to give away, this would be another good way to get your name out there.