The Benefits of Local Business Listings

(3 minute to read)

Local search has changed a lot through my life.  Not to date myself, but local search used to come in a yellow book, they put in a yellow plastic bag and hung it from your door once a year.  But that went away with the phone booth, so this article isn’t about that kind of local search, we will be discussing digital and mobile local search and why it is important for you and your business.

What is Local Search?

Search is the new phone book location. The more frequently and consistently your business information appears on reputable directories, social platforms and sites the easier it is for local customers to find your business.

A local search takes place when potential customers look online or on their smartphones for nearby businesses. Search engines use geographic information to provide results.

What does this mean for your business?

Your goal is to make it easy for potential customers to find your product or service at the very moment they need it most.  When potential customers use the internet to locate a product or service nearby, it’s important that your business appears in those results. A strong online presence makes that possible. Best of all, you can play a role in boosting your local search results—without spending a dime, if you have the time.

Got duplicate Google My Business issues?

Another good read!

10 Benefits of Having a Good Online Local Listing

What is the difference between a search and a local search?

What’s the difference between a regular internet search and a local search? Local searches match the customer’s geographic data—the physical location of their smartphone or computer—with the location information about nearby businesses. The results of local searches vary depending on where each search is conducted.

It doesn’t cost anything to boost your Google presence—but it requires time—a recent poll found that small business owners are not taking advantage of this powerful marketing opportunity. The results indicated that 50% of small business owners say they don’t have the time or money to boost their Google presence, and 28% don’t believe it’s necessary.

Another  poll revealed this lack of commitment. When business owners were asked which local search tactics they have implemented, this is how they responded: According to these results, business owners are not making local search a priority, and they’re missing out on a valuable opportunity to get found by more customers.

Still not convinced?

If you’re still on the fence about the benefits of local search, consider this:

4 in 5 consumers use search engines to find local information.  Think how you use your smartphone, tablet or laptop.

50% of consumers who conducted a local search on their smartphone visited a store within a day.  For those of you who don’t have a store, this means a phone call or website visit.  Hopefully, your website is set up for conversions, guiding them to become a customer, leading them through a journey, some are short and other longer.

18% within a day of a local search on a smartphone led to a purchase vs. 7% of non-local searches.  Those are big numbers to a small business, more than doubled conversion.

I’m going to wrap this article up with a funny story.

Back in the day of the phone book. There was a local pizza shop that knew how important that local listing was.  He would buy a full color page in the local book.  The ad would say in fine print,  “Bring in every other pizzerias  page in the book, get a dollar off per page.”  So, people would rip these pages out of the local book.  Bring them in for their discount.  About two months later the local book in most people’s homes didn’t have any other listing for pizza, but this one pizzerias.  When they wanted to order it was only his business.  Genius, yes, ethical not so much.  It only happened that one year the book came out, but I guess it was enough, they now own 200 family run pizzerias in five states.

How is that for ranking #1

Use the power of local listings, the profit is in doing it right.

Want you local business listing repaired, maintained and get monthly reports of their status? Click the link below.

Local Listing Management

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