iMedia Impact Group

“Local Search will become the golden child of marketing for small businesses in 2011.”

That is the headline above a very lengthy blog entry by SEO and website promotion expert Rebecca Gill of Web Savvy Marketing.

She goes on to characterize local search as the little brother of social media and urges small business owners to pay attention and not get left behind. Local search is very time intensive, she warns, so outsource it if you don’t have the time or training to handle it yourself.

We are barely three weeks into this new year and you can expect to hear that same tune repeated incessantly in the coming weeks and months. Like all new developments on the world wide web, the early movers are going to get the biggest rewards and latecomers are going to wish they’d sat up and taken notice sooner.

To illustrate her point, Gill lists more than 25 online directories that businesses need to be listed in to help their local search ranking, and this is just one of many tasks associated with getting any kind of prominence for your small business. There are literally hundreds of similar directories, from product or service specific to regional, national and global, making directory listing a continual work in progress.

Footnote

Mike Blumenthal, one of the most brilliant minds in matters of local search, was quoted in an interview this week as saying: “Examining and perfecting the basics seems critical for many (small businesses). For me that means a well optimized website, a well implemented local search campaign and a decent email plan. The new Places Search really puts an emphasis on having not just a website, but one that is tuned for search.”

The 3 essentials of local search marketing

1. Complete and verify your Google Place Page. Include as much keyword rich marketing information as possible. Also upload as many photos (up to 10) as possible and videos (if available) to ensure 100% completion status. For help to locate your listing or create a new one, watch this video from Google. It runs just over 40 minutes but is well worth the time as it tells you absolutely everything you need to know about Google Places.

2. Support your Google Place Page by registering your business name, address, phone no., website and other co-ordinates at high-profile directories. The following list of top resources in Canada comes straight from David Mihm, one of the world’s foremost authorities on local search.

• yellowpages.ca: Fill out form, lower right corner to get started.
• 411.ca: Submit phone no. at right to get started.
• ShopinCanada.com
• citydirect.info
• CanPages.ca
• ZipLocal.ca – click Add a Listing in footer menu
• WebLocal.ca
• FoundLocally.com – choose a specific Canadian city
• Yelp Canada link for Canadian businesses
• BBB.org Canada – requires accreditation: apply to VP, business relations
• HotFrogCanada (strange name, good directory)

3. Build An Online Reputation: Do everything in your power to encourage your customers to submit reviews online (short of bribing them, of course). You don’t even mind getting your business trashed by a few unhappy clients: if you have nothing but glowing comments, your credibility factor may be diminished.

Two strategies for starting your local search campaign

1. Take care of those three components and you will start seeing results within 30 to 90 days. Here’s a link to an instructional video by Google on how to set up your Place Page yourself. (Runtime is just over 40 minutes.)

2. Get iMedia Impact Group to do the full setup for you, including all the special listings noted in Step 2 above (except Better Business Bureau: you must apply to that yourself). We’ll give you a full 90-Day Moneyback Guarantee. (Act NOW and get our half-price special, a saving of $150.)