Is your small business capitalizing on the free exposure available by utilizing local search tools?  Better yet, are you receiving the exposure you could be receiving with well optimized listings?  Don’t miss out on this free traffic stream of local, in-market customers! Take 15 minutes to add your business location(s) to the big 3 search engines: Google, Yahoo! and Bing.

GOOGLE LOCAL

• Most traffic of any local search product
• Easy to use dashboard for managing listings
• Validate your listing via mail or phone (phone being instant, mail taking 2-3 weeks – quicker than Bing)
• Integrated with your Google account
• Useful statistics/reporting on your listing’s effectiveness
• Coupon capabilities

YAHOO! LOCAL

• Second most traffic, behind Google
• Easy to use dashboard for managing listings (though not as great as Google’s)
• Choose from basic (free), enhanced or featured listings (enhanced and featured listings cost a small monthly amount)
• Integrated with your Yahoo! account
• Statistics/reporting on your listing’s effectiveness
• Validation period of 3-5 business days by a Yahoo! representative

BING LOCAL

• Light, but growing local search traffic
• Validated by mail only (allot at least a few weeks)
• No statistics
• Integrated with your Microsoft ID

General Tips:

• Make sure you fill out all possible fields – be thorough and accurate
• For the company name, try to be descriptive without spamming.  For instance, if you’re a restaurant that goes by “Moe’s” but your full name is “Moe’s Pizza Restaurant”, you should go with the more descriptive name.  If your company name doesn’t specify what your business does, do it here, but be careful to not abuse the Terms of Service of these search engines or go too far.
• The more information, the better – let prospects know your hours of operations, payment options and add additional details.  Add pictures and videos if you have them to engage customers.  You’d be surprised how much a picture or video can bring your listing to life in the eyes of a customer, allowing them to step into your shop virtually. Take your time with the listing and measure every word – it will pay off in the end.
• Choose your categories carefully and from top down in order of relevance/importance.
• Take advantage of coupons.
• Encourage your customers to submit reviews on your business, which can affect the placement of your listing and the credibility of your company.
• Don’t be afraid to tweak your listings – if your listing isn’t performing like you think it should, don’t be afraid to login to the respective listing center and do some tweaking.
• Back it up – a great local listing that results in a visit to your physical store or website is a free gift.  If the customer comes to a mediocre website or mediocre store, that gift is wasted.  Simple as that!