Finding Customers in Your Own Backyard
If you have searched for local products or services, you’ve probably seen a map at the top of the search results displaying markers of related businesses in the area. Google used to call this the Local Business Center, but has re-branded it and now calls it Google Places. There is also Yahoo Local and Bing Local, as well as other trusted local search directories. ComScore estimates that approximately 66% of Americans use local search to find local businesses.
Stake your claim
If you have not claimed your business in Google, Yahoo, Bing, Yelp etc., and if you have not optimized your accounts, you are missing tremendous opportunity to put your business in front of potential customers. Not only does it give you additional exposure on search engine results pages, it also helps with your organic search engine rankings.
The Power of Word of Mouth
An additional benefit to Local Search is that your customers can post reviews and testimonials about your business and help provide legitimacy to your products and services. Some of your most convincing marketing can come from your own customers, so it is imperative you take advantage of this resource. In addition these reviews will help boost your listing higher in the Local Seach Map Listings. As part of a search engine optimization campaign, Webtivity Marketing & Design will make sure you are in all the popular directories.