| Roughly 75% of the business owners I speak | | | | larger cities that are close to your location, or |
| with in any given town or city see little, if any, | | | | search for a regional name that your area might |
| need for an online presence. They believe in doing | | | | have. For example, I found more portal sites by |
| business the way it's always been done, with local | | | | using "Southeast Texas" as a search term, rather |
| advertising, foot traffic, telephone book listing or | | | | than an individual city name. |
| advertisement, special promotions, and | | | | 2. Search Engine Directories: Search Google |
| word-of-mouth marketing, and assume that local | | | | Directory, for your city name and look for a |
| residents will find out about their business in these | | | | category that ends with "Guides and Directories". |
| same ways. | | | | When you click on that, you'll see the directories |
| There's absolutely nothing wrong with these | | | | listed by importance, as determined by Google's |
| promotional methods, but it does create a tunnel | | | | Page Rank feature (you'll need to download |
| vision view of marketing in this day and age. In | | | | Google's toolbar to see this info. The toolbar can |
| September 2004, a Kelsey study found that | | | | be found at The higher the rank (10 is high), the |
| more than 74% of respondents said they had | | | | more traffic the site has. Or, you can manually |
| conducted local searches and confirmed that 20% | | | | search Google as follows: Regional Directories (by |
| of all searches among respondents was local. | | | | continent/country): By state in the US: |
| Whether business owners acknowledge it or not, | | | | You can also search Yahoo Directories, To |
| the Internet is here to stay, and using the | | | | suggest your business for inclusion, see Yahoo's |
| Internet to find local businesses has now become | | | | guidelines here: Yahoo's regional directory listing |
| mainstream, and will only continue to grow as | | | | can be found here: and listing for the US states is |
| today's children and teens, who have been online | | | | found here: |
| almost all of their lives, become adults. | | | | 3. Yellow Pages Sites: There are a number of |
| I know that when I do a search for local | | | | bigger city options here: (SBC and BellSouth): |
| businesses, I am often taken to one of the local | | | | Super Pages (Verizon): |
| city directories, where I am given the address | | | | 4. Nationally-Based City Guides: The largest of |
| and phone number of the business, and if I'm | | | | these services, CitySearch, drives content to |
| lucky, the website URL, if they have a website. | | | | many other city guides. Other city guides include |
| Most days, I search out the website of a local | | | | AOL CityGuide, Area Guides, Online City Guide, |
| business to "check them out" before deciding to | | | | and Associated Cities, |
| do business with them. | | | | 5. Newspaper-Based Local Sites: If you live in a |
| One of my most frustrating times comes when I | | | | larger urban area, your local newspaper may |
| want to place a takeout order at a local | | | | sponsor a site for your city, like Charlotte.com, |
| restaurant and don't have a takeout menu handy. | | | | sponsored by the Charlotte Observer) or |
| I'll go online to find the menu of the restaurant, | | | | Boston.com, sponsored by the Boston Globe. |
| and unfortunately, unless it's a local chain with | | | | 6. Locally-Based City Guides: Again, in larger urban |
| multiple locations, I don't typically find what I'm | | | | areas, your local chamber of commerce, |
| seeking. That restaurant usually ends up losing my | | | | convention and visitor's bureau, or a private |
| business to one in which I can scope out the | | | | business may operate a local portal for your city. |
| menu online and call in a takeout order. | | | | Here in Southeast Texas, our locally based site is |
| If you have a brick-and-mortar business, how | | | | SoutheastTexas.com, owned by a private |
| much business are you losing because you don't | | | | business. Others, like FortWorth.org, is sponsored |
| have an online presence, or your website doesn't | | | | by the Ft. Worth Convention and Visitor's Bureau. |
| contain enough information to help someone | | | | 7. Association Guides: Your membership to your |
| decide to do business with you? Or, if you have a | | | | local chamber of commerce, convention and |
| virtual company, what if no one can find you | | | | visitor's bureau, professional association (by |
| when they conduct a local search of businesses in | | | | industry), general business groups (networking |
| your industry? | | | | groups, men's or women's business associations, |
| I do no marketing locally, as there is little demand | | | | civic groups) may pay off if the association has |
| for the type of services I provide in this area. | | | | an online membership directory where your listing |
| However, I began to wonder if I were losing out | | | | might be found. Make sure that the listing includes |
| on what little local business might exist for my | | | | both your contact info and a link to your website. |
| virtual company, so I did some research to find | | | | I've only scratched the surface of the local |
| what websites would help my company website | | | | possibilities available for both virtual and |
| show up in any local searches. | | | | brick-and-mortal companies. In doing the research |
| 1. Local Portal Sites: Search Google, Yahoo, and | | | | for this article, I discovered there are thousands |
| MSN for your city name and see what comes up. | | | | of businesses who aren't listed in these directories. |
| Are there any sites on the list with which you can | | | | Don't let yours be one of them. Get your |
| exchange links, buy advertising, purchase a | | | | business listed locally so you local customers can |
| membership, submit articles, etc.? If you live in a | | | | find you! |
| small city, as I do, you might also search for | | | | |