When was the last time you cracked open a phone book? If you’re like me and most everyone else these days, your telephone book is gathering dust while your customers are actively searching for the services you offer on the Web. They’re even searching via their mobile devices, finding local businesses on a map rather than in a business directory.

Did you know?

• 97% of consumers use online media to research products and services in their local area
• 83% of U.S. households now use the Internet as an information source when shopping locally
• 83% of local searchers will follow up with a phone call or visit to the listing that stands out best
• 90% of searchers won’t look past page one of the results page (according to Google)

Search Is Becoming “Location Aware”

Local search is the fastest growing area of search today. Of the 10 billion unique searches conducted each month in the US, an estimated 40% are considered to have local intent for services, businesses and products. Search engines have become smarter at understanding not only the “local intent” behind a search query, but also where the searcher is located, called “geotargeting.”

This neighborhood-first mantra suggests a heavy dose of community involvement in your local marketing efforts. Marketing at a local level can be extremely effective. In fact, with 90% of online commercial searches resulting in offline, bricks and mortar purchases and 80% of budgets being spent within fifty miles of the home, you cannot afford not to market locally… particularly using the Internet.

Aside from offering an excellent return on your both your time and monetary investment, local search leads have proven to bring customers with higher than average intent to purchase your products or hire you for your services. In order to maximize the chances of your business being visible on local searches, your website must be optimized for local search. You also want to optimize the business profiles you may have at other websites and local listing profiles on various search engines.

How Search Engines Gathers Data about Your Local Business

Local SEO is an important component of marketing your small or medium business via search engines and Internet yellow page type websites in addition to determining your listing score, or how complete the state of your local business listings are in on different business data providers.

Major search engines such as Google, Yahoo, and Bing rely on third party data providers for nearly all of the data that shows up in their local business listings. These data providers include aggregation houses such as Axciom and InfoUSA , common Internet Yellow Pages type sites such as Super Pages and Merchant Circle, and social media review sites such as Yelp and iBegin. With such a complex eco-system of local business data, it’s important to claim your listings to consolidate all this fragmented business information under a profile that is under your own control.

Complete your profile as comprehensively as possible:

• Provide a keyword-rich business description.
• Complete all the fields for business information, such as hours of operation, payments accepted, services offered, certifications, awards, parking availability, etc.
• Upload or link to the maximum allowable number of business images and videos.

Business Category Selection

Selecting the right categories can make or break your chance at ranking prominently within Google’s Lucky 7-pack, that is, their list of seven similar businesses and organizations in your area.

For example, Google offers one main category and four related categories to help define your services. Start typing in the main categorization of your business and you’ll find that Google Places will suggest a category for you choose. Choose the most appropriate suggestion as your main category and then proceed to fill in related categories or other services your business offers.

If the suggested keywords do not match your business services appropriately, use custom categories. Use the Blumenthal’s Google LBC Categories Preview tool to find synonyms that are recognized by Google Places.

Additional Details

Filling out all of the details accurately will help you get closer to a 100% complete Google Places listing. Adding images and videos not only helps your local business listing become more interactive, it also counts toward a 100% complete listing.

Local Marketing

Today’s emphasis needs to be on local marketing – reaching individual communities with specialized messages. Tap the potential of your greatest profit opportunity within your trading area – the customer base that is right in your back yard. Businesses, schools, churches, community events and even fellow retailers become your promotional allies in building cost-effective programs to capture consumer dollars right within your reach.

To help generate more sales, treat your customers as authorities and unpaid local marketing consultants. Ask their advice and opinions of your operation, such as how you might improve it to better meet their needs. Don’t be afraid to reveal inside information such as marketing ideas. The more they understand your business, the more they will respect what you are trying to do. Look for ways to show you are aware of them as individuals, not just customers.

Clearly Communicate Who You Are, What You Do, and Whom You Serve

Getting people to your site is only half of the local marketing puzzle, getting people to take action is what makes a real impact.

Once you’ve captured your website visitor’s attention, make it immediately clear what products and/or services your local business sells. Identify your niche – what market you serve (geographically and demographically) – to immediately pre-qualify the right customers. Use your home page to attract the right customer so your sales time is spent on quality candidates. Your time is money.