Local Business Listings: Why Every Small Business Needs One
Local Business Listings Become Important
Since 2007, local business listings are becoming more invaluable for any business. If you are wondering what these listings are, its the local map you see on the right side of the search results page. The disappointing truth is that not many businesses utilize this local marketing tool to increase their web presence.
Anyone Can Take Advantage of Local Business Listings
First thing to take note is that not all local businesses have to be small businesses. National brands still have a local, geographic presence to keep as well. So whether you are Wal-Mart of a local restaurant, local business listings can benefit any size.
This is also for Business-To-Business (B2B) and Business-To-Consumer (B2C) alike. If you think that B2B customers won’t write reviews about you, think again. Local business listings and local marketing should be tapped into equally by B2B’s as much as B2C’s.
Optimizing Your Local Business Listings
Business owners now have two things that require optimization: local listings and their website. You can think of business listings as the 21st century version of the yellow pages. Business owners need to stop watching their business get listed passively and actively engage with their local business listing.
You must first claim your listing, then eventually manage it like your website. You will realize that these business listings act as a support leading your customers to your website. By having listings on all the different directories like Yelp, FourSquare, Merchant Circle, etc., you are able in increase your web presence. It adds onto your SEO strategy, while helping direct traffic to your company’s website. If this feels like an overwhelming amount of work, you can outsource your local business listing management to companies that use professional local business listings platform to lighten your workload.