"Our goal" Reports Susan Richardson, Senior Project Manager at WebXsposure, "is to give our clients the power and control to share their business information with millions of internet users. When people in their area go online looking for their products or services, their information should show up first."
A local search is performed when someone uses a local search engine to find products or services in their area. There are many local search engines that are used billions of times per day such as Google Maps, Yahoo Local, MSN Maps and Local.com. These local search engines are internet versions of the outdated yellow page book that no one uses much anymore.
According to statistics authorities such as Kelsey Group, Comscore, and Neilson, 30 billion searches for local information will be made in 2008. 79% of U.S. households do some kind of search for a local service or product on a daily basis. 77% of Internet users have looked for services and products within an area close to their home or business. 58% of all Internet search engine references are for locally sold products and services.
But Isn't Local Search just another flavor of search engine optimization?
"A primary difference is the mindset of the business community." Explains Mr. Brown, "They have very different priorities and skills than the technology-driven ecommerce SEO adept. And it doesn't make sense for business owners to invest massive time and energy to develop those skills."
The WebXsposure Local Search Enhancement Program, Search 4 It Local, increases the likelihood of appearing in local search results by creating an optimized and enhanced online business profile for the client — the profile that the web’s largest search engines, online directories and industry specific portals use to serve up results to consumers. WebXsposure ensures the accuracy of the profile’s critical business data, such as address, telephone number, web address, email address and hours of operation, and further enhances the profile with purchase-triggering information including the products, services, and/or brands that each client offers. A critical addition to the Search4ItLocal.com profiles is the formatting of the information, including but not limited to the use hcard microformating for address and contact information.
Local search is a discipline where few marketing experts have planted themselves largely because they haven’t figured out a way to make it pay for them.
"Mom and Pop shops and sole proprietorship, which make up a large number of regional businesses can’t afford to pay the steep consulting fees that experts charge." Says Mr. Brown, "Sure, big companies can afford to spend millions of dollars to increase online sales, but most of us don’t have that, and many of us don’t have a marketing budget at all. That doesn’t mean that the small businesses has to miss out, and that's why we've stepped forward with Search 4 It Local."
Search4ItLocal.com brings a critical element of online visibility to the small to medium size business market at a price well within their marketing budget.
