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That's about to change, as Local Search methods become more widespread.
Even for buyers expecting to spend their money close to home, more and more
of them go to the Internet to locate desired products and services. They
rely on search engines to find suitable vendors in the fastest, easiest way.
Local Search combines the search query word or phrase with specific
geographic terms, like city or zip code. That way, search results only
include enterprises in that local area. Instead of information about a small
enterprise being lost among millions of pages of search results, it shows up
in a small pool of local providers. That's good for them, as well as the
person looking for what they provide.
Small operations can easily be located by a whole new group of buyers
Consumers don't simply go to the Yellow Pages when ready to buy - as they
once did. Studies show that an astonishing 36% of online searches are
conducted to find local businesses. About a quarter of all Internet users
already conduct local searches. They'd do even more of it, if the desired
small business data were more complete.
Local enterprises need to prepare for the impact of changing customer
habits. An easy first step is to include your business in Internet Yellow
Pages (IYP), along with the printed Yellow Page directory. That puts your
enterprise on the radar screen. Learn how your business can make the most of
Local Search by visiting http://www.yellowpagesage.com You'll find reliable
advice from experts in Yellow Pages and Local Search so you can get more
mileage from your promotional dollars.
Start by getting comfortable with search concepts, and improve your odds
of being found when people search online for what you offer. You don't even
need your own Web site to benefit from Internet Yellow Pages and Local
Search.
Search Engine - method for locating the information available on the
Internet; a program that searches Web pages for requested keywords, then
returns a list of documents where the query terms were found
Google and Yahoo, the major general search engines, have both shifted
gears to make Local Search a priority when delivering relevant results.
Spider (also called "crawler" or "bot") - goes to every page on every Web
site and reads the information so it can be available to searchers; to
"crawl" a site it collects and indexes information from it
Specialized Search Engines - narrow focus of information crawled and
indexed, like medical, business, or shopping sites
Keywords - word or phrases used by search engines to locate relevant Web
pages; words chosen to improve a site's search engine placement and ranking
Search Query - search request, which the search engine compares to the
spidered entries, then returns results to the searcher
Search Results - compiled list of Web pages that a search engine delivers
in response to a query; the number of items returned is usually overwhelming
(in the millions), so searchers only bother to view results on the first
pages
Relevant Results - the test of a good search is whether the results
obtained relate to what the person wanted to find, without a lot of
irrelevant links
Local Search - combining a geographic term in a search query to locate
suitable providers in a specific area
Pay per Click (PPC) - method of building traffic whereby site owners bid
on search terms (keywords) that link to their site
Geographic Terms - specific information about the local area that can be
included in a local search: zip code, town, county, geographic region, state
Top Ranking - sites shown on the first page(s) of search results
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) - fine-tuning keywords and page content
so the Web site rates high in search engine results
Tags and Titles (on Web Pages) - provide site keywords and information to
search engine spiders for indexing a site
Internet Yellow Pages (IYP) - directory of business phone numbers and
locations in a geographic area, organized by category; searchable data base
accessed on the Internet
Make your business easy for searchers to find The public is embracing the
convenience of searching on the Internet to find information about local
businesses. However, their searches for desired information are compromised
because so many local enterprises don't show up in the databases as yet.
Those that do have an edge in their local market. Climb aboard! Make sure
searchers can find you. For little or no money, you can expose your
enterprise to the whole world.
Whether or not your business has a Web site, you need to provide the
information people are looking for in the places that they look for it.
Local Search and Internet Yellow Pages open new avenues to buyers ready to
spend. Best of all, they support and compliment your traditional methods of
finding new business. So you cover all your bases.
