Getting Started in Local Search

Mary Bowling of ClickZ has a good column today about how businesses can get into local search without even needing a web site.

While it is true that one can create a decent presence online, at least within the search universe, without a full web site, I would argue that the limitations so imposed upon your ability to communicate with customers are more detrimental than the true costs of creating and hosting a web site.

Even the smallest business, say an individual consultancy or a tiny hot dog stand that only serves lunch, should have a web site. Hosting costs have been reduced to almost nothing, benefits of Moore's law and related corollaries, and low-cost providers such as iPower or SquareSpace include robust tools for web site building that make it very easy to create decent sites.

A web site allows you room to fully describe your products and services, and more importantly, allows you to do so to all your difference audiences. This ability to address unique needs and concerns for different target customers (or influencers) is a core strength of the web and can serve as the bedrock on which all further web communication is built. Your directory links, search engine marketing ads, email landing pages, and referred URLs will all direct customers back to your web site.

So please use the advice provided in Mary's column, or engage a professional like Local Acuity, to optimize your local search exposure whether or not you currently have a web site. But please take the step of getting your own site, because that is the foundation of increased sales and improved profits through interactive marketing and customer communication.