Broadband Evolved

Inbound sales leads are the life blood of small business — especially in this incredibly difficult economy. 

SMB’s know they must do a better job of getting found in google and wherever consumers might be looking for them.  The thing they don’t understand is that there’s a difference between getting found in “web search” and getting found in “local search”.

From a consumers perspective, local search is about finding the things we need that are tangible and near by.  Such queries are more about the physical facts — and less about exploration.  For example, imagine yourself in the middle of Dayton, Ohio.  Your vehicle just ran out of gas and you’re absolutely starving.  You use your mobile phone to search for a nearby gas station that serves food.  Your search is local in context and therefore you simply don’t care about the gas station in Arizona that serves terrific Mexican food.

Fortunately, Google and the other major search engines have gotten better about understanding when a query is local in context.  In such cases they surface local business listings at the top of a results page.

Local Search is Gold for SMBs

In order to get found in local search SMBs must take the necessary steps by submitting their listings data to as many different directory providers as possible.  It’s a manual  process and it’s a bit of a pain in the ass — sort of like sweeping your door step and wiping down the tables at night.  If you don’t want to do this yourself, then I suggest you check out one of the rich profiling platforms, or, listing syndication services such as Localeze, UBL, or GetListed that will do this on your behalf.

One final thought, getting found in local search is not simply about listing data.  To maximize “find-ability” SMBs must be dedicated to creating and sharing interesting content on the web among networks of people in Facebook, Twitter, Myspace, etc.

I know it sounds like a huge amount of work, and today it is.  The good news, however, is that some innovative and truly simple tools are on the horizon that will help SMBs manage this process from end-to-end.

If you own a small business — pay attention to this blog — and get ready for your second life online.

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