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20
Sep

Extending Your Reach Using New Channels for Local Business Marketing

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The “Local” Channels

There are many types of digital channels and one of them is what we call the “Local” Channels. These are ways in which your prospects search for businesses that are near their region.

Since major search engines such as Google™ basically return results that are worldwide unless you add local keywords to the searches, the average business person seeking only local results may prefer a better means of attracting targeted traffic. This is where local channels can help.

Localized web and mobile channels generate very targeted leads and provide free and low-cost options to extend your reach. You’ll want to start with these first, then extend your reach through all of the other options.

Local Directories

Local Directories have replaced the traditional hard-copy Yellow Pages as the best source to find local businesses. Even the famous Yellow Pages are now online and are being used by thousands every day (http://www.yellowpages.com).

Search engines such as Google™ and Yahoo, like online local directories and rank them very high in their search results. This is because local directories are very targeted towards a specific location (region) and contain a lot of relevant links to business websites.

Business owners are starting to realize that they can get targeted traffic to their websites if they are listed in these local directories. And submissions of their website links or URLs to these local directories sometimes need to be manually approved by a human being.

Submitting websites to these manually approved directories means the submissions are less likely to be considered spammed. And manual submitters can clear up any inaccurate information during the process, to aid in keyword and other targeted search info, another main reason why general search engines rank these type of local directories higher in their search results.

SearchDirectoryOf is an example of a good local directory where you can submit your website to a category under a relevant location, along with a brief description of what your website is about.

The local directories also allow you to enter your contact details such as telephone number, fax and email address.

The submission of your website is normally free of charge. However, some directories do require a fee such as the Yahoo Directory (http://searchmarketing.yahoo.com/dirsb/index.php) which costs $299 a year.

The benefit of submitting your website to a local directory is so that real buyers will have a chance to check out your business products and services before making their decision.

When a prospect goes through the process of searching in local directories and digging deep into the different categories to find out what businesses can serve their needs within their local area, they are generally looking to purchase something, fast.

For example if you list your website at a very specific category such as

Business and Economy >> Shopping and Services >> Health >> Fitness>> Personal Trainers >> Online Training

…the people who find your website under that category will be looking at exactly what your website is offering. Hence this makes it worthwhile for you to list your website in the local directories.

An additional advantage of listing your website in the local directories is “search engine optimization” (SEO) which is a method to rank your website higher in the search engine results. In a nutshell, it’s making sure your content: tags, articles and all, are focused or optimized around your main targeted keywords.

Search engines consider the information on local directories to be accurate and of good quality, thus rank them high in the search results. This will make the ranking of your website in the search engines improve as well, since the local directories have a link to your website.

This is one of the reasons why some local directories charge a fee for a listing in one of their categories, with the Yahoo Directory being an example. These directories know that inclusion will improve your search engine rankings, and that you’ll get good targeted visitors to your websites.

Here are some examples of local directories that you can submit your website to:

You can find more local directories to submit to by going to Google™ ’s search engine with your country’s extension, e.g. co.uk for UK, .com.hk for Hong Kong, .au for Australia etc… and type in “local directories.”

Start submitting your website to as many local directories as you can find. It is recommended that you pay to get listed on Yahoo’s Directory since many people have confirmed that it has improved their search engine rankings.

Category : Local Marketing Guide