It's actually pretty basic. But when you think about it the internet as a whole is geared to worldwide, oh wait that is why it's called the world wide web. But now that you have your website up you want to attract the customers that are in your backyard as well as the ones across the globe in their backyards as well. The idea of a website is not just to sell across the globe but to also drive customers to your front door. Here comes the local part of the worldwide web.

Obviously everyone knows that one of the first things you do when you get your site finished is to submit it to the three big search engines as well as the small ones. But when you are submitting to any of the search engines, be sure that you also list in their local engines. One example of this is to go to http://listings.local.yahoo.com, the local listing will connect you to the local markets. Once yahoo processes your submission your business will be listed and appear on Yahoo! Local maps and in searches that correlate to your description and category. Google and MSN work much the same way with each having their own version of the local maps.

Don't settle for just the three big engines though, several of the smaller lesser know engines offer the same service. The catch to all of this is that why you can use a service or software program to submit your site to the engines themselves, the local portion is a manual process and you must actually get to each of the engines and locate their local listings.

Optimizing your website for local searches is not difficult. Doing it the right way to reach the biggest market share can be a challenge.

Having a website is crucial to any business in today world, but businesses like dry cleaners, electronic repair shops, and barber shops should have a website the ranks well in the local search engines as well as in the general internet population.

Getting the local search engine rankings is simple. Just register with the local search engines. But to get ranked with the general search engine populous is a bit more difficult, but can be done.

We all know that pages should be keyword rich and keyword optimized. To bring in the local optimization here is fairly easy to do. Simply add a header or footer with your contact information, but logically that is not an attractive way to go. Now adding the area served, and the company address some way other than with a header and footer is actually simple if you think about it. Think about something like “The next time you visit the NY City area stop by for your free sandwich” Now that will pull in the search engines to the area of New York. Now think about this statement, “Next time you are in the NY City area or even the 55555 zip code we would like to host your free soft drink.” Of better yes, try, “Next time you are in the NY City area or even the 55555 zip code we would like to host your free soft drink; or call us at 555-555-5555 to schedule your dinner reservation.” Simple additions to your text like the ones listed will help you achieve that ultimate goal of ranking well with the general search engines for local searches.