For decades, local mom and pop businesses could rely on word of mouth and



traditional print services to garner customers. If the local businesses had

a good or service that they wanted to promote, they could just call up the

local newspaper and ask for an advertisement. However, as media has evolved

towards more sophisticated routes such as the Internet, it has become

increasingly more difficult (and oftentimes prohibitively expensive) for

local businesses to stand-out against the crowd by advertising in both newer

and older types of media.

Yet, local businesses continually find themselves facing a problem. As

potential customers become more Internet savvy, local companies could be

doing themselves a great disservice by not having some sort of exposure on

the Internet.

According to Kelsey Research, 70% of US households now use the internet when

searching for local products and services. In fact, it is projected that

over 20 billion searches for local information will be made in 2007. 75% of

Internet users have looked for services and products within an area close to

their home or business. Moreover, recent Internet studies have found that

some of the most searched queries in search engines such as Google or Yahoo

are words such as local business, free, discount, cheap, and other terms

bearing the connotation that the searcher is looking for something to

purchase.

Although many may be trying to look for cheap electronics that can be

shipped to their homes, it is also extremely apparent that consumers are

searching for businesses in their local area that they can patronize. Most

consumption on a day to day basis is not on items such as electronics that

can be purchased online. People need automotive services, tutors, daycare,

lawn care, restaurants, grocery stores, salons, plumbers, and much, much

more within a few miles of their house. These daily rituals that we all

engage in are all predicated on knowing where to find business. And as

mentioned above, with an abundance of people turning to the Internet to find

out where well priced, convenient goods and services are located, even a

small Internet presence can skyrocket a business.

Unfortunately, the typical local business doesn't have a lot of money to

spend on Internet exposure. Even if they do have the finances to build a

website, the process can be cumbersome and somewhat daunting for the

generations of small business that aren't well-read in the ways of

cyberspace. If the typical website can run anywhere from hundreds to

thousands of dollars, is it still worth creating? Even if you get the

website up and running, how will people find you? How high will you be

ranked on search engines? If you are like me, all the worry involved takes

away time from all the daily customer service issues that come with the

territory of owning a business. Why should you spend an inordinate amount of

money when there is no guarantee of getting more customers for your trouble?

Many are pushed away because the return on investment just doesn't seem

worth it.

If this is what you think, perhaps you can consider many other low cost

options for your small business to get attention and some exposure on the

web. Something as simple as a Facebook or Myspace account can be used to

garner advertisement for your business. The Internet is all about content

and link popularity, and having even a little bit can help. However, there

are services that are beginning to expand the range of possibilities for

local businesses and cater explicitly to them. Websites such as

www.Cityslick.net and www.Merchantcircle.com allow companies to create local

listings whereby customers can put basic contact information, slogans,

product descriptions and photos, customizable coupons, appointment

generators, documents, social bookmarking, and much more. The terrific part

about websites like these is that they are not static; companies do not

simply post a listing and hope for customers to show up. Consumers can

browse, request deals, request appointments, chat with other consumers and

businesses in the forums, and leave reviews.

If you decide to list on a business directory website, make sure that they

are doing their best to get you the most exposure possible. According to

www.webworkshop.net, Link text (the text that is clicked on when clicking on

a link) is singly the most important factor when Google determines the

rankings for any given search-term. To help a small local business website

grow in this fashion, it is critical that business owners submit to local

directories that can provide custom back links.

www.Cityslick.net in particular is proactive in its approach to ensure that

these sorts of interactions occur. By using the latest search engine

optimization (SEO) techniques, they are drawing customers to the website not

only by promoting it as a way to find cheap, local deals, but they are also

making it so that listings, just by themselves, have the same sort of

visibility as traditional websites.

Local and small business owners have a multitude of things to worry about

including how to best promote their venture. By using the internet to post

to sophisticated business directories, companies can get all the benefits of

having a website without having to pay a lot of money for their own website.

Take a look. Your customers and business will thank you for it.