Local Search Marketing and Internet Visibility for National Retail and Franchise Locations | How-to Guides for running your business from Business.com

Customers come from all walks of life, they purchase at all hours of the day, they point, they click, and they spend more money on products and services than anyone originally imagined was possible. Right now, your website may be considered an online success story. From Tokyo to New York and back again, PowerPoint presentations and bound reports may hail it as great. And yet, you could still be one of the national retailer or franchise companies that lose million of dollars in revenue each year by neglecting to use your online power to sell your products locally.

Recognize how local search can benefit your bottom line!

The fact remains that although buyers love to find information about products and services online, the vast majority of people still enjoy making purchases locally. What this means to most businesses is that they have to compete for each sale they make online. What this means for you as a national retailer or franchise owner is that you can use increased online visibility to guide customers to your local locations. You can use the power of local search. Unlike traditional search engine results, local search is akin to a phone book in that it bases its results on the geographic location of the searcher. So, a person searching for flowers, schools or restaurants through a local search, will only be provided florists, schools or restaurants that are local.

Never underestimate the power you have locally!

The end result of local search is exclusive visibility in a listing that directs surfers to your physical address and website (not required). You also implicitly gain credibility that carries over to traditional search engines, and consumers begin to recognize your company as a trusted ally in the virtual world. Advertising your products and services on various local search networks, increases the possibilities of being seen by those ready to visit and ready to purchase. Through local search promotion, advertising and distribution systems like SwiftLocal (a Localeze local content distribution partner - www.SwiftLocal.com) and LocalLaunch your local campaign can be quickly established and managed on multiple local search engines, directories and area guides in minimal time and at minimal expense.

Build lifetime relationships and add personality to your business by marketing your products and services locally.

The sole purpose of local search networks is to deliver your business highly targeted and relevant visitors. In return, you can enjoy the added revenue provided by customers your storefront employees are able to build strong, lifelong relationships with. Just one more reason to look into local search.

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

How to get started

How to get listed for best local search results.

I recommend:
Determine if your business is right for local search. If you have single, multiple national or regional locations that could benefit from getting listed in print Yellow Pages or that needs local foot traffic, then your business is right for Internet based local search. On the other hand if your business is strictly Internet based, then it might not be.
Contact a solution provider (see the distribution providers below) or perform a search for "local search submission" to conduct your own research.
Submit a quote or info request to process all of your locations.
If you have many locations be sure to ask about their bulk submission process.

Be aware that to process bulk submissions (i.e. 100, 200, 1000 or more locations) it will require that your data be provided in the form of a Spreadsheet or other database import friendly format.

Tips & Tactics
Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

Be aware that appearing in local search results is not the same as getting listed in the standard organic results of search pages. Local Search results require a special submission process, they usually appear at the very top of search results and usually contain business hours of operation, products and services, affiliations and other important details.
Be sure to optimize your site(s) for greater potential to appear in organic results when users search locally or by proximity by adding appropriate keywords and terms related to your branches or business locations (Ex: "Chicago Restaurant", "Cahokia, Illinois Dentist", "Yonkers, New York Take Out Pizza").
Adding Zip Codes and phone area codes may also help.
Just because you have a store locator doesn't mean that consumers will use it. Make sure that all of your business locations are represented in search directories and engines for quick and easy searching. Users might find it difficult or too time consuming to use your store locator especially from a cellphone or PDA.
About 30% of users like to search with a town, city or local keyword added to their search. They are usually looking to buy. Increasing your visibility increases the possibility they will drive to your business location to buy from you.
It's not enough to get listed in Google, Yahoo! and MSN local, there are many other yellow page and directory services that users go to when they search for what they want.

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