Local Search Thoughts

As we head into 2010 local search seems to be a hot topic. As search has continued to go more local it is more important than ever before to have  a plan for your business to be found when people search. One fact that brings this home is that in 2008 people searching for local businesses online grew by 58 percent, it will be real interesting to see what that number is in 2009 since so many have moved to the iPhone, with the ease of use of the current smart phones it is only natural that mobile searches will skew even more local.

I was reading a great post over at LocalSEOGuide.com and after preaching a lot of this over the last year to anyone who would listen it was great to see a leader in the space validate much of what we had been seeing.

A couple bullet points to point out:

SMB SEO Budgets Will Increase Dramatically
A number of misguided souls are predicting that personalized search renders SEO obsolete.  Bottom line: most SMBs don’t know what they are doing with search, are going nuts because some spammer or the guy down the street outranks them, want to spend more time with their kids and are ready to hire someone to make the problem go away.

And:

SEO Consultants Will Become Better Known as Marketers
2009 seemed like the year when a lot of SMBs woke up to the fact that SEO actually existed and could be an important part of the marketing mix.  In 2010 more businesses are going to start to realize that search and social media could be the biggest area of potential for their companies and they will pour more resources into these channels.  As a result search marketers are going to take on bigger roles helping drive comprehensive marketing strategies.

This last one is something I discuss often in my seminars to small business owners, when you start talking about search engines, the internet, or anything that relates to a computer most small business owners tune out immediately. To most people all of these topics are purely technical and seem to be of little consequence to them.

But after showing examples of businesses being found with local search and using real case studies it clicks with them that they are actually using the internet to find services and businesses JUST LIKE THEIR CUSTOMERS.

It clicks at that point.

The technology is suddenly a marketing tool.

We all know this, but to someone that is not involved on a day to day basis with this there is not an immediate link.

Once that link is created they understand that with the Yellow Pages print edition faltering they better start thinking about a plan to attract those that have went away, and to that great marketing tool called the internet.