If you’ve got a business that caters to a predominantly local market, and you aren’t active in your online strategy, you’re about to be left behind in a big way.
Late last week Google announced a new feature for their mobile search where you can find businesses near you. This little feature, which rolled out to all iPhone and Droid users can have a huge impact on your local foot traffic.
In order to be listed in what we call the 7 pack, you’ve got to have your businesses listed in the Google Local Business Listings (LBL). Even if your business doesn’t have a website, you can still list it in there.
There are two main impacts by this simple change:
- Those businesses that are listed in the LBL are going to see an increase in walk-in traffic. Over time as the service is rolled out to more and more smartphones, it will only increase this walk-in traffic. Since smartphones continue to get cheaper, more and more people are going to have them. It won’t be long before most cell phones are smart/data run.
- Not being listed in the LBL is only going to continue to hurt businesses that won’t get with the times. It’s like ignoring the Yellow Pages 50 years ago. It’s like saying the television fad will quietly pass.
Now, don’t forget that Google is already showing local/map results for generic queries. That’s something they rolled out way back around March of 2009. So it goes without saying that having a strong SEO presence in the search engines is becoming more and more mandatory. Having your site verified in Google Webmaster tools is no longer an option.
Read other posts on Google Maps and local marketing
Oh – and once you’re listed, don’t forget to keep an eye on your listing.
