Roll Out the Welcome Mat with Local Search

Reach the consumers in your neighborhood, city or region with local search. This is a great tool for small businesses looking to advertise on the Web, Yahoo! and Google offer local versions of their search engines. Citysearch is another site to look into. With this marketing tool, small businesses such as restaurants, hair salons, insurance agencies and boutiques will be able to target a localized consumer base through search results.

For example, if you own an Italian restaurant in Dallas, you can ensure that your establishment will appear in the sponsored results on the first SERP (Search Engine Results Page) whenever someone searches for “Italian Restaurant Dallas,” “Pizza Dallas” or “Pasta Dallas.” In fact, in Yahoo!, you can list your business for free, but upgrade it with an enhanced or featuring listing to make your ad more prominent. Meanwhile, your paid ad will appear on Google local search as well as Google Maps.

Regional targeting is a very efficient way to reach your consumers at exactly the moment they’re searching for a business like yours. After all, timing is everything.