These days if a business wants to be found by prospective customers, it must have a Web presence that shows up in the search engine results. Most people trying to find anything from local carpenters to tutoring services go online nowadays instead of using the phone book. Estimates of the percentage of people who use search engines to find local businesses commonly range from 60% to over 90%.
So a local business clearly needs a web presence, one or more (preferably all) of the primary types of virtual real estate. The best type of VRE and the one most under the business’s control is a website with a carefully-crafted purpose and message. This message needs to be projected through other channels, too, like Facebook and Twitter accounts which are regularly updated, a LinkedIn account, and other forms like Hubpages and specialty and local directories.
Having virtual real estate is not enough, however. It also needs to be found, and for that to happen it must present itself so that the search engines, primarily Google, take notice of it. The main ways to accomplish that are through on-site and off-site SEO (search-engine optimization).
On-site SEO includes things like a keyword-rich domain name, a meaningful description meta-tag, the right kind of site structure, and well-designed and formatted keyword-rich content.
Off-site SEO means maximizing the flow from the main traffic sources. This calls for optimizing Google Places to attract traffic, as well as non-Google sources like Yahoo Local, Best of the Web, Mapquest, Hotfrog, Bing Local, Yelp, and many more.
Finally, SEO must incorporate a social media strategy, because the search engines are incorporating social media in the search results. Facebook, Twitter, and Google Plus are increasingly powerful players in how people find things online. Citations mentioning the business site plus reviews and genuine backlinks in the context of real discussion, are all crucial for success now and in the future.
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