Your article addresses the core issues around Google’s Local Business Listing. For a change the Internet will become a good local marketing tool for the local business to reach the local consumer through web searches and mobile searches.

What I am most concerned about are small and local businesses having to contend with multiple websites when it comes to their local listing. You listed more under your heading of “IYP”. What I’m really talking about are “time resources”.

Afterall, there are over 60 websites in 4 different categories specifically geared towards local listings. How can a local or small business have the time resources to cover this space.

Even if you made a conscious decision to not manage all 60, there are well more than Google, Yahoo, Bing, and Ask. The space goes to Local.com (they went public), Yelp, Merchant Circle, and many others.

Consumers will be the ones deciding which of these local listing websites they will go and post their experience through consumer reviews. This adds to the burden that no one single local listing website will do the trick.

Something we recently read about are companies that are offering a low cost service to update then manage these listings for companies.

It is a changing world and the local business will benefit. There will be some adjustment to this space needed.

Good information from your post and hopefully varying opinions help give perspective.

That questions was (at least) partially addressed here:

“Follow the simple set up instructions and include as much information as possible on your company (store hours, pictures, videos, descriptions, multiple phone numbers, etc) – this will provide search engines with more info on your company to rank you with.”

The important of filling out all the info thoroughly and accurately is undeniable – a large amount of USEFUL information on your company that Google has, the more you will rank for in search results and the more consumers you will see come in to your site through that avenue.

Dan Sevigny
Director of Internet Marketing
LUCID Public Relations