With consumers going online more frequently to look for information about local businesses, online channels such as local search have emerged as affordable and effective places in which to advertise.

The first step in building your business’s online presence is to claim it on the local business listing sections of the major search engines. These sections allow you to list your local business for free. Local business listings (LBLs) are available through Google Local Business Center, Yahoo Local and Local Listing Center on Bing. Be sure to follow the business listing quality guidelines on each site. For example, search engines typically display local search results if the search query includes a regional term.

To optimize your LBLs, make sure to do the following:

• spend time on your business description;
• keep your business branding consistent;
• collect customer testimonials, ratings and reviews; and
• include photos, logos and videos where applicable.

Also, don’t just focus your business listings on ranking. Instead, think of them as a form of social media advertising. LBLs encourage customer reviews, so be sure to respond to customer feedback about your business when you get it. Use this information to improve your business image and customer relationships.

Another way to advertise your business online is to create listings on internet yellow pages and other local search sites. These listings help improve your rankings for LBLs on the major search engines, as well as help you capture a significant portion of the local search market.

Paid search
While LBLs are a good place to start, there’s no guarantee that your business listing will be displayed. Similarly, your range of control over your business’s local rankings is limited to standard LBL best practices. Therefore, paid search marketing is another tool for local businesses to use to establish online presences.

Paid search marketing is available on all major search engines through Google AdWords, Yahoo Sponsored Search and MSN adCenter.

In paid search, local businesses can target potential customers by bidding on specific search keywords and choosing how much they’re willing to pay for each ad click leading to a website visitor.

Paid search guarantees that your business is listed at or near the top of the search results at the very moment potential customers are looking for your product or service. Because costs are tied directly to your ad’s performance, paid search is an affordable and effective way to manage your local business’s online presence with greater control and accountability.

To establish an effective online presence, local businesses should take advantage of both LBLs and paid search.

While local search marketing requires time and investment, it’s an important medium to focus on as consumers continue to use online channels to search for local businesses.

Written by Daniel Owen, Vice President of LocalConnex, the local search division of Direct Agents.  This article was published in the eMarketing + Commerce’s newsletter: http://www.emarketingandcommerce.com/article/local-search-marketing-best-practices/1