Using Local Business Profiles to Promote Your Business

by Michelle Mangen on February 9, 2010

in Small Business Ideas,WordPress & Website Tips

Use Local Online Profiles to Promote Your Business

Even though as a Virtual Assistant I am not geographically limited to who I can assist with various virtual services that I offer it’s still beneficial to have profiles set up and most of them are free.

Benefits of Creating a Local Profile for Your Business

  • Local consumers can find your business more easily as often local businesses are shown at the top of the search page
  • Consumers and clients can leave feedback that others can see
  • Some sites allow you to include a special offer or videos on your listing

Basically at the end of the day anything, big or small, that we can do as a business to increase our exposure at little or no cost should be considered (really, it should be a no-brainer)

Not sure how to get started – here are links to just a few of the many out there:

Tip: If you are already using Google Local Business Center click here to read a new feature that has recently been released that you should certainly take advantage of.

This is also a perfect task to give to your Virtual Assistant if you find you do not have the time to set up all of these profiles.

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  • http://www.JillofVirtualAssistants.com Arlene de Waal

    This article makes a whole lot of sense. Thank you for sharing. Arlene

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  • Charm@ Turning Winds

    Thanks for those links Michelle. This would really help me a lot. You’ve got great post regarding how to promote businesses locally.

    Impressive and you’ve got a thorough research on this post. Thank you for sharing.

  • http://centersandsquares.com Elizabeth Bolton@Homes in Cambridge

    Hi Michelle ~ This is a great list to get me going. I knew about some of the obvious big ones but some of the others hadn’t occurred to me. And you’re absolutely right – free promotion is a no brainer! Added to my to do file.
    Liz
    .-= Elizabeth Bolton@Homes in Cambridge´s last blog ..321 Harvard Street Cambridge – Stone Chapel Condos =-.

    • http://www.thevirtualasst.com Michelle Mangen

      Elizabeth – glad I could help and made you aware of a few that you didn’t already have in your arsenal.

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  • http://www.BizGrowers.com Brad@Small Business Internet Marketing

    Michelle,
    As an internet marketing professional myself I can vouch for this recommendation. It is a very important part of promoting a small business locally. Some business owners shy away from it, but it’s also critical for being informed and staying on top of protecting their online reputation and being able to respond to feedback good and bad.

    Thanks for letting people know about this!

  • http://www.hgh.info/ Joel@hgh

    Hi Michelle – Indeed a nice list and tips. However, i am wondering if they directly help in improving traffic? Especially sites like superpages and InsiderPages? However listing in search engine local site may definitely help since for local keyword search they may often send traffic.

    • http://www.thevirtualasst.com Michelle Mangen

      Joel – since Google will show you actions, number of impressions and visitors in their Business Local Reporting options I can say that I have indeed gotten traffic as a result. However, I am not sure I’ve actually gotten clients as a result. However, many small actions can have a great impact and since it’s free to do – may as well take the time and effort to do it, right?

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