As you read this short article consider the fact that there are literally thousands of customers in your local market that are presently searching for products and services on the internet. If you don’t have a website or the one you do have isn’t doing well in local search results these potential customers will do business elsewhere. Local search engines like Google, Yahoo, and Bing may not even be aware of your website or local business for that matter. Why? Because insuring that your site and business listings show up is not a given. It most often requires a good bit of technical savvy and yes it’s a skill.

Well trained website designers and web developers will know the submissions process and which categories to list your website or business under. That’s right, you’ll need to actually submit listings to various directories to insure your site or business is indexed appropriately to be returned in your local search market.

It’s worth mentioning that all of the search engine submissions are free in themselves and most of the business directories that matter are free also . However the time, expertise, and knowing which ones to submit to is rarely a free commodity. These prices should not be exorbitant yet you shouldn’t anticipate it being dirt cheap either. Reputable web designers and developers will usually charge for this service if it’s given outside the scope of a new website or redesign. Oftentimes, as is the case with new websites we develop or redesign, we include (SEO) Search Engine Optimization and local search submission to Google, Yahoo, & Bing into the package. This makes sense and it’s only good business to do so.

I always advise my clients to exercise caution and old fashioned common sense when it comes to outsourcing this important service. If certain shady tactics are used and found out about you also run the risk of being excluded altogether from search engine inclusion. It’s not worth the repercussions. It pays to let a reputable website designer or web developer do things the right way.

There are more rip offs out there than there are legitimate, value-priced experts. In a recent redesign I took own I advised my client to fire his then present SEO/Marketing company. A well known leader in the SEO/Local Search Marketing industry, they were billing him upwards of $200 per month for services that added little to no value to his local business. To make matters worse this company was charging him to drive traffic to a website that was practically non-existent. It was both poorly designed and under-developed by another well known, national, yellow page ad, website company. Needless to say we pulled the plug on both companies.

In closing I’d like to emphasize that an effective Local SEO strategy is multifaceted, takes time, and should never be left to chance.  At Georgia Web Development we utilize only white-hat methods which will earn your site the respected and legitimate ranking that it deserves. It won’t happen over night but in a few short months we can have your website or business doing extremely well by utilizing strategies that are uniquely designed for your individual site or business. The results our services produce are both measurable and cumulative. We know how to take the guessing out of the equation entirely.

If you’ve got questions regarding getting your Georgia Small Business found online or any other web related services being offered in today’s online marketplace I’d love to hear from you! It’s an honor that I’ve been able to assist and help lots of clients and Georgia Small Businesses succeed in the area of Small Business Web Development.

Cheers!

Mark Hulett
Georgia Web Development