My family was recently in Boulder, CO—a place we had hitherto not been. Nice town, but where to go?

We spent most of our time at The Spot rock climbing gym because our kids were competing in the bouldering national championships. After a day of intense heart-stopping competition, with thrills and spills set against a techno soundtrack and a backdrop of camaraderie and raucous cheering, we were ready for a fine dining experience in a relaxing restaurant.

Who better to ask than the locals managing the gym? We exchanged a couple of brief clarifications:

• We want a nice place with really good food, but we’re wearing jeans.
• Don’t worry, this is Boulder.

And boom, we had two recommendations close to each other on Pearl Street. We did a quick check of the menus to ensure we could satisfy both the carnivores and herbivores in the family, and decided to go to Sunflower. It was exactly what we wanted.

How about dessert? Several blocks off Pearl Street is a pedestrian mall, so we asked the waiter if there was a good candy or ice cream parlor we could walk to. He had a recommendation for each at the ready: Belvedere Belgian Chocolate Shop and Ben & Jerry’s. We walked along Pearl Street to both, and everyone got just what they wanted.

It couldn’t have been easier. The information was on-demand, very quick, locally relevant, super targeted, and highly reliable.

So, the key to success for online local search is to make the digital analog as compelling as a little help from your friends.

At our hotel room, I retraced our experience online, and it was not nearly as efficient. Looking for a restaurant involved several sites, reading a lot of reviews, and looking at a lot of maps to refine the possibilities down to those that would meet our criteria. Add on a search for chocolate and ice cream, and, well, it could have been easier.

In the end, I am confident an online search would have led us to the same places, but by then it would have been late seating.

For those heading to Boulder, here’s where we went:

• Sunflower
• Belvedere Belgian Chocolate Shop
• Ben and Jerry’s
• The Spot

Just a little help from a friend.

Being listed is one thing, but once your business gets noticed, some customers may post negative reviews about it. What’s a local business owner to do about this unwanted publicity?

Based on our first-hand experience and observations of other local web publishers, local businesses tend to react in one of three ways:

• Flame the publishers: Businesses that receive poor customer reviews on local sites sometimes contact the site owners or publishers directly, asking them to remove a negative post or, in some cases, remove their business from the site altogether. This is often accompanied by some mention of our esteemed legal system. Many local business owners and their legal counsel are not well-versed in the immunities available under federal law to publishers of websites that provide open forums for both customers and those same local business owners to post messages. Federal law shields these publishers from liabilities associated with messages posted by third parties.

  Still, in certain cases, publishers can and do oblige, especially if the negative post violates the site’s terms of use. Sometimes it is a judgment call, and placing the publisher in the middle of sparring factions is not the best solution for anyone. If the post is simply a freely expressed opinion, such as ‘the service at this business was disappointing,’ most site owners stand firm, because a local site’s life and legitimacy involves providing a forum for all valid opinions.

• Get directly involved: Better would be to view the review as constructive criticism pointing out issues that may need to be addressed. It is often difficult for businesses to know how customers perceive their product or service, and here are customers interested enough to tell them. Granted, some reviewers write untrue reviews for unkind motives, but that brush is too often used to paint over legitimate reviews. Presume innocence until proven guilty.

  Engage the reviewer and the community in a conversation online. Comment on the review if that functionality is available, or write another review responding to the first, but always clearly state you are the owner. Your potential customers are reading the reviews, and this is a way for everyone to see there is a human behind the business and that issues are being addressed. There is a growing trend of businesses using this new medium to reach out and extend some old fashioned customer service. These interactions often lead to positive outcomes, with consumers being impressed that the business owners cared enough to respond.

  Avoid the temptation to become directly involved by writing a review pretending to be a customer. These are easily spotted and do more harm than good for the integrity of the business.

• Simply let it play out. As hard as it might be for a business owner to read a negative consumer review about the business, odds are good that if the business is a good one, other consumers will weigh in with positive views to balance or even contest the negative ones. With the wisdom of crowds, the community generally outs the truth.

There are more than 15 million businesses and more than 300 million people visiting them in this country. Not all of the visits will be perfect. Some customers will make the effort to express what they thought, good and bad. From there, the decision is up to the businesses on how to respond. Talking about the issues is always best. Turning an unhappy customer into a happy one is good for business. It will be interesting to continue monitoring what local businesses do to ensure the accuracy of their core data and address the expressed opinions of their local customers.

Chris Linnett is director of Open List for Marchex, where he blogs regularly about all things local at LocalPoint, in addition to his regular column for Search Engine Land. The Locals Only column appears weekly at Search Engine Land.

Businesses feel the same way. They are excited to see their name first appear in the phone book. And the emotion would certainly be stronger if their business was not there. Businesses have a vested interest in helping customers find them. They know the importance of being listed.

The Jerk had it easy. The phone book was it. But his words ring true today. Now businesses face the challenge of myriad local sites featuring listings that range from simple names and addresses to extensive profile pages.

Businesses want to ensure that they are listed, but how do they search for sites where they do not appear? That is like asking everyone not present to raise their hand. Small businesses are busy enough just running their stores. And yet, as businesses of all sizes become ever more aware of and savvy about the importance of the Web for local search, they are dedicating themselves to just such a task.

Open List recently enabled merchants and consumers to submit additions and corrections to our sites, and the results have been exciting.

First, the initial submission came in within minutes of the link going live. Minutes. Are local businesses interested in participating in the local Internet? Clearly. That initial submission was the first snowflake of an ensuing avalanche. The majority of submissions are coming in from business owners—they want to be listed. They are motivated. And this growing imperative of participating in local information sites also bodes well for strong growth in local online advertising as businesses deepen their engagement on the Web.

Second, most of the submissions add businesses to the collection. Allowing business to participate is a highly effective way to keep the data set not only comprehensive, but current. The next largest set of submissions provides additional information about listed businesses—hours, parking, wheelchair access, etc. Here both businesses and consumers are avidly submitting information. And the remaining submissions contain corrections to data and alerts that businesses have closed.

As I have discussed elsewhere, data perfection is a myth and an opportunity. The business landscape changes far too quickly to allow a data set to be perfect, but the opportunity this affords is to engage the community of business owners and consumers to provide up-to-date information. We are seeing this in action. The financial motivations of businesses and the altruistic motivations of consumers have created a strong desire to participate. Phone books were updated once a year. Local sites can be updated constantly.

The Jerk knew the importance of being listed in the phone book. Local businesses know the importance of being listed on local search sites. As each business joins the local conversation, may they experience the joy of the Jerk.

Chris Linnett is director of Open List for Marchex, where he blogs regularly about all things local at LocalPoint, in addition to his regular column for Search Engine Land. The Locals Only column appears on Mondays at Search Engine Land.

Just a couple of years ago, another day was coined by Shop.org, the online branch of the National Retailer Federation trade group, to highlight, and help boost, the surge in online shopping following the Thanksgiving weekend: Cyber Monday! Amazingly, media, economic analysts and consumers ate it up, so each year more merchants announce Cyber Monday sales, and a virtuous cycle has begun. There is even an official web site, cybermonday.com, as a portal to many of these sales.

So today, we all know Black Friday and Cyber Monday as key annual milestones in this economy’s shopping season.

Well those of us immersed in all things local need to unite and create yet another day for the pundits to notice. How about “local Tuesday?” This would not be just a one-day wonder, but would symbolize the importance that local information and advertising have on purchases throughout the holiday season—and the entire year, for that matter.

Point is, as much as Cyber Monday reflects a megatrend of dollars and shopping moving online, Black Friday reminds us that the vast majority of consumer retail spending is still occurring at local brick-and-mortar businesses. Local Tuesday would celebrate the fact that online and offline have merged and blended, both from the business and the consumer perspectives.

For consumers, offline shopping is increasingly influenced by online information. Local search and local online advertising have become critical elements of offline purchase decisions—now and beyond this most hectic buying season of the year.

For businesses, Local Tuesday would conclusively address the ongoing debate of physical storefront versus web site. Both are important, to the point where most businesses need some form of online presence to be viable and competitive in today’s marketplace. Instead of worrying about losing business to Web-based competitors, brick-and-mortar businesses should focus on leveraging some form of online presence—whether an actual Web site, a highly targeted local online advertising campaign, or both—to drive shoppers to their physical stores!

Many retailers posted their offline Black Friday sales information in advance on their Web sites to do just that. Many consumers do online research for offline purchases—and then return online to rate and review them.

Local Tuesday would celebrate this yin and yang of local purchase decisions. And like Cyber Monday, it would highlight, and help boost, a recurring traffic surge—in this case, the typical Tuesday peak in weekly traffic to local search sites.

This is a great time of year to recognize and remind ourselves that the “last mile” of local search lies in providing exactly what consumers need to discover local businesses and make informed buying decisions.

Please join me in celebrating Local Tuesday!

Chris Linnett is director of Open List for Marchex, where he blogs regularly about all things local at LocalPoint, in addition to his regular column for Search Engine Land. The Locals Only column appears on Mondays at Search Engine Land.

Is this a case of massive election fraud? No. It is just all of us casting daily local votes: Where to buy a morning cup of coffee and pick up a local paper? Where to take the car for service? Where to eat lunch, get a haircut, rent a movie? While a 50% turnout rate is considered high for a traditional Election Day here in the US, practically 100% of us vote each and every day.

We vote each day with our pocketbooks. Last week, political winners threw parties and losers gave concession speeches, but every day, businesses win and lose at the whim of the voters. Upstarts try to unseat incumbents. Incumbents try to flex their leadership muscle.

How do we know who to vote for? Signs, TV ads, web sites, direct mail, and other media aim well-crafted messaging at us and our vote. The political campaigns are over, but the marketing campaigns wage on. With the advancements in local search sites, there is now nearly as much useful information available about where to buy a bagel as who to send to the Senate. This helps us make better and more informed decisions every day.

And the power of voting with our pocketbook is even stronger if we can let others know about our decisions. Most local sites support this. Letting us rate and review businesses encourages the free exchange of opinions. We can stump for our favorite establishments and debate the merits of others.

Web sites themselves are ballots offering many choices. We click on what we like, we don’t click on what we don’t like, and we use the write-in box (search) to indicate what else we want but do not see. The more a site tallies its votes (chads and all), the better it will understand the will of its constituents. If the site responds with more of what their customers want, the customers will reward it with increased usage and viral marketing, and purchases at local businesses.

Some of my favorite data from my years at MSN came from monitoring the top search queries for each day of the year. With this, we could build a daily editorial calendar that ensured we highlighted the right content at the right time. To verify, we monitored the real time tally of user clicks on our headlines. This is similar to what local businesses can do now to align their merchandise and service offerings with how their customers are voting.

And online democracy is not limited to campaign sites and political elections; your neighbors are gathering at sites like Open List, Yahoo Local, Yelp, and others. They are voting online and with their pocketbooks for local businesses and services.

So get out the vote! Today and every day.

Chris Linnett is director of Open List for Marchex, where he blogs regularly about all things local at LocalPpoint, in addition to his regular column for Search Engine Land. The Locals Only column appears on Mondays at Search Engine Land.

In 1957, telephones had dials. Televisions had dials. The Edsel was introduced. And gasoline was 31 cents per gallon. Searching for information meant going to the library. Dressed in suits or skirts, people literally had to search through the card catalog and stacks of books.

And local search meant flipping through a phone book.

Earlier this month I was invited to speak at the IEEE Professional Communication Society’s 50th anniversary conference and provide a retrospective of local search. So, I began at the beginning.

On October 4, 1957 Sputnik was launched. As a result, President Eisenhower called for the creation of a highway network connecting our cities and a computer network connecting our scientists. Thus were born the Interstate Highway System and ARPANET—the Advanced Research Project Agency Network (part of the Department of Defense). In 1969, the ARPANET connected 4 locations. By 1981, more than 200.

In 1989 Tim Berners-Lee created the World Wide Web, and by 1994 a couple of Stanford grad students had begun collecting their favorite web sites. As their collection grew, it needed to be searchable, and Yahoo was born.

Then local hit the scene. In 1996 and 1997, Citysearch and Microsoft Sidewalk were launched, respectively. The idea was to tap into the multi-billion-dollar revenues of Yellow Pages by connecting local businesses with local consumers in this new medium. Both sites handcrafted fabulous editorial content that was expensive to scale. Local consumers flocked to it, but local advertisers didn’t. A great idea ahead of its time. To be fair, Yellow Pages had a 100-year head start in figuring out how to sell advertising to local businesses. Microsoft bailed out in 1999, selling Sidewalk to Citysearch, and then the Web bubble burst.

Citysearch weathered the storm and remains a strong presence today. Post bubble, the major search engines have also been offering local experiences, with the 2005 launch of Google Local being one of the most recent. And today, large and small players dot the local-search landscape.

The Internet is going local. Quoting Marchex’s recent white paper, “local search grew 24% so far this year, while general Web search grew only 14%.”

But phone books are still in use, you say. True. So let us distinguish lookup versus discovery.

To look up a phone number, I’ll use whichever is closest to my hands—computer or phone book. But this is a limited use case, and one waiting for technology to eliminate the artificial abstraction of converting a business name to a seven-digit number.

But to discover a Greek restaurant—in my neighborhood, that people like and isn’t too expensive—is beyond the bailiwick of the phone book. The Web is essential, and its empowerment of consumers to provide their perspectives, revolutionary. The information is still often decentralized, which is why some local sites are bringing that information together from across the Web to a single place, like Yahoo Local or OpenList.com.

While a phone book can still help with a lookup, that glosses over impressive advancements that the Web brings for discovery within a city or neighborhood. Not to mention, what can be done on a computer today is qualitatively different than what could be done at the library in 1957.

Ray Kurzweil spoke at the conference as well, and he has long proposed that technology advances exponentially. He cautions that living through the early part of an exponential curve can mislead us into thinking the progress is linear because exponential growth of small numbers appears small. But as we move to the right over time, an exponential curve turns sharply upward.

We have seen significant growth in local search and are laying the foundation for faster and greater improvements, but we have been living through the early part of the curve. The exponential progress of the next 50 years will propel local search beyond our most ambitious linear plans, just as Sputnik propelled the first 50 years of the Internet.

Chris Linnett is director of Open List for Marchex. The Locals Only column appears on Mondays at Search Engine Land.

Analyzing usage metrics is like turning on the lights. They let you see if you are doing the right things. They help you understand user behavior, which allows you to do more of what users want and less of what they don’t. This drives increased usage and revenue, and decreases wasted expenditures. Like the old adage in television advertising that says ‘you know half your money is wasted, you just don’t know which half,’ usage metrics can be the difference between guessing and knowing.

The advent of the web enabled a quantum leap forward in our ability to understand user demand and behavior. Users tell us every day what they like and don’t like on our sites. All we have to do is listen. The more we listen, the better equipped we are to deliver what our users want.

I call it democracy. A web page is like a ballot. Users click on what they like, they don’t click on what they don’t like. And if they don’t see what they want, the search box is a write in vote—“I want this.” Think about the power of these simple actions.

During my tenure at MSN, the team was able to understand what users were interested in at different times of day, different days of the week, and each day of the year. How? Because users told us. We responded by highlighting specific content and services when users were looking for them, and they rewarded us with increased usage.

At Microsoft Office Online, the team was able to identify highly rated content that was rarely read, and poorly rated content that was often read. We responded by promoting the highly rated content and fixing the poorly rated content to achieve higher user engagement and satisfaction.

So which metrics should we pay attention to?

Page views? Early on, web sites put counters on their pages to record page views, but a high number could be the result of one industrious user hitting refresh a lot.

Unique users? In response, sites began measuring unique users, but perhaps each unique user hit the homepage and left.

Minutes per session? As a measure of engagement, sites began reporting minutes per session, or how long the average user spent on the site during a visit. But high minutes on a chat site might have high costs, whereas low minutes on an e-commerce site might have high profits.

And so on.

No single metric defines the whole picture. It takes a constellation of metrics, and which constellation depends on the goals of the site and the sophistication of the system and analysts.

Page views may still identify popular areas of a site. Unique users are still a standard benchmark of reach, or popularity. And minutes per session and sessions per month are good measures of engagement.

Additional metrics include:

• Click-through rates on specific links and as a function of location on a page
• Search queries on your site to identify seasonal trends and new topics
• Entry and exit pages, referring sites, and search-engine keywords driving traffic to your site
• Click-stream analysis to follow user pathways, identify abandonment spots, and identify related areas within your site
• Multivariate testing to optimize combinations of factors on your site

And there are many, many others. Toss in financial analysis and you can pivot these in terms of revenue. Compare your data with third-party providers, and they will differ, because what seems like a simple counting exercise is significantly more complex.

If you’re new to this, take heart—it is OK to begin with simple metrics. For each question answered, a new question will take its place and spur you on to understand that next level of detail. I did not say metrics were easy; I said they were among your most valuable assets.

Chris Linnett is director of Open List for Marchex. The Locals Only column appears on Mondays at Search Engine Land.

Since we launched more than 100,000 sites in late June, I have had the chance to comb through many of the thousands of user reviews that have come in. It is enjoyable to step back from the day-to-day work we all do and take a look at what the community is capable of producing!

In browsing through the reviews, I was specifically looking for:

• Good reviews: Providing sufficient details about a business to offer useful, unique content that truly helps other users make better decisions
• Informative reviews: Alerting site operators and consumers to up-to-the-moment information on business closures or changes
• Constructively critical reviews: Good user generated content is not always about favorable reviews, after all
• Ironic, amusing, and other interesting reviews: See for yourself!

The good: This user provides useful details about a hotel: “Based on our recent stay, the hotel was just okay. I chose it primarily because of location. The lobby and dining area is very nice. The pool is okay, it’s a lap pool, just a bit small and was crowded. Pool area was clean though. Room was quite small for a King Suite. Decor was pretty dated in my opinion. Living room area was dark due to not having any windows. Good location and views, but overall I need more room than it offered. Little too small for more than one person.”

The bad: This reviewer does not include enough information about a karate school: “This place is the greatest – No other Karate School like it.”

The positive: This consumer provides positive details on a barbershop, with a twist on an old adage: “This place was clean, friendly and offered great service. Mostly family owned, the family that cuts hair together stays together! Great service for the whole family too. I have my hair done there on a regular basis, but now am taking the kids too. They look chic and upscale, but without the price tag! Check them out!”

The negative (constructive criticism): A regular customer of a bike shop writes about a specific concern: “The guys that work there have been knowledgeable and helpful, but the owner/manager at the central store was extremely insulting and non-customer service oriented on covering a minor seat problem on a new bike that was purchased less than a month ago. I have purchased all my bikes there, but after the last extremely unpleasant experience with the manager, I will never darken their door again.”

And a repeat customer of a restaurant franchise points out consistent flaws with a particular location: “I have eaten at other [restaurants in this chain] before and been pleased. My experiences at this one though have not been good. The food has either been very slow in coming to the table or not cooked right when it got there. I have had cold food served to me and a not so friendly wait staff who didn’t want to assist. They were slow, the tables were sticky, and I will not go back. I have been there 4 times and not once was it a good experience.”

The informative: A reviewer alerting us and our site’s users’ about a change to this banquet facility: “While the Ballroom at Church Street has been a popular wedding site, it has recently been sold, and not booking weddings/receptions.”

And this user calling out a recently closed business: “Betty’s Hair Boutique closed in 2007 after the owner retired.”

The compelling: Every so often a feel-good story about a business emerges: “I have a checking acct. with this bank. 2 days before I was to go on vacation my purse was stolen at my job. All my vacation money was spent by the thief using my visa check card. The people at this bank went out of their way to replace the money and give me a temporary ATM card to use while I was in FLA. This bank has many branches and is always ready to help you.”

The owner: Business owners should be encouraged to participate, as long as they identify themselves as the owner: “Hello,This is my first Business and it’s a Franchise. My wife and I and 7 family members work at the store. We have been blessed and welcome all of you. Please stop by as this is like no other Party/Gift store imaginable.”

The ironic and amusing: Talk about a deadbeat florist: “I got DEAD flowers. I ordered flowers for a funeral and they were DEAD, and VERY expensive too!”

And this travel tip: “This place would scare the Bates Motel. Sleep behind a dumpster, it’s cleaner. Roaches, bad AC, staff could care less.”

The breadth: A storage facility: “This is a great facility offering climate or non climate units. Gated security, friendly staff and very clean. My son had a unit there for a while and was very pleased with the facility and its management. Great rates also. If we ever need storage again this is where I would go.

A security system company: “Great clean installation of my security system. I’d refer my mom!!”

A pool hall: “Top quality place attracts top quality players. I have played in many of the pool halls in the area. This one attracts some of the best local players. Looking for great pool atmosphere, this is it. Looking for great players, this is it. Has a bar and good food.”

With any type of review, we always advise our consumers to consider reviews in totality—that is, one reviewer’s Bates Motel could be another’s Shangri-La. The wisdom of groups should converge on an accurate overall assessment.

Through it all, it is a fun and educational exercise to scan local reviews, where the good, the bad, and the amusing meet.

Chris Linnett is director of Open List for Marchex. The Locals Only column appears on Mondays at Search Engine Land.

There has been increased innovation and consolidation in the local space. We have seen the roll out of interesting features and sites that deploy combinations of rich media to enhance the user experience and offer new ways for merchants to participate. But as a group, local sites have not yet harnessed media to full effect, making it a fascinating category in which to be engaged, and one with many opportunities.

Here is an informal look at some pros and cons associated with adding incremental forms of media to the local-focused marketplace—an area largely defined to-date by traditional text-based sites.

Video

Pros: The power of video to captivate would be hard to deny, as evidenced by television and YouTube. Now low-cost, professional-grade spots about local businesses are emerging with the help of upstarts like TurnHere and Spot Runner. From bakeries to beauty salons, roofers to real estate agents, some local merchants can present their stories and points of differentiation in a very effective way using video. The videos can be compelling and useful in helping users make decisions about local businesses, and they give merchants a new means of participating in the conversation about their businesses. And with more than 15 million businesses across the country, user-contributed video may be an essential element for providing coverage and offering additional perspectives.

Cons: One video may be compelling, but what about ten or twenty for the same business? Will they be helpful for making a decision or overwhelming? Text reviews can be scanned, but videos cannot. Some techniques for sorting and filtering text reviews can be applied to video today, but additional paradigms will be needed for managing video content on local sites. And user-contributed video reviews would likely encounter similar challenges as text reviews, such as the fact that the vocal minority contribute the majority of reviews.

As has been well documented in cases involving both videos and photos, copyright issues can and do arise, so it is important for all business and Web site developers to be aware of and respect the intellectual property of others.

Audio

Pros: As podcast have shown, audio is also a compelling media experience which is ideally suited for use both at the computer and away from it. Subscribing to the newest descriptions and reviews of local businesses on the way into work or back home may inspire a listener to patronize. For the merchant, it is another opportunity to reach customers, and for a local site it adds a rich experience and can extend its reach beyond the computer.

Cons: Podcasts are a linear experience like video, and thus they too are not easily scanned or managed in bulk. The vocal minority would literally be vocal. And audio alone would be deemed too ‘old school’ in the age of YouTube. It is therefore more likely to be effective as a complement to other rich media and information on a local site.

Photos

Pros: Worth a thousand words, photos are also visual gems that can make an otherwise text-rich experience more appealing. A good photo can bring other information about a business to life. It can convey ambiance, show off a product, introduce the staff, aid in finding the building, and go a long way toward encouraging a consumer to select that business. They are easily scanned and provide another effective means for merchants to offer information. The ability to take digital photos is becoming ubiquitous (I’m delighted that my cell phone actually still makes calls) and the popularity of sites like Flickr demonstrates that there are a robust supply of photos and a demand to view them.

Cons: Organizing my own photos is a challenge; organizing the photos of the Web community might be daunting. Just as 100 text reviews may be too much information, 100 photos may be entering the realm of Uncle Harry’s vacation slides. As the numbers grow, it will again be important for the site to add value by providing organization and user controls such as rating, sorting, and filtering.

There is no doubt that the integration of rich media into locally focused online sites is accelerating. There are plenty of innovations to come as we all continue to evolve and improve the local experience. And that said, the core principals of good site development and information management are more important than ever.

What will the future bring? I wish I had a photo.

Chris Linnett is director of Open List for Marchex. The Locals Only column appears on Mondays at Search Engine Land.

As a preface, anything on a scale of 100,000 sites or a billion pages is a qualitatively different task for the very reason that it is quantitatively different. But most people working in the local space have plenty of large numbers of their own to manage—such as the 15 million businesses in the U.S. distributed across 20,000 yellow-page headings. So there are lessons learned and beliefs reinforced through this project that are every bit as relevant to developing one site as thousands.

First, we all know content is king, but data is the dauphin. And this son of a king travels with his vast entourage of names, addresses, phone numbers, amenities and awards, business types and brands, cuisines and credentials. These are things not easily counted, spread on a desk, or even organized in Excel because they quickly exceed the maximum number of rows. And while data is held in high esteem, no one source provides authoritative data on all things local. In addition to our own efforts, sites like Zillow, Expedia, and others have shown that there can be value for all involved in effectively aggregating data from disparate sources and providing a useful taxonomy.

Engage the community.

Data on this scale will always have errors. Businesses open, move, change, and close every day. Viewing this as an opportunity, communities can help paint a more accurate picture of the local scene. Allow users to participate, to write reviews, to provide updated information. Consider extending that participation beyond the brave and bold minority who write the majority of reviews, by offering other means of expression, such as a one-click rating system. Community participation can be an effective mechanism for generating fresh content, building user loyalty, and growing your data set; and the wisdom of crowds and the intimacy of locals will keep it accurate.

Organize The Data.

This vast amount of data and content also needs vast amounts of organization. For example, providing an intricate set of refinements to filter result sets will help users discover businesses that directly address their specific needs. And as businesses rack up reviews, offering an overall summary and rating will help users make an easy determination to peruse deeper or move along to a more appropriate business. The goal of data and content is to help users make better decisions about local businesses, and participation by the site owners will increase the value and utility of this information.

Be Diverse

Local is extremely diverse. Despite oft-heard cries of the homogenization of the American retail landscape, there is still incredible diversity across the majority of businesses. Exposing specific local and vertical slices of businesses on targeted sites will help showcase this diversity and highlight these businesses. Finding and integrating information about all categories of businesses and providing deep refinements to navigate it will help users discover local businesses they may not have even known existed. And enabling the community to rate and review every business will create a wealth of information that will help the next user make an even better decision about a local business.

Oh yeah, and remember to focus on the customer.

Chris Linnett is director of Open List for Marchex. The Locals Only column appears on Mondays at Search Engine Land.