GetListed.org Aims To Simplify Local Search Marketing

Jan 20, 2009 at 2:35pm ET by Matt McGee

Many small business owners realize the need to market online to local customers, but few know where to begin. A new web site that offers a much-needed launch pad for local businesses launched this week.

GetListed.org operates with a simple premise: It should be as easy as possible for small businesses to find and claim their business listings on local search engines. To that end, the process begins with only two demands of the small business owner: enter your business name and enter your zip code. With that information, the site looks for the company’s business listings on four local search sites: Google Maps, Yahoo Local, Live Search Maps, and Best of the Web Local. GetListed provides a listing snapshot, letting the business owner know if any listings were found on each site and providing links to add and/or claim those listings.

That functionality alone makes GetListed.org a valuable starter tool for local businesses. Additional pages also tell the business owner how many local citations and reviews the business has on each search engine, and one page provides a To Do list to help the business owner begin the process of creating or editing local listings.

Search marketers might find the local dashboard helpful for storing all the business listings of a variety of clients, and being able to check on new reviews they’ve received from a single location.

From my perspective, GetListed.org is a very necessary and unique service for small/local businesses. It’s not a guarantee of local search success, but it is an easy-to-use first step in that direction for business that are just getting started with search marketing.

(Disclaimer: I was one of the beta testers while GetListed.org was in development.)

Matt McGee is the Search Engine Land Assignment Editor, and offers search marketing consulting and training to businesses of all sizes. He blogs at Small Business Search Marketing and HyperlocalBlogger.com.

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