Whether you are a multi national or an independent business that services your immediate proximity its true to say that you will probably have businesses that can be your customers right on your doorstep. So local business is as important to attract on the internet as much as the wider web.

There is one area on the Internet where you can get your business listed for free so that it appears when anyone is looking for your type of business, and its no surprise to you I’m sure that the place I am talking about is Google places. The challenge of course is to get your listing at the top of the pile so that you stand a better chance of being ‘clicked’ on.

As well as completing all the relevant business details you need to, and getting s0me online reviews there is one area that needs to be addressed that most business owners don’t know about, and that is the area of citations.

What is a citation?

Simply put a citation is a place on the web that mentions your business name and address, with or without a link directly back to your website. So for example if you had a listing on Yellow Pages, or a mention on the Chamber of Commerce website then these would act as citations for your business. A citation is very important for your local listings, and with all else being equal if you have more citations than your competitors then your local ranking will probably be higher.

Get your business listed

It is important to get your business listed on as many of these sites as you can find, remember they don’t have to link back to your website, simply having your details listed is verification enough for the search engines. You can try

  1. Local directories
  2. Local blogs
  3. If you belong to any networks (BNI, FSB that kind of thing) then all of these have websites you can list yourself on – take the time to do it!
  4. Industry focused directories or websites
  5. PR websites

All of these places offer the perfect opportunity to get some fantastic citations. Do your local business a favour put this job on your to-do list this week!