Beyond the Introduction: Community Sites Build Relationships

Local search is becoming more about community. With user-contributed reviews and “just down the street” options visually displayed through innovative mapping programs, searching for local products and services is getting easier and more relevant.

However, the major search engines’ take on local search only takes consumers so far in many instances because the base of most local search engines is aggregated yellow pages data. This produces a scenario where quantity does not equal quality.

Internet users spend just 6 seconds on average at Google, but almost 11 hours online per week (and growing). While it’s important that your website be found at Google (either in paid or natural listings), it’s imperative that your business has exposure at the specialty sites where your target consumer is spending most of their time.

In this article, we’ll travel down the local search road to discover why specialty portals are picking up consumers right where the major search engines are dropping them off.

Let’s say you’re planning a reunion with a friend and need to find something nearby, open late and with a diverse menu. You’ve heard about a great sushi bar nearby and your cravings say go for it, but you remember that your friend “doesn’t do raw fish.” Keeping in mind your companion’s need for cooked Japanese cuisine, and the fact that this is a special occasion, you really need to see the menu. A call to the restaurant just won’t cut it.

You visit a major local search portal and search for “sushi” “Madison” which provides local listings, but you despair when your friend-recommended restaurant, Sushi24, is website-less. Groaning, you decide not to chance it. You search again, looking for a local portal with more information. Skipping the local search feature, you return to Web search and type in “Madison restaurant reviews.” The query returns a listing for a local restaurant site which claims to be the definitive source for dining information in the city. Intrigued, you click to the site, search again for “late night sushi” and choose the area of town you live in.

Delighted, you find a more thorough listing and at first glance, a unique set of establishments. Skimming the list, you see “Sushi24” on the first page, this time with a hyperlink. You click through, finding a tidy site with relevant facts – location, directions, hours, and the menu. Your stomach growling, you browse their non-sushi offerings and see a number of cooked, creative takes on Japanese cuisine. Back on the portal, you note the 4.5 out of 5 stars Sushi24 has received from local reviewers. You see that sushi and non-sushi diners alike rave about the service, quality of food and creative menu.

This is the place. Your last-minute local dinner date is planned and you don’t have to worry about directions, traffic, quality or choice. The local restaurant portal took care of all that. You happily get ready for dinner, pondering the world of information beyond major search engines. You realize that although Sushi24 had a yellow pages listing at the major’s local search portal, the static listing drove you away in search of more depth. The specialty local dining portal, however, which emphasizes depth of information instead of just breadth of data, delivered the goods and built trust before you even set foot inside the restaurant.

Unlike major search engines, local and specialty sites make it their primary business to establish personal relationships with local businesses, paying particular attention to small businesses whose online presence and advertising campaigns are slim to nonexistent. More than just a listing, the best local specialty portals offer to build websites for small businesses and then help them market their businesses online.

Local specialty portals forge mutually productive relationships. They satisfy the real demands of consumers with a richer user experience. Plus, they fulfill the very real business needs of targeted advertising options, from-scratch websites upon request and a community-oriented feel that foster long-term relationships with loyal, local consumers.