As the local component of the online space continues to heat up, it is starting to get very crowded. There is Google, Facebook, Groupon, foursquare, Gowalla, Yahoo, Bing, Yelp, IYP, YellowBook, Merchant Circle, InsiderPages etc, etc., etc.—the list goes on and on. As with anything in life, if there are a lot of options, you are either happy for the choices or confused and frustrated by too many options. In the online space, especially as it relates to SMBs (small and medium businesses), frustration and confusion are often the reactions to just how much can be done online.
Small business owners who live in or close to Minnesota may want to gas up their cars and go on a short road trip tomorrow. A "Local University" event is due to take place at the Westin Edina Galleria, with representatives from Google and Bing giving tips concerning local marketing.
By
Ali Ord - Tue, 03/09/2010 - 5:57pm.
When WebProNews headed to SMX West in Santa Clara, they caught up with Mikko Ollila, Senior Product Manager on Bing Local, to discuss a little bit about Bing's experience and intentions in local search.
We've been discussing local search a lot lately, and that's because a lot of new things keep happening in this space, and as you know it's a very important element of small business marketing and general visibility to customers. A lot of what we have focused on relates to things that Google has been doing.
Recently, Microsoft's search engine, Bing, went offline. Bloggers and Twitter users immediately began to whine about it as if the world were ending, and even after the outage ended (roughly 30 minutes later), the flood of complaints continued. This should serve as a lesson about the importance of uptime and accessibility.
The idea of doing something yourself if you want it done right doesn't, we'll admit, deserve to get tossed out the window. But there are smart ways to involve other people in certain projects, and your company's marketing efforts may get a big boost if you decide to hold a related contest.
First things first: this article isn't meant as an insult to your intelligence; we realize that most small business owners with websites have probably learned a lot about linking already. But at the same time, a refresher rarely hurts, and this one might have special significance since it's connected to Microsoft's new search engine, Bing.
I don't like reposting the same content from one site to another, but as I have often noted in the past, writing for WebProNews, I come across many things that just simply should be shared with Small Business owners, and being how this is SmallBusinessNewz, I hate for stuff to go unmentioned. So with this in mind, please allow me to direct you attention to some notable items from the week that you might want to pay attention to.
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