local business directories | how important are they

Local business directories and how important are they for your business.

To answer that question we have to start with some information on internet and internet usage.

Here are some facts:
77.4% of the population of North America have Internet access. That are about 266.377.000 people.
No other medium has made such and explosive growth in the last 10 year and it is my personal opinion that Internet is still in its baby stage and that it will get bigger and bigger.
Thing like Facebook, Twitter, and other social media are getting more popular every day.
About every phone has an Internet connection on it.
Many restaurants, hotels, motels and or stores now offer free wireless internet for there customers.

Now, the second thing we have to talk about is the word local.
Local can mean a lot of things.
In a big city local can mean a certain subdivision or area like, east, west, north, lake area, etc, etc.
In a small town it can mean the whole town.
Local in my opinion is determent by your geographical location.

The use of internet has grown tremendously over the last years and about every one has access to it in one way or the other.
This could be at home, at work, at school, at friends, or in the local library.
Most people do not use thing like yellow pages and phone-books anymore.
About everybody I know gets online when they are looking for some form of information.

Another factor is visitors from out of town.
Most visitors from out of town will stay in a local hotel and these come most of the time with free internet.
You can use your cell phone or laptop and get on the internet right away.
They most of the time will use this internet connection to look for local things like:
Restaurants
Musea
Stores
Amusement
Or any other service they need at that moment.

So, back tho the question, How important is a local business directory for your business.
With most people using cell phones and computers for there searches, it means that if you are not listed on the internet, you might loose potential customers.
what if you competition has a website and listing on a local directory and you do not?
Well, the answer is pretty simple. You will not get find and will loose revenue, and your competition will get more customers.

And that are just the people from out of town who are visiting.

What about your own local people.Of course they now your business, but they might want to have a look at your products after opening hours.
This is an other reason why a listing on a local directory is important.

You can have a beautiful website, but if your customers do not know to find it it is a waist of money and your time.

A listing on a local business directory usually comes with a link to your website and will give you more change of being found.
I have my business listed on the Cadiz Business Directory and many of my customers told me that they have found my business by searching for a local .business in Cadiz