 |
|
|
|
 |
September 19, 2006 |
|
By: Louise Rijk - Bio - Blog |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
Local Online Advertising:
Yahoo! Local Business Listings and Sponsored Text Ads
Small businesses are eager to get involved with online marketing, but they need guidance, support and intuitive, easy-to-use tools to take advantage of local online advertising opportunities. Earlier this month we took a look at some of the new options available to local advertisers on Google. Now, we'll take a closer look at Yahoo!'s offerings for local businesses.
Local Yahoo! Business Listings
Yahoo! Local search has been available for quite a while now, but Yahoo! is beginning to introduce more local online advertising options and new features to make the service more "social". Like Google, Yahoo! has populated its local search program with business profile information they pulled from such sources as InfoUSA, Wcities and Discoveryourtown.com. Because of this, your business profile data may already be listed in Yahoo! Local.
To check whether your business is listed in Yahoo! Local perform a search query on your business name, town and state. If you can't find your business listed in a Yahoo! Local search, you can create a listing by clicking on the "Add/edit a business" or "Advertise in Yahoo! Local" links that you will find on the search results page. As long as you have created a Yahoo! ID, you can go to the "Local Listings" section (Sign In) and create a new business listing. If your listing can already be found in Yahoo! Local search results page, click on the link to bring up your local listing. Inside you should find a link entitled "Boost your Yahoo! Local Listing for free!" Click here if you need to change or add to the information already included in the listing. This is also the best place to start adding any additional information to your listing.
Yahoo! gives you the chance to edit your business profile listing and select a primary and secondary category for the listing to be found under for free. Yahoo! also offers you the chance to build up a five page website if you do not already have one for free. They provide instructions about how to create the site, as well as templates for design purposes, and allow you to choose a domain name for the new site to have as a home. Yahoo! also offers an Enhanced Local Listing for $9.95 a month. This will allow you to add additional business profile information to the listing, including a company tagline, logo, photos, and an enhanced keyword-rich description of your business that you can write.
Local Yahoo! Sponsored Listings
Aside from regular Yahoo! Local listings, you can also find sponsored text ads on the Yahoo! Local search results pages. These sponsored links can be bid upon in two different ways. One is through the Yahoo! Local Sponsored Search program. This is a keyword-based auction system that is very similar to Yahoo!'s regular sponsored search ad network that serves sponsored ads on the main Yahoo! search results page. Here you will choose a set of keywords to bid on, and one text ad description (180 character length) that will encompass the entire local ad campaign. The difference is you select a physical location associated with your business and a range in miles that your service extends to. That way, if someone searches on the keywords you are bidding on and specifies the location of their search (whether in Yahoo! main search or Local Search) your ad will be displayed. Clicking on the ad will bring the searcher to a locator page, which is set up in a similar fashion to the local listings, and can include a link to your regular non-Yahoo! web site. However, with the upcoming Panama updates to Yahoo!'s paid search program, the future of the Local Sponsored Search program is uncertain.
The second type of sponsored results that appears on Yahoo! Local Search results pages is a fixed placement ad. These ads include all of the features mentioned above in regards to enhanced local listings, but also guarantee higher page placement for a flat monthly fee depending on the amount you pay. Listings can start as low as $25 a month, but the price will vary depending on what business category you are classified under and just how high you'd like your placement to be. With only six slots available on the first search results page, bidding can get very high. Clicking on the listing will, like Local Sponsored Search, bring up a locator landing page that you can customize.
Yahoo! is constantly developing Yahoo! Local Search and promoting it as a useful search function. They are planning on adding additional enhancements for Local listings, including a coupon function. Yahoo! is actively seeking information on local businesses to improve their results, so it's important for you to keep track of Yahoo! Local Search; make sure your business is included, and if it is, make sure the information is accurate, up-to-date and keyword-optimized. By making use of the free and enhanced services for your local listing, you can increase local traffic to your business.
|
|
|
|
|
| Additional information: |
|
| |
 |
| If you would like more information on Internet Marketing Consulting, Search Engine Marketing and Email Marketing, please fill out the form below:
|
 |
|
|
|
 |
|
| |
Copyright © 1999-2006. Advanced Media Productions, Inc.
Advanced Media Productions, Inc.
251 West Central St., Suite 28, Natick, Massachusetts 01760, USA
Tel: 508-647-5151 Fax: 508-647-5150
E-mail: info@advmediaproductions.com
|
|
|
|
|
|
|