| When Local Search Meets Social Search |
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Social bookmarking and social directories are hot, but what does it mean for the typical local small business?
Prospects are turning to sites like Insider Pages to find
sources for everything from plumbers to piano tuners in most every community in
America. Highly rated small businesses appearing on social sites are starting to
get noticed! This is a great new medium, their is no cost involved and the
benefits far outweigh the little bit of work you may put in to start building
your online reputation. I guess we can call these types of sites directories, but what was clear from the discussion is that people aren't really looking for directories, they are looking for answers, recommendations and user experiences. Social sites ask members and visitors to rate their experience, good and bad, with a business and post that information for others to view. Depending upon who you listen to, actual purchases made over the web only make up about 3% or all commerce, but buying decisions are made every day through research on the web. Prospects are turning to sites like Insider Pages to find sources for everything from plumbers to piano tuners in most every community in America. Highly rated small businesses appearing on social sites are starting to get noticed! This is a great new medium, their is no cost involved and the benefits far outweigh the little bit of work you may put in to start building your online reputation. Smart small businesses are starting to encourage online reviews. (Merely point out to your happy customers that they might want to share the love.) Other businesses are printing and using their online reviews offline. Businesses with the most ratings and reviews seem to do the best. Coupons and offers are a great way to get noticed too! You need to start exploring this avenue now, if for no other reason than to manage your online reputation. Some businesses fear the impact of a negative review. I mean, you can't make every customer happy, right? Most of the social directories have processes in place to fight spam and competitive revenge type reviews, but nothing works like a good offense. Make sure you are building reviews from happy clients. Send offline customers online and teach them how to use a site like Judy's Book.
Some of the more popular social/local directories include:
Sidebar:
I owned a retail business, home
services repair business, consumer oriented professional services business or
sold pretty much anything to homeowners. Smart business owners, particularly those types mentioned above, should take a look at not only participating in these new online communities, but actually moderating them by becoming an active city editor. This is still new territory and getting in now and becoming a leader in your community is a great way to get out in front of the moving train. Social bookmarking - the other side of social search Another, somewhat related, trend in this category is social book marketing. Social book mark sites allow online surfers to "tag" and describe a site they like. Doing so allows the visitor to easily find the site by category and also exposes this site to other that might use this book mark tool. Many web site owners and bloggers find that encouraging and making easy for readers to book mark your pages using some of the more popular book mark tools is a great way to find new readers. Some of the social book mark sites are so popular that a listing, even briefly, in the newly bookmarked section can send a handful of new readers your way instantly.
Some of the most popular social book mark sites include:
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