Quality search engine optimization is still a big thing for small business owners. Many will agree that major search engines drive large portion of web traffic and in many cases more effective than offline advertising such as television, radio, or print.

For those who operate business which target local audience it is not really important to have visitors from other areas. Regular search engine optimization could be less productive and overpriced.

Great alternative to SEO and advertising in regular Yellow Pages is optimization on social networks which allow to submit, share, review, and rate local businesses. Yelp is the network business owners talk about but there are more sites where it is useful to add listing and improve visibility, online presence, local reach, and publicity. It is important to mention that submission in local networks increases amount of backlinks and improves search engine rankings.

• Yelp – the most popular community powered social network where people rate, discuss, and leave reviews for local businesses and companies. Most likely that your business already appeared on Yelp, but it is still important to visit listing page and provide more information.
• YellowBot – similar to Yelp network which allows to create listings, tag business listing, add geographic locations, and see what other people are saying.
• BrownBook – submission on BrownBook creates listing and automatically collect information about business using different sources. It places each submission in categories and finds similar websites, services, and products. New pages which from BrownBook appear on major search engines in a matter of hours.
• Local.com – one of the most popular local directory which accept free and sponsored submissions. Big domain name and massive PPC campaign drives a lot of consumers and business owners.
• Yahoo Local – Yahoo answer to Yelp. Collects information about small businesses around the world and it is better alternative than paid Yahoo Directory.
• AboutUS – automated Wiki site which collects information about companies, websites, and domain names. It is not really local network, but it is still important to be listed. All you have to do is to type URL in search bar, AboutUS will take care of the rest.
• BizVotes – site allows to vote for businesses across United States. All listings are separated by the city / town and category.
• Hot Frog – new local site for US based retailers and service providers. Hot Frog generated database using third party sources and accept edits and new submissions.
• InsiderPages – another directory of local businesses where it is recommended to submit site.

All network which listed above were build to eliminate spam and provide real information about legally registered businesses. Some of them ask to provide phone, full business address, email and require double verification.

Related Posts from The Past:

• Getting the Most Out of Google Maps. How to Improve Appearance, Traffic, Leads, and Sales.
• Search Engine or Social Media Traffic for Small Business. Which One is Better?
• Twitter Has Killed RSS, Trackbacks, Comments, and Inbound Links.
• Shady Web Marketing Tactics by Companies With Big Reputation.
• How to Get Indexed by Google in Less than a Day.