What’s all the fuss about Local Listings Management?

Berry Network/ May 8, 2018/ Blog

Local listing management is one of the hottest topics within Internet marketing; yet it confuses and overwhelms many business owners. In this blog, we’ll help clear up the confusion and provide some useful tips to help business owners make informed decisions to harness the power of Local Listing Management.

Why are Local Listings so important?

There are more people conducting online searches for local businesses than ever before. In fact, the Kelsey Group has identified 70% of US households now use the internet when shopping locally for products and services. It’s never been more important to ensure your business is accurately listed in as many online directories as possible. Supplying information about your business to these touch points, or local listings, is crucial to your business being found in an online search by a potential customer.

Establishing and maintaining a strong local listing presence helps businesses rank higher in organic results when potential customers search for your business. Plus, local listings are more important to consumers than you might think. Research by comScore has identified online searchers find local and organic results to be 7 times more relevant and 8 times more trustworthy than paid results!

Why do businesses outsource the management of their Local Listings?

It takes a substantial commitment of time, manpower and dedication in order for a business to manage its own local listings. There are literally hundreds of digital touch points and online directories, but some companies like to manage the process internally. The basic steps of the process are outlined below:

  • Claim listings at multiple local listing websites – such as Google, Yahoo Bing, Ask, CitySearch, etc.
  • Update listings with your business marketing information – and include text for web and mobile searches, as well as categories, photos, coupons, videos, images, etc.
  • Clean-up inconsistent data – Since local listing websites obtain data from multiple sources there could be multiple listings for a single business address. Delete or merge any duplicate listings to avoid confusion.
  • Monitor consumer reviews – on all local listing websites. Monitoring, managing and responding to reviews is an important process and doing so will help you retain and acquire new customers.

How can Berry Network help?

We know businesses often spend countless hours researching, distributing and manually updating their business listings – only to achieve lackluster results. That’s why Berry Network has introduced a new Local Listing Management (LLM) solution. Our experts will manage your local listings and do all the work for you!

Berry Network has developed a one-stop identity management service for local businesses, which provides access to virtually all of the search sites consumers use to find information. Our LLM solutions are bundled into easy-to-use packages that include a combination of claiming services, list distribution, monitoring services, updating services, content enhancement development and reporting. You pick the package that best fits your needs and your budget and we’ll deliver results.

Local Listing Management is critical step to ensure your business information is listed correctly in search results so customers can find accurate information about your business when they’re searching.  At its core, our Local Listing Management solution provides a single point of entry for the creation and distribution of enhanced business profiles that are distributed to all major outlets, including:

  • Google, Yahoo, Bing
  • Data Providers – Localeze, Infogroup, Acxiom
  • Online Yellow Pages – Superpages, YP.com, Yellowbook
  • Social networks – Yelp, Foursquare, Facebook
  • Portals and guides – AOL, Mapquest, Cityearch
  • Cell phones and mobile apps – Blackberry, iPhone, Android
  • 411 directory assistance
  • GPS navigation and telematic services – OnStar

What should you do?

Local listings are far too valuable to be ignored, so don’t leave them to chance. Simply decide if you want to invest the time and resources to manage the process in-house or utilize Berry Network’s LLM solution. Remember, the goal is to accurately list your business, monitor your presence and enhance your online profile!

To get more information about Local Listings Management, please contact Berry Network today at 800-366-1264.