Best of Local

The folks at Local.com have taken an age-old tactic used by newspapers and created a "Best of" promotion.

Given that Yelp.com (a Local.com partner) is big enough that folks are beginning to look at it with a little more skepticism, the timing is good and I like this recent promotion even though the prizes for the business are a little chintzy (publicity, enhanced SEO listing). Seems the company could have arranged a co-promotion with Staples for $100 gift certificate. Anyway...I stray. This is an example of a promotion that works:

Local.com Corporation (NASDAQ: LOCM), a leading local search site and network, announced the launch of the company’s “Best of Local” awards program.

The annual “Best of Local” program will feature the best businesses as rated by consumers in 15 cities and 20 categories across the U.S. Businesses will be ranked based on the quantity and quality of the reviews that have been submitted about their business by visitors to Local.com. “Best of Local” winners will be selected and announced on December 1, 2008.

For more information about the “Best of Local” program please visit: www.local.com/bestoflocal.

To help kick-start this new program, the company also launched a “Best of Local” weekly drawing for a $500 American Express® gift card. Visitors who write a valid review on a local business at Local.com will be automatically entered to win. To register and enter to win please visit: www.local.com/bestoflocaldrawing.

Local Business: Promote Your Sale or Special Event

So you have a local business and you're busy. Real busy. But you still need to pay attention to the online local marketing options available to you. Yeh, sure, of course.

But did you realize you can also promote your special events and sales? For free.

Even better news: those options are growing every day.

This is one of those simple, smart, free local "real marketing" opportunities that is easy and helps you reach a new and different audience.

It only takes minutes to post your sale or event on Yelp, zvents, and Upcoming.

And while you're at it, you should check out Look Who's Talking, (Subhead: It's tempting to dismiss online reviews of your business. Tempting, but not smart.) by RIVA RICHMOND. This article is in the free content of the Wall Street Journal and it is about small business management of an online reputation.

Check it out.

Yelp, Your Small Business, and Local Marketing

The first time I heard of Yelp was a year or so ago on my way out of a local restaurant. Knowing I had enjoyed the meal and service, the waiter handed me a card that said, "If you enjoyed your meal, please post your comments on Yelp." I went online, I posted, and I've used Yelp many times since.

Today I read a blog post, "Can Yelp Help Your Small Business".

Jennifer Laycock writes, "Chance are high that you've never heard of Yelp, so you probably have no idea what it says about you. This is a mistake. Yelp is growing and it's growing fast, drawing more than 1.8 million users turn to it for information each month. In fact, I've found myself looking at top five search listings for Yelp on Google time and time again in the past couple of months. That's why I'll ask you again, what does Yelp say about you?"

Check out her entire post to see why you should know what Yelp is saying about your business. It's one of those local marketing tactics that you should know about and care about.