LocalBizBits Local Search Marketing Information and Resources
ShowMeLocal.com is one of the better websites/directories where local business can create an online profile and promote themselves. I came across the site when I did my post of local search in Facebook. They had a local search application, so I clicked over their website, did some review, and then contacted them about doing this interview.
ShowMeLocal has a lot of unique and neat promotion ideas for their local business profiles and in general is pretty easy to use. I created a profile for me, which you can review. After speaking with the founder Eugene Belenky during the course of this interview, I have decided to contribute to their blog on a weekly basis. The ShowMeLocal blog will cover updates to the ShowMeLocal directory/web site but also cover general web site marketing topics. But without further ado, the interview with Eugene Belenky at ShowMeLocal.com
Q. What is ShowMeLocal?
A. ShowMeLocal.com is the website that gives local business owners the tools to promote and distribute their business content online and where local consumers go to learn about businesses in their area while finding great deals.
Q. How long have you been around?
A. We have been around 10 month.
Q. Do you automatically fill in your database?
A. No. Our database is 100% user (smb) generated which guarantees that behind every local business there are real people with real businesses.
Q. You are located in New York City, but do you serve all 50 US states?
A. Yes, we do service all 50 states.
Q. Tell us about your distribution system.
A. ShowMeLocal.com is not a directory, classifieds or search engine placement service but rather a backbone for small business owners, giving them not only a well designed and feature rich profiles but also a promotional-distributional platform to distribute their content on the sites where tens of thousand customers are looking for the local information/deals in their neighborhoods.
All business profiles are search engine optimized and provide top placement on the major search engines. Beside this standard feature we supply content (business listings, reviews, coupons, specials and job postings) to the classified aggregators such as Oodle, Vast, Google Base, Edgeio. Further, syndicated content is promoted to their affiliates. In addition we supply coupons for the Google Maps. We also work with other services to syndicate content on behalf of our clients. All businesses have RSS feeds available for subscription. In addition we are giving widgets, buttons and professionally design ads for businesses to insert to the sites of their choice such as CraigsList, Ebay, MySpace, etc.
Q. Can you guarantee a business their listing will be seen?
A. Well, we work really hard to help smbs to get their word out online. We have built an extensive collection of online tools that give almost limitless options to promote a business online. Depending on the level of participation online exposure is varying, ranging from search engines to classifieds and local sites. What I am trying to say that more business owner put information on their sites, more visible business becomes bringing more customers to the virtual and live storefront.
Until next time….
Interesting – I think a few thoughts are:
1. How do they make sure they have the right business owner? Part of MC’s flaw is that they let anyone claim (and easily so)
2. With roughly 5500 business listed, what incentive do people have to visit the site?
3. How do they ensure business owners keep the data up to date? How do they make sure a business is still in business even?
Hi Ahmed, how are you?
I absolutely agree that it is very easy to claim automatically populated businesses but to go through registration process, fill out all of the required information and comply with term of use…you have to be a real fan of that business to do this. That is why we’ve decided not to overload site with “dead” business listings. Our goal is not to become another local business directory but rather the place for owners to showcase their businesses and use our tools to promote and deliver business content to the places where their customers are, such as search engines, local classifieds, local oriented sites and social networks. Customers come by referral to learn about what business has to offer because they saw business content somewhere else online. We periodically contact and alert our clients if their content is about to expire, suggesting them to keep current information up to date.
1. Well good point – MC lets you claim an existing business. Registering your own business is a whole ‘nother hassle.
2. Cool – do you guys offer paid services to the businesses?
3. Phone or email? Just curious what the response rate is to both/either 🙂
2. At this point our services are completely free.
3. Email. Response varies. For instance, if the coupon worked in the past, chances that business owner will keep the listing updated are pretty high. The more activity profile has (coupons, comments, reviews and etc.) the more responsive owner is.