How can small local businesses benefit from the Internet? What do you do when your local business is dependent upon the local economy? Well, for one thing we have to remember that those businesses still do exist and will continue to exist. The answer comes in the evolution of the Internet local business listings. The best part, is that these local business listings are free.

If you’re wondering what the local business listings are, you are probably not the only one. The issue is not so much what is it as how can it benefit and help the local business. This is the free yellow page listings by Google, Yahoo and Microsoft. Every business is listed in the local listings of these three search engines and with a variety of other local business directories on the web.

What most local businesses are not familiar with is that these listings need to be updated if you want your customers to find you business, products and/or services through the search engines or through their mobile devices when they are driving around town. The updating process requires you to claim your listing first and foremost.

Do you still need to advertise with the Yellow Pages? Truth be told the hard copy yellow pages were outdated many years ago and certain this is definitely dwindling medium. The new generation is using the Internet and mobile devices. This same generation probably is not familiar with the hard copy yellow pages. Baby-Boomers are a growing group of mobile device users and are probably using the hard copy less and less.

Here are some benefits for the local business listing:

1. Listings show up in search results

2. Helps advertise the local business for free

3. Helps promote any discounts, offers, promotions

4. Allows you to add your menus, products, services, photos, videos and more

4. All of the above also displays on mobile maps (e.g. iPhone)

We can add to these benefits by also reducing your costs with your yellow page ads. What the local business listings allow is for you to get in front of your customers when they need to find your products and services. They are either checking the Internet with their computers or looking for what is closest to them when they are driving around town on their mobile devices.

You can see from the above that the local business listings provide you greater flexibility of information you can put in front of your customers. The information they can get far exceeds what the yellow pages can ever offer. This would include your menus, your products, services, photos, videos, coupons, offers, promotions to mention a few.

The flexibility these listings provide also includes the ability to update your listing anytime. I don’t remember the yellow pages allowing for a change but once a year.

Finally one last item is that you are provided with statistics about your listing. This would include how many times your listing showed up in search results and how many times someone clicked on your listing.. Now we’re confident the yellow pages cannot provide statistics. The benefits far outweigh the costs from the hard copy yellow pages.

You do not need to have your own website. Your free local business listing can easily be your website. The only reason for having your own website would be because the free local business listing is not allowing you to add everything a customer may wish to see.

It is best to work with a professional firm that can help get this setup for your business. A professional firm will know the right keywords for your business, along with knowing how to get the listing up to date so it benefits your revenues quickly. Once the local business listing has been updated you can either maintain the information yourself or continue having a low cost monthly fee to have it maintained and monitored for you.

Monitoring your listing is very important. Customers have the ability to post reviews about your business. Of course their ability to review you is not limited to the local business listing and includes everything from Angie’s List to Complaint Boards on the web. While this may sound like a negative, you have to address their concerns and eliminate their desire to post negative information on the Iternet with their emotional frustrations.

Whether you are a single store, have multiple locations, are a franchise, or a bank with multiple branches, you will want to learn more about local business listings. Learn more at SmartFinds Local Business Listings.