Since the beginning of time, businesses have started locally. When phone books started getting popular, it was common for new owners to name their businesses with the goal of appearing at the top of the white pages. As a result, you have companies that still have names that start with A, A1, A+, AAA, etc.

Today, marketing is a bit more complicated. Aside from the obvious that the best use for yellow pages is as fire starter or packing material, there are too many ways your listings are categorized to assume that A1 Boxers will just be at the top of the list because of the name.

Online, local search is still the most effective approach to getting found online you have. People want to do business with people in their neighborhood. That is especially true when it comes to services for their home, car, family, etc. When people are travelling, they'll do local searches (from their current location) for restaurants, stores, gift shops and convenience stores.

If your local web presence is not optimized your website may not be found by potential clients. If they can't find you online, they may never find you in your brick and mortar.

Having a local page on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Google is important. But also optimizing for sites such as Yelp and Foursquare can be a great way for our stores to be found. However, have you even considered local directories? Local directories pop up quite often and many of them are successful because they are very specific to their locale.

Some of the advantages surrounding submitting to local directories include:

• Higher Chance of Visibility - If nothing at all, being listed on a local directory will give you a higher chance of being seen by a potential customer. It isn’t exactly a profound statement to say that the more places you are listed on the web, the higher the chance that you will be seen. Take advantage of a free service and get listed.
• Gain Valuable Link Juice - The real benefit of being listed on a local directory is the gaining the link juice from the site. This has strictly to do with search engine optimization and is referring to how Google’s algorithm seeks to find the most relevant sites to include in their list of search results. The more credible sites that link to you, the better.
• Achieve a Higher Level of Credibility - Buying things locally went from a fad to a trend to a legitimate movement among consumers. Being listed on a local directory will ensure that people know that you’re a local entity. It will let consumers know that you are a legitimate business conducting a legitimate service.

When marketing your business, you should take the time to submit to as many local directories as you can. It's not overly complicated and likely free. It just takes time and the payoffs are worth it.