In everyday life, man is involved, one way or the other, in doing Business. The need to transact and succeed in business endeavors; whether buying or selling of goods and services in various spheres like trade, transport, banking and finance, warehousing, tourism, arts, sports or even insurance… There has been a basic need for advertising. Advertising is the life wire of a successful business; a good product cannot end up on the customer’s table without an awareness drive in terms of adverts and marketing.

In the physical world, there are various cost effective ways of pushing your business (products and services) to the customers. The print and conventional electronic media (radio and TV) has taken a chunk of the advertising revenue in most localized businesses because of its proximity and method of delivery which is easily made available to the “common man”. However, with the ever worrying economic situation in different parts of the world today, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to advertise goods and services considering the break-bank financial implications compared to the gains expected… This is limited by specific advertising space cost and airing period. This situation has necessitated the need for alternative measures to get these goods and services pushed to the widest possible audience at minimal cost to the business owner; this is where the online alternative comes in to play.

There are lots of good business owners out there who are not web savvy but make a good living using their ingenuity, financial might and traditional methods of advertising to get the customers rolling in for money making ventures. In my part of the world, some business owners even dread the idea of bringing “technology” into their business. However, those that dared to venture into it (internet availability being a factor) have found it very convenient, time saving and highly productive with less manpower activities which can be channeled to better use. In the long run, the profit margin has been found to be enormous compared to the traditional methods.

The virtual world on the other hand (the internet) is a very good example of where your business can be transformed through influx of traffic (customers) for generating profit; if you know the simple steps to take towards achieving this. In most cases, they’re basic steps which involve little or no money at first and you can keep it that way (with considerable benefits over time) until you're ready to take it to the next level.

There are lots of advantages in taking that your local business online… Do you have geographical locations for your physical goods or services and feel online concepts doesn’t cut it? Well, think again. There are lots of websites online offering "yellow pages like" services where you can register your business services and location information for free and get listed in localized search engines for your geographical region of choice, you can even get listed in multiple geographical regions where your business is located. That way, your business is opened to millions of would be visitors at virtually no cost… better still; no website creation is needed, you simply enter required information for your business; like address, contact numbers, hours of operation, goods and brief description of service delivery and your business is opened to the world with potential for massive boost in money making drive.

Advantages of listing your business online:

• It’s free directory Listing and advertising (Like being listed in Yellow Pages for free)
• Potential influx of localised traffic
• International Exposure (Visitors coming into your locality from other parts of the world would check related choice listings e.g hotels, for possible visits)
• Multiple business registration under one account (for business with branches)
• One off Listing is permanent and continously viewable online (unless there is a case with violation of terms of service)
• Sure beats the limitations with the traditional advertising methods (internet usage is worldwide)

Some free local listing websites includes:

• Google’s Local Business Center or Product search listings
• Yahoo Local Listings
• Local.com Listings
  

There are lots of other free local listings for your businesses online… Do a search using “free local listing”; the more you have your businesses listed, the better the awareness campaign and customers actually seeing what you have to offer which translates to traffic to your business and eventual money-making transactions! There are constantly millions of searches being done online on a daily basis using local search egines that you might just be missing out on. Enter as much information as possible concerning your businesses in the listings, including photos, videos, audios, reviews and so on… This will enhance your chances of getting a potential customer to your business... With bits of optimization while entering your listings... like keeping in mind, keywords related to your business niche and using them while entering say your business name, description etc, You're assured of taking your business to the next level of development.