Do you promote your local service online, like gardening or massage therapy? Or do you have a local brick-and-mortar business, and use Internet marketing strategies to drive traffic from your web site to your offline store?

If so, it's time to start paying attention to local search engines!

Recent statistics indicate that more and more often people are turning to the Internet -- instead of the yellow pages -- to find local businesses like yours that are close to home. Check out these stats from the Kelsey Group...

• 74% of households now use the Internet as an information source when shopping locally!

• Approximately 45% of people searching locally intended to buy!

• Respondents who used traditional Yellow Pages decreased from 75% to 62%

As a local business owner, it's crucial to realize that the Internet is now -- more than ever -- an extremely important tool for attracting customers.

Currently, the most popular local search engines are offered by the three leading search engines: Google, Yahoo, and MSN. To receive local results on all three, users simply type the name of a business, product, or service and the desired city into the search box, and then click the "Local" tab above.

The results display directory information that includes your company name, address, phone number, URL, and a map showing the exact location of each business. Easy access to information like this is highly valuable to your potential customers!

So how do you make sure that YOUR local business is coming up in these search results?

Here's how to "go local" in the top three search engines...

• Google: To register your up-to-date business information with Google Local, go here. Registration is free.
  
  
• Yahoo: To register with Yahoo Local, go here. Registration is also free on Yahoo, but they also offer an "enhanced listing" for $9.95 a month that lets you include photos, your logo, and more.
  
  
• MSN: MSN scans Verizon's SuperPages.com to add new businesses to its local directory. To make sure that your business information is current with SuperPages, go here.

Local search marketing can be an excellent source of traffic for your local service or brick-and-mortar store. And the best part about getting listed in local directories is that it's FREE!