On the Internet, it’s been said, nobody knows you’re a dog. And if you happen to be a dog groomer? You’re lucky if anyone even knows you exist. Fewer than half of all U.S. small businesses have Web sites or advertise on the Net, Nielsen Online reports, even though most consumers search online for local shops and services before picking up the phone or leaving the house.
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Now, dog groomers, car detailers, and other neighborhood businesses have a host of new options for raising their profile online. Hundreds of new services have cropped up, aiming for a piece of the $17.5 billion that consultancy BIA/Kelsey says U.S. small businesses will spend on Net ads this year. By 2014, BIA estimates, that figure will grow to $36.7 billion, a quarter of all local advertising. There’s an increasing sense of urgency around having an effective online marketing strategy, says Court Cunningham, CEO of online ad agency Yodle, which caters to small businesses.
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The biggest players on the Internet know there’s money to be made serving small business. Microsoft’s Bing is shoring up neighborhood-specific information and business listings. Local is a key area of focus, says Bing marketing chief Mike Nichols. Yahoo! on May 24 renewed a partnership with Nokia to power its maps and navigation services for local listings. On Apr. 20, Google rebranded an older small biz service called Local Business Center as Google Places. Google has created pages with data on millions of small businesses, and some 2 million companies have added their own information to those pages. Owners can also request a free photo shoot of their shop, and in 11 cities they can pay Google $25 a month to make their listing pop up with an icon and other information when consumers check neighborhood maps on smartphones and on the…