Search Engines Are Now the #1 Source Customers Use to Find Local Businesses

When potential customers are searching for a business like yours, where do they look first?

According to a Nielsen study released in January 2009*, the Internet is now the #1 source that 82% of consumers use to look for local services. Search engines like Google, Yahoo and MSN have overtaken all other methods traditionally used to find local businesses, such as yellow pages and phone books, newspapers, radio and television. Consider these findings from the same study:

Consumers were asked: When looking for a local business today, do you use the following sources more, less or the same as you did 2 years ago?

What does this mean to you as a business owner? When your potential customers are looking for you online, make sure you get found! You can’t sell if you’re not seen – so make sure you’re advertising prominently on internet search engines, if getting new customers is important to you.

*Source: Nielsen