How can prospects find you when fewer use print directories like the Yellow Pages and more go online to find suppliers?  Here’s the answer — even if you don’t have a Web site.

If your company’s not registering its business with local directories, or doing enough to stand out from competing companies, you’re likely missing leads, says a new report on local search.

Not every company realizes that you don’t even need a Web site to use these directories to attract prospects in your own region.

Think of each of these profile pages as a mini Web site about your business, says Mary Bowling in a great post on getting found online without a Web site.

“If you create a profile on just 10 different platforms, you’ll have 10 mini Web sites in places where prospects are likely to be looking for a business like yours. A collection of these local business profiles on well-ranking Web sites can be very effective in getting your business in front of potential customers,” says Bowling.

I was amazed to see my experimental listing for the blog, The Internet Marketing Report Online, on Google Maps for my local neighborhood, had got 700 hits.

Even if you’ve already registered your business, Bowling says it pays to give these profiles some extra polish.

Consider:

• Adding photos or videos. To see how the photos  really make a listing stand out, visitGoogle Maps and enter “cake shop Berkeley” (or anything you like, really) to see how listings with video or images outshine the rest.
• Encouraging customers to review your business. That can work for B2B as well as companies selling to consumers. When I searched for industrial pumps in Delaware, the companies with reviews jumped out at me.
• Paying for prominence. While basic listings on most search engines are free, Yahoo offers businesses an enhanced local listing with a tagline and coupons for less than $10 a month. That could be good if your customers are cost conscious.

Why bother? As Bowling says, an informative profile on Google Maps can attract traffic from searchers from both Maps and Google Universal. The same is true for both Yahoo Local and Yahoo, and Bing Local and Bing. The other Web sites mentioned, and many more, tend to rank well in the search results for queries about local goods and services.

For great advice on generating local leads, read Mary Bowling’s articles on ClickZ.com. She walks you through every step needed to get found locally.


Julie Power is editor in chief of the print publication and the blog Internet Marketing Report Online. You can follow her on Twitter.com/JuliePower.