Most current online directories and search tools have major weaknesses
One of the less desirable outcomes of globalisation, and the adoption of the internet, has been the widespread and on-going neglect of the small business sector.
This has primarily occurred because globalisation has led to a concentration of large companies who now dominate the industries in which they operate and who universally prefer to trade with other ‘big’ players such as themselves.
The spectre of the big getting bigger surrounds us on all sides (think BHP and Rio Tinto) and governments, state and federal, have consistently encouraged, or perhaps more accurately not discouraged, this unhealthy transition in the name of improved economic efficiency.
The fact that the majority of Australians (without non-profit sector tenure) are employed in small rather than big business is overlooked and most peak bodies currently representing this group are now themselves morphing into large businesses with all the attendant problems of scale.
The internet has certainly had an amazing and positive impact on small players and individuals wishing to market their products/services nationally or internationally, however the web, perhaps even worse than the traditional media, is skewed massively in favour of the big end of town when it comes to promoting business at the local level.
For example, with browser searching - Google, Yahoo or even Yellow Pages Online – all give preference to larger and/or non-resident advertisers in their local search rankings.
A simple test of, say, finding keywords “Plumber” and “Sutherland" will often display major or out-of- town companies (or even other directories) at the top followed by a list of supposedly nearby plumbers (which could be spread over a 20 km radius but with a handy map) but to actually find the plumber you either already know by name or has a depot in the next street is difficult, if not virtually impossible to find.
Of course, a universal tool such as Google was never designed for local search – but anecdotal evidence suggests a significant number of web users still try to ‘google’ a local supplier before resorting to a dedicated online directory … or, heaven forbid, the hard copy version.
Given that nearly 50 per cent of local searches involve looking for suppliers you already know (Yellow Pages’ official statistics for hard copy directories) this is a severe handicap.
At this time a plug for the old firm would seem to be in order.
To check out an online directory, specifically designed for the local market, click the link below >>>>
http://www.sutherland.smartpages.com.au
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