Darby Sieben -

The YellowPages.ca Answer Service has been running for over 1-month now and the numbers of local questions being asked and answered is increasing steadily. There are a lot of questions around plumbers, mechanics, electricians, restaurants, etc, however, I wanted to highlight some questions that don’t really fall into the traditional categories of what people are looking for.

Here is my list of the 8 most usual or out of the ordinary local business questions asked by users:

• I need to find mannaquin arms, 10 to be precise. Where can i find them? – mannaguin arms, I wonder what he needs those for? What about the rest of the mannaquin?
• Does anyone know a good, high tech dentist w/ cute assistants in Montreal, QC (near downtown core)? – love this question, forget the dentist, it is all about the assistant
• Does anyone know a nice no-tell hotel in Montreal, QC? – hmmmm, I wonder what the no-tell is about
• Does anyone know a good escort service in saint john? – interesting, perhaps the person looking for the no-tell hotel could help, see above
• Does anyone know a mediocre taco bell restaurant in guelph on? – some would argue that all food at Taco Bell is mediocre
• Where is a good place to buy NHL jerseys in Toronto? Jerseys from other teams, not just the Leafs. – exactly, who would purchase a leaf’s jersey?
• Anyone know a mediator specialized in neighbour disputes in Montreal, QC? – see Samual L Jackson in Lakeview Terrace, might give you some ideas
• Where is the best place for happy hour on a Friday afternoon in Ottawa? – somebody has their priorities straight

I will continue to monitor and update this list later in the year with more unique questions that are being asked.

1) Create an account and if your business uses Twitter, connect it to your twitter feed
2) Monitor the questions
3) If a user is asking for a recommendation on your business category or you think you can help them out, provide a recommendation. I suggest that you disclose that you are recommending your own business. In the comments field give some insight into why that person should do business with you.

What this does for a local business is gives them direct access to users who might be interested in their products or services and opens a dialogue with users.

Popularity: 2% [?]

YellowPages.ca has launched its affiliate program. This program has all the standard IAB sizes for search bricks, the ability to select between YellowPages.ca stand-alone or YellowPages.ca and Canada411.ca integrated bricks in both French and English.

A versatile program for any website that has local traffic in Canada and definitely one program to look for. Currently the program is invite only, so if you are interested in joining – send me your website via my comments and I will forward directly to the affiliate manager.

For full program details – please visit Affiliates.YellowPages.ca.

You can see an working example at CanadaEast.com.

Here are some examples of the types of search bricks you can select – note I will only display bricks that fit within my blog. The affiliate program contains all the major search brick sizes including; 234×60, 728×90, 468×60, 180×150, 300×250, 336×228, 250×250 and 300×140.

180×150 – English YellowPages.ca Search Brick

300×250 – English YellowPages.ca and Canada411.ca Search Brick

336×228 French PagesJaunes.ca Search Brick

250×250 French PagesJaunes.ca and Canada411.ca Search Brick

Popularity: 34% [?]

Posted a couple of days ago is an interview that I did with Larry Sullivan of Local Biz Bits, blog dedicated to provides relevant information, in simple terms, on local search marketing and related Internet marketing techniques for small businesses.

The interview was on such subjects as the local search space in Canada, the impact of social networking, my thoughts on local search in the US and Europe and more.

If you are interested in reading this interview please visit the posting, Local Search – Canadian Style.

Popularity: 17% [?]