Online Marketing Partners: Amazon launches new service for local businesses

In case you haven't heard yet, Amazon is now getting into offering local services to local markets.  The BIG PIECE of this is that they are going to be selling services too. Amazon is know for physical products (books, CDs, movies) so seeing them get into offering local services is a major step.

There are already similar services out there now. For example,  Angie's List offers a local business rating service and hangs it claim to fame on being a place to find reputable referrals for just about any type of service in any community.

IMHO, this new Amazon service will probably knock Angie's List out of business.  Don't forget Angie's List charges a fee to both users (people like you and I who want to view the local business directory) and to businesses (folks who want to have their businesses rated by people using Angie's List).

But, don't expect this to shake out overnight. A few days ago I was on Amazon Services to examine setting up how to use one of their web sites to sell my SEO, Blogging, and web site design services. They let you do a 30 day trial without charging you which is nice. But, my oh my, setting up a web site with them - going through the steps to build it online - is not so easy and uses an "old school" interface.  To have a site with them will cost you $79 a month plus a percentage of your sales. But, they do process all the sales for you, have millions of customers around the world, and an excellent reputation.

If you are just wanting a free web site, you can always one of those with Google.  To recieve some serious web exposure though, you are better off using the free blog (blogger.com) service provided by Google and then applying your own domain to it. Why? Those blogs do better with SEO (search engine optimization) than a free web site does - as I said in a previous post - blogs in Google have a SEO advantage.

I don't think there is any rush to get listed with Amazons local business services. Since they just launched it last week, there will be some time needed to fix the process bugs. On their site, up to last night, they just want you to submit your name and phone number so they can call you. I didn't find any clear documentation explaining how the listing process works or a fee schedule (other than the web site cost).

If you want assistance or have questions about expanding your sphere of influence on the web, lets have a chat about it.