One Local Live Feature That Beats Google Maps

Writing by Brick Marketing on Sunday, 11 of November , 2007 at 9:00 am

MSN’s Local Live Search aspires to be like Google Local. If you visit the two sites you’ll see that there are some similarities. But Local Live has one feature you won’t find on Google Local and, in my opinion, that features makes it worth pursuing as a marketing vehicle.

First, let’s talk about the similarities. Both search engines provide a way for users to map businesses they are interested in finding in their local area. It’s almost a no-brainer that this would be a valuable service. You can search the map or search for businesses on either Google Local or Local Live, but you can also use the Get Directions feature and pinpoint exactly what you are looking for.

Google’s My Maps allows you to save your searches for future use. Local Live’s Collections allows you to do the same thing. But the feature that Local Live has and Google Local doesn’t, which I believe makes it a little bit stronger of a product, is its Explore feature. Local Live Collections gives you plenty more features than Google’s My Maps, including the addition of push pins to show items you are collecting, and one of those features is Explore.

With Local Live Explore, you simply type in a zip code or a city and state as if conducting a search for businesses in that area. Then you go to the Collections drop down box on the top right side of the page. Scroll down to Explore and select that option. In the results field on the left side of the page, MSN indexed collections in the local area you are exploring show up as clickable results and push pins appear on the map to show you where those collections are located. In a sense, you are “browsing” your local area to find something interesting. This is a powerful feature for local businesses to tap into. But if your business isn’t listed with MSN or saved as a collection then you’ll never be found.

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Category: Local Live Search

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