Restaurants, movie theaters, dry cleaners and the like can really benefit from a local listing with the major search engines, but what about your coaching practice? Would you like to be found by more people in your area who are searching for a coach?

If so, one of the ways you can become more visible in your local market is by creating a Local Business listing on Google, Yahoo, and Bing. There is no cost for doing this and it will give you the benefit of being found on the first page under local search results when someone Googles “coach” or “coaching” and your city name.

To create your listing at Google, visit the Local Business Center at google.com/lbc. You can watch a video about the service before you create your listing. You will need to verify and validate your account with a PIN prior to your listing being approved, but this is a good thing that insures you are who you say you are.

Yahoo! has a similar listing service, you can create your listing here.

To create your listing at MSN’s new search engine,  Bing, visit the online listing center. Bing will ask you to log in using your Windows ID, so if you don’t have Windows ID you will need to create one. Once you are in you can add basic info about your business i.e. contact info, website, hours of operation, payment methods, photos, etc. For more information check out this excellent article from Small Business Trends.

Let me know how it goes for you, hope you have great results!