Ted Demopoulos has a funny (but important) story on why local businesses need blogs.

He was searching for the phone number of his lawyers.

He rents office space from them — he could have walked upstairs to see them. Instead, he went looking online just like millions of other people do when they’re looking for local information.

When I need the phone # of a local business — including taxi service, restaurants, etc. — the first thing I do is search online. Often I’ll use the Yellow Pages online service, Canada411, but Google is still preferred.

Ted eventually did walk upstairs (go Ted!) but as he points out, “…what if I was looking for an attorney to help me? I never would have known they exist.”

A blog can increase the findability of your business many times over.

And in a sea of lazy people who don’t want to get up from their computers (no offense Ted!), and who instinctively type “www.google.com” when they want to find something, your ability to be found and stand out from the crowd is crucial to your business success.

Tags: ted demopoulos, business blog, weblog, blogs, corporate blog, corporate blogging, business blogging, local searches, google