U.S. Business Listings on FoundLocally?

FoundLocally is designed to help find community information for a number of cities across Canada, and so we are a perfect marketing opportunity for Canadian businesses.

The fact the directory is free, and covers a broad spectrum of economic activity from Business to Business (“B2B”) and Business to Consumer (“B2C”), as well as governments, non-profits and community groups.

Some FoundLocally sites are cross-border, including Niagara Falls (also featuring Niagara Falls & Buffalo, NY) and Sault Ste Marie (also for Sault Ste Marie, Michigan and the “U.P.”). These sites cover both sides of the border (or river) because that’s the way those communities actually function.

We welcome listings from US businesses, community groups and governments in those cross-border communities!

Residents typically shop or go out one which ever side is best for them. The fact the legal drinking ages vary by 3 years impacts the nightlife for all ages, for example. The cheaper prices on some items in the U.S., like milk, eggs, gas, books, clothing and electronics impacts the retail sector. For that reason, we encourage businesses  and organizations on the US side in those communities to register on FoundLocally.com.

Ironically, tourism and economic development agencies in the communities only trumpet their own side of the border, because they are funded by the governments on the Canadian or the US side. So, FoundLocally has turned out to be the best and most reliable cross-border information source in these communities!

However, we keep getting registrations by businesses (and their web marketers) from US communities far (sometimes far, far, far!) away from the border, who are not eligible for a listing, since they are not “local” to the community they are registering for. These are summarily sent an email and deleted.

DON’T WASTE YOUR TIME!

We have long had an area code filtering system for phone numbers for many years, to block businesses from out of each community. This detail prevents businesses with just a Skype phone number, or scam artists from Nigeria or Eastern Europe from registering.We have nothing against those areas/countries, just their scammers! This also helps us be compliant right away, when a community upgrades from 7 digit dialing to 10 digit dialing.

Recent Changes to US Address Filtering

We’ve recently noticed that’s not enough. So, we have added a new ZIP code filter that allows only designated US ZIP codes (your equivalent of Canadian postal codes) to register for their FoundLocally.com listing.  This creates a band of about 25 miles, which we consider “local enough”.

For each FoundLocally.com directory listing, you must have both a local address and a local phone number.

See similar filtering for businesses in the Greater Toronto Area.

How do I add U.S. Chains to the FoundLocally.com Directory?

US chains, with some locations in Canada and/or with near-border American locations are particularly welcome. Since our contact registration process requires  Canadian address, please PHONE US at 403-245-2194 to discuss your interest. The directory listing, as well as this over-the-phone tech support, are both FREE!

In any case, you should read the recommendations for chains, franchises and multi-location businesses on our web marketing & SEO blog at http://blog.foundlocally.com/default.asp?Display=61

You can quickly see which of your locations (or your competitors) are already on the FoundLocally.com directory using our “Store Search”