Local search is here and is not letting up. Even Facebook is leaving clues that they are about to get involved in local search in a major way.

Fact: Studies have shown that 25% of searched keyword phrases have local intent? (a keyword phrase is a group of words typed into a search engine search bar. i.e. Plumbers, Denver)

Fact: 80% of all purchases are made within a 15 mile radius of where people live.

Fact: 97% of all US consumers use the internet to shop locally. Stat Provided by the prestigious BIS/Kelsey Group

It is important that you get your business listed on the top 4 giants - Google Places, Yahoo Local, Bing Local and Yelp.

Here are 10 tips to help improve your local listings

Until now, business owners who had their business listed on Google Places (also known as Google Maps), could not respond to customer reviews. Now they can.

In order to leave a response, owners first need to verify their identity by claiming their listing. Once you have claimed your listing, follow these instructions.

As a verified Google Places business owner, you can publicly respond to maps.google.com reviews on the Place Page. First, we’d recommend reading our handy tips on how to respond to reviewers. Then take a stab at responding, by following the instructions below.

Did you forget your jump drive? Have you ever needed to send a file, but the file was to big? Or how about, you were out somewhere and needed access to a file but did not have your computer?

Then I recommend Dropbox and I give it

Dropbox is a hosted file storage service. The service is free up to 2Gb of storage. This is a great tool for synchronizing files between different computers. Another great feature I love is the ability to share files and folders with other people.

I personally have been using Dropbox for a long time and love it. I use it to share documents and images to my clients, my family and also my team.

Learn more about Dropbox and sign up for your free account at: Dropbox

Facebook's former CTO, Adam D'Angelo confirmed on Tuesday June 29, that Google was working on a new social network called Google Me.

Remember MySpace? They were the big boys for awhile until Facebook took over. Could Google Me be the next big thing in social networking?

Google already has a number of social networking features, such as; Google Profile, Social Search, Google Friend Connect, and Buzz. The immediate problem Google has, is that there is no central hub tying all of these together into a true social network.

Google definitely has the talent and the backing to bring all these elements together into a centralized hub and give Facebook a run for it's members.

Stay tuned as I learn more about Google Me. I'll let you know.

What are your thoughts about a new social giant approaching the horizon?