Gord Hotchkiss, CEO of SEM firm Enquiro, and generally all-around thoughtful/smart guy gave an interview in which he predicted, among other things, a good 2007 for local:
There’s a convergence of effort and functionality right now around local that will start to gain critical mass quickly. The biggest stumbling block is the lack of quality online presence with local search advertisers.
Right now, it’s the national chains that are dipping their toes in local search. But we’re close to the tipping point. Local search makes far too much sense for the consumer for it to remain as a marginal marketing strategy for long. Look for 2007 to be a watershed year for local.
I totally agree with his rationale and the presence of consumer demand. Also, on the back end, the infrastructure is now in place for small businesses to adopt online marketing via third parties (i.e., newspapers, Web hosts, YPs).
Everything takes longer than expected, but in hindsight local online advertising will seem to have developed relatively quickly vs. the development and adoption of other media.
Screenwerk 