The year was 1878. The first telephone book was published by the New Haven District Telephone Company. This so-called book was actually just a single page that held fifty names. It was divided into four headings – residential, professional, miscellaneous and essential service listings – and, ironically, it contained no phone numbers. That's because, back then, the operator had to connect the parties. (Betsy, Sam here. Would'ja connect me to Doc Henry? I need some more of that 'lixir for my rheumatoids ...thanks darlin').

It isn't hard to imagine how ridiculous the whole concept seemed back then. Heck, even Mark Twain (who lost a fortune investing in new gadgets) once remarked that he didn't see much potential in the telephone. He figured that most people would just walk down the street and say what was on their mind in person. After all, that was how people did things back in those days. Few realized that a revolution in communication was about to explode onto the stage of commercial endeavor.

Fast forward 127 years – and it's about to happen again! As fascinated as you may already be with the Internet, local search is poised to become the trump card that determines the winners and losers in the game of brick & mortar commerce. The search engines already know this. That's why the race is on to bring Local Search to a connected keyboard everywhere around you – NOW!

Google Makes it Easy to List YOUR Business in Local Search