Back in the ’90’s when the Internet was starting to become relevant for business, many companies were building websites with the aim of reaching markets further afield.

Hence the World Wide Web.

In the last few years Social Media has grown in popularity, becoming a significant marketing opportunity for many businesses. Behind this phenomena the rise in mobile web access has strengthened access on the go.

Combine the fact that people are taking with each other online and increasingly using mobile, it’s no wonder that local businesses can justify using the web for local marketing.

Balihoo, a local marketing automation technology and services company, has produced an awesome infographic based on a number of sources highlighting the importance of local online.

Some of the headline data shows:

1. 73% of online search activity is related to local content.
2. Gartner predicts mobile phones will overtake PCs as the most common web access device worldwide
   by 2013.
3. 83% of local Internet searchers follow-up offline.

Further statistics are shown in the infographic below: