Here’s how it works: if you’re a business, your location-specific phone number will display next to your Adwords ad as a clickable (touchable?) link for people who are searching on smart phones. Once they tap the number their phone will call your business and Google will charge you for an ad click.

If you’re a local business advertising on Adwords you should definitely take advantage of this. Not only does it provide the shortest path for a searcher to contact you/become a lead, but by displaying your local number you will instantly grabs searchers’ attention with your area code letting them know you’re located next door.

Have you tested this out yet? What kind of results have you seen? Let me know in the comments!

Related posts:

1. 3 Ways NOT To Display Your Business Phone Number On Your Website
2. TC50 Winner 'RedBeacon' Points to Local Search Evolving… Are You Prepared?
3. 9 Tips For Writing Irresistibly Click-able AdWords Headlines

This year’s conference just ended, and the grand prize winner is RedBeacon, a company that is like a Yelp for local businesses.

People can use the site to search for local businesses in their area and are then presented with a list of featured businesses along with user reviews.

The company was founded by ex-Google engineers and product managers.

So today, some of the technology’s best minds got together and bet on a theory that most have come to view as inevitable: the way people find local businesses online is going to continue to change a lot in the coming years.

The internet has done a miraculous job of connecting the world, but we are still figuring out how to connect people to their plumbers next door. As solutions like AdWords (and perhaps RedBeacon) emerge, it’s hard to say which model will come out on top, but you can be sure that forward-thinking business owners will be there to reap the huge rewards that come with showing up early to the party.

Most small businesses owners haven’t yet figured out how to really harness the power of Google AdWords to drive traffic to their website and customers to their door. The businesses that have gotten themselves a steady stream of AdWords traffic have found that being a small fish in a big pond can be very profitable if their competitors haven’t had the courage or know-how to test the water.

Have you experimented with any new avenues for your online marketing recently? Have you stepped into the AdWords arena, or have you been waiting on the sidelines while your competitors figure out how to utilize this platform to make more money than they ever could before?

I don’t know what’s going to be the local business finder of the future, but what I can tell you is that there is a business owner down the street from you who is making very real money on AdWords as you’re reading this.

Whether that means opening an Adwords account today yourself, going back to one that’s been collecting dust, or finding a knowledgeable AdWords professional to outsource your campaign to, there’s no better time to start becoming comfortable with the change that is sure to continue sweeping local business search.

Just ask RedBeacon.

Related posts:

1. Google Introduces Pay-Per-Call to Adwords Mobile Ads
2. 9 Tips For Writing Irresistibly Click-able AdWords Headlines
3. Is Google Split Testing a New 'Search' Button?