This is another opportunity to hit your local market by advertising in the growing Local Search venue. I suspect this will be a great opportunity for many small businesses to get extra exposure at what should be a reasonable price.

Yahoo Local is now offering very visible advertising at the top of the local SERPs for a variety of different search terms/categories. For example, if you have a restaurant in Kennewick, Washington, you can guarantee placement in the prominent blue box that shows up first on a local search for restaurants in Kennewick, WA, 99336.

The cost of your listing depends on two things:

1. the demand in the category you want to advertise (florists will pay more than diaper services), and

2. the population of the city/region where you want to advertise (New York businesses will pay more than Kennewick businesses).

Here’s the current rate card for Yahoo Local Featured Listings.

And here’s the main info. page.

Ultimately, this looks like Yahoo Search Marketing — except it’s not pay-per-click. It’s flat-rate advertising, which makes it more like the yellow pages … only online, less expensive, and better.