Local Search Still Needs Some Work

The Hawaiian alphabet consists of 12 letters. That’s under half of the alphabet characters most of us are taught in school (or can remember). However, the Hawaiian alphabet makes use of vowels more than anything and will completely tie your tongue into knots and make you sound like an idiot when you visit here asking for directions. It’s like being lost in a foreign country where you can’t pronounce street names to save your life.

Local search has been my buddy for quite some time out here. I’ve been here for over 20 years now (collectively), can speak the lingo, carry the local attitude, but I’ll be damned if you’re gonna get me to start spitting out street and town names with ease. I still get lost out here sometimes, however, I do have a regiment I try to follow when it comes to going out.

Remember That Google Won’t Help

Google’s driving directions SUCK. There I said it. I’ve tried it here locally many times and it sucks. I’ve also tried it up and down the I-5 corridor from Medford, through Portland, Olympia, Tacoma, and Seattle and it made no difference. The story has been the same no matter where I’m driving; once I get off at my exit, Google is going to send me to my destination in the most bass ackwards fashion possible.

Do 3 circles in the 7-11 parking lot, sit at this railroad track for no reason, drive through this abandoned barn, go 200 miles east of the freeway you started out on and then go get back on that very same freeway for 29 more miles.

Thanks Google.

Ask.com or THE SECRET WEAPON

Looking up businesses on Ask.com has been kinda refreshing. I can see why my bff Lisa is their unofficial cheering squad for the stuff they have for people using their tools. The driving directions have proven to be a little smarter, the maps are pretty… all in all I feel more comfortable about using them.

But the best tool to get the job done is something that totally rocks. You might have heard of it at some point… it’s called a phone. Pick it up, and call the place. Talk to the business before you go, get your directions, and ask some questions. That’s the secret weapon.

Conclusion

Crappy service, horrible food, impossible parking, rude management, idiotic hours… these are things that local search won’t warn you about efficiently. As much as I love the internet and the way that it has integrated into my everyday life, I always need to keep the baser skills in place. Use the damn phone. Actually formulate my own opinion about the business I’m about to visit instead of relying on their own web copy or their own employees tainting Yelp.com.

TALKING to someone behind the counter or on the phone is priceless. Word of mouth! Remember the power of that?! Use the phone again and call friends or family who might have been to this business.

Point is, we can’t rely strictly on the net for everything. I’ll take a good conversation with a barista serving me a cup of coffee over the blank stare of my monitor humming out yet another website trying to sell me the unknown ANY day of the week. How about you?

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