It looks like the Yellow Pages' newest competitor is poised to fuel the web design industry in just about every local niche. In fact, even the internet Yellow Pages may not lose out entirely.

It seems that Network Solutions has entered the local search game. As Natural Search Blog explains:

I noticed that Network Solutions has quietly added a play in the local search / IYP space - ThinkLocal.com. The site includes maps, weather, a yellow pages like search for businesses, and user review features.

[...] Network Solutions has always had enough data to provide [a business website search] as a major domain name registrar. Unfortunately, I think no one site ever created a sufficiently broad directory of business websites, and Google, Yahoo! and MS Live have all evolved to fill that gap to some degree (it’d still be great to have the ability to only search for biz websites and not get unrelated content).
[...]
I don’t see anything revolutionary here yet, but they have performed some level of SEO to index thousands of their pages, and they have sufficient capital to potentially make a dent in the local space.

Now that there's a business website search engine, web design firms that focus on the local niche will have that much easier of a time convincing small businesses that they need a site. While the Yellow Pages offer a listing where your URL is optional, Network Solutions' take on local search is making the need to have a site that much more mandatory. Indeed, the launch of ThinkLocal.com really only signals the rise of a generation that expects businesses to have an online presence if they want to appear credible.

What's really peculiar is that where in some regions, enticing clients to include a URL in the Yellow Pages listing is an upsell, the Yellow Pages sales force can now leverage their very competitors as an incentive for clients to upgrade their listing package to include this information. I guess that it's a win-win for all parties involved -- except, of course, cash-strapped local business.