Online Business Directories
There are multiple ways to advertise and market your business. Local SEO strategies have become increasingly popular, especially as the competition increases within the industry. An online business directory is a great way to reach your customers and expand your marketing network.
An internet business directory is a listing of businesses, products and services listed in one location. Complete and accurate information is easy to locate, sorted and displayed in a comprehensive and easy to use format. An internet business directory can help you gain advantage over the competition by effectively managing your business and optimizing your site.
Business owners and managers have spent valuable time and money developing their brands and creating advertising and promotional materials. Directories are a cost-effective way to reach potential customers and enhance your business. When you list your business with a web directory, customers can find your company much easier and quickly.
A few of the many benefits of listing your business with a web directory are:
- Ease
Many customers are comforted when they find what they are looking for in a fast, easy and reliable way. They feel they are in control of their business and their location and if they could find it with a directory listing, they can. Don’t let the large company fool you by sending potential customers to your competitors.
- Local Search
A directory listing will mean that your business has been sighted by prospective customers. Many customers will search using their own names to find your company. They may or may not call you, they may or may not want to buy from you, but they already have a need for what you have to offer.
- Indexing
Blogs, forums, and other frequently updated content are indexed by the search engines. This means that if you update your website regularly, search engines are more likely to view your information highly.
- Results
Once you have submitted your website to a directory site, it’s more likely that the search engines will view it highly.
- A Few New Business Leads
If you’re looking for leads, you will find that directory sites are the perfect place to find them. More importantly, the leads you find on directory sites are people that are interested in your products or services. They are targeted and ready to work with you. In many cases, directory site submissions can increase your online conversion rate by three times or more! That is why I’ve created this list of directories. You might be surprised how many leads you can acquire by using these sites to submit your website.
The Top Five For Local Search Engine Optimization
1) Yellow Pages
In many cities, the Yellow Pages remains the number one resource for generating local traffic. More and more people like to search for local businesses by their names and where they are located. The Yellow Pages Online is an excellent free directory that provides a lot of information including business listings. In addition, it recently ranked highest in terms of popularity among local users. In addition, Yellow Pages is available for free atwww.yellowpages.com, and free to print.
2) SuperPages.com
Managed by Penalty comporter handling unverts, this portal provides an interesting insight on who delivers the most local traffic. In addition, it contains a fairly large database of links that allow you to set up your own business listing. The site highest popularity is amongst diners and restaurant owners, second only to Google Places. For more information, or to use their navigational tools for your business, you can find out more at http://superpages.com.
3) Hotfrog
This site was acquired by Overture last year, providing its customers (the advertisers) with a search engine where they could promote their (or their product’s) product for free or a very low cost. In addition, Overture now provides free and inexpensive advertising through its partners, such as nonexistent.com and go terms on its site.
4) Yelp
If you haven’t heard of Yelp, then you have been hiding in a cave. This ranking site provides an enormous amount of social proof. The site’s reviews, along with those of other users, are the Based on the internet’s review system this site is a very successful guide to help those interested find goods and services. Yelp is currently the second most popular city-listing site in the US, and because its relevance is fairly easy to confirm, its time spent is well spent.
5) Small Business Near Me
Small Business Near Me is an Australian small business directory which uses the Google map geolocation to enable people to find local businesses in their area.