Do you want to get found on the Internet and increase your SEO using Business Listing Directories?
Want a quick, easy, and FREE way to increase the chances of your company showing up on page 1 of an Internet search? Then start placing your company information on Internet Business Listing Directories. Increasing your chances of being found in a search will increase your lead base, which means more potential business for your company.
Today people are reaching for their computers to lookup and research potential businesses before they make a call.
Most people will have already visited your website and social media links before they ever pick up the phone and call you. But what if you don’t yet have a website or social media links that are properly optimized? How can potential customers find you if you don’t have a presence on the Internet? This is where placing your business on multiple Internet business listing directories becomes important. Much like the old phone book yellow pages, these sites allow customers to search for businesses by type of service and location. Some familiar sites are Google Places, Google Maps, Superpages, Dex, Merchant Circle, Manta, Yellow Pages, White Pages, and the list goes on. Here is a resource outlining 50 listing directories from Hubspot. Google Places is an important place for contractors to list their company information, but be advised of some changes in policy from Google in this video by Darren Slaughter.
What do you need to do to get listed?
Almost all of the business listing directories will ask you to set up an account. This is free and simply enables you to go back into the listing to edit your information in the future. Some sites will already have your business information and ask you to “claim your business”. Simply follow the instructions which again will require you to set up a login account.
Filling out as much of the information as possible and accurately is important. Your goal is not only to be listed in the directory site, which will help your company show up in an Internet search, but also to come up higher on the page than your competitors. Another way to help achieve these goals would be to place images with text descriptions whenever possible. Most directories will place your listing under various categories, and many times you may pick several. So take the time to see what category and keywords they provide and choose as many as they allow.
This process is easy but can be time-consuming. I would advise people to do several per day until you reach your goal or outsource the task. You will find over time there is a “trickle down effect” whereby some directories will feed information to others, placing your company on even more sites!
Does it really work?
My client, a painting contractor, had no Internet presence 2 years ago. By placing his company on multiple directories (over 20), his company began showing on page 1 of Internet searches for various keywords within weeks, and this was before he had a website!
So walk, if not run, to your computer and start typing. Watch your company name start appearing in Internet searches fast! Get found today!
Thanks for the mention Barb!
You are very welcome Darren. Your blogs provide a wealth of information that is helpful for people in all industries.
Great info here Barbara, I have seen the effect of having the profiles set up on various directories. Many of them pull form other directories, just adding some pics and info will make you stand out!
Thanks Chris, I use Business Listing Directories for all my clients as a part of their overall Internet marketing strategy.
Good tips Barbara.
It’s a good point to mention filling out all the information and fields. Also, businesses should be mindful to be consistent in how they fill in their address and contact information. Keeping the address completed in the same way throughout all your directory listings will also help increase rankings.
Thanks for commenting Heidi. Yes, that is a good point you make that company’s need to complete the information regarding address and phone numbers the same throughout the directory listings they fill out.
May want him to set up o ours. At an Alexa ranking of 20k, it’s obvious we have the traffic.
What I find amazing is, of all the listings that people submit every day, about 20% have misspellings, punctuation problems, no websites and not all data fields filled in. What makes a listing have “traction” are the smaller details you add, eg, Locally owned, Service is Guaranteed, and any Major Brands. Thanks for the article Barbara, we couldn’t agree more 😉
Thank you Andy for your comments. You make a great point that people really need to proof read for errors before submitting information. Also, as you mentioned, adding many details including photos will help with SEO. If someone is going to spend the time completing these listings they need to assure this will be a valuable piece of their marketing effort.
This is great! I am currently doing this for a painting company to try to get them to show up more and more online! I hope it works very well – Thank you for putting great information out there.