Everyone tells you to get your business listed in a business directory but they won’t all tell you why or how to make your directory listing work well for you.
Main Benefits of Listing in a Premium Directory
A listing in a Premium Directory such as NearMe.Vip has many advantages:
Piggyback the directory domain authority – think of it like having a counter in Harrods or Macy’s – the association with a name such as Harrods is worth its marketing weight in gold.
Benefit from all the SEO groundwork the directory website will have done. They need to rank well in Google and the other search engine results pages (SERPS), so your listing on their site will benefit from all the work they have done to achieve that.
Get your business in front of potential clients and customers. People go to a business directory website for one reason only, to find a business or service to do something for them. Nobody casually browses a directory site, so if you have a prominent listing on the directory site you will be seen by people who need what you have to offer.
One you’ve made the decision to get on board with a Premium Business Directory you need to look at all the premium features they offer and work out what represents good value for you.
Extend Your Listing
Taking advantage of these options is going to make you stand out, so anything that will help you do that should on your list of must-haves.
If extending the listing in your online business directory should be the first step that you take, you should consider that paid listings will get priority over any free listings. That’s the incentive of taking a paid listing, you are buying extra exposure.
The more features that you are able to add, the better the results you can expect back. The next step up from extending your listing is to look for the opportunity of a promoted listing. Businesses that take up a promoted listing are featured at the head of any category and because they stand out so visibly will attract a lot more attention and visitors.
Visitors will be able to benefit from being able to view your working hours, contact information, the type of service or product that you offer, view customer reviews or ask for a quote, all from your listing.
Not only does this get you and all your very relevant information in front of prospective buyers, but you will also find this enhances your online reputation in general, which is a great boost for local businesses.
Reviews Count
Another area where directory listings help your overall marketing strategy is if they help you to collect reviews and ratings for your products or services. Online Directory sites such as NearMe.Vip encourages the leaving of reviews by site visitors. Business listings that feature ratings and reviews are valued very highly by Google, which results in better performance in the search engines and Google Maps.
SEO Benefits Associated With Premium Business Directories
When a business is listed on the best online directories, they gain additional SEO benefits as we have covered but they also gain the kudos of being associated with the successful Business Directory itself.
If the business directory site ranks highly on a popular search engine results page and also is able to secure multiple positions on that page, your listing on that site will gain in value and importance.
As we can see online business directories offer immense benefits, and neglecting them can definitely hurt your business. In today’s market where everything is so competitive failing to secure every advantage that you can by taking advantage of an opportunity to promote your online marketing, could well be tantamount to business suicide.
After all you can be sure that your rivals are more than likely looking for an ever-increasing number of ways they can use digital marketing to benefit their marketing efforts, increase sales, and build brand awareness.
Who in their right mind would decide to pass up on a chance to increase the likelihood of being found by potential customers or clients?
Another major advantage of securing a prominent premium business directory listing is that you are able to enjoy instant results. Working to get your own listing to the top of search engine results is an expensive and time-consuming long-term objective.
All the hard work and graft, not to mention expense, has already been undertaken by the premium business directory itself. Sign up and secure your listing, adding on as many premium benefits as you can justify, and you will find yourself instantly in the search engine results.
Business Directory Site Visitors
Google is growing ever more powerful and complex to work with, gone are the days when somebody without the benefit of many years of SEO experience can hope to rank well in the search engine results on a consistent basis. For a relatively small business owner to go up against Google on their own just doesn’t make sense.
Take advantage of an optimized Google My Business setup and piggy-backing on the SEO power that a Business Directory site has already brought to bear, is an often missed benefit. If the directory you are considering ranks well in Google for the type of searches your customers or clients would be likely to use, then they are a good fit for you.
When buyers visit Business Directory Listings, they are in a buying frame of mind. In fact, ninety percent of consumers will make a decision to buy within seven days of that initial visit. They need a certain service or product and they have come to find where they can get that within their local area.
Take a look at how the directory site gathers information from the inquirers. What type of information do they request? Is the information they send through to you sufficient and laid out in a way that makes your job of responding to the request easy?
Local Business Listings
Local Businesses have a different set of needs that have to be catered to by the Business Directory website. Is the one you are considering the right type of directory?
Any local business needs to ensure that their local citations are listed using a consistent NAP (name, address, phone#). A citation is an online mention of the business details. To get the maximum benefit from the citation it is very important that the content and format of the NAP are the same wherever it is used online.
It’s not so easy online to promote and take advantage of the goodwill and support communities tend to have towards their local businesses. After all, a big advantage of online trading is that it is hard to tell the difference between a small business with a good-looking website that does the job well and a big multi-national company with a poorly thought out and functioning site.
So you need to let everyone know how local you are. A great way of doing this is to highlight your local connections and make it clear what the benefits of working with a local business such as yours is to prospective customers or clients.
- Work together with local community organizations. You will always be able to find a local merchants group or a chamber of commerce in your zip code area
- Working together with other local businesses to organize events to encourage new customers to see what you have to offer or for existing clients and customers, for them to be rewarded and acknowledged
- Local media outlets, newspapers, radio stations, and even local TV stations are always on the lookout for fresh, relevant content. Do them a favor and create something newsworthy for them to cover
Covid has been a dreadful experience for so many people but it has also promoted a feeling of support for each other. People are now more likely than ever to respond to a “support local businesses” message, so it would be well worth the time to establish and promote your local community connections.
