Using Local Business Directories To Boost Your Sales

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Managing a small business requires deploying regular marketing and sales strategies to remain relevant in the industry. Many people go through conventional channels such as print advertising or direct mail to market their business.

However, the increasing number of internet users nowadays has led to the use of business directories to boost sales. A business directory is basically a list of services and businesses that individuals contact for services required. As simple as it sounds, it is important to know how to take full advantage of it.

How Does Local Business Directories Work?
Making use of search engines in Local Business Directories
What is Local Business Directory?
What Are Some Examples of Local Business Directories?
How do You Build a Successful Local Business Directory?
Why Does Adding my Business to Local Directories Help my SEO?
What Are Some Benefits of Local Business Directories?
What Should be Included in a Business Directory?
Top Local Directories to Get Your Business Listed
How Can I Use Google my Business For my Business?
What Should be Included in a Company Directory?
How do I Get a List of Small Businesses?
Why is Local SEO Important For Small Businesses?
How Can You Improve Your Local SEO?
Are Directories Profitable?
How do You Write a Business Listing Content?
What Makes a Good Online Directory?
9 Reasons Why You Need Online Business Directories

How Does Local Business Directories Work?

Businesses especially small ones require maximum exposure to thrive. Business directories help to reach out to prospective clients and customers who are looking for the products and services that you offer but do not know that your business exist. It is a platform to purposely target this set of people and it also helps in identifying competitors and locating potential suppliers.

A business that is submitted using the ‘submit a business’ feature in just one directory can be seen by millions of people. If there are potential clients looking to buy your products or make use of the services that you offer, they are likely to get in touch with you after they have seen your listing.

These directories expose your works which generate leads that can be converted into cash with the tendency of multiplying significantly. This is why it is advisable to use business directories to boost your sales.

Making use of search engines in Local Business Directories

The presence of your business will be enhanced in search engines when you are listed in local business listings. This will make it easy for prospective customers who are searching for information about your type of product or services to find you through search engines. This is the reason submissions should be made to reputable online business directories. It also helps to create backlinks that increase the ranking of a site in search engines.

The following are a few tips that will guide you in listing correctly:

Maximize exposure
If there are other services that you offer that are related to your main one, you should maximize your exposure by listing them separately. Make sure that the appropriate listing category is selected.
Use free listings and special offers
You can use the free listing for a while to test the market. Since it costs you nothing, you will be able to assess the benefits that paid listing would have provided you. This helps you to prepare for the listing you will do in the future. You can include a special offer when you do as it helps to determine the degree of response. By offering customers some incentives, you can get ahead of the competition.
Study your listing
Check and recheck the listing to be sure you are pleased with how it is worked or designed. Consider whether it is relevant to the target market and if it correctly conveys your services. Pick a style that you will always use for future listings and maintain that style. Continuity is important.

What is Local Business Directory?

A local business directory is a website that features listings for businesses in a certain town, industry, or niche. Listings usually include basic information, like the business name, phone number, physical address, and website address. They can also be filtered by location, type of business, activity, or even business size.

Local business directories are sometimes known as listings sites. The most famous listings sites are Yelp and Facebook.

For publishers, a local business directory can be a lucrative opportunity that leads to increased revenue from advertisers. Business directories can lead to increased website traffic and subscription sales, as well.

Why don’t more publishers have local business directories on their websites?

For starters, some publishers worry that compiling a list of all the area businesses will be too time consuming. Publishers might also be worried about the steps involved in building a local business directory from the ground up.

When you use the latest tools and directory technology platforms, building a local business directory doesn’t have to be difficult or time-consuming. Automated online search software can streamline the process of collecting business data, and website development firms like Web Publisher PRO can help build local business directories that include advertising modules for monetization.

Web Publisher PRO can even add self-serve portals to an online directory, so businesses can pay for premium or sponsored listings without needing to interact with a live sales rep.

Digital news publishers and online magazine publishers can develop local business directories that cater to their specific audiences. These types of hyper-focused directories quickly turn a profit, as publishers find ways to sell sponsored or highlighted listings to businesses with self-serve features. Audiences love business directories, as well, and the SEO value alone is often enough to encourage publishers to take the leap.

What Are Some Examples of Local Business Directories?

MetroFamily Magazine

MetroFamily magazine is a highly-influential publication in the Oklahoma City metro area that publishes in both print and digital formats. One of the key elements on MetroFamily magazine’s website is a custom directory system that was developed by Web Publisher PRO. MetroFamily now has individual directories for After School Programs, Education, Summer Camps, Service Providers, and Virtual Kids Activities.

Each directory contains business listings that can be filtered by activity or sorted by location. MetroFamily’s directories have become a powerful revenue generator, with local advertisers paying for “Sponsored” and “Premium” listings.

MetroFamily’s directories have also been optimized for local SEO, so parents in the community have a higher chance of clicking onto directory listings when they search for related keywords, like “summer camps in Oklahoma City” or “best after school programs in Oklahoma City,” on Google and Bing.

TRNTO

TRNTO’s Restaurant Directory has become a popular destination for people looking for ideas and inspiration on where to eat out in the Toronto area. TRNTO’s directory is stacked with all the latest features and advertising tools, including location searches, maps integrations, and multiple filtering options for users.

Restaurant listings feature basic business information, like the restaurant’s name, address, phone number, and website links, as well as social media links and detailed descriptions about what makes each establishment unique.

Austin Monthly

Austin Monthly’s business directory is the first place that many people in the Austin metro area go to research the top doctors, dentists, attorneys, restaurants, schools, and more. By creating a local business directory, Austin Monthly has given area businesses a way to publish their own content and self-manage their online advertising.

Businesses have the option to “claim” their own listings, and doing so gives them the opportunity to customize the information that appears on the directory site.

SweetwaterNOW

Businesses will pay a premium to have their job listings posted in online directories. SweetwaterNOW is one of a number of local digital publishers to capitalize on this trend with a custom jobs board built by Web Publisher PRO. Similar to an online directory, jobs boards can serve as a valuable revenue generation tool when publishers charge businesses to submit their postings.

While most local business directories do include free listings, smart business owners will almost always opt to pay for enhanced, sponsored, or premium listings. This ensures top billing on the directory site. Premium listings usually come with other incentives or add-ons, like the ability to edit listing information, add images to listings, and even integrate customer reviews from third-party sites.

How do You Build a Successful Local Business Directory?

A local business directory website is a great way to support local businesses, help local shoppers find relevant information and make money online. Follow these 5 simple steps to learn how you can start your own local business directory website today.

1. First, Find Your “Niche”

The first step is to determine what kind of directory website you should launch. Your “niche” is the area of focus for your directory site.

While you can create a general business directory that covers all industries and categories in a given area, you can also focus on a specific niche or industry such as a restaurant business directory, medical business directory, wedding vendor directory, or home services directory.

Choosing a specific niche or industry allows you to cater your directory site, its content and even marketing towards a specific industry or profession.

For example you can set up a directory website for Long Island Wedding Vendors, Long Island Roofers, Long Island Restaurants, etc. Ideal Directories offers you the flexibility to launch a directory website for any area or niche you like.

Not sure what type of directory website to start? Here’s a tip: Look for opportunities in your local market. Maybe your city needs a good local restaurant directory? Or maybe you can start a local home services directory? Or better yet – launch multiple “niche” directory sites and multiply your earning potential.

2. Focus on a Specific Geographical Area

Even though you may have the potential to grow your directory to a national or even a global audience (and that may be your long term goal) it’s generally best to focus on a specific geographical area or region to start. Focusing on a specific town, city, county or even state will help you start building local traffic to your directory website by appealing to both local consumers and local businesses.

This approach tends to be the most cost-effective method and you will be able to focus all of your marketing efforts on a specific area rather than spreading yourself too thin trying to cover a large territory.

3. Get Started Right Away

Don’t delay the launch of your directory website. The Ideal Directories platform makes it easy to launch your own directory website in less than 1 hour. No need to hire a web developer or learn any complicated software.

Ideal Directories is the fastest and easiest way to get your directory website live, AND it comes packed with all the must-have features from the very beginning, so there’s nothing to add on later. The sooner you launch your directory website, the faster you can start generating traffic, selling listings and making money. Don’t wait!

4. Set Your Plans & Pricing

There are several ways to generate revenue from your directory website. The most popular way to generate income is to charge businesses to be listed on your site. You might offer a free listing option as an entry level package or as introductory offer, but the goal is to up-sell members to one of your paid or premium plans.

You can also generate additional revenue by selling your own banner ads on the site or implementing Google AdSense. Google AdSense allows you to earn a small commission for displaying Google ads on your directory website. As you start to grow your directory website, it’s wise to explore additional revenue opportunities such as writing premium content or promoting your members on social media.

Remember, like any business, a directory website takes time to grow and your patience and persistence will pay off. There’s no “get rich quick” formula. The key to success is staying committed and growing your business at a steady pace. In the beginning it’s best to focus on populating your directory, offering some free listings and generating traffic.

As traffic increases, more businesses will be willing to pay for a premium listing and the pay off can be huge. Running a directory website is also a great opportunity to cross-sell complimentary services such as web design, search engine marketing, print advertising, social media marketing and more.

5. Promote Your Directory Website

Promoting your directory website is an important and never-ending step in running a successful directory website business. As the directory owner, you should always be proactive with marketing your directory website and look for new ways to drive relevant traffic to your site and attract new advertisers.

Promoting your site should include both online and offline tactics including SEO, search engine marketing, social media marketing, email marketing, face-to-face selling, networking, promotional material, print advertising, blogging and much more. The more visitors you have coming to your site, the more valuable it is for businesses to advertise on your site.

Not only do businesses want to know you have a plan to get traffic to the site, they also want to know that other businesses (ie.their competitors) have also agreed to be listed.

Getting your first paid listings is the hardest, so try calling some well-known businesses in your city or area and offer to list them for free on your site. Then contact other similar businesses and tell them that their competition has already signed up to be listed, and they should to.

Why Does Adding my Business to Local Directories Help my SEO?

Search engine optimization is a means of ensuring your website is appearing in the top search results spots for target keywords. If you are a local pizza joint, you may be optimizing your website for phrases such as “best pizza” or “pizza restaurant” or “authentic Italian pizza”. Local business directories also optimize their site for these keywords.

Since online business directories have high domain authority, they are more likely to appear higher in search results for the same keywords. Having a listing profile on these reputable sites means your business will appear more frequently than perhaps your website will.

What Are Some Benefits of Local Business Directories?

Below are a few reasons why these online directories are so crucial for the survival of your business in an age where online search is mainstream.

Improve online presence. The more business directories you add your company to, the more frequently your brand will appear in search results. Think of each local listing profile as an additional website for your business; you want to ensure it is up to date, has plenty of pictures of your product or service, and provides contact information such as email and phone number.

An estimated 50% of mobile queries have local intent, which means if your business shows up in a local listing such as Yelp, Angie’s List, YellowPages, or Google My Business, then you are vastly improving your online mobile presence.

Increased brand visibility. Creating or updating your business profile on a directory site will undoubtedly increase brand visibility. Be sure to include as much information as possible. For instance, many online directories allow business owners to upload a company logo.

Make sure you create a logo that looks great online so that you can add it to both your website and these third party listing websites. The more sites you add your company information to, the more likely users are to see your logo and identify with your brand and what you offer.

Improve business reputation. Business directories such as Google My Business, Bing Places, and Yelp all allow customers to leave a review about their experience with your product or service. While many business owners dread reviews, they offer you the ability to improve your business reputation.

Even a negative review can be turned into a more positive learning experience when handled correctly. As long as you are communicating effectively to your clients or customers, you can expect the majority of your reviews to be positive. These reviews can then be shared on social media and you can even list them on your website.

Dominate search results. When it comes to a search results page, think of a Monopoly board. While playing Monopoly, the goal is to acquire as many properties on the board as possible to increase the chances that other players will land on your Real estate.

The same thing applies to a search results page; the more times your website appears on the page, the more likely users are to click on your website. One of the best ways to ensure that your site appears often in search results is by creating local business profiles on high-ranking directory sites.

What Should be Included in a Business Directory?

Business directories collate and present the key information of the businesses listed within the directory in a readily digestible format. The purpose of business directories is to provide the user base with the information they need to become aware of, contact, locate and otherwise interact with businesses.

The information shown in a directory regarding a given business will normally include the business name, address and contact details, opening hours, photos, inbound links to the business website, and directions.

Depending on the directory, listings may also include user functions such as the option to review the business or share information about it on social media platforms such as Facebook.

While features and functions may very from directory to directory, the principal function of all business directories is essentially the same.

Top Local Directories to Get Your Business Listed

As the name suggests, online local business directories focus on local businesses with a specific physical location. Generally speaking, local business directories only list small or medium-sized local businesses that service a specific, immediate location (such as a local hairdresser or plumber) and will not list businesses that exist solely online.

A local business directory may feature listings across a broad range of business categories, or may be concentrated within a specific industry niche. We discuss this distinction in more detail below.

Local directories compile and list local business information to make it easy for consumers to find local products and services, and to interact with the businesses that provide these.

Below is a list of some of the best and most effective local business directories:

192.com – www.192.com
2FindLocal – free.2findlocal.com
Brownbook – www.brownbook.net/united-kingdom
Business Network – businessnetwork.co.uk/
Call Up Contact – www.callupcontact.com>
Cybo – www.cybo.com
Find-Us-Here – www.find-us-here.com
First Directory – 1stdirectory.co.uk
Fonolive – fonopages.com
Fyple – www.fyple.co.uk

How Can I Use Google my Business For my Business?

Google My Business is the single largest online business directory and, in many ways, the most important. It regularly serves as the starting point for users searching for a business online. While it may not provide the detailed information that could be found on a specialized directory, it is very often the first port of call.

For this reason, Google My Business really is the first place to start for businesses entering the world of online business directories. Here we discuss how you can do just that.

To get started using Google My Business, head to the website.

Once there, you need to register your business by following these steps:

Press the “Start now” button in the upper right corner.
You will then be prompted to log in to your Google account, which you will need to create if you do not already have one. Bear in mind that this is the account that will be associated with your business.
Next, input the name of your business.
Next, enter the business address.
You will then be prompted to confirm whether your business delivers goods and services to its customers, by checking a box.If you wish to keep the business address private (if, say, it is also your home address), select ‘Hide my address (it’s not a store) Show only the region’. You will then need to select the business’ delivery area.
Next, you need to choose the activity category that best represents your business. This is an essential step, as it will suggest to Google where your listing can be shown for local searches and the kinds of customers that should see your listing. For that reason, it’s important to be precise and careful in your selection.
Now input the business contact details and website.
Finally, click the ‘Finish and Verify’ button.You will then need to select a verification option. Normally this needs to be done by post, in which case Google will send a postcard with a verification code to the business address. Other options are available but only for select businesses. Click the ‘Learn More’ button for more information.Alternatively, you can opt to verify the business later by clicking the button.

Google My Business is a great way to increase your business profile and entice more people to visit your business. To do so, it’s important to ensure that your Google My Business listing contains accurate and complete information. Ensure that basic information such as contact details, address and opening hours are correct and that any changes to your details are updated as soon as possible.

Adding more detail or content to your listing is also beneficial. Make sure your location is specific and include other content such as photos that improve the overall experience and understanding a user can gain from the listing.

Being active on the listing also helps. Keep a regular eye out for reviews left by users and ensure that you respond to them. Make sure you capitalize on positive reviews. This improves the overall customer experience and by extension, your listing’s popularity.

What Should be Included in a Company Directory?

Listing business contact information in online and traditional phone directories helps customers easily find your business. Adding basic information, such as your business name and phone number, to a directory is inexpensive and does not take a lot of time or effort.

In addition to creating a website, advertising in local newspapers or magazines and attending networking events, listing business contact information in a directory is useful for increasing sales and attracting new customers.

Directories list names, addresses and telephone numbers of individuals, organizations, or companies. Some company directories also include information such as lines of business, number of employees, and brief financial information.

How do I Get a List of Small Businesses?

Small businesses often need to keep tabs on other new businesses opening up in the community. This may be a matter of keeping an eye on potential competitors – but more often than not, new businesses can translate into new customers for your print shop, office supply store, legal services … or whatever type of business you run. There are several sources you can turn to for a list of new businesses in your area.

Check With the Local Chamber of Commerce

The newest businesses in town often become new members of the local Chamber of Commerce. Some Chambers post new members on their website, like the list you’ll find online from the Alexandria, VA, Chamber of Commerce. Others may be able to provide you a list after a quick email or phone call to make a request.

Tip

If you are not already a member of your Chamber of Commerce, you may want to consider joining – business lists may only be available to fellow members. Chambers also offer other services to help you network, market your business, keep up-to-date on regulatory matters and explore new business opportunities.

Ask Your Secretary of State

All but the smallest (usually one person) businesses are required to register with the Corporations Division of the Secretary of State’s office in your state. Most states have searchable online directories of registered corporations. A few states, like Oregon, allow you to generate a list of all registered companies sorted by date, so you can view all the most recent registrations.

Unfortunately, very few states provide a date-sorting capability. If the option is not available online, contact the Corporations Division directly and request a list from them. There may be a modest charge for this service.

The information you’ll receive generally does not indicate the size of the new business, but often the name will give a hint as to whether you’re dealing with a large corporation or a small mom-and-pop.

Peruse Your Local Media

Small-town newspapers do a good job of reporting on newly opened or about-to-open businesses in the community. Checking the newspaper regularly is a good means of staying on top of new enterprises. Even large cities often have neighborhood-by-neighborhood news outlets that provide similar coverage.

Search Your Area Online

Use Google, Bing or any other search engine to search for new businesses in your area. Enter a geographical term (town or city name, for example, or even just a neighborhood name) along with the term new business. Try mixing up your search terms to gather in other search results.

For example, include “soft opening” in your search (with the quote marks) to find businesses that have opened shop, even though they aren’t marketing themselves yet. Other terms to try: “newly opened,” “just opened,” “plans to open.”

Tip

You can try the same type of searches on social media sites like Facebook and LinkedIn to generate additional results.

Check Your Local Library

Many libraries (university libraries as well as public libraries) provide free online access to business databases, and some of these offer lists of new businesses. Reference USA is one of the more widely available databases that offers a list of new businesses.

You can also check commercial services not usually found in libraries, such as BrandNewBusinesses.com. There is generally a fee for these types of services.

Why is Local SEO Important For Small Businesses?

The reasons all businesses need local SEO is because search engines have realized that many users are looking for specific services and products near them. According to Google, 46% of searches now have a ‘local intent’.

This means potential customers are searching for your services within your service area and if you boost your local SEO, your business will be the one they find and come to. A successful local SEO campaign will help your business because:

Local SEO increases your website’s rankings in the search results and in the local pack.
It receives the highest conversion levels of all local advertising channels.
It increases your online visibility, especially to neighbouring customers.
It increases organic traffic to your website and helps you earn more qualified leads.
It will help you outrank your local competitors.
It helps mobile users easily find your business, whether in the search engines, through directories, or through social media channels.
It ensures your business is found on Google maps and through other navigational apps.

How Can You Improve Your Local SEO?

1. Create and optimize your Google My Business Account: To get started, you need to claim your business on Google My Business. This establishes your presence for free on the search engine. Also, your business will show up on Google Maps. If Google authenticates your business as legitimate, it could also surface in the valuable sidebar space of a Google search.

When updating your Google My Business listings, or other maps feed, always provide deep links that take the searcher directly to the details for the location they’re interested in, rather than dropping them on a high-level page or homepage where they would have to search again for details.

2. Build your citations: A citation is any reference to your company’s name on the internet. Citations represent the unique online footprint of a business, helping potential customers find information about you. Search engines often rely on NAP consistency to determine your location and deliver accurate results to users.

Ensure your site features on citation sites and online business directories. This will help customers find your business. A complete citation will include your company’s name, address, phone number, and website URL on citation sites. Adding extra information to business directories will help improve your search rankings.

3. Take your reviews seriously: Get your customers to write honest, positive reviews about your business. This will encourage more local customers to buy from you and also optimize your Google My Business presence. BrightLocal research shows that 90% of consumers read online reviews before visiting a business.

74% of consumers say positive reviews make them trust a local business more. Research also shows that 84% of searchers trust online reviews as much as a personal reference. This shows that website visitors will trust a random stranger’s opinion of your company as much as a trusted friend. Therefore, the better your reviews, the better your local SEO.

4. Optimize your website for mobile: You have to optimize your website for mobile to be a major player in local SEO. A study from Acquisio revealed that 75% of all local mobile searches actually produce offline visits to the store within 24 hours.

50% of mobile users will abandon a page if it doesn’t load in 10 seconds and 60% of them will not return to that site. Shoppers on mobile devices make up to 30% of retailers’ site traffic, so a fast website optimized for mobile users is crucial to a good user experience. You don’t want to lose out on the lucrative online and offline traffic from mobile users so optimize your website with mobile users in mind.

5. Publish and optimize localized website content: If you only have one location, create an “About Us” page that focuses on local, relevant information. For example, if you have a beauty salon, your “About Us” page can talk about your salon handling the hair and makeup of the town’s local pageantry. If you have multiple locations, endeavor to create unique content for each page.

Are Directories Profitable?

Whether you are looking for a full-time gig or to generate some additional income, running a local business directory website can be extremely profitable and provide multiple streams of recurring revenue. From selling listings and ads, to offering complimentary services, the opportunities are endless. Here are 5 ways you can make money running your own business directory and coupon website with Ideal Directories.

1. Sell Listings to Local Businesses

Selling listings to local businesses is by far the most popular way to monetize your directory website and will likely account for the majority of your revenue. The concept is simple; small businesses everywhere are always looking for new and affordable ways to advertise online and a local directory website is a perfect place to promote their business and coupons to nearby shoppers.

Because it’s much less expensive than traditional advertising like newspaper advertising or direct mail, it’s much easier to sell. You can set multiple pricing plans based on the amount of exposure and the features each plan offers. You can sell listings directly to local businesses face-to-face, over the phone, by email or even through social media.

Businesses can even sign up themselves. When they come to your site, they can pick a plan, create their listing, and the money automatically gets deposited into your account. This is the easiest way to create passive, recurring income.

The chart below illustrates how much money you can make if you charged an average of just $50/mo for each business to be listed on your website. Remember, this amount is just a suggestion and you can charge businesses as much or as little as you like.

Income Potential Chart

The chart below illustrates how much money you can make if you charged an average of just $50/mo for each business to be listed on your website. Remember, this amount is just a suggestion and you can charge businesses as much or as little as you like.

2. Sell Banner Ads and Site Sponsorships
As you continue to gain traffic and visitors to your directory website, banner ads become more and more valuable. You can sell banner ads to anyone interested in appealing to the visitors on your website.

This can include local businesses already listed on your site or even larger companies looking to market to local consumers. Our built-in banner ad feature allows you to add banner ads to your site in minutes and sell them for any price you like.

3. Add Google AdSense to Your Website
Just how you can sell your own banner ads and sponsorships (see #2 above), you can also add Google AdSense to your directory website. Using Google AdSense is like running banner ads on your site that you don’t have to sell, but you still earn revenue from them. With AdSense, Google uses their technology and advertiser base to place relevant ads on your website.

By placing these targeted ads next to your content, you’ll automatically earn money when the ads are seen and clicked. It’s essentially a hands-off way to start generating additional revenue from your directory website. Once you launch your directory website, you can start with Google AdSense by creating a free Google AdWords Publisher account.

4. Launch Multiple Directory Websites

Running multiple directory websites is a great way to maximize your revenue potential. You can launch multiple directories by creating a new directory website for each town or city you expand into, or even focus on specific “niches”.

For example; you can create a restaurant directory, wedding vendor directory, home services directory or even pet services directory for each community. The opportunities are endless. Running multiple directory websites is a great way to generate multiple revenue streams with minimal investment or overhead.

5. Offer Complimentary Products & Services

Running your own directory website is the perfect opportunity to cross-sell complimentary products and services to your clients. Print publishers will often sell premium directory listings to their advertisers to increase the value of their print advertising packages.

Web designers will often start a directory website as a foot-in-the-door to sell their web design services to local businesses. SEO companies can run their own directory website to boost search results for their clients.

Other opportunities to sell complimentary products and services include selling items that every small business needs – like business cards, social media marketing, promotional products, business consulting, and even plaques and awards that highlight their premium listing on your directory website.

How do You Write a Business Listing Content?

Each time you create a structured local business listing, whether at Google, Facebook, Yelp, or elsewhere, you’ll be filling out a form with a specific set of fields:

1. Business name/title

Always use your real-world business name in this field. Google can read street-level signage, so be sure the way you format your name matches the sign on your business, your print marketing, your website logo, and the way your phone is answered. Do not add additional keywords, geographic terms, or other modifiers to your business name.

For multi-location businesses (like chains or franchises), do not add city names or other modifiers to the business name in Google or any other local business listing, with the exception of Facebook.* Don’t be Whole Foods San Diego on one listing and Whole Foods San Francisco on another. Just be Whole Foods on all listings, unless your legal business name includes city words or other modifiers.

*Facebook treats the business name field differently. You can’t have more than one Facebook Place listing with an identical name, so when creating your local listings on Facebook for a multi-location business, you must add a city name or other modifier to the business name. Don’t worry too much about this making the listing inconsistent with Google. All multi-location businesses are in the same boat, so there is no competitive detriment here.

For multi-practitioner businesses (like legal or real estate firms), follow Google’s rule and only put the name of the practitioner in the business name field, without including the name of the practice. In other words, an insurance agent at a multi-practitioner agency should be Joe Jones and not Allstate: Joe Jones. It’s a local SEO best practice to be sure each practitioner has their own phone number. The only time you can include the business name in this field is if Joe Jones is the sole practitioner at the business.

For businesses in container locations (like a McDonald’s restaurant inside a Walmart), just list the name of your own business and do not mention the container store. In other words, just be McDonald’s rather than McDonald’s in Walmart.

For co-located businesses (like a Taco Bell/KFC restaurant), don’t combine the names of the two businesses. Create a separate listing for each brand at that location, with only its own name in the business name field. In other words, create one listing for Taco Bell and another listing for KFC.

For multi-department businesses (like an auto center, hospital, or college campus), you have the option to create a unique listing for each forward-facing department. Google stipulates that these departments should typically have their own entrance and their own business categories.

It’s also a local SEO best practice to ensure that they each have their own phone number. In naming these departments, you are allowed to mention the main business name, as in Walmart Pharmacy or Community Hospital Radiology Department.

2. Address

Always list your real-world address, with no additions or alterations (such as fictitious suite numbers). PO boxes and unstaffed virtual offices are not considered real-world addresses and you should not build local business listings for them.

On Google, put your street address in line one and any suite or mailbox numbers in line two of the address section of the form. This is a good practice to follow for nearly all citations, to avoid strange formatting.

On Google, if your company is an SAB (a service-area business, like a plumber or electrician, who serves customers at their locations rather than at your own), you will be signaling this via Google’s form while creating your listing there. Google will then hide your street address on your live listing.*

You must have a physical address of some kind to be eligible for a Google My Business listing, even if it’s only your home address. Do not create a listing for each of the cities your SAB serves. Only create a listing for your physical location, even if this is your home address.

*SABs do not need to hide their addresses on any of the other major local business platforms — only on Google.

3. Phone number

While Google’s guidelines express a preference for local area code phone numbers, they’ve supported toll-free numbers for some years. This is particularly important for businesses like hotels: they’re local, but most of their customers come from out of town and find a toll-free number especially convenient.

If you use a toll-free number instead of a local one on your Google My Business listing, make sure your website and all of your citations consistently use this number.

Google also wants you to list the number that connects as directly as possible to the subject of the local business listing (rather than to a call center).

Many citation forms will also allow you to list an alternate phone number, a toll-free number, a cell phone number, and in some cases a vanity number.

4. Website URL

Google specifically stipulates that your listed website URL goes directly to a page owned by the business, rather than referring them to a third party, a social profile, or anywhere else.

For multi-location, multi-department, and multi-practitioner businesses, it’s common to point the listing for the business to the website homepage, while the listings for the branches, departments, or practitioners point to their respective landing pages on the site. This helps keep the entities separate.

If you follow this model, be consistent and link all citations for a given entity to their respective page on the website. You don’t want some of a practitioner’s listings to point to the main homepage while others point to their landing page.

This is an area where you can experiment a bit. Perhaps you’ll find that your rankings increase if you point all of your listings to your homepage, as it has higher authority than an internal page. Beware, though — what you gain in rankings could be lost in human usability.

You don’t want a user to click on a listing only to have to navigate your site to find the right landing page. There’s an ongoing debate in the local SEO industry as to whether rankings or usability should determine where your citation URLs point.

5. Categories

Most local business data platforms have a set of categories you’ll be choosing from to define what your business is. You’ll typically select 1–10 of these categories; when it comes to Google in particular, proper categorization can have a profound impact on rank.

Google’s guidelines encourage you to choose categories that define your business at the most refined level (e.g. Federal Credit Union is a more refined category than just Bank) and avoid category repetition (not using both Restaurant and MexicanRestaurant). For an in-depth look at perfecting your Google My Business category strategy, please read Why Local Business Categories Matter.

No other platform has guidelines as stringent or detailed as Google’s when it comes to categories, but it’s important to be as accurate as possible when categorizing your business. Make it easy for platforms and search engines to understand which searchers you’re most relevant for.

Sometimes, a niche business may not find a truly accurate category to represent itself on a given platform. When this happens, the best practice is to choose the closest possible category and then rely on other elements (like the business description) to clarify the exact nature of the company’s goods and services.

6. Description

This field is an opportunity to highlight the most persuasive and impactful elements of your business — the things that most convince a potential customer to choose you. Typically, you’ll have several hundred characters available to create a short pitch for your company. You may choose to write a unique description for each platform, or if you prefer, you can safely create a single description and publish it on all your citations.

Google doesn’t currently display the business owner’s description on Google My Business listings, relying instead on their own custom-created descriptors. Nevertheless, you’ll still enter a description in the Google My Business dashboard and Google will see it, even if they don’t display it live.

Most other platforms will display your description live. Good things to highlight could include awards, guarantees, proximity to major landmarks, or famous brands carried.

Some descriptions allow for the use of rich text (including hyperlinks), but you should avoid spamminess. Make your description read in a natural voice, like an elevator pitch, rather than a string of disjointed keywords. Descriptions are not believed to have any impact on local search rankings, but they can influence click-through rates (CTR).

7. Tagline

Some local business platforms have a field for entering a tagline or slogan. There’s no need to create one if you don’t have one, but for brands whose taglines have become locally famous due to radio, tv, or social promotion, this field can help with consumer recognition. An example of a well-known tagline would be Nike: Just Do It.

8. Social profiles

Many platforms will give you the ability to link to your profiles on Twitter, Snapchat, Instagram, Pinterest, Google+, Facebook, and more. It’s worth it to fill these fields out whenever possible to direct consumers to additional forms of user experience and customer support.

9. Images

Google has stated that images have a major impact on local business listing click-through rates, so it’s always a smart idea to upload as many high-quality images as you can whenever a platform presents the opportunity.

Each platform has its own guidelines as to image size and what types of content are allowed in images. Here are Google’s. Be sure to follow guidelines, both for best display and resolution and to avoid images being taken down for non-compliance.

Finally, as many platforms allow users to upload their own photos of your business, it’s important to monitor your profiles on a regular basis to be sure that inappropriate imagery hasn’t been uploaded by pranksters or competitors.

10. Additional media

Certain platforms allow you to upload videos, menus, and links to other forms of media. This creates a richer user experience and can influence conversions.

11. Alternate phone numbers

Most platforms offer fields for toll-free, cell phone, or vanity phone numbers, which can be of assistance to different groups of users.

12. Fax number

This common field is particularly important to any business that uses fax as a regular means of communication (such as medical centers that request new patient forms to be faxed in), but it’s not a required field.

13. Certifications

If trust in your business relies on licenses or professional certifications, be sure you’re including this information whenever a platform makes this field available.

14. Brands carried

Being alerted to major brands you carry is a huge convenience for consumers, particularly when those brands enjoy a loyal following. This is an especially good field for retail businesses to fill out.

15. Payment forms accepted

Many platforms allow you to specify which payment methods you accept, from cash only to digital wallets. If your business supports the most modern payment technologies, make good use of this field to influence consumers’ decisions to choose you.

16. Attributes

Attributes are relatively new to the Google My Business dashboard, expected to grow in importance. When creating your Google My Business listing, you may have the ability to choose from a set of descriptions (like “24-hour service,” “late night food,” or “wheelchair accessible”) that further define your business.

It makes sense to let Google (and consumers) know as much as possible about your business whenever attribute fields are available. Be aware that some attributes (like “cozy” or “hip”) can only be added by the public, as they represent subjective impressions of your business.

What Makes a Good Online Directory?

If your directory isn’t appearing in Google Search, it can’t offer much to the businesses listed with you, which will make it harder to attract traffic and new listings. So what traits will Google and users be looking for?

High-quality directories should always have a professional website with quality images. Content should always be edited and proofread to ensure there are no typos or spelling mistakes and that the grammar is correct. The website should be user-friendly, and navigating through the directory should be as painless as possible.

Making sure your online directory’s website is mobile-friendly is more important than ever. As of 2018, over 58% of the time spent on websites came from mobile users. If the online directory isn’t mobile-friendly, it could be missing out on nearly half of it’s potential online traffic. Some directories even develop apps to expand their accessibility to mobile users.

9 Reasons Why You Need Online Business Directories

Are you wondering why online business directories are essential? Learn about the top 9 benefits of online business directories.

1. Hard copies of trade journals are extinct

If you’re wondering how online business directories help, one of the primary ways they can boost your bottom dollar is by making your products and solutions available to buyers.

Back in the old days, companies would often locate suppliers through hard copy trade journals. Fast forward to the virtual 20s, however, and these trade journals are all but extinct.

Instead, B2B businesses are marketing themselves online, and companies are finding them through search.

Online business directories are a great way to position your B2B company and its offerings in front of potential buyers.

2. Online business directories increase exposure for your brand

If you are trying to break into a B2B market or build exposure for your company’s brand—B2B online business directories can be an invaluable resource.

By listing your company and its products and services, you can instantly put it in front of new eyes.

According to research, the top three search results get 75.1% of clicks. In many cases, an established online directory will have superior ranking power compared to your site.

If a B2B buyer types in a search term, it’s quite likely that an online directory might rank above your page in the search results.

If your products or services are listed in that directory, this will win you extra exposure.

3. B2B online business directories are great for SEO

Besides netting you more exposure, another of the benefits of online business directories is they are great for SEO.

Firstly, online business directories generate valuable backlinks to your site. Backlinks are an essential part of any comprehensive SEO strategy.

If you have a backlink from a reputable and well-ranked site, some of this authority spills over to you.

When you create listings on online business directories, you have the option to include a link to your site. This makes for an easy way to build up powerful backlinks.

Besides this, the backlinks from B2B online business directories also result in legitimate and SEO-friendly traffic redirection.

4. Online business listings can build your reputation

Brand awareness is a significant factor in the B2B buying process. B2B buying typically has long cycles. Potential buyers need to be familiar with your company and have a level of trust in it before they become open to doing business.

Listing your B2B offerings in online business directories is a perfect way to build a reputation online. The more buyers see your brand alongside others they know and trust, the more they’ll be more likely to consider your products or solutions.

5. They’re great for targeting both international and local search

If you are still wondering, “why are online business directories important?” here’s another critical perk they offer.

Easy targeting for both international and local search. No matter your target market, you can leverage online business directories to reach your customers.

If you choose a robust B2B online directory (such as the Kompass directory), you can target both international and local markets, all from one place.

6. Directory listing is cheap

Although you can leverage some affordable solutions to boost your web presence, many marketing strategies are resource- and budget-heavy.

One of the benefits of online business directories is they are either free or very affordable to join.

7. You don’t need a website to feature in a Business directory

Don’t have a website yet? If not, you can still create listings in online business directories for your B2B solutions.

These can start working for your right away. Once you have your website up and running, you can easily update your listings to include your site link.

8. Some directories allow you to create content-rich listings

Depending on which directories you use, you may be able to create content-rich listings for your business.

For instance, in the Kompass portal, you can even choose to post your products.

9. Online business directories actively promote businesses they’re partnered with

Another of the substantial benefits of online business directories is that many actively promote the businesses they showcase.

Final Words

Local business directories are a key component of the marketing strategy for businesses. They improve a business’ overall visibility, enhance its performance on search engines, and serve to create a better experience for potential customers.

If a business is not taking advantage of these, it is surely missing out on reaching potential new clients and the greater return on investment that follows.