When it comes to promoting your business online, casting as large of a net (pun intended) as possible is one of the best ways to ensure your customers can find you. Long gone are the days where you could just advertise in a single place and be found by your customers and search engines.
Users are now scattered across social networks and various information-supplying websites, and Business Listing Websites can act as information aggregators to give people searching for your services as much information as possible. Not only is it important to put your information out there for search engines, but it’s also important to direct how your customers interact with your company through social media and reviews.
Local listing services from Search Engines (such as Google Maps) use the number of references your company name has alongside your address as one of the indicators of how relevant your business is to a specific geographic location. Search engines understand that someone searching for say, an Architect in Toronto, will benefit from a listing of local Architects as close to the centre of Toronto as possible.
To this end, a major factor in deciding which business to show the searcher is the number of times a business appears around the web with their physical address tied to the company name. Business listings typically include a location for a company to specify their physical location, creating another “reference” for Search Engines, and boosting the company’s position in local listings.
The more targeted to a specific service, the more relevant the result in a Search Engines’ (metaphorical) eyes. Search Engines can learn to associate specific websites and even companies with keywords. Smart companies use this to their advantage by ensuring that their company name and websites are found along with services that they offer, such as “drain unclogging” for a plumber. Business Listing sites often allow a company to list the services they provide to their customers, which allows Search Engines to create positive correlations and present the right companies to users.
On the flipside, searchers are able to view negative associations a company has, such as “scammer”, or “never showed up to complete the work”. This is just as integral to Search Engines and Business Listing Services as the positive correlations because it helps the end-user decide which companies to avoid in addition to which ones they should consider.
Businesses see it as the double-edged sword that it is – after all who hasn’t had an irate or irrational customer – but no business should have a short supply of happy customers who can provide positive reviews to outweigh the negatives. Some business directories go a step further and allow a business to list its Social Media accounts so that users have multiple ways of contacting a company.
Finally, most Business Directories will allow you to link back to your own company’s website so that the searcher can get even further information if they wish. This link to your website counts as another “vote” in Search Engines’ eyes for your company, and is one of the more critical aspects of Search Engine Optimization (SEO).
Business Listings (or “Directories”) are an effective method of promoting your business and should be an integral part of any company’s online marketing efforts. Not only do they solidify your business’ physical location for local searches, they also tell customers about what services you offer, let them know if your previous customers are (un)satisfied with your services, and can boost your website’s ranking in Search Engines. With signups taking less than 5 minutes and a user base in the hundreds or thousands, getting listed might be on of the best investments you’ve ever made.
