"I found your store online" is something we hear at our retail store almost every day. A year ago, we didn't hear it at all. What happened? We became easy to find.
Have you ever advertised in the Local Yellow Page Directory? Advertising in the Yellow Pages used to be far more productive for most businesses. For most towns, there is just one print Yellow Pages. So advertising in it alone would get your business in front of most customers. But now, 67% or more Yellow Page searches are online. There are eleven different online Yellow Pages. Thee are now over two hundred local online search directories.
Do an experiment; Google your business category (like "Lawyers"). You'll see ten listings on every page of the Google listings. Most will be listings in different directories. You will see dozens of different directories in the first few pages of searches alone.
The problem is, you have no idea of knowing where your local buyer is going to look for the product or service you sell. If they look in Yellowbook.com, and you are listed in every single directory except there...you lose.
So you need to be listed everywhere a customer could possibly think to look for what you sell.
If you go online and type in "free yellow page directory listings", you'll get a list of places you can submit your business name to the various online Yellow Page directories. Of course, you will have to go to the website, negotiate the maze of up-sells, promotional information, and information gathering technology. After all, they aren't in the business of giving free listings. They are in the business of selling advertising.
Then you type in "free local business listing services". You will find several lists of directories you can manually submit your business information to. Personally, I used a service that placed my information with over 200 directories for $299.
It took about two months to see the real benefits. But now we have seen a huge increase in people coming in our store to buy, from seeing our listing online.
Food for thought.
Author Resource:-
Claude Whitacre is a speaker on the subject of local online advertising, and offline advertising for small business. He is the author of the book The Unfair Advantage Small Business Advertising Manual. You can download a free copy of his book at http://www.local-small-business-advertising-marketing-book.com You can also learn about a local online marketing service that places your business information with over 200 local search directories at http://www.localbusinesslistingservice.com
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