Business Directories: The Place To List
Your Local Small Business When Looking For Local Customers
One of the oldest and most effective ways to market yourself
online is through local small business directory listings. Small
business Internet marketing requires starting with a listing of
your small business in the major general directories then listing
them in niche and industry-specific directories appropriate to
your small business. It is a time consuming process to list your
small business in the right directories, but a necessary one to
ensure good rankings for your website.
The most essential directory for your small business to be listed
in is DMOZ, also called the Open Directory Project. All the major
search engines, and most of the minor ones, rely on DMOZ, located
at www.dmoz.org,
for information on websites. Google gets information on every
website it crawls from DMOZ.
You should also list your small business in Google Local and
Yahoo Local. All you need to do to get listed with Google is to
go to Google, click on the Local link and find the "add your
business link." For Yahoo, go to Yahoo, click on "Directory,"
then click on "Submit Your Site" at the bottom of the
page.
You can find other directories online by using Google or Yahoo.
Type in "directory of directories" and you'll get a
list of small business directories, both paid and free, listed
by state, industry, niche, and other categorizations. I recommend
that you list in every directory that applies to your business.
Here is a short list of local small business directory opportunities
to help you attract local customers for your business:
Some directories, like the Yahoo directory, charge, but it is
well worth what you pay to be listed. Once you are included in
Yahoo's small business directory, you can bet your website will
be indexed in the search engine as well.
There are three primary considerations for your small business
when listing in directories online:
- The directory's PageRank
- The directory's age
- Is your small business category available?
PageRank is important for SEO purposes. Internet marketing pros
all recommend getting inbound links from websites with high PR.
A website with a PR higher than yours will benefit you with valuable
inbound links that will give you a boost in the search engines
as well. The age of the directory makes it more valuable because
you know that if the directory has been around for more than two
years then it will likely be around next year. You can get information
on PageRank and the age of various directories at http://www.seocompany.ca/directory/web-directories.html.
Don't waste your time trying to get listed in a directory that
doesn't offer a category you'll fit into. Be sure to browse the
categories at any small business directories you consider before
you list your business.
Two great sources for finding web directories for your small
business Internet marketing efforts are www.dir-search.com
and www.best-web-directories.com.
The Best Web Directories website is perhaps the most comprehensive
website for finding business directories online. If you want to
find local customers through small business directories then I
recommend these two resources for finding the best places online
that list small business directories for your Internet marketing
efforts.
One thing you'll need to keep in mind – all directories
are different. Nevertheless, you should write your business directory
listing before you submit to any directories. Your local small
business directory listing shouldn't be too long, but it should
include all the pertinent information: Your business name, your
name, address, phone number, website address, e-mail address,
and a short description of your business. In your business directory
listing, be sure to use the best keyword two or three times to
make your small business listing optimized for the search engines.
To find industry-specific or niche directories, go to DMOZ or
one of the other general directories and search for your industry
by keyword. Then do a keyword search at Google and Yahoo along
with the keyword "directory." This should return a good
listing of directories for your industry or niche.
One other source for listing your local small business is the
local chamber of commerce's website. When you join your local
chamber, they should list your website on theirs for free. The
traffic you can get from this one source can be well worth joining
the local chamber, and almost all of the traffic will be local
customers looking for your type of business. The Yellow Pages
online and www.merchantcircle.com
are two other sources to consider for local small business Internet
marketing. More and more people are looking online for small businesses
to do business with and relying less on print publications like
the Yellow Pages. That's just one more reason to look for local
small business directories to be listed in.
About Melberg Marketing
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