Introduction
Every webmaster knows the importance of having diversified an SEO strategy it’s one of the most important aspects of thriving online. We all know that it’s impossible to know the perfect recipe for SEO success.
Among a lot of other steps business owners must take to build brand awareness and get to their customers, business directories are one such strategy that can be of immense benefit when leveraged the right way.
While most entrepreneurs heard about business directories, they aren’t quite sure about the benefits of listing their businesses and this article is going to outline some of the advantages to help our readers understand why some web directories continue to be widely used by SEO agencies and webmasters alike.
We’ll also include a list of some of the strongest web directories available in 2018.
- SEO purposes
Good SEO is equivalent to higher SERP and this is the primary purpose of every marketer. Presenting your web content in ways that are favored by search engines for higher rankings isn’t easy at all, and there is a tremendous work involved but listing your business in reputable, well-established online directories might help quite a bit.
Search engines struggled over time to kill spam and return relevant results, even for the most awkward keywords. Much of the web directory industry is dead, fortunately, however, a few of them – the human edited ones and those that apply a high editorial discretion – thrived. Being listed in these directories helps search engines to figure out your reputation. After all, humans do it better.
- Google Search Results
While it’s possible by doing an exceptional work and get on Google’s first page (the one that matters, in fact) for specific targeted keywords it could be some months or even years before you start to see results.
Using local and some general business directories has been proved to be beneficial over.
- Brand Awareness
When it comes to brand management, listing your business in online directories is yet another way to develop your brand.
So, even if they don’t click on your listing, they will still get a glimpse of your business and this gives you a chance to increase their familiarity with your business and increase awareness with your brand.
By doing so, you increase the likelihood of winning their trust for future engagement.
- Boost Your Presence Online
Yahoo! Small Business features a platform which enables you to list your website in over 50 local web directories for $89/quarter. So, if you don’t want to go through 50 submission processes, it’s a good deal all in all.
4 Powerful Local and General Web Directories You Can Still Count on in 2018
As you have seen, there are tons of benefits to listing your business in an online business directory. Just make sure that you find renowned, authoritative directories to submit your business to get the most SEO benefits for your website.
There are a lot of high-quality local directories such as:
- Google My Business
- Business.com
- Bing My Places
- Yelp.com
Here is a list of four powerful general directories that you can use without any concern:
- https://botw.org/
- https://www.jasminedirectory.com/
- https://www.avivadirectory.com/
- http://www.alivedirectory.com/
Neglecting online business directories could hurt, indirectly by missing some leads, your business.
- Improve Local Recognition
Another great aspect of listing your website in a few high-quality online business directories is that they make your business more visible to your local community.
No matter how big the business directories are, their advanced filters and suggestion capabilities ensure that you get connected with your precise target audience.
There is a lot of competition on the local market, and whenever a user searches something highly targeted local businesses are shown up first.
- More Advertising
Since most directories let users search by service, location, category, or other specific criteria, this means that when you enter complete and accurate information for your business listing, people who are searching for that information can be connected to you even though they didn’t search for your business by name.
This is often the case where people have a general idea of what they are searching for but they don’t have a business name or even specific service that they need. List your business in web directories to take full advantage of this.
- Business Reputation
Most small business owners don’t get listed online because they are afraid of getting negative reviews. Unfortunately, this fear also prevents them from getting the positive ones as well, and these are vital for a business to attain a good reputation.
The cost of a negative review is far outweighed by the benefits of positive one if you know how to deal with them properly.
In fact, when handled the right way, even negative reviews can prove to be beneficial for your business in the long run. Also, mixed reviews can work to strengthen your business’s reputation because it shows that your business is genuine and transparent.
- Leverage Word of Mouth
Word of mouth is a trusted source for a lot of consumers and many of them seek out online reviews from other customers before they will even consider purchasing a product or service.
A lot of business directories today have a customer review section.
Thanks to the real-time and sharing capacity of mobile devices, customers can now publish and share reviews faster than ever before – they can even do this during their experience.
This gives you a direct channel to your audience and getting your business listed in online directories allows you to get the full benefits of this.
Now that you know the importance of listing your business in web directories, it’s probably a good idea to take the time to create, claim and update your listings online. Your business has nothing to lose and everything to gain.
