Howdy there marketers. I’m Cirian from Clear Imaging and this is Marketing Bites. In this series we give you marketing info you can use without the fluff. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Today we’re talking about “Breaking Down Online\nDirectories”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
1. Are Online Directories Beneficial?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n When we talk about Online Directories were not talking\nabout DMOZ (God rest it\u2019s soul). We\u2019re talking mostly about social review\nplatforms. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Think of: Houzz, Home Advisor, Angie\u2019s List, Yelp, Yellow\nPages, Glass Door, Porch. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Those are the main ones. There are also unique ones for particular spaces like: dentistry, real estate, restaurants, and more. <\/p>\n\n\n\n So, is it beneficial for your business to get on one of these? Absolutely, they are a great opportunity to get free traffic and promotion, as well as getting reviews. Google takes reviews into consideration when it ranks your website. So, the more reviews you have the better. Getting these reviews also helps with your marketing because it builds trust.\u00a0 <\/p>\n\n\n\n 2. Which Online Directories are Necessary?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The main one to start with would be Yelp. While , originally it only used to be for restaurants it now covers basically every type of small business. Another directory which any business can join would be the Yellow Pages. <\/p>\n\n\n\n If you\u2019re a contractor you\u2019ll then want to get on either\nAngie\u2019s List, Houzz or Home Advisor. <\/p>\n\n\n\n If you\u2019re a restaurant you should consider Trip Advisor. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Also, if you\u2019re looking to do small business networking,\nAlignable and Nextdoor are great platforms for that. <\/p>\n\n\n\n 3. Maintaining Online Directories<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n It is important to remember that when you make a profile on one of these platforms you must complete the profile and provide all of your information, a high quality logo, photos, a link to your website, proper address, phone etc. These profiles become one of the faces for your company so remember to make a good impression. It is recommended that you also log in once a day, just to see if you got any messages from prospects. Try doing this at the end or beginning of each business day, as a habit. <\/p>\n\n\n\n 4. Generate positive Reviews<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The majority of online directory platforms do have a\nreview system. This is a great opportunity to improve your company\u2019s reputation\nand also boost your SEO, as Google does consider reviews when ranking your\nwebsite in local search. <\/p>\n\n\n\n A recommended strategy is for you to reach out to your\npast customers, email them and ask them if they would be kind enough to leave\nan honest review about the work you did for them in the past. <\/p>\n\n\n\n 5. Integrating Online Directories to your website <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Once you sign up with your online directories you will\nwant to show Google that these profiles are associated with your domain name.\nYou can do that by having your home page link to them. For example get a little\nYelp logo icon, and add it to the bottom of your site, in your footer; and make\nthe icon link to your Yelp profile page. Then repeat this for your other\nprofiles. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Many platforms also allow you the ability to embed their reviews into your website. By this we don\u2019t mean you copy and pasting each one. We mean there is special code you can get from Yelp (for example), so you can paste the code into your web page and then it will automatically display the reviews from Yelp, with the stars, photo, description, name of reviewer etc. These have MUCH more impact on your web visitors than your typical \u2018testimonial\u2019 page would, because the data is coming directly from a third party. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Conclusion <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n If you need help with your website, Clear Imaging has been helping small business owners manage their websites since 2004. We’re super dependable, always answer emails and we get the job done; that is why we’ve been around so long. Come on over to the contact page and let us know if there is anything we can do for you. Until then, God bless and stay safe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n