Summary:
Learn how to get your local business a share of the 300 million internet searches
performed every day by your potential customers.
Keywords:
Every offline business wants more customers. That's why you
hang signs in your window and outside your door, to attract people's attention and entice
them to come in.
But if you are focusing solely on the people who walk past
every day, you're missing out on the huge market that constantly looks for services
online. There are 300 million internet searches performed every day and a whopping 3
billion of them are performed on a monthly basis! About half of these people are looking
for local businesses to buy from. The question is whether or not they can find YOU.
This is why it's worth spending some time making sure you
are listed in as many online local directories as possible. Don't restrict yourself to the
people who are already walking down your street. Get yourself listed online in some of
these directories and you can reel in people from further afield as well. Just imagine -
there are people out there who are driving around trying to find a business just like
yours. If you're listed online they have the ability to find you immediately. And, if you
have more than one location you can list them all so they can find the one nearest to
where they are.
Facebook, LinkedIn Social Networks
An offline business can list all the important information
quite easily online. Your business name, address, phone number and location can all be
listed. If someone searches for your kind of business online, they'll find you on search
engines, online directories and local directories of all kinds. You can also make it easy
for them to find you on social networking sites, which means you don't even have to have a
website. Simply link to your Facebook or LinkedIn profile or whatever other social network
you belong to.
In this way people can find you by using their computers or
even their cell phones. Once they've got your details they can find you with their mobile
or GPS navigation devices. Could you imagine how many more customers you might get as a
result of listing your business in these local directories?
You won't have to worry about customers finding incorrect
information if you happen to change phone numbers or locations for some reason either.
Quick changes are easy to make in order to keep your listing accurate. When you consider
that most of these directories are free to use as well, you'd be missing a trick if you
didn't use them. The only reason you would pay to use some of them is if you wanted to
have an enhanced listing to gain more visibility.
The majority of offline business owners know how important
advertising is to keep their business going. But you don't want to spend more than
necessary to get the results you want. These directories not only reduce PPC costs, they
also reduce your overall advertising costs. So not only can you increase your revenue from
being more visible to more customers, you can also do it for less cash.
What kind of savings are we talking about here? Well, think
about the amount you spend on your print advertising every month. Whatever that amount
might be, you'll be spending a lot less getting listed in hundreds of local directories
online. These listings not only bring you direct traffic, they can also provide you with a
way to brand your business on a consistent basis.
Having a website isn't necessary to enjoy all these
benefits. But if you do have one you can get a one-way link back to that site further
strengthening your position and credibility, especially with Google, with the search
engines.
The best thing about being listed in every appropriate
directory is that your customers can review your business online too. Monitor the feedback
and respond to it quickly, making changes for the better as you do. As you gain more
feedback and reviews you'll find you get ranked more highly in Google Places as well, so
you'll be found even more often.
The only question that's left is why you haven't already
started listing your business with all the online local directories?
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