Business Folders: The place to list your local small business
Business Folders: The place to list your local small business if you are looking for local customers
One of the oldest and most effective ways to sell yourself online is through local small business directory listings. Internet marketing for small businesses requires starting with a listing of your small business in the large general directories and then opting into niche and industry-specific directories appropriate for 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 ranking for your website.
The most essential directory for your small business to sign up for is DMOZ, also called the Open Directory Project. All major search engines, and most minors, rely on DMOZ, available at www.dmoz.org, for information on websites. Google gets information about every website it crawls from DMOZ.
You should also list your small business in Google Local and Yahoo Local. All you have to do to get on the list 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 "Directory," then click "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 will get a list of directories for small businesses, both paid and free, listed by state, industry, niche and other categorizations. I recommend that you list in any directory that applies to your business.
Some directories, like the Yahoo directory, charge, but it's well worth what you pay to be listed. Once you are listed in Yahoo's small business directory, you can bet that your website will also be indexed in the search engine.
There are three primary considerations for your small business when placing folders online:
The PageRank of the folder
The age of the folder
Is your category small business available?
PageRank is important for SEO purposes. Pros for internet marketing all recommend getting inbound links from high PR websites. A website with a PR higher than you will benefit you with valuable inbound links that will also give you a boost in the search engines. The age of the folder makes it more valuable, because you know that if the folder exists for more than two years, then it will probably be around next year. You can find information about PageRank and the age of various directories at
Do not waste your time trying to get listed in a directory that does not offer a category in which you fit. Make sure you browse through the categories in all the small business folders you consider before listing your business.
Two great resources 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 Directory website is probably the most comprehensive website for finding business directories online. If you want to find local customers through small business directories, I recommend these two resources for finding the best places online that list small business directories for your internet marketing efforts.
One thing you need to keep in mind is that all folders are different. However, you must write your business directory listing before submitting to any directory. Your local directory for small businesses should not be too long, but should include all relevant information: your business name, your name, address, phone number, website address, email address, and a brief description of your business. In your business directory listing, make sure you use the best keyword two or three times to optimize your small business listing for the search engines.
To find industry-specific or niche directories, go to DMOZ or one of the other general directories and search your sector by keyword. Then do a keyword search on Google and Yahoo along with the keyword "directory". This should provide a good list of directories for your sector or niche.
Another source for listing your local small business is the local Chamber of Commerce website. If you join your local room, they should list your website for free. The traffic you can get from this one source may be 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 resources to consider for local small business internet marketing. More and more people are looking online for small businesses to do business and rely less on print son to look for local small business directories to be listed in.
Comments
Post a Comment