Benefits of adding your small business to online directories

 

Increased exposure to potential customers.

By investing in a variety of local directory services, you can significantly increase your brand's online presence and visibility. Not only can this increase your business's online visibility, but it can also increase traffic to your business location and website. This is because people looking for local businesses (like restaurants) online are searching in your specific area and are more inclined to contact the business and make a purchase.

Presence is important to all marketing strategies of a company. Because the more people who come into contact with your company, the more likely they are to use your company's services. If online visitors don't see your website or even know it exists, they probably won't buy your product or service. Listing your company's website in an online business directory will help your website gain visibility. Thousands of people use online business directories every day to find what interests them. These people are actively browsing websites that are directly related to your product or service. They're already looking - all you have to do is make it easy for them to find you. Online business directories expose your business to more online visitors, which may increase traffic to your website.

The solution to this problem is to expand the scope of your strategy. Building an online presence is the first step in this journey. A website or app allows you to capitalize on different markets and attract new customers with a higher chance of a conversion.

Improved web presence.

Luckily, you'll never have a chance to boost your brand's online presence. In fact, there are thousands of techniques and strategies you can employ to gain more online visibility. These nine techniques are generally considered to be the most effective ways to improve your online presence in 2022:

Improve your online presence. The more business directories you list, the more often your brand will appear in search results. Think of each local listing profile as an additional website for your business. You want to make sure it's up to date, has lots of pictures of your product or service, and has contact information like email and phone numbers. An estimated 50% of mobile searches have local intent, which means having your business featured on local listings like Small Business Near Me, YellowPages or Google My Business will significantly improve your online mobile presence.

As more and more enterprises go online, going online is not only a functional advantage, but also a manifestation of reputation. Even for a small local business, a good online presence means a company is reliable and has its finger on the pulse. 64% of small businesses had a website in 2018, and more than half of the remaining 36% plan to create one in 2019.

Improved google rankings.

A higher ranking in Google search results means that when users search for keywords and terms that your site is optimized for, your site will appear earlier and higher on the results page, increasing visibility and traffic. Since few people click on Google results after the first page, your goal should be to rank your content as high as possible for your desired keywords (and positions, if applicable).

Improve search engine optimization. If you provide valuable information with appropriate keywords, Google can gain insight into your site and rank you better. Your online business listing can be a great way to support existing information about your website and generate more traffic as a result.

Google makes it clear that "companies with complete and accurate information are more likely to match the right search queries." This can improve your relevance score. The key here is to tell Google visitors "what are you doing, where are you, and when they can visit you."

Local Business Listing Tips

Local Directories and Google Page Rank

Google Page Rank (PR) is a very important measurement for a local business. Google crawl an area for their search results, the location of your business is taken into consideration. A higher PR helps Google to identify with the importance for the keywords. So if your business is listed in Google Places, Google is likely to favour your SERP to that of competitors.

Local rankings are further enhanced by listing with Google Places. When you are listed in Google Places, Google automatically plates your local map to get your business details. In addition, your business will be listed in Google Maps. This makes it easier to find and get directions to your location. Google gives you the option of sharing where your business is located with Google Places. You can even get citations on your Google Places listing where you can list your business details, opening hours and products or services you offer. The more citations you have, the better your business will be ranked.

Google Local Business Listings

Being found in the local business listings on Google can be a boon for your small business. If your business is not in the first page or is listed at all, you are losing valuable time and potential new customers. There are many small business listings that are indexed by Google - you need to get your business listed on these. Here are some ideas:

By employing the principles of search engine optimization, you can achieve a high ranking in Google. By adding informative, keyword optimized content, posting regularly and making use of social media, you can improve your Google local business listing.

Google Local Business Listings

Google also recognises expertise in article submission. You can send your article to thousands of online authors, and have your business linked back from these authors. Perhaps you have a networking group; or you are an event organizer. By offering readers a chance to place positive reviews on your business, you can increase your local business for free.

Google also likes citations! When you have received a citation from a local business, Google will see this as an indication of your business credibility, and rank you higher!

Google Local Tips

Local business listing areas have increased their online marketing strategies, helping you reach your local audience with a higher rank. Follow some of these local listing tips, and you will see your listing soar!

• Local Reviews - There are plenty of forums and directories online that are dedicated to providing reviews on small businesses. Find a few good ones for your business, and have your business linked from the top signatures. This will help your local business rank higher on Google!
• Local Keywords- Local SEO depends on usage of local keywords. To find them, use the Google Keyword Tool. This will offer you keyword suggestions and ensure that your business will be found when searched for.
• Keywords will not only help your rank on Google. They will also help the users who find you through web directories and search engines.
• Have Plenty of Pages of Content- A website with more pages of content than a website with less content will rank higher. Websites with more than 400 words can rank higher than those that have less than 200.
• Referenced pages - as part of your local SEO strategy, you should have a good amount of relevant pages with content related to your business. For example, if your business is selling laptops, you should have pages dedicated to different aspects of laptop sales and maintenance,Alternatively if your business is a mobile phone company, you should have pages dedicated to the different brands of mobile phones.
• Your layout and content will become more engaging - Writing a compelling and engaging layer is an important element of your local SEO strategy. If your visitors can't read the text, they won't want to share it or mark it on their own. Additionally, if Google local SEO is successful, social media will help you get ranked!
• Only Connections to Local Websites - In order to be ranked well on Google local SEO, your website should have a local IP address. 
• Go mobile - In order to be listed favorably on local SEO, your mobile website should be optimized for local search too.
• Religiously - Make sure your mobile website adheres to all the local SEO rules. Remember, local SEO is still at its infancy and cracking down on those who abuse it will only help you achieve success.

Top SEO Pitfalls to Avoid

Here are the top six most important SEO pitfalls to avoid:

Duplication of content using content farms and small scale content production facilities.

Sometimes designers or website owners will post several pages of the same content on their website or blog, and sometimes they will post several hundred words that have nothing to do with each other on the same site. Google regularly keeps watch for copy/paste and therefore they will more inclined to penalize or even ban a site that they think is trying to deceive them.

Secret paid for links schemes

Some SEO companies will sell link on a page with a promise of traffic from the link partner. Google has its own program for the purchase of paid for text links. In the future this could become a viable tactic for the sale of generic traffic. However the moment billions of people set their sites up with paid link schemes and the engines notice, guess what happens? All these free traffic generating ways will be shut off, and the value of a site could be Forget Google and any chance of challenging their top pages.

Wrong use of keyword rich META tags

META tags are used to specify page description and keywords to search engine. Most search engines display these tags on their result pages. The Meta tags are meant to provide search engines with information about the page. However some SEO experts abuse these tags and stuff them with keywords that have nothing to do with the content of the page. In many cases they just list the company name and homepage domain name in the META tag. In others they list thousands of keywords in the META tags. If you must have lots of keywords in the META tags than I recommend that you consider using a pure text format like HTML format.

Improper use of heading tags

The heading tags are given more weight than the ordinary text. In addition to the H1 tag, ALT text and title tags are also given more weight. A page with well written headings will have a higher click-through rate when people tap on the link. This could be the result of a great headline. You must use the heading tags (H1, H2, H3….) properly. You should not just use H1 tag to write a headline. Use the H1 tag for the main keyword of that page and one other sub-heading that is related to that keyword. Search engines look at these tags to determine the main theme of the page and they also display them in the search results.

Too many 404 errors

When you manually submit a site to search engines you should always make sure that they spider is able to index all pages. If the spider is unable to complete the task, you can manually place a request for the missing pages. Webmasters can sometimes leave sections of their site invisible to spiders using certain tags. If invisible links or text is found a 404 error is returned saying that the page could not be found.

These simple errors will slow down a search engine spider's ability to index your web pages and might affect your page ranking if the spider expects to find some information that does not exist on your web page. You could place a request for assistance on the search engine. The reason for asking for assistance could be that you have entered an incorrect comma or there is a typo on one of your key phrases.

Using frames.

Frames are HTML code that enable the pages to be divided into frames with a small area in between. The problem with frames is that search engines have problems indexing frames. It is difficult for the search engine to follow the links in the frames and the frames are usually hidden from the user unless they use some scripts which can solve this problem. 

These SEO errors are often overlooked by webmasters as they think of the site as a normal website. Few realize the importance of making these points clear to the search engine spiders so that they can help boost their page rank.

Get in touch with a reputable web design or SEO company and get your website audited for errors.

The Benefits of Using Online Directories

Who would of thought of making your website more visible and more approachable online? Your local organization could make all the difference.  Through online business directories you can get your business more clients-more business and more profit.

Some of the benefits of using online directories are:

1. Increased visibility for your business. You will be able to expand your market and boost your presence on the web relatively faster using web based directories.
2. A higher search engine ranking. Search engines are known to assess the value of your website through links found in other websites. By using web directories you will be able to be linked to by a wider range of sites and be therefore assessed by a higher number of search engines.
3. Brand building. This can easily be compared to a huge key directories of business. The more directories you are listed in, the more positive a brand you can build.
4. An extension of the direct sales of your services. By being in the web directories you are likely to get more customers than if you were to use other online methods of attraction.
5. Increased traffic. Websites that are listed in directories are often visited by lots of people. As you may be surprised, an increase in traffic is a direct key to increased sales. In fact, using web directories and ensuring a good search engine ranking are two of the most important factors to consider when you are undertaking an online marketing venture.

While you will get a lot more customers if you are number 1 on Google, you should just make sure your listing on a web directory is comprehensive. Not only should your listing contain the proper keywords but it should also be comprehensive and accurate. There are unscrupulous web directories that will only allow you to place your website or a very few pages. Getting a link in a directory that allows you to have a larger and detailed listing is always best.

Having a sound presence in the internet is necessary if you want to reach out to more customers. Rather than concentrating on the quantity of links you should concentrate on the quality. This means that you should only seek out web directories that focus on quality.  Also avoid becoming a victim of various directories that have opted to make it difficult for you to reach the top. Google may penalize or ban your website from being in their search engine. It is for this reason that you should avoid the so called "Directories Only Sites". 

There are plenty of so called "Directory Sites" that will routinely publish republished articles from your competitors with hyperlinks that lead to your website. It is for this reason that you should not confuse the directory sites mentioned above with the "Link Farms" or "Free For All Sites". The main difference between these sites and directories is that the directories are maintained by human beings and are thus likely to provide you with the type of content that will best serve your purpose.

For the record, you can get listed with "Directories Only Sites" by using Net catalogs or other software that maintains a large list of sites that will do the same for you. Alternatively you can type in "spam-like" directories in which submission is not generally controlled and which may include all sorts of irrelevant sites.

Quality Business Directory Sites

Now that we have explained what you should look for in a quality site, it should be obvious that a quality SEO site will contain numerous specifically tailored to your own keywords. This has a direct impact on the page rank your website receives and the position in the search engine results you receive.

Here are a few additional steps you should take to ensure your choice is the best:

1. Avoid multiple keywords for each page. If you have a lot of keywords for a single page, you increase competition among those pages for the same keywords. oppose this with multiple keywords for each page or it will be extremely hard to get the desired results.
2. Your website should not entirely be in JavaScript. This is one of the most effective and popular ways to make your site accessible to search engines and considerations. Consider using some sort of Frames to reduce the number of scripts on the site.
3. The site should make full use of HTML. It is excellent how you can make full use of HTML and CSS on the site. Yet if you are using Flash for the site, you should also make full use of HTML and CSS to make the site easy to use. It strengthens your chances of getting a high site ranking.
4. Submission of your website and its sitemap should be to Google and correct so that Google does not make mistakes in indexing the site.
5. You should keep your site updated regularly. Prior to submitting your website, check the sitemap listing and make sure links are fixed. Every now and recheck. 

How to Get Website Traffic

SEO For Small Business dynamite

Doing online marketing & SEO is very important for all small business sites. The site keeps attracting customers through online business and sales. However, they have to generate quality traffic to stay in business. For your small business, SEO is the sole solution to generate traffic. This ensures that your site gets good quality traffic in the form of potential customers. SEO is very important as it not only helps your business to be found but also when it comes to marketing. For example, people use the web and search engines to find reviews of products and services. In case you sell something people love to buy, you'll want them to buy it from you. Otherwise, they will switch to competitor. Similarly, if some one is thinking about business, he/she wants people to know about his/her business. Therefore, you're link should be shine attracting.

A site with high quality SEO comes in the form of client. That means, the more clients you have, the better the chance of you closing a sale. For example, if you're a small business god mother, she wants to search for businesses that are child friendly. Obviously if you have a business that child friendly authenticity is authentic. The web also plays a key role in this. So, a small business god mother who has a jewelry store, knows that people love to shop online. If your website comes up on the first page of the web when someone searches for precious stones, she is going to buy from you.

At the same time people are confused why SEO is important. For example, people may search on the internet what kind of product they want. They will probably type in the search engine, ideas of what they want. So if your site pops up, then your business is being opened by someone. So it is important for you to get listed on search engines especially Google. If you get listed on Google or another search engine, which gets 90% of search engine traffic, your business is going to grow tremendously. First, think about getting an idea of what people are looking for today. For example people love to shop online so if your site features new products or information, people will love to buy from you. Second, it gives you a whole new life. Rather than you being stuck in a single spot, as a small business, you will be grown by getting many clients and customers. Rather than you login to your site everyday, day in and day out, you will have many people and visitors. Hopefully they will drop by even when you're not online. Add your business to local business directories such as Small Business Near Me to help your Local SEO.

So how do you go about getting on the first page of Google? Well, you can submit your site to the search engines. But this isn't the end. What is the end? Well, at the end of the day, if your site isn't prepared for traffic, your going to be lost in the crowd. My advice to you is to take an arsenal of SEO essentials very seriously. There is a lot that can be done to optimize your site. You just need to be prepared to fashion your site with the intent of attracting people to your site. How do you do this? Here are some SEO tips.

SEO Keywords

Think about the words that people will be using to look for your site. Think about which group of words will relate most to what they want. USD Consultants once said"A rising tide can float all the boats". Make sure that you include the keywords that people are using to find your products or services.Think about the keywords or phrases that are related to the products and services that you offer.

Keywords Placement

It is important that you place you main keywords in you site's title tag, in the first sentence of the first paragraph and in the last paragraph. Think about keyword placement as you work through your site. First, put you main keywords in the title of your site.Then, make sure that you mention them at least 2 more times in the body of your site.

Keep in mind that the attention span of a user on the web is pretty short. So, you want to keep your wording short and simple. It is also important to drill a few references to your site onto the internet. (This is known as 'link-building' and is seamlessly becoming a thing of the past.) So, a site like Facebook can be used to boost your SEO. Why?

Everyone knows that the Facebook community is massive. A lot of users and page visitors come to Facebook to hang out and spend time with their family and friends. Also, Facebook can be used to drive direct traffic right to your website. (Plus, it's free. What could be better than that.) You can utilize that traffic to your advantage. For example, if someone that was visiting Facebook clicks through to your page, now they have already seen your site. This satisfies a major portion of your optimization process.

Why is Marketing Important?

 

Marketing

We all know that marketing advertises businesses.  We are inundated with marketing every single day so this seems a bizarre question to ask, right?

Most start-ups and small businesses do not budget for marketing.  With all their other expenses it does not seem as important, or you can be forgiven for thinking it can be done in-house. I mean how difficult can it be?

Consider someone with a trade, a carpenter, or chef, or hairdresser, as examples. They have been trained in their industry, but did these apprenticeships provide marketing skills?  They may have touched on it, but were they given in-depth knowledge?

Then these tradespeople, rightly decide to set up their own business because there are certain skills they would like to provide to give their clients the best service.

How does anyone know the amazing skills being provided for if they are not told about it?

That is where marketing comes in.

Target audience

It tells the target audience who you are, what you do, and most importantly how it benefits them.  This is extremely important for business success, without anyone knowing who a business is, how can they succeed?

Marketing is a very considered approach to storytelling your brand and product. Various elements are included when researching for marketing purposes, these include:

• Who the business is

• The way the business engages with clients and the target audience

• What the products being sold are

• How the products benefit the target audience

• Who the target audience is 

• How the target audience will receive the message

• Understanding the industry

• Understanding the competitors and what they are doing

After the research is carried out then a plan to tell your story is created. This storytelling is called branding and refers to everything people see about your business, so consistency is key.

Storytelling and branding allow your customers to connect with your business, understand who you are and where you are going.

Community

If you think of your buying habits, particularly during Covid19 lockdowns, which businesses did you buy more from? Sure a lot of people bought from small businesses, but why did they choose the ones they did? Great products, great service, and trust were built. The flow-on effect was a network was build around these businesses, so any changes they made to assist their target audience were noticed.  It is a relationship, a case of listening to your target audience and responding and providing products and services above their expectation.

It is vital that your amazing skills get noticed, otherwise, you are working away with no one knowing what you do or how you do it. Add things like lockdowns, and people then do not know how you adjust to situations.  All marketing allows you to be seen by your target audience, you build the community through trust and you build your client base.