Data about your business is picked up, shared, aggregated and republished all over the web. While you can easily ensure that your own site is accurate and up to date, the truth is that potential customers may get your contact details from another source.
A positive aim for 2014 is making sure that your company’s presence on the net is complete and accurate.
Although a simple aim, this can take time to complete. You can ignore many of the free listing directory sites. Most don’t rank and the links won’t help your position in Google. However, there are some key sites which will help. Here’s a non-exhaustive list:
[glg_short_accordion_set] [glg_short_accordion title=”Google Places for Business” active=”no”] An obvious starter, but essential. Listing your company on Google maps means putting your business deep into Google’s ecosystem. Did you know you can call businesses from Google Voice which aren’t listed in your phonebook? Try it. Say “Call [company name] in [location]”. It also works for Google Maps Navigation. “Navigate to [my company] in [location]”. [/glg_short_accordion] [glg_short_accordion title=”Bing Maps” active=”no”] Isn’t Bing just another search engine that nobody uses? Bing currently powers iPhone Siri’s search, so your listing here matters. It also supplies Window’s Phone search and is the default search engine for anybody who hasn’t changed it in their browser. It has a 5% market share in the UK and over 17% in the US (Source: http://searchengineland.com/). [/glg_short_accordion] [glg_short_accordion title=”Social Media” active=”no”] Facebook listings allow visitors to “Check in” and follow. If you have a physical store, check your facebook page to make sure that the address and telephone numbers are included and correct.[/glg_short_accordion][glg_short_accordion title=”Yell, Yelp Etc (Big Directories) ” active=”no”] Potential customers may still rely on directories for “finding a number”. If these directories have old numbers or addresses you may be missing out on sales. [/glg_short_accordion] [glg_short_accordion title=”Industry Directories” active=”no”] Some industries have industry sites and directories which their target audience view as a trusted referral. It’s important to included your correct business details on sites which serve your industry as the potential customers using them will be targeted to your industry. [/glg_short_accordion] [/glg_short_accordion_set]
You can speed up the process by creating some templates for your listings. Creating a strap line, short description and long description, along with logo and some product images to hand means that visitors to these listing sites get a consistent image of your company
Making sure your internet presence is accurate and complete can be time consuming, but it is an essential task. If you’re not listed or have an old number listed it could mean that your sale goes to a competitor.