Business directories are an important and valuable addition to your online marketing strategy. Not only do thousands of people search every day for businesses on their favourite free directory, but also the majority of business profiles on directories are indexed by Google and other major search engines.
Should I advertise on free business directories?
In a word, yes – links to these business directory adverts (business profiles) are shown when people action a generic search in Google and other search engines, for example, a search for ‘Pubs’ in ‘Wapping’ currently displays all links to pubs in Wapping on business directories, e.g. Beer in the Evening, Trusted Places, View London etc. So if you’re a pub in Wapping then it’s imperative that you are listed on these directories in order to stand a real and quick chance of being on Google page one.
Why is it so important to be on Google page one search results?
People searching for your business or business type usually want to find what they are looking for as soon as possible. The quickest way to do this is to action a search then scan all the links displayed. The majority of user searches will amend their search terms rather than clicking on subsequent pages of the original search. So getting your business to page one in Google and other search engines is critical if you want to achieve new enquiries / customers.
What are the statistics for people that only look at the first page of a Google search?
Well about 90% of searches go no further than page one, and Google alone handle 88bn search queries every month – that’s 80bn page one only search queries. This means you really must have page one prominence as an objective in your SME online marketing strategy plan.
Should I employ an SEO expert to help me get on page one of Google?
Well, there are many SEO consultants out there that will help you build a strategy to achieve this, however, 90% of it is straight-forward, and by spending a few hours a week reading blogs and books will give you a greater understanding. Then a few hours a week making simple SEO changes to your site (on-page SEO), writing good quality and informative articles on your business area and creating business directory profiles (off-page SEO), will produce significant benefits over time. Doing this will really help you get under the skin of SEO, and will help you identify a good SEO consultant from the dodgy ones when you need further help to create an advanced SEO development plan.
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