For local businesses, attracting new customers can be a major challenge. Yellow Pages, and other telephone books used to be a major source for customers to find your business. But times have definitely changed. Think about it – when was the last time YOU thumbed through the phone book to find a business? The fact is that today, people turn to the internet to find trusted business recommendations.
One way local businesses can get found when customers are searching online is through online directories. Adding a listing to these online directories is easy, and many are free (besides the cost of your time), but if you only list in a few, you’re really missing a huge opportunity. The more online directories and listings your business can be found on, the more likely your customers are to find you when searching online.
With hundreds on online directories, finding the one’s that are worth your time can be a pain. This is why we’ve complied a list of 20 of the most popular FREE online directories, and links to each one.Some of them will even send you emails when you get a review, so that you can monitor your reviews online as well.
BUT WAIT. Before you go to the trouble to list your business on all of these directories, you’ll want to check to see how your business appears across the internet. This could save you some trouble of logging in to each directory listing, if you know your information is already correct.To keep things easy for you, (and for us!), here’s a free online listings scan tool you can use. Just enter your business location information, and get an instant report. Don’t worry, we won’t spam you or hound you to sign up for a program. Let’s be honest – what small business owner has time for that?
20 Free Online Business Directories and Listings Your Business Needs to be Listed On
IS YOUR BUSINESS ON THE MAP? IT'S TIME TO FIND OUT.
Check to see how your business appears across the internet, instantly. Click below to get an instant report for all of your business listings for FREE!
One thing that is important to keep in mind is that once you get all of these listings up, and accurate, you need to make sure to keep them up to date. And, there’s HUNDREDS of online directories out there, that your business may be listed on, and you not even know it!
While most of these online listings are free, your time is not. Also, it’s important to know when customers (or in some cases, spammers), leave reviews for your business online. Responding to reviews, even bad ones, is CRITICAL in showing online searchers that you care about your customers, and appreciate their business. Not to mention that for many of these online directory listings, you have NO CONTROL over who can leave you a review. A one or two star rating can be very detrimental to a business, and there’s nothing more aggravating than a spammer, or unhappy customer trying to ruin your hard-earned reputation.
This is why we make it EASY for you. We provide a platform, called All-In-One Local Marketing Software, that makes it easy to manage your own listings so that you can focus on your business. Our online directory and reputation monitoring software instantly syncs with over 100 online directories and search engines, including Google, Bing, Yellow Pages, Facebook, Yelp, Foursquare and more. The software also monitors your online review and social sites, notifying you of any interactions. You can also monitor business performance through our automatic monthly reports that measure your analytics, and track your rankings. And all of this, in one easy to use dashboard – no more remembering hundreds of logins!
UP Market Media’s All-In-One Local Marketing plans start at just $50 a month.