There are many free local online listing services, like our very own Find Business Directory. Using these services, you can increase the visibility of your website and further build your company brand. In this article we are going to cover many of the listings that you can list your business for free with minimal time and effort.
When you built your website or as we call it your 24x7 online employee you expected that the world would show up to your virtual online door wanting to know more about your business and then purchase your products and services that you offer. Having built a website we have all found out doesn't guarantee people will find you or even purchase your products. If people do not know about your business then they surely will move on to one of your competitors. You need to take the time, energy, and effort to get your business seen on the Internet. By taking a few hours, yes we said hours, you can increase the overall exposure of your business online and start getting your brand known.
With each and every offering below you can get listed for free. Each may have a paid offering for additional functionality, exposure, etc. and we encourage each person to evaluate which services work best for their business as well as align with your company brand and business strategy. A paid offering may make sense for one or more of the offerings. And advertising on a network can increase exposure to help build up your brand. Only you can determine which delivery networks will work best for you. In many cases it will be a trial and error process at first. This process though can pay true dividends when it comes to marketing your company online.
Find Business Directory
We would not be complete if we didn't start off with our own Find Business Directory. Every new business, new address, products, offers, coupons, and job listings that are placed on our site are submitted to the search engines for indexing.
Google Places for Business
Google Places for Business gives you access to free tools that help your business get online, be found on Google Search and Maps and get closer to your customers. It's the easiest way to manage your business across Google and it's free.
Google+ Business Page
Your Google+ page connects you with customers, whether they're looking for you on Search, Maps, Google+ or mobile devices. Best of all, it's free. Really, we mean it.
Bing Places for Business
List your business on Bing for free. Just find your listing and verify that you own the business either by phone or mail. Make it easy for customers to find you on all of Bing.
Yelp
People use Yelp to search for everything from the city's tastiest burger to the most renowned cardiologist. What will you uncover in your neighborhood?
MerchantCircle
For local businesses, a listing will enter into MerchantCircle's detailed database of local, trusted businesses. At the same time, a MerchantCircle listing will help boost your visibility and rankings in Google, Bing, and Yahoo. A MerchantCircle profile provides a quality link back to your website with this recommended local link-building tactic.
LinkedIn
This is less of a business listing and more of a personal professional listing. May not get you organic search results, but will help you connect with others in your industry or looking for people in your industry.
YellowPages.com
Like your old fashioned phone book this is a great resource to get listed in.
Facebook
Let's not forget the value of having your own business page on Facebook. And, once you have a Facebook account, you can use it to login to many of these other listing sites.
Angi's List
Companies can create a free account and appear without a rating on the List. Once your company is registered, you may log in at any time to review and update your company's profile, check your ratings, and read and respond to new reviews.
HubSpot
HubSpot (a reputable source I completely trust) published a blog article titled The Ultimate List: 50 Local Business Directories. I only listed some of the top places to get started. Read the article if you would like extra exposure. Not all of these are free. Also, there may be other industry-specific listings that could be of advantage to your business.
Getting found online is not something that will happen overnight. It takes a true dedication to not only get listed but get listed with all of the correct information as well as keep it 100% consistent across each network. Each of the links above are all possible to do yourself and we always encourage people to do so if they have the time and energy to do so.
Hint: We encourage that you do create a separate email account for all of your search engine optimization (SEO) needs as it is not uncommon for many services to sell your email or to market directly to you. By using a separate email address you will save yourself from receiving unwanted emails.
If the above looks daunting or taking a half a day off from your business you cannot do JM2 Webdesigners has solutions to do all of the above for a low cost. Our solutions can be one-time solutions or monthly depending on what your business needs are. You can reach us at @BUSINESSPHONETOLLFREE@, email us at @BUSINESSEMAILADDRESS@, or contact us online here.