01 Mar The Pros and Cons of Business Listings
The Pros and Cons of Business Listings
With millions of websites on the internet today, you might think it’s impossible to launch a new website and get instant visitors. A solution for many businesses is using online directories or listings. With a similar functionality of the old-fashioned Yellow Pages, these business listings have both advantages and disadvantages. Some listings also include the use of online reviews that can build your businesses reputation. Get to know these options and how to use them as you increase your customer base.
Business Listings Provide Category Benefits
San Antonio businesses use local business listings to identify their business location, contact information and business category. If you run a niche company it may be difficult to find you through search engines. By using business listings, your company has an accurate category that it’s listed under and is usually found by searching for specific keywords. Without a directory’s help, you might miss out on key visitors within a more specific category. You can increase your visibility by using multiple categories that pertain to the business. This will increase your traffic based on keywords that are searched.
Limited Review Freedom
Within a directory listing there is often an area for customer reviews. Consumers choose between one- to five-star reviews, and they’re allowed to elaborate on their experiences. Positive reviews are certainly advantageous for business but even negative reviews allow the business to reach out to the dis-satisfied customer and do some reputation management. Beware of directory sites that hide 5 star reviews from viewers unless you upgrade your account to a paid subscription. These sites are usually more than happy to display negative reviews to try to force you to upgrade.
Automatic Inbound Links
As you develop your San Antonio business, be sure you have analytics connected to your website. Inbound links are critical as you drive traffic into the site from various origination points. Directory listings offer you automatic inbound links because of their position in the Web. Listings will increase traffic to your site, which encourages your search-engine results to improve. You can monitor your traffic through analytics and determine what pages are being viewed and where the visitor leaves the site.
Inconsistent Information Across Platforms
Online reputation management is crucial to search-engine ranking. Inaccurate information of your business listings is very common and is a major drawback for a business. If a potential visitor is finding results with various versions of information, they are likely to move on to another company. So, where does this information come from? Inconsistencies can result from spiders crawling the web and picking up invalid information from just about any source. Professional SEO companies offer services to maintain your listings across various sites and keep the information consistent so automatic changes are not allowed. This is an advantage for the business because they don’t have to spend time and money tracking listings each month.
Instant Contact Information
The beauty of the directories is the information blast that visitors receive. They aren’t merely greeted by a website address. You’re able to add in a short business biography, site address, contact information and social-media handles. These informational sections are reputation management at its finest. You control the description about your business, and you can change it whenever necessary.
Possible Sales Calls
Some directories are still sales driven so you should expect some marketing calls to your place of business. However, some directories don’t call you at all. Be aware of the directories that actively up-sell their own customers. You might be asked to upgrade your current account. In some cases, your directory might mysteriously disappear if the upgrade isn’t agreed to at some point. Be aware of your contractual rights as you work with a particular directory.
Every advertising strategy has its benefits and drawbacks, including business listings. Hiring an SEO company to maintain your business listings is a great way to keep your company visible with consistent information and it is reasonably priced. Do your research to determine is this is a suitable strategy for your business.