Submitting to Local Directory Listings is important to any brick and mortar based business. Literally, getting listed puts you on the map - the Google Map, Yahoo Map, etc. And not only that, it can put you at the top of the search engine results too.
But before you start let's gather all your company information. Doing this will make the submission process quicker! It's even better if you have all this information on an Excel sheet ready for copy and pasting.
Information to gather:
- Short Description of what your company does and services offered. (Standard is 200 characters)
- Keywords/key phrases for services
- Complete Address
- Main Phone number, Fax, Toll Free numbers and alternative numbers
- General company Email
- Business Name
- Know your companies general category/label for services offered i.e. Marketing, Web Design, Travel
- Hours Payment types
- Specialty
- Prices
- In business since
- Languages Spoken
- Minority or women owned
- Professional associations
- Contact Person
- Contact Persons Title
- Alternative Contacts
- Preferred form of Validation Postcard/Phone number (have direct number of person to contact)
- Photos (some of these sites allow photos for free, others charge for photo inclusion)
- Areas served
- Credentials
- Certifications
- Customers served (commercial, residential)
Now it's time to submit. Here is a quick list of some of the Top Local Listing Directories.
Major Destinations to Submit to:
Most of the directories listed above do have free submissions but for a fee you can upgrade your listing. Upgrade options include: promotional text, logo inclusion, additional pictures, font & color enhancements or preferred placement. And if you prefer the small extras the upgrades are relatively cheap. Fees start as low as $9 monthly but typically range from $23-$100 per month (depends on the upgrade and directory). But for the most part the free submissions seem to be more than enough to get started.
Keep in mind that a large number of local search sites use 3rd party databases; what this means is that if you submit your information to, lets say, InfoUSA or Localeze it will get fed into Yahoo Yellow Pages, MSN Local and AskCity just to name a few. So why bother submitting to these or others individually? Because time is money and it could take awhile for the information to trickle down. By submitting your business listing to all of these local directories your chances of getting indexed where it really matters will definitely be increased. Technorati Tags:Local Listing, Google Local, Yahoo Local, MSN Local