Talking about Website Appearance

Believe it or not, not all online business searches are performed on Google. Social media websites and online directories will expand your visibility and consistently generate some of the best leads you can ask for – for practically nothing!

Free and paid online directory marketplaces are worth the time and investment you take to list your business.

So… Do I Really Need to Submit To Online Directories?

The short answer – Yes. Listing your business information and website to relevant online directories will increase your business’s reach and is a great source of leads, online reviews, and referral traffic. The key to generating more sales online is advertising and positioning your business where consumers want to be – and already are.

When creating your listings, it’s important that all the information is consistent across all of your directories. Make sure to provide details that are strong selling points that may appeal to new customers.

How Many Should I List My Business On?

As many quality online directories as you can. But it’s the relevancy and quality of the directories that are important. Links from unrelated, and spammy websites can actually hurt your rankings so it’s important to review each site and see if it’s a good match for your business before adding your listing.

How Do I Tell Which Directories Are “Quality” and Which Are Not?

A lot of it comes down to common sense. The easiest way is to take a look at the businesses that are already listed- are there businesses listed that are relevant to yours? Obviously if you run a bakery in San Diego, you don’t want to feature your business on an Canadian home remodeling directory.

Quality is an important factor so stick to the best sites for our business. Your goal should be to make sure that you have accurate, up to date information about your business exactly where your customers are searching.

For your convenience we’ve put together a list of 25 the “must have” local directories that we recommend.

Modern technology has improved at an alarming rate over the last decade, with the internet at the forefront of each and every single one of these advancements. Smart phones and tablet devices are now a part of everyday life, and you can even now use them to do your banking and to pay for items and services. You can even pay for items and services using digital currency, namely the bit coin. Yes, technology is most certainly king and for that reason, if you want to stand any chance of succeeding within the business world, you need to embrace it and get with the times.

Your site does NOT have a clear call to action – One of the best ways of actually getting what you want is to ask for it, and in simple terms, that is essentially exactly what a “call to action” is. On your site it is your job to encourage, or even to direct your customers towards exactly what it is that you would like them to do once they’ve finished browsing your services and/or products.
Your site layout sucks – On average, a new visitor to your website only spends six seconds evaluating whether to stay on your site or to click the back button and go somewhere else. If your website’s most important information is buried under the fold, then there is a pretty good chance it’s not being seen. The layout of your website is arguably one of the most important factors to consider when creating a new site for your business. Although there are a number of “create your own” websites out there that cost little to nothing at all, it is advisable to always hire professional web designers to create and design your website for you.
You don’t have any social networking links – Social networking is now a part of everyday life, and whether you like it or not, it looks set to stay that way for the foreseeable future. First off, if you don’t have several social networking pages created for your business, you need to consider getting them set up ASAP. Social networking is ideal as it’s a great source of free, or very cheap marketing and advertising, millions upon millions of people use these pages, and it’s an ideal way of potentially drumming up more business.
tablet devices are now extremely common, with close to 50% of all US citizens actually owning at least one of these devices. For that reason, more and more people are using these devices to browse the web, rather than laptops or computers. If your website isn’t mobile friendly then you need to rectify this issue as soon as possible, as again, you could be losing out on a lot of customers.
Your contact information is hard to find– Studies and expert research have both found that including your contact information on every single page of your website is the most effective way of maximizing your potential to increase and boost your sales.

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