What is Directory Marketing? It is a process where profiles are created on directories and as a result targeted pockets of people visiting these directories can learn more about the businesses listed there. These directories are actually websites that are typically service one or more categories of interest. The most basic example of a directory is the “yellow pages”.
It used to be that when you went into business you had to be in the yellow pages. Why? Because in those days there wasn’t an internet to go search for services there was only this big yellow book with categories of businesses and their phone numbers listed in it. People looked up a “plumber” for example, and would have a list of all the local plumbers in the area to contact. An online directory is the same thing – just digital.
So what is Directory Marketing?
Directories are online communities that allow businesses and site owners to list their websites. The directory owners typically offer “free” listings and “paid” listings. Free listings typically allow submission of the contact info but without bells and whistles such as images, call outs, etc. Paid listings typically show up higher in the directory list than free listings and include various additional bells and whistles.
Directory Marketing is the process of identifying directory sites that are right for your business, creating profiles on each of them, and then measuring and keeping the profile information up to date. It is typically a process that repeats on a month to month basis. Results from each site should be measured (ie clicks), and based upon performance some profiles may be increased from a “free” profile to a “paid” profile. The idea being that if a directory is good, you want to get as many clicks from it as possible.
That’s why for years Media Giant Design has offered directory marketing to the world. Most people don’t realize there is a world outside of Google and Facebook, but online marketers are now starting to realize that directories make a lot of sense and are starting to use it to promote their clients’ businesses.
There are lots of good directories out there and it is easy to find a directory and get listed on it – but that’s not the challenge involved with directory marketing. The first challenge is picking the directories that are most likely to bring you visitors (for example Yelp or Google My Business are basic starting points). Picking out niche specific directories however, requires time and research as there are literally thousands of directories that you can choose from, and before spending the time creating and maintaining a profile on them, you should need to check them out to see which ones are able to provide you with the most exposure to the right people, as well as pass the most link juice for your SEO.
Paying for directory listings can be very expensive (some are $100+ per year), so the best thing you can do is to find a directory that has high potential for your business and offers free profiles. See if the profile generates any good traffic, and then based on this decide if its worth shelling out the coin for a paid listing. But getting traffic from them isn’t enough – remember you need to have a good website so you can convert those visitors into leads and sales.
If you put up a website without anything on it, the visitors you get won’t come back. Don’t neglect to put some articles on your website. Articles are a great way to bring visitors back to your website over and over again – especially if you have some Marketing Automation working for you.
Directory marketing is a powerful strategy for generating traffic to your website. This strategy is one of the best strategies to promote your website. So put up content on your website, get some visitors, and promote your website through directories in addition to using Google and Facebook.
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