You may have the best online business there is in your field, but that is not going to do you or your prospective customers any good if they don’t know that it exists. That’s why it’s so important to publicize an online business and, more importantly, publicize it intelligently.
Fortunately, several resources are readily available to help you do just that so that others can take advantage of what you’re offering. But do keep in mind that, in most cases, the returns on the investment of time and money will not be immediate.
For businesses around the globe the most well-known form of marketing falls into the business to consumer (B2C) category, which includes online retail or online shopping. It refers to online purchases from retailers that have a physical location, such as Walmart, as well as from web-only online retailing corporations such as Amazon.com.
In 2017, around 1.66 billion people worldwide purchased online. Also in 2017, retail stores all over the world earned US $2.4 trillion and experts estimate that this revenue will reach 4.5 trillion in the following three years. But the US are not the only market that welcomed online commerce; Asia, for instance, reports an online purchase rate of 12%.
So, we all buy and many of us sell. Some may have online business, but simply launching an online store does not guarantee success. On the contrary, competition is fierce and you need to invest a lot of time and energy into a well-drafted marketing strategy if you want your store to stand out from the thousands of other websites.
According to Digital.com, the biggest impediment in launching an online business is that it will fail, and the same fear also lingers in owners’ minds after the business has been launched.
According to the same source:
- 2/3 of all businesses stay on the market for at least 2 years
- ½ of all businesses stay on the market for at least 5 years
- 1/3 of all businesses manage to stay on the market for more than 10 years
So, you need to be found online. Your business, in fact.
Simply running a quality business that is respected by most of its customers will naturally improve your SEO. In theory. Without getting into detail, SEO is not a one-person job and it might take several years to get some decent results. So, what can you do? Start using web directories.
In simple terms, a web directory is a list of websites, a sort of online catalog that includes a brief description of the business, as well as relevant details such as address and phone number. These lists are often sorted by categories and subcategories.
Well directories exist because they provide the same service as a search engine but with a small difference. Directories classify the sites in categories and present it to the user, making it easier for the user to find the most relevant sites.
Web directories begun as a list of web servers which served the same purpose as search engines. In the past, there arose the need to have the means of search for information from the internet.
In the last couple years, only a few directories survived the tremendous quantity of penalties Google applied to offer “a better user experience” demanding a high editorial discretion (as Yahoo” Directory had).
One Google-compliant option is Jasmine Directory, which is headquartered in Valley Cottage, N.Y., and was founded in Hungary in 2009. Analyzing several websites from its index led our team to a conclusion: Google actually put (some) weight on those listed websites. As Tom Forrest, one of Search Engine Journal’s editors, concluded: “I have seen many SEO examples of how these top-quality directories help improve direct traffic and also search engine ranking results. The Directories listed in this article are an outstanding value and provide long term SEO benefits”.
“Links from high-quality, niche directories are still considered ‘good’ links by Google and will help a site generate more organic traffic” he continued; He listed several directories, Jasmine Directory being one of them.
But note that Jasmine Directory is selective and does not approve all who are interested. However, that is partly why Google thinks so highly of it.
Every listing follows the same structure and includes: a screenshot of the website, the address of the company, contact details such as phone number. There’s also a Google generated map where the business address is displayed – a feature that not many web directories can offer, but that is quite handy for businesses. Once the listing is posted, its publisher can edit the details any time, but an upgrade feature is also available for those who change the listing.
BOTW, Business.com are also worth considering.
Use Yelp or Trust Pilot
Often, what makes prospective customers hesitant to become involved with online businesses is a lack of trust. However, getting involved with websites such as Yelp and Trust Pilot will help with that. Both of those resources are ones that most people trust and that many consult before taking their business somewhere. You can also use positive reviews that are posted for you on either or both of those websites on your own website to promote yourself.
