Small Business Web Design, Local Internet Marketing, Local SEO, Online Video, Training | LOCAL Na8ion West Palm Beach, FL

In my last post Cast a wide net with local online directories I discussed the benefits of listing your business in as many legitimate local online directories and guides as possible. It’s all about being found when it counts: when people are looking for you or looking to buy what you have, an area where local online directories like YellowPages.com really shine. Here’s the kicker, getting listed in major local online directories also improves your organic local search engine rankings by raising your page rank on search engines like Google.

These are powerful advantages that you need to employ in any local small business online marketing plan.

I wrapped up my post by mentioning that there are tools and services available in the market today to get your business listed in the multitude of online directories in one easy step. Most of the solutions in this arena are in the $200 to $300 range and I believe that this represents a very fair value given the amount of time it takes to enter/correct these listings yourself.

That got me thinking that it would be great if there was a non-profit organization that standardized these listing practices and helped both the directory companies AND the small business owner get their information listed both “accurately” and “everywhere” for FREE.

While that nirvana HAS NOT been fully realized yet there is a good effort underway that could get us there and it’s damn close to free.

Users of UniversalBusinessListing.org pay only $30 to get listed in over 25 local online directories and guides. Further, business users can keep their records fresh in those same directories for only $18 per year. The money, time savings, and practicality of this tool just blow me away.

Here’s my impartial testimonial. Before I found UniversalBusinessListing.org I planned to start my own service doing much the same thing and beat my competitors on price…by a lot. Because of UBL I’ve scrapped that plan. I now include UBL in all the work I do with clients, and starting today I’m bundling it in with my new product The Percolator, without raising my prices. The reason I’m using UBL now is the same reason you should. Saving loads of time and money. For me, I can replace hours of work in developing and maintaining automated robots to place client listings (OR doing it manually just like you would) or I can give UBL thirty bucks. There’s a tough choice.

Here are the basics of what you get with UniversalBusinessListing.org

• You input your business information once at UBL’s site and get listed in 25 or more major local online directories/city guides
• You pay a $30 fee
• You pay an annual $18 fee to renew your listing in the same online directories
• UBL provides you with confirmation of your listing in the directories with a url pointing to your listing
• UBL lets you update your information at any time
• UBL allows you to include additional ‘enhanced’ information in your listings such as pictures, directions, logo, etc.
• UBL now includes the ability to get listed on online mobile directories and phones through their new partnership with MobileGates.

For a great interview about UniversalBusinessListing.org with co-founder Chris Travers, head on over to the Local Biz Bits blog penned by fellow online small business marketing Pro, Larry Sullivan.

Julian, ed Local Na8ion

Whether you’re just starting your local web marketing or you’ve been at it for a while, there are some fundamentals that you must address.

The first is being found online when people go looking for what you sell. This is the first part of your “findability.” The second part of findability is for another post but to sum it up, it’s about saying and giving the buyer the relevant information they need to complete their search and ultimately select you as the provider of the solution or product they seek. The two together, being found by buyers, and saying the right thing to them at the right time, are your findability. Findability with your web site is what produces sales. When you think of online outreach I champion a targeted niche approach, when it comes to people seeking you out it’s better to think in terms of casting a wide net.

The main tool you should employ for being found, is Local Search Engine Optimization. The goal is to get your business listed higher in the natural, or so called organic search engine rankings. The vast majority of your efforts should be spent on Local SEO because that’s how the vast majority of consumers find you online.

The other way of increasing your local online findability has to do with appearing in myriad online directories and guides. While these products are used far less than search engines to locate providers of products and services they still represent an important market of buyers for you and shouldn’t be ignored.

These local online directories and guides include web sites like YellowPages.com, entertainment focused directories like CitySearch, newer local directories with a social media slant like Yelp, or specialty directories that cater to your industry or niche (like a restaurant or hotel getting listed in Zagat or Trip Advisor).

Surprisingly, getting listed in these online directories and guides does more than just the obvious step of getting you in said online directory. It also improves your organic local search engine optimization!

First, getting your business listed in the online directories lets people find you in searches. That part is as simple as it sounds. If you’re not in the directory you can’t be found. So the goal is to get listed. Second, all of these directories have the potential to link back to your main web site. That is if you’re in the directory and you bother to edit your listing to include your url. When you do, BINGO, it allows buyers to click on the link for your web site and find out more about you. Congratulations, you’ve just used an online directory listing to increase your chance of a sale.

Third, the link from major sites like YellowPages.com, Yelp.com and others also creates a link that raises the link popularity of your web site on search engines. Link popularity remains one of the most significant ways that search engines like Google and Yahoo! rank the importance of your web site, and therefore it’s relevance and position in search results. The more links from legitimate and highly ranked web sites, the more impact the link will have on your search engine rankings. Guess what the search engines think of big sites like Yelp.com, CitySearch, and Superpages.com? Right, they’re legitimate trusted sources of information on the web and due to that their legitimacy it high.

None of the benefits I’ve cited require you to purchase an ad of any kind. All you need is the free listing in order to be found and for the online directory and guide to provide you with the SEO “Google Juice” to drive your own web site’s natural search engine rankings higher.

It stands to reason then that your goal is to get listed in as many major and legitimate online directories and guides as you can. True. The problem is how much time it takes to set up your listings. This shouldn’t stop you from getting your listings set up.

Today, there are better ways to get your business listed in local online directories and guides and I’ll cover that in my next post!

Julian, ed Local Na8ion

Short on time? Here’s the Bottom Line!

Please note that this article was written prior to Local Na8ion’s re-launch and as such the content may not be relevant for today’s audience of local marketers.

In a report filed by MediaPost today Verizon is apparently mulling the sale of their print and online Yellow Pages division — Superpages. According to the article Neal Polachek, Kelsey Group Analyst, and my former colleague at Pacific Bell Directory, says that if the move follows what happened with Bell Canada that it will open up the strategic direction of the company. When I worked at Pacific Bell Directory, and later SBC once they acquired PBD, it was a pretty common annual rumor that Bell was going to sell off the directory unit and stick to it’s knitting of telecommunications. Every time this came up they looked at the 70% profit margins and multi-billion dollar revenue line and decided it was worth keeping around for a few more years! Who could blame them? But, the danger of holding, as in Poker, is knowing when to hold ‘em and when to fold ‘em. Will Verizon get the value they want out of the business now that print Yellow Pages has moved closer to their ultimate demise?

Is the old SBC, now AT&T, looking to complete the merging of Baby Bells? Who cares? Well, one point of interest is if they hold the print and online products together or sell them separately. Do you get more money for online in a split play? I’d say the whole thing certainly would open the door for YellowPages.com to buy Superpages.com and finally have one cohesive online directory product for the nation. Not that Localna8ion thinks YellowPages.com strategy makes any sense in the context for today’s Internet user, but at least they could realize whatever potential exists in the Yellow Pages analogy online. Would the combined print and online operation for Superpages.com be of interest to Google or Yahoo!? Probably not, but it’s fun to speculate about!