Local business directories are quite popular. People are in continuous search of restaurants, stores or doctors around them.
So how can you gain organic traffic with this?
Well, it’s simple, people use Google or a similar search engine to search, if your directory ranks at the top of search engine result pages (SERP), you can expect a lot of organic traffic.
Sounds perfect, right? Unfortunately, it’s not as rosy as it looks. Especially when you’re just getting started.
If you’ve built your local directory newly, or if your traffic is not that great, what will you do?
Don’t worry; I’ll tell you what to do. This article shall help you increase traffic to your online business directory, “dramatically!”, provided you follow the tips.
Along with using the best tool to build a business directory website, there’s bit more needed to succeed.
Here are five proven tips to attract more traffic to your online local business directory:
Building a Niche Directory
Most of the people that use search engines are in search for something specific. Hence, it is vital to fulfilling your user’s specific requirement. It is important to push relevant content.
If you build a niche directory, focussing on something specific and reinforce it with proper SEO, chances of your local directory ranking higher are quite good.
This will help build confidence among your visitors about your recommendations as they’ll think that you’re running a website that caters to their needs.
The biggest difference between a niche site and a generalized site is that a niche site will have thousands of businesses from the same industry whereas generalized directory will only have a few businesses from thousand different industries.
What if you already own a generalized directory?
In that case, make sure that you use proper categories and subcategories. This will ensure easy navigation for your users.
Promote Your Web Directory
Sticking to only SEO can be a time-consuming process spread the word of your directory. Promoting your website will help in increasing the reach of your directory. It is vital to rank higher because that’s where businesses like to get listed.
So how do you promote your local business directory?
Well, there are various ways to promote your directory. You can use popular social media networks such as Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, etc.
Another popular way of promoting your directory is starting a blog relevant to your niche and sharing the articles to build backlinks.
Online advertising is another method of promotion. Using Google Adsense, you can target specific keywords to promote your directory and make it visible at the top of SERPs.
After all, the success of your directory depends mainly upon the traffic that you attract and the visibility you gain.
Allow Rating, Reviews, Comments, and Feedback
People usually make purchasing decisions based on what they hear from other people. So they rely on reviews, ratings, and comments about particular business listings.
Businesses prefer those directories which allow their customers to review, rate, comment and let them give feedback. Leaving testimonials is also an excellent way to win the trust of your users.
Doing so not only helps them improve their services/products and business, but also gain more exposure for them when appearing on Google places – businesses with higher ratings or positive reviews have a better chance to rank higher. And thus end up getting more customers.
Allow Indexing of the Submitted Links
It is a quite common practice to try to improve traffic and customer-base through submitting links to online directories. It is done by many businesses. It’s important to allow indexing of the links that these business websites submit.
If search engines fail to index these links, their purpose is somewhat failed as they don’t get any backlink advantage.
This is the reason that most businesses prefer to add their listings to only those directories who allow indexing of their links. So, make sure that your directory allows indexing. This will not only help the businesses but also fetch decent traffic to your local business directory.
Keep the Info Updated
It is important to maintain the quality of your business directory. You should accept and list only quality links that are submitted to your directory.
Thoroughly review the listings and accept only those business listings that provide good quality products/services to its users. You should ensure that all the listings in your directory have updated addresses and phone numbers so as to provide a better user experience.
This is necessary to build your reputation as a reliable source of information. If you can get people to trust you, you can be sure to develop a loyal readership and excel as a business directory.
Conclusion
The Online business directory niche has a very steep competition. It is very easy to launch a website these days; anyone can do it.
But not everyone can excel at it.
You need consistent efforts and planning to build a huge audience that is loyal to your website.
So, make sure that you put in the time and effort and continue to pursue your project and don’t just abandon it. It is essential to make sure that your website stands out. Apply new and impressive ways to promote your directory as discussed earlier. Put in extra efforts to get quality links that’ll enhance user experience.
Know more ways of increasing the traffic? Share with us by commenting below.