Why List Your Business in a Directory?

Are local business directories useful?

Houston City Beat offers small business owners an opportunity to list their business with the end goal of improving their visibility.

What is a Business Listing and why is it important for your online presence? 

A business listing displays your local business’ NAP Which is an abbreviated form of Name, Address and Phone Number on directories, online business listing sites, and citation sites. 

One clear benefit of listing your business in a directory is that you will improve your local SEO. What the heck does this mean and why should you care? Improving your SEO (search engine optimization) will improve your rankings on search engines because the listings in a directory will usually link back to your businesses website. 

Better SEO will increase your web traffic. I explain it as having a group of people who love you cheer you on in a race with thousands of other people. Those people cheering you on will also help other people see you and cheer you on too. 

The more people who hear all your fans screaming your name while you are running in the web marathon, the more popular you will become. This will result in all kinds of perks, Including:

• Improve Online Visiblity and Rank Higher on Search Engines.
• Your customers will find you faster.
• Your customers will provide you with more testimonials.

Who should list their business in a local directory?

If you have a brick and mortar location, you should list your business in as many directories as possible. You can go about this using a manual process or you can hire someone that can do this for you across the board. If you would like more information on this process, fill out this form and I’ll be more than happy to help you.

What are the most well known directories in the US?

We can start with the top two directories that most people love to hate – Google and Yelp. The great thing about Google is that it’s available for any business owner who wants to leverage the platform. The bad news is that it’s fairly easy for an unscrupulous person to take away your Google My Business listing. 

The other platform is Yelp. I’ve heard stories from many restaurant owners that Yelp will take away your reviews if you don’t pay to play. Since this has not happened to myself or clients that I work with, I can only tell you that I’ve heard this is how they work. 

There’s also many local directories that vary in specialty within each metropolitan city.

What type of local directories could I find in Houston, Texas?

I would be completely un-biased if I don’t mention my favorite local directory in Houston…Houston City Beat.

You can get on the directory with a free listing and you can also upgrade with several perks that come with being on an active directory/blog. How do you get on the Houston City Beat local directory? Fill out this form and we will get you set up.