Online Directories - What are the benefits?

23rd Dec. 2015

While more businesses are using online directories than ever before - and the market is expected to grow by around 0.4 percent by 2016 - this method of digital advertising is still heavily underutilised by many small and medium businesses who place too much importance on SEO and SMM alone. Here are some of the key benefits businesses could enjoy through placing an advert in a global online directory:

Improved Outreach

There are many benefits of blogging to a global audience, yet many businesses shy away from international marketing due to the stresses and hassles of optimising content for foreign audiences using different keywords, key phrases, and cultural references. Placing an ad in a worldwide online directory is one of the most effective ways to reach new audiences without alienating.

Local Reputation

While advertising to a global audience can be beneficial, word-of-mouth marketing is still a major player when it comes to building a local reputation. It’s important for businesses to promote themselves, their products, and their services to the local community through location-based advertising on online directories, encouraging customers to spread the word in the locality.

Increased Visibility

At a time when on-site content marketing is proving to be so effective, many businesses are becoming sucked into the SEO world and are failing to see that, for SMEs, SEO isn’t everything. Optimised web pages should be used in conjunction with digital advertising forms such as online directories that work to introduce consumers to businesses they may not have found otherwise.

Together, these three primary benefits do what they’re supposed to - they bring in business. A study by the The Editor & Publisher Co found that more than half of all business owners who advertise in online directories plan to renew their ad when it expires due to success and overall satisfaction.