Why use local business listings?

If Internet marketing is planned in the right manner, it can be a very effective tool for improving the sales figures for your business. But getting it right is important. There was a time when the one way to ensure that prospective customers had easy access to your contact details, was to be listed in the Yellow Pages, which was a printed directory.

By Alain Houle, Alco Web Design LLC

But things have now changed and a larger number of people are veering towards online searches when they want to look for a specific product or service. This is where local business listings come into the picture and we help a number of clients with this medium. It has a number of benefits for small businesses:

• Easy Search- When you categorize your business in the appropriate niche, it will show up in the search results when someone searches for a product/service. This is a great way of ensuring that prospective customers in the locality are able to access your information easily.
• Offers & Promotions- You are also able to quickly advertise any new offers or promotions via local business listings. They can be changed/updated very conveniently and you can also customize them very easily.
• Mobile Phone Access- Increasingly, the trend is that people look for information via their mobile phones, when they are on the move. The minute you advertise in local business listings, it opens up that particular set of customers to you as well.
• Versatility- You are also able to display videos and photos and make your ads more effective, in the simplest of ways. Local business listings also give you more ad space compared to Printed Pages.
• Cost Efficient- Displaying your ad on local business listings is very cost-efficient in comparison to print advertisements. The latter can cost thousands of dollars while the former will cost only a fraction of that amount. This, in combination with the flexibility that the medium provides you, in terms of being able to alter the information- is definitely a high ROI.

Overcome the Challenges
Operating a small business profitably in the current market scenario where the competition is very high is quite a difficult task. The key to increasing sales and improving your bottom line lies in adopting smart online marketing strategy and advertising your business in local online directories is one of the best methods of achieving this. For more information about local business listings, contact us or visit our website, www.alcowebdesign.com.