I have to say that over the last several years it seems harder and harder for a website to get any notice unless you are willing to spend truckloads of money on a professional PR campaign. That was until I started doing some research on topics dealing with page ranking with search engines and other services that help improve your chances of getting noticed.
One type of service I found and use quite frequently now are web directories. While doing my research I found that advertising your business via web directories can have a huge impact on your page ranking as well as just generally getting the word out.
Part of the page ranking formula is how many other sites link or have links to your website. By advertising your business via web directories you are affording yourself those links all on your own. No more waiting for someone to notice you and link to you. Do it yourself. I couldn’t believe how quickly this helps.
There are literally thousands of web directories out there. Advertising your business via web directories also has value added in that combined they get millions of hits a month from people using their services to locate businesses based on searches or categories. Most, if not all, have very nice organization making it easy to click through the categories and find the types of businesses or services customers are looking for and then presenting the businesses that offer these services.
When it comes down to it, I find that advertising your business via web directories accomplishes the two major goals in being found on the internet. Getting these services for free is just icing on the cake. Often I will use submissions engines and get my products posted to several web directories at the same time.
Now here are the nuts and bolts of advertising your business via web directories. First, read the rules. Obviously in order to keep things well organized and fair they all want to be sure the ads have similar formatting. Don’t use all caps in the titles unless they specifically request that all ad titles be in all caps. Generally they don’t want titles in all caps and will reject your ad if you do so. Second, nearly all web directories offer ad space for free. Most also offer premium ad space. I suggest starting out with free ads on every web directory you can find.
Then go back and find which ones have premium ads that are within your budget. Trust me, after advertising on web directories you will see results and your budget will increase over time even if your budget is zero right now. Finally, seek out free ad submission services. Remember, if you placed an ad in the newspaper, you would buy the paper to see your ad. When you are advertising your business via web directories you need to visit them as well to take a look at your ad. You don’t want to end up with a mistyped phone number or web address keeping people from finding your business.
Starting out with no budget and no one could find my business on the web. Web directories have gotten the word out simply by being there.