When you’re searching for a local service, what steps do you take? Do you ask your friends? Drive around town looking for a place of service? Search the web? A recent study estimates that roughly 20% of desktop search and a whopping 40%-50% of mobile search have local intent. What should these numbers mean to small business owners? This means that if your business’ online listings are not up-to-date and accurate, the probability of a potential customer finding your business starts to decrease.
70% of the small businesses surveyed acknowledge that they don’t have the time to manage all their online listings on all of the sites that consumers use. In addition, only 23% have a good sense of how having accurate and up-to-date online listings help drive traffic to their business. Not having a presence online is comparable to your business not having signage at your physical location. So, how do you think people will be able to find your business?
Online listings aren’t just crucial for their ability to help potential customers find your physical location, but they can prove to be a great source of business information for your potential customer. Many directories now give you the ability to list your business’ menu, products, services and payment method. This gives customers a glimpse into your business and what it has to offer.
As a small business it’s sometimes hard to keep track of all the listing sites online. With hundreds of online directories, physically maintaining all entries can be a daunting task, but there are a few simple steps you can take to ensure your listing accurately reflects the most vital information of your business- name, address, and phone number.
First, assess how people are finding your business. If you have a website, make sure you have analytics, so you can track exactly where people are coming from. If your business does not have a website, ask customers when they come in store how they found your business. Then, get a website!
Next, review the top 5 to 10 sources that are driving people to your business. How is your business listed? Are there reviews? What are people saying about your business? Take the time to review each source and make updates where necessary.
Lastly, decide who is going to continuously monitor and update your business’ listings. Make sure the person who is going to be in charge of this task is well equipped with the knowledge of your products and services.
Maintaining and managing your business’ online presence is a never-ending task. Amplify offers a variety of services to help manage and monitor your online presence. As a Certified Partner of Yext, we are able seamlessly mange your business’ online listings across 45+ directory sites.
Regardless of how you choose to manage your online listings (on your own or with an agency), by keeping your business’ listings accurate across directories you can help increase your business visibility and marketing exposure.