Desiree's Desires, Inc.What we have to do to keep a strong online presence.
Most people tell us they find us on a quick and easy Google search. That may be the best and most effective way to find us, but creating an online presence is much more complicated. Did you know there are about 200 websites that list your company information? That’s right! I’ve never heard of 75% of them, but they know me, my company information, and my web address. You’d think, “Oh this is great. People can find me all over the place.” You’d think this was excellent for creating a huge online presence. It’s actually is a giant pain in the ass! Not only do you have to make sure all of these “free listings” are accurate, you need to claim them before someone else does.
Claiming a Business Listing
Creating a true and accurate reputation online is key in gaining a greater online presence. This can be achieved in a couple different ways: paying a person to manage all your listings, paying an online service to keep a central database of listings, a combination of both, or get to business and do it yourself. Listing agencies and services cost businesses thousands of dollars per year to manage online listings to secure your online presence is accurate. When you are starting out, don’t have the extra cash to budget monthly/yearly, or you are just sick and tired of putting out money left and right, you need to learn how to manage this stuff yourself. That is what we do at Desiree’s Desires. We have been disappointed in every single ad agency, marketing company, and website developer we have every hired. Perhaps we have high standards, but you only get one chance to make an impression with potential customers. Our brand represents us. We want it to look a certain way that promotes what we are all about. That is why we now do everything in-house. We will succeed or fail based on us and us alone. So far, things are going well. People seem to like what we have going especially our website.
Why it’s so important to claim your online Business Listing.
If you don’t claim your business listing and verify it, then someone else will. Your competitor could claim your listing. A disgruntled customer or marketer could attempt to claim your listing. With 200 sites with business listing, it is imperative that you claim your business listing to ensure an accurate online presence. Whether it’s business hours, location, or web address, you have to make sure they all sync up and they all have the appropriate category associated with your business. That becomes a particularly difficult task for us. Only about 1-5% of these 200 listings actually let you categorize as “adult retail store.” With all the others we have to get creative, but that limits search terms and visibility. Nothing’s easy in this business. That’s why we are taking the bull by the horns and undergoing a huge verification process on all of business listings. Over half way through, and these people really have you by the balls. They want $6.99 to verify listings through phone numbers. Just an easy way to get a couple bucks out of you, because there is no way I will spend money for a “premium listing on Yellowise.com. I have never even heard of this site. Have you? I can imagine you haven’t either. So, while I will continue to always make sure the obvious sites are updated – social media, Google, Yelp, FourSquare – the little guys will have to settle for basic business listings with the basic info.
What are your go-to sites/apps for finding local businesses?