Submission to Trade Directories

When looking for places to link your website or your products as part of an internet marketing campaign, it is worth considering trade directories, particularly for your industry or target audience niches.

There are many well-known global and national directories who offer listings to every imaginable industry eg Kompass, Tradekey, Applegate, Yell, Thomson etc. Others focus on specific niches, industries, regions or markets. These directories can often be found in the first few pages of the search results for your top keywords - they generally have far bigger marketing budgets than you or I!

There are also a considerable number of directories specifically for importers and exporters. These are particularly useful, both to find new suppliers and to break into international markets.

Many of these directories offer a free, basic online listing in their searchable database.

You will need to investigate which categories your products should be listed under, and choose the most appropriate to enable your potential customers to find you easily. However, it is also worth searching on your competitors and see whether they have spotted any additional market sectors for similar products.

Some directories offer additional services, such as online quotes and lead generation, enhanced and featured listings, listings in a print directory or magazine. However attractive these may seem, it may well be worth testing the water first with a free listing before expending your hard-won marketing budget on an unknown service that may or may not yield results.

Your descriptions need to be carefully crafted, and optimised for your top keywords. Many of these directories employ experienced SEO experts in order to get good search engine rankings and attract new customers, so use that to your advantage.

There are directories who only offer paid listings and it is important that you ask all the right questions to check Value For Money (VFM) before signing any contracts. Always ask if you can have a trial, and always haggle over the price of a listing for your business. Without businesses like yours, they would not have a directory so do not assume the rate card is fixed.

Ask for audited or confirmed unique visitor numbers, page views for the site and by category, and example clickthroughs for other advertisers. Make sure the results they give you are current but also indicate whether the site activity is growing or diminishing over time eg 6 months of data or so.

Compare the value of potential visitors to your site with any Pay per Click campaign costs you have eg Google Adwords, Yahoo Search Marketing etc.

If you decide to go for an online quotes package too, remember that you will need to regularly check your emails for enquiries and leads. You will need to respond promptly and many of these services offer purchasers the chance to rate and review suppliers.

Good ratings plus positive feedback = future sales plus loyal customers.

Keep a detailed list of all directories to which you submit your business, and regularly check and update your listing with new products, brands, amended company details, and top keywords.

Phil Robinson is an experienced online marketing consultant and Founder of ClickThrough Marketing - an international Search Engine Marketing agency providing a range of Internet Marketing Services. Specialists in Search Engine Optimisation, Pay Per Click Marketing Services, Online PR, Social Marketing & Website Conversion Strategies.

We have a huge range of free internet marketing resources including ebooks, industry news and research reports - available here http://www.clickthrough-marketing.com/resources.php