|
Check out our new audio content!
|
Increase your potential for discovery and improve visibility with your target audience, both nationally and locally whilst bringing organic traffic to your website.
Accelerate growth of your brand awareness. Every online encounter a potential customer has with your business increases their awareness and familiarity with your brand.
Join a network of like minded, forward-thinking ‘mumpreneurs’. Becoming a HireMyMa directory member, grants businesses access to community groups, where founders can connect with other successful individuals.
Enhanced search engine optimisation (SEO). A HireMyMa Directory listing is a great way to supplement existing website information, making your business appear more credible online and appear higher in search engine rankings.
A productive and cost effective way to increase your advertising, marketing and sales.
Become a member of our family of parent/ carer entrepreneurs, with access to our range of business and personal support initiatives.
Free social media promotions. Tap into our audience, with our free social media promotions.
Ensure your customers find you not your competition. Gain a high quality Backlink for your website. This enhances online visibility and search engine ranking, increasing the number of visits to your site.
Search engines predominantly recognise Directories that host detailed listings. Therefore, when completing your account, please be as accurate and detailed as possible, to ensure that your prospective customers see your business in the way that you want it to be seen.
The story
We all know the story. Years ago people trawled through thick paper directories in search of products and services.
Then along came the internet, and these bulky directories were consigned to the back pages of history books, a distant memory along with the Sony Walkman, video cassette tapes and double denim.
A couple of decades and a global pandemic later we find ourselves in an increasingly digital world, a world where 70,000 Google searches occur every second and a world that requires businesses to have an effective online presence to survive. Those ‘thick paper directories’ of the past are not dead, they are digitised and still remain paramount to unlocking your customer base, allowing you to remain competitive amidst the vast wreckage of destroyed business models. It’s highly important to think differently, creatively and strategically to ensure your company remains competitive in our internet age.
Whilst there are >1.5 billion websites, 85% are inactive, leaving about 400 million alive and kicking. Harsh search engine algorithms used by Google and Bing give preference to businesses featured more frequently online. Featuring your organisation in an online directory, will enhance your brand SEO (search engine optimisation) increasing your search engine ranking. Simply put, the more places your business is featured online, the more likely it is to be found by others.
Online directories are a simple and effective way of amplifying your organisation’s online visibility, providing your business with an increased opportunity of being noticed and contacted by potential customers. Let’s explore some of the benefits of featuring in an online directory and why it is necessary for increasing recognition and business growth:
Boost traffic to your website
Whether you offer digital services or are a traditional bricks and mortar business, having your NAP (Name, Address, Phone number) information featured on relevant online directories could translate to real value. Prospective buyers reading online posts are very likely to click on links to find out more about the products and services on offer. Traffic gained this way is known as ‘referral traffic’ and since searchers have chosen to click on the links voluntarily, they are usually more targeted and less likely to leave the page fast. This is known as having a low bounce rate, which is usually met with increase in sales conversion.
Strengthen your online brand
Featuring in online directories confirms your business as genuine and reputable, leading to greater consumer trust. An attractive, informative listing enables customers to buy into your brand story, allowing you to control your business’ narrative, convey your vision and connect with prospective customers. Every successful business you see around you has capitalised on creating an online brand identity. Online directories are an easy, low-cost way of achieving this. Branding is the consistent story you tell your customers across all consumer touchpoints. You have probably set up your website and have your social media platforms up and running, directories act as an additional touchpoint for potential customers in forming your brand identity and your story.
Improve Backlinks
Inbound links, also known as backlinks, are crucial to your website’s domain authority. When a webpage links to any other page, it is called a backlink. Having more of these in place are vital, as search engine bots discover new webpages by following backlinks from existing webpages, meaning that pages with more backlinks, tend to rank higher on search engines.
Online directories are a great source for backlinks that direct customers to your main website, ranking you higher on search engines and boosting your SEO.
Affordable Marketing
It is the goal of any business to achieve a good ROI (Return on Investment) and as a brand visibility tool, online directories are a powerful and inexpensive way to drive qualified prospects to your site.
Many companies look at the low cost of using directories as branding investment, rather than a direct marketing cost and the reasons why are clear. Whether you are looking to reach new markets by harnessing an online global network of buyers, or wish to engage a more local audience through targeted regional ads, directories broaden your online presence by displaying your advertising to buyers, who are at the point of purchase.
Listing your business on relevant and quality directory pages is an excellent strategy for increased recognition and business growth. Knowing what constitutes a good directory is essential, so be sure to use only those that provide the following three main features:
Human Approval
High quality directories achieve greater traffic. To ensure your business is advertised with other quality companies, choose directories that require manual approval. Directories that do this have a set of internal quality guidelines, with the manual screening process ensuring all companies listed are of a consistent, high quality. The alternative is being lost in myriad, inappropriate listings that have been automatically posted.
Open Referral Links
Effective directories pass Google Page Rank links to your website within directory listings: however, ineffective directories block customers from achieving direct access to your business through a “no follow attribute”. This prevents customers from directly accessing your services and forcing them to go through the directory instead, rendering your links useless.
Manual Submission
Good directory websites require listings to be entered manually. It is advisable to steer clear of websites that use automated submission software, as there is strong evidence that those directories will be of little benefit to your company.
To grow your business locally, nationally and internationally it must BE FOUND. Increase your DISCOVERABILITY by joining the digital market place via membership of an appropriate directory like the HireMyMa Business Directory, a directory designed for mums by mums.