Using a Business Directory to Market Your Business

Business directories have been around for a long time but up until recently they were owned and operated by the telephone companies in Canada and in the USA. With the ability to get Directory Sites built for the Canadian and American market at a reasonable price using offshore workers it has now become a growing industry as the search engines like content and you can't get much more content than a business directory. By providing this content all in one place it is easier to get high rankings then it is for individual sites as a website with 300 pages of content tends to rank higher than a smaller website.

When you begin your new Canadian or American Business you have a few decisions to make and what your very first decision should be is deciding how you will advertise and market your business in order to reach your target customers.

There are many options open to you to find customers. You can either find customers or have them find you.

How do you find customers for your business?

You can do networking events, join the local chamber of commerce, network with friends, family and business contacts; cold call in person, cold call using the telephone, or even hire someone to do the sales.

How will you have customers find your business?

Advertising and marketing is the best way and nowadays the way you can best reach potential customers is with Online Advertising as most people in Canada search the Internet before they make a purchase. They not only search for the product or service they are thinking about getting, they search to see what others say about the product or company they are considering. The Internet has become a very useful research tool and you need to make sure you have your Canadian Business on there.

Over 90% of Canadian and American homes have Internet access and of those homes most have more than 1 computer accessing the Internet. Canada and the USA have a lot of remote areas and if those areas are your target market then the Internet is definitely something you need to pursue. Also remember that your Internet presence is open to the public 24 hours per day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. It is always there working for you.

Do you need your own business website?

The price of a domain is under $10 per year and hosting is under $40 for a year so hopefully you have $50 in your marketing budget. Then you'll need to get a website made and you have a couple of options. You can use Elance to find a web designer for around $250 and up or just use WordPress, which most hosting companies can install for free.

Building the Website is the easy part, getting your local customer to find you on the Internet is the tough part as it takes a lot of SEO work to get your website to top of the major search engines.

This is where a Canadian or American business directory proves useful as they do all the work to get the high rankings and you just link your website into theirs and from there you get the leads that click on your website link. It takes time and money to get high Search Engine Rankings so expect to pay anywhere from $25 per month and up for a listing in a Canada business directory that has enough traffic to produce sales. As the concept of a Canada Business Directory is a relatively new one you will need to compare what you get from each one for your advertising dollars. Here is an example of a Canada Business Directory that only allows recommended businesses to be listed. You can look in Google for American directories that are similar.

As with any marketing and advertising, you can't put your whole budget into one avenue of customer acquisition as not all customers respond to the same marketing. You need to diversify into other areas such as newspaper ads and flyers in order to reach more and more of your target market. Always remember to test before committing to any large expenditure, as you need to determine what advertising works for your business.