One of the wonderful things about the internet and social media is that it’s a great way to create and build an online presence without the investment of a lot of money. It can be time consuming but managing your time can be much less expensive than managing a marketing budget. A powerful tool for accomplishing this creation and growth of your internet presence are directory listings.
Directory listings, are in short, like an online version of the yellow pages but much more powerful with the addition of profiles, links, video and reviews. There are hundreds of them and deciding which ones you want to be listed in can be overwhelming. For example Avvo, InfoUSA, Google+ Local, Bing Places, Yahoo Local, Lawyers.com, MerchantCircle.com, Yelp.com, plus many more. I see many lawyers with incomplete profiles on a number of directories. Why do you have to worry about these online directories?
Directories have risen to a level of importance because Google moved its local search returns to its main page with the introduction of Google+ Local (formally Google Places). How Google determines which local business listings should be on the first page of Google’s search results depends a great deal on directory listings. So if you are in 5, 10, 15 or more directory listings, you are going to look good to Google’s ranking algorithm. And having reviews with your listing makes you even more popular in Google’s eyes.
While you want to be in many directories, deciding which ones to be in and entering and managing the data can be time-consuming. Plus, doing it wrong can ruin your online presence. You will want to make sure you do not have duplicate or incorrect listings and you want to use keywords in each directory.
Here is more information about online directories in an article by the folks at Get Noticed Get Found.
If you would like help creating and managing your online directories, and adhering to the ethical rules, please give me a call. I can provide this service to you at a nominal one-time charge. I am also available to do in-house CLE on the “Your Social Media Presence – Adhering to Ethics Rules While Being Social.”
Peggy Gruenke, Owner/Consultant CPN-Legal
Specializing in Law Firm Practice Management and Business Development solo and small firm attorneys. Peggy can be found on Twitter @PeggyGruenke, LinkedIn and at www.cpn-legal.com. 513-334-5076