I’m a HUGE fan of using online directories as part of your online Search Engine Optimisation strategy and actively encourage my clients to look for appropriate online directories to list in. There are a number of great reasons for this:
- You can include all of your contact details, including your blog or website address, and Google will pick this up as a website LINKING BACK to your site. Always remember – when listing your blog or website details online – to include the full URL, for example: http://withoutspendingacent.com or https://mhconsulting.wordpress.com. This great tip was given to me by a good friend, and the reason for this is that it makes it easier for Google to index your site.
- Listing on a variety of online directories across the web means that you put signposts out directing potential clients or customers to your business from many different directions. If you don’t give people great directions on how to find you, they’ll never get to your front door!
- One of the very first directories that you need to list on is the directory belonging to your professional body or the association for your type of business While this may seem counter-intuitive, the professional body or association should be doing a good job of marketing the credibility of your body or association – credibility that you would hopefully want to be associated with!
- Consider listing as an affiliate or associate member of the professional bodies that the majority of your clients belong to, but please do this with integrity. This is a great opportunity to get involved in your clients’ special interest areas and to engage meaningfully from a different perspective.
You will be able to find as many directories as you are prepared to search for. Ensure that your message and content remains consistent no matter where you are listed, but also ensure that you tailor your basic profile to fit the target market of the online directory.
Finally, do not commit what I consider to be the cardinal sin of listing on online directories and include numbers or symbols in your listing in order to promote your listing to the top of an alphabetical list. This is not clever because you severely undermine your Search Engine Optimisation – suddenly, your name becomes Joe 1Smith on one directory, Joe 4Smith on another and so on. Anyone searching for Joe Smith is not going to find your listings and Google is not going to “credit” you with all your multiple online identities. It’s just a lot of effort going to waste. It also looks like what it is: that you’re so poor at marketing and so desperate for business that you have to resort to disingenuous ways to get someone to look at your profile.
Some of the online directories that I use are:
http://www.hotfrog.com
http://www.craigslist.com
http://www.ananzi.co.za
http://www.aardvark.co.za
http://www.sabusinessdirectory.co.za
http://www.bizcommunity.com
For a full list of directories, List of Online Directories. Have fun listing!
About Niche Intelligence with Megan Hudson
WHERE CAN I HELP YOU:
If you're a coach, consultant or service entrepreneur, I help you:
~ Build momentum in your business immediately by using my systematic approach to attracting clients and making sales;
~ Find and define your niche so that you attract your ideal clients easily;
~ Get clear on your messaging so that it's easy for you to tell people what you do, and how you can help them;
~ Learn how to make your coaching practice stand out in an over-crowded marketplace.
WHAT DO I SPECIALISE IN:
I specialise in helping coaches and consultants identify your niche using the V.O.I.C.E model that I've developed over more than a decades' worth of experience and practice - because we all have a VOICE. We just need to learn how to use it.
My signature 12 week training course: The Marketing & Sales Accelerator for Coaches and Consultants pays for itself, with clients reporting an almost immediate return on investment through an influx of new business. Sound like something you could do with? Follow this link: https://bit.ly/2OvDPkX
I also have a short self-study online course to help you find, define and refine your niche so that potential clients say: "That's EXACTLY who I want to work with", and sign you up as their coach. Find out more here: https://bit.ly/2NuEu78
To get a taste of my level of experience and expertise, you can download my useful, practical free guide: 5 Insider Secrets to Marketing Your Coaching Practice Without Spending a Cent here: https://bit.ly/2LOSY0u
WHAT'S MY EXPERIENCE:
My professional experience has been in the fields of marketing, advertising and PR, with over a decade in brand marketing and advertising. Having run my own businesses since 2001, I'm an experienced entrepreneur with management and business coaching, and training expertise, and have upscaled my business globally online at www.nicheintelligence.co.za.
I have a degree in Politics and Languages, and qualified as a coach in 2001. I am also a qualified Ethologist, with a degree through an Onderstepoort-affiliated body, as well as having studied Psychology though UNISA.
In addition to having been retained by COMENSA (the national professional body for coaches and mentors in South Africa) on a national basis in Marketing, PR, Special Projects & Social Media on and off since 2009, I run a number of successful businesses including a property business, a specialist marketing consultancy, and a marketing training company (developed in 2001) aimed at SME’s but tailored specifically to Coaches & Mentors.
As external specialist consultant to COMENSA, the professional body for coaching and mentoring in SA for 7 years, and a founding co-editor and -publisher of SA Coaching News, a South African coaching magazine, coaching is in my DNA.
I have also had online businesses since 2004, which have been the testing ground for many of the tricks that I teach my students. My teaching philosophy is to practically test something before it teach it, and to simplify as much as possible.
I understand my typical client's aversion to publicity and also to the overwhelm that the whole online world represents, and so I work one-on-one with my clients to take successive baby steps to achieve an ideal balance of privacy and publicity.
I strongly believe in contributing to South Africa and to its growth, and have run my SME Marketing course free of charge for a number of non-profit organisations. Because it delivers immediate results, the SME's that are able to grow their businesses, earn more money and create more employment.
In addition, because MY clients' practices become more successful, I am able to impact on unemployment by creating opportunities for my clients to afford to outsource, work virtually or employ people to do work that they don't want to do.
I've been a guest lecturer on many coaching and related programmes and have appeared in the media: on radio, TV, in specialist and consumer magazines and in the press.
For more details, and to see what people have to say about my work, visit my website: www.nicheintelligence.co.za or check out my YouTube Channel here for free online marketing training resources: https://bit.ly/34cmA18
M H Consulting: Market Your Business Without Spending a Cent 