Ownership of Directories Gives You Control Over Online Information
While no company can control all of the information relating to their business that can be found online, there is a way that businesses can exert a measure of control over what’s out there and being disseminated by sites and networks – online directories and data aggregators. These platforms help to ensure that information relating to an entity is findable and available for use across the web. Whether you like it or not, your business has profiles created all across the web using information found in these systems, so doesn’t it make sense to try to exert some control if you can?
At Lift Conversions, we believe it does and that’s why we’ve been assisting businesses with directories since our founding – because they’ve always been an important part of a well-rounded marketing strategy. At least they should be when things are done properly from day one. Unfortunately, that’s often not the case which makes gaining control of these properties even more important. Otherwise you could have bad data floating around costing your business and never even know it!
What Are Directories & Data Aggregators Anyway?
Though the name may throw you off, just about every person who uses the web knows what a directory is – because we use them all the time. Facebook is a directory. Angie’s List is a directory. Google My Business is a directory. All are collections of people or businesses that can be searched to find exactly what you’re looking for and all should be included in your Directory Profile. But believe it or not, there are hundreds of additional directories specific to industries and interests that disseminate information to users and websites too. You need to get a handle on as many as you can to ensure everything about your company online is current and legitimate.
Data aggregators on the other hand are what some directories and websites use to create new profiles about a business. In short, the new site, forum or directory is created from scratch using information directly from an aggregator. These have names like Yext and Infogroup and one singular mission – to take information, repackage it in a usable form and share it with sites and interested parties. That means that if one has bad data on your business it could spread like wildfire without your knowledge or participation. And this happens a lot.
Why Are Directories & Data Aggregators Important?
From what we just explained, it’s pretty clear why data aggregators and directories are so important. They’re information resources that function with or without your input. Would you feel comfortable knowing a sign company was spreading signage with an old phone number or address associated without your express permission? Well, that’s what’s happening when you ignore directories and aggregators for any length of time. And they help your business too in a wide variety of ways including:
- The Enhance Your Online Footprint
- The Increase Local Discoverability
- Boost Brand Awareness & Consideration
- The Improve Your Organic Results
That’s a lot of excellent returns for something that’s not cost-prohibitive and takes less time than you think to complete. Really, the costs of not taking the initiative could be much worse than the fees associated with the service to put things in order. And, once you have your profiles in place the information only has to be updated and checked – not purged or overwritten. That makes a huge difference in the time it takes and the upkeep costs you’ll be looking at for the long-term.
How Can Lift Conversions Help You With Directories?
The team at Lift Conversions can assist you with your directory profiles – whether it’s a fresh start with no history or an audit to find and repair any issues that could be hiding in your wider directory profile already in place. With our Directory Audit & Repair service, we can make short work of issues like duplicated listings, mistakes in N.A.P. data and missing information – not to mention produce an attractive and effective profile to spread out across every available directory and aggregator we can at the budget afforded to the cause.
The process is extremely simple for clients and takes only as long as the directory and aggregator teams take to make the necessary edits or updates to the profiles in existence or create ones from scratch using the profile we provide them. It’s that easy and affordable too so call (773) 419-3636 or submit a contact form today for an in-depth consultation!
