Saturday, August 23, 2008

Finding Anything On An Online Business Directory

By Stuart M. Gray


What is a business directory and why do people need to have easy access to them? A business directory is a specialised listing mainly consisting of information about businesses. Both consumers and other businesses are likely to find a company much easily through a business directory and better yet, if the business directory is online.

Several business directories use the alphabetical categorisation for their listings, which means, if you search for an electrical equipment manufacturer, all the companies falling under that category will be displayed under the letter 'E', On the other hand, some directories use the service type to categorise, so their classifications are represented as business services, cars and automotive, home appliances, financial & legal services, transport, shopping, electronics etc.

Most business directories are available online now, involving their services for improving the information highway. Online business directories belong to two categories - those which provide their listings for free and the others who charge a fee for listings. There's not much of a difference between paid and free business directories, but the most significant difference is the directory's publisher.

The free online business directories make money through their sponsors' advertising and all they ask for in return from the businesses they list are for exchanged links. Link exchanging means, the directory's visitors also visit the relevant business website, while the visitors on the specific business website also visitsthe directory. This is a medium of generating web traffic for both parties by mutual agreement.

Basic business listings are not the only thing offered by these online business directories. Some even offer dedicated web pages, job advertising and picture galleries for further prominence for a listed business. While these are optional services, any business listed with the directory can make use of this advantageous offers. Most business directories ask for a payment for these additional services, but there are a few which provide everything for no cost.

Submitting a business listing to an online business directory doesn't take much time. Your business information is compulsory to enter a listing, including the company name, registration, email, telephone, address etc.

These business directories keep the basic information brief and if you need more information about a particular company, you must follow a link to either the web page within the directory or the company's main website. After your business listing is submitted to a directory, all visitors can easily find it by navigating through the main page index.

Most business directories, whether online or offline, focus on listing a particular region's businesses. Usually, these regions are selected based upon neighbourhood, city, district, province, state etc. Country-wide and international business directories are very rare, especially online

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