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What are traffic directories?

What opportunities exist in online local directories for niche small business markets?

  • My company is launching a local directory for a particular small business segment (not restaurants), our major source of traffic will be search engines and social networks along with more traditional forms of promotion.  Our main differential is the ability to book online, which is not widespread in our particular market. My biggest concern is how to get traffic with the continued push for Google Place Pages to take all the traffic for local queries and then having to compete against the larger local sites like yelp. We will also have directories for the UK and Australia so the dynamics are different in these markets (least competition in Australia).

  • Answer:

    Create compelling content on your site.  Google Place Pages are just a listing with reviews.  But if your niche directory is all about knitting and where you can purchase knitting supplies, then add articles, and stories and videos and how to information about knitting.  It will make people interesting in knitting want to come to your site and will make local vendors in the knitting industry want to be there as well.

Jeremy Borger at Quora Visit the source

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Get involved in the forums, social media places and other online communities for that niche.  It takes time, but be helpful and show the value of your services.  Over time you'll build a user base if your service proves useful.  This kind of marketing and brand development takes either a lot of time or a lot of money, sometimes both.

Gabe Mays

Providing the best content is ultimately the best strategy. Competing with Google Places might seem imposing, but in our experience, they're a mile wide and an inch deep -- it's not hard to provide substantially better content (not to mention a better user experience). Best of luck!

Ben Hazelwood

Target: 1) highest lifetime value for customers 2) highest search volume a per search engines Personally, I think lead gen makes more sense (ie landing page with free email/listbait content, as it would have more value to you and its hard to quantify the value of a link on a site outside what traffic or lead gen. it provides. Otherwise, some other twist other than we are a local directory for x, y, and z segments (find a deal-a-day model you like).  Super low barrier to entry means that local directory seems very copyable.  Also, directory sites have a limited amount of value they provide. Ok...sorry I missed your booking online component.  Sounds interesting.  You might check out the social eating startups--which are a twist on Groupon and provide a unique value beyond discounts.  This site is only in about a half dozen or a dozen US cities.  it also gives buyers an option to pursue one of a group of outings rather than being limited to 1 option.

Nathan Ketsdever

We are trying to do a similar thing with catering to local businesses and local shoppers. We are seeing some success by focusing on niche businesses and topics. It is also really slow going if you have a small team. We are really finding that the amount of time we spend just promoting our business, adding more content, getting more links out there, the traffic and interest is growing incrementally. I really do not think there is a quick solution unless your product is truly spectacular and unique.

Tim Mueller

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