Dec 13, 2008

What Makes A Good Online Business Directory?

by Russell M. Stewart

The internet is brimming with web directories. These web directories belong to different subject matters, such as articles, business, web hosting, ebooks - the list goes on. For the most part, these web directories do what they are supposed to do. They provide a single online location to find various listings providing links to different sites on the internet. Their primary objective is to direct the readers to the exact thing they are looking for.

A business web directory provides a complete listing of businesses available, both online and those which are offline, but host websites. Other businesses find business directories very helpful, because it's easy to find any services or products they don't have through their own business. Even the general consumer gets some benefit from web-based business directories, because they can easily find the most suitable seller when making direct online purchases.

For a business directory to be effective and useful for the information seeker, it needs to follow certain standards and guidelines. These are not specifically mentioned by any standards organisation, but they are generally expected from a relevant, high-quality business directory.......

Organisation - A well-organised online business directory is easy for anyone to use. It must be categorised accordingly, showing main and sub classifications. Simple and user-friendly navigation, with properly categorised links in each section, is also necessary. A summarised, clean layout is also a sign of a good online business directory.

Content Updates - Of course, organisation is not all - the content which is easy to find because the directory is well-organised must be up to date and worth finding. There are new businesses and their websites popping up on the net every day, so the directory must be constantly updated.

PageRank - This is not where the site appears on a search. This refers to the rank the search engine in question has given the page, depending on its popularity and it decides how much strength its links have when it comes to driving traffic.

Keyword Selection - Choosing the right keywords is crucial. After all, you want to direct people to specific businesses that they are looking for, and for this, if the keywords selected are not just right, the directory will fail in its purpose. Just a list of links is not what the user wants, the user wants relevant links.

So if you want your site on a business directory, or if you just want to find a particular business, these guidelines will tell you whether you are using the right business directory to get what you want or not.

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