Directory / Valuable Link Page

[dmain]

I've created a directory for small business that works for the listed businesses in a couple of important and different ways. http://www.smallbusinessbigworld.com

1. It helps the business to be found by people looking for the specific type of business in a specific town - i.e. be found by their local potential customers

2. It provides a valuable "relevant" and "weighted" link to their web site as it will link to them from a web page that is specifically for that business type in that town

Well, somewhat ironically, I need to market this directory so MY customers (small businesses) can find it and I have a zero marketing budget.

Any clever ideas? I don't want to spam, but is this my only low/zero cost option?

[dmain]

Not one suggestion in over a month... :-(

Okay, that's it, looks like I have to send out 1,000,000 spam emails then!
Just kidding...

Seriously though, I guess maybe the message I should be getting is there are no clever shortcuts?
But there are so many clever people in this forum???

[elearning]

Hmmm. Let me tackle this. I'm sure the SEO gurus here will correct me if I'm wrong.

I visited your site. While I have design issues with it (green background, yellow text, red hilighting with yellow text) you didn't ask for a critique.

Your keywords should be used to help others find your website. Looking at your keywords - which would someone *really* search on?

small business directory, advertising online, global, local small businesses, internet marketing, local companies, world wide, phone book, yellow pages, golden pages, national, international, corner store, merchant, entrepreneur, stores, shops, loan, grant, starting, information, city guides online, country, county, city, town

I'd search on the 1st, 2nd, 4th, 5th phrase. Maybe on 'yellow pages', 'golden pages' and 'city guides online' but not the others. They are waaaaay tooo generic. Think like a potential visitor - what would they search for?


It is fine to have keywords - but they're not used anywhere except in the tags. There is nothing on the front page that tells the visitor what the site is about. I see the FAQ - but when I go to a site, I want to see what it's all about on the front page. Look for other similar sites and see what their design/layout and keywords and keyword usage is like.

Do a search for "small business directory" and see what your competitors are doing.

As a suggestion - you may want to offer free listings until you have a well established directory then start charging.

Hope that this helps.

Mohammed

Originally Posted by dmain

Not one suggestion in over a month... :-(

Okay, that's it, looks like I have to send out 1,000,000 spam emails then!
Just kidding...

Seriously though, I guess maybe the message I should be getting is there are no clever shortcuts?
But there are so many clever people in this forum???