S3 Blog

Business directories are massive databases which contain business information and contact details, very much like a regular telephone directory. Having your business listed in the right directions online can increase custom dramatically, but it can take some time to get your business listed in the right directions online. Any business owner who is looking to have their business listed in an online directory should be aware of the following points:

• Many of the bigger online business directories such as Yahoo! will require a payment of $299 for Yahoo! to first of all review your business website and then further annual payments of $299 to keep your business listed in this particular directory. One of the advantages of being listed in the Yahoo! directory is that millions of people use it every single day and it continually achieves hit for business websites worldwide.

• When you submit your website to an online directory it can take some time for that directory to complete a review of your website. These reviews are done to ensure that your business is listed in the right category so that anyone using the directory will be able to find your details quickly and easily. So don’t worry take some time your business to get its listing, just be patient and it will happen. Many of the directories will give you an indication of how long it will take to get your listing on their site.

• It is always wise to get your business listed in the bigger directories first, then the smaller directories can be included later on. You must be aware however, that as the majority of the bigger directories require payment to be listed it can be quite costly to have your business listed in several lives directed at any one time. Smaller directories require smaller payment and some will even offer free listings to some businesses - so take a look at the various rates and decide which of the business directories is right for your business.

• Do research and compile a list of all the business directories that you can find which are online. From this you can then make a short list of the business directories which are most applicable your business. For example some business directories only cater for a certain type of business, so it is pointless to try and get a listing in a directory that has nothing to do with your particular business.

• You might consider asking your customers, when they contact you as to which, if any of the online business directories they use. Doing this will give you a clear indication of which are the best online directory that your customers use, then you can get a listing in them if you haven’t already done so.

Getting your business listed in the right directions online may be quite costly and quite time consuming. But the benefits that you stand to receive when you are listed in the right directories online should outweigh these two factors.

Any online website that involves having a membership to it, regardless of whether you have to pay for that membership or not usually requires you to set up your membership when you first enter it. This involves you having to fill out an electronic form on which you give data about yourself – this can then be used when sending out emails and newsletters etc. You are also asked to provide a username, which is the name that will be at the top of the screen whilst you are logged into that site and a password, which is used during the login process.

Your password should not be shared by anyone as this the key to allowing you access to sites. Obviously some of the sites that you enter are ‘just for fun’ type sites which do not contain any important or overly personal information, but some sites, such S3 CRM are used for working purposes and must only be accessed by yourself as they can contain sensitive information. Due to this it is essential that when you are creating a password for an online site you make sure that it is strong. When a password is classed as strong it means that it is difficult for anyone to guess it and therefore be able to gain access to the online site you are using.

Many people often wonder how to choose a good strong password for online sites as it can sometimes be difficult to think of something that is not personal to you. For example many people like to use their children’s or pets names – but such passwords can be easily worked out – especially if the person trying to gain access to your online site has some knowledge of you. If you really want to choose a good strong password you need to think of something that no one would guess, this can be a word, but it should also have some numerical characters in it too and even punctuation, to make it even more difficult to guess.

However, you must ensure that whatever you choose you are able to remember it. Some good examples of strong passwords are –
Zigzag845!£% - although this could be quite hard to remember!

ExPlOrEr279 – using upper and lower case letters alternatively within the word explorer and an easy to remember three digit number at the

blueBOTTLE£££ - this is also a good strong password

As you can see you can use words that are easy to remember but mix up the upper and lower cases of the letters, and add a mixture of symbols at the end of the password. You can also put symbols at the start if you like – it’s your password so it is up to you how you mix it up. Some websites also have a strength indicator to show how strong your password is as you type it and this can be a good indicator as to how strong your password is. So remember when you are choosing a password for online sites make sure that if you are using a word it is something unconnected to you and throw in some numbers, symbols and a mixture of upper and lower case letters.

Today the vast majority of businesses use the internet to drive more customers towards them and to implement certain marketing initiatives. This can be done in a variety of ways from PPC (Pay Per Click) advertising on websites and search engines, email campaigns, websites from which customers can place orders and more. Since having an online presence can make a great deal of difference to the success of a business it is no wonder that online growth is a massive concern. So how do you finance your business for growth online?

There are various ways in which this can be done such as:-

1. Put together a business plan which is focused on online growth for your business. This needs to be concise and clearly define which methods your business will be using to enable it to successfully grow. Then make sure that you present this plan to the right people so that you secure as much financial backing as possible for your business.

2. Take out a business loan – if your business is doing well there is no reason why you should not apply for a business loan. Once again make it clear what you will be using the loan for so that your lender sees your loan as a viable option.

3. Pull in any outstanding debts – this may seem like a strange approach but you would be surprised about the amount of outstanding third party debt that many businesses have. Spend some time finding out how much is owed to you and make inroads into getting it back. You might find that you have enough money to finance your businesses online growth sitting in unpaid invoices to finance your growth online.

4. Consider shares – would people be interested in buying shares in your business? If so why not float some shares and see if you can raise the finance this way, you must be able to convince people that becoming a shareholder in your business would benefit them so make sure you put forward a good case to invest.

5. Equity – do you have equity in your business that you could use? If so use it to finance online growth and see what a difference it could make.

6. Partnerships – could you go into partnership with another business that could help you with your financing? Many business find that this option is the perfect way to gain both an online presence and a solid partnership.

Using such methods can help your business to finance its online growth which could in turn create the kind of profits that previously were out of reach. Online sales and marketing are a huge section of the market and if you are not branching out into these areas you are selling your business short and missing out on an increase in revenue in the process. So look into the various methods of financing your business for online growth and you might find that it is easier than you anticipated.