Think about the last time you looked for a local business. Did you use your phone and search “[service] near me?”
If so, you aren’t alone. Over the last few years, there has been a 200% increase in ‘near me’ searches. So, if a local business isn’t easily found in a search result, it won’t show up among the competition.
Digital Listings Management is a service that has been on the market for a while, but most small and medium-sized businesses are just learning about its essential benefits.
What is Digital Listings Management?
Your business’s listing information is crucial to promoting and maintaining your online presence. Potential customers, search engines, and web crawlers need accurate and consistent information to find your business.
Digital Listings Management is a service that publishes and maintains your company’s name, address, phone numbers, and other essential information online. With this service, your data is up-to-date and consistent across all search engines, apps, voice assistants, GPS systems, social networks, and hundreds of websites.
And it’s not just brick-and-mortar businesses that need local listing management. Now that millions of searches are performed every day, even entirely online businesses need to ensure their information is updated and accurate.
4 Benefits of Digital Listings Management
There are many benefits of Listings Management for your local business. Not only will it increase your online visibility and improve your chances of getting found online by potential customers – but it’s also a way for your business to reach a broader audience. Here is a list of the top four benefits of local listings.
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1. Increases Online Visibility
The days of browsing through the Yellow Pages are long gone! Today, people expect to find a local business in less than a second on Google. That’s why listings in online directories, and other search engine optimization strategies, are essential. Increased online visibility boosts website traffic – and leads to more in-person visits to a storefront.
According to Search Engine Journal, 58% of consumers use voice search to find local business information. And when a customer asks Google for a local business via voice search, Google doesn’t provide information for businesses that lack online listings.
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Digital Listings Management makes sure your information displays accurately online so customers can contact your local business quickly.
2. Improves Reputation with Consumers
65% of consumers trust online search engines the most when researching local businesses. So, unless they already know and like a business, consumers are more likely to try a well-reviewed local business on Google. Your local business needs to be listed online if you want consumers to trust you enough to take a chance on you.
3. Provides Valuable Customer Feedback
Today’s consumers read an average of 10 online reviews before deciding to trust a local business. Studies also show that 90% of consumers read local businesses’ replies to reviews – so it’s not just the customer feedback that matters. Online directories and review sites allow your customers to leave honest feedback, which significantly increases your customer interaction.
Consumers are also more likely to post about local businesses on their social networks, including Instagram and Facebook. An up-to-date and accurate online business listing makes it easier for your business to get shared across social media, increasing your access to potential customers.
4. Helps Rank Above Competition
For small local businesses, it’s often challenging to establish a reputation that competes against other local companies. When it comes to local listings, the size of your business doesn’t matter – search engines determine your placement in search results based on other factors, including trust and reputation. With Listings Management services, your small business can compete against big corporations.
Bottom Line
Your business information is on hundreds of online platforms, whether you’re maintaining the data or not. Digital Listings Management services streamline your information and put you in control of the facts about your business.
At Impact Group Marketing, we’ll ensure that customers always find accurate, complete, and compelling information about your company – so you can focus on running your business. Contact us today to learn more about our Digital Listings Management services.
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