As the Internet continues to increase the amount of information available at a phenomenal speed some of the basics for business owners are still getting missed.  Gone are the days of putting your business listing in the phone book and expecting to get phone calls.  In fact I don’t know anyone that still uses the phone book.  They are using the Internet to find everything either from their computer of cell phone.  As with everything else on the Internet there are a plethora of business listing websites.  Most will list your business for free and most require you to sign up in some way.

One very important element to remember is that we are dealing with computers.  Remember the saying, “garbage in, garbage out?”  This is very true and important to remember in the search engine world.  Gone are the days of humans reviewing websites and listing them.  The same is true of your business listing.  It is very important to make sure that you check your listings and make the data consistant across all the sites the information is listed on.  What does this mean?  Lets say that your address is 123 North Main Street.  This can also be listed as 123 N Main St or 123 North Main St or 123 N Main Street.  These are all different addresses to a computer.  Pick a way that you are going to list your address and be consistant with every listing for maximum results.

Also, be sure to search for you listing with each site.  If you need to update the information claim your listing and follow the instructions for the website.  If you are not listed at all be sure to submit your business and follow the conformation process.

So where does a business start when trying to get their information out and accessable to the masses?

The three places to start are:
Google – http://www.google.com/local/
Yahoo – http://local.yahoo.com/
Bing – https://ssl.bing.com/listings/ListingCenter.aspx

Here are some high quality sites that will get you some major exposure because they feed to other major players:
InfoUSA – http://leads.infousa.com/Landing/UpdateListing.aspx
Citysearch – http://national.citysearch.com
Acxiom – http://www.acxiom.com (This company provides data to a ton of listing websites like Yelp, yellowpages.com, superpages.com, local.com and superpages.com.  I have not been able to find out how to submit your data to Acxiom and all the links for doing so that I’ve seen on the Internet do not work.)

Following is a list of other listing providers that are simple to get listed with:
HotFrog – http://www.hotfrog.com/
MagicYellow – http://www.magicyellow.com/add_your_business.cfm
CityVoter – http://cityvoter.com
Angie’s List – www.angieslist.com (this site requires a small membership fee)
Discover Our Town – http://www.discoverourtown.com/
WCities – http://wcities.com (My city wasn’t listed and I couldn’t find a way to submit a listing automatically.  I submitted an editorial content request.  Don’t know what is going to happen yet.)
InsiderPages – http://www.insiderpages.com
YellowBot – https://www.yellowbot.com
Local.com – https://register.local.com

I’m sure there are other websites.  These I found relatively easy to use and updated listing quickly.

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