The days of opening big yellow and white phone books to find a product or service are coming to an end. Seeing a phone book at your front door can bring back memories. However, people today rely more on internet search engines to get local business information.
Consumers are not only looking for local businesses, but they’re looking for national or online businesses as well. You might be hard-pressed to find an online business in the local yellow pages, white pages or phone book.
If you only distribute a physical version of your business directory, then you are missing out on some big opportunities. As expected, consumers are conducting Google searches if they need to find a local business listing. But 94% of consumers have also used business directory websites to find contact information for a local business in 2021. Dirxion is here to help you develop an online business directory so you’re no longer missing out on these opportunities.
Many Local Business Directories Have Gone Digital
If you haven’t thought about bringing your business directory publication into the digital world, then you might be quickly falling behind. Hundreds, if not thousands, of physical business directories now exist in some sort of online list form.
For those local business directories that are already online, consumers quickly get used to the directory they started using. If something works well, then users become loyal to that publication. The more time without a digital publication, the more loyal users you might be losing.
Increased User Base
Yellow pages, white pages and most other business directories are meant for local businesses and business owners. Some cover a larger footprint than others. Because of how local your publication might be, you’re limited to the consumers in that geographic area. Your potential customers further decrease when you consider the fact that many locals might not want to use the physical book.
A digital business directory can solve two concerns. Going digital can grow your local user base and attract consumers that live elsewhere. Young consumers are caring increasingly more about local and small businesses, but they are also the demographic that would only conduct a local search using search engines. Taking your publication online can attract that demographic to your directory.
Another interesting angle is gaining users that don’t live in the area tied to your directory. The region associated with your business directory may be a popular tourist destination. If this is the case, consumers will likely research when planning their trip to your area. You could also gain users by attracting people looking to move to your region. Buying a house or moving isn’t only about what you’re living in, but the area you’re living in too.
Increased Advertising Opporuntity
Because your business directory publication will reach a larger audience, this means your advertising opportunities will increase. It also means you might need to adjust your marketing strategy. You’ll also get access to Google Analytics to keep tabs on your product and understand what pages are being viewed the most.
You can sell new digital ad space or offer additional exposure to top advertisers in the print directory. A variety of digital ads are supported in the Dirxion interface, including interstitial and banner ads.
There is also the opportunity to develop a section of your publication that is all ads, rather than spreading them out throughout a long book where they might not get seen. Many directories currently have this area towards the front. You can also support some of your top advertisers by having them sponsor certain sections of the directory. What might be the most obvious improvement over physical books, is the ability to add clickable links to advertisements. So now instead of users manually calling a business or typing in their web address, they can simply make one click and get the info they need.
Other Functionality Benefits
In addition to everything we talked about, it’s important to note what else you would get out of an online business directory from Dirxion.
Search and surfing functionality is very user-friendly. Going through pages is as simple as a click on an arrow, and you can even type in a number to jump to a specific page. There are also built-in search capabilities so that you can search for exactly the type of business you need. Not only will word matches show up, but categories that match will appear as well.
There’s a possibility to include a directories tab. This is a tab on the left-hand side of the interface that provides users access to all publications that your company produces. So if you have more than just one publication, users can access all of them in one place.
You also can create a custom landing page that suits the needs of your user base. This is especially helpful if you have several online directories in your collection. It makes it easy for businesses and consumers to search across your titles and find the answers they need. Finally, our online business directories support a variety of languages. Free-text extraction and search are available for most languages so that nobody is left out.
Create an Online Business Directory With Dirxion Today
With the ability to take your business directory online, there are many ways to grow your user base and business. Dirxion has online business directory capabilities you won’t find anywhere else.
Whether you have a small, local directory, or something that covers a large city, we’ll have the best solution for you. Call today and let’s create a digital directory together!
