Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Manual on The Way to Build An Online Business Catalog Using Five Easy Steps

By Matt Gromblerg


Beginning an online business index can be reasonably easy, but if you have no clue of where and the way to start then by studying this article it will help you to start.

Step One:

The first thing you've got to know about starting a business list online is what is your target audience going to be, to paraphrase what type of businesses do you at last need to include in your new business list.

If you already have a current business online or offline then you'll already know your target audience, and you can advance to step 2 in this piece.

However , if you haven't got any idea what your target market will be, then you are going to need to do some research, I would recommend beginning a business index about something popular and which is going to make you earnings down the line or. That may gradually help grow your current business.

Here are some very popular and moneymaking niches for an internet business directory you could start.

1: RealEstate Catalog

2: Travel Directory

3: Internet-based Dating Catalog

4: Automotive Directory

5: Fashion Directory

There are so very many more and to find them just go to eBay or Amazon and see what's preferred on those sites, or you might go to Google and try a search for keyword terms like"Hot Niches" or"Popular Niches" or"Popular Business" get the idea..

Then after you have decided upon the niche for your new business catalog, you will need to either buy or register your domain name.

Step Two:

Buying or registering the right website name for your new online business index will be the most important thing, so you have got to make sure you get this correct from the start.

A good site name should be no longer than two to three words, and it should contain the name of the niche and the word index in it and should always be a.com if you can help it other wise you need to go for the.net domain if the.com for the domain you would like is already taken and isn't for sale.

Therefore , for example if I was going to start a new business directory about the niche real estate the ideal website name would be RealEstateDirectorycom or RealEstateDirectorynet but all good domain names like this have recently been taken, but they might be on sale so just visit the website and see.

If you find the domain name isn't for sale then you may also try adding a dash between the two words.. Like this RealEstate-Directory or RealEstate-Directorynet and see whether they've been taken or not, and if they're taken see if they're for sale.

If you have got to go with a 3 word domain name you might enter something similar to your city or city name in front of the domain so it may be.. Like this NewYorkRealEstateDirectorycom or NewYorkRealEstateDirectorynet and see if it has been taken.

A great free online resource I've found to help brain storm a new web site name and see if they've been taken or not is RegistrarStats.com, give them a try.

When you've found the domain name for your new online business directory it is time to register it, I recommend Godaddy for this as they're the least expensive and offer the best services.

Step Three:

Now you've got your domain name for your new online business directory it's time to find a hosting company, and I have attempted many and the best I have found is SeoHosting.com which is owned by HostGator.com, and they have been around for a very long time and they have thousands of happy customers.

Step Four:

Now that you have got your hosting account for your new online business catalog it is time to build the catalog.

Now you might do this a variety of ways but it all boils down to the amount of money you need to spend.

If cash isn't a choice for you, then I would recommend engaging a PHP coder from a website like RentaCodercom or ScriptLancecom or eLancecom and get them to build a custom solution for you, this way you'll make your new business directory stand proud of all of the other cookie cutter directories that are online these days using an off the shelf PHP catalog script.

Don't get me wrong there is nothing wrong with these types of scripts, and we use one our self for our own Link List, but we have gone a step farther and had a custom template made for our directory that has turned out to be an excellent investment.

The catalog script we use and advocate if you're on an exceedingly limited starting budget is PhpLinkDirectorycom.

Step Five:.

Now we come to the final step and which is promoting your new business directory, this may be done with or without spending money.

I will list five free options and 5 paid options below you can begin to help get the word out about your index.

Free Options:

1: Join web forums and chat groups related to your new business index and make a post inviting business owners to list their website/business in your directory for free or at a discounted rate.

2: This one is related to 1: make sure you add a Sig line linking to your index in all the posts you make in the forums you have joined.

3: Submit your business index to other free link directories online, just do a search in Google for the key word Link Directory.

4: Link to your business index from your other internet sites that you already have or run this way the search sites will find your list and index it.

5: Send out and e-mail to chums or customers and ask them to back-link to your business directory and in exchange backlink to their site from your catalog if it is topical.

Paid Options:

1: Start a Google Adwords campaign to instantly start generating traffic to your business catalog, but be cautious because if you do not know what you are doing with Adwords you could end up spending serious money without any results.

2: Buy some paid links from other web sites or directories that are similar to your own business directory.

3: Submit your business index to the Yahoo index at a cost of $299 every year. Being listed in the yahoo directory will make your catalog more creditable in the eyes of the search websites and your visitors.

4: Buy some advertising in offline news papers if your index targets businesses in your neighborhood.

5: Buy banner adverts on other websites that pertain to your business catalog and try and to arrange for a 6-12 month period because your can significantly reduce you are over all banner advertising costs.




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