Paid or Free Directory Inclusion - Business.com Directory
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Business.com offers a multi-category paid inclusion business website directory. With a home page resembling a portal, the directory includes a large array of product and service providers. Inclusion in the Directory provides a great PageRank benefit: five deep links to your pages, helpful for referrals.
For additional referrals, the Business.com directory listings are also featured by such prestigious organizations as Business Week, Inc.com, FastCompany.com, C|Net, Internet.com, and others. The Directory claims that 24 million business professionals are in the Business.com network.
If you are a new business, there is always a need to establish credibility as a reliable supplier of goods and services. Longer term companies require maintenance of that established credibility factor. If a business is searching for linking partners, a directory is an ideal location to find them. There are also many good sources of industry information within the directory listing categories.
How to Get Listed with Business.com
There are three ways to get listed in the directory. Each business needs to consider which one of the inclusion methods is most beneficial for it.
Standard Listing
To acquire a standard listing in the directory, simply go to the Business.com home page, and click on the “Get Your Site Listed Today” link found at the top of the page. This takes you to an options page, which provides information on the various paid inclusion methods.
The inclusion fee for a Standard Listing in the directory is $99.00 US for the year. The charge is an annually recurring one. You may list as many businesses in the Directory as you choose. Each additional Standard Listing carries an annual charge of $99.00 US as well.
Included in the annual fee is the opportunity to use several keywords, suited to your listing. The listing provides a clean and direct URL right to the landing page of your choice. In addition, you receive an additional four links per listing. Inclusion within five business days is guaranteed by the editors of the directory.
Required information for each listing includes the full URL, the website title (official company or website name), and a description of fewer than 150 words (examples of suitable descriptions are provided). You may also list your city, region, country and e-mail address, although they are not required. You are given the choice of directory category.
Sponsored Links
Sponsored links are available on a pay per click basis. They appear only on the Business.com com website, on the right hand side of the page, and on Directory search results. You may create and write your own wording for the pay per click listings.
The charge for pay per click sponsored links includes a one time set-up fee of $25.00 US. It remains in good standing as long as your links remain in the directory. The price per click starts at $0.20 US, but can range higher, depending on the popularity of the keywords and category. You are always able to view your account online, to keep track of your pay per click balance, for budgeting purposes. A sponsored link appears in the Business.com directory, complete with live hot links, within one business day.
To create a sponsored link, click on the “Sponsored Link” option that appears with the standard listing. All of the listing choices are available on the same page. You will be asked to provide the complete URL for the chosen landing website landing page, the proper website title, and a brief description not exceeding 85 characters. For writing website descriptions, a link to directory guidelines is provided.
Featured Listings
Business.com featured listings, according to the directory information, are for websites planning to budget $500.00 US per month or more, to enhanced directory listings.
Unlike the sponsored links, featured listings appear throughout the entire Business.com network, including the affiliated business websites. As with sponsored links, the results appear on the right hand side of the page and on directory search results.
Business.com offers professional writers to help word your advertisement, should you require their services. The startup fee of $25.00 for sponsored listings is not required, but the pay per click starting fee is $0.40 per click. The directory offers a toll-free telephone number as well, where you can request a pricing proposal.
Along with your featured listing, you also receive an additional free listing, without the added $99.00 US annual charge.
To create a featured listing, go to the listing option page by clicking on the “Get Your Site Listed Today” link on the home page. You will be taken to a page that gives you two choices. You can contact the directory sales office and receive a pricing proposal, or you can fill out a short form.
The form requires your name, your telephone number, your e-mail address, your company’s name, and the website URL. They also want to know if you have purchased cost per click advertising in the past, and how much you paid. They also would like an estimated monthly amount budgeted for cost per click advertising. A directory representative will then make contact with you, and provide a proposal.
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