Business Page Opinions

Q:I'm a web designer for ISM, a Pittsburgh area Internet Consulting firm. We are planning to expand on our Business Pages (a listing of clients for which we've done work). Since we're always looking to help their pages gain exposure, I'm looking for some input. What do you (as a consumer or business user) look for in directories or lists? If you were a company listed on the ISM Business Pages, what would you want us to include as an incentive or attraction?

A:You are entering a VERY crowded market - the issues are: As a business user how would I find your site? Why would I use it compared to any of the other search engines? IMO: you should specialize - either local content (Pittsburgh directory) then you could add loads of value with links to restaurants, advice centres etc. OR You could specialise by subject area: Make it specific though, not just "business". Again you could then add value. If however, this is just a directory of your clients then I doubt you will add any value to the visitor :-( in that case this should be a "destination site". You will need some kind of "traffic generation site" to pull them through onto your site. You could try incentives, free guides - but even then you could maximize your return by having the incentive relate to the site. Do a search on Donna Hoffman - she has done a classification of web sites including destination vs traffic generation sites. I think the URL is www2000.ogsm.vanderbilt.edu As a webmaster I would want to be listed everywhere - for free. I would start with the big traffic sites (major search engines) and then I would look for sites specifically related to my business area. Why don't you ask your existing customer base? Not only will they be very helpful, but you build the relationships and may even find new business opportunities from the existing clients, which you may have missed by not getting them involved. On our Web site, tha vast majority of the hits that come from other Web sites are from the major Web indexes (Yahoo, Infoseek, etc.), and virtually none from business directories, although we're listed in them. So in order to compete with the big indexes, you need to have either an angle (peer review, commentary) or added content (articles, free downloads). Also, are you marketing the page through advertising or other means? If so, you should share this information with clients.