Submitting your business to directories sounds like a five-minute job until you’re actually doing it, with a dozen tabs open, a dozen slightly different forms all asking for the same information in a slightly different order. Here’s how to get through it without losing your mind.
Get your info ready before you touch a single form
The best thing you can do first is write a “master profile” once, somewhere you can copy from:
• Exact legal business name
• Full address, formatted exactly how you want it everywhere
• Phone number
• Website
• Hours, including anything seasonal
• A short blurb (around 150 characters) and a longer one (a few hundred words)
• Logo, plus a handful of solid photos
• Primary and secondary categories
Do this once, and every submission afterward takes minutes instead of forcing you to think from scratch each time.
• Start with these, they matter most
• Google Business Profile
• Bing Places for Business
• Apple Business Connect
• Facebook Business Page
Then work through the general directories
Once the essentials are live and verified:
• Yelp
• Better Business Bureau
• Yellow Pages
• Manta
• Foursquare
• Hotfrog
• Brownbook
• MerchantCircle
Finish with industry and local sites
Search for whatever’s relevant to your field — Avvo for legal, Healthgrades for medical, Houzz for home services — plus anything local, like your city’s business registry or Chamber of Commerce.
IMPORTANT: Submit your business to trusted free business directory listings sites in the USA to improve local SEO, increase online visibility, and attract leads.
Mistakes that slow everyone down
Picking a category because it’s the first close-enough option, instead of the right one.
Typing your address slightly differently than your master doc says.
Skipping verification and assuming you’re done — you’re not.
Uploading a blurry, years-old logo because it was the file you had handy.
Verification is the step people skip, and shouldn’t
Verification is how a directory (and by extension, search engines) confirms you’re actually the owner. Google usually verifies by postcard, phone, or email. Others just confirm by email or match existing records. Don’t treat it as optional; an unverified listing carries a lot less weight, and sometimes won’t even show up publicly.
Keep track as you go
A simple spreadsheet, directory name, date submitted, verification status, login info, saves real time later when you need to update something across the board and can’t remember where you even signed up.
None of this is difficult, exactly. It’s just tedious in a way that’s easy to put off. Prepare your info once, work the list in order of importance, and actually finish the verification step, and you’ll have this wrapped up in a matter of days.
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