In today’s world of connectivity, anyone looking for a service or a product will search for start their search on the Internet. Often, potential customers like use directory listing or business directories because they source a wide range of potential suppliers offering their Business Services in one place.

In a directory it is easy to go to a category and search for a businesses or product and view the details and locality of the business.

It's not a big secret that people in search for a product or service will always shop around. When they reach a directory, they are doing just that – they are shopping around and looking for a business that supplies a particular product or service. For businesses, a directory listing is like have an entry in the Yellow Pages. A directory listing on a website is just much more accessible and therefore more frequently visited.

When business listings have links to the origin website, internet savvy searchers will then use the business listing to visit the service or product providers website to learn more. This is where, of course, you must know that your website should be very helpful to people searching for your services or products. But that is another subject all together.

The most important thing to note is that most people searching will actually check out your website if it is listed in the directory with a link.

This means that most people who list their business in a business directory, by default, should have a website listed. Anyone searching on the net, is most likely to be at least savvy enough to follow a website URL and check the service or product provider.

For this reason businesses that list their websites in directories and do not list their website but only their contact details and email, make a massive mistake. They literally give away business to the competition.

At the moment when a potential customer is browsing, he or she is likely to leave the directory and maybe not even turn back to see your listing. For this reason, one of the most common mistakes businesses make when they list their businesses is to leave out their website, for whatever reason. Often directories charge some price for listing a website, while leaving the regular listing for free. This is for a good reason, because they know very well the value of the website URL listing is one of the most important on a business directory. That is how you get potential customers to your website. Without this you are losing out on most of the potential of that listing.

Surprisingly, you will see many businesses that try to save money by not placing a full listing on a business directory.  They take what is free and move on. This could be a mistake that can cost a business all the potential customers that visit the listing. Faced with a listing that does have a link to the originators website and a listing that does not, the listing that does not loses business to the competitions website.

Though this is perfectly fine, it is often called “penny wise and pound foolish”, because if potential customers reach your listing and you have no link to your website the potential customer basically is left at a disadvantage not being able to further investigate your offerings in detail on your website.

If the directory listing includes only your business in your area and that is exactly what the potential customer is looking for, then of course the rest of the listings are not a competition to your listing. That said, it is rare that potential customers will look only for a business with a specific location. It is even rarer when only one business is listed on one location, which again creates a massive disadvantage to the business that has no website link on the listing.

In summary, it is very important, when you list your business in a directory to ensure that you give all the details of your business and the most important thing is your WEBSITE address.

Now you also know exactly why almost all serious directories that cater for serious businesses will charge for the placement of a link – because it is one of the most valuable pieces of information on that listing (There is also another important reason for this, but I will discuss that in a later article).

Potential customers searching on a business directory, are doing just that “searching” and “researching”, often they are not likely to immediately call your business without knowing more about your business and where you would they find that on the internet – on your website of course.

So, are you guilty of this directory listing mistake? If yes, you know how to fix this quickly. Most directories do not charge that much to add your website link and the benefit outweighs the options of having your competition get your potential customer instead of you.

If you want to add your listing for free or for paid service visit this link: Add Your Site to 1Directory.co.za