Catch Up On Your NAPS
Here is a quick tip to help small businesses get better coverage online. As you may know, I’m not talking about sleep. I’m talking about your name, address and phone number on the top ranked directories online; also known as NAPS. These directories generally offer basic listings for free, and those free listings can have a big impact on your visibility online, so make sure and Catch Up On Your NAPS!
These days people tend to go looking for what they want or need on the web, even when it comes to local services or products. Mobile devices have made it far easier to grab this information fast, right at their fingertips, rather than going for the phone book. Hence, having your NAPS accurately listed within online directories is just as critical today as having a business listing in local phone books used to be.
Getting this information in place and/or up to date is a good way to start off every new year, but anytime is a good time. You don’t want outdated phone numbers or information in there. Make sure you are checking your information, making sure that everything is up to date and accurate on those directories. You can also pick up some directories that perhaps you may have missed initially. And since things change fast online it’s always a good idea to do a quick search and see if new high authority directories are available.
The top ranked directories get a lot of love from search engines due to their popularity and the high volumes of traffic they receive. These are high domain authority sites that command top search ranks, so your information is likely to show up in a search via one of these directory listings before your website does. And even if your site does have top search ranks, it never hurts to cover another slot under a well-known, trusted directory listing for your keywords.
Simply put, NAPS on these directories can help your customers find you and/or contact you more easily. The information you include helps to inform them of what your business has to offer.
The following are some top directories to make sure to cover:
- Yelp
- Yellow Pages
- Yext
- Manta
You should make sure to have a presence on all of the top ranked directories. In addition, you may also find that there are popular industry or niche specific directories available to you to list with. While these may not pack as much punch as Yelp or Google, any chance you have to get your local service listing or business listing out there for everyone to see, and give your business the more power to get searched – take it!
Any business with a physical location will benefit from having this information included in high ranking directories. Restaurants, hair salons, plumbing companies, book stores, mechanics shops, coffee shops, even thrift stores. You name it, that business should have up to date, accurate NAPS in online directories.
And of course, online businesses can get a boost by simply having this information out there too. You can list your website, email address and PO Box address and include images and information about your products or services to entice your visitors.
Make sure to include images whenever possible, such as images of your storefront, your team, maybe your top selling product or a new product you are offering. Other information is helpful too; for instance, restaurants can post their menus. You should list any services, certifications or awards you may have. If you can include videos you have available include those. Basically, any information that your customers may find helpful, or might influence them to try your business rather than your competitors should be listed whenever possible.
The type of information you can include and number of images you can have in a given directory may vary, so just include anything you can in each one.
If you find you are really behind on your NAPS and have a lot of updating to do, or if you are just starting out and need to set your listings up on these directories for the first time, set a schedule to set up or update one directory each day until you have them all completed and up to date.
Any time you change your address, get a new phone number or the like remember to make those changes to your directory listings. This will help encourage traffic to your website, or to your place of business!
Catch Up On Your NAPS