A review of the top Online business directories in UK successfully catering to UK businesses

Online business directories are in great demand today. They are the perfect means to advertise all kinds of business in a particular location and make them accessible to a huge number of potential customers. People can find a business conveniently in an online business directly with a mere press of a button or click of a mouse. Talking about UK business listing websites, there are plenty of them which cater to the needs of thousands of business owners and potential customers across the United Kingdom.

The online business directory has become a popular way of advertising a business catering to a specific location. Directories are also popular with users for finding what they want in their location and users are increasingly using online directories instead of printed books as it’s just more convenient. Entrepreneurs, running companies big and small, use the submit a business feature in many local business listings websites in order to increase their customer base and earn additional profits. Established businesses and corporations in UK, too are benefiting from business listings in online directories. Here we will take a look at some of the popular and highly effective online directories in UK.

Yell.com: This is the major Yellow Pages directory with printed book, online and mobile platforms. Yell.com offers a free business listing  to businesses and enables business-owners to customize their business listings on a regular basis. This helps entrepreneurs keep their businesses information updated and ensures that their customers are aware of the current information about their business. Business owners should get a free listing on Yell.com as it attracts a lot of potential customers every day. Please note that Yell.com prioritises the order of its results in any given category and area by placing paid listings at the top and free listings at the bottom. If your business operates in a competitive category and location (i.e. your consumers have a lot of choices), you may be overshadowed by competitors and overlooked by users. However, if your category and location is less competitive, you could be surprised. You can always consider paying to appear higher as this online business directory also offers paid listings and other advertising solutions.

Local-buzz.co.uk : This is a free business listing website. This online directory has over 3 million business listings covering all counties and is one of United Kingdom’s largest business directories. Business ranging from ‘Accounting, auditing and bookkeeping’, restaurants, florists to ‘cab, construction and machinery manufacturing’, you can find different kinds of businesses in your choice of location. Using elaborate and specific business categories, this websites helps users to find a business of their choice in a short period of time and they do not have to browse each and every business in a particular category. The website is growing rapidly day by day as more additions are being made by business owners in different categories. Business owners can submit a business for free here and get a large number of clients through this directory. Users can find a business in any location in the UK with great ease, submit their favourite places which may be missing, write reviews and even write their own guides (e.g. “My top 10 pubs in Leeds”) on this business listing website. Part of the new breed of directory which encourages user participation and user generated content, users are encouraged to share their experience on a particular business with other users. The site is moderated so things are kept fair. LocalBuzz! also has sites in other countries so if you have international offices, representatives or agents, you can list them also.

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Free-Index.co.uk : This online directory too provides free business listings. It is important to note that this website does not import additional business listings beyond those that business- owners themselves post. Thus, depending on your category and location, there are fewer listings to complete with so it may prove very effective at generating business. Again, it’s worth doing and a little experimentation , trial and error is all that is needed to work out if this online business directory can be effective for your business. The business listings themselves include the usual fields and Local business-owners can benefit a lot from this websites as local customers can find their business easily and get in touch with them with the contact information given on this website.

Yelp.co.uk: This online business directory is fast becoming a huge force to reckon with in the online business directories arena. Originally from the USA, it was launched a couple of years back in UK and lays great emphasis on consumer reviews. Initially, they had business listings in the restaurant category only, but now they accept business listings in various other categories. More recently, they are offering advertising solutions for businesses but still allow free listings. On this site, business owners need to check and update their businesses regularly and answer any critical reviews. Everyone likes glowing reviews but bad reviews also happen. If you ever get a bad review, don’t panic. If it’s inappropriate or spam, you can always contact the site administrators and request that it’s taken down or use the inappropriate content flag on the site. If it’s balanced, then your recourse is to answer it with your own comment. Stating your own businesses commitment to customer satisfaction, offering the customer writing the review their money back or the chance to come in and sort it out with you personally are approaches you can take. Keep in mind that this is going on in a public forum so be polite, respectful and honestly try to solve the customers issue and you will generate more goodwill from other customers than had it not happened. It will soon become obvious if the reviewer remains unreasonable and difficult despite the owners sincere attempts at trying to resolve the issue. Business Owners should list on Yelp. Yelp also includes a Social Network of types so you can link to other friends and upload photos etc.
Qype.co.uk: This online business directory is very similar in concept to Yelp. It was started in Europe (not the USA) and is operating in multiple countries also. It offers free business listings and allows users to list their own favourite places (if they are missing) and share their experiences by writing reviews and constructing guides or lists of their best/favourite/worst etc places. The site is also moderated. The rules discussed above for Yelp also apply here for dealing with reviews and keeping your business listing up to date. Like Yelp, Qype also includes a social network aspect which allows people to link to friends and upload photos etc. As a business owner you need to regularly check what’s being said about your or your business. Regardless, business owners should list on Qype.co.uk.

hotfrog.co.uk: This online business directory that allows business owners to list their businesses. A bit like local-buzz.co.uk but with none of the features that allow users to list their favourite places, write reviews or construct lists or guides. It’s been around for a couple of years and is in multiple countries. They also offer paid listings on some of their country sites but free listings are also available (albeit pushed below paid listings on more competitive categories and locations). Business owners should consider hotfrog when creating business listings for their business on online business directories.

Thus, if you have a business in UK and do not have a business listings in any of the above online business directory, then are you are missing out a great opportunity. These directories are a great platform to advertise your company and increasing traffic to your websites. There are of course many other online directories which a business owner can find by doing searches online – we have only listed a few notable ones. To take advantage of these online business directories, all that is required is a little effort and ongoing attention and they can generate leads at no cost.