The time is long gone when business existed only on offline platforms, as with the growing technology even a small business is just one click away. Since all the small businesses are not available on the google search bar, thus business listing sites are an asset for small and local businesses to enter the online world. Isn’t owning a business listing website a business itself? Well Yes, it sure is! Today a revenue can be generated through business listing websites as well, it only requires similar planning as that of an offline business. Since due to COVID-19 there has been a drop in the economy, thus owning a business listing website can be an asset. To create a business listing of your own is quite easy due to the creation of several platforms that support online blogging. Here are twenty-five ways that can help in generating revenue for a business listing website:
- Map out the persona of the potential target: Business listing websites are one of the platforms that involve behavioral studies, thus it is highly important that while designing the study of human interaction with the platform is on high priority. Since most of the businesses listing websites decide to grow organically in the beginning, thus it is important to get the design highly functional and accessible to potential customers.
- Attract quality visitors: Most of the business listing website’s revenue is highly generated by the visitors who rely on paid search, as it helps them to drive a huge customer base towards their business. It not only helps them generate revenue but also brings more traffic to the website. So with the increasing traffic, a high-quality improvement in the search engine marketing can be seen, it in itself attracts reliable visitors to the website.
- Go for repeat visits: What is the X-factor of your website that encourages the potential visitors to revisit in the future? Yes, this is something that cannot be ignored. To keep on generating revenue, a loyal visitor base is often required. Amazon managed to be one of the most successful platforms globally due to the high number of revisits and content interaction. In short, the more the revisits, the more revenue. The analytics of visits and revisits should always be kept on track, so that remedial actions can be taken on time.
- Cross-Selling: This is one of the most effective ways of increasing content interaction on the website. It leads the visitor to spend more time on the website and buy more on the respective platform. The idea of cross-selling can be found on almost every platform, for example, the appearance of the section the people who bought this also bought these. If the technology of the platform is not that advanced, they can choose to highlight their special offers.
- Interaction per click: There should be a full track of the number of clicks required to reach the key pages of the platform. The more the number of clicks, the more are the number of barriers. In short, each click might play the role of a Chinese whisper. This is the main reason that the option of pay per click came into existence. Large numbers of clicks ruin the user experience and thus it might decrease the traffic on the page.
- Analyze what you have: Reaching the point of earning profits might take a while, but there is always a scope of growth. Thus to grow, it is important to analyze what we have got. Go through the current listings and compare the quantity to the businesses in the local market. Thus with quantitative analysis, a further strategy can be created to fill in any gaps.
- Create a self-serve option: To fill in any gaps, along with manual entries also invite businesses to fill in their information. It not only improves the credibility of the platform but also invites more traffic onto it, as with the increasing number of entries the portal will start growing organically as well
- Sell and only sell: The real revenue lies on the platform when businesses pay money to get included in the platform. In order to get more and more entries, reach out to the local businesses, encourage them to go digital through you. Along with reaching out to new businesses, also focus on enhanced listings through advertisements, as businesses pay more in order to get an enhanced spot on the platform.
- Display Advertisements: A lot of Business listing websites earn a lot of money by selling display advertisements on their platform. In order to keep the content search engine optimized the owners make good use of Google Ads along with selling advertisements to local businesses. Many businesses are interested in getting featured over a business listing platform.
- Subscription ideas: Even though a lot of people might not pay for reading business listings, the content can always be redirected. If the portal deals with local businesses, the content can also be redirected to a topic that might interest the readers. For example, the portal can also redirect to a list of best home contractors in the market or top ten business ideas in today’s time.
- Featured Listings: Featured is a premium version of enhanced listings. Enhanced listings are the ones that are only written in bold. But to the viewer’s attention at first glance, a prominent position is required. This position is given to the businesses who buy featured listings, in short pay more money. Thus a lot of revenue can be generated by making good use of the hierarchy of the platform.
- Sponsored Directories: It is impossible to overlook a sponsored directory as it stands on the top in terms of the visual hierarchy of the platform. Huge wallpaper ads are something very difficult to ignore. Thus maximum revenue is being generated from these sponsored directories. It is beneficial for the listing owner and the advertiser as well. It turns out to be a traffic-generating machine as well.
- Breaking the barriers: Having a chat option has become a necessity now. It is a must to have options for business listings now. The smoother the interaction, the smoother the business. The continuous interaction creates loyal and long-term customers, this results in an increased profit margin with time. Along with the profit margin, it also improves the traffic on the website.
- Continuous posting: Continuous content posting can come in really handy in terms of revenue generation, as it plays a huge role in terms of visibility. More the visibility, more credibility, thus a certain level of trust from the visitors as well as business owners. Using eye-catching imagery always encourages visitors to interact more with the page secondly, imagery is something that also breaks language barriers.
- Asking and responding to reviews: Reviews can help your website grow organically. It not only becomes a trusted listing but also improves its position on google. Creating a portal for people to review a business they interacted with can make a huge difference. The interaction between the listed businesses and the customers can result in good organic growth of the listing website and also result in the future profit generation, as the credibility also improves with open interaction.
- Question and Answers: Questioning and answering are one of the most underrated features in listings. Creating a separate portal for questions and answers can provide a huge SEO boost to the listing. The more information is available to the potential customers through your listing, the better is the interaction that happens with it. Certain questions can be upvoted to improve the SEO, in order to boost visibility and enhance organic reach.
- Uniqueness: While adding a business to the listing, ask a major question about how their business is different from the other businesses out there in the market. Allot a set number of words in order to allow businesses to describe themselves in the best way possible. Make the businesses use certain keywords related to their domain, so the content always remains optimized. It shows the transparency of the listing and improves the google rating.
- A Simple Homepage: It is quite a surprising point, as most people believe in putting most of the information out on the homepage itself. But it can be really overwhelming for the visitor to see such a whole range of listings on the homepage itself. A simple homepage allows the visitor to focus on selected items and then move forward to the other offerings. It not only keeps the interaction smooth but also can generate high profits for business owners and the listing owner.
- Ways to capture email: Email marketing can be an old concept, but is still a big hit in the domain of marketing. Thus it is really important to capture the email of the visitor. It can be done by providing something valuable to the visitors in exchange for their email addresses. Listing owners charge businesses for special email marketing to the potential customers, thus it can be a really good source of revenue generation. A lot of conversions still happen through email marketing till now.
- Building Trust: Putting out social proofs for the visitors is really important, as the number of online scams and frauds is increasing day by day. Thus putting the images and verified addresses or any type of testimonials can really come in handy. This not only makes the platform credible but also optimized. It can prove to be a bonus point for the website’s reputation.
- Categorizing the content: It is important to categorize the content according to the targeted segments. A targeted content always results in better visibility and business rather than putting out the content randomly. A targeted content always helps in attracting different visitors and improvises the quotient of content interaction.
- Value Proposition: Every visitor or potential customer is looking out for the value they get through the listing. Thus it is important to be clear about the unique factors of the listing that the competitors do not possess. These propositions help in revenue generation, as they are one of the most essential factors that attract the businesses and visitors in the first place.
- Charging to view top listings: It might not be successful for all of the listings, but it can be really successful if the listing deals in job openings. The visitor can be charged to view the top most listings, in case of job opportunities the visitor is highly persuaded to pay in order to view the topmost listing. The option of pay per view can result in really high revenue generation for the website. But it is to be taken care of that the listings for which the visitor is being charged is of top quality and worth the money.
- Creating a membership: Once your credibility is out in the market, the visitors can also be persuaded to buy a membership on a per month basis. In order to motivate the visitors to buy the subscription the listings have to be really unique than the listings out there in the market. Organizing forums, webinars and meet ups can be a really revenue generating step.
- Memberpress: If the listing is created on WordPress, then memberpress can be a really powerful plugin for them. Memberpress blocks your content from the visitor and transforms it into a membership site. It is a premium plugin, but helps to create an additional revenue along with the advertisements on the listing. Membership also comes with a fourteen-day money back guarantee; in case you are not satisfied by the services.
There are numerous ways of generating and generous revenue through a business listing website. The only thing important is to be continuous and map a process. The process can be a combination of the above- mentioned points. With the growing importance of the internet, the business online is very much in trend. Thus generating revenues through online platforms may seem like an asset. The profits might not be seen instantly after the creation of the platforms, but with the passing time and continuous updating, it can generate a generous revenue.