More and more people are using the Internet to find local businesses like your storage facility. We wanted to write this article to help you understand the importance of local listings and how you can set them up.
A website is not enough of an online presence. Online review sites like Google and Yelp pull information from a variety of different sources. Many times, local listings are created without your knowledge and consent, and their accuracy can be questionable.
These bad directory listings will promote false information about your business; wrong phone numbers, wrong address, etc. Most customers do business with the first self-storage facility they contact, so you need to make sure your online information is correct.
First, you need to find your local listings. There are services that will scower through tons of directories for you information; this will save you hours of manual searching.
Next, you will need to claim and fix your local listings. Every directory has a different method for claiming your listings, but each of them follows these similar guidelines:
- Submit a claim request
- Verify that you are the proprietor (this usually requires a phone call or postcard sent to the business with a code)
- Take ownership and manage the records
Your next step is to create listings on other directory sites. Here is a list of the most important sites to have local listings on:
- Google+
- Yahoo
- Yelp
- Bing
- Superpages
Lastly, you need to be patient. Fixing your local listings does not happen instantly. It takes time to find, repair, and manage each listing, and to create new ones. That time spent though will be well worth it to find those customers who search for you online.
