Archive for the ‘Company Info’ Category

BizCompare.com business directory has robust B2B data

Thursday, April 28th, 2011

Recently, I have been asked about a lot about the B2B data that we present on our site. Inference: A perception that most business directories have data that is, let’s say, of “suspect quality”.

My personal perception is that, for the most part, business directories have pretty good B2B data. If I have one complaint about my industry is that the information about companies on business directories is often very thin with barely much more than address and phone number.

Almost all business directories are free so one can say that “you get what you pay for”.

I beg to differ. Yes, Bizcompare.com is free but I think you get a lot for your time investment.

Ergo, I thought I would articulate what we present on our web site and what our data strategy is so I can now point to this blog when folks ask me “what makes you different?”.

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Small Business with no website? Easy choice available …in Canada.

Tuesday, April 5th, 2011

Please bear with me …these next few observations will connect to a central theme. I promise:

  1. We’re moving houses soon so we’ve been very busy contacting and working with lots of local small businesses: real estate agent, stager, lawyer, house inspector, electrician, plumber, etc. Finding: About a 25% of them do not have a website.
  2. Last year a I wrote a series of blogs about the benefits of business directories including one with an estimate that up to 30% of small business have no website.
  3. Yellow Pages in Canada (YPG) have launched a program they call 360 Solutions aimed at small business who need turn key services to promote themselves on the web. Prices start at $25/month and can go up to several hundred dollars per month.
  4. Lastly, last week a group of high profile companies a la Google, RBC, Rogers and others introduced a program to encourage Canadian small business to set up a Canadian website (“.ca”), FREE for the first year.

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Business Directories: Are they worthwhile? Part 7 0f 7: Industry Research and Similar Companies

Tuesday, August 24th, 2010

Business Directories

What are they good for

Huh

Absolutely something

Say it again, y’all

Part 7: Industry research and similar companies

Hi!

This is the final instalment on the merits of business directories. Although relatively short, its no less important.

In short, business directories can be can be a great source to do research and get information about a particular company’s industry and, with that information, view similar companies in the same industry.

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Business Directories: Are they worthwhile? Part 6 0f 7: Customer reviews and experiences.

Sunday, August 15th, 2010

Business Directories

What are they good for

Huh

Absolutely something

Say it again, y’all

Part 6: Comments and ratings.

This particular reason that business directories are worthwhile is short but very powerful:  They can provide a mechanism for customer reviews which can include comments, ratings and customer experiences.

We’ve all been there, forced to endure poor experiences with businesses that run the spectrum from simply unsatisfying to downright horrendous. It could be about their product, their customer service or a particular employee interaction, a post sales experience or their place of business (think: store, hotel room, etc.).

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Business Directories: Are they worthwhile? Part 5 0f 7: Credibility and desire to be accurate.

Wednesday, August 11th, 2010

Business Directories

What are they good for

Huh

Absolutely something

Say it again, y’all

Part 5: Credibility and desire to be accurate.

In my humble opinion: The majority of business directories are run by credible people who work at or own established businesses and they want to provide a good service that has integrity and usefulness. That means, they want to provide accurate information on their site (within their means to do so).

Establishing and maintaining a business directory site takes resources: money, people, infrastructure, etc. and one would assume that the directory owner wants the site to be around for a long time and deliver an ROI back to them.

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Business Directories: Are they worthwhile? Part 4 0f 7: Free, and good, information.

Monday, August 9th, 2010

Business Directories

What are they good for

Huh

Absolutely something

Say it again, y’all

Part 4: Free, and good, information

“How much do you charge people to use your site?” This is another “FAQ” that I get from friends and colleagues. When I say that it’s free, people are delighted. But this is common. In the very large majority of cases, business directories are free for users. Thus they offer people a lot of utility.

So what can someone typically expect on reputable business directories?

A database of anywhere from a few thousand up to 10+ million company info profiles.

Each company info profile usually contains:

  • Company name
  • Address
  • City, State, Zip code (or equivalent for directories with int’l elements)
  • Map
  • Phone numbers – local, toll free, customer service
  • Website URL
  • Contact name(s)
  • Contact title(s)

In my opinion, that is your bare bones company info profile.

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Business Directories: Are they worthwhile? Part 3 0f 7: Companies with no site.

Friday, August 6th, 2010

Business Directories

What are they good for

Huh

Absolutely something

Say it again, y’all

Part 3: Companies with no company website.

About 1/3 of businesses still do NOT have their own company website! So, where else does someone go for company information?

Every company should have a website (my opinion) but according to some general research I did, there are still millions of businesses with no website of their own …somewhere around 30%.

At first blush, this seems unlikely but when I thought about it more, it’s not so surprising.

Recently, I have done dozens of search queries, searching for businesses by name. Of course, most often, the first second or third position in the Google search results delivered the company’s website. But I also recall, with regularity, scrolling through pages of Google search results and not finding the company’s web site.

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BizCompare.com Quick Guide, Part 3 of 3: Company Profiles

Wednesday, July 28th, 2010

After viewing a listing of companies and selecting a company, a user will be shown a detailed company profile.

See a sample company profile page.

Key elements of the Company Profile page:

1. A summary of the company is presented; a snapshot with key contact information and industry classification.

Company snapshot

Company snapshot

2. Next, a user will see a list of services provided by that company and keywords associated with the company.

Services and keywords

Services and keywords

3. Every company has formal NAICS and SIC codes.

NAICS and SIC details

NAICS and SIC details

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BizCompare.com Quick Guide, Part 2 of 3: Listing of Companies

Sunday, July 25th, 2010

After visiting an Industry Research Report and selecting a state to drill into, a user will be presented with a list of companies and various tools to narrow this list further.

Key elements of the Listing of Companies page:

1. The page starts with a descriptive statement indicating the location (state or national), industry and number of companies followed by an alpha listing of the companies.

Company Listing - Summary descriptive statement and top of list.

Company Listing - Summary descriptive statement and top of list.

2. The company list can be narrowed using the filtering tools on the right.

Options to narrow company list

Narrow by sales, employees, sales per employee and years in business

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