With the rising cost and decreased ROI attached to conventional advertising such as the Yellow and White Pages, it’s imperative that Australian small business owners make the most of their advertising budgets.

There is no doubt that business today has been heavily influenced by the world wide web, and with well over 80% of the Australian population online, there’s never been a better time to start advertising your small business on the internet.

What many Australians aren’t aware of is that there are literally dozens of free business directories out there, ready to list your small business online.

Not only is directory marketing essential to reaching your prospective clients through the world wide web, adding your web address to established directories can give your site a boost in the Google search results.

Fortunately, with the sharp rise of internet access over the last 10 years, reputable, free Australian online directories catering to small business clients are well established and relatively common. Unfortunately, they’re not always easy to find, as large websites such as Yellow Pages online tend to crowd them out in the search results.

We’ve compiled a list of our favourite five reputable online directories catering to Australian small businesses, along with their respective Google page ranks so you don’t have to go hunting. All of these business directories are Australian and allow free listings, though many also have a paid function, such as bold or featured listings.

True Local – Page Rank 7
http://truelocal.com.au

This directory has the highest Google page rank of all the directory sites that we’ve reviewed. It’s also one of the most well known directories, and offers a full listing for free.

True Local allows you to provide a fair chunk of information regarding your business, such as a huge description field, services, brands, payment options and opening hours. It also allows for a full gallery for products or a portfolio of your work.

True Local mirrors Hotfrog and others in that it allows you to provide a discount coupon exclusively for True Local users. This is great because it adds a little dollar sign to your listing on the True Local search results page. This can make your ad stand out at a fraction of the cost of paid advertising.

Start Local Business Directory – Page Rank 5
www.startlocal.com.au

Start Local are a well established, large Australian business directory that are somewhat unique. This is simply because of the extreme detail that they require in order to list an advertisement. When we signed up for Start Local’s free online directory listing, it took us around 45 minutes to get things just right.

This directory allows you to enter just about everything related to your business, including your web address, opening hours, location on a Google map and products and services listings. In addition, Start Local encourages you to submit a voucher for products or services offered by your business. This is a win-win situation for you and the directory. They get more customers searching specifically for deals and your potential clients receive more value and as such, are more likely to purchase products from your establishment. All of this is 100% free.

Start Local does have several different paid options, including featured listings and the ability to have your listing displayed in multiple suburbs. These costs are presented as monthly and yearly charges. These guys will try to upsell you after you submit your directory listing, however it’s your call as to whether or not you wish to sign up for these services.

Local Business Guide – Page Rank 5
www.localbusinessguide.com.au

While Local Business Guide isn’t quite as professional appearing as some of the other listed directories, it’s well established and has a respectable Google Page Rank of 5.

Like most directories, Local Business Guide has multiple different packages available to small businesses, including a 100% free listing that includes one category, phone number, address and description. Unfortunately, free listings do not include displaying your domain name.

That being said, it’s fairly quick and simple to apply for a free directory listing with Local. It only took us about 5 minutes to sign up.

Hotfrog – Page Rank 4
www.hotfrog.com.au

Hotfrog is one of the more web known directories. With 431,000 queries every month, this site is a must have and is absolutely free.

Hotfrog listings are 100% free to submit, take about 15 minutes to put through a basic listing and do not require a reciprocal link. In addition, Hotfrog allow you to enter numerous keywords or tags, which I found particularly useful.

This directory encourages you to write a fairly large amount of information about your business, which loks great to your customers, and to Google. As always, keep this information unique and extremely relevent. Copy and paste from your existing website is bad form and is a turn off to the big G. Fantastic.

However, the biggest boon regarding Hotfrog is the fabulous reporting tool that’s provided. Not only can you see how many views your ad has seen, but you can also see how many people have enquired. In addition to this fantastic tool, when you’re logged into your Hotfrog business profile, Hotfrog let you know just how complete your listing is. Adding more information, pictures, etc, will flesh our your profile and bring you up to 100%.

Although the initial setup only took 15 minutes, after an extra half hour of tinkering with the reporting and profile completeness tool, I gave up and decided to leave my profile at around 78%.

As with most other directories, Hotfrog offer an affordable featured listing package for around $20 a month (at the time of writing this).

Directory.com.au – Page Rank 3
Website Directory Australia

Directory.com.au claim to be “Australia’s free website directory”, and while that’s true, they offer multiple paid listing options as well as the standard free directory listing.

For a small directory, the number of categories provided is quite extraordinary. Most of our time here was spent trying to find the right category for our listing to fit in.

The one big downside to Directory.com.au is that they require a reciprocal link for all free listings. Essentially, this means that they want you to link to their website from your website before they’ll link to your website from theirs. If you have a blogroll or something similar, this isn’t going to be much of a problem, but ultimately, outbound links to a random directory may look a little strange to your clients.

Use this one at your discretion, yet we liked the simple free sign up and basic but user friendly directory functionality.

– E

Sunspire provide a full range of affordable small business web design packages for Australian businesses. 

The post Free Australian Business Directory Advertising – It Does Exist! appeared first on Sunspire Technology Melbourne .

An Australian vanity number or “phone word” for small businesses not only looks particularly professional, but it can also go a long way toward cementing your contact information into the memories of prospective clients.

Ever tried to call a cab in Australia? Even thinking about calling a taxi brings to mind the unending drone of the Australia wide taxi booking service 13 CABS. Their branding is everywhere, and at the forefront is their vanity phone number or phone word. Instead of remembering a business phone number, customers can simply tap 13 CABS on their alpha-numerical phone keypad and place a call directly through to the company call center. This is a perfect example of a personalised business telephone number and using it to full effect.

13 Cabs might be a monolith in Australian business, but more and more Australian small businesses are registering vanity phone numbers. Unfortunately, due to the huge range of different services now available in Australia not everyone understands exactly what they should be looking for.

In Australia, vanity phone numbers in general are most commonly known as “Phone Words”. Communications giant, Telstra, provide the most widely used vanity number service, Telstra Phone Words.

As if vanity phone numbers weren’t confusing enough, Telstra use multiple different websites with different names in order to market their phone words service. This can be confusing to prospective phone words clients, yet the distinction is relatively simple if you take the time to look through each.

1300 Australia: Despite the name, this Telstra site is dedicated to informing customers about vanity numbers in general. It also supplies Telstra specific information and a handy search tool so you can check the availability of your business phone word.

The Telstra Phone Words main website provides the most generic information on vanity phone numbers in general.

Along with the big players, vanity phone numbers are offered by multiple smaller companies, all vying for your business.

When choosing a phone words provider, it’s important to provide a distinction between the different types of vanity phone numbers or phone words. All are paid for generally with yearly administration fees with additional call costs and service charges, however one is not the same as the other.

In Australia, toll free numbers are often referred to as 1800 numbers. These are 100% free for your customer to call from a land line phone, though charges are generally applicable for mobile users. Unfortunately, 1800 numbers can be cost prohibitive for small businesses, as the call cost is passed directly to the business themselves. Customers love these numbers, but you may not when you receive the bill!

1300 numbers are the most popular vanity phone number in Australia and the most commonly registered with Telstra. These work in a similar way to the toll free numbers, except the caller takes on part of the call cost, usually that of a local call. 1300 numbers are generally affordable for small businesses and can really take your business up a notch in the minds of your prospective clients.

13 numbers are considered premium phone words which allow your clients to call you from any location within Australia with a low, fixed call charge. Although the number may be the most professional appearing and as they are short, they’reeasiest to remember, Priority 13 numbers are extremely expensive to operate. Not only do you pay an annual connection and registration fee, owners of 13 numbers are also required to pay a large government charge. Telstra recommend 13 numbers for medium to large sized Australian businesses.

In addition to the cost differences for 13, 1300 and 1800 phone words, some phone words will be more expensive than others due to whether or not they’re seen as more valuable. Usually the more generic the term, the more expensive the number will be. (eg, 1300 DOCTOR is going to be more expensive than a derivative of your business name). Make sure you discuss this with your phone words provider of choice to make sure you have all the information possible to make an informed decision.

If you’re looking to register for a Phone Word of your own, make sure you shop around for reputable companies with the best deals. Write down all your questions and put them to your sales consultant directly. Make sure you know exactly what costs you need to expect well before you sign anything.

Although they can be expensive, Phone Words can be particularly effective if you combine the vanity number with advertising media designed to stay in the forefront of  your clients day to day life.

The post Vanity and Toll Free Phone Numbers For Australian Small Business appeared first on Sunspire Technology Melbourne .