WOWCity Review

Today I am going to review the website of WOWCity which is another business pages website.

The first thing to come to mind is obviously the theme, or lack of one I might add.
The design is very circa 99' and is unlikely to trouble many of the alternative business pages out there.  For businesses though they can't afford not to be listed everywhere possible out there in the internet.

Common sections include Reviews
Contact
Coupons
Gift Certificates
Promos & Events
Products
Map/Directions
Photos
Videos

I suppose at least there is more than a single webpage devoted to each business.

Given the right amount of time it is probably a very useful website for driving customers to your chosen website.  The website link and other contact details being very visible.

I rate the website 5/10.  More for functionality than style.

Alexa

Although not strictly classified listings Alexa is quite an important internet company.  Most usually referred to in terms of website stats rather than information.

Alexa - mortons-solicitors.co.uk

I've chosen Alexa for todays because they do allow you to register and allow your users to give reviews of your business which is always useful. Admittadly the site is designed like an accountants spreadsheet so its not the prettiest, but few websites would manage to get that much information onto a page.

I'm going to rate Alexa 2/10.  Its probably the last place people would go to find a classified listing.
Like many of the Web1.0 generation have been arguing for years, Alexa is widely overrated.

Overall the website probably has more appeal to be as a webmaster in giving my the detail of websites who are backlinking me, what terms are people finding my site with etc etc.

BtTradesSpace

As part of BT I am surprised that this website isn't more properly advertised.  BtTradeSpace provides a decent page for details to be posted about a business. In some senses it is actually an improvement over the phone book version of the site.  It has a few nice features but is sadly lacking reviews and ratings.

It always the proverbial link to the website and detail about the business etc.  The map functionality doesn't appear to be working at the time of writing but I am sure that is only temporarily.  Only because Bing or Google maps (or whatever the site uses) is so easy to configure its hard to break their widgets. *Laughs.

Overall rather basic and simple, not much more than a base index contact would have (citing example)

Design wise 4/10
Functionality 4/10 - we want ratings and the other widgets including social and non-social.

WOWCity

This week I discovered WowCity in a recent web search and therefore was looking to create the page for the business.

In order to register I had submit sufficient detail as I presume they don't want half complete profile pages and I suppose it may be enough to persuade some businesses to pay for automatic approval of their listing.

So anyways I registered and submitted as much detail as I could provide in a single sitting.  The webpage was friendly enough and straight forward.  I didn't have much problems unlike some of my more recent experiences with various websites etc.

It has the ubiquitous website link, and detail about the business .The ability to rate is also handy.

I'm not convinced by the layout/design which to me seems to be a bit of an afterthought.  But this may be the initial design by a relative new comer so I don't want to give low marks just yet.

In terms of functionality I'll give it a 6/10 but for design a 3/10.

I think thats a fair reflection of where things stand at the moment.

Legal Advisor

In alot of industries there are member organisations or clubs that are specifically relevant to the business and can generate a wealth of customer base.  Here is one example where persons seeking legal advice can find and search for the details of solicitors/legal representatives to assist with their issue.

Having found our details on the system I emailed them to get them updated with our website link, the contact email address and to correct the type of business conducted to be criminal matters only.

Once this was completed it has been used by at least one client who told us they had.  So we leverage these types of free listings to our benefit.

For a government page it is as basic functionality goes, but it doesn't need to be spectacular.  It fulfills its job and points them in the direction.  Yes we would often like comments and ratings but government type websites wouldn't always want to allow unmoderated comments about a criminal defence firm to be posted.

So 4/10.

Hopefully it shows you the type of specific related organisation directories that you should be included in.  I'm not talking about crappy link directories, but all the business pages that i've reviewed over the last couple of months.

Bebo

Another social network this time, Bebo.

We have taken the time to register because social networks are the future of obtaining clients.  They will create fan pages and allow instant feedback, positive or negative straight to other clients and to the bosses.

Alot of businesses have been embracing social media and the rate is only increasing.  Bebo is more commonly associated with a younger audience which may not initially be to our target market, but people of all ages may require the need of a solicitor.

Sadly the design chosen at the minute isn't the best in the world. Unlike Facebook and Google+ the page currently doesn't look professional enough for business. When we get some more time we will go back and update the page with some fresh content and information to keep it real for our clients.

Overall the functionality is there, but we need to sit down and get it how we want it.
For the most in design terms its admittadly shocking, but its got all the details there.

So 5/10 for now.  May increase or decrease later. But i'll keep you all updated.

118.com

Its been a while since my last entry, but I've set aside some time to post more entries this week.

First up is 118.com entry which we did not in fact create.  We are in the process of registering on the website in order to correct and add further information to our listing.

Having a map with the listing is as ubiquitous these days as having the telephone number.
We are the lazy generation incapable of finding even the most attractive landmarks without a map to guide us.

118 as everyone knows from the ads are meant to provide great business information. Sadly it is a little bit of a disappointment. Despite having comment features to rate and recommend it lacks some of the social functionality of some of the new comers.

Design wise I would give average marks aswell.

Overall I am rating this one 5/10

Linked In (Follow Up)

To follow up to my post regarding LinkedIn.

We have now managed to get it working.  The support from LinkedIn was eventually forthcoming and allowed us to create the page for the company.

Nothing much has been added in the meanwhile as other things have taken high priority.  LinkedIn has alot of bad press on the net and its hardly surprising.  But these day you take all the publicity that is available and sometimes means working with less attractive networks. I suppose that is ultimately upto the client.

In terms of functionality we have managed to get the basic outline completed.  Logo, and contact details and there.  We need obviously to be adding regular content.

Overall I'm still giving LinkedIn low marks.  Its just not as pleasurable experience as the other networks which we have registered on.  I won't be using the website personally.

Overall 5/10

AppleGate

I had never even heard of Applegate until I was doing some unrelated searching for a business.  Apararently they are a business to business company.  Whatever that means.

I think it means they find business customers for their business. Now my client doesn't require that type of networking or business.  Their customers are the general public, but despite this we have taken to the time to register on the site.  Why?

This is because the website may pass on the contact details of the business. To ensure that we are found on other scraping websites aswell as correcting incorrect information down the line we wanted to go to the top.  A bit like a mountain, if you take a wee in the river near the top you don't want to be drinking downstream.  Same with these sorts of websites.

Its impossible to go back and correct the dozens of websites that may request information from these top level people as they may have got the information off middle level intermediaries.

There fix it at the top immediately and it will ensure that 12months down the line hopefully lots of new sites will have you listed, and the older ones won't have outdated information.  Well that was the plan at least.  Hopefully it will work.

Its not the typical review in terms of design and usefulness because that wasn't the intention here. I wasn't expecting the customers to find the site.

For what we needed I'll give it 5/10

U121

In tonights listed page I give you solicitors.u121.com

U121 is the website and solicitors is the sub domain category.  Its free to advertise to your business although they do have some other premium listings available.

They have some functionality including image and video upload, maps.  I don't particularly like the website design, its a bit buggy, but I'm sure this sort of website which drive some customers our way.

It also appears to be dofollow at the moment so it may also help with extra backlinks as such.

Its not brilliant, but these don't have to be. I can't honestly say I'll go to Google and go to u121 to get the link. In essence I'm more likely to go with a big branded website like yell or 118 if at all.

Marks 4/10  Could be better designed.

Yalwa

Yalwa.co.uk is another business directory website which I have recently updated for the company.  I'm not personally a fan of the website design which is a bit web 1.0, but they have almost made up for that with the functionality offered including logos and images, map and detailed information.

It doesn't score highly and there isn't much else to say about the website in what will be one of the shortest blog entries that I have made thus far.

For a basic business directory it doesn't really what you need, especially when I realised when writing this message that there isn't the contact details, address etc. I'll be sure to update those in the coming days and on my todo list.

There also isn't any review ability sadly.

Overall 3/10  Could and must do better

Lawyers-UnLtd

Apologies for the lack of posts from the lack couple of days, I've been rammed with work call out during the day and night. My first post for a few days is about  Lawyersunltd.com

Its a lawyer specific website which lists are lawyers and firms with the United Kingdom.  Initially my firm was not listed on this directory for an unknown unspecified reason, but I emailed them and they have now rectified the omission, which has enabled me to update the listing.

I suppose in terms of functionality this is the first issue, that you can't add/signup, the listings are already there are can only be updated/edited.  It wasn't clear at all on the website, but I emailed them and they kindly listed.  Not that bad really, but these days its not that difficult to drop in a content management script to allow for registration. Its one of the few websites you don't login.

I like the site layout allowing for a logo, website link, email link (more on that in a mo) and all the usual contact details.  The email link is obfuscated so I won't end up with a **** load of spam coming in, which is always a bonus.

I've also been able to submit more information and give a detailed summary of the firm and what they do.

Overall I'll give it a generous 5/10

Back to tomorrow with more.

LinkedIn

Linked in is not a directory per se but a social network that does allow businesses to create a business page. Well at least it should. There are no links for your to checkout in the post, although you all probably know the URL to LinkedIn.com anyway.

So heres my story.
Registered a site on LinkedIn and tried to create a business page for the company.  Unfortunately there is a firm with an identical name in another area of the country.  No matter what variation I tried upon the name is would not let me create the damn thing.

Eg
Mortons Solicitors
Morton's Solicitors
Morton's Solicitors Ltd
Morton's Solicitors Limited
Mortons Solicitors Ltd
Mortons Solicitors Limited
Mortons

So anyway I rolled up the help support system and wrote them an email. I did get a response within a few hours where they suggested using an apostrophe.  Didn't work again. Therefore I went back to help and requested assistance.

I appreciate they don't want the same firm created 20 times on the website but at least they could do was manually create it, given I provided them with all the details to be able to differentiate between the two firms, different addresses, web addresses and contact numbers.

So my support ticket sat their for days without a response.  3 days later I googled LinkedIn and support and discovered they have a worse rating than TalkTalk for customer service and so I immediately expunged the account.  I could have done with creating a linked in profile but then again I can't spend hours waiting for them to make a decision about what to do.

That is my experience with LinkedIn  I won't be using them on a personal level and you could guess that despite the design qualities of linkedin, the website will have to be given 0/10 for functionality because in my case it didn't function as expected.

I suppose I could leave it a couple of months and have another go to see if the idiots can fix it.

So thats a wrap for this blog post.  Tomorrow, another actual directory that I've actually succeeded is submitting to.  I've not quite decided which yet, so it will be surprise for both of us.

GooglePlus

Google+ or GooglePlus however its written is a business directory that no business can afford not to be utilising.

Example - Mortons Solicitors

Alot of businesses have branded facebook pages and those same companies will want to do the same with GooglePlus.  It allows you to submit your website, address and contact details to be viewed by the potential millions of new GPlus Users.

In normal circumstances I'm usually averse to social networks but this isn't about me, this is about giving the company a web presence. Although in the context of the above example it does seem a little unlikely that solicitors would be wanting to befriend their criminal clients. It would be too easy for one for other firms to try to poach, and the police would likely be keeping tabs to see relationships and use it as a source of intelligence.

I haven't got around to actually doing much with in at them moment other than getting it up and some initial posts made, but my hope it to be adding daily or weekly updates on things criminal and cases in the news.

Functionality wise this is early days for GPlus. I'm sure it will usurp facebook down the line with the new facebookkiller app.  What that will be I don't know.

Design wise its fairly good as with any google product you use. So I'm giving it a 6/10.  Its much to do, but not about nothing!

Stockport.co.uk

Our Stockport.co.uk page really shows how well people can make their business listing website look.
Firstly I am impressed at the use of the local pictures from google of the businesses which sets it apart from many of the other websites that I have blogged about recently.

There is the facility to leave reviews of which I am pleased to say one client has already seen fit to leave some words of "praize".

One thing I've noticed is that Google rarely puts the marker on the map correctly and you can see they are actually on the corner of John St and Middle Hillgate.  Not every website gives me the option to re-place the marker.  If there was something which I'd like these people to fix, then that would be it.  This could be a fundamental issue with the company I've listed being 20-22, and now shortened to 22.

It is clean, if not a tad simple in design but at least its not trying to heard and having a million things at once screaming at the viewer.

Also in functionality there are tags and bookmark features.  Sadly no GooglePlus or similar social bookmarking features, but we will have to wait and see.

Bizwiki

My latest and greatest submission this week has been to Bizwiki.co.uk

In fact I actually submitted a couple of months back but appear to have neglected to full utilise all the boxes available to me.  One thing I always do is give more and better content every time I update on the these business directories.  The reason being it always means that you are providing fresh content for visitors and search engines and you hopefully will be keeping it as detailed as possible.

I have submitted my details but yet at the time of writing it has yet to be approved by their moderation team. I don't know if or when it will be approved.  Depends whether their support team is as bad as LinkedIn (I'll be writing a post about them real soon).

Bizwiki offers more boxes than most of these business directory pages and even allowing 5 extra links of your choice (thats in addition to your website).

I've filled out the boxes with some legal speal about the services offered and the quality of service provided.

Strangely my https link for google plus was being marked as an invalid url.  I pointed the bug out to them. But thankfully it was submitted without issue.

Design wise its not unappealing (double negative I know).  Functionality is ok, but still lacks alot of the social markers and reviews that the other websites have.

Britaine

Another UK only search engine/directory Britaine.co.uk

I like that they have a good search function and a screenshot of the website that you can view.

The downside of the required backlink for being including in the directory/search engine however is a ton of html to add as the nice little image is in fact pure html and not very web2.0 either.

The information appears in a fashion that would not be very nice to search engines and computers but not very nice to human beings.  I've always liked having country specific website directories like these that don't use those cheapo php scripts that the spammers use for backlinks.  So marks for attempt to do something different but in terms of the functionality and design it is rather bleak.

3/10

Enquira

Another UK specific if you don't mind me dumping these on you.

Enquira.co.uk - Legal

I suppose there is a lesson to be learnt even if you are not from the UK.  Local directories and directory which are topic specific are great way to drive customers to your websites.  They would under normal circumstances be one of the first ports of call to find a business.

Functionality wise it is quite basic and the style of the website rather formal.  It has the basic non-web based contact details which most businesses would want for their business.

There is also the Google Map widget which is very common among directories with a bit RED marks the spot where your business can be found.

One thing however which I have found with alot of these directories is that the map location is not always correct so if the software/website allows for it, make sure you correct it or you could be sending your potential customers to a random spot.

Overall 5/10 for Enquira is hardly the lowest, but neither is it anywhere near the nine out of ten which I gave to BrownBook. So there is plenty of scope for them to catch up.

EcBus

A bit of a new idea on old concept of business cards.

ecbus.co.uk

The show each listing like a business card with the contact details.  I'm a bit sad they don't have more information such as websites and email addresses that you would usually fit onto any business card which you get produced down your local printers.  Its very basic.

In the modern world though who needs business cards. Rhetorical question.

I wanted to share the website which is not much like any of the other directories which I have submitted to.  It won't be getting high marks for either design nor functionality.

I'm very much hoping that they work on the design a bit more because its definitely unique in terms of presentation for a classified directory.

3/10 A for Idea, D for Effort.

CitiServi

Another day another directory to peruse. CitiServi is a very usable website which inevitably is going to lead to some good marks.  In addition to general contact information there is web 2.0 functionality with facebook and google plus.

The adverts which can be a major problem on some of these sites are small and unobtrusive.

Displays a full website link.  And a map of the location.

I also like it when a website takes the time to allow some sort of branding, in this case the uploading of a website logo.  There is still a bit more space for extra widgits.

A slight downside is that my page was down a while ago which has had it ping ponging in and out of google.

I'm going to give CitiServi a 7/10 well done.

BrownBook

For worldwide bloggers may be interested in Brownbook.net which is popular classified directory website used by millions.
This is immediately one of my favourite directories that I have submitted to as it allows richer content than most.  The widgets are pretty cool as is the ability to re-arrange how the widgets appear.

In terms of design and functionality the website gets high marks and is sure to be why it is a boon to businesses worldwide.

Website, email and twitter are all provided for.  Maps, statistics and images.

I like the business and location tags which allow me to add popular items to the list for my listing.

In fact whilst reviewing the website there is no much I can see that is not provided for by the developers of BrownBook.net.  I am hoping to be able to submit further websites to BrownBook in the future.

I'm sure you'll want to add your business like I have.

I've yet to see whether it makes much difference in terms of visitors but I guess I should begin to pay more attention to analytics to see the source of my visitors to the website.

As yet I've not managed to snag any reviews from my clients but hopefully I'll eventually have them across all of my directory lists.  These things may take time, but eventually it will look much fuller.

Overall I'm giving BrownBook a 9/10.  Top Marks.

SMBC Directory

So I discovered that my local council has a business directory which I am able to submit my business to. SMBC Business Directory

This directory may actually get the lowest marks because no one is ever going to find it on an independant site, with a poorly written script that is not indexable.  Its like something from the early days of the internet.

For that reason I'm marking it as 1/10. And the +1 is purely for the backlink :)

Why have I chosen it for todays showcase.  Firstly to hopefully show all business directories what not to do.  This is utter drivel and I'd expect nothing more from Stockport MBC.

Overall I hope that you take away that your local council may have something better up near you which you can promote your business. Whether it be local markets, local trading or something more bigger scale.  Hopefully they will have something for you.

BT Exchanges

One of the last places I discovered that I could submit my details to was actually a surprise to me.  In the UK like YellowPages you also get a phonebook from BT if you are using their service.
BT Exchanges

So there you have it, our BT listing.  Admittadly it looks very crappy. I'm surprised at the shoddyness of their website in terms of speed and information that appears.  I can sort of forgive them from going from many years of a inch thick paper directory.  I would have thought they were tech people however and their directory appears to be a poor attempt to do a Yell.com which is evidently more usuable.

I'm going to give it 4/10.  I am hopeful that they can refine and vastly improve the website.
Seems to me that they may have missed the boat with these online directories as other sites have already grown large.

Law Society

The Law Society of the UK represents solicitors in England and Wales.  Although any of you following this blawg might wonder why I am mentioning a very specific business page directory upfront.

Law Society - Our entry

The reason being is that if your looking to get customers through the door to your website then usually a good place to start would be your oversight organisations or bodies.  Governmental or non-governmental agencies who's job is to assist irritate on a regular basis through its actions (or inactions).  I've got nothing against the Law Society, they do a fine job.  I'm sure you get my drift anyway.

My point is that a good place to start is often with these bodies to ensure that
- they have you on their system
- they have your correct and latest and greatest details.

If not then you can contact them to try to resolve the issues. For example with the above entry we were missing our most recent solicitor addition so we emailed them to get her listed.  However they still have to correct my colleagues Lucys name who got married.

Having our website listed so prominently is a positive (and its dofollow).  But more than that it gives all the detail you would expect if you were wanting to check with the overseeing authority all the public details about a firm.

The side benefit is a lot of sites will scrape the details of the page and regurgitate it over another website, so it can be a get 1 get 10 free.  Downside though is when you change those details they never get propagated on the other websites so tough look trying to get that email changed.  This is why it is so important to get the details correct in the first place.

I'm happy with the listing. Whilst it does not have the whole shebang of internet social interactiveness it is doing its job.

Overall I'm giving it a 5/10 for averageness.  Don't worry it won't be the lowest score I'm going to give.

Yell.com

My first blog post about a listing for a website is for YELL.COM.  This is a UK based directory for the Yellow Pages.  I presume the US Yellow Pages took that website so when they were looking for a domain name they just took yell.

Yell.com Listing for Mortons Solicitors

I submitted my listed a couple of months back and eventually went back to correct the details which had gone wry.

In terms of design its simple, but effective.  Nothing to in your face.  Functionality wise you will come to see it has more than most, although alot of other seems to use similar style and templating.  Search is where it is effective and so being able to submit more details about your website will enable it to be searched for more within the yell.com directory and via search engines and further afield.

Address - Check
Website Link - Check (And its DOFOLLOW)
Details Correct - Check

I also like it has the ability to post ratings. Already this site has a single review in favour of the owner.  A favourable one too.

There is also modern functionality in having facebook and twitter pages linked via the website. This will help drive customers to our websites.  And with GooglePlus one option you can generate circles around your sites listings in business pages.

Overall you can tell this is a user-friendly directory and not one for seo purposes.  I have to admit I often come across their listings in google and click them in preference over others. Mostly in terms of branding more than anything.

In terms of how a decent business page should look this is a good start in my opinion.  I'd give them 8/10

Getting Started

This blog isn't about SEO per se.  Thats one blog out of millions on the web.

Like many people butting their business online one of the crucial steps apart from submitting ones site that is taken is to be on business pages websites.  These are the modern day Yellow pages which can help to drive traffic to your site.

I've spent quite a number of hours registering, submitting and checking the details which I posted.

Over the coming weeks and months I'm going to showcase one of those business listings per day and give comment about them.  So whats why I've started the blog 'We Are Listed On'

People talk endlessly about pagerank, backlinks and seo but my focus will be more consistently driven by what  the user is going to see in terms of design, functionality and detail.  I may refer to dofollow or nofollow but realistically I'm expecting you to have some understanding of the relationships between search engines and websites.

I suppose I'll head off one criticism before I start which is that alot of the business pages maybe related to the website I'm submitting - a legal one.  Whilst some may not be of use to many, it will still give you an idea of what sites are doing good and what are they doing bad.