Be honest. Your business could use a boost.
A digital visibility boost, that is. In an ever more competitive marketplace, your business can’t afford not to stand out.
And where should it turn? These 10 high-visibility web platforms, to start with. Because each brings a different set of strengths to the party, you’d do well to try them all for best results.
Many B2C (business to consumer) enterprises don’t bother to create profiles on LinkedIn. Their founders and employees might, sure, but they don’t see the need to actually showcase their products or services on what’s largely a B2B social network. Facebook is a much better marketing tool for them.
While that last sentence might technically be correct, what’s equally true is that businesses of any type that don’t bother to create LinkedIn company pages are leaving digital visibility, potential customer leads, and real sales on the table. Really.
You already know the ropes at LinkedIn. Why not take 30 minutes this week to create a company page you can be proud of?
- Better Business Bureau (BBB.org)
The Better Business Bureau, at BBB.org, is second to none in establishing and building business credibility. It’s one of the best places on the web, bar none, for independently owned shops and enterprises to stand out from the crowd and make their presence known in a marketplace that’s at once fiercely competitive at the local level and increasingly nationalized by the forces of e-commerce.
This BBB listing for Remedium Pharmacy, an independent pharmacy and medical supplies purveyor in Massachusetts, is a great example of why BBB is so helpful to smaller businesses. It displays key information about the business, including its name and address, and an enviable rating: A+.
- Wikipedia
Like LinkedIn and BBB, Wikipedia needs no introduction. And we should say right upfront that Wikipedia works a little differently than the other platforms on this list. Namely, Wikipedia frowns upon subjects creating or editing their own entries and has somewhat high standards for “notability,” the threshold at which subjects “deserve” to be featured on the site. However, Wikipedia is worth including on this list as “reach” for smaller businesses whose profiles will grow over time and a “must” for established companies that have already made it.
- Everybodywiki
Everybodywiki is a wiki-based site that’s not as strict as Wikipedia. Ergo, if your business (or you personally) don’t currently meet Wikipedia’s notability standards, it’s a good fallback. And who knows? Maybe your Everybodywiki entry will earn you the recognition needed to achieve Wikipedia-level notability.
- Crunchbase
Crunchbase is a prominent web directory for both businesses and their leaders. Like BBB and Wikipedia, it’s ideal for building credibility around your business and differentiating yourself personally as a leader. And its entry format packs a surprising amount of data into a compact space, so it’s ideal for businesses and owners that don’t like beating around the bush.
- Angel.co
Angel.co is another great web directory that needs to be high on your self-promotion list. Like the other listees here, Angel.co has excellent “domain authority,” which means it tends to appear high up in organic search results (often on the first page). Your customers and prospects might never have heard of Angel.co, but that won’t stop them from seeing your name in those results’ meta descriptions.
- Medium
Medium is a blogging platform that doesn’t require any coding or backend wizardry — just text, images, and multimedia. In other words, it’s an excellent self-promotional tool for busy businesspeople who don’t have the time or technical skills to manage their own blogs (and don’t want to pay someone to do it for them). Plus, like Angel.co, Medium has incredible domain authority.
- Yelp
You might already use Yelp for marketing. If not, what are you waiting for? This is one of the most powerful, and most visible, tools in local businesses’ promotional toolkits.
- Groupon
When it comes to local promotion, Groupon is a close second to Yelp. Crafting Groupon deals does take a bit of work, yes, but those deep-discount coupons aren’t the only way to reach customers here. Groupon also facilitates direct sales and provides enviable visibility even to businesses that don’t use its coupon or sales tools.
- YP.com
The digital incarnation of the old-school Yellow Pages is no joke. With super-high domain authority and an information-rich interface, YP.com not to be slept on.
Visibility Is Currency — Is Your Wallet Padded?
We all have too many options these days. But for businesses seeking visibility, this is an advantage, not a downside. Take the time to create profiles or pages on these 10 high-visibility platforms and your business will stand out from the crowd. What happens next, of course, is up to you.
