A website directory is the same as a basic Yellow Pages. It groups contact information together under subjects such as Plumbers, Lawyers, Mechanics etc. You might ask – Why would one use a directory when one can use the search function of Google?
The good thing about Google’s search results are that it saves you the time to browse through a web directory’s structure, drilling down to the right category. The problem with that is that the websites that appear in the first couple of pages might be of companies that have a lot of money or whose websites might have been around for a while. These bigger companies could pay for a better laid out website and pay for external links to the website etc. All of these billable tasks will allow a company to get a better ranking in the search results, thus appearing in the first few pages of the search results.
The benefit of using a web directory is that it puts all of these companies on the same level, stripping away any possible manipulated advantages. Let’s look at a typical scenario: You have gone on a holiday and came back to a garden that looks like the Amazon rain forest. You need garden services. You go to Google and type in “Garden Services Johannesburg”. You will get quite a few results, but the first few pages will show websites that might not be the best or the cheapest. Sometimes a web designer might set up the website to be found when ‘Johannesburg’ is typed in although the plumber is in the south of Gauteng.
The best way to get multiple quotes quickly, without going down the search results of Google, would be to go to a web directory, drill down to Garden Services and then see ALL the companies available and not just those that have good Google search rankings. The description of the directory entry would help with the location of the plumber. Open each link in a new window while holding Ctrl-Shift in and clicking on the link (Internet Explorer). You can then just quickly browse to the Contact Us page of each website and contact that company for a quotation.
Here are some good South African web directories to help you out :
- Ananzi (Click on SA Directory)
- SouthAfrica.co.za
- Aardvark
