Moving a Print Directory Online Doesn’t Cut It
Online B2B directories have a poor reputation. They are typically littered with ads, include only the most basic information about each listed company, have limited search features, and provide no feedback on how often potential buyers have seen or used your listing.
What does all this remind you of?: A printed, paper directory of course!
Most online directories are nothing more than an electronic version of their printed predecessors. In the rush to get existing print directories online, implementors simply carried the bath water with the baby: bringing all the limitations of print into the online world:
- Ads were the primary way to generate money from printed directories
- The pages had to limit space per listing to keep book size and shipping costs low.
- Search in a printed directories meant thumbing through or using the index.
- Feedback could only be tracked with great effort through promotional codes, coupons or other costly and error-prone methods.
Any platform that wishes to change the business-to-business market perception of online directories must optimize to the online environment by providing industry-sensitive search functionality, deep listings that include product-level information, and constant real-time feedback on tasteful advertising and lead-generation programs.
In other words, we’d all like to see a true online directory, rather than a printed directory online.