Business Forum

Our previous email stressed the importance of getting your business name and services out on the Internet, especially before the wave of new internet users in South Africa. We have seen a substantial increase in visitors to the IDS Business Forum.

The current stats. are 3200 visitors for the last rolling month, the projection is between 4000 and 5000 users visiting the IDS Forum site next month.

So why this email if there is such a huge increase in traffic?

There is a great opportunity here to introduce your company and create an interest in your business sector. Also you can to take a look around to see what the community can offer you via contacts, leads, ideas etc.

The IDS forum is part of the small picture, the big picture is whatever you say on the forum is picked up by the major search engines such as Google, so that when others anywhere in the world search for a service or product of yours or ask a question, you could have answered it already, and they might click on your link, email you .. and you could have a new customer or contact … there are many ways in which such a forum can benefit you.

For a few minutes invested, the returns can be huge, even if it is one ‘drop’ at a time .. soon it will form a trickle and then a river.

Shortcode Notification/Advertising

IDS Online via its sister company IDS SMS has been approached to offer a Shortcode facility.

We (IDS) purchase a short code, say 34123, and you in turn purchase one or more keywords and manage it via IDS SMS. When a potential client sees your advert on your shop window, vehicle, flyer, invoice etc … (eg: SMS REMAX to 34123) they can SMS your Keyword to the number 34123, and you will be notified immediately via email and or cell phone and you can call them back. This form of contacting business is catching on fast, dont be left behind.

Should the demand be big enough amongst the IDS clients we will go ahead with a Shortcode facility. The cost per keyword will be in the region of R1500 per year. Unfortunately the short code purchase is quite costly and we need quite a few keyword purchases to cover our expenses. We look forward to your feedback.

IDS Online, All South African Business Directory is now a completely FREE!

So what, you might say, its always been free?

Yes its been free for the business listing which only allowed very limited contact information, but now we have merged the Free listing with the Premium listing to arrive at the Free Premium Listing!

There are many more feaures for free like:

• Website
• Fax number
• Cell number
• Unlimited keywords
• Detailed information (can be html formatted)
• Images
• Contact Person
• Email address (not seen by members)
• Be contacted via an email form
• and of course much more …….

So why should I even bother with this directory you might say?

Many of your clients find you via our business directory using search engines, which in turn directs them to your listing page, an example of a listing page.

Here is a live scenario search: a client has just typed in on Google SA:
‘bossa nova durbanville’, why not do it and see what the result is or click this link and we will do it for you. The result is: this link, check it out. The result is a listing page from IDS at the top of the Google results. The result is a bit bland but it could get the required result, but now that you get it all for free, your link could look like this and you will definntely hold your clients attention.

Business Forum:

We are getting a large amount of overseas business searching IDS Business Directory, this we monitor on a day to day basis via our online support facility. So the more you are in their faces the better the chances of them seeing you and of course local business & public seeing you as well, depending on your market.

We recommend you get stuck into the Business forum, stake your claim to a piece of internet realty, and be seen, every link, every work linking back to your IDS listing or web site is another drop in the bucket, eventually it will fill up and even overflow… but its starts one drop at a time!

These business forums are very successful overseas, take a look at this big one in the UK, we need to see these tools, and start making use of them. Its free, so if you get one lead for 5 minutes work, its worth it.

So how does IDS Business Directory make a living?

We rely on advertising, this is mainly via Google, and as we grow and you see us as a value adding resource, we believe you will approach us even more to place adverts
online.

So what are our traffic stats like?

We enjoy between 200 and 400 unique visitors on our site per day, that converts to 5000 to 7000 people a month and 16 to 20 000 pages seen a month, for an all SA
business directory its not bad, and the traffic is constantly on the increase.

In this economic climate we need to think of new ways to make yourself visible, especially now when the new overseas optic cables will be commissioned soon and thousands more will be on the more affordable local internet … position yourself beforethe internet wave hits SA.