On-line business directory coming to web

By RICHARD SHAW Emery County Progress publisher

By RICHARD SHAW, Emery County Progress publisher
The Emery County Progress website grew recently as the paper launched an on-line directory for businesses. The new feature of the site may be accessed by going to the home page of the Emery County Progress and clicking on the menu bar where it is labeled “Business Directory.” Doing that will bring up a directory of all businesses in the area. Preferred businesses are listed at the top of the directory.
The site is designed to give readers a complete listing of information about businesses at the click of a mouse. The listing is searchable by using key words or asking to locate services.
If a reader types in “restaurants,” a listing of all local establishments will pop up. Once a reader clicks on a specific restaurant, information such as address and phone number are displayed.
The preferred businesses that appear first have joined with the Emery County Progress to provide more information for readers. The information includes a map location of the business and a description of the establishment along with the company’s logo, offerings, photos and a video in some cases.
There is also a link with which readers may connect to a company’s website. Once the site is set up by the Emery County Progress staff, the business can adjust what is on the displayed page.
For instance, a restaurant can have a menu displayed on the site and change it at any time. The restaurant could also list daily specials or notes from the chef for that day’s fare. The site also gives the business the ability to provide coupons that readers can print out and bring to the company for a discount.
Some businesses are also opting for an E-shopping site. For instance, a store might have a number of items it wants to sell on-line to customers who request it through the web. The items can be displayed as well as purchased right on the site.
For today’s businesses, a website presence is an important part of marketing.
But people who use a general search engine know that, when something is requested, pages and pages of listings frequently come up. Often, a business’s site will be buried behind hundreds of others. The way the sites get to the top of the list is to have a business connected to hundreds or even thousands of hits generated by the host search engine.
The Emery County Progress has teamed up with dozens of newspapers across the country and their vast readerships to create that kind of volume in the site. So within a few weeks of being listed as preferred businesses, when a type of establishment is requested through one of the search engines, the company will be near the top of that listing.
Listing in a business directory is an important part of commerce in the age of the Internet. Many people younger than 35 years of age get much of their information from websites and searches.
Local establishments interested in becoming preferred businesses in the Emery County Progress Business Directory may contact Lynna Tweddell or Jenni Fasselin at 637-0732 for additional information.