Even if your small business could afford a Super Bowl ad – at $3.5 million – there is another form of advertising that would benefit you more and consistently bring you far more business.
And the good news is you only have to pay to have it submitted ONCE to get free advertising on Google Places, Yahoo! Local, Bing, Superpages and hundreds of other local directories indefinitely*.
Completely Free Advertising
You can do it yourself manually, or create your own listings through Universal Business Listings (UBL – what I use), but there are MAJOR BENEFITS to having me do it for you including your not having to do anything except provide your business information. I will handle EVERYTHING for you.
What does it cost?
See Local Search Listings Frequently Asked Questions
DOES FREE LOCAL ADVERTISING WORK?
- See UBL Webcard examples of actual listings I have created and compare them to any other listing created on UBL. What you see in those examples is what YOUR business listing information will look like – listings that will be sent to hundreds of major sites including Google Places, Yahoo! Local, Bing, SuperPages, YellowPages, Yelp, Merchant Circle and sites about your location and industry.
- Local Search Case Study showing UBL listings generated 75 new visitors for every 100 visitors Google sent.
- Appliance store local listings generating 30 New Customers a Week.
- Enhanced local search listings generate new traffic of 81.32%
* Note: Some databases and directories may remove your listing if you do not renew annually but most do not. There are other benefits to annual renewals – and they are fast and easy to do once you’re in UBL.









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Citation sources such as Yellow Pages can be super helpful. I usually find that Yelp and Manta rank the highest though besides your free listing services such as Google Local.

Rainbowseo.com would love you to read ..SEO vs Yellow Pages
It sounds like a fantastic offer. You certainly make a strong case. Submitting a blog is rarely disadvantageous. I am bookmarking your post.
Twitter: Ezvid
August 26, 2012 at 4:41 pm
Hi Gail,
Thank you for such nice article. we like that you have shared this info with us.
Thank you
Alex
Alex would love you to read ..How To Screen Record Awesomenauts For YouTube
Thanks for sharing – free advertising does work, however I don’t think it is quite as effective as paid, targeted marketing.
Grownmap, thank you for sharing/linking 168 directories here. I personally seeking local listing sites.
Twitter: GrowMap
July 11, 2012 at 8:44 pm
Hi Nenskei,
That is a really hard way to do that. There isn’t enough money in the world to get me to manually submit to even the top directories much less 168 of them. Just use UBL. The $75 option is the best deal, but if you can’t afford that go for the budget deal.
Twitter: allaboutmexican
June 14, 2012 at 8:55 pm
localizing your ad is soooo helpful especially in niche sites…it is worth it coz it focus on a target audience..this is free and it is way better
fresh salsa would love you to read ..A Simple Quesadilla Recipe
Twitter: matthewacoleman
June 13, 2012 at 9:42 pm
my favorite philosophy is ‘the best things in life are free’ this
aptly applies in free ads…i just love it
Getting your website on Google Places can help almost any local business get customers from it. All businesses could benefit from being on google places. Anyone new to your area local, might choose to search for some of the products or services which you offer. It’s the ultimate freeby!
Firefly New Media would love you to read ..Getting the Most out of Your Leaflet Printing
That’s a big chances for local business, be found of their customers.
Local directories are very helpful to earn from local market. If one is successful in earning from the local market, he is on the way of success.
Azam would love you to read ..Silpada Catalogues
I think this is good way and believe to accept rather than spending thousands of money on other ways. I could understand the importance of local directories through this blog platform. Thanks a lot for such high influential information.
Twitter: john33487715
April 12, 2012 at 4:43 am
Hey ! This Very useful post. which help us. too increase our business online..!! Thanks a great thought
It is very fruitful information to get free business listing and if it is with Google and yahoo then it become more beneficial
Ravi would love you to read ..Drugstore: 20% off the entire beauty department
I think Google Places is a better choice among the others you have listed.
Telecom News would love you to read ..Nokia Asha 303| Nokia Qwerty Specifications, Price In Pakistan
I have used google and that really works for me is there any other option do you think we should try other then yahoo and bing ?
I already use Google Place but Bing and Yahoo won’t work for me since I’m not from US
Twitter: domedlabels
February 23, 2012 at 1:57 pm
Yes UBL is a great resource to develop your business presence, both online and offline. Sometime it isn’t the direct traffic that mattes, but it might develop into a great referral traffic.

Edd would love you to read ..Designing A Brand Logo
Twitter: vikas_wtw
February 22, 2012 at 1:43 pm
The idea is good and many people implementing it but it takes time before you start getting the visits.If the business is local then its get benefitted more.
We’re on Google Places and get a fair bit of local business from it, so it’s definitely worth doing.
The title of the post is very catchy
Even though it’s not completely free, 200$ seems to be a fair price for this offer. Could be a very big spread of your advertisments.
Twitter: adam7one
February 19, 2012 at 9:30 pm
Advertising… that’s a dirty word and the bane or not only every small business but also just about every website out there. What you have written is actually a pretty good way to go about things, in fact I did something similar with an Australian business I own, it took some time as I did it all manually but I am getting visits to my site, almost 3 years later. It is well worth doing, either spending the time and doing it yourself or if I am to do it again, out sourcing the work.
Adam would love you to read ..Get paid to click
Twitter: GrowMap
February 20, 2012 at 5:35 pm
Hi Adam,
Yes, the reason this is my very first priority for small businesses is that you do it once and reap the benefits indefinitely. As it becomes harder and harder for any small business to be found in Google search because they favor big brands and will continue to do so, businesses need alternative ways to be found. This is THE best I’ve found to date.
I will check with UBL and find out how comprehensive their coverage is in Australia and other countries. There are HUGE benefits to using their system over doing it manually with providing a way to get into the major databases being one of the most important.
Do you realize that for most advertisers, pay to click programs are theft of their ad dollars? Most businesses do NOT benefit from having people click on their ads just to drive their costs up and promoting that concept is unethical.
There ARE some sites and businesses that DO want to have pay to click people clicking on their ads but their motives, too, are unethical because the reason they are willing to pay for visitors who could care less about what they have to offer is so they can charge others more for advertising based on inflated traffic numbers.
I challenge anyone to show proof that those being paid to click are actually interested in what they’re clicking on. IF any of them actually convert they are being taken advantage of by CPA offers that are basically legalized theft.
Ethical people do not intentionally deceive others to pick their pockets – and that IS what almost every CPA offer does. They take advantage of people who can not understand the ramifications of what the “free gifts” they are accepting – usually by charging their credit cards monthly for services they did not even realize they were contracting.
Advertising can be how a business gets found by those who need their products and services. CPA offers are how the unethical take advantage of the unknowing. If there are any exceptions to that I haven’t found them yet and invite anyone to share them.
growmap would love you to read ..Small Business Internet Marketing: Where to Start
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