Online directories are growing in popularity for a lot of reasons. Some of the main reasons that businesses are moving to online directories include:

• Exposure to more potential clients.
• Low cost of production.
• Ability to link to endless amounts of information.
• Ability to target specific audiences.

When a small business joins an online directory, there are some important pieces of information that should be included and some critical things to keep in mind. If you want to maximize your exposure in an online directory, then you need to make sure the basics are covered.

Fix Up Your Website

The link you will include in your online directory listing will go straight to your website. If you want to retain the traffic that your website gets from the directory, then make sure you clean up your website. Eliminate any unnecessary images or animated pictures, make sure the colors are easy on the eyes, make sure all of your content is relevant and check to make sure that all of the links on your website work. You only get one chance to make a first impression and your website needs to be ready to go when you get a directory listing.

Phone Numbers

Some small business owners assume that, because they are submitting to an online directory, that all of the information needs to be related to online contacts. That is why most people only include their website and email address in their directory listing. Your online directory listing should include all of your phone numbers including:

• Main contact number
• Technical support number
• Customer service number
• Fax number

The more contact options you give people, the more likely they are to contact. Many people like to look up companies on the Internet and then call those companies. That is why you need to have that information available.

Picture

Some directories allow you to add a picture for an extra cost. Images are powerful tools on the Internet, and you should always include an image whenever you can. It can be your company logo or it can be a picture of your most popular product. But when you have the option of adding a picture to your listing, then you should always take advantage of that option. Make sure that the picture has something to do with your company, is not offensive and is something customers can easily see with the picture size given by the directory.

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A health spa can grow for a variety of reasons. It can be in an area that is suddenly becoming popular with tourists, or it can start to offer services that have medical benefits for its clients. One of the ways that a health spa can make sure that its growth is consistent is to utilize online scheduling software. When a spa puts this kind of software on its website, it can instantly see what parts of its business are becoming very popular with clients.

Services

A health spa is one of those businesses that have many different services offered at a variety of prices. When a spa uses online scheduling software, it can quickly see which services are becoming popular and which ones are not catching. This can help in making important business decisions such as whether or not to raise prices and which services need to be dropped from the offering to make way for more profitable services. It can also help spa owners to determine the best use of space within the spa itself.

Providers

At a spa, the services are important and so are the providers that offer those services. If a spa offers massage therapy but has one or two therapists with relatively uneventful schedules, then it may be time to replace those therapists. When a spa customizes its offerings to the point where clients can choose the providers they want, it helps the spa to see which providers are helping the business grow and which ones are not pulling their own weight.

Groups

It is becoming more and more popular for groups to make appointments at spas. Bachelorette parties, families and other groups are making their plans to spend a special day at a health spa. Groups can browse the website at their convenience and then make their group reservation online. You can also allow groups to add people up to the day of the event, which is a service that most spa groups would appreciate.

Supplies

If a spa suddenly has a run on massage therapy appointments, then the ointments and oils needed for those appointments can run out quickly. When a spa uses an online scheduling program, it can anticipate when supplies will run out and make sure that replacements are always on order. It is just another way that organizing a spa’s scheduling online can make the business more efficient and can help the people that run the spa to keep it profitable.

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In busy cities, doctor’s offices can become very busy places. Office staff is constantly cross-referencing medical records with the current information being added by the doctors and patients are just trying to get in to see the doctor to get their problem addressed. When a medical practice of any kind institutes an online scheduling feature on its website, it can reduce the headaches for the patients and for the office staff as well.

Cross-Referencing

One of the biggest advantages to using an online scheduling program for a doctor’s office is the ability for the database to instantly cross-reference the patient’s medical records and have those records ready when the patient arrives for his appointment. Instead of requiring an office staff member to take time out of her day to find the information, the computer database can have it ready to go instantly.

Reduces Appointment Phone Calls

If you go to any doctor’s office and listen to the incoming phone calls, you start to realize that there is a significant amount of phone calls for appointments. The problem with this is that a backlog of appointment phone calls makes it difficult for the emergency phone calls to get through. By utilizing an online appointment scheduling program, the doctor’s office can eliminate the deluge of appointment phone calls and make more time for the important phone calls.

Reduces Confusion

For some reason, doctor’s appointments tend to be the ones that most people get the time and day confused. When a medical practice utilizes an online appointment program, the patient can make the appointment for a day and time that she will remember. To help the process along, the online scheduling service can send out reminder emails that help patients to remember when they have appointments and what materials they have to bring to their doctor visit.

Patient Convenience

Medical issues do not always strike during a doctor’s office hours. But, in some cases, the patient can wait until the next morning to see the doctor, so long as the patient can get an appointment. Rather than waiting all night to see if she can get an appointment by calling the doctor’s office, the patient can make the appointment online instead. That way, the patient will know if the doctor has time to see her the next morning, or if she should consider going to the hospital to get the situation taken care of.

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Customers tend to become very adamant about getting in to their favorite hair salon to get their work done. In some cases, customers can get particular about the stylist that they see when they finally get an appointment. Most hair salons cannot afford to hire a person to deal with appointments all day. The stylists deal with their own appointments, and that is why the appointments can sometimes get confused.

When a hair salon uses online scheduling software, it can eliminate the confusion and help clients to feel like they have exclusive access to their favorite salon and stylist. When a salon personalizes its scheduling software to make it look like it is just another feature on the website, it can raise the perceived level of customer service offered by the salon in the eyes of the clients.

The first convenience customers will notice with an online appointment program for hair salons is that appoint making becomes more accurate. The client is able to choose the time she wants to come into the salon as opposed to waiting for a stylist to have time to look over the appointment book. All the customer has to do is look over the website and take her time in finding the best appointment time.

The other big convenience for clients that an online appointment program offers is the chance to schedule an appointment with their favorite stylist. A salon can utilize its online scheduling software to allow customers to choose which stylist they get along with the day and time of the appointment. Customers can then choose if they want to alter their schedule to see their favorite stylist, or if they are willing to take whichever stylist is on duty at that moment.

When a client uses a salon’s online scheduling software, she can let the salon know what services she will want before she arrives. If the client will need a process done that will require specific materials or equipment, then the salon can know in advance and make the proper arrangements.

Running a beauty salon means understanding your customer’s needs and finding ways to get the customers what they want. An online scheduling tool can be the ideal way to make sure that your customers always have appointment options, and that your salon is always ready when customers arrive. It will help you get the referrals you need to grow your business.

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Small businesses are always looking for a competitive edge that will help them to save money and put more profit on the bottom line. One of the tools you can use that will help your customers and grow your business is online scheduling software. When you work with a reputable online scheduling company to develop a comprehensive appointment program, you will find that your company inherits several advantages over the competition.

Improved Customer Retention

Nothing frustrates a customer more than having to fight with the phone to make an appointment. If the phone is not busy when the client calls, then the client hopes that he will not be put on hold while the associate is taking an appointment from someone else.

An online scheduling program increases customer satisfaction and improves customer retention. Your regular customers will now be able to make appointments from their homes whenever they want. They will no long have to hear a busy signal or wait on hold when trying to make an appointment. Your new clients will get a good first impression of your organization and its efficient appointment-making software.

Better Records Management

When you keep all of your appointment information by hand, things tend to get lost and not all of the information is kept organized. When you use an online appointment program, your customers’ appointments are automatically linked to client files and all of the information is kept in one convenient database. When your clients arrive for their appointments, you will already have their records waiting and any updates to client records made during the appointment are done automatically.

Reduces Missed Appointments

When customers are forced into taking an appointment time, they are very likely to skip that appointment. When you use an online appointment program, customers get to see all of the available appointments and they can make the choice that best suits them. When your clients take the time to make their own appointments online, they are more apt to keep those appointments.

Increases Staff Productivity

Even though customer appointments are the lifeblood of your company, taking appointments over the phone is still a repetitive and financially inefficient task. Implementing scheduling software allows customers to make their own appointments and frees up your staff to do more productive work. Instead of spending hours each day taking appointments over the phone, your staff can spend that time doing activities that will add profit to your company’s bottom line.

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aaaaOnce your company has made the wise decision to implement an online scheduling program, the next step is to find a program that is right for your organization. There are several features you need to look for in your scheduling software as well as services the scheduling software company needs to offer to make the investment worth your while.

Reliable Support

Once you put your scheduling software in place, it will become the core of your entire business. That is not the kind of thing that you want to leave to chance. If something were to go wrong with your scheduling software, you need to know that you can get the right support when you need it. Your scheduling software company needs to have email, phone and chat support that you can access at all times. You need to know that if something goes wrong with your scheduling software, you have a way of alerting someone that can solve the problem.

Customizable

When you utilize third-party services on your website, you want your customers to still have a seamless experience. That is why your scheduling software provider needs to allow you the ability to customize the scheduling program. When your customers click the link to make an appointment with your organization, it needs to look like your clients never left your website.

Securely Hosted

When you take on a scheduling service, you want the program to be hosted by the scheduling software company. If something goes wrong, the program is in a central place where the administrators can get at it. A reputable and reliable scheduling program provider will host the service on its own servers and make it accessible to your clients through your website. This reduces the amount of maintenance you have to do on your site, and it also prevents your scheduling software from taking up unnecessary space on your hosting server.

Options

When you get ready to configure your scheduling service, you need to know that it is going to have all of the options you need to get the job done. You will need the ability to schedule appointments during your company business hours and the option of allowing customers to choose the purpose of their appointments as well. The more options your scheduling software company gives you, the more that you can do for your customers. Flexibility is always the key to offering excellent customer service.

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People who run charter businesses often find themselves away from the phone and away from their scheduling calendar. While the idea of having a website has become common in the charter industry, there are still a large number of companies that do not include online scheduling software on their websites. If you want to grow your charter business, then you need to have online scheduling software included as one of your online services.

Convenient For You and Your Clients

When a charter owner is out on his fishing boat or flying customers in his plane from one location to another, he does not have time to answer the phone and take down charter information. Many charter businesses run on a tight budget and find it difficult to hire office help. An online scheduling program will eliminate the problems that come up when it comes to running a charter business. Your clients will be able to look over your calendar and schedule their own charter and you do not have to stop what you are doing to write down scheduling information.

Your Best Administrative Tool

A charter business owner utilizes as many tools as he can get his hands on to help him run his business. An online scheduling tool becomes like that administrative assistant that a charter business owner needs but could not normally afford to have. The online scheduling tool can be where you send clients who are curious about your availability, want to see your hours of operation and want to schedule a charter in the future. It can be the best administrative tool your company ever had.

Growing Your Business

When a charter company uses an online scheduling tool, it becomes easier to see the growth of the company and the need for adding more charters. As your company becomes more successful, you will see your schedule fill up further out in advance. You will also start getting emails from people who want to use your business at a time when your online scheduling software says you are booked. As your business grows, your online scheduling software will let you know.

If you own a charter business of any kind, then you need online scheduling software to help you run your business. It will turn your website into an administrative assistant that does not take vacations. Your online scheduling software can also be your ticket to growing your business in a way that is comfortable for you.

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The entire consumer world is being taken over by the Internet, and that includes auto mechanics. The auto mechanics that choose to embrace the Internet are the ones that will expand their business and get more local referrals. One of the features that an auto mechanic’s website needs to include is an online scheduling feature. Even for the customers that are not sure what they need to have done to their cars, an online appointment function can be helpful.

Organizes Your Business

Some auto repairs are major jobs, and some are minor. When you allow people to schedule their own appointments, you can allow them to choose from a menu that includes standard actions such as an oil change or tire rotation. For more serious jobs, you can allow customers to choose a diagnostic appointment that will allow you time to answer all of their questions and diagnose the problem. This will help you to know exactly what customers are coming in for and can help you to keep your business organized.

Supplies

An auto mechanic’s shop requires a lot of different supplies to keep running such as oil, filters and parts. When you utilize an online scheduling function for your auto mechanic business, you can know in advance what supplies you will need for the coming week. It allows you to do a more accurate inventory and make sure that you always have the supplies on hand that your customers need and that you need to run your business.

Customer Convenience

Many of your customers know what kind of auto repair appointment they want. For them, it is just a matter of getting through on your phone line to make the appointment. When you have an online scheduling feature on your website, it prevents your regular customers from the hassle of having to wait on hold or waiting until your phone line is open to make an appointment. All your customers have to do is make the appointment online and then they can get on with their day.

Allocating Mechanics

In most auto mechanic shops, there are mechanics that are better at certain jobs than others. When you have an online scheduling function for your mechanic business, you can assign the right mechanics to each customer appointment and increase your level of customer service. You will also increase employee morale when you are able to match up each mechanic with the particular job that he is good at.

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When a business that relies on customer appointments tries to increase revenue, one of the first places it looks is at ways to cut down on customer no-shows. When customers make appointments and do not show, then the company loses money in the time it took to prepare for the appointment and it loses income because of the loss of a potential sale.

If you give customers the option of making their own appointments, then you increase the chances that the customer will show up. Utilizing online scheduling software not only increases revenue by cutting down on no-shows, but it also has other ways that it can improve the chances that a client will keep his scheduled appointment.

Convenience

When a client has to call into a business and make an appointment, the whole process can be extremely inconvenient. If the client gets through on the call without a busy signal, then she may have to wait on hold while the associate schedules other people for appointments. Another inconvenience customers run into with making phone appointments is they cannot see all of the appointment options that they have.

When you utilize online scheduling, the customer can go to your website whenever she wants and browse your available appointment times and dates. The customer can then schedule an appointment that is free of hassles and is at a time that she finds convenient.

The Emotional Commitment

An appointment that is made over the phone is almost like a business negotiation. The scheduler offers options and then those options are debated until a suitable arrangement is agreed upon. But in that kind of an exchange, the client does not build up any feeling of necessity when it comes to keeping the appointment. The client feels forced into the appointment and will keep the appointment if she can.

The use of an online appointment program allows clients to choose their own time and date. There is no pressure and that makes the client feel an emotional commitment to keeping that appointment. The client was not forced into the appointment and, therefore, she feels obliged to keep it.

Reminders

Even with a written schedule, your staff can forget to remind clients about upcoming appointments. When you use a scheduling program, the reminder emails can be sent out automatically and reliably. You can schedule a couple of reminder emails for each appointment that will make sure that clients do not forget their upcoming commitment.

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