If you have created a directory website then marketing is very important and needs to be done with care. There is no point in having a directory site where people can list their business is you have no traffic to the site but there is also no point in having traffic to a site where there are no listings. You need to ensure that the two things are done alongside each other. Ideally you want to get a good number of businesses signed up to start with. You can then set the site live and start to attract traffic. Once the businesses can see that they are getting enquiries through their listing on the site they are more likely to continue with advertising. You may even want to offer them the first month for free.

Sometimes directory listing websites can appeal to small businesses that maybe do not want to go to the expense of having a full website. Allowing them to have an online presence on your site can work wonders for their business and give them another way to attract customers. You do need to think carefully about what forms of marketing are going to work best. If you have a big budget you may try and do a bit of everything, such as social media marketing, TV or radio ads, cold calling, Google AdWords and organic search engine optimisation.