Helpful Sites Retail News Sites

Until I started this job, I had never heard of the National Retail Federation, although I have worked retail in the past. (I am just guessing it will be new to some of you too.) The daily newsletter is an outstanding resource to keep up with what is happening in the retail industry. The articles are from a wide variety of sources: American Express, WSJ, Reuters, USA Today, etc.  Numerous links take you to other topics of interest pertaining to marketing, sales, accounting and a wide swath of topics.

As I run across articles I will post links.

Free Online Biz Directory Listings

Let’s talk about free business directory sites that can be helpful with getting your name out there.

Most of these sites are where you can list your business for free. Some of them allow your customers to post reviews of their visits and your products. You can put in descriptions of your services and products, also your email address and website and even photos of your store.

This will give people who are looking for clothing, lingerie, bra fittings etc. a good idea who you are. If anyone has a favorite site to add, please let me know. 

www.hotfrog.com	Free to put in your profile, many free services for small businesses. Anyone can list their business in HotFrog for FREE, along with contact details, and products and services.
www.yelp.com	Free to list your business, photos etc. Every local business can set up a FREE Business Owner's Account to publicly post a description of the business, announce special offers, message customers, add photos, track traffic on their Yelp page and more.
http://www.magicyellow.com/	Free and one of the top online directories
http://www.merchantcircle.com/	To give local businesses more online exposure, we’ve developed local business social network where business owners can upload pictures, create blogs, create coupons and newsletters, and connect with other merchants, all for free.
http://www.manta/	More B@B oriented, but a lot of individuals use it too.
www.uscity.net	Fairly new and free to list

If you type your business name into your search engine, what comes up with your listing? Then type a key word as lingerie or intimate apparel, and your city and state. Try other search engines too.

Does your city have publications that like to feature local stores or is there a local site who reviews stores, have you been  mentioned in them? Many times this will come up with someone is looking for your store.

Go to one of the directories and type in a key word and state, see what comes up. Look at the listings for your area, and decide if you should list there too. Maybe you might want to list under several categories, as bra fitters, lingerie, intimate apparel etc.

Encourage your customers to post their reviews after shopping in your store.

Some of these sites will even let you blog, announce events and reply to comments!

If anyone has a favorite site to add, please let me know.