Guide to creating a listing in The Directory | Cars UK
Getting the most from your listing in The Directory
Even though you can plough straight in and create a very good listing in just a few minutes, there are some tips and tricks to make your listing more effective. So let's start with the first page you'll arrive at once you've decided to get stuck in and clicked the 'Sign Up' button on your choice of National or Local Listing. Select a level
This will already be set to the listing level you've chosen. But you can change your mind just by clicking the on the alternative instead. Do you already have an account?
If you do you probably don't need to be reading this! If you don't, it should already be set to 'No, I'm a new user'. Account Information
Here you need to input the email address you want to use to log in to your account, and a password. Make it memorable, but not so memorable anyone could guess it! Listing Information
Here's the first trick.
To make sure your listing looks best when it appears in The Directory, you should keep this to no more than 36 characters (including spaces). But what inputs here turns in to the web address for your listing, so it could be good to use a bit more than the 36 characters.
For example, if you are Fred Bloggs Accountants and Insolvency Specialists, that's too many characters. But pop it in here anyway (don't go daft - very long web URLs are not a great idea). That will then mean your listing will be at 'www.carsuk.net/directory/listing/fred-bloggs-accountants-insolvency-specialists.html'. Great for search engines as it has what you do in the URL.
Later, when we get to inputing the Listing information, we'll show you how to change the title without changing the web address.
Under the 'Title' there's a box to input a Promotional Code. If you have one pop it in here - making sure it's exactly what you've been given - and the promotion will be applied to your listing.
Categories and sub-categories
You'll see a list of categories, and hopefully at least one will fit with your business. Click on the '+' symbol next to the category that suits your business and a list of sub-categories will open up. Just click on the sub-category that suits your business and it will be added to the box below, and applied to your listing. You can choose any two categories free of charge, and add up to another three for a small charge.
If you don't believe any of the sub-categories fit your business properly, just add your listing to the 'Other' sub-category for now. You can then contact us and ask for your choice of sub-category to be added, which we will normally do just as long as others are likely to find it useful.
Do note that your listing will automatically appear in the main category of each sub-category you select.
Billing Information
This is your personal billing information and is not for publication. Payment Method
You can use a credit or debit card or through a PayPal account. We use PayPal Pro to process all our payments for our customers' security. We do not have access to your credit or debit card details and all transactions are processed on PayPal's site. Just click the radio button under the 'Payment Method', click on 'Continue' and the system will take you off to PayPal's secure site to process your payment. Once that's complete the system will bring you back to configure your listing in The Directory. Configuring your Listing
Right, now we get stuck in to what's going to appear on your listing.
Information
Listing Title: This is where the trick with the Listing Title from the first section comes in to play.
What you put in before sets the URL for your listing, but now you can make this fit properly by making the listing title shorter, if what you put in before is too long. So where before you input 'Fred Bloggs Accountants and Insolvency Specialists' now you can change it to something that's 36 charcters or less - perhaps 'Bloggs Accountants' or something similar. You can then tell our readers in the business detail exactly what you have to offer. And the title now fits the display perfectly.
As with all the information on your listing you can change the title at any time, perhaps to promote a particular part of your business at different times - particularly useful if you've got a Nation Listing which also appears on the main Cars UK site.
Email: This is the emal address our readers can use to contact you and which we use in the contact form at the bottom of your listing.
URL: This is the webite address for your site. The first bit (called the Protocol) will already be set to 'http', which is the norm. If your site is a secure site, use the dropdown to change that to 'https'. Then enter your site address in the following box.
Display URL (optional): You can, if you prefer, show something here that will appear on your listing instead of your website address. For example, you could pop in here 'Click to go to our webiste' and that will appear on your listing - linked to the URL you already entered - instead of the actual website address. We think it's better to show the website address, but you have the option.
Phone: This is the phone number our readers can reach you. We would also recommend putting this at the bottom of the Listing details (we'll get to that later).
Fax: If you still use a fax, pop the number in here. Location
Just enter the first line of your address and, if you need a second line before the 'Town' bit, enter that too in 'Address Line2'. Put in the postcode and then select a country from the dropdown. We currently only accept listings from England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and Eire. If your business is not in these regions, but serves them, please contact us.
Once you've input a country, choose a county then a town. All counties should already be there, but if the town isn't you can add it by clicking on the '+Add a New Town' link. Just put the town you want to add and you're done for this bit. Images
You can add up to nine images to your listing. Make sure that there is one image that will make it very clear what your business or current offer is about so we can use it as your 'Main' image in the adverts on the main site (if you have a National Listing') and in the 'Summary Listings' you'll see throughout the directory.
Just click on 'Add Image' to upload any image you want to use. It will show in your listing at 318px x 179px, but if it's not that size, don't worry. Just upload the image (a jpg, gif or png, please) that's no bigger than 1.5mb. You will then see a bounding box round the image you upload with little grab handles. Pull those with your mouse to set the portion of the image you want to use and then click 'Submit'. The image will be uploaded and added to your listing.
When you upload the image you want to use in the advert/summary listing, please make sure to check the 'Main Image' option you will see whenever you've uploaded an image. That tells us which image to use.
Once you've uploaded your image you can repeat the above to add more images. And, just as you can with all the information on your listing, you can come back and change the images - and choose a different main image -whenever you want. Video Snippet Code
If you want to add a video to your listing all you need do is put the embed code here. Attach Additional Files
If you want to add an additional file to your listing - perhaps a special offer advert or a form - you can upload it here ((pdf, doc, txt, jpg, gif or png) and it will show on your listing as a link on a new page. Again, you can change this whenever it suits. Sensibly, this is probably something you should do once your listing is up and running. But if you want to do it now, please do. Summary Description
The Summary Description is the short description used on your summary listing when it shows throughout The Directory and on the adverts on the main site if you've chosen a National Listing.
The summary is limited to a maximum of 150 charcters, so make sure you're as concise as possible whilst still getting across what your business is all about. Description
This is where you can input as much or as little about your business as you want, but don't go completely mad as you run the risk of people not reading it all if they end up scrolling the page endlessly to see what's on offer.
We don't allow html to style the page - it ends up getting messy unless you really know what you're doing - but that doesn't mean you can't highlight sections easily.
By using charcters on a standard keyboard, and judicious use of capital letters, you can make sure certain sections stand out, and break up the wording to make it easier to read.
For example, you can use the asterisk key to create a bullet points list:
* Complete range of new Audi models on display
You can also use the asterisk to create a highlighted section:
**************************************
Or the hyphen or underline key to do the same:
Sensible use of capital letters achieves a similar highlighting effect:
CALL US ON 0800 123 456
And we would recommend you end your listing with something similar to the above - it never hurts to make it as easy as possible for readers to get in touch as they finish reading what you offer. Keywords for the search
Here you can put in some keywords/phrases which will help search engines find your listing, and make it easier for our readers to find your listing too when they search using the search box at the top of every page in The Directory.
Add keywords/phrases - one per line - up to a maximum of 10 with 50 characters each e.g.:
Audi Dealer Hours of work
If you want a seperate section for your opening hours, enter the details here. You can also add then to the main description instead - or as well as if you wish. Location
Here you can enter any locations you operate from. This is useful if you have branches in addtion to your main listing address. Categories and sub-categories
This will show the categories you entered before. You can change them if you decided you made a mistake (which you can do at any time in the future too) and add categories. Please note that if you add additional categories beyond the two free ones you will incur a charge.
And that's it - you've successfully created a comprehensive listing in The Directory. Congratulations! But remember, you can change any of the details whenever you want - every day if you choose - to make sure your listing in The Directory always reflects the latest information about your business. |
|
|
|
