Are you tired of having to travel miles to the nearest shopping mall to buy daily-need items? Well, you no longer have to go through the exhausting and time-consuming process of conventional shopping. The online shopping world has brought overwhelming exposure to brands which sometimes can be a little confusing as well. Thankfully, we’re here to help you sort out the confusion.
So, sit back and relaxed! and read through the blog to learn and utilize the Online Shopping Directory to its full potential.
What Is An Online Shopping Directory?
If we stick to the definition, an online shopping directory is a “Yellow Pages-Style” web directory that specializes in e-commerce sites. In simple terms, shopping directories are mainly inspired by traditional shopping mall directories. The only difference here is that they serve to aggregate all e-commerce sites in one centralized setting. These directories offer you the luxury to decide what and from where you want to shop online.
Unlike the organizational structure of the offline stores, online directories arrange the e-commerce sites (websites that sell products and offer services) into several categories.
Considering you no longer have to travel and spend time looking for goods in a physical mall, the entire process becomes extremely convenient for consumers.
How To Use The Online Shopping Directory?
Online Shopping Directories like Nextag and ShoppingArchives.com allow you to search for a wide range of products from a variety of online retailers. However, to utilize the full potential of these shopping directories, you need to know the following tricks:
- Pre-Decide What You Want And Then Start Shopping
People often get overwhelmed with the choices available on online shopping directories, and eventually, end up confusing themselves about what to buy and from where to buy. So, in your best interest, you must decide on what product you want before you go online shopping.
This way, you won’t end up buying irrelevant items and get the desired product sooner. For example, if you’re looking for a wristwatch, then specify that in your query.
- Shortlist The Best Brands Selling That Product
Once you have got a clear idea of what is it that you want to buy, it’s now time to look for the best brands that sell that product. For this, head over to one of the websites and enter your search terms into their search bar. These websites will link you directly to those retailers who sell the desired product. From there, you can simply go through each website looking for the best one that meets your need.
How Does Shopping Directories Make Profit?
There are many ways how online shopping directories make money. Let’s have a look at some of the most prominent ones.
- Shopping directories usually charge one-time or recurring fees to the e-commerce sites listed on their platform.
- Online shopping directories also generate profit on referrals and commissions from the affiliate programs of the listed sites.
- A big part of their revenue comes from advertising on their website itself. These advertisements are mainly contextual ads, banner ads, and Google AdSense or pay-per-click based listings.
Best Online Shopping Directories 2022
There are a plethora of online shopping directories available but finding the right one is not quite easy as it looks. The best option for you is to search through popular search engines and then select the right one. Many directories are usually under a general shopping category, so make sure to use specific terms that incorporate directory and shopping while searching for them. This method will help you a lot, especially when you’re looking for one particular product.
The internet has many shopping directories, but not all of them are created equally. It becomes crucial for you to do your research before selecting a directory.
How To Identify The Best Online Shopping Directory?
The traits of an ideal shopping directory are the following:
- Promising shopping directories like ShoppingArchives.com have a variety of genuine e-commerce websites listed on them.
- They should offer links directly to individual retailers’ websites.
- It must be easy to navigate through any listed site, while there will always be some level of difficulty no matter what directory you use, try to find online shopping directories that make the entire process simpler with well-designed links.
You can also check the customer review to get a better idea of how reasonable the website is.
Now when you’re familiar with how to select the best shopping directories, we can move on to discuss the benefits of buying from an authorized retailer.
When you search for something, online shopping directories link you to multiple retailers for the same product. Although this might look like a great advantage of using directories, not every retailer is trustworthy. You still need to be conscious about the choices you make in terms of choosing the retailer. Authorized retailers give you access to several benefits including manufacturer warranty and extended warranty.
Where Do Web Directories Stand Today?
If you’re a retailer who wants to list his business on a web directory then you might ask yourself this question.
After a series of changes in Google’s algorithm, it is adequate to claim that it has become more complex. While links remain one the most effective ranking tool, Google no longer views all links equally.
According to SEO experts, links from web directory listings are a lot less influential than a super relevant contextual link from a higher-authority site. But does that make web directories meaningless in 2022?
No, web directories are relevant even today but mostly happen to serve small businesses competently. It’s not the best in terms of bringing traffic but it definitely helps you with increasing your credibility.
Pros And Cons Of Online Shopping Directories
Let’s end this article by looking at some advantages and disadvantages of using online directories.
Pros
- More variety
- Convenience
- Better prices
- Privacy for discreet purchases
Cons
- Unauthorized and fake websites
- Returns can be complicated
- Risk of fraud
- Problems related to shipping
We hope this blog added value and helped you understand how shopping directories like ShoppingArchives.com work.