Frequently Asked Questions

Approved Business is a leading UK business to business listing directory. This directory covers a variety of highly targeted industry sectors and lists 30,000+ products and services.

Approved Business has been established for over 15 years and has continued to be a leading source of quality information. Each month we see an 80% increase in new visitors which is due to higher positions being gained on all search engines.

Approved Business is a listing of companies within selected industry sectors ranging from beauty product suppliers, local authority buyers and manufacturers to industrial manufacturers to name a few. Our purpose is to provide buyers and specifiers with an easy to use 'portal' where they can find the right supplier quickly, simply and effectively.

Approved Business is the only business listing directory that is supported by a 'real world' mailing of 1 million trade product card packs per year, setting us apart from the rest and giving you an instant advantage and greater market exposure. Portal sites such as Approved Business also helps small and large companies alike find their target audience; with the huge growth in the number of websites, we are helping to bring the buyer and the seller together quickly, simply and more effectively than a search engine query. Also in search engine optimisation (SEO) terms, Approved Business can help boost not only the traffic to your site, but also help to boost your search engine rankings with relevant product placement and website links.

Unlike many of our competitors, we will only list your company within relevant and carefully selected product categories. With highly relevant product and or service placement, buyers can easily and quickly find what they are searching for e.g. they can find you. Many other listing directories are so cluttered and hard to use, browsers 'click out' in frustration after not being able to find what they're looking for. We are different. Our site is specifically designed to be clean and easy to navigate and so helping those potential customers easily find and view your details. We have also found that we deliver more impressions per product category than other directory site.

There is a basic principle at play with all advertising, and offline; the more targeted advertising you employ the greater the direct interest you will be. So the more product categories your company is listed under, the bolder the ad, the higher up the listings you appear the more visits your site will receive. Listing your company under very general terms is sometimes not the best route, but being unique is always good so make your listing stand out. So by choosing your categories carefully, writing great copy and employing the type of listing that best suits your objectives and budget, you can guarantee the best possible results.

We have three basic types of listings; Free, Standard and Featured plus banner advertising. A full list of the functionalities and pricing can be seen here.

Simply put yes, and it's a great way to increase your exposure too. We deal with each client on an individual basis to meet your advertising requirements as best we can. You can speak to one of our representatives by calling 01474 359527.

With a featured listing you can post your company logo and up to 24 product images to display on your about us page. These can be JPEG, GIF or TIFF format pictures. The size of your logo image is 150x80 pixels, the product image is 530x200 pixels but don't worry, we will auto size the images for you so there's no need to edit the image down.

We have a large number of product category and industry sector specific banner ads available to suit most product niches. Banner advertisements are available in 6 or 12 month terms in both the top or bottom page positions. Prices vary according to banner impressions.

Yes. Search engines respond better to inward bound links to your site than just registering your site with search engines manually. It's great SEO (search engine optimisation) sense to make sure that the websites you do have linking into your site are 'like' sites and relevant sites, search engines may frown upon junk links such as some link exchanges for example. This is where Approved Business excels as we only allow relevant category links and listings which will help boost your search engine ranking not damage it! Plus we are helping browsers find you directly as well!

It is hard for us to overstate just how big a difference adding some articles can make to the performance of your listing. The simple act of adding an article once every few months can easily double the number of referrals your listing generates. Articles help improve the SEO of your listing by increasing the amount of content you have and giving you the opportunity to talk in detail about your specific products and services. They are also individually linked to your website and cross linked with each other so they can help raise the SEO of your own website too. You can send us articles about almost anything related to your business, but we find that product information and case studies are particularly effective because of their enduring relevance.

Once a month we send out a series of ten e-bulletins to a total of approximately 120,000 businesses containing all the press releases we received that month. The e-bulletins targets different market sectors and your articles will be included in all the e-bulletins that it is relevant to you. If you want to be certain that your listing is included for the e-bulletins for any given month, make sure you've submitted it to us before the 15^th of that month.

Of course. Standard and Featured listings all come with up to 30 products on their listing, each with a direct link back to the specific page on your own website. Stock codes can also be added, along with an image of the product and a brief description. For any extra products you wish to list, please call your Account Manager or the Head Office on 01474 359527 to discuss optional extras.

Your listing can support up to four embedded videos, but if you have any more than that and they are hosted in a Youtube channel, then we can connect to your channel so that they are all available and feed direct to your listing.

With our Featured or Standard Listings, you can interact with your listing by logging into your private admin console. If you have a Free Listing you can simply call our dedicated representatives on 01474 359527 who will be able to assist you with any changes.

Yes you can. All our listings support feeds for Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Linkedin and Youtube – even our free listings. If you'd like to add social media to your listing drop us a line on 01474 359527 and we'll explain what we need from you to set them up.

Simply put yes. We already have a long list of trade associations on our site, so let us know of the relevant ones for your business and then we can add them to your listing.

Whether you opt for a Free, Standard or Featured Listing you are able to login to an interactive admin area to see how well your listing is doing on Approved Business. The real time tracking shows how many people have been viewing your listing, if you have an upgraded listing package and how many visitors you have clicked through to your own website. If you already have a listing and are unsure of your login details please call us on 01474 359527 and we can point you in the right direction.

Yes. Approved Business has recently launched Product of the Month and Website of the Month which allows you to promote your business or products and services throughout the pages on our site. This feature runs for the month and displays on 40,000 pages on the site as well as the Homepage. Speak to one of our representatives for the best prices on 01474 359527.

Sometimes. Approved Business has our Web Traffic Revealer software fully integrated into every listing, and Web Traffic Revealer can identify the source of any traffic coming from a fixed IP address. Typically, this includes any companies or institutions with their own server, but not individuals working from home or a mobile device. We can also offer you the chance to install Web Traffic Revealer on your own website. If you'd like to know more call us on 01474 359527.

It's easy. Simply go to the List your company page, select the listing type you wish to subscribe to, fill in your details and required information about your company. You'll receive a confirmation email and then one of our representatives will call you to confirm all of your details and arrange a preferred method of payment if required.

We pride ourselves on exceptional customer service. Normally, once confirmation and company details have been received, your listing will be posted the same working day, but we do ask you to allow 5 working days.

Normally our clients prefer to pay via invoice, payment terms being 30 days from date of invoice. But if you prefer we accept all major credit cards which are processed via our representatives over the phone for added security.