By Chris Lee

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are the backbone of the UK economy, and are predicted to help lead the country’s economic recovery. But many struggle to compete when it comes to marketing online, especially in being able to dedicate resources on search marketing.

To help address this issue, online business directory Hotfrog aims to give SMEs the opportunity to compete in search marketing by enabling them to create their own Web page free on the Hotfrog directory, providing them with links to new business leads and create an online profile.

Since its UK launch in 2007 Hotfrog has received more than 17 million listings. One such company is London-based commercial kitchen The Olive Grows.

Catering for growth

The Olive Grows offers food production premises in north west London and a business support network in industrial, professional kitchens for anyone involved in producing food and drink. The facilities and equipment can be rented for as little as four hours, as often as needed or for just a one-off occasion. The challenge for The Olive Grows was to reach its target audience – those businesses needing premises to cook, such as catering firms.

The Olive Grows started using free listing services such as Hotfrog in May 2010 in an attempt to become more visible online across a number of keywords and phrases.

George Poole, co-founder of The Olive Grows, said that the ability to tailor the description of his business helped the company appear on the first page of search engines for the very first time, leading to an uptake in business.

“Some of the hits to our website come directly from the Hotfrog listing, but seeing our company climb to the first page of the search engine rankings for the first time was an unbelievable buzz, and while I think there are many contributing factors, since we first made that step, sales have definitely improved,” he said.

George and his team are trialling a number of online tools, in particular social media tools such as Twitter, Facebook and also writing a blog, to help the company communicate directly with its customers and build relationships.

The proof in the pudding

Since incorporating a focussed online marketing strategy incorporating SEO strategies, including adding a listing on Hotfrog in spring 2010, business at The Olive Grows has rocketed by 60 per cent.

“I would definitely recommend that small businesses like ours take advantage of online directory listings, especially in terms of achieving back links from a multitude of sources and driving targeted traffic,” Poole concluded.