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Behind The Firm List Blog
The Metro Crush
I think that's an apt title for this "piece" for two reasons: 1) a lot of firms seem to have
a major crush on the big cities next door to them, rather than a love affair with the town they are in, and 2) with all the
firms trying to be in the large city listings, it makes for a tight, crowded collection.
What all this is about, is of course, the continual stream of emails I get from firms asking to be added to that big city
which is located just down the road from them. To a degree, I can understand and sympathize with any firm in a nearby suburb
who wants to come up in the listings for that city that EVERYONE knows about, but I am convinced this is not the best solution
for either the firms or my site.
I chose from the beginning days of The Firm List to be as exact as I possibly could in my placement of firms. This was important
both from an organizational point of view, but also from the point of view of usability.
Most directories of this type, if they do have a "browse" functionality, will often lump listings into large "metro" groupings.
It's always easier to just say that a firm's in LA then to really figure out whether that's in fact true.
The argument on the firm's side for these large groupings is that people know the large cities, they often haven't heard of the
smaller, nearby cities, thus, their firm will never be found under that small city/town's listing.
This argument has merit, I won't deny that. But one of the elements behind this reality that those who know the larger city
but not the nearby town are most likely not from that region. And while the web has supposedly opened the door to the work-anywhere
world, in reality, I don't think that is still a common occurence.
If my belief is true, and most clients still work with firms in a close proximity to them, then is it more likely that the company
will know about neighboring towns/cities?
Even if this is true, I know some of you will still come back and say "but those companies will still look at the big city first.
Perhaps. Perhaps not.
I often explain my rational with two examples, one is of a company in one of these large cities and one located in a neighoring city/town.
Scenario One
The first company, "Company A" is looking for a firm to do a web project for them. They are located in the large City X. They visit
The Firm List and look at the listings for City X. They notice that the list is very long, with quite a few firms. They start to
look through the firms and find that some are okay, some not quite right for them, and some that might be right. They create a list.
If they've found a firm they just know is right for them, then of course the search is over. If they found a few that might be of interest,
then they are compiling a short list. And if they didn't find any, or gave up because there were too many, then they're still looking.
What if the executive for Company A lives in City Y, a suburb of City X. He's curious, seeing there's also listings for City X. The
list is not as long this time, just a handful. Of that list, some are obviously not right for him but then he stumbles on Firm #435
which just blows him away. Here's a firm which is lightyears ahead of the other firms in City Y. In reality, he might not have found
them in City X's listings as there were too many and he got tired. Now, since he lives in City Y, it's not difficult for him to recommend
they use this firm, as it will be convenient for him as project lead. Hence, Company A in City X ends up hiring Firm #435 in City Y.
Scenario Two
The second company, "Company B" is looking for a firm to do a web project for them. They are located in the small Town Z which is
about 20 minutes (without traffic) from City X. They visit The Firm List and at first, they assume they will have to look under
City X as no one ever bothers over Town Z. But upon arriving at the site (ever after pulling up City X's listing) they see that
in fact Town Z does have listings on The Firm List. After a moment visualizing the traffic getting into City X, they determine that
if they can find a good firm in Town Z it would be much easier. So they start looking through the listings for Town Z. Naturally,
there's not many firms. Perhaps they don't really care for any of them. But before sulking back to looking through the listings for
City X, they look again at the list and see that Town P and City Q also have listings. They are just as close and easier to get to
(less traffic), so they look there first. Lo and behold, there's a REALLY good firm in City Q and they strike up a relationship with
that firm.
So what I am trying to suggest from these two scenarios is twofold: 1) if you're located in a smaller, nearby city/town, you might
actually have a better chance because not all companies are in the big city and the long lists of firms in those cities might make it
difficult for your firm to stand out. 2) if you're located in that large city, it's best for you that all firms listed in that city
are actually in that city, making the list as concise as possible.
For the ultimate end user, the company looking for a firm, they will use the site as a tool, and tools should be easy yet powerful
to use. By breaking the site down as I do, and being as strict as I can about listing firms in their actual locations, I increase
the power of the tool by providing deeply detailed & extensive listings while making the site easier to use by clearing up the confusion
that comes with metro grouping, where the company has no way of knowing where that firm really is.
Hope the explanation makes sense. Again, it's not a perfect system, but I am trying.
