Visibility Report: Optimizing Your Budget To End 2023 On A High Note

In 2022, the last quarter saw an increase of 27% in the number of projects created on Sortlist compared to the two previous quarters.

• Q2 2022: 13.085 projects posted on Sortlist
• Q3 2022: 13.430 projects posted on Sortlist
• Q4 2022: 17.054 projects posted on Sortlist

We see the following trend: companies are finishing the year with new projects and are looking for the perfect partner to bring them into existence before the winter holidays.

The question is not to know whether or not companies are looking for providers. 

They are.

Last year at the same period, an average of 233,000 people browsed our directories each month looking for a provider. 

In comparison, the previous quarter of 2022 averaged at 202,000 visits per month on our directories, which represents a 15% increase from Q3 to Q4 2022.

If the same trend is to repeat itself in 2023, with a 15% traffic increase from Q3 to Q4, we should see an average of 350,000 visits per month on Sortlist. 

And that’s only taking into account our directories’ data. If we are also to consider traffic resulting from visits to our homepages, providers’ public profiles, and our blog, Sortlist’s global traffic is constantly above 500,000 visits per month.

Based on our historical data, business is growing, and the last quarter of the year is the right time to invest in your visibility. As mentioned, the question is not to know whether or not companies are looking for providers.

The real question is to know how to be visible to them so they can discover your services and kickstart a collaboration with you.

Multiple elements can have an impact on your visibility here. But this article focuses on how much you should invest in your visibility campaign to boost your conversions and ROI on Sortlist.

It all depends on: 

• Your expertise, 
• Your location,
• Your competitors. 

Based on these 3 criteria, the budget you’ll need to invest in optimizing your visibility on Sortlist and winning new clients won’t be the same.

Expertises in high demand will require a higher budget to be visible at the top of directories and face competition. 

For example: 

• Advertising directories gather 30.000 visits per month, 
• Social Media directories gather 10.000 visits per month, 
• Graphic Design directories gather 16.000 visits per month, 
• Branding directories gather 7.000 visits per month, 
• Etc. 

While these services are in high demand and offer more opportunities, they also are more crowded and require a higher budget to stand out from competitors. 

In comparison: 

• Influence Marketing directories gather 2.000 visits per month, 
• Content Strategy directories gather 1.500 visits per month, 
• Copywriting directories gather 1.300 visits per month, 
• Etc. 

These services, which are more niche, attract less attention and require a smaller budget to optimize your visibility.

The location you’re prospecting in also has an impact on the budget you’ll need to invest. 

For example, French directories received 37,000 visits in September 2023, but 9,000 were done in Paris directories, representing 25% of the market share. As expected, a French agency prospecting in Paris must invest more than another agency prospecting in a smaller city. 

The same can be said on a country level. German directories received 22,000 visits in September 2023, while Spanish ones received 38,000. The more visits a market receives, the higher your budget will be, as competition will be stronger.

Finally, the amount your competitors are investing will also impact the amount you’ll need to invest in your visibility. The more your competitors invest, the more you’ll also need to invest. 

You’ll be able to see this information on your Sortlist dashboard. When you set up a visibility campaign targeting a specific directory, we’ll automatically show you your competitors’ typical choice in terms of budget to help you define how much you should invest to optimize your visibility.

Modify the expertise and the country to get relevant data regarding your market, and adapt your strategy to make the most of this last quarter of the year!

Any questions? Feel free to contact us to talk with a dedicated consultant.

You can also access our tool here.