Why “Free” Venue Directory Listings Aren’t Actually “Free”

There are plenty of venue directories out there in the market to choose from, with new ones popping up all the time. And pretty much all of them offer free listings to new customers. Free things are great, but nothing is ever really free. Here are 5 reasons why those other free venue directory listings aren’t actually free and will end up costing you more money and more headaches in the long run. 

Here are 5 reasons why those other free venue directory listings aren’t actually free:

1. Lead Commissions

You pay a flat fee for every lead that is sent to you.

With every lead that is sent your way, you pay a flat fee whether it turns into a booked event or not. So you are charged for all leads, both qualified and unqualified. This turns into you then having to work with their support teams fighting over unqualified leads and why you shouldn’t be charged for bogus data. 

2. Event Commissions

You pay a commission on every booked event.

Some directories only charge you for the leads that do end up converting into a fully booked event as long as the lead was generated by the directory. In order for the directories to manage all of your leads and booked events, they force you to use their tools to communicate with the event planners and collect money from the event planner. That way, the directory can collect their commissions before you recognize the revenue at the venue. 

3. Limited Fields

They limit your venue listing fields.

With your Free Listing, you are often limited to only being allowed to upload one or two photos to show off your event space along with and a brief description that they max out to only a few sentences. 

A listing with 3+ photos sees a 33% increase in leads. So This is exactly why they limit the number of photos you are allowed to upload to your listing. The less information on your listing the fewer page views and leads you will see. They prevent you from performing well. 

4. Restrictive Placement

They restrict where your listing appears on the venue directory.

Say your venue is located in Boston, the directory won’t place your venue on all Boston pages, maybe just one of the neighborhoods, or only in a suburb of Boston and not Boston itself. By picking and choosing which pages and locations your venue is displayed they are directly limiting the number of event planners who could potentially see and interact with your listing. Fewer page views to your listing equal fewer leads for your venue.

5. Time-sensitive Listing

Free Listing For Only A Month.

For the free listing, you only get to keep it for one month then they shut it off. In this scenario, the directory is going to put you on page 1 of your city, and specifically drive more traffic to your page in order to generate a ton of traffic and leads for that first month. Once you fall in love with the amount of traffic and leads they generated for you and have you signed up for a long contract, they will then put your listing down to the standard rating and rotation that all listings are set up and your traffic and leads will dramatically drop month after month. Then they hit you with complicated tired packages - you only keep a percentage of leads for free per package level, with only the most expensive level offering all leads being included. 

Venue directories often hide these 5 key pieces of information deep within their website or even in the fine print of a contract purposely so you miss them in order to hook you on the free listing so they can up-charge you significantly later. 

These marketing tactics are sneaky and misleading at best and end up costing venues more marketing dollars than what you originally had budgeted. 

You shouldn’t be focused on trying to get out of a bad contract, reading the fine print, or stuck paying ANY commission for YOUR leads. You should only be focused on driving new revenue back to your venue with clear, defined, and affordable marketing initiatives. 

Premium Venue Directory Listings with EventUp

EventUp is the leading venue directory with more than 15,000 restaurants, hotels, and unique venues. We accommodate any venue type, every event type, in both small and large markets globally - that’s why more social, corporate, and wedding planners use EventUp to plan all of their parties and events, which means we deliver more leads and more qualified leads to our customers. 

EventUp does not offer “Free” listings - we do offer three robust, affordable premium packages giving venues maximum exposure to help generate more leads. 

• Lead Commissions
  • EventUp never charges venues for leads ever, no matter what package you select. 
    
    

• Event Commissions
  • EventUp never charges venues for booked events ever, no matter what package you select. 
    
    
• Limited Fields 
  • Every package includes all possible listing fields - we highly encourage all of our venues to fill out available fields as much as they can. We offer plenty of content to help you optimize the information you add.
    
    
• Restrictive Placement
  • The package level you select determines the overall placement and ranking of your listing, giving you full control to determine how to meet your unique marketing needs based on your available budget.
    
    
• Time-Sensitive Listing
  • All EventUp listing packages are offered as a yearly contract, with monthly and annual payment options. Annual contracts include 1 month free. 

Schedule a quick 10-minute demo to explore the EventUp premium listing packages and more benefits of listing your venue with the top venue directory.