Online Malls were designed to be parallel to real life malls, sans parking. Companies are rented a "storefront" (their own mini-web site within the mall), and you're supposed to be attracted by the fact that surfers shopping that mall might stumble upon your company. Industry-based directories (Yahoo! calls them commercial website directories) are similar to online malls but concentrate on one particular type of business. For example, Attorney Finder will list your law firm and create its own page for $295 USD per year (after a free 60-day trial period), or if you breed dogs, you might want to join All-Dogs.com, whose prices start at $99 USD per year for one web page.
Before rushing to sign up for cool online malls and directories in your industry, there are pros and cons to weigh as well as details to research.
Control - Some online malls and directories want to create your web site (and possible charge you extra for that). This leaves someone who isn't you in control of your company's internet presence. Some have strict rules or fees for updating your site, so it is possible that you may end up in a situation where updating is expensive or not possible. Some won't really design your storefront, but will plug your logo, information, and a few pictures into their template, making your store look basically the same as any other regardless of what you're selling. Another control issue has to do with communicating with potential customers through the online mall or directory. Some of these sites insist that e-mail and possibly phone calls and orders go through them. I've seen an online travel directory that books some of its member hotels through its own system. Yet, it does not tell you anything about that hotel's availability for a particular stay, and also says your confirmation will come within seven days. If you are planning travel (especially during a busy season), you may not want to wait seven days to find out if your desired hotel has room for you. Make sure the online mall or directory you select, if they handle your orders or inquiries, gets back to potential customers in a reasonable amount of time.
Your Web Address - Few sites give you a web address as nice and memorable as http://www.yourcompany.com. If your online storefront is not your primary site (and we'll get to that later), then the address "problem" isn't as important. Here are some web addresses for random stores we found in a few different malls:
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