Business domiciliation is a practice permitted by French law that allows you to have a registered office address that's different from your place of business.
Domiciliation companies offer businesses the chance to pick a business address from a wide selection of prestigious and valuable locations. This choice is one of the first things you'll need to do when setting up your business.
Your registered office address is a real showcase to everyone involved and needs to be on all your official documents (invoices, quotes, articles of association, order forms, etc.). It should also help create a positive image for the company.
Finally, it also determines its nationality, its country of taxation and the competent jurisdictions in the event of disputes.
Business address providers let you outsource a load of everyday tasks that don't add much value. They directly help boost the performance of their client companies by promoting a more efficient business model.
Discover in this article how business domiciliation can optimize your local SEO
Local SEO is an SEO practice that increases your visibility on search engines when users make a query including a specific geographic area.
For example, when people search for things like "Best fruits and vegetables in Bordeaux" or "Notary in Paris", search engine algorithms consider the geographic location to show users the most relevant results.
This method allows you to promote your services to customers located near your actual place of work, but not only!
According to Google, 4 out of 5 consumers use search engines to find local information
Domiciliation companies allow entrepreneurs to separate their registered office address from their place of business.
So they can choose from a wide range of prestigious addresses designed to enhance the image of their business. For example, a company that dedicates a large part of its activity to export will benefit from being located on the famous Avenue des Champs-Elysées, in the heart of Paris. This is an asset that inspires confidence in the eyes of all partners.
By choosing a registered address close to your target market, you'll find it easier to attract customers to your business.
For example, if your business address is in Paris but someone searches in Lyon, you won't rank as high as if you were actually in Lyon.
That's why domiciliation allows some companies to be registered in several locations to increase their visibility.
They are referenced locally in many cities without being physically present there.
The idea is simple: mention all the cities you serve, even if you're not physically present there.
It's very rare to only work with your domiciliation city.
Domiciliation, therefore, allows companies to more easily target their core market through local SEO.
The model presented above is valid unless your business requires customers to come to the store (and you don't offer a delivery service).
In this case, expanding your SEO to Lyon when your premises are in Paris isn't really worth it.
Service companies, however, can expand their reach and attract new customers more easily by choosing to separate their place of business from their registered office address.
Using local SEO allows a company to expand its online presence throughout France while only having one physical location.
What's more, you can get a business address for just a few tens of euros per month.
Business address providers have developed "pick and choose" offers that adapt to each client's needs.
They thus contribute directly to the development of their clients' commercial activities and promote the success of their projects.
Written by our expert Paul LASBARRERES-CANDAU
October 1, 2018
