The goal of this series is to explain in detail the essential steps that each small business should be taking to ensure success with online marketing. I get a lot of questions in regards to SEO, social media and other online strategies. To be honest, after focusing on lead generation it has really become apparent that all of these strategies are important in 2016 and beyond. While no two strategies are the same, there are definitely some checklists along the way that need to be covered at minimum to give your business the best chance to succeed online.
It starts with a website
Regardless of SEO being a part of your strategy, your business needs to be online. Why? So that people can learn about your business/services at their leisure and then make informed decisions. Websites build credibility, especially for service niches (think roofing, plumbing etc) when there are so many fly by night companies offering terrible work for cheap on craigslist. You wouldn’t believe the number of lead generation phone calls that I listen in on that sound like this
I called this guy that I found on craigslist and they never fixed the roof and won’t call back
After someone has been burned by going the cheap route they certainly aren’t going back to the free advertising platforms like craigslist. For those of you that are in service niches then consider this as well, a potential customer that is looking for credibility through a website is also someone that takes the work they need performed seriously…AKA quality leads vs. bottom feeders.
What does my site need?
To be honest, most businesses don’t need much when it comes to a website. A simple, clean looking site that loads fast is sufficient. Depending on the industry, you might want more creativity but most people just want to know how to contact you. The absolute bane of my existence are restaurant websites that don’t have easy access to their menu. If it were up to me, all restaurants would have their menu as the homepage and that’s it but I digress. That brings me to the next point that is a MUST for your site, responsive to mobile and tablet devices. This is something that most great wordpress themes already offer and there is no reason to not have this feature unless you want to piss off every mobile customer you have.
On-page optimization
As a general rule of thumb, your keyword (the main service you provide + the location you service) needs to be included within the following
If you have a site built and are looking it over, you should be asking about these items and verifying that your keyword is included within those four items. If it isn’t, ask your developer to make the necessary changes. There are a lot more things that can and should be done that are well beyond the scope of this series but for most businesses this is sufficient to get started.
If you don’t have the keywords that you would like your potential customers to find you included as mentioned above then it is safe to say they won’t be finding you at all.
Clear calls-to-action
The most important thing that your website needs to do is to communicate to the visitor exactly what you want them to do. In most cases that is either picking up the phone to call you or filling out a form to receive a quote. Make sure that your website has a prominently displayed phone number, email address or form so that you can capture information and sell your services.
Content length
As a rule of thumb, take a look at the number of words that the number one ranking website for your term has on page and do that plus more. If you are struggling to find content to add on your pages consider adding testimonials from customers. This builds trust, relevance and beefs up your homepage content so that it can compete with those higher authority sites that are on the first page stealing your traffic.
What if I already have a website?
If you already have a site and it isn’t ranking then usually something is wrong with the on-page keys that have been mentioned above. Local business keywords can be very competitive but if you create a site with the tips that I described above then at the very least you should be ranking in the top 50. Heck, I’ve got domains with a blank wordpress install that are ranking in the top 50 WITH NO CONTENT OR SITE SET UP. If you aren’t in the top 50 and your site is older than 6 months there is most likely a problem.
Schedule a site audit
You will need someone with experience to perform a site audit such as the one that I performed in that link. There is no reason that a legitimate business should not be ranking in the top 50 when most competitors have weak back link profiles. Reaching page one might take some work, but not the top 50. If you need think you need an audit call 315-292-3375 for a free consultation.
Part two of this guide will cover social media set up…..
Keep reading about The Ultimate Guide To Small Business Marketing Strategies appeared at <a href="http://www.simplebutwell.com" target="_blank"
from Simple But Well Marketing Solutions http://www.simplebutwell.com/ultimate-guide-small-business-marketing-strategies/
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