I’ve talked at length about organic optimization; but unless you’ve sat through one of my locally-focused webinars or presentations, you may not yet understand how local search results differ from “normal” search results.
We need to assume a few things for this discussion:
1) We’re focusing on Google, since they matter most anyway.
2) Your customer searches for a general term like ‘windshield replacement’. They do NOT add a local descriptor like the city name
3) Your shop(s) only cover a small geographical area in one town or city
4) We’re talking about organic results – not Pay-per-Click (PPC)
With the above assumptions in mind, let’s go through a customer scenario.
Joe Bob is sitting at home, pondering what to do about his broken windshield. He jumps on Google and types in a general windshield replacement related search term. His Google results will typically be displayed in one of three ways:
1) National results, based on a general search term.
He will receive national listings, but will also get a few locally targeted listings based on the geographic location of his IP address as tracked by Google (about 90% accurate depending on your ISP (Internet Service Provider).
2) Highly customized results
He will receive results customized to his search history, location, and other criteria if he is logged in to a Google account. These results will be mostly locally focused.
3) Local listings based on Google Maps
If he types in a company name that includes a city, street, or similar name, he may be given the Google Maps local search results display.
In any of the above cases, you have a good chance of showing up in these locally based organic results if you focus optimization efforts on your locality. This can come in many forms, depending on your location, number of shops, and local competition.
As an example though, you should have location pages for each physical address (shop location). Each page should be optimized with physical address, phone number, street information, neighborhood details, local parades, charities, clubs…anything that gives a local flare to each page.
There’s more to this than I can cover in a post, but don’t list all of your locations on a single page. It will dilute the strength of each location’s optimization. This is also great if you belong to any local chambers, clubs, or charity events; as it gives you a wonderful opportunity to expose your contributions to the local community.
Monday, August 11, 2008
Thursday, August 7, 2008
The Business Snooze Button
I spent the day at the Online Marketing Summit (OMS) in Portland Tuesday. Like most of these events, there was a lot of repeated information about the status of Search Engine Marketing, organic optimization, Pay-per-Click, and social media – but I usually get out with a couple new takeaways.
The conference featured sessions on website strategy, web analytics strategy, Email marketing, loyalty marketing, and a couple of social media marketing panels; each given by a speaker known for their successes in their respective fields.
One of the more interesting concepts came out of the opening keynote, where the founder of OMS explained the dangers of hitting the snooze button in business.
He compared it to how most of us wake up in the morning. The alarm goes off. We wake up just enough to reach over and hit the snooze button. A few minutes later the alarm goes off again. Again, we reach over and hit the button. A few minutes go by and the alarm goes off a third time. Some of us will finally get up – while others look at the time and sleepily come to the irrational conclusion that we can sleep for another 5 minutes and somehow still make it to work on time. Wrong. You get up, rush out the door, drive to work in a panic, and show up 10 minutes late.
Well, as he pointed out, businesses are often guilty of the same thing. We wait and wait, even though the alarm of change is ringing in our ears, we put it off. We say, “I already have a website – so I’m covered”. Or, “we paid someone to do Pay-per-Click, so we don’t need that organic stuff”. Whatever it is, they’re hitting the snooze button over and over. Until one day they realize they need to jump on this. You know where I’m going with this, don’t you? When they finally “wake up”, they’re in a mad dash to catch up with those that already moved forward. Being “late”, they’ve caused themselves extra pains – as they’ve allowed competitors to creep up and take an advantageous position online.
I couldn’t stop nodding my head through this 10-minute rant from the guy on stage. I see this every day. I see it in the glass industry now – but I saw it in many other verticals in my agency life. There’s just no sense of urgency!
If only I could pull the strings and make you all do what I’ve been recommending. But sadly, I must sit by idly, helping those that realize its needed, and feeling sorry for those that keep hitting the snooze button.
Just something to think about.
And in case you were wondering… here are some new stats on the top sales influencers from across the nation:
Internet 39%
TV 18%
Radio 12%
Magazine 3%
Newspaper 2%
I’ll share the source of this data as soon as I can download the presentation from the conference.
The conference featured sessions on website strategy, web analytics strategy, Email marketing, loyalty marketing, and a couple of social media marketing panels; each given by a speaker known for their successes in their respective fields.
One of the more interesting concepts came out of the opening keynote, where the founder of OMS explained the dangers of hitting the snooze button in business.
He compared it to how most of us wake up in the morning. The alarm goes off. We wake up just enough to reach over and hit the snooze button. A few minutes later the alarm goes off again. Again, we reach over and hit the button. A few minutes go by and the alarm goes off a third time. Some of us will finally get up – while others look at the time and sleepily come to the irrational conclusion that we can sleep for another 5 minutes and somehow still make it to work on time. Wrong. You get up, rush out the door, drive to work in a panic, and show up 10 minutes late.
Well, as he pointed out, businesses are often guilty of the same thing. We wait and wait, even though the alarm of change is ringing in our ears, we put it off. We say, “I already have a website – so I’m covered”. Or, “we paid someone to do Pay-per-Click, so we don’t need that organic stuff”. Whatever it is, they’re hitting the snooze button over and over. Until one day they realize they need to jump on this. You know where I’m going with this, don’t you? When they finally “wake up”, they’re in a mad dash to catch up with those that already moved forward. Being “late”, they’ve caused themselves extra pains – as they’ve allowed competitors to creep up and take an advantageous position online.
I couldn’t stop nodding my head through this 10-minute rant from the guy on stage. I see this every day. I see it in the glass industry now – but I saw it in many other verticals in my agency life. There’s just no sense of urgency!
If only I could pull the strings and make you all do what I’ve been recommending. But sadly, I must sit by idly, helping those that realize its needed, and feeling sorry for those that keep hitting the snooze button.
Just something to think about.
And in case you were wondering… here are some new stats on the top sales influencers from across the nation:
Internet 39%
TV 18%
Radio 12%
Magazine 3%
Newspaper 2%
I’ll share the source of this data as soon as I can download the presentation from the conference.
Friday, August 1, 2008
Best of the Web Contest
Have you seen the Best of the Web article in USGlass Magazine? You can catch it in digital form at www.usglass-digital.com/usglass/200807/?u1=texterity. I had the honor to join several others in judging a sizable list of websites in two categories; supplier sites and retail sites.
There were about 30 websites submitted for review. Of these, we scored them on numerous criteria. On the retail side, the sites that won (in order of rank) were:
1) www.hellenbrandglass.com
2) www.zieglerglass.com
3) www.ventanaman.com
On the supplier side, the sites that won (in order of rank) were:
1) www.vistamatic.com
2) www.safti.com
3) www.archdecoglass.com
These were all wonderful sites for many reasons. It would be difficult to say any site is ‘perfect’, because there are so many different topics to look at. For instance, some of the winning sites were excellent in their use of visuals and interactivity, but they may have had poor optimization for search engines. Some had a great design and layout, but didn’t have a clear call-to-action (to drive sales).
So take a look at these sites, and know that these are some of the best around – but there isn’t one look or feel that’s better than another. It’s all about what fits your business model, what speaks to your customers, and what achieves your online goals.
I would like to mention a couple of sites that did not make the top 3 list in either category.
www.fireglass.com and www.tgpamerica.com popped out to me as very vibrant sites. They have great images and wonderful use of Flash. These sites aren’t for everyone, but I really like color so they resonated well with me. Functionality is very modern, content and navigation is clean and easy to follow on a site with so much to say.
www.sandgloglass.com is an excellent example of how many of you can have a professional looking site that does a great job building your brand, but doesn’t take a mountain of effort to build. Nice minimal use of Flash, clean navigation, simple and clean layout. Good job with this one Sandglo!
If you have a site you’d like me to look at, feel free to send it my way at scotto@gtsservices.com. And if you’re really brave, let me know if you’d be up for a Hot Seat at NACE or IGA this fall. A Hot Seat is when I analyze your site in front of a live audience. It’s a great learning time for everyone watching – and delivers actionable information to you on the spot.
There were about 30 websites submitted for review. Of these, we scored them on numerous criteria. On the retail side, the sites that won (in order of rank) were:
1) www.hellenbrandglass.com
2) www.zieglerglass.com
3) www.ventanaman.com
On the supplier side, the sites that won (in order of rank) were:
1) www.vistamatic.com
2) www.safti.com
3) www.archdecoglass.com
These were all wonderful sites for many reasons. It would be difficult to say any site is ‘perfect’, because there are so many different topics to look at. For instance, some of the winning sites were excellent in their use of visuals and interactivity, but they may have had poor optimization for search engines. Some had a great design and layout, but didn’t have a clear call-to-action (to drive sales).
So take a look at these sites, and know that these are some of the best around – but there isn’t one look or feel that’s better than another. It’s all about what fits your business model, what speaks to your customers, and what achieves your online goals.
I would like to mention a couple of sites that did not make the top 3 list in either category.
www.fireglass.com and www.tgpamerica.com popped out to me as very vibrant sites. They have great images and wonderful use of Flash. These sites aren’t for everyone, but I really like color so they resonated well with me. Functionality is very modern, content and navigation is clean and easy to follow on a site with so much to say.
www.sandgloglass.com is an excellent example of how many of you can have a professional looking site that does a great job building your brand, but doesn’t take a mountain of effort to build. Nice minimal use of Flash, clean navigation, simple and clean layout. Good job with this one Sandglo!
If you have a site you’d like me to look at, feel free to send it my way at scotto@gtsservices.com. And if you’re really brave, let me know if you’d be up for a Hot Seat at NACE or IGA this fall. A Hot Seat is when I analyze your site in front of a live audience. It’s a great learning time for everyone watching – and delivers actionable information to you on the spot.
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