If you are going to do anything, get your website in order.
Don’t kid yourself, that five-page website that hasn’t been updated in years isn’t going to get you very far.
Quick tip: Go to google.com and search for whatever product or service you offer with your location.
For example: “plumber dallas”
Check out the map pack and organic results(the websites listed below the paid ads).
We will discuss how the websites got into these coveted positions and the paid advertising positions in a different post.
For now, click on the first few websites and take a look. What do you notice?
- Did the website load fast?
- Visually pleasing?
- Mobile phone friendly?
- How many pages does the website have?
- How much content does the website have?
- What topics does the website cover?
- Do they have a blog?
- How do these websites compare to yours?
You need to realize that these companies listed on the first page of Google are getting new leads daily.
Does your website alone produce new leads daily?
If not, you need to learn about search engine optimization(SEO) and paid advertising(PPC) in the near future.
But first, before you start down either of those paths, you need to focus on your website.
Your Local Business Website
I stopped accepting the $2k-$5k website clients that don’t have future online plans once the website is live.
Why?
It is a waste of time and money for the business owner.
I can whip together a website in a few days and make a quick $5k and call it a day. Great…
The problem is this provides no value for the business owner. Sure, they get a new website that looks fan-tast-ic, has all the new bells and whistles, includes all their content and imagery, SEO ready, and blah blah blah.
The truth is that a website this size is just a digital paperweight. It is useless without further work and marketing.
A site this size probably has 5-20 pages of thin content, a blog that will never get updated, and is just there for the business to say they have a website.
I see it all the time. A business puts up a website, and then they are done. They think just having a website will produce new leads and clients.
Don’t be this business owner!
Your New Strategy
The best way for many local businesses to grow is through online ventures.
There is a place for traditional marketing, but if you want to grow your business and grow it fast, digital marketing should be your primary focus.
With that said, your website should be continuously growing and improving. It is not one of those things where once it is set up you are done.
Take a look at your competitors that are listed on the first page of Google. Reverse engineer what they have done to get to that position.
To compete with these websites you will probably have to:
- optimize your website for search engines
- continually produce quality content and blog posts
- find and get websites to link to your business website
- do continuous testing to increase your conversion rate
What’s Next?
This is just the start!
Some of you might have already figured this out about your website. Everything revolves around your website. Make sure you are starting out on the right foot before you even start thinking about driving traffic.
As we move forward, we will discuss and break down the components of an optimized website.