What is the best method to promote a website and acquire clients via search engines (for a professional service, in a single geographical area)
Assuming a business has a user friendly and functional website to get a client in the door, what is the best way to promote the website on search engines, and what are the best search engines to be on?
Answers (14)
AJ -
I think that you first need to identify the keywords that your target market is using to search for you (or your client). These can be difficult to determine for local sites promoting professional services since they tend to have low(er) volumes of traffic and little search engine data to pull.
I ran into this while working with an audiology practice. We worked with the receptionist to first identify people who found the practice via the web. Then, we talked with these patients and asked them what they searched for... and WHY.
We found that many of them had heard from thier regular doctor that that they should go see one of the three audiologists at the practice.
So, they went online looking for this specific doctor's name.
I focused on optimizing the site for the search engines using the doctor's name and variations of the name spelled phoenetically and just plain wrong. We are also experimenting with PPC - buying the doctor's name, but I don't have good data on that yet.
Sonia M.
Director of Digital Marketing at Marxent Labs
Best Answers in: Resume Writing (1), Internet Marketing (1)
I'm in agreement with Rachel that you should do keyword and competitive research - but don't bait and switch people. It leaves a bad taste and cuts into credibility.
The best way to get found is to create an SEO optimized site that is content rich and keyword phrase targeted. Avoid flash and fanciness, focus on keyword research and content development.
Other great ways to establish yourself as an expert with credibility in a local area - contribute to a local publication that links to your site, join local organizations that will link to your site, start a blog that leverages your keyword research into relevant, current and interesting articles.
For local sites, relevant link love is critical - reach out to other local sites, get them to link to your site and reciprocate.
Paul O.
Experienced Entrepreneur and Business Builder
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Paid search program with geo-targeted ads
Limit your time to Google to get familiar with it. Add Yahoo, it is worth it.
Assuming this is a traditional business (not exclusively online), use Zvents' local search engine to promote the business itself, and promotions or events that take place there. Zvents powers local for most of the newspapers, MSN City Guides, MTV, and many more.
Links:
David C.
Copywriter, Video Scriptwriter, Marketing Communications Consultant
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Dianna Huff of DH Communications has an excellent e-book on this topic called "Turning Clicks into Leads through Search Engine Optimization." I used her methods for my own website, and it has made a big difference.
Links:
Nick L.
Account Manager/Strategist at eLink Design, Inc.
Best Answers in: Advertising (1), Internet Marketing (1), Search Marketing (1), Web Development (1)
AJ,
For SEM, you are right, if you have a great site, it does not matter, unless you get traffic to the site.
The best way to increase traffic is SEO. There are many things that could help your site become more favorable with the search engines, including tags, siloing, content organization, etc.
Geographically, a strategic combination of SEO and PPC can target specific keywords and phrases, including product or service information and geographic area.
The best search engine is Google, then Yahoo, then MSN.
Nick
P.S. What is the area and the service? I can provide you some brief keyword research to help steer you in the right direction.
Links:
Elaine F.
Professional Speaker. Marketing/Branding/Customer Engagement Evangelist. Copywriter/Blogger/Author. Nonprofit 'Guru.'
I've actually done this organically through blogging and published articles. It draws both local and international inbound inquiries through the Web site contact.
There are already some insightful recommendations above. I would add to those:
- look at your feedback mechanism, make your website interactive (as much as possible). If the geographical area is well determined, find something in the culture within that specific area that you can use and, indeed, focus on local popular websites for back-links and ads.
- Go for Google but I would not ignore !Yahoo also - it may be easier to optimize for it and can, at times, be more cost-efficient.
- always consider viral marketing - and identifying the specific cultural elements in your target area might give you a direction/ point to start on that. And yes, blog and generate as many articles on the topics of interest on your website as possible.
- do not go for companies that promise that you'll rank 1st on Google in an amazingly short period. Almost certainly they are not professional.
Check this website as well - I found it useful: http://www.seomoz.org/
Flyn P.
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AJ
SEO is not your best option.
The best and fastest way to get traffic to the site is via social marketing which can get you top page listing in hours as opposed to the time it takes for SEO methods to work.
Besides of the on page SEO tactics the most important thing search engines look for are back-links -- others linked to your site -- and that takes time.
If you are lucky and not in a competitive market the on page stuff could succeed more quickly. I put my sales consulting site on page one of a specific keyword in 3 days with 5 on page changes -- but it wasn't a highly competitive keyword and my competitors didn't have a lot of links.
Also very good for search engine success as well as marketing in general is having a blog -- search engines love them.
But the best way to make a splash and do it fast is with social marketing and specifically with videos. Videos get ranked high and fast and they pre sell prospects better than organic listings. They are also proven to increase conversions on a site -- so make sure you have a video on your home page. It will help.
Rishiraj S.
Digital Marketing Professional & Web Analyst
Best Answers in: Search Marketing (2), Viral Marketing (1)
AJ,
I would suggest go for both SEO and PPC.
First of all try to figure out words and phrases related to your service.
Then use Google Adwords keyword tool that can give you list of related keywords that are mostly used in search. Choose the words that can bring you business. Now you got the list of keywords that you can use.
Now start with SEO(Natural Search Engine Marketing) as it is always the best option for getting targeted traffic for long term. Although it can take 3-4 months to get good traffic but after that maintaining the same traffic is much easier. Also its free traffic, you have to just pay the person whom you have hired.
A professional SEO can make your site search engine friendly with all the tweaks in HTML code ( title, meta tag, header, alt etc) without affecting any functional or design aspect of your website. Follow it with link building campaign. Don't expect over night results because SEO takes time. Depending on your business niche and competition it can take 1-4 months to get good results.
But all of us need quick results. So you can use geographically targeted PPC campaign on Google, Yahoo and MSN to reach to your target customers. I would strongly recommend Google. Yahoo & MSN can be considered as optional.
You can use the same list with additional keywords added to it. Remember more the keywords you have more will be the traffic. But to get bettter ROI, you must have more relative keywords.
Start with SEO and PPC simulatenously, once you start getting natural traffic (from SEO) either you can stop doing PPC or carry on depending on your budget.
Links:
AJ - all great insight so far - some opposing views but all valid yet miss the most important Best Practices rule for Geo-centric site promotion.
For any web site that is geographically focused, one of the most important search optimization aspects is including your physical address in HTML on every page of the web site not just a contact page.
Then include the geographic area in the page title and within the content and footer of at least one or more page of the site (match the geographic area with the broader keyword phrases for that page then mix and match the broader phrases with the geographic area in that content and footer...)
For example - I offer SEO in Marin County, California - MY most important keyword phrases include "affordable SEO", "affordable search optimization", "SEO Company", "SEO Services" and of course "SEO". So my phrases then become "affordable SEO Marin", "affordable search optimization Marin", "SEO Company Marin", "SEO Services Marin" and of course "SEO Marin". (I also serve two other geo-areas so I apply the same principle to those).
With all my effort I am on the first page of Google for about 30 top phrases and over fifty additional "long tail" phrases. Because I am in an extremely competitive market I had to go the extra mile in content work but it paid off and I get leads because of my efforts. I have a ways to go with the most fiercely competitive terms but check out my self case study page on my web site to see what I'm talking about.
For other clients with less geo-competition, I've been able to keep it much simpler and get stellar results - so how much content and seeding will depend on your unique situation and may require trying some footwork, waiting a couple weeks, checking your standings, then more follow-on work.
Also, be sure to submit your site to Google Local, Yahoo Local, MSN Local, CitySearch, and Google Maps, all with links back to your site of course!
While other methods are better in some regards, no other method is more cost efficient over the long-haul because once you've done the proper footwork, and you get up in the position results, it requires only minimal ongoing maintenance - far less costly then over the longer period than pay per click.
As for those who claim back-links are the most important thing, I have countless client sites I've optimized that have minimal back-links and are at the top of the organic listings that proves otherwise, if you're willing to properly optimize your site.
I would not negate back-links, I would just work first on my own site's quality content and optimization then work on back-links which can only reinforce that work. Today Google gives great emphasis on back-links but they may not always - content will always need to be the most important determining factor of a site simply because it's the content that your visitors need to know is truly matching their search.
Pay per click is a very wise solution for the short term benefits as you work on the SEO as well - and at the point where your SEO is bringing in the majority of visitors, you may even want to scale back the PPC budgets.
If you do Google AdWords - for Geo-centric sites - I highly encourage clients to avoid the content network (others will argue - I am only basing this on my own experience managing a couple hundred client web sites in all sorts of market focuses). But you most definitely should use Google's Geo-location functionality in the AdWords system - which allows you to focus 100% of your budget on people who are searching from locations within your geo area.
If it helps guide your strategy, I'm happy to provide links to several client sites where you can see how my team optimized them for local results with only a handful of techniques - just ask...
Links:
Damon S.
Business Owner, Entrepreneur, Digital Marketer and Innovator. Shaping the future of the internet
Hi, Financial Services is a tricky one unless you have big budgets online. I work with a couple of the worlds largest online strategy companies and banks will out spend most by a factor of at least 10. Your best bet is a geo targeted PPC (pay per click) campaign on Google. But pick 3-5 word phrases they will be cheaper. But make sure they have a respectable volume on the Google Keyword Tool, or use Wordtracker for more detailed research. I've written some articles of PPC resources are below.
SEO, well again go for the long tail 3-5 word phrases, it will be easier, cheaper, and quicker to obtain a first page listing especially if ended in a location e.g. Property Investment Managers Washington see my article 'Getting your Keyword in Edgways'
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For a quick way to get noticed on search engines, use Google Pay Per Click ads that target keywords directly related to your products and services. Geo-target them to your area if your services are limited to your region. Depending on your budget, use Yahoo, too. Determine which one provides you with more leads and a lower cost per conversion by utilizing a conversion tracking code on your contact form Thank You page.
I wouldn't use the content network or placement ads if you're looking for the quickest and best results. Advertising on search engines allows you to target individuals who are further along in the buying process because they're actively searching for a term, versus using the content network or placement network where you're showing an ad on a site that is related, but you're reaching a larger audience who may not be interested in what you're selling. This can differ amongst varying industries, though.
Determine if you're selling a product or service that people need or want, in which case they will be searching for it, or whether you're promoting something that no one needs, but is so cool that everyone should have it. This will tell you which audience you need to reach.
It wouldn't hurt to use SEO, but realize that SEO is more of a marathon and PPC ads are more of a sprint. To get to the top section of a search engine with SEO takes time, best practices, dedication and most importantly, patience.
My company offers SEO and PPC services. If you're considering outsourcing, which I recommend to get you started (at least), send me a message and I can provide you with pricing. Hiring an agency means you get the expertise of someone who's been doing this awhile, as well as knowledge of best practices that can save you money. Plus, a good firm will educate you along the way, which is always valuable.
Good luck!
Jen
Links:
There is a national franchise website here in the UK called 'thebestof' which specialises in promoting their clients websites in s specific geographical area.
My company trades internationally, but our training salon has clients from a 10-20 mile catchment area. So to help promote the site within this area we use 'thebestof' Northwich, Middlewhich and Winsford. 3 of our main local towns.
They take care of the SEO on their site by giving us our own page with links to our main site. They monitor the SEO of our pages using some new fangled analytical program and tweek the page every so often to get better results. We pay about £25 per month and it's certainly worth it.
Links:
Article Marketing is an effective way to drive traffic to your website!
Write a compelling review of your website or product, describing these 3 stimple steps:
1) Here’s what I got
2) Here’s what it’ll do for you
3) Here’s what I want you to do next…
(encouraging your visitor to buy the said product/service).
Then simply submit your review to multiple article directories and free classified websites for the greatest exposure.
Check out more articles related to marketing and advertising on our website: http://www.articlegallery.net
We've even published a list of article directories you can submit to, all for FREE:
Good luck!
