With ninety percent of adults using the Internet for local searches, it’s vitally important for your business to have a website that local prospects can easily find. Here’s a simple test you can run to determine if your website is truly a worker, or just lazy.
Some definitions first: By “hardworking” I mean a website that reaches out to its prospects, introducing its products and/or services to the communities it targets. A “lazy” website is one that may look good, is there when you look for it, but never seems to produce the results you expected.
I run this test every day for companies we invite to our Trusted 411 Marketing Alliance, and to be honest, it produces disappointing results most of the time. Business owners are rarely good webmasters, so they cultivate it and often forget about it, believing that just having a website is enough. As we improve their search results, they come to appreciate how powerful the Internet can be in making your phone ring and your doors open, even in this slow economy. The test results create a valuable baseline and clearly identify which areas of your online presence need improvement.
Google is so dominant in local search that we’ll start there, but then you can run this same test with Yahoo, Bing, and any other search engines you find. Your ultimate goal is to be in the top three organic (unpaid) listings, but that can be a difficult achievement, so if you are in the top six, or even on the first page of their search results, feel free to give yourself a pat on the back. We start with a simple form that tracks your searches and results. Using your word processor, create the following document: Start with your list of keywords, those words or phrases that consumers might use to search for your business. Number them, from 1 to whatever. Now make a list of the communities/cities/towns you want to draw and number them too. Below these lists, add the following and insert your company name where indicated.
Search for (your business name)…circle the results:….Google Page…1,…2,…3,…____…not found
Search for (your business name your city)…circle the results:….Google page..1,..2,..3,..____..not found
Search: keyword1…city1…circle results:….Google page..1,..2,..3,..____.. not found
Search: keyword1…city2…circle results:….Google page..1,..2,..3,..____..not found
Search: keyword1…city3…circle results:….Google page..1,..2,..3,..____..not found
keep adding these lines until you have enough to include all of your cities
Search: keyword2…city1…circle results:….Google page..1,..2,..3,..____..not found
Search: keyword2…city2…circle results:….Google page..1,..2,..3,..____..not found
Search: keyword2…city3…circle results:….Google page..1,..2,..3,..____..not found
keep adding these lines until you have enough to include all of your cities
Do you see where we’re going? Each search block combines a keyword with each of your communities. Continue this process with keyword3, keyword4, etc. until all your keywords are included.
Now, using your word processor, do a “search and replace”, substituting your first keyword in your list for the term “keyword1”, your second keyword for “keyword2”, etc. Then find and replace all of your “city1” with the first city in your list and continue with “city2”, etc. until all their communities are accounted for. Print your list and pen in hand go to http://www.google.com and do your searches line by line. Only count your own website, not a directory or listing linking to your site.
The first two searches are like looking for yourself in the white pages of the phone book. These are for people who already know your company name. How did you do it? In the search for the company name and the city, you should have found it in the first position. Keyword and city searches are like the yellow pages of the Internet. These results are what really count. Again, you want to be found in the top three, but on the first page is fine. Page two is no good, page three is bad, and after that it’s almost useless. The only reason to keep looking past page three is to see if your site shows up so you can document your progress later.
In the margins, you may want to note the web addresses of your competitors that outrank you. This will be important in creating your SEO (search engine optimization) plan as it helps to know how strong you need to be to beat them.
If you’re happy with all your search results, congratulate yourself and your webmaster. If you are in the majority and see a lot of room for improvement, then you should sit down with your webmaster and make SEO a priority.
