How a Website Works for Small Business Local Marketing

Discover:

• Why your Website is an important Information Hub

• How a Website Works as part of the Internet

• How the Search Engine Results Page Works

• What are the 2 Kinds of Websites

• The top 10 Components of a Good Website

Your website is one of the most important Local Marketing tools for Small Business Growth.

In the Customer Journey, your Website helps potential customers who are ready to buy find your local business, become informed, consider options, learn more about your Company and take the necessary action to become a new customer.

I can’t find your business

But they can’t consider your business as a solution to their current need if they don’t see your website when they do their search using a Search Engine like Google, Bing or Yahoo.

How a Website Works as part of the Internet

A Small Business Website, like a house, is a place where your customers go to accomplish important things.

The Land is where you will place your home (your website). A Website Hosting Company manages a group of large computers where your Website Files will be stationed.

There are two basic types of Website Hosting. Shared Hosting, where your Website files are on the same Server (a group of computers with a shared IP Address that contain many Websites and their Website Files). And there is Managed Hosting on a Virtual Private Server where only a limited small number of chosen Websites and their Website Files reside. Think of Managed Hosting on a Virtual Private Server like putting your Home in a Gated Community where there is a careful screening process to get in and in addition to armed security there are service people there to take care of things for you.

A Domain Name, example; www.yourbusinessname.com, is like your home address. It must be Registered each year of use, with a Domain Name Registrar Company.

The same way people come to visit your Home using your address, a GPS, and the Highway – your Website works the same way on the Internet. People learn of your Website Address, (www.yourbusiness.com), type it into a Web Browser software like Internet Explorer, Firefox, or Chrome and the Web Browser connected to a Search Engine like Google, (just like your GPS) knows how to get to your Website Address and bring back the information requested (your Website Pages).

Growology can register your domain and offers our customers Fully Managed Hosting on a VPS for only a few dollars more per month than shared hosting.

Learn more about Hosting Differences:

Shared Hosting vs. Fully Managed Hosting on a Virtual Private Server

What are the 2 Kinds of Websites

A Digital Brochure is the term often used to describe a website that has not been designed using Search Engine Optimization Best Practices for Small Business Local Marketing and therefore is not easily found online when people search for a product or service like you offer and therefore does not generate New Business Leads and Sales.

How a Website works that sits stagnant without having additional content added regularly is that it will be considered of less value by Google Search Engine and will slowly begin to rank lower and lower in the Search Results over time.

The only way to generate new business with this kind of website is to direct people to it in person, via email, in social media postings, or using paid advertising channels like Direct Mail, or online advertising like Google Ads, Facebook Ads, or others. Even though direct marketing programs like Hometown Favorites – New Mover Welcome Service Direct Mail provides a great response rate averaging 4% – 20%, not taking full advantage of your website’s ability to help you generate a steady stream of new customers is a costly mistake.

When a potential customer types in a key word phrase like [Dentist] [your city] and your Website shows up on the first page of results (called the SERP -Search Engine Results Page) on Search Engines like Google this good outcome is known as Ranking Organically. It means that without paying for Ads Google determined your website to be important enough to show near the top results.

In a competitive industry, which most small businesses operate in, this outcome only occurs when a Website is designed using SEO (Search Engine Optimization) Best Practices and when there is a continual process of improvement and new written content added which is a key Ranking factor used by Google. When someone uses a Search Engine like Google to look for a product or service like yours they are likely ready to buy or at least in the consideration step along the Customer Journey. The better your ability to meet people at the time and location where they are ready to buy products or services like yours the lower your cost of new customer acquisition and the better your return on investment of marketing dollars. This is why continually investing in SEO for your website so it ranks on the first page of Google results will over time become one of the Highest Return on Investment methods to generate new business.

Also see What is SEO and How SEO works

How the Search Engine Results Page works

This is an important and key part of the Customer Journey toward a solution.

“Google” is the Search Engine

The Search Phrase also called the Keyword Phrase is the string of words someone uses to look for their need

This is a Paid Advertisement. Also called PPC or Pay-per-Click Advertising Each time someone Clicks on the Ad the Business Pays a fee.

This Section is called the Map Listings

The Top listing Brent Pump Works has a 5 Star Review and a Website Link

These listings are the Search Engine’s Results Page Organic Results and Brent Pump Works shows up #2 Organically. Organic means the non-paid results that show up. There are 10 of these results on the first page of Results and being on the Map and in these results allows customers to find your business.

Where your listing is in these results will have a significant impact on the outcome or number of times your listing will be clicked and a potential customer directed to your website or a page on your website. For example, the First Listing will on average be clicked 32% of the time, the second listing 14%, the third listing 10%, the 4^th listing 7%, the 5^th listing 5.5% and the 6^th thru the 10^th share about 4% of the clicks. There are factors that impact these percentages however like the Map Listings which account for 30% or greater of all clicks.

It’s important to understand that multiple factors can have an impact on your local marketing success. One example is the Positive impact of Reviews and how positive reviews can significantly impact click thru rates and lead to more sales volume. To Learn more about how Reviews Impact you favorably watch this short video.

The Top 10 Components of a good Website

Your website represents your company and it’s Unique Value Proposition.

Your website should;

• Be Easy to find – Meaning you have designed it considering all the key word phrases customers may use when seeking products and services like yours.

• Your website should load quickly as keeping customers waiting may cause them to turn away.

• Be Responsive which means it resizes to display correctly on any device without the user having to scroll to the right to see the page content.

• Upon arriving on each landing page, present a well-defined Unique Value Proposition which communicates in just a few seconds how your business’ solves the related needs of their customers. This goal is sometimes referred to as “the 3-second rule”.

• Clearly convey the benefit your customer will experience when using your products or services. This can also be conveyed in your Unique Sales Proposition also known as your slogan.

• Be Easy to navigate to relevant information. This sounds obvious but it is amazing how many company websites have a terrible user experience because the visitor can’t access relevant information or the information is too hard to find.

• Be Informative. The best way to help someone consider if your business solution is the right one for them is to make all the relevant information available.

• Give them clear next steps to take for moving forward in the consideration or purchasing process. These are referred to as your CTA’s or Calls to Action.

• Allow potential customers to know about you. Your values, personality and the company standards that will impact the relationship. The About Us is one of the most visited pages on a Local Small Business Website for this reason.

• Make contacting you easy with Phone Number shown in prominent places on each page, ideally in or Near the Top Menu.

I hope you found this article helpful and would enjoy hearing your comments.  To learn more about how to create a steady stream of new customers and more free time check out the related articles and our Managed local marketing solutions including Website Design, New Mover Welcome Direct Mail and Managed Online Marketing for your small business on growology.com