What Are Organic Rankings?
Organic rankings are the main section of results that are returned when you do a search in any of the major engines. Though they now quite often sit below paid advertising space and local map results they are still the most coveted spot for any business that wants to rank for a given keyword phrase.
Why? Because the majority of people that search for products and services on the internet skip right over the paid listings and map results, preferring instead to click on the first link in the main section. I think it’s because most people view this area as the more “legitimate” results that will provide a better, more qualified solution to their problem or need. Organic rankings equal a certain level of trust on the part of the consumer. They assume that if Google sees that page as the most relevant for their keyword phrase then it must be, in fact, the most relevant.
Don’t get me wrong. It’s still important to get listed in the local map results for Google and Yahoo, and paying up to be included in the Google Adwords system can often be a good way to supplement your overall local market exposure. But the fact of the matter is that the #1 listing in the organic results still gets the greatest piece of the pie in terms of overall click rates. Dominate your market for a series of keyword phrases and you should see a substantial uptick in leads and business.
Website Marketing Basics
Website marketing is a wide-ranging topic which would require days of instruction to fully grasp in all its nuances, however there are some basic concepts that can be generalized and outlined. Let’s use an example. Let’s say you wanted to market a website about San Diego carpet cleaning.
Now, the real beginners out there might assume that when we’re talking about web marketing that it involves nothing more than building a site and then having all sorts of materials printed up with the url like flyers, business cards, and the like. Now it’s true that this sort of traditional marketing should be a component of your overall plan, but it’s not really web marketing. If this was you sole method of getting the word out about your business then you’d be missing out on the huge advantage of leverage that proper website internet marketing can offer.
Others out there who are further along the learning curve might assume that true web marketing involves getting lots of traffic to your website, no matter where it comes from. You might be obsessed with getting traffic from social media (like Digg and Stumbleupon), or by doing link exchanges with unrelated sites, or by spamming blog comments (don’t do this) that have nothing to do with your business. If you have this mentality then you’re on the path to getting it, but you’re still not there yet.
Now if you really understand what website marketing is all about then you will know that it involves getting as much targeted traffic as possible, because these are the kinds of visitors that convert into paying customers. You can have millions of hits on your website about carpet cleaning in San Diego, but if only 1% of them are actually interested in San Diego carpet cleaning then what’s the point of all that traffic? You must be laser-focused on aquiring visitors that are already pre-qualified, because this will be a better use of your web marketing time. This boils down to using search engine PPC programs which only show your ads to truly interested parties, and it also means that you need to learn a little about organic search engine optimization. Organic rankings are the best because once they are achieved they provide free leads and are more-often clicked on than PPC ads, and so you’d be wise to educate yourself in this area.
Your Great Business Idea Still Needs To Reach The Masses
Sure, you might think that you have one of those great business ideas that will make you rich and famous, but I’m here to tell you that no matter how inventive or brilliant your idea, it quite simply will not take off unless it is also marketed smartly and heavily, and usually this involves internet marketing to some degree.
“Oh, but my idea is so revolutionary and needed that it will only require word-of-mouth to spread virally like wildfire.” If that’s what you’re thinking then, I hate to burst your bubble, but you’re just dead wrong. Sure, in the later stages of your business you’ll have enough momentum to capitalize on word-of-mouth (though you’ll always need to spend money on advertising), but when you’re just getting started the numbers of happy customers will not be enough to scale up the business in an appropriate way. Yes, in time you’ll reach a tipping point where the buzz truly explodes your product or service, but it takes time to get there.
So if you have that next great business idea, just be sure to have enough money in the budget to account for massive marketing spending up front. In my opinion you’d be best served spending a good portion of this on web marketing, of course. This means hiring a web designer who also understand search engine optimization. I then means hiring a web marketing firm to help your site find more exposure on the web, because a site is worthless if it is not seen.
Web Marketing Can Help Your Business Make More Money
I can’t stress this enough: in almost all cases if you truly want to make a lot of money with your small business, even if your service has nothing to do with the internet, you absolutely must have a web presence, and you must learn to leverage that presence.
It’s especially important right now to get the ball rolling with your internet marketing efforts because it will quickly set you head and shoulders above your competitors, and it will help you to make more money. This is the case with most local service businesses, I have found. Small service businesses and contractors are seemingly just now waking up to the notion that people might actually be looking for their services on the internet. Here’s a newsflash: the internet is the next wave of promotion, and soon the yellow pages will be dead! The sooner you can grasp this notion and get on board the better, because it won’t be long before everybody’s crowding in. Get your foot in the door first and stake your claim.
For example, I do a lot of research and am always stunned by the lack of competing websites for local terms such as “Cleveland Remodeling” or “Houston Painting”. With just a little effort almost anyone right now can get a top ranking for their website in their local market, and there’s simply no telling how beneficial this can be for your bottom line. I’ve seen some cases where a #1 ranking for a local term has propelled a small business owner’s profits to heights that he never dreamed possible. And on top of that it’s probably the most cost-effective marketing you could ever hope for. If you’re really serious about trying to make lots of money with your local business you’ll heed my advice and get on the internet-train.
Use Your Product Or Service In Your URL / Domain Name
The first step in setting up your business website is one of the most important – getting some descriptive keywords in your domain name. This not only helps describe your business in offline marketing, but it also helps the search engines to understand what your business is about. The easier you make it for the engines to grasp your site’s content, the more quickly you’ll be indexed and the better your search engine rankings will be.
For example, let’s say there are two plumbing companies in Boston that are each ready to build a business website. Business A buys a cutesy domain name like perfectpipecleaners.com, while business B buys the domain name Bostonplumbingpros.com. In this theoretical example Business B clearly has chosen a better domain name because it has the keywords in it that potential customers would actually use in a search, so the search engines will, all else being equal, deliver a higher organic ranking for it. Business A’s domain name has neither “Boston” nor “plumbing” in it, so the search engines will have a more difficult time understanding what the site is about, and therefore won’t give it a very good ranking (this can be overcome but that’s for another lesson).
The same could be said if you sell a product. Let’s say that you sell roof cleaning products and chemicals on the internet. It would make sense to find a domain name that has the keywords “roof cleaning products” in it. If you’re coming from a branding standpoint, the argument could be made for a more unique domain name, just know that if your main keywords are not in the URL ( in this case roof cleaning related terms) you will have a more difficult time getting ranked (and selling stuff). Help the search engines to understand what your site is about and you will be rewarded.
How To Become A Web Marketing Genius
Becoming a web marketing expert is not nearly as straight-forward as, say, learning how to become a contractor, because instead of having several clearly defined steps to follow, you have to just dive in and experiment to see what works, and it can be very time-consuming.
Some online marketing methods will work for your particular business, and some will seem pointless. Every situation is different, and factors like the size of your city and the determination of your competitors will play a role in your success. For example, in some smaller cities you might be the only painting company in town that bothers to post ads on Craigslist, meaning that you’ll capture all leads available through that channel, while in most larger cities you’ll have to experiment with the ad to make it perfect because ten other local painting companies will have the same idea.
Likewise, you could find that your local business listing in Google just isn’t delivering many visitors to your site because you’re stuck on page two, but that YouTube video you reluctantly created to build buzz around your business is taking off and coming up near the top of the search engine rankings for key terms in your market. The bottom line is that you just never know what will and will not work with small business and local marketing and you just have to go through a lot of trial and error to get to that pot of gold. Most people won’t have the patience for this, but if you can stick it out the rewards will be well worth the effort.
Welcome To The Jester Web Marketing Blog!
This is the first in what will be a long-running series of blog posts about search engine optimization and marketing, particularly as it relates to small businesses and those seeking to dominate local markets. I plan to make them as informative and easy-to-understand as possible. To stay abreast of new information and posts please subscribe to our feed via reader or email. Thanks and feel free to comment or ask questions. Let’s get it on!