If you have a business that has high search equity, meaning every day people are conducting searches for your services – you MUST have a well-performing website.
Notice I didn’t just say a website – I said a “well-performing” website.
I have been working with service-based businesses for years and I know for a fact that ranking for keywords your target market uses to find yours products and services will not only make your business money but it will save you money because you can spend less when it comes to things like Google ads.
As a service-based business owner you have a product or service that is highly sought out by the consumer.
When they need your service they will then take out their mobile, go to the search engine and type in plumber, dermatologist, refrigerator repair, handyman near me or whatever the case may be.
A website that’s highly searchable for top keywords which your target market uses to search for what you sell is a very valuable asset which will pay your business back in dividends year after year.
It’s literally like interest that compounds over time. ($$$)
As a matter of fact, not enough business owners understand that a website is not merely an expensive business card.
Your website’s job is to make your business money, and if it doesn’t it is broken.
Here is a great test for you – go to Google chrome and do an incognito search test.
Type in what your target market would if they were searching for you (EX: dermatologist near me, plumber Atlanta).
Now, look at who comes up at the top of the search.
Is your business listed in the top results?
If your business is on page 1 but lower down the page that is great news – it means with a few adjustments you can rise to the top.
If your business is on page 2 or 3, you have a bit more work to do, BUT guess what?
Most businesses in top positions are only there by DEFAULT! Someone HAS to be there right?
This means if you got serious and made some changes to your website you could easily rank above them. (Purpose VS Default)
Not Being in the Search is Costing You Money
Not being in the search means there is a missing link in your profitability.
How can you fix it?
While you are working on your website’s ranking you can do Google Adword advertising, which will put your business at the top of the search.
If you aren’t already doing this – it will be an instant revenue infusion into your business.
Almost instantly you will start to get more calls and leads.
Mobile
Let’s talk about the next most important thing!
Your website MUST be mobile.
Most people are going to view your website from their handheld. As a matter of fact this is now also a ranking factor so your website being mobile not only impacts your visitor, but it impacts your Internet ranking position as well.
Google has now updated their algorithm so that it has mobile-first indexing.
This means all mobile-friendly websites will rank first ALWAYS.
So basically, websites not mobile are being suppressed and pushed down in the rankings.
The Customer Journey
Now let’s talk about the customer journey – a good practice is to take out your mobile and go to your website and try your best to have a very unbiased perspective view.
Try to look at your website through your customers’ eyes. Is your content based on what you want to tell them VS what they need to know?
Yes, there can be a difference. I have found many businesses have a disconnect in communication with their target market and this can cost a business a lot of money in lost revenue.
Here are some questions to start with:
1. Is it user friendly?
2. Do they easily find what they need or answers to questions they may have?
3. Is your contact information easily accessible?
Go through all your pages one by one and see how your visitor views them. Especially check out your contact page, how easy is it to navigate? Is there a click-to-call function? That means with one click from their mobile someone can call you. Everyone loves convenience and if your website is the most convenient you are the one most likely to get the call!
Now, it’s time to jot down some notes if there are any changes you need to make.
This is not an action that should be put on a back burner; make the changes you need as soon as possible. We’re talking about a direct correlation to your bottom line.
Your Website Must Be Secure
Google is now requiring all websites to have an SSL certificate. (SSL means Secure Sockets Layer)
SSL is the standard security technology for establishing an encrypted link between a web server and a browser.
This link ensures that all data passed between the web server and browsers remain private and integral.
Google makes the user their number 1 priority and as a result coming up with every possible way to make them feel secure on the Internet.
As of July 2018 Google started flagging all unencrypted websites – which can be a bit of an alarm to the user.
This means if your website doesn’t have an SSL certificate; it will display a ‘Not Secure’ alarm in the URL bar.
People are really weird about privacy these days, so you can see how this could have a negative impact.
Once you get an SSL certificate your URL will change from beginning with http to https which means your website is secure and the danger signal will no longer show.
Website Speed
Another very important factor is website speed – a slow loading web page is the kiss of death.
These days people have 2-second attention spans, they will leave your website and go to the next one in a heartbeat.
You can test your website using a on a free Google tool https://developers.google.com/speed/pagespeed/insights/.
You should test each page on your website separately – especially the critical pages or what I call “the money pages“.
There are certainly tons of other factors when it comes to the profitability of your website but these are the most important to get a handle on.
Always remember your website is a valuable asset and if you rank for keywords your target market types into the search it will pay you back dividends year after year.
If you would like to hire me to help you with this click here.
