Get website conversion ideas
Look at how they optimize
What types of sites compete with you on the search engines?
Once you have established some key word combinations that you think are good for you, you should try some of them out on the three major search engines. Of course, you will be interested in whether or not YOU show up for any of them…but the best thing to do is to take a good hard look at who else is there.
I frequently classify websites into the following categories:
Direct Competitor: Someone who does the same thing you do in the same area. If you are a realtor, then a competitor would be another realtor, or maybe a brokerage site – not HomeGain or Zillow (those are different types of sites.)
Irrelevant: A site that has nothing to do with you and might even be a questionable result for your search. However, look carefully at irrelevant sites because they might indicate a need to adjust the key word combination. For example, if you provide windows for homes in the Seattle area, you might get some irrelevant results around people providing Windows PC support in the same location. Unfortunately, the English language is full of double meanings, which can make searching interesting.
Directory: There are loads of sites that are really nothing more than online directories. Like Citysearch, the Yellow Pages Online and others, some of these directories charge for listings. Others are free. You may want to list yourself on a directory site if it shows up well on the search engines for your key words. Just remember that your listing will likely appear alongside your local competition.
Referral Sites: These are sites that invite users to leave contact information to “have someone contact you” about whatever you need (i.e a mover, insurance, etc.) These sites then sell the “lead” to participating vendors. The catch is that they often sell the lead to four or five vendors, which means you get four or five calls.
Content Sites: These are sites that offer content, usually in the form of articles, about your search topic. They can be as broad in topic as CNN.com or as specific as PreserveHistoricSalem.com. Many of these sites offer targeted advertising opportunities.
Social Networking Sites: A fairly new addition to search engine results, social networking sites are now performing well on a variety of searches. Since almost all of these sites offer free profiles, you might consider creating profiles just for business purposes.
Each of these types of sites have different implications for your potential performance on the search engines. Larger topic sites with lots of changing content will be difficult to dislodge from the results.
You should also look at the types of words used on these sites. Simply reading what they have to say can give you ideas for other key word combinations and ways you might want to market yourself.
You should also look carefully at how your competition tries to convert site visitors into qualified leads (commonly called “conversion” among internet marketers and designers.) Do they prominently display a phone number? Do they have contact forms on their sites, or do they just have email links? Do they offer an incentive for people to convert, like a coupon or a free gift? Should you consider some of their ideas?
Getting performance on the search engines is only worth it if you will compete well with the other nine sites that are there.
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The 12 Things You Can Do To Get Your Website Noticed are the notes from a free course offered by Enter The Net. If you are interested in setting up a free presentation of this workshop please CONTACT ROB. If you want to be informed about upcoming offerings, please join our EMAIL NEWSLETTER LIST. You may leave comments or questions in the space below. We will respond to questions as quickly as possible.
