Question. Does being number one for a small but targetted number of keyword phrases bring in business for local firms?
It is a good question. As a marketing agency owner in Plymouth, Devon it is a question that I’ve been asked in a number guises by different people a number of times. People ask ‘Does it work?‘ ‘Is it worth the cash?‘ or ‘What’s its value?‘
Regularly SEO has a tendency to be sold as a solution in isolation. The basic pitch is something along the lines of ‘Get to No.1 in Google‘ and watch the business roll in.
Slightly too simplistic in my view the kind of reasoning that makes people with common sense suspicious that what they’re hearing is too good to be true.
‘But it does work‘ I say, just before I give them an alternative perspective. And remember that I’m speaking to everyday small local and micro business, not some bigwig company who can saturate keyword niches with pay-per-click ads because they have mega bucks to play with.
So here’s a different way of taking a look at things. One that I hope is sensible to sensible people.
It is mostly about what triggers searches to begin with. Now, I don’t know about you but where I live everybody knows everyone and the great majority of people are pretty forgetful or to put it another way, casual about remembering stuff.
So it could be the situation that aunt Mary requires a plumber and just types ‘plumber Plymouth‘ into Google and calls the first company she sees but this is unusual and not the way I think it works.
You see, aunt Mary also heard about Steve the plumber a few months back. He did some great work for her cousin. The problem is that she can’t quite remember his name. What she’s really wanting is to type in ‘plumber Plymouth ‘ and see Steve pop-up. He’s that man she would like for the job because she feels she can trust him due to his great word-of-mouth reputation.
Hence word-of-mouth triggers searches on the internet. In fact , I reckon that personal recommendation triggers more online searches than Television, particularly for local firms.
What happens if plumber Steve, tells all his contacts not to fret about remembering his name because he is number one in rankings for ‘plumber Plymouth‘?
Would SEO work for him then?
Definitely, because it would make him so straightforward to find for people that already want him to do the job.
Turn this on his head and what happens if he has got a great reputation but can’t be found simply. Well, in this situation people are probably going to go for one of his competitors.
Don’t be over simplistic; SEO has more to offer customers than you suspect.
By Stephane Kolinsky a website developer in Plymouth Devon and devon online mobile and local marketing blog writer.