COMMENTARY
Fresh baked web sites
Hot out of the oven
advertising and marketing you can possibly own.
But, there is a great deal of information you need to
maximize the benefits of having a web site. There
are several factors to consider.
Your web site is probably the cheapest form of
First, does your site give information that makes
you look competent and professional? Or is yours
an obviously homemade job using one of those
Do It Yourself web page makers? Think of it this
way. Your web site is your window to your world of
local customers. If it looks shoddy, people will: 1)
probably not find it in the first place; and 2) those
few who do find it will assume that your work is as
shoddy as your web site. So no one calls.
I do know you are a professional security person,
not a pro graphics designer. But you can either
learn to do this yourself, and do it right. Or you can
pay someone else to do it right for you. That has
become more economical than ever before.
Assuming you have a site that looks good, here
are a few critical questions. Does your site promote
YOU…not just the concept of your company?
Believe me, you ARE your company. Having a face
to match to the locksmith helps. Use the real estate
agents as your model. Every agent in the world
promotes themselves on their business cards and
web sites as much as their company name. That’s
because the public thinks every real estate company
is the same. Not true. But a commonly held belief.
So by putting your face on the home page of your
web site, you are showing pride of ownership and
involvement in your enterprise. That will make
potential customers feel connected to you more than
if you only show your logo, for example. So show
your face! Show your employees faces too.
Finally, building a web site is a little bit like
opening a store. Now that you have built it,
will anybody come? This is NOT like Field
of Dreams…build it and they will come. You
have to make it possible for people to find you
to hire someone to help you with Search Engine
Optimization (SEO), or you need to do it yourself.
in this huge internet world. So you either need
Let’s say you’re located in Omaha, NE. Go to
Google, the most important search engine. Type
in: locksmiths in Omaha. See what comes up. You’ll
find many pages of results. But how many people
are going to click beyond that first page? Almost
none. So you need to use tactics to get yourself on
that first page. How? Google SEO and read all about
it. Put in the effort, or the bit of money it takes to
get there. Your phone will ring more than you can
imagine.
Finally, those of you who have
existing web sites that perform
well should know that you need
to check your results frequently.
If you have not added, updated
or changed your web site at all
in years, Google may decide
that your site is stale, and
begin to lower it in the
rankings. This costs
you money. Add
something like an
article or photo or
new link at least once
per month, every
month. This will
keep you fresh…
and ranking…and
working. Hot fresh
bread right out of the
oven always sells better
than yesterday’s stale
goods.
Marc Goldberg
Publisher
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