Business Category

With Nielsen NetRatings figures showing Google Search is used by 9.3 million Australians compared to just 184,000 users for Sensis Search is it any wonder Sensis have finally bitten the bullet and abandoned their search engine for Google’s? In addition all their Yellow listings will be stored in Google Maps, as well as WhereIs. It’s not before time.

So what does this mean for Australian businesses? It means that if you do not have a presence in Google it’s more vital than ever that you rectify the problem. More Australians use Google to find products and services online than any other search engine and if you aren’t listed you are missing out on vital traffic. And now more than ever with this announcement. The change is expected to happen from early next year so now is the time to get started.

Skip bin hire seems to be a competitive industry I discovered a while back. Never having hired a bin before, I used Google to search for and assess the local players and make my choice.

What I found was an industry that appears to be full of sites that are copying each other with regard to information structure and layout of their websites. And it my opinion, they were all bad.

Not one (except for the winner who got my money) had pricing readily available — they all wanted me to use their online quoting tool, which after 2-3 minutes and 5-10 pages, finally gave me a price.

I know there may be variables associated with bin size, delivery area, and other factors that effect final cost, but even the car industry with their range of options, add-ons and upgrades is able to give me a “price at a glance” from which I can work.

Lesson: Just because your competitors are building websites a certain way doesn’t mean you have to. In the skip bin hire industry, Trailer Trash is doing it differently. A uniquely branded site, their pricing, booking number and delivery locations are all visible without having to leave the home page. Another KISS website.

I’m not into outing businesses so I won’t name the business but it amazes me that in 2008 there are still businesses who don’t bother to reply to sales enquiries submitted via their website contact form. And this was a sales enquiry that was in response to an email marketing newsletter! What a waste!

I wonder how many businesses are throwing away money and loosing business by missing such simple things.

Kalena Jordan from Search Engine College has written a great article titled “Secrets Your Web Designer Isn’t Telling You”, in which she asks:

If I was to ask you right now “Are you absolutely certain that your web site is optimized for high visibility in search engines?”, what would you say?

Sadly the vast majority of websites have not been designed with the search engines in mind, and worse, many business owners have no idea that’s the case. And with so much traffic coming from search engines, it’s like being cut off from your air supply.

What to do?

If you already have a website, do some research to see if your site is listed in the search engines — especially Google. A quick way of doing this is to type your business name and/or website address into the search engine to see what results are found. Ideally you should be listed at the top of the results.

As well as making sure your site is in the search engine it’s important to see if your website ranks for keywords related to your business. So if you are a motel located in Bondi, for example, try typing “bondi motels” into the search engine and seeing what is returned. Ideally your website should be prominent. Repeat this for a variety of phrases.

If you are listed and ranking for relevant phrases good for you, however if you are one of the majority who is no where to be found, it’s a good idea to get some outside expertise to help get things sorted.

If you are about to start building a website, it is a good idea to discuss your search engine strategy with your web designers. If they don’t have one, or have no idea what you are talking about I’d suggest firing them and finding someone who does know.

Remember: Having a website that’s not in the search engines is like having an unlisted phone number.

References
Secrets Your Web Designer Isn’t Telling You by Kalena Jordan.
Website Health Check Report by ThinkProspect

Interesting article in The Age about the changing face of advertising:

The advertising universe is being turned on its head with the explosion of the online world, creating the highest levels of choice and fragmentation of audiences we’ve seen.

It’s a good read although not particularly surprising for many - heck we’ve been saying this for years.