Thrive or Survive?

From now on, I will start each post the same way:

If something in this post really hits home or strikes a chord, pass it on to someone you think can also make use of it.  Sharing this sort of info to help everyone around you to thrive (instead of just survive), is what this blog is all about.

Okay, I want to start out by pointing out that first and foremost, our business is a “bricks and mortar” business.

Sure, we advertise on the internet via our web site, but we have a building, a parking lot, real people in real offices (okay, the jury is still out on Murray our in house geek…), warehouse space, forklifts, etc.  (we even let the gang bring their dogs to work, of course!)

Our business is far more similar to the vast majority of businesses in the world, than not.

And, all of the topics I will be writing about will be applicable to most businesses regardless whether they have an internet presence, or not.

Of course, my initial post regarding how to boost your Google rankings won’t be of much help to someone who doesn’t have a web site (yet), but the underpinnings of that topic still apply if you have a business, provide a service, even if you work for someone else.

Let’s take that same initial hypothetical example and say you are in the pool cleaning business and do not have a web site.

Wouldn’t you love to know what your competitors in your area are doing, how well they are doing it, how much they charging, what they feel is their “claim to fame”, whether they are slow or busy, what they have to say about your company or service?

If you are hoping to move your business forward (and thrive, not just survive), your answer should be a resounding, “Yes.”

Go to Google and see if you can find pool cleaning competitors in your area (even if they aren’t in your “back yard”, it will still help).

Using our same example, you could search on “pool cleaning Tavares Florida” (of course, for your business, search on what you think people would search on who are looking for you or your competitors).

Once you find them, click on their web sites, print out their web pages on three-hole punch paper and make a little binder of your competitors.

(Oh, a quick request…  Please DON’T click on their ads if they appear in the “sponsored ad sections of Google at the very top of the page or on the side of the page.  If you do, that costs them money and in my mind, as tempting as that might be, it’s just not right.  Manually enter the URL address you see in those ads and they won’t be charged.)

Put some clean sheets of lined notebook paper after each one and while looking at their web pages, jot down notes of stuff that sticks out.

Did the web site look good, amateurish, bad?

Did the links work?

Is their contact information provided, easy to find, up to date (and is it an actual business address or P.O. Box – how do you feel when you run into a P.O. Box business listing?  If you don’t like it and yet you do that for your business, do you think other people have similar concerns)?

Is their phone number prominently displayed?

How about their pricing, their range of services, their scheduling?

If you had to assign a rating of 1 to 10 (with 10 being the best), what rating would you give them, overall, based on your impressions from their web site?

Next (assuming they don’t know you and won’t recognize your voice), call them up and ask them all of the questions you know a typical customer would ask about their services and take notes while asking them (block the caller ID info (usually by pressing *67 before dialing but your provider my use a different sequence) or buy yourself a throw-away Trac phone at Walgreens, CVS, Walmart, etc. just like the damn terrorists and other ne’er-do-wells do…).

Give them a 1-to-10 grade, once again, on their “performance”.

(If you “can’t” or won’t give them a call, you need to ask yourself how committed you are to thriving in your business.)

Okay, if playing “secret agent” isn’t your thing, ask a friend to do it for you (especially if they have a pool, for this example).

You can even go so far as having the competitor come by and give you (or your friend) an estimate.

(And, as long as you don’t do this a lot or are abusive, gathering competitive intelligence is something every successful business or professional does or should do, so don’t think this is “unfair” or “not right”.  They probably have done the same to you, already and you possibly even sensed it when it was done.)

Grade that in-person performance/interaction, as well.

Now, take some time to sit back and think about their web presence vs. their “real” presence.  Is it “out of whack”?

What I mean by that is, was their web site far more impressive than their phone or in person presence, or, vice versa?

Were both equally impressive or equally poor?

After doing that  homework, are you confident that you are at least as good as your competitors?

Did you have any “Ah-ha!” moments where they said, did or offered something you never thought of doing?

Did you have any “Oh, my God!” moments where you couldn’t believe they would dare say or do something like that?

This sort of homework, that started with Google, should be a real eye-opener for you.

In fact, have you ever done it before?

Did you even do it before you started in business to assess your competition?

Did it make you mad that you have just found out that you do a far better job than your competition, but they seem to be doing better than you are?

Or, does is piss you off that your competitors seem to really have the business nailed and you don’t?

Armed with this info, you are already much farther toward thriving than surviving than you were just an hour or two earlier.

But, you have to decide what to do with that info…

More next time!

John G. – “TheRefillMan”

I hear this comment from web site owners more than just about anything else.

It usually comes on the heels of the question, “How did TonerRefillKits.com get so many first place, first page listings in Google?”

Getting on page one of Google is easier than you think (or, at the worst, getting far, far better rankings on Google is a snap.)

The really simple answer starts with two simple questions:

1. What is your web site’s URL or domain (e.g. www.RZThompsonInc.com … I just made that up)

2. What are people most likely to search on that you feel should bring them to your site?  (if you never sat down and wrote out what these words or phrases are, now is the time…  this is CRUCIAL – Go wild.)

Think of all the ones you can.  Ask your friends, employees, relatives, customers what they would search on to find you because I guarantee you will be stunned to see them searching on stuff you think is “wrong” or on keywords and phrases you never would think of in a million years.

(And, that is where the “gold” is, if they are searching on stuff you didn’t even think of, how likely is it your web site was “speaking” to them or the damn search engines?)

If your domain/web site name doesn’t include any of the keywords or phrases you came up with as the answer to question number 2, you are already on your way to solving the problem. 

The more “keyword rich” your domain name/address (meaning your domain name contains the words people are searching on), the more likely Google will say, “Ah…  These folks must really be all about “keyword search phrase XYZ… why else would they name their web site with those words?”

Assuming you did your homework and actually thought about what words people would use to find your business, enter those terms in Google (the “800-pound gorilla” in the search engine world) and see if your web site is found.

As an example, let’s say you have a pool cleaning service and your current web site name is www.RZThompsonInc.com (I just made that up).

What would people who need pool cleaning in your town who you would like to do business with search on?

For people in our area, it’s likely they would search on something like ”pool cleaning service Tavares FL” (our home town).  Here’s the link to that Google search http://www.google.com/search?q=pool+service+tavares+fl

If you click on that link, you will find the first page filled with listings that have domains/URLs which have nothing to do with pool cleaning service in Tavares, FL (when I last checked, only two are “real” web sites for “real” local businesses.)

For this example, you or your web master could put together a quick little web site with a single page for $50 or less with the following new (additional) domain: www.PoolCleaningServiceTavaresFL.com

Not only would Google be pleased with your “dead on” domain name for people seeking pool cleaning services in Tavares, FL), from a prospective customer’s point of view, they would look at a web site with that web address and with that title prominently displayed once they visited it, and get that same, “Ah, these are the people I am looking for to provide pool cleaning service in Tavares, FL!”

Within a matter of days you should find yourself ranked on the first page of Google for that search phrase (of course, if you are competing with people who have nailed that approach for a super, super competitive keyword, you will have to be a bit more specific, but the same recommendation  applies.)

That new $50 or less web site could “point” people to your existing web site and from this day forward, anyone who searched on “pool cleaning service Tavares FL” would find you at or near the top. 

(WordPress blogs are a great, fast way to put up a web site, by the way.)

Though you could consider making this your primary web site domain name, there is no need to do that.  You aren’t limited to doing that only for what you believe is the best search phrase.  You could establish multiple sites for other top/important search phrases (and with the help of your web master to make certain each single page web site is unique enough), all of those web sites could ultimately direct people to your main site (your “money site” as it is called).

Oh, and while you’re at it, if you haven’t yet signed up for Google Local Business listings  (now called Google Places), you absolutely have to do that!

http://www.Google.com/places

If this all sounds foreign to  you, don’t despair.  It isn’t rocket science and there are tons of people out there who can  help you with the nuts and bolts (and, we don’t provide that sort of service for people looking for it, so that wasn’t a thinly veiled business solicitation).

Until next time,

John Galt – “TheRefillMan”