Completely Turn Your Small Business Around
with search engine optimisation
Small Business Case Study
After nine years this small family run business had grown accustomed to budgeting. Some months left them short and relying heavily on that once off job that would occasionally come along to fill the deficit.
Due to the nature of their work (a labour intensive industry) they like many other small businesses in this category did not have a website and felt unqualified to manage a social media site like facebook.
The Decision is Made to Invest in a Website
Having consulted with a friend the owner decided to invest in a 4 page website.
Careful consideration was given to the area the business operated in and how best to optimise the website for that area, their terms and conditions were re-looked at. The planned website also pushed him to settle on a minimum price for their service.
In the end they had a Home page that clearly defined who they were while also highlighting their array of services.
A Services page that incorporated their terms and conditions.
A Pricing page that listed how they arrived at their pricing with a specialised form designed for visitors specifically needing their services and a Contact page with a general enquiries form.
A Facebook Page is Created
With the website live, it was now a matter of creating a Facebook page and populating it.
Prior to creating the page, research was done to establish what topics in and around the clients industry were trending.
From this, an idea was formulated on how the client and his family could post regular photographic content to the site.
The family was brought together and everyone agreed that the Facebook plan could work.
The page was created and Senior members were trained on how to upload content.
With everything tested and working, the website was launched and Google Analytics immediately showed visitors were going through to the site.
The Wait for Ranking Begins
After the first month, the site was analysed but had not yet managed to rank for any keyword other than the businesses name.
A handful of visitors could be seen to have visited the site. However consulting with the owner revealed that no telephone or email enquiries had been received.
It was clear that the traffic getting through to the website was in fact the clients own friends and family.
4 Month Google Analytics Report After Web Site Launch and Prior to On and Off Page SEO
Four months later and despite being the busiest time of the year for this business, not a single enquiry has been received from the website.
Google Rankings had been checked yet Google had still not ranked the website for anything other than the companies own name.
Search Engine Optimisation Begins
Towards the end of October the client invested in a standard SEO Package and two keywords were decided on.
SEO Actions were implemented and the changes were implemented on the 30th October.
7 Days later the website was ranking on Google in positions #53 and #29 respectively.
Prior to the Search Engine Optimisations Google Analytics had shown a steady decrease in site traffic.
After the implementations traffic started picking up. November and December showed a steady increase both for traffic and ranking position. By beginning December the website was ranking #6.
THEN THE COMPANY CLOSED FOR DECEMBER
Of Note is that while no direct enquiries were made from the website during November or December, a client from years before, somehow got hold of the owner and requested a new quote.
January Starts With a Bang
On returning from their annual break the owner reported that the phones just started ringing and did not stop.
Every day brought one or more enquiries. With the third week of January showing 17 enquiries for that week alone.
By the start of February, daily schedules were being reshuffled to accommodate the influx of new business. By the end of February the log book was full with on-going regular business.
Concerns started being raised at the companies ability to cope with all the new business,
However the phones and online enquiries did not stop, by the end of March the business had reached it's full service capacity and began turning eager customers away.
7 Month Google Analytics Report Comparing Visitor Stats with Companies Service Capabilities
Analysis
We've all heard about overnight Internet success and this story is yet another example of how a business can completely turn around as a result of a website.
In the case of this business it took less than 50 Visitors a Month.
During the website build all the way back in August. Industry Research was conducted. The aim of this was to establish what a typical customers key concerns and requirements would be.
When meeting with our client we took careful note of what was required and then with all the information in hand, combined it into a format that met both our clients expectations as well as what our research had indicated was key for his clientele.
Establish Your Target Market
In our clients case their services are sought after by a large target market. They prefer however to only deal with a specific segment of that market. Mainly due to factors of workforce size and the management thereof.
This meant that the website had to rank for search terms that their preferred target market would use. In this case home owners as opposed to corporate's.
Code Your Website For Only Those Who Want Your Product or Service
Having researched your industry and established which "long tail search terms" (Word searches of 4 or more words) are most likely to be typed in by a serious buyer. One then goes about designing a website that caters for their needs. ie Clearly communicates that your service or product is the solution to their needs.
The result is that not only are the people who visit your website likely to be serious buyers but your website will most likely convert these visitors into an enquiry or telephone call in short order.
This two pronged approach is what accounted for our clients high conversion rate.
However as was observed until off page SEO occurred the website did not rank. By combining the off page SEO with the pre-built on Page SEO our client achieved #1 Rankings for local searches.
Keyword Phrase #1 Search Results
Keyword Phrase #2 Search Results
Marketing Designer
Hey, Excellent post, i really loved this and helped me out a ton, thanks.