How can a local, service-related company stand out, in a busy marketplace, against established competitors? Even small, service providers need to have a strong web presence to attract new clientele. Fortunately, there are strategies to help connect you with new customers online, and level the playing field against large, national chains.
Mobile Friendly is Not Friendly Enough
The mobile benchmark has been raised. Visitors aren’t comparing your mobile website with others in your industry, they are comparing you with the best mobile experiences they have ever had. In their moment of need, customers need to quickly find the information that they are seeking. Your mobile website design needs to be intuitive and easy to navigate. A simple starting point would be to display your phone number prominently and have click-to-call functionality. By removing the friction in the mobile user experience, you will increase the chances of earning a new customer.
Even if your service company caters to local businesses (instead of directly to consumers) you should know that the mobile trend is growing. B2B internet traffic is now pegged at 50%. Office staff are not limited to a single screen. Many professionals are searching from home or on the road with a tablet or smartphone. It’s not enough to just have a website that scales properly on mobile devices. Our philosophy is that website design should be approached from a mobile first perspective (with desktop second).
Need for Speed
All this amazing technology that we carry around in our pockets has made consumers impatient. If your website takes longer that a few seconds to load, then your customers will leave your website and move on to the next one. In fact, a Google study found that over half of visitors will abandon a mobile site that takes longer than 3 seconds to load. Ouch! You need to evaluate your website to ensure that you are delivering a fast and friendly mobile experience so that you are “open-for-business” when prospective customers need you.
City Pages
An effective strategy for businesses that offer their services in a specific coverage area, is to design “city pages” for each location that you service. These local landing pages are valuable for ranking. We recommend a dedicated page for each town that you service. Be mindful to keep your content unique for each page, since Google does not like to see duplicate content for each city page. Here’s an example of a city page that NetGain designed for our headquarters in Barrie, Ontario. By touting your successes in your city, there’s a better chance that these pages will start ranking in local searches.
Put Your Business on the Map
Consumers are searching for products and services “Near Me” with increasing frequency. If you have registered for a Google My Business account, but you are still not appearing in the “Map Stack”, then you need to improve your overall web presence. One of the best ways to get noticed in Google’s Local 3-Pack is with 5-star reviews from satisfied clients. However, if glowing reviews are at a standstill, then remind your customers to leave a review after a business transaction. By sending them a link to your review page, it makes it simple for them to leave a business review on their mobile device or desktop computer.
The key is to understand how people are searching for your service. Once they land on your homepage, how are they evaluating your company versus your competitors? By taking the perspective of your ideal customer, you can make some common-sense improvements to your web presence and increase the quantity and quality of leads from your digital marketing efforts.
NetGain is a digital marketing agency located in Barrie, Ontario. We have a dedicated team of web designers, programmers, and content writers ready to work on your next online project. With a website designed by NetGain, you’ll quickly reap the benefits that our talented team can provide.
