The single easiest and quickest thing most local based businesses can do to positively impact the value of their web site is to change their title tags. This is particularly true for small businesses serving a local market.
The title tag is the text that appears in the uppermost left corner of your computer screen when you go to any page on your web site. This is the title of your page which was set up when your web page was first designed. It can be changed at any time. You should do so as soon as you finish reading this article if any of my suggestions apply to you and your business.
Your title tag is set up in the header code of your website in what are called the Meta Tags. There are several key things a business needs to know about meta tags, but we will focus in this article on the Title Tag.
Each page of your web site should have a different title tag. Many small business web sites have a home page and a handful of other pages. If you got a simple web site built for your business, your home page may well be called, “HOME.”
If this is the case you definitely want to change it.
Another common title tag many businesses use is their name. Such as “ABC Co.” This is almost always a poor choice.
A far better idea is to use the dominant term your customers are likely to use when doing a search to find you. Thus if you are primarily involved in installing replacement windows, you want our title tag to be “Replacement Windows.”
That tells the search engines that your web site and your business are about replacement windows. Then, when someone does a computer search for “replacement windows”, the search engines will consider your site as a possible result to display for them.
Since people from around the entire world wide web might be searching for replacement windows, they will want to narrow their search down a bit. If they live in Atlanta, Ga they probably want to find a contractor somewhere near Atlanta, no matter how superior the skills of your installers in Minneapolis may be. So while they may initially search for the term, once they see the millions of results, they will instinctively add a modifier to narrow their search to their local area.
Thus if your business serves the Atlanta area, you want to put “Replacement Windows Atlanta” as your title tag. In Minneapolis the same, “Replacement Windows, Minneapolis – St. Paul or something similar.
This geographical add on, is the secret weapon of Search Engine Optimizers the world over. As simple an idea as it is, there are tens of thousands of small business web sites that still have “Home” as their title tag, and it’s costing them lost business.
Now your business may have more than one main product or service. In that case you should have a separate page to your web site for each of these functions. Every page has a title tag, and so your page on “Vinyl Siding” should read “Vinyl Siding Minneapolis St. Paul.”
This change can be accomplished in mere seconds, by your computer person or even yourself if you have access to the c-panel of your web site. In some smaller markets, this alone may be enough to move you to the first page of results and help you generate new business. It is a powerful tool, but only one of several steps you need to take as part of your business marketing strategy in more competitive markets.
Far too many businesses have given up hope on their web sites. Mostly because they never see any real business as a result of them. Many small business web sites were originally set up people who knew how to do the graphics and such but did not understand how to effectively market the sites.
While title tags are an easy start, you want to find a knowledgeable search engine optimization resource who can help you transform your business’ web site into a marketing tool and not just an internet placeholder. The surprising news is that local businesses are the easiest to apply these business marketing strategies to. Now go and get your title tags fixed.
There are several other changes you may want to make to your Meta Tags and the actual pages of your web site. To learn more about these you may want to purchase my ebook on the topic, Main Street Rises to the Top of the Search Engines,
[tags]local based business,small business,marketing your business,business marketing strategy,local business marketing,business marketing online,title tags,SEO tips,meta tags,[/tags]