B2B companies will continue to rely on quality content in varied forms to differentiate themselves and their products during 2012. The website is still home base for most companies, but social media and branded content are augmenting their online presence. Marketing budgets are increasing in these areas.
Search Results for “reviews”
2012 Content Trends for B2B Companies
B2B companies rely on quality content to differentiate themselves and their products. They will continue to do so during 2012. The website is still home base for most companies, but social media and branded content are augmenting their online presence.
Eight Easy Ways Contractors Can Optimize Content for Local Search
To beat your competition in local search, contractors need to find ways to incorporate local content on their websites as well as on third party sites where their businesses are listed. This might sound more difficult than it really is. Here are a few suggestions:
1) Put your physical address and phone on every page of your website.
2)Add city, state or neighborhood data to all of your construction project photos.
3)Add city and state info to your customer testimonials.
4) Promote your involvement with local charities and business organizations online through press releases. Use location names in the headlines.
5) Create a page for each location of your business and be sure to include it on the site map you submit to search engines. Each page should feature unique images and information pertinent to the location. Maps and directions are useful geographic content.
6) Claim your business on search engine directories such as Google Places, Yahoo! , Bing and the Yellow Pages as well as B2B directories, if that is your target audience. Enhance your listings with photos, graphics and links to social media sites, where available. Be sure to include the cities and suburbs you will serve. A convenient way to find out if your business currently appears in these directories is to visit www.getlisted.org. It will give you a full report in just a few seconds and links directly to where you can update your information.
7)Blog posts are the perfect way to add geographic emphasis to headlines , so you can rank higher with search engines. Whenever you post a project photo or news item, don’t forget to mention the location. This ensures the local keywords show up in the <title> tag, where Google and other search engines pull content from.
8)Claim your listings on review sites such as Angie’s list, Yelp and Google Places. Encourage reviews by adding badges to your website and e-newsletter.
A Good Example of Local Search Optimization by a Contractor
If you want to see a good example of a contractor website that is optimized for local search visit Chicago Renovation Development. They came up No. 1 in my search for “Chicago remodeling contractor.”
Chicago Renovation Comes Up No. 1 in My Search for "Chicago Remodeling Contractor
The home page includes location-based content focused on Chicago remodeling. In the footer of each page are three links to” leading Glencoe Remodeling Contractor,” “Highland Park Remodeling Contractor” and “Winnetka Remodeling Contractor.” Click on any of these and you will find a page of unique content, as well a complete listing of service areas. A badge for reviews is a highlight on the home page.
Type in a relevant local search term for your business and it is easy to see who is doing it well among your competition. With an estimated 20 percent of all searches (40 percent of local searches) made with local intent, you don’t want to miss this opportunity. Put these painless and highly cost-effective ways to improve your local search engine rankings on your to-do list today.
Collecting, Creating and Distributing B2B Content That Matters
The call for focused, edited, or filtered information is important from one end of the buying cycle to the other. We need to create meaning.
“Original” Fixes for Dealer Product Pages
Panda Update Poses a Problem for Dealers
The Komatsu PC108 Excavator sold at Kirby Smith in Oklahoma City, Okla. is the same as the PC108 Excavator sold at Road Machinery in Phoenix, Ariz. So it would make sense that the product pages on each dealer’s website would be nearly identical, right?
Of course. But it is exactly this kind of duplicate content that is negatively impacting search engine rankings for many businesses. The problem began in March, when Google made some changes to its algorithms in what was dubbed the Panda Update.
Many e-commerce retailers whose products are sold on multiple sites, experienced a drop off in traffic after Google initiated the changes. (Click here to read this discussion forum set up on Google.)
In their efforts to find the best and most relevant results for its users, Google has decided to place more value on original content–content that is not aggregated or syndicated from other sources. As a dealer, you can’t control the specs of the machine or the algorithm, but there are ways to build original content into your product pages and boost your search engine rankings once again:
Add Product Reviews:
Let your customers do the talking by allowing them to post reviews on machines they own or rent.
Add a Video, Podcast or other Descriptive Content: Video your salesman or manufacturer’s rep as they conduct a walk-around of the machine explaining all if its benefits. Focus on the types of applications that you are likely to see in your market.
Video or photograph the machine undertaking a specific task: Document its productivity. I like this demonstration of the Wacker Neuson Rebar Tier. Think of how you might conduct a similar test in your own market.
Provide a Side-by-Side Comparison: Do customers often waiver between two different machines? Put together the comparison specs and weigh the pros and cons of each model. What does each model do best? What is the cost/benefit analysis? Add this information to your product pages.
Add Additional Info:
What is the estimated cost of the machine over its useful life? How easy it is to do routine maintenance or change an attachment? These are questions you have probably already answered that can be easily added to your product information online.
In the wake of Google’s Panda Update, it’s more critical than ever to review your website’s analytics and determine what content and keywords are working and what’s not. Take an inventory of the content that already exists, identify what items can easily be added, and what you need to create. Let us know if we can help.