1. || Tom’s Editorial
Today’s consumer is incredibly tech-savvy and they use any number of methods –
apps,online directory searches etc.– to find out about your business and where you
are. Having accurate information is the key to getting a person’s business. Not having
accurate information or out-of-date information will cost you revenue – lots of revenue.
A recent study by the U.S.-based Placeable, a marketing firm that uses location
data to drive brand equity, asked more than a thousand consumers and marketers
how online searches and information both drive persons to a local business and more
importantly what drives them away from a local business.Over 70 per cent of respon-
dents said they use online searches to not only to find local businesses but to research
those businesses before going to them. Accurate information is the key to attracting
potential customers. If information about your business is inaccurate - location is
misstated, for example - that inaccurate information will drive those customers away.
This is especially important on third-party sites such as the online Yellow Pages, for
example. Yes, your website may have accurate information about you, your services
and your location.But if a third-party site has misstated information about your busi-
ness or location you will not even see that customer.
I’ve seen this many times.Many third-party sites and directories often have inac-
curate information about local businesses, from the location of a favorite bakery to
the phone number of a local service operation. Sometimes, I see misstated informa-
tion about who is the owner of the business or a site that is still operating when it
is well known in the community that it shuttered some time ago.
This may seem trivial. Isn’t it more important that my information on our
company website is accurate? Yes, it is important . . . very important. Just as impor-
tant as keeping your site updated with fresh information about your services and
specials, useful information about vehicle maintenance and highlighting the skills
and expertise of your technicians and service writers. But it is just as important
that other sites have accurate information about your business. Remember, many
people when looking for a vehicle service operation will not type the name of your
business first into the search engine at the first go. Most likely it will be something
closer to ‘garage’ followed by the general location they are living in. They will get
dozens of service shops listed, with postings from third-party directories showing
up first on the list of results.Because those results are first,a person will likely click
on them first and a decision about whether to take their business to your shop
will be made from what they find. If the information is inaccurate in any way, you
have lost that business.
This is why we need to focus on more than just putting up a website. We need to
invest in better search engine optimization and in ensuring that information about
our businesses is accurate on third-party sites. Businesses that fail to do so “run the
risk of not only missing out on new customers, but jeopardizing their relationships
with existing customer as well,”the Placeable study finds.
Over 70 per cent of
respondents said they
use online searches to not
only find local businesses,
but uses those searches to
research those businesses
before going to them.
Accurate information
is the key to attracting
potential customers. If
information about your
business is inaccurate - the
location is misstated, for
example - that inaccurate
information will drive
those customers away.
By Tom Venetis,
Editor
Better Branding Through
Better Searches
4 SSGM November 2014 www.ssgm.com
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