Partners Barry Wright and Mike Brunner of $1.5-million Good Neighbor Contracting received few leads from their Web site ( www.atlanta-remodeling.com) after launching it three years ago. Then, they met Todd Miechiels during a bathroom rehab. Miechiels runs Medium Blue Internet Marketing ( www.mediumblue.com) with partner Scott Buresh, specializing in getting companies' sites noticed through "search engine optimization."
An investment of $3,600, which included setup, maintenance, and optimization, resulted in 480 new leads for Good Neighbor this past year, which turned into four jobs worth $150,000. Three more will soon go to contract.
Miechiels' client roster includes companies as large as DuPont. Here's how he got Good Neighbor noticed when homeowners searched in google.com, yahoo.com, or the hundreds of other search engines available.
Focus on the top 10 search engines. They draw the most people, with more than 97% of search engine traffic generated from the top 20 engines. Miechiels says www.searchengine.com keeps a list of the top engines. Knowing their rules can easily bump your listing up when prospects comb the Web.
Research the phrases people type in. Try www.WordTracker.com, which reveals what people type over millions of searches. "You want to pick key words that are not so ultra-competitive," Miechiels says. "But make them specific to what you do."
Construct your Web site so search engines can easily read through it. "Spiders," computers programmed to "crawl" through sites, look for content that is relevant to searches.
Provide content relevant to your business goals. Develop a pool of 15 to 30 phrases, each meant to draw unique leads depending on business goals.
Build in links. Most top search engines say that if two sites about remodeling are built the same way and have the same type of content, the site with more Web sites linking to it is more important. So link suppliers, trade partners, or associations to your site.
