Search Engine Optimization is the process of increasing the amount of visitors to a Web site by ranking highly in the search results of a search engine. The higher a Web site ranks in the results of a search, the greater the chance that that site will be visited by a user. It is common practice for Internet users to not click through pages and pages of search results, so where a site ranks in a search is essential for directing more traffic toward the site.

Optimization Increases Visitors

We helped Garage and Storage Plus develop natural optimized rankings for key terms in its industry. Through our optimization, we achieved perfect results. A search for “Las Vegas garage storage racks ” shows our client absolutely smoking the competition with a prominent Google Local result in position 1, and additional links clogging the front page of Google in positions 2 and 3. The nearest competitor is simply driven completely off the front page! High search ranking means high numbers of visitors.

This screen shot shows results for the search “Las Vegas Garage Storage Racks” made on June 25, 2008.

As one can see, the Google local results are the most prominent entry on the page–even more prominent than the paid Google results. True, competitor’s paid ads get on the front page but, those ads are expensive (as opposed to free), and readers tend to prefer the natural results over the paid ads (after all, they are paid ads).

An Optimized Website Is the Most Cost-Effective Advertising

An optimized website that ranks highly in search engine results is the most cost-effective advertising on the planet. Here’s why:

• Search engines are the new yellow pages–Google and the other search engines reach millions more buyers than traditional outlets.
• User perceive Google as “authoritative”–so a high ranking in Google communicates legitimacy to a far greater degree than traditional paid advertising.
• A search engine user is a “seeker” of information, an interested buyer actively seeking a transaction, while a receiver of ads in the mail is just a passive, possible buyer.
• An optimized website requires only one small investment yet pays back nearly forever; an optimized site stays optimized for 2, 3, 4 years or more, it brings interested customers year after year, while a print, mail, or even yellow book advertisement eventually goes stale and becomes worthless. Don’t be fooled by traditional ad salesmen–print and mail are outdated, inefficient, and ineffective mediums.

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Some of these print campaigns can cost $1000 a month (for a home mailer), or $500 to $2000 per month for a generously-sized yellow pages ad.

We discussed with our client our philosophy that print advertising for the home services business is dead.

First of all, home services companies serve homeowners. Homeowners have computers and know how a search works. Thus, homeowners can easily find what they are looking for with a google search. That’s where optimization comes in–a company site, optimized once, will rain targeted clients forever.

The traditional yellow pages companies know that their old business model is suffering. Television ads promote the yellow pages’ online offerings–but it’s likely too little, too late. Google’s Local service is simply too powerful to ignore–and it’s free. Why anyone would pursue a paid yellow pages ad is a mystery to us.

With our client Garage and Storage Plus, we recommended that they funnel a portion (that’s right, just a fraction) of their advertising budget into an optimization plan and a google local listing. Now, Garage and Storage Plus enjoys premium placement for the key search phrases in its industry. They have since been able to reduce their advertising budget to a trickle…