Ever try searching for a used refrigerator for sale?
You would think trying to find a used appliance for sale in Los Angeles would be fairly easy...
I am moving into a new apartment this weekend and, while my new place is fabulous, it is missing a major appliance -a refrigerator. So my search to find a used, but in good condition, fridge for sale began.
This was an interesting little experiment to see WHO is out there - and what appliance companies are missing the SEO boat!
Being a single female in Los Angeles, my immediate concern was getting caught in a scam-or-spam scenario. I just want to find a nice-looking, fully-functioning fridge that can be delivered and installed without any hassle. I went to Google and started with some basic keyword phrases and of course I found the personal ad listings ranking organically first. Since meeting "Fred" at his house to look at his fridge (that is not even posted with a photo) didn't sound too appealing to me - I dug deeper, using local keywords to differentiate my listings - still finding personal ad after personal ad.
The other links I found really focused on appliance REPAIR instead of SALE. Finally I found a site that "discussed" the topic of moving in LA and needing a refrigerator. I clicked on the link and through the article, they mentioned another website that was the actual business for buying a fridge. I then clicked on THAT link and landed on the home page of the local LA business. The only service discussed on the home page was appliance service and repair!
Wait! I thought I was supposed to see refrigerators for sale! Really??
So I made the call to the 800# at the top of the page...and discussed my search experience with this buisness. Turns out they have a few different websites - all linked together as a way to help search engine traffic flow and build web presence - a common marketing practice. Where this strategy is failing is that none of these sites are optimized for keywords and keyword phrases. So even though there are 3 different websites all linked to this one business I still had to dig and dig to find these guys. Needless to say I have a meeting tomorrow with the owner to discuss how we can make these websites work for him!
I understand that for some small businesses, SEM is not something they are focused on. Marketing and advertising for small or local business is challenging - they aren't a huge company with a huge budget and most of their business comes from word-of-mouth referrals. But in this economic climate, it's becoming more and more critical to small business survival to have a web presence. With a little bit of heavy lifting on the front end, and a little bit of ongoing TLC, making your website easy to find and easy to use only brings more business your way! And you should bring us in to do this for you so you are free to focus on what you do best - YOUR BUSINESS!
I mean, really...I can't be the only one needing a used fridge in LA...right!
Kat~
