So how does the parent of a college student find an auto repair shop that doesn’t even have a Web site? Ok, there is a Web site out there somewhere, but I haven’t even found it yet! The search engine optimization on this one must be turned up to minus zero to the tenth power!
Small businesses are challenged by many different issues from the minute they open the doors. One hazard of a small business opening up with a storefront presence is they are bombarded by sales people. The advertising decisions can be quite overwhelming and many times it turns into a case of wasted funds.
In the case of my friend at the auto repair shop, a Web site was traded in for a giant Yellow Pages ad. Several contracts later, he looked back and realized he had gotten less than five inquiries from the advertisement in two years.
Little did he know his wife registered the business with Google Maps, which turns out to be one of the only ways anyone can find their particular small business on the internet. Unfortunately, you would need to know the name of the business to do a search for the phone number. Any other searches for auto repair and city name or car repair and city name do not bring the business up.
This company did another smart thing – they joined the local Chamber of Commerce which offers categorized listings right on the chamber Web site. My conclusion is the parents of the college student found the auto repair shop through the Chamber of Commerce – which has an image of trust.
A company Web site when optimized correctly will help to land searches for specific car models, specialties, technical services, and can even feature testimonials from satisfied customers. We hope to put something together for the Web very soon.
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