How to Increase Traffic, Inquiries and Sales by Expanding the Services Area of Your Website
Want to increase targeted search engine traffic? Of course you do – who doesn't? One way to do this is to expand the "Services" area on your Web site. Now, if you're thinking,
"What? I already have a Services page, it's all I need."
Well, probably not—allow me to explain.
Let's say you're a catering business located in the greater Chicago area. You've been in business 20 years, have a strong client list, numerous testimonials, and a professionally designed Website that generates some traffic.
And let's assume you do wedding catering, and that Sue Smith, a blushing bride-to-be who lives in the Chicago area, is your target prospect. Sue's wedding and reception for 300 is being held outdoors at a local picturesque park.
Note: Keyphrase selection
For this article, I'm using the keyphrase wedding reception caterers Chicago area for illustrative purposes only. I don't live in or near Chicago, although I've heard it's a great city to visit.
Sue works full time and travels quite a bit, so she does much of her wedding planning at night using her laptop. She needs a plethora of services including photography, a wedding cake provider, a caterer, and all the other things brides need when planning a wedding.
Sue quickly discovered that she gets better search results when she adds the keyphrase Chicago area to her searches. Thus she types in...
wedding reception caterers Chicago area
...and lots of sites come up – but not yours! Why? Because like many service-based businesses, your site has only one generic Service page that is poorly optimized for the keywords that blushing brides actually use.
Now, to eliminate any possibility of confusion I'll explain that...
A generic Service page is a single page on your site that talks about your services in only basic generic terms.
Typically, for a caterer, the service page might read something like this actual page copy that I found on one site (although I've renamed the city and company to shelter the clueless):
Windy City Caterers has been serving the Chicago area with style and distinction since 1978. Whether you need a caterer for your wedding or a breakfast for your corporate board, we can help you.
Our dedicated staff is here to assist you. We ensure all our catered events happen smoothly and efficiently.
Choose from a variety of innovative menus – whether you're looking for five-star gourmet or simple finger foods, we can help you.
Now, let's say Sue, by some chance, found your catering site. She reads your Catering Services page and then immediately clicks back out. Why might she do that? Well, the leading cause is that the information on the page doesn't match the specific keywords she is using to search. In this case, those keywords would be wedding reception catering.
Another leading cause for fast click-backs is the failure of the sales copy to immediately address her primary concerns. Sue is thinking...
* Does this company specialize in wedding receptions?
* I'm doing a sit-down dinner. Can they handle a sit-down meal for 300?
* My reception is outdoors. Can they do this outdoors?
* Have they done other weddings?
...and, if Sue is anything like the average prospect, she'll give your Service page 10 seconds or less to start addressing her concerns. This harsh reality of online marketing necessitates the following two-step-process in crafting your successful Service pages.
bullet Step One: Build Your Service Pages Around Keyphrases that Precisely Match People's Search Queries
For the next few moments let's put the sales copy on hold and focus solely on keywords. Remember, you cannot expect your prospects—the people you want to contact you—to think about your services in the same way that you do. Chances are, they don't. Allow me to share some experience to illustrate this point.
These days, the Internet has pretty much replaced the telephone directory. In the old days, business owners purchased telephone directory listings in various categories. Indeed, when I worked at a small company pre-Internet, we purchased dozens of listings in multiple books and categories. Then, in order to see which towns/categories pulled the highest number of callers, I would ask every single new caller, "How did you find us?" If the caller replied, "Telephone directory," I would ask, "Which category?" I would then use the data to determine future buys.
It works the same way for search engines—except now you have keyword suggestion tools to help you can figure out in advance which words people are using in their searches.
There are many excellent online keyword research tools where a few minutes minutes of preliminary research will reveal that searchers are actually seeking the following types of catering services:
* Wedding caterers
* Wedding reception caterers
* Event caterers
* Afternoon tea caterers
* Corporate caterers
* Kosher caterers
* Buffet caterers
* BBQ caterers
* Outdoor event caterers
Are you beginning to see the light? Instead of designing your site around one generic Service page, build out (i.e., expand) your Service pages based on the keyphrases that precisely match the queries that people are actually using to find your type of service.
Using the above keyword list, a caterer could build and optimize a whole new subset of Service pages based on the following search terms: Wedding Caterers, Afternoon Tea Caterers, Corporate Events Caterers, and Outdoor event caterers, just to name a few.
Of course, each Service page should have its own unique and optimized Title tag. In addition, it's also smart to optimized for your locality—town/city, region and area.
Referring back to our keyword search tool, we learned that thousands of people are looking for wedding caterers but only a few hundred are looking for Chicago Wedding Caterers. Which would you prefer—people calling you from all over the U.S. who can't use your services because they live too far away or inquiries from a half dozen or so genuine prospects who live within your service area?
Naturally, the owners of Windy City Caterers want the latter. Hence, they might craft a Title Tag that looks something like:
Chicago Wedding Reception Caterers, Wedding Caterers Chicago Area
By the way, and contrary to popular opinion, not all meta tags are dead. Most of the time both Google and Yahoo make use of the meta description tag to construct the snippet that describes your webpage in the search results. If you fail to provide one, they'll make up their own computer-generated version of your page's description—and you may not like the end result as much as the compelling call to action you could otherwise construct for yourself. For example:
meta name="description" content= Looking for distinctive, worry-free wedding reception caterers in the greater Chicago area? Call Windy City Caterers at 888-756-2222
It's a good idea to use the same keywords in the meta description that you used in the title tag as that tends to make the page appear relevant to the user's query. In any case, a thoughtfully prepared meta description tag is easy to add and presents a far more appealing description than a composite assembled from the search request mixed with phrases found on your webpage.
Editor's Note: Also, see our recent report How to get Google, Yahoo, and MSN to Title and Describe Your Webpages the way YOU want them to!
bullet Step Two: Write Sales Copy That Compels Action
Obviously it's great if you have high rankings and it's even better if people actually click on your listing. It's not great if they come to your site and leave because of poorly written sales copy! One way to improve your conversion rate (i.e., inquiries and sales) is to write copy that compels people to take some form of prescribed action.
Sales copy should describe your service in detail and answer questions prospects commonly ask. Chances are, if you've been in business long enough, you have a pretty good idea of what your customers want.
Editor's Note: And, to learn more about answering the right questions, see our past article; The Missing Link To Writing Effective Sales Copy
The benefit of focusing on one service per page is...
it enables you to precisely combine ancillary keywords with primary keywords and serve them to the engines with laser-sharp focus—and without sounding spammy.
For example Windy City Caterers might write something like this:
Looking for distinctive and elegant wedding reception caterers in the greater Chicago area? Windy City Caterers specializes in catering Chicago wedding receptions large and small; indoors, outdoors or a combination of both. Whether your event is 40 people or 400, we can provide a variety of gourmet wedding menu and service options – including buffet and sit-down meals. (For pictures of recently catered wedding receptions in the Chicago area, please view our Recent Weddings page.)
As a bride, the last thing you want to worry about on your wedding day is the caterer's food set-up. We help make your day perfect by ensuring our staff is well-trained, attentive and courteous – from preparing and presenting gourmet food your guests will rave about to ensuring that table place settings are visually appealing and sparkling clean.
Do you have a special request such as a vegetarian menu or unusual location? Give us a call at 888-756-2222 or send us an email to Windy City Catering. We'll be sure to get back to you within 24 hours.
Be sure to download our free guide: 10 Tips for Choosing Your Wedding Reception Menu. Based on working with brides like you, this guide has answers to the most commonly asked questions. And, take a minute to read our testimonials page to see how we've helped hundreds of other brides plan the wedding of their dreams.
Notice how the ancillary keywords are combined with primary keywords and naturally blended into the Service description in conversational fashion. Going back to Sue's concerns;
* Does this company specialize in wedding receptions? Yes; see line one.
* I'm doing a sit-down dinner. Can they handle a sit-down meal for 300? Yes; line five.
* My reception is outdoors. Can they do this outdoors? Yes; line four.
* Have they done other weddings? Yes; see testimonials and Recent Weddings pages.
Sue's exact search term appears in the first sentence and all of her concerns are addressed within that critical first 10 seconds. This substantially increases the chance this bona fide prospect will stick on the page long enough to encounter Windy City Caterers' compelling call to action: download our free guide: 10 Tips for Choosing Your Wedding Reception Menu—which, of course, is a continuation of the sales message wrapped in useful information complete with contact info.
On a related note...
Because prospects are coming in from search engines through pages other than your Home page, it's wise to ensure they can quickly find your contact and other pertinent information by listing it on every page of your site. Companies often frustrate prospects by making them hunt for a Contact Us link.
You may decide to give away the guide in exchange for contact information—or not. And testing will help you determine which path leads to the best sales results. By the way, Top Ten Tips guides are always popular as are Top Ten Mistakes. For example, Ten Mistakes Brides Make When Choosing a Catering Service would also be a guide worth testing within this service. Another guide might be titled Wedding Reception Planning Kit that gives the bride a list of local resources like cake bakers, photographers, DJs, etc, along with tips on how to plan a worry-free reception. Of course, the Kit will have your contact information in it as well and perhaps even a question/feedback or suggestion reply-card to invite interaction and maintain contact with serious prospects.
In the end...
What you're doing is building a mini-landing page for each of your Services—even if you think you offer only one type of service!
Always bear in mind that online marketing research has repeatedly proven that...
landing pages with headlines or opening paragraphs that precisely match people's search phrases substantially increase conversion!
By building-out your Services page into subsets that combine keywords and copy specifically matching the keywords and phrases that prospects are using to find your service, you'll attract more prospects to sell. That, my good reader, is the whole point of search engine optimization—traffic that converts to sales.
Because it only counts when they buy!
