Austin Webpages

Tag: more visitors

  • Recent Google Changes Affect Small Businesses

    Google quietly changed their search algorithm and didn’t say anything for a month

    I believe that small business owners don’t have a website for two main reasons – either lack of time or lack of know how. As we mentioned in our previous blog, Google recently made a change in their formulas that handles the search results. This falls under both of the reasons why a small business owner hasn’t made the jump into employing a business website. The owner  has no time to keep up with these changes – obviously they have a business to run. On top of that they need to know how these changes affect their small business website and their marketing strategy.

    Quick History Lesson on Google

    Google changes affect small businesses and shows its direction - picture from google.comForget Panda, Penguin and other code named updates to Google’s algorithm. Instead lets look at the main ideas behind all of Google’s updates. In the early 2000’s, Google changed the game and stopped responding to keyword stuffing. An example of keyword stuffing is if “Google changed their algorithm” or some variation of that phrase, were repeated into every other line of this blog.

    A few years later, they got rid of the reciprocal links and began to address link farms. That mean’s that websites setup to show large amounts of similar category links made less of an impact on search rankings.

    Four years ago, Google started to incorporate social media. A couple of years ago social media was much more incorporated into search engine rankings when Google+ made its debut.

    A lot of this I am simplifying, and there were many more updates in addition to the ones I mentioned. Mainly I want to show small business owners the trend. Google used to be influenced by fancy code and loopholes. Today, Google is striving for a goal of being humanly compatible. It wants you to be able to ask it “Where do I pay my cable bill?” and instead of showing you your cable company’s home page, it will show you the exact page where you can pay your bill online. It wants you to ask “how do I cook a steak properly” and restaurants do not show up, but instead great articles showing you step by step instructions. Further, if you ask anything about location, it will take into consideration where you are, if you have set up Google to allow that. Such would be, if you were looking for a “website for your small business” and you were in the Austin area, you would (hopefully) arrive here. What is only going to matter, is if you truly match the intent and needs of the customer.

    The difference between today and back in the early 2000’s, is that more and more, the internet is much more of a level playing field. It’s not 100% there yet, but it is moving in that direction. If you are the right fit for the customer and you have the information, product and services, customers will find you.

    The Next Step

    Hummingbird, Google’s latest update, is also bringing in a slight curve ball. Don’t worry, it is still very much a part of the bigger picture that we believe Google is after. As mentioned earlier, location seems to be one of the bigger topics that Google is incorporating into its “knowledge graph”. The trend is showing that Google is going to continue to merge its social media via Google+ more and more to its search results. It won’t be long before you can ask Google “what do my friends want to eat tonight”, Google will check your friends and their likes on Google+, check their calendars and come back and give you a listing of local Chinese fast food restaurants.

    On the internet, it doesn’t matter if your business only has a few employees. Contact Austin Webpages today to get your Austin Small Business online. We know how Google changes affect small businesses. Call for your free quote and expand your customer base today!

  • Getting Links to Your Website

    Getting Links to Your Website – The Worlds Largest Poll, the Internet

    Something that all SEO geeks out there can agree on, is that getting links to your website is a great thing. In our last blog about the bad practices SEO companies partake in, we mentioned that the internet is a giant popularity contest. It is the equivalent to the age long saying ..it’s all about who you know. Getting links to your website from high profile websites, say a university and their valuable .edu domain extension, is a great example of the holy grail of backlinks – the links that other people/companies have on their website that point to your page. It is like a celebrity telling their friends that they know you personally…you would be a popular guest anywhere you go.

    I don’t have control of those pages….

    Getting links to your website is not an exact science, has its challenges, but as small business owner you should not get discouraged. Again, in our last blog post about SEO companies and if they are doing a good job, we said there is a bunch of initial work that your SEO company can do to get the ball rolling. Remember, advertising online is going to take time: months and years not days and weeks. Nevertheless there are things we usually recommend business owners to do. We cannot stress this enough, marketing a small business online is a partnership between the owner and your SEO company.

    What Business Owners can do to get website links

    Getting links to your website can be heavily influenced by the owner, especially at the local level. Your online reputation is just as important as your local business reputation or word of mouth. Remember, online, your business is open 24 hours a day and 7 days a week. Thus, you do not need an SEO company to sett up your profiles on the various Yelp and Yellow Pages of the online world. That’s an easy few and each of those review sites will have step by step instructions.

    Google also allows you to setup your business so that it properly shows up on their popular maps webpage, it is easy to sign up for and they verify that you are the owner it by sending you a code in the mail. This is usually one of the first ones you should target.

    You should immediately contact your past customers once your review webpages are up and running and ask for a review of your service on these pages. You are most likely already following up with your past customers looking for possible repeat business or referrals. That is an opportunity for an owner to ask for a review and testimonial online, as it will make it easier to start getting links to your website. Your SEO company might ask for a really good review from one of your customers to glorify on your actual website, but the reputation is going to matter more on 3rd party sites like Yelp, and that is something you can do on your own.

    How can I Increase Website Traffic

    Getting links to your website isn’t the only thing a business owner can do on their own, but they can also start driving some website traffic in the exact manner most local business do today. If your business can accommodate for it, reach out to them and offer something for free. Start an email campaign (and nothing more than once a month) where if they bring a friend with a coupon, which you have to get from the website, you get half off a free meal at your restaurant. They could get a free upgrade, or a free our of service / consulting, you know your business and where there is margin. Post these same coupons on your Cragislist ad (you are posting to Craigslist, right?), that is a great way to start getting links to your website, or at the very least some more visitors.

    Austin Webpages can partner with your small business to increase your customer base in the Austin are. We will start getting links to your website and guiding you with the right direction to grow your website traffic. Find a website you like the look and feel of, and contact us today! Get your past customers contacts ready, and we will make your old business create new business.

    Updated on 9/22/2013