Internet Business Consulting

How can I tell if my website is visible to potential customers?

A website can be a valuable marketing tool. However, it is only valuable if potential new customers are able to find your website.

How visible is your website? Here is a helpful exercise: without looking at your website, write down on a sheet of paper all the keywords, terms, or phrases that are related to your product or service that you think people may be shopping for on the Internet. For example, if you are a landscaping company, you might try “sprinkler installation” “sprinkler repair” and “landscaping.” (Hint: unless your business name describes what you do, most people will not shop for your service by making a search using your business name as a keyword search term or phrase.)

Next, go to three major search engines (google.com, yahoo.com, and msn.com). Type in each of your keyword terms or search phrases in turn. Does your business website appear in the first three pages of search results for each of those search terms or phrases?

Next, analyze where your new customers are coming from. How many come from referrals, from cold calling, from other advertising, and from your website? (If you do not have this data, start collecting it now!) How much traffic does your website receive? If your website is not getting much traffic or is not generating much new business, then perhaps it is not visible to the right people. Are your customers using keywords other than the ones you listed to try to find your product or service? Perhaps some keyword research is called for.

Contact Aim Higher! Consulting if you are interested in improving the business success and visibility of your website.