Moving on up

Have you Googled your company lately? Go ahead, type in the name of your business in a search engine – Google, Yahoo, Bing, Ask, AOL, pick one. Now, start counting the results until you find your own. How many pages have you scrolled down already? If you were a customer, would you spend time sifting through the “about 36,800,000” results that Google found with the search “landscape company?”

In today’s world, where the Internet seems to have all the answers, your prospects are pulling up a web browser to shop for services. Where your name falls on the list impacts their buying decisions. A 2011 study by the Pew Internet & American Life Project reported that 47 percent of adult Internet users go online to research local businesses and services other than restaurants and eateries. Of these users, 36 percent rely on search engines to find the services they need.

What are you doing to make sure your business gets found online?

This month, Lawn & Landscape spoke with three firms that are focusing on search engine optimization (SEO) to improve their Internet search rankings.

Raising the ranks

There’s no exact formula for SEO – no recipe, no steps 1-20 to get your site pushed to the top of search engine results. There’s no boilerplate keyword list for landscapers, though most can guess what potential customer will type into the Google search bar.

Colin Taheny sees SEO as a sort of buffet of online media. Every bit of content matters: blogs, social media, press releases, online reviews. And all of the information is intertwined, delivering a common message about RYCO’s mission and services.

“It’s not like you can spend $10,000 on a website and you’re done,” Taheny says. “It’s a chess game.” SEO requires many moves, and Taheny recognizes that incorporating keywords into company website text is one strategy. “From a business perspective, it’s all about exposing yourself,” he says, adding that tweeting, blogging and posting Facebook updates work together to build brand awareness.

Then, when a prospect Googles a landscaper, RYCO’s name is top of mind – at least, that’s the plan. “A lot of times, people find us on search engines by typing in RYCO,” Taheny says. So many people are more specific in their searches than merely typing in “landscaper” or “cutting grass.” A lot more people, in fact. Taheny says that 80 percent of his sales at RYCO are based on someone typing the company name into a search engine.

The key to triggering a name search rather than a keyword search is consistent company promotion, Taheny says. And so some of the team at RYCO helps with updating social media sites and blogging. An outside expert assists with the company’s Twitter site and regularly tweets, and provides direction on SEO across the board.

The quest for SEO can seem like reaching into a bottomless pit budget-wise. So RYCO controls the cost by dedicating modest funds on a consistent basis.

“Spending little chunks of money consistently seems to be the name of the game versus spending a lot of money at one time and then letting (your activity) drop off,” Taheny says.

The real take-away from RYCO in the since the company has focused on SEO, is that you can’t rely on a website alone, and you’ve got to do something to up your search engine rankings. “The biggest mistake companies make is doing nothing at all,” Taheny says.
 

Better positioning, guaranteed

About five years ago, Michael Hoeksema noticed a downturn in his returns on print marketing efforts. What worked before, including Yellow Pages and ads, was no longer bringing in the sales leads he expected for his investment.

“Today’s technology world has shifted, and now positioning on Internet searches is the most critical aspect,” says Hoeksema, president of Wabeke Lawn Service and Snow Plowing in Hudsonville, Mich.

So Hoeksema invested in a website redesign and focused on plugging in more keywords to trigger better search engine results. Then, he started paying attention to the regular solicitations he was receiving from search engine placement firms, which charge a monthly fee for a guarantee that your company will make the top of search engine lists.

Hoeksema decided to take a chance. The first firm he hired was a flop – he didn’t get the results he expected. So he tried again, researching the firm and calling references. “The account manager was quite knowledgeable,” he says, noting that he took the time to vet search engine placement firms before deciding on Prospect Genius.

For a monthly fee – Hoeksema says most of the firms he checked out charged in the $130 range – the placement firm he hired created a twin website that mimics Hoeksema’s domain because the SEO software wasn’t compatible with his original site.

“The content is largely the same between the two websites, but they play around with the wording more and have control over revisions on that second site.”

So Hoeksema has two websites, but customers would never notice this. One is the original, the other is managed by the search engine placement firm. This way, he can take a hands-off approach to constantly updating his site with SEO keywords. “Search engines constantly update their keywords, so it’s hard to keep your presence to the top,” he says. But now, that’s not his job. The responsibility falls on his SEO firm.

Hoeksema explored SEO consultants as an option, but his budget wasn’t there. Plus, he was concerned about keeping fresh content live. He needed an ongoing SEO provider, not a one-shot deal; and he needed a relationship he could afford. “I could foresee how the lack of fresh content would result in a decrease in success down the road,” he says, fully aware of the commitment SEO requires.

With the search engine placement firm, Hoeksema gets the top placement he hoped for, plus call tracking and monitoring tools. He can log on to his account and pull up a report that identifies who called or emailed because of the website. When a call comes in, he receives an email containing the customers’ call number.

“There are definitely results coming out of all this,” Hoeksema says. “We have to rely on those who are professionals in their industries. There is no way I could devote the time or resources, and I’m simply not tech savvy enough to do their job.”
 

 
SEO is part of the plan

There’s more online competition today because most businesses in the industry recognize they need a web presence. customers aren’t using the Yellow Pages (unless it’s the dot.com version), says Scott Neave, president, Neave Landscaping, which services West Chester County, N.Y., Fairfield County, Conn., and Palm Beach, Broward and Dade Counties in southeast Florida.

But it’s not enough to just slap up a website. A “presence” will only take you so far. Neave has always focused on providing an online home that gives potential and existing clients a real understanding of the firm and its values. “We thought it was important to have a web presence 12 to 13 years ago,” he says, noting that was before the time when every company had a URL. “What I didn’t understand was how our name came up in searches. We tried some (SEO), and we were successful in some of our efforts, and in some we weren’t.”

Neave ramped up his efforts a few years ago, deciding to focus on SEO and pushing his company to the top of search results on a consistent basis. Every word makes a difference in SEO, content volume is critical (that is, content containing the right key words), and regular posting and updating is crucial. All this takes time, resources and expertise. That’s why Neave brought on a consultant who specializes in SEO.

“It’s a whole other world,” Neave says of SEO and other web specialties, such as site design and social media. “It’s like a landscaper trying to do the job of a lawyer. I know some things about law, but it’s not what I do.”

Neave says there are a lot of “moving parts” to the company’s website – and he promotes that in all of the firm’s marketing: business cards, job signs, brochures. What he learned about SEO is that content is king – the right content. “We try to generate a lot of content, pictures and blogs and constant additions to our site,” he says. “Basically, you have to keep changing it, that’s what I think is really the key. And that’s difficult. A stagnant site is not going to get traffic.”

Content generation at Neave Landscaping happens in and out of house. An outsourced public relations expert helps create some content for the site, while certain employees contribute blogs, posts and other updates. “The staff has to be committed to it, and we are still in the process of learning here,” Neave says.

The key to content is the key words imbedded in the text. Personally, Neave struggles with striking a balance between SEO language and quality writing. Content loaded with key words can be bland, but it helps raise your company to the top of the search results lists. And that’s the ultimate goal.

The author is a frequent contributor to Lawn & Landscape.