Why do you need to optimize your website for local Search Engine & map listings?

Optimizing your website for local search engine listings is one of the most important basic steps needed for a complete SEO strategy. To put it in perspective and better understand the importance of the proper optimization for your website and business, it is important to be aware about some of the current statistics and data available.

During 2013, 97% of costumers performed searches about local business using their computers and mobile devices. This means that search queries carry not only the information such as the service or business category users are looking for, but also includes the geographical information; commonly a city or state name. As a consequence, search engines targets a user’s search results with local listings in order to bring relevant local results. For instance, to come up with local results, Google tries to identify your location.

Now, it is very important to provide accurate and complete information about your business location, name, phone number and hours of operation to improve optimization results. Although this information is standard, the user quickly sees if they are interested on your business based on things such as the average starts rating or the number of customer reviews. What's more, adding photos, videos, information about special offers and discounts will make it more appealing and it'll be easier for customers to decide and prefer your business among others.

One of the reasons why it is important to have your map listing up to speed is the extended use of smart phones. As stated by Pew Research Internet Project, 74% of U.S. consumers use location based services on their Smartphone. Then, when someone uses his or her smart phone to search for a service or a product, the first results they get are the local ones.

In addition, search engines have made some changes like locating the map with local business on top of the ads on the right side. Actually, local listings are appearing even above organic search results. That is why managing local map listings will help your business get high search engine visibility that will translate into new clients every day. The first step is to claim your business listings. There are over 130 main listings you could target; Google, Bing and Yelp are considered the main ones.

Outsourcing your website optimization for local search engine and map listings is always a good idea, since you will need to supervise constantly customer reviews, analyze the analytics and to keep updated your business information.

The message is clear: you want to optimize your website for local map listings and search engine to help users find your business faster & easily. In other words, if you want the best possible online exposure for your business, you must be there when customers and prospects are looking for you.

For additional information about how or why to optimize your website for local MAP listings, go to www.XperienceMarketingSolutions.com to get a FREE consultation.

Reasons why website design impacts your business marketing strategy

Website Design has become a crucial factor for all businesses; from small mom & pop businesses to well established enterprises, everyone expect their websites to deliver real value. Around 91% of online adults use search engines to find information on the Web. And, among all search users, over 90% always or most of the time find the information they were looking for.

As you probably have heard on many occasions, your website will be the first impression a possible new customer will get from your company. Nowadays, it’s understood by most people that one of the basic purposes of a website is to help potential clients find information about a business, a person -or anything that wants to be promoted or communicated thru the World Wide Web, more commonly called the “internet”.

However, when it comes to designing and developing a website, designers need to take into consideration a lot visual elements and many other factors that most people would not think about. Some of these factors include: the way the graphics and text will be arranged, choice of colours, logos, use of fonts, and more.

But is that all?

Is it enough to create a nice looking website and be a part of the www?

Charles Eames, one of the most important American designers of this century, once said: “Design is a plan for arranging elements in such a way as best to accomplish a particular purpose.” Meaning that the main purpose of designing is meeting a particular goal, thus designers must ask themselves what the end goal is, before setting out to create a design. This can also be extrapolated to web design, because one of the objectives behind creating a website is to help a company to achieve its marketing, communication & business goals.

 As a result, website design goes further than paying attention to the elements mentioned before. Here are some examples, when choosing the colours, designers must think ahead about the brand of an organization or personality of the client; the layout goal should be to help the viewers to simply find the information they are looking for and at the same time look good in different browsers of formats; and most important, the content needs to boost up the message that the company is trying to communicate, plus it also needs to be optimized with relevant keywords for search engines.

Overall web design covers three important things: first, creating a visually compelling site with the intention of giving visitors the best experience no matter what device or browser they are using. Second, conveying the company brand, focusing on understanding each business market goals and fundamentals reflecting them with relevant content. Finally, considering the prospect clients as the end users of the web, then designers use a range of user-friendly techniques such as optimizing your content for faster loading time by reducing the number of images on a mobile site.

After all, website design is about managing viewer’s perception which leads them to prefer a specific company over others. The result of a well-designed web, should allow you and make you capable of influencing your prospects clients into buying or taking a particular service. With that being said, web designers more than building websites should also have a deep understanding of areas such as marketing and business strategies, to be able to add value to their clients. So, beyond being found on the web, the most important thing is the clients’ engagement and perception that a website generates.

For additional information about website or mobile design, go to www.XperienceMarketingSolutions.com to get a FREE consultation.