Top ten ways to sell more gift certificates online: Tip #6
March 5th, 2008 • Posted by Seth Gardenswartz • Permalink
SEO (Search Engine Optimization):
No one can buy from your site if they can't find it. If you want to understand how people do or don't find your website, watch a friend or customer use Google to try to find a spa in our neighborhood. Try this test:
Have your friend search for your spa/salon, then have them search for several spa or services that you offer like a facial, massage or Reiki therapy. If you do not show up on the first page of results, a little SEO effort is in order. SEO is the dark art of making your website visible to the folks who should be looking for it. If you have never heard this term, and want that $4,000 month of online sales, this is a must do. It's a really big subject and the industry is full of scam artists, cheats and liars, so it's best to learn a little about it yourself.
I recommend starting with your "content." Good content is really the key to a successful SEO effort. Content is the stuff you say about your business on your website. It should have lots of the terms you think people are using to look for a spa or your business. Generally, make sure you describe who, what and where you are. You must include your city and geographic prominently in your home page (ideally in the the title tag). There are millions of sites about spas and massage, but only a few in your area. It also matters how your content is put up on your site. Use lots of text in your content. That website with swimming Koi, falling Lotus flowers or whining music are invisible to search engines. No one looks for a spa website for entertainment (except for us if its really really bad).
You should also check out your site's Page Rank. Google ranks website on a scale of 1 to 10. If you are at the bottom of that scale, your site (no matter how pretty) is unlikely to show up on that first page of results unless your content matches the search better then sites that are better ranked.
As I cautioned above, this is a massive area but you can do some good just by paying attention and editing your site. If your website is hard (or expensive) to edit this may be a key problem we can help you solve with a Dynamic Website.
If you would like to chat about these tips, join me by phone tomorrow.
Posted in Spa Search Engine Optimization (SEO), General, Spa Website Design • Share • Trackback
March 5th, 2008 at 10:32 pm
How do I check my pages rank? How can I raise the rank of my site? When I search "skin care redding" I am about halfway down the page under Spa Emergency and when I search "facial redding" I don't show up at all. How can I get myself listed with all those other spas at the top of the list?
March 6th, 2008 at 10:35 am
Jeana:
If you have the time join the TeleSeminar on SEO today. Otherwise, you can use WhatsMyPageRank.com to see what your page rank is today. Since your site is new you have not page rank as of yet. You are in what the SEO geeks call the "Sandbox." See the Sandbox Effect for an explanation of how that affects new websites. You are not showing up at all, yet, because you have yet to be "indexed." Your site looks good, but I am happy to provide suggestions.