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I need information now
By Jeremy Kuno | November 1, 2007
Earlier this week, my two-year-old daughter decided to splatter coffee all over our bedroom carpet. I quickly learned two lessons. Lesson 1 – Don’t leave ANYTHING within reach of a two-year-old. Lesson 2 – Finding information that helps you solve real-world problems online is hard.
Immediately after mopping up the puddles of coffee, I hopped online in search of a reputable carpet cleaner in my area. My community forum had nothing. Judy’s Book and many other ratings and review sites, had nothing. Did a quick search on Google….again, there was nothing to be found. Don’t get me wrong, I found many phone numbers but no real information that could help me differentiate one local carpet cleaner from another.
On to the individual sites of carpet cleaners.. Do they service my area? Check. Do they clean carpets? Check. Do they go into detail about how they clean carpets? Check. Do they have testimonials? Some do but are they legit? Do they show me prices? No. Now here is the kicker for me; do they communicate the value of their service over their competitors? No. Should I flip a coin, and then make a phone call. Probably my best bet.
The ability of a Web site to convert a visitor into a customer, is clearly lost on the small business owner. Rather than being able to take five or ten minutes to read why ChemDry’s hot carbonated extraction non-toxic cleaning process is better than 360 Carpet Cleaner’s Rotovac Powerwand or Alpine Cleaning’s exclusive cleaning solution with steam extraction, I am forced to pick up the phone.
There in lays the challenge (or opportunity) for small businesses. Throwing up a Web site just isn’t good enough. Content is king, as the old mantra goes. As a small business owner, you need to be able to sell me on why I should become a customer. What is your value proposition? Is it price? Is it service? Is it location? Whatever it may be, communicate it on your Web site. Do you get a lot of the same questions from prospects? Great, post them and their answers so people who are looking online can get the same information. You have a service or product to sell and a message you know that works to sell it. Take it, control it and put it out there for the world to see.
Business owners get it in the real world. It’s one thing to put a “SALE” sign in your store window. But if you want to make the sale, you need to unlock the door to the store, have merchandise in the store and most importantly someone to close the deal. The same principles need to apply to your Web site.
Topics: Web site, Local Advertisers, Local Search |