Search Engine Marketing

Are you still looking for them - or are you already found? How to get on the search engine hit list.

The presence on the Internet can help to reach new customers

Craftsmen have long since been unable to avoid the importance of the Internet for customer acquisition and retention. Research has shown that handicraft businesses that have a well-designed and substantial internet offer now generate up to 30 percent of their sales through this electronic contact exchange. Because: Anyone looking for a painter in their region as a builder is less likely to go to the yellow pages, but rather "google" the service providers quickly online. And this is exactly where it gets exciting: How is it that the website of Malermeister Maier from Musterhausen already appears on the first page of the search engine hit list and that of Malermeister Müller, also Musterhausen, only on page nine - wherever he is going Internet users guaranteed no longer clicked through? In a nutshell:This is due to the orientation of the respective website on the evaluation criteria of search engines such as Google & Co. And you should know the criteria in order to be displayed and found far ahead in the network. A brief overview of how you can design your company website to be search engine optimized!

search engines

The good news first: All search engines work on the same principle. The bad news: Every search engine evaluates the relevance of a website according to slightly different criteria - and makes the exact current evaluation criteria a big secret. What they all have in common is that they use special programs (so-called “robots”) to comb the Internet and record and catalog the existing websites in databases. At the same time, the search engines categorize how important the respective website is with regard to certain search terms. The structure of your own website can be geared towards these two essential functions of search engines - recording key terms and evaluating them.

Tip 1: text

The search engine robots can read text best! For this reason, pages created solely from images or pure Flash pages are often disadvantaged in the search results. The search engines find it difficult to assess these formats with the same quality as is possible with classic text pages. The robots also evaluate the amount of text. It is ideal to use no less than 100 and no more than 600 to 800 words on each page.

Tip 2: Keywords

The digital robots of the search engines read all the words on a website. If a search query comes up, they use exactly these terms and, based on the presence of the search words and their frequency, measure whether a particular website fits the query particularly well. Therefore, it is important for you to think about the key words (keywords) a potential customer might be looking for in search of you. These are of course terms such as "painter", "master painter", "painter company", also your company name (painter company Müller) and the place or region in which you work (Musterhausen, Musterstadt) as well as special common services (thermal insulation, wallpaper, Mold protection, gilding etc.). Make sure that these keywords appear in your internet texts - the most important, please, several times. Indeed:Do not exaggerate. The heaped mention of z. B. "Malerbetrieb Müller, your contact for painting in Musterhausen" punish the search engines with a deduction in the relevance rating of the page. The position of the keywords on the individual pages also has an impact. If they appear in the title of the page, in the heading or far in the text, they will be rated higher than in the back.

Tip 3: names

This is also part of the "word search logic" of the search engines. They prefer websites if each subpage of a website has its own embedded page title. The individual title per page is forgotten by many web programmers. Of course, the keywords appear best in this page title. It also makes sense to store a short description for each page. This text is used by some search engines to display search results.

Tip 4: External links

In their rating, search engines also pay attention to how popular the website is. And the “robots” measure this by how many links refer to this website and in what quality. Specifically: If a link to your online presence is linked to your website from the websites of your partners or customers, this can use the rated popularity - and your page will move higher in the ranking. So make sure that you are represented with a link in good web offers. But be careful when linking to dubious sites that were created solely for such "link propagation". The search engine penalizes such connections with points.

Tip 5: table of contents

You have certainly seen it on many websites: Here, a menu item "Sitemap" is offered. If you click on it, an organizational chart of the entire online offer appears. You shouldn't miss this “map” either, because it makes it easier for search engines to access your content.

Tip 6: Nomen est omen

To improve a few places in the hit list, you should offer search engines important keywords already in the domain name. The word "painter" should therefore always be part of your internet address, for example www.maler-mustermann.de. Your company name alone is shorter, but misses an important chance of a positive evaluation!

Search engine optimization

If you already own a website - check whether these minimum requirements are met. The differentiated search engine optimization is a matter for professionals - that is, web programmers. Talk to your web service provider - or contact specialized companies in parallel. They usually offer a review of your website at small flat-rate prices. How do you find them? Simply "google": The search words "search engine optimization" (or English abbreviation: SEO) plus the name of your home town will get you there quickly.

Optics and content

Just a few years ago, regularly updated content was a guarantee for best rankings - today, search engines pay more attention to quality. The Brillux customer club offers tools such as: B. the link to farbdesigner.de, farbimpulse.de and daemm-info.de. In addition, members receive a CD with high-quality photos free of charge, which also present the range of offers of the individual company in an attractive manner on the Internet.

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New customers can be won over the Internet if your own appearance is optimized.

Brillux customer club

Nina Gravermann

PO Box 1640

48005 Munster

Tel.: (0251) 7188-759

Fax: (0251) 7188-439

www.brillux.de

www.brillux-kundenclub.de