services vs products

[cominback]

I'm setting up a new site for a client who offers professional services.. Counsiling to be exact.

Is there better way of approaching this task other than relying on the comp matrix and commercial indicators that we use when setting up a product oriented site?

My client isn't planning on selling any products.

Seems that this type of site would have different criteria.

Any suggestions or maybe a link to a similar question and answer?

Any help is greatly appreciated.

Cheers from Wyo

[Greg]

Its exactly the same.. You can get front page listings for any keyword. As Ed showed an example. If you type "the hottest man in the universe" you'll see Edd's site near the top.

Research any keywords that have reference to the service your offering, and follow the challenge guidelines.

[Sandra]

Cominback, If the counselor is looking for physical (as opposed to online) clients you will need to change some of your figures when checking out keywords for themes and categories. I am sorry haven't got time to do a search at the moment, but if you do a search of the forum for local markets or something similar you will probably find info on how to alter the figures. I believe Caro suggested some figures and I know someone else explained about the number of contacts required from the web site would give you an idea on the number of times the website would need to be visited.
Sandra

[Caro :-)]

Outside of the Challenge I have a business that focuses on Local Business and helping get them Online.

We use EXACTLY the same principals - whether it's for a product or service. The major difference being with the Traffic and that you don't need as high traffic numbers if phone call is what you want. You want to look at what the value is per customer for the client.

So I tend to work with Clients who have a value of around $300 per client. So getting 3 more phonecalls even a week is a good thing (we got them much more). Their SEOT for their main keyword phrase was around 12 a day.

I tend to go for at least 50% PBR for local. And an even lower SEOC than 30K ideally. And I would be analyzing the matrix very similarly to what we do here.

So I may work with slightly different stats, but the process is EXACTLY the same. And it works well. I have gotten my clients to position 1 before when working on their business, as has my business partner in the US.

Best

Caro

[cominback]

Thanks you all for your ideas.

Greg, That sure wasn't much to go on..lol But thanks anyway, it's always good to remember that point.

Sandra, I appreciate your thoughts as well. I'll look into that some more

Caro, I knew there was something different about them., just couldn't remember for the life of me.
It was your reply regarding the matrix that was most helpful to me. I believe we touched on it last year.
Thanks so much for the reminder and your idea on how to approach it. I'll make some adjustments to the matrix values and run 'em again.

It really makes sense to me because last spring, I set up a friends Pest Control Co online and although the search term had lower than average search numbers, we used it and within a couple weeks we were indexed and receiving calls for sign ups. So far we haven't beat anyone out yet in the market per se but we have both made some incomeon products and services. That's how we like it

In closing, I guess this new site won't be much different than that except for the lower search numbers. But like you said, if we can figure out what each customers is worth, then less searches really shouldn't have that much of a negative impact on this campaign.

So again, Thank You for your help!

[Caro :-)]

Pest Control is a perfect example of a local business to work on.

We're working on such a client too (outside the Challenge), we can't wait to see the results we believe we can get for them.

Best

Caro

[contador]

Any suggestions for when SEOT is blank within Market Samurai?

Using my Chicago Barbershop example
Keyword Phrase - "Barber"
-SEOT 16,846
-SEOC 3,120,000
-Competition is horrible, and local shop does not want to rank nationally.

Shop is in Auora - largest suburb of Chicago with population of 180,000 people
Keyword Phrase - "Aurora Barber Shop"
-SEOT "-" or blank
-SEOC is 7,540

How do you decide when to purse "Auora Barber Shop" without traffic numbers?

[jonparker]

How do you decide when to purse "Auora Barber Shop" without traffic numbers?

This post is all "in my opinion" so don't take it as gospel...

Firstly, forget SEOC as it's redundant data when you have SEOTC. Think about what these values actually represent and you'll realise that you only need one of them.

You need to look at the search phrases and think about how relevant your website is going to be for the people searching.

There is no point in ranking for "barber" (or any similar generic keyword phrase) for a local service business as 99% of the people who find your website aren't ever going to be in a position to actually use those services.

There is not much point in ranking for a keyword phrase with no traffic (unless from a reputation management point of view in your local area).

You need to consider the amount of effort required to rank for a certain phrase, how relevant the traffic searching for that phrase would be to the business, and what that traffic would actually be worth to the business.

Remember: organic search engine optimisation isn't necessarily the best method of marketing a business.

[cominback]

I have only set up a few local business sites but I have set them up in AZ, Cali, and Wyo. and all have or are doing well with minor tweaking here and there on occassion.

With that being said, I am no Pro, I'm merely using what works for me as I go, so please keep that in mind. I also ask lots of questions and other members and moderators have been very helpful along the way.

If you are still stuck after this, send a msg to Caro( or one of our other moderators). They are why I use this forum hands down!

So meanwhile, back on the farm..hehe

To answer your question Contador...For local business search, I think it's okay to use fairly generic kw's "as part" of your domain name because you want people to relate your biz with what they are searching for and it should never be complicated or overly clever... Eg: Chicago Barbershop/ Aurora Barbershop These are great examples of using generic terms in your d-name.

As a rule of thumb for local search, I try to set up a site with the most poplular generic terms available. So if comp is decent and not over saturated, then use it.

Also, I "try" to stick with the higher searches but it doesn't always work out that way. Be creative and you'll find something.

Local business sites don't nearly need as many monthly searches as do huge companies that are national or international (I learned this more recently, Thanks to Caro). When you are looking to build up foot traffic or get the calls to come in, stick with what is relavent and work up from there.

And if I was targeting barbershops, I might also target something like, crew cut barbers(or whatever specialty), male/female barbershops and old fashioned barbershops, to name a few. Then I would add the location factor into it and shoot for the moon

And Google loves local businesses. I get great results using their webmaster services and you will too , so don't forget to add your site there first.

Cheers from Wyo

[Caro :-)]

If you are still stuck after this, send a msg to Caro( or one of our other moderators). They are why I use this forum hands down!

Please don't!

My team and myself are stretched as is to address people's questions. And we approach it that one publicly asked question about the Challenge Strategy has the ability to assist many people. Looking for one on one assistance is not being considerate to the community who all deserve to be helped equally.

You can see this point in the forum rules here: http://challenge.co/forum/showthread...ge-Forum-Rules

If we answered everyone's PM's - you'd never see us here

Best

Caro