When owning a small business in the Durham NC area, overhead is a large part of a company’s potential growth variables. A recent trend in the Durham NC area is to save money by working from home. This may be because you don’t have a need for a customer to visit you or you might even have a building in the backyard that will sufficiently house your manufacturing. Either way, more and more people are working in a home-based business environment.
For the most part, marketing decisions to let the Durham NC area community know the services that you offer stay the same: flyers, website, vehicle wraps, radio, etc. are all valid ways of getting your message out. However recently Google has made some changes that may make it very difficult for home-based businesses to let their community know about the products and services that they offer.
Let’s take a look at this situation more closely…
The Goal: Getting Your Message Out
A website is the modern version of a business card. With any business in the Durham NC area this should be considered one of the very first things that you do to let the community know about the products and services that you offer. The easier your website is to find will help draw customers based upon many factors that are crafted into the website; such as: the design, retention ratios, click through value’s, visual flow, quality content, key term saturation and more.
Google currently controls the majority of internet search traffic, so it’s important to make sure that you’re playing by Google’s rules if you want your website to perform well.
Branding of your Durham NC area business should also be taken into consideration between the web development company and your sign and print provider. It is important that your branding is consistent when presenting your message to the Durham NC community. (see articles on branding) By having a quality website crafted by a professional web development company, it can provide the anchor for all other advertising; giving your customer a central point of communication and direction for your company.
Sometimes Change Leaves Us Behind
With Google holding the monopoly in web search traffic it is important to make sure that you understand some of the things that Google is doing to try and help their customers get the best results. One of the key changes that’s been made by Google is the Geo locator program, used to help provide Google customers with the businesses that are closest to them as top search results. The premise utilizes geo-tracking technology between computers, smart phones, smart watches, vehicles and more to help give customers an immersive experience for their purchasing ability. This program however, has some downsides.
If your business is not properly set up and verified through the Google locator system, you are far less likely to be found online.
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Has Google Banned Home Businesses?
The Google geo locator program organizes and lists businesses, in many cases, based upon the physical location of the business. (among many other factors) Work from home businesses in the Durham NC area that do not want customers to come to their home will suffer in this respect.
Because the Geo locator program is interwoven between the Google plus, Google business, Google places and Google map accounts; by listing and verifying your business through Google, your home (including images) will show up in searches.
For many home-based businesses in the Durham NC area this is an undesirable option. As the Google Geo locator program continues to grow Google has no plans to change the direction.
In fact, their expansion will make it even more difficult for businesses that do not wish to participate in the Geo locator program to be found online.
Collateral Damage
Many small businesses provide services for areas outside of the Durham NC area. In the past you simply listed the service areas as part of your marketing and website make-up; this no longer is the case. Because the Geo locator program determines the physical location of your base, (the location of your business that was verified) in relationship to the location of the Google customer that is searching; your business may be easily skipped over because you’re not in the immediate area of where that customer is searching from.
Money is the Motive
Is there a solution for the Durham NC area work at home business or home improvement service that has a storefront location that wishes to be found outside of their immediate area? Yes. Many of the changes Google has made over the last three years have been to motivate business customers to utilize the Google AdWords program.
This program is where you pay Google for each visitor that comes to your website based upon the keywords that you put into the program. These keywords bypass practically all other Google guidelines allowing you to go straight to the head of the class (top of the rankings) within a geographical area that you determine.
For some businesses this may be a viable use of their marketing dollars, but for many small businesses that have lower price points of less than $30 per item… a cost per click price tag may simply be too great. While in 2014 Google said that these new guidelines would help level the playing field for all businesses, the truth is that these new guidelines make it more difficult for work from home businesses, small businesses and businesses with smaller price points to compete on the Internet with larger companies.
When Local Experience Counts
When it comes to experience, trust the professionals at Bull City Signs serving the Durham, NC area. The proof is in the product with our many satisfied customers, happy to show off our workmanship. From the first phone call, you will know that you contacted a professional sign and graphics company; asking all the right questions to provide you with the advertising print product that will help brand your business in the Durham, NC area. Be sure to trust the experts when choosing the right company for your sign needs.