The Internet revolutionised business, wiping out chunks of the value chain and demolishing global borders and Google dominates the Internet for most of us. In just twenty years many bookshops, video stores and even taxi ranks were pushed aside and the momentum is only just gathering strength.
New services arrive daily to keep us all on our toes, comparing prices and reminding customers to shop around or trying to lock them into subscriptions. Winning new customers and replacing lost customers is more important than ever and Google in particular plus Social Media are essential to that effort.
- 91% of all purchases involve Google at some point in the decision, whether it is the starting point for search, a place to compare prices, or to find reviews, it is ubiquitous.
- 33% on average of all purchasing visitors come from the top 3 listings on Page One of the results (SERP) making ranking a critically important tool or serious marketers.
- 82% of all buyers look for reviews before buying, even when in a store or looking in a store window, they use their phones. But it gets worse, Google is also checking the reviews when it calculates where to rank your website . A handful of reviews this way or that can make all the difference. Bad reviews can be good if handed right
- Position one on Google can drive 8 to 15 times more revenue than position 10. This is no game.
- A visitor from Search is 2-5 times more likely to buy than a visitor from Adverts.
- 60% of all local searches result in a purchase.
- 85% of local searches result in a same day phone call or visit.
When a travelling businessman in Manchester decides to stay overnight, he uses his phone to ask a company in California to recommend the best value hotel. If you own a hotel in Manchester you are not going to make it by painting a bigger louder sign or placing an advert in Yellow pages.
You need Google Ranking, Reputation, Local presence, Social scores, a convincing website a great deal and a very easy to use conversion funnel. Not much really, but not one scrap of that can be omitted or messed up.
To achieve and maintain this will take a bare minimum of 4/5 man-days per month and a good portion of this by people with specific skills and tools and the right strategy. That’s where a professional digital marketing company comes in.
For locally focused businesses, you MUST be on the TOP3 of local search.