By Maggie FitzRoy, Contributing Writer
Jen Hooper, operating partner for MosquitoNix, recently moved to Jacksonville to run the company’s Northeast Florida office.
Since MosquitoNix is located in 500 U.S. cities and 19 countries, it has an internet presence. But Hooper wanted to learn how to position her local office on the internet in a way that would capture local customers’ attention, as well as how to educate them on the pest control company’s mission: protecting outdoor lifestyles.
With those goals in mind, she attended “The First Page of Google,” part of the Northeast Florida Builders Association’s Lunch and Learn program. And she was glad she did.
Hooper said presenter Dan Broze, branch manager for Web.com, “was really informative.”
Broze provided tips attendees could put to use immediately on their own.
He began by pointing out the vast majority of customers search for a local business online. Eighty-eight percent use their mobile phones to do so. And 52 percent will not scroll down beyond the first page.
After their search, 83 percent will contact the business they have researched within one hour. Since 85 percent of internet searches are done on Google, it is important to rank high with the search engine, Broze said.
Google is “very strict with how they rank businesses,” he said. “A lot of criteria is involved. And everything you do online matters.”
Since Google uses constantly changing algorithms to rank businesses, he gave the following tips to increase chances of ranking high:
• If your company has a Facebook page, it must be frequently updated to keep it fresh. If you don’t have the resources to do so, you are better off not having one at all.
• Have a Google Plus account and keep it updated. It is important to take the time to do that, because Google wants that information and uses it to rank you.
• Encourage online customer reviews. If a customer writes a negative one, write an immediate response, to show you are taking care of the problem.
• Make sure your company website is mobile friendly. If it is not, you will not rank high.
• Be certain that whoever designs your website registers it in your name. If they don’t, you won’t own it. Since sites must be re-registered every year, it is smart to go ahead and pay for 10 years upfront, to prove you plan to be in business for the long-term.
“The zero moment of truth is when your potential customer needs your service,” Broze said.
So in regard to your website, you need to know the answer to two questions: How many customers did it bring you last month? And how many will it bring you next month?
Broze also outlined how Google changed its first page design about six months ago to make it work better for mobile phones and explained how it works.
The first page is now divided into three sections: paid ads, map listings and organic.
The top section, paid ads, is limited to a maximum of four. That is the section over which you have the most control, because “you pay to play.”
The middle section, Google maps, contains a maximum of three companies. To get on it you must have a highly ranked Google Plus account.
The last section, organic, contains a maximum of 10 companies, which are listed based on search engine optimization features.
In that section, “Google determines your rank,” Broze said. And, “on average it takes six months to get top ranking.”
The cold hard truth is most consumers will not go beyond the first page of Google in a search, Broze said.
So if you are not on it and your competition is, they will likely get the business.
“You are statistically more likely to be in a car accident than to be found on the second page of Google,” Broze said.