We sometimes exhibit auto-magical thinking about websites much like Field of Dreams. We believe if we build a site, then people will just come to it, and “Sales” will happen. I hate to break it to you, but that is not the way it works. Your website has to be marketed. Ironic that one of your key marketing tools has to be marketed, but it does. Over the next few weeks, we are going to cover a few items you can undertake during the travel standstill to enhance your visibility.
https://www.google.com/business/
Periodically, every website owner receives a notice from an “SEO expert” offering to optimize their website. Typically these services are valuable but often over-priced, especially when there are very simple exercises every website owner can take to improve their search engine standing. One of the most important efforts you can undertake for your own site is to list it with Google Local Search. When you do, you will begin to show up on their local ad spots like this one. Remember, many consumers are likely to conduct a search just as I have done here, “Travel Agents Nashville” so you want to ensure you come up on the list locally as well.
If you have a storefront travel agency, it is possible to link your website, address, and map to your agency’s listing. Contrary to what many home-based agencies believe, however, it IS NOT necessary to list an address. Home-based businesses can list a service area instead.
Once your business is listed with Google Local Search, your company name will be in a list of similar businesses when someone makes a search on your locality.
A simple enough step and one well worth your time! Everyone treats these topics like some type of black art, but in essence, they are really very simple. Let me provide a word of warning about SEO – it can be, for many, a discouraging topic because it seems so mysterious and so expensive. I will tell you, it is not the end all, be all, of website marketing. There are other tactics you can use to increase traffic to your site. One of the best aspects of SEO, however, is if you are doing a good job at SEO, you are creating great, useful content that will serve you well on your website.
Here is a guide to SEO demonstrating free, easy-to-accomplish steps that will make your site much more friendly to Google and other search engines: https://www.voyagerwebsites.com/seo.html
