What are the 5 most important features for websites for offline businesses to ensure they get found?

[sharpee]

I would really appreciate knowing what people think are the features that are the most important to put in a website for small & medium sized businesses that are the typical offline gold businesses (dentists, builders, car dealers etc).
These might be SEO related & marketing & appearance related.
Some examples might be:
* Having an opt-in box
* Having fresh content added regularly
* Having a shiny rotating logo ;>)

I'm interested in any features that will help websites get found in the search engines and be effective to get potential customers.
Thanks for any advice received.

[SusanneUK]

Just a couple of possibles off the top of my head and because I am not very awake yet, need second cup of tea LOL

1) Make sure their business zip/post code is on the site, footer is most likely place, perhaps where it says "copyright blah blah" you can add in their full business address.

2) Make sure the client is listed in google local and/or has claimed their listing if it is already there.

Off for my other tea.

Sue

[sharpee]

Hi Sue
Thanks for kicking it off with your suggestions.
I'm off for my first cuppa!

[Martin Luxton]

An important question to ask is "found for what?"

I was doing some research for a prospective client and I found their domain name keywords were not actually being searched for very much. Their market looks to be full of subniches so we are looking at a creating a whole load of pages based on long tail keywords.

Let's say your client is a dentist. Create pages like "crown repair", "root canal surgery", "teeth whitening" etc. Don't lump all the services together on one page or, if you do, at least do it as a silo structure and put a subpage for each service.

Make a video for each page explaining the procedure (and how painless it is ) and upload them, keyword optimized, to the main video sharing sites (use Tubemogul.com to save time).

Martin

[jan roos]

1. Optin Box

2. SEO optimized with correct keywords (one per page)

3. List in Google maps

4. Build backlinks

[whateverpedia]

Originally Posted by Martin Luxton

An important question to ask is "found for what?"

I was doing some research for a prospective client and I found their domain name keywords were not actually being searched for very much.

Martin

Exactly. The first, the very first, before anything else, thing a website needs in order to get traffic is - people looking for that product/service.

Can someone explain to me how having an optin form will help the site get "found"?

I see the point of a form for generating leads/customer service/newsletters/general marketing, but can't quite get my head around it helping the site get found as the question originally asked.

So here's my 5

1 A hungry (or at least active) market - without this nothing else matters
2 Information relevant to the search - vids, articles, etc.
3 backlinks - article directories, bookmarks, rss agg's, etc.
4 backlinks - article directories, bookmarks, rss agg's, etc.
5 backlinks - article directories, bookmarks, rss agg's, etc.

That should get them "found".

Only when they're on the site (ie they've actually found the site) does the optin play any role.

[NewbiesDiary]

Once I've done the keyword research, domain name research, competitor research etc etc etc - I recommend my OBO's (Offline Business Owners) have a blog either as part or the whole site, with daily content updates pre-loaded.

[sharpee]

Hi whateverpedia

Thanks for the input. Sorry if my title wasn't as broad as my post.

I did say in the OP "I'm interested in any features that will help websites get found in the search engines and be effective to get potential customers" so I think the Opt-in can play a very valid part in the process of building communication with potential customers and educating them into conversion.

One of the problems with the smaller offline business is that the search volumes are so low for keywords like:
builders in Dorset
false teeth repairs blackpool
I suppose you just have to put the content in covering all these longer-tail phrases.

[JohnMcCabe]

As far as getting found, you should look at two things.

1. Use the words that actually describe what your target customer is looking for. This usually means mining the long tail. For our hypothetical dentist, that includes the various services (as was mentioned) along with things like emergency appointments, walk-ins, insurance plans accepted, etc.

2. Explore how people might call out a location. They might use the name of the metro area - New York City dentist - or a neighborhood - Manhattan dentist. People also use zip/postal codes and area codes. If the office is in a named mall or office park, use that as well.