Recently, i did a search of window cleaning businesses in the state of california...
...i was absolutely "blown-away" from the results i found!
from the first 50 listings, only -- (3) -- window cleaning company's had a business website! and, (now here's the scary part), not a single one of those three sites had a "links" or "resources" page on their site!
what's wrong with this picture?
all 50 of these window cleaning businesses are missing out of loads of 'highly qualified' customers in their area.
people in your area are searching the internet for a professional window cleaning company on the daily basis and -- without an on-line presence -- your window cleaning company is invisible to their requests.
it boils down to this...
if you do not have a website, all of those potential customers are hiring your competition; and you're losing out on new clients and new revenue sources.
here are 'real statistics' about folks searching the internet for professional window cleaning services:
searches done in april 2006 - yahoo.com
1262 searches for "window cleaning los angeles"
370 searches for "window cleaning chicago"
201 searches for "window cleaning new york"
in just one month there were 1262 searches for "window cleaning los angeles" at yahoo.com. can you imagine how many people typed in that keyword phrase at google and all the other top search engines for the month of april?
try multiplying that number several times and you've got a ton of potential customers looking for you!
but, can they find you?
first, get a website built. it doesn't have to be fancy, a two page site will work wonders. but, the website itself will not automatically bring in qualified leads (customers)...
...you'll need to optimize your site so it appears in a search engine, like google.com, for the appropriate keywords. again, most people type in these keywords when looking for your business:
"window cleaning (your city)"
also referred to as tagging your website url link with an "anchor text":
one simple strategy to get your window cleaning company website to appear in google is to use the keywords, "window cleaning (your city)", as your "anchor text" at other sites related to your industry, i.e.. (other top window cleaning, janitorial, pressure washing and cleaning sites).
this means you've got to find these site's, submit your information, and (more often than not), link back to the site that you've requested a link from.
here's an example of a window cleaning business that has used this strategy perfectly.
if you go to my "professional window cleaning" page; scroll down the page and you'll see a listing that uses this keyword phrase, (anchor text), to link to their site:
"bay area window cleaning services"
this is the anchor text they chose to highlight they're website's link that will take visitors to their site. they chose this anchor text because it's a great keyword phrase and they expect that several new customers in their target market, will type this phrase into a search engine when looking for a professional window cleaning company in their area.
i just did a search on google for this keyword phrase and guess what i found? ...
...you guessed it! their company info and url was listed on the "first page"!
the company's name is valley window cleaning.
i also did a search at alexa.com to see what kind of traffic their website was bringing in. they are the 1,610,800 most visited site in the world for october 2006. they're actually driving more traffic to their site than many of the worlds biggest window cleaning supply companies! --- wow!
and, most of their traffic is optimized for customers searching in their area so, they aren't getting a lot of traffic from areas they don't service -- just local traffic -- and, lots of it!
why are they getting more traffic than some of the big supply companies?
answer: they've got a links page at their website and almost every major window cleaning supply company doesn't!
important note! every link from a related website pointed towards your site counts as a "vote of approval". for many of the popular free search engines, the greater the number of links coming into your site, the higher your site will appear in a search for the keyword phrase you've used as your anchor text.
so, to get related sites to link to you, you must first...
if you want sites to link to you, you've got to link back to them -- it's proper internet etiquette. so, what you need at your site is page that you can reciprocate links to other sites and ask for a link exchange.
somewhere on your site's "home page" you should have a link that is called "resources" or "links". this will allow folks surfing your site to go to this page and click on any of the links to other sites you've listed.
i think some window cleaning businesses are afraid of listing other sites at theirs, because they believe they will lose potential customers.
nothing could be further from the truth. you may lose a few folks with outgoing links but having an aggressive link exchange program at your site will bring in way more qualified leads than you'll lose.
and, instead of focusing on getting tons of traffic that won't cost you a dime, many spend hundreds or even thousands of dollars with on-line advertising instead. it doesn't make a whole lot of sense -- does it?
quality leads might not necessarily come from the traffic the other sites provide you but, the more inbound links you create for your site -- the higher your website will appear in the search engines.
and, that is where the quality customers are going to come from. your goal is to appear on the first page at google for your keyword phrase. you can accomplish that by aggressively exchanging links with other sites and, (most importantly) "tagging" your inbound link with the appropriate anchor text.
...you'll soon be visible to solid, quality leads that can give your business a competitive advantage over others in your area.
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