The 1 Biggest Website Mistake Companies Make
How to Win Over New Customers AND Google
Forget SEO, analytics, trends, and marketing strategy… the biggest mistake most companies make with their website is the most simple and basic thing to understand.
Most company websites lack heart.
As founder of HVAC Marketing Success, I have been providing digital marketing for over a decade. I’ve done dozens of in-depth case studies, looked at thousands of websites, and I’ve given presentations to hundreds of business owners. I’ve seen just about every type of website a company can have, and I have seen just about every mistake a website could have.
But, again and again, I see that the biggest mistake company websites make is a “lack of heart.”
What is a Lack of Heart?
This simply means you are missing putting your company’s story for people to see on your website.
Don’t understand why this is so important?
Ranking well on Google is all about trust (which you already know if you’ve read just about any of my other blogs, including SEO Basics 101). Nothing is going to build more trust when it comes to Google than by just being authentic, by being genuine.
How do you do that? You tell your business’ story!
- When did the business start?
- Who started it?
- Why did they start it?
- How has it grown?
Those are just some of the questions to start with. But then go even further into what has happened with your company over the years.
If a business is doing a million dollars in sales (or three or ten!), there’s a real story behind that growth. There was also probably some struggle. At some point, some really exciting things happened – you took on new types of services, or you got to 10 employees or 100. Or maybe it changed from one generation to the other. How is your business different than those first years you started?
When people come to your website, they are looking for someone to trust. That’s what makes telling your story online and adding some heart a win-win. You’re giving your customers exactly what they’re looking for by letting them see that you’re real people who are good at what you do, you stand behind your work, and you’ve done it for a long time.
Websites with Heart Rank Better on Google
While showing your story is something that customers want to see, there is an added benefit and one that is enormous. You are also giving Google exactly what it’s looking for.
SEO gets a bad rap, and sometimes deservedly. Some people try to “game the system” and try to rank well on Google in nefarious ways. That’s called black hat SEO. You never want to do that because Google is always one step behind it. Once it catches you, Google punishes you and you will be left further behind than ever.
But by telling your company’s story on your website, you are not “fighting” Google or trying to trick them. You are just telling them, “this is who we are.” And that is (effective) white hat SEO.
Get on your website and start adding heart by writing a paragraph (or better yet, a page) about when your company started. Add some photos. If you don’t have photos from those first days, than any good photos of your team will still go a long way in supporting your good story.
Showing customers the history and story of good, locally-owned HVAC companies is what we do. It is really easy for us to find all the ways to brag about a company, because we only work with the best!
Some examples of how we showed “heart” and a company’s story:
- A timeline of your history in business in your community
- The 3 generations in the family HVAC business
- Customer testimonials of your technicians
- Your involvement in your town
- How your HVAC company gives back to the community
If you would like to learn more about what we do and how we typically triple website traffic and get locally-owned heating and air companies ranked high on Google, schedule a time to chat with Matthew using the button below or visit HVACMarketingSuccess.com.
Let me know how I can help you grow your business!