5 reasons why small business websites fail

by Ken Horst, www.myseoworkshop.com

1. No Keyword research -

Neither the  business owner nor their web master  did any keyword research to help them understand how people search for what they sell and how many searches are conducted each month.  As a result there are little or no on-site SEO tactics being used.  Frequently I see small business websites that have a title tag with the words “home page” in it.  At the very least your title tag should contain the most relevant keyword for your business. Follow this link for a great free  keyword research tool.

2. Poorly written content -

Also a result of no keyword research, their content is not optimized for how people search for their product or service. Usually the content I see on most small business websites was not written by a skilled writer let alone a trained SEO copy writer.  It was either hastily written by a busy small business owner or it was written by a web master/web designer who has little knowledge of their clients business or industry.  As a result their pages do not rank well in the search engines.

3. No Back links -

Recently I looked into a site for an attorney who asked me to check it out and see if I could give him any tips on how to rank higher in Google for his target keywords.  To my surprise, his web master had done a very good job of on-site optimization.  So the question became, if his site has good on-site seo practices in place, why isn’t it ranking higher in Google.  Part of the answer is in the fact that neither the attorney nor his web master had taken the time to develop and execute a back link strategy.

A back link is a link from another industry related site to your site.  Back links should be anchor text links which means that the keyword your are trying to rank for is included in the link like this, anchor text back link

The more quality back links you have pointing to your site, the more likely it is your site will rise up in the search engine rankings. Good sources of back links are blogs, forums, directories and of course other industry related sites.

4. Poor or no placement in Local Listings -

Their site doesn’t show up in Google Places (formally referred to as Local Listings) or any of the other major search engine’s local listing directories.  It is easy and free to add and/or update your company’s listing in Google places and on the other major search engines.  It’s important when doing this to make sure you complete all the fields in your listing.  In Google places you can and should also add photos and video to your company listing.  You can find out how you and your web master are doing with your sites local listing strategy at getlisted.org.

5. No landing page -

Most small business have never heard of the term “landing page optimization“.  They think of their home page as the main entry page to their site and wonder why they aren’t getting more calls, leads and sales from their visitors.  This is because most home pages don’t include a compelling call to action.  On many of the small business sites I review each week it’s difficult for me to find their phone number let alone any other way for me to connect with them or take an action that would lead to a sale.

Smart internet marketers have a clear idea of what they want their visitors/prospect to do when they land on a site and it usually boils down to;

• Call me (The phone number is prominent on every page with a call to action like “call now for more info” or to “place an order”)
• Give me your email ( form for email capture in exchange for membership, a newsletter, white paper or some other item of value to your target market)
• Buy from me ( shopping cart)

These are just a few of the reasons why small business web sites fail, there are many more and  the internet continues to evolve and change which makes it even more important to pay attention, develop a plan, execute, measure and adjust as you go