Findability Makeover 2009 Results
Happy New Year!
Time really does fly when you
are having fun and helping
businesses find the optimal
Findability for their websites.
This is my seventh
Website Magazine article
and I have enjoyed
every minute of work
that has gone into each
one. Taking the time
to talk to each entrepreneur,
understanding their frustrations, and giving them
some easy and non-technical suggestions to increase their
search engine Findability has been a true pleasure. For this
month’s feature, I have decided to take a moment to check
in with some of our past participants and report back what
they have implemented and what changes they have seen as
a result of their hard work. We have also re-evaluated their
Findability to see if their scores have improved.
Some of the companies experienced challenges in implementing
the changes (as expected) and some have had
some amazing successes. I have tried report back on the
exact suggestions we made and then gathered exact,
unedited responses from our past subjects. We heard back
from three of our subjects: 1305Dentist.com, BJSpyAssociates.
com and MarleyDogSupplies.com. Here are their results
and comments.
FINDABILITY RESULTS:
1305Dentist.com
1) Original Findability Recommendation:
Combine blog and website together.
When we evaluated 1305Dentist.com, the blog was
completely separate from the website. The blog also had
much higher Findability, detracting attention from the
main website — essentially defeating the purpose of the
blog. We recommended joining the website and blog so the
website received the benefit of a well-produced blog.
• “As you know we had a blog and attempted to get it
to work with the website. The hosting company said
that they are unable to create and host a blog on
their platform. The best they could do is
http://www.1305dental.com/Blog.aspx.”
2) Original Findability Recommendation: Use
keyword rich domains.
The original domain of 1305Dentist.com comes from
the business’ street address in Fairfield Connecticut. We
recommended creating a keyword-rich domain to take advantage
of localized searches when the searcher did not already
know the address.
• “We have created several niche-based websites that
feed to our main site. For example, www.clearbracesfairfield.
com,www.dentalimplantsfairfield.com and
www.toothwhiteningfairfield.com, plus several others.”
3) Original Findability Recommendation: Use
keywords in local listings.
While local listing ads were in place, we recommended an
overhaul — including expanding on localized and longtail
keywords and the addition of addresses and phone
numbers in the ad text.
• “Traffic has stayed steady,” Paul commented. But they
have seen significant increases in their local search
(Google Maps) “...where we adjusted our keywords for
better placement.”
“All in all, I think we are on the right path to dominating
our niches and keywords. When people ask ‘how long does it
take,’ I compare SEO and optimization to a hangover — there
are no quick fixes, it just takes time.”
— Paul Conant
1305Dentist.com had a website grade from
http://www.websitegrader.com of 11 percent before their
Findability Makeover, and the new grade is now 84 percent.
I originally gave them a Findability Score of 54 percent
and now their Findability is 65 percent.
Heather’s Comments:
Sometimes, not all of the “best-case scenario” Findability
suggestions can be implemented. 1305Dentist.com has done
a great job of creating work-arounds by building micro-sites
targeted to top-performing keyword phrases and keywordrich
domain names. They have also made strides in their
local presence — the bread and butter of their business. The
blog is effective but needs continuous work. By continuing
to blog with high search-volume keywords in post titles and
body copy, even higher rankings will be achieved.
FINDABILTY RESULTS: B & J Spy Associates
“I can tell you we have had great results. By implementing just
two of Heather's recommendations, we have seen an increase
of 400 percent since the middle of October 2009. We will be
using an additional recommendation and overhauling the website
at the end of the year.”
— Ben Otano, owner, BJSpyAssociates.com.
One of our recommendations centered on the fact that
B & J Spy Associates’ competitors were not taking advantage
of a visible blog. With a blog in place, BJSpyAssociates.
com has a better chance of being found by Internet
users. This may be partly responsible for a dramatic increase
in the website’s Hubspot grade — from 67 percent to
a healthy 90 percent.
Originally I gave B&J Spy Associates a score of 39 percent
and now I give them a 50 percent for Findability.
Heather’s Comments:
Ben has a huge project ahead of him in redesigning his site.
But with some small improvements, he has seen some incredible
gains. I can’t wait to get a report a year from now,
after he has launched his new site and finished all the recommendations.
I look forward to “spying” on his progress
in the future.
2) Original Findability Recommendation:
Update the Facebook Fan Page with
personality.
MarleyDogSupplies.com had a Facebook Fan Page with
more than 870 fans. However, the photos and descriptions
of the website were generic and not very engaging. We recommended
he take advantage of the Facebook platform by
featuring a little more personality, while carrying over Stan’s
persona as the expert in the industry.
FINDABILITY RESULTS:
Marley Dog Supplies
“The advice [Heather] gave me for my site is really starting
to help. I created an AdWords campaign targeting Western
Europe on Saturday 11/7/2009, and it is already yielding conversions.
Also, I have been able to get my websitegrader.com
score up to 88.”
— Stan Cromlish, owner, MarleyDogSupplies.com
1) Original Findability Recommendation:
Make your homepage more personable.
One way we recommended MarlyDogSupplies.com could
stand apart from the competition was to make the website
more personable. That included taking advantage of Stan’s
expertise in the field, making him the trusted resource and
the “face” behind the website.
• Within one week of our original recommendations,
Stan had updated his home page with a great picture
as well as a mission statement of why his company is
different and why he is the “expert resource.”
• Stan updated his Fan Page with a new photo with his
dogs and updated the content with his knowledge and
experience in the industry. The page continues to gain
new Fans. Great picture, Stan!
Read more below....
Heather’s Comments:
We ran the Website Grader again and MarleyDogSupplies.
com rated a 93 percent. Our new Findability Score
has improved from 46 percent to 55 percent. Stan was one
of the most interesting and enthusiastic subjects we featured.
I knew he was going to run with our advice and
that’s exactly what he did. He made our suggestions within
weeks of the article publication.
We will continue to report successes and frustrations as
we hear back from our other Findability Makeover subjects.
We appreciate the time our featured makeover participants
took in sharing their results with us. As with most marketing
plans, there have been obstacles and issues in implementing
all of our recommendations, but I am very proud
of the progress so far and look forward to checking in with
them again as they continue to rise in the search engines.
Here’s wishing everyone improved Findability in 2010!
Never stop learning, never stop seeking better improvements
for your website, and never stop reaching for world domination
by keyword phrase. Your company deserves it!
About the Author: Heather Lutze has
spent the last
10 years helping
business owners get
their enterprises
noticed on the Web
by their target
audiences. She is the
author of “The
Findability Formula:
The Easy, Non-
Technical Approach
to Search Engine
Marketing.” Visit
FindabilityFormula.com
for tools and resources
to increase your
site’s findability.


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