Target Marketing recently reported that mobile accounts for 31 percent of all Web traffic. While I can start spouting statistics about the increase in usage, I think we all get it.
We are attached to our smartphones, not only to make calls — but to take photos, connect with friends and search the Web for things that interest us or for things we need.
If someone types water dealer into Google on their phones, what do they find? What if they type in water conditioners? What if they type rust inhibitor? Do they find your company?
Every business needs to see if they are findable and nowadays, it’s not just being able to be found online — it’s the ability to be found in the mobile environment. It’s as if mobile search has become the new yellow pages.
So, here’s my test. I live in Boca Raton, which is in South Florida (no comments from any of those of you freezing in the Northern climes). I typed in the phrase "water conditioner" and found the following:
The first two entries (remember, you can see only three at a time on an I-Phone) were ads, one for NoSaltWater (through easywater.com) and the second was Atlantic Filter in West Palm Beach (BTW — good for Atlantic Filter — they are using a company to help them with their ad placement, which is why their ad came up).
I scrolled down to see what else was listed. When you search on your mobile phone, the top two listings you will see are paid ads and the next entries under those are what we call natural or organic search, meaning these were not paid for. Typically, a business gets these high natural search spots because they have great name recognition, lots of inbound links to their sites or someone from their company has done the right kind of search engine optimization to give them a presence.
These are the businesses/products that came up next in the natural/organic search group: Home Depot’s Deluxe ScaleBlaster, then PetSmart’s fish water conditioner, then came Lowe’s water filtration and water softeners, then came Culligan (the national site), then came Amazon/large magnetic water conditioners, Rayne Water (national site), EasyWater (national site), EcoFlow (national site), then finally — the last of the organic searches was Superior Water and Manufacturing (also a national site).
No local dealerships showed up in organic search. Not Broward Water in Pompano, not the Culligan in West Palm or Broward, not Aquathin, not The Waterman in Boca Raton, all of which are under 10 miles from my home.
So, what’s the point?
If I was looking for a company to take care of my water needs, I would have ended up with Atlantic Water Filter because they were they only local dealership I could easily find when I searched on my phone.
Bottom line, if you want your dealership to be found, you need to take the right steps to make sure it happens.
