At Semify we handle search engine marketing for many types of local and national businesses. While the search engine marketing tactics are similar, we have found that each industry has a slightly different set of successful search marketing tactics. The furniture industry is no different. We work with a Washington, DC based furniture retailer who has seen their clients shifting to more research on the Internet. While they cannot compete on price against the Internet retailers, this retailer differentiates on its knowledgeable design staff and large showroom. As a local retailer, there are three components of the search engine marketing that must be part of your plan:
- Local Listing Results – these local directories like Google Local or Yahoo Local are often shown for category keyword searches (e.g., “modern furniture Washington, DC”)
- Paid Search Ads (PPC) – PPC is an effective way for a local business to show their ad for general category searches or specific brand searches (e.g., “modern furniture” or “American Leather.”).
- Organic Search Results – for a local or regional retailer the best SEO play is their category term with geographic additions (e.g., “modern furniture dc”).
The goal in each case is to maximize your presence in the search results page. We have found that each component of search engine marketing has its place in maximizing a local or regional furniture business’ presence.
Here are some search engine marketing tips for getting more traffic:
Local Listing Results
Go to Google Local and claim your local listing. This often requires a phone or address verification but once you have claimed your listing you can update it with your store hours and photos of your store. We have found that the most important element is to review and update the name of your store. If your store is called Nuza, consider changing the name in Google Local to Nuza Modern Furniture. Your listing will be far more likely to rise to the top of a search for “modern furniture city, state” than if you left the name Nuza. Descriptive names win out over creative names in search engine marketing.
Pay Per Click
Use paid search to capture interest in general category terms and your most popular brands. It is both unlikely and useless for a local or regional furniture store to have first page position in a search engine for a term like “modern furniture” or “American Leather.” Paid Search, however, allows a local provider to target just those people searching in their market for those general terms. The search engines call it geo-targeting and it is a great tool for retailers. Paid Search also lets you create custom landing pages for important brand and categories. Landing pages help direct prospects to the information they want and improve conversion to calls or store visits.
SEO
Organic optimization of your website is the process of enhancing the content and links to your website to improve its rank in the search engine results. SEO is another important part of raising the profile of your search presence. It allows you to get up to 3 different links on the same page (organic, local listing and pay per click). Each store should work to rank at the top for their store name and their primary categories (e.g., “modern furniture dc”).
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