Proudly serving the industry for which it was named for more than 50 years, Outdoor Power Equipment provides dealers who sell and service outdoor power equipment with valuable information to succeed in a competitive market.
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/588375
you work with an industry-specific website provider, much of this otherwise time-con- suming work can be automated.) Update the key content pages like "Home" and "About Us" to reflect the sea- sonality of your business. Make on-going edits to your events, coupons and promotional pages. Create a list of 52 blog topics, and set a reminder to write and post one blog a week. Take advantage of your updated web - site and blog content to create relevant social media posts. Set up alerts to monitor ratings and reviews, so you can be responsive to both positive and negative reviews. Keep in mind that you always want to write for the user first, then for the search engines. Search engines don't become pay - ing customers or share your content online, readers do. THINK LOCALLY According to a recent Brightlocal.com study, consumers will travel an average of 17 min- utes from their location to reach a local busi- ness. Many dealers errantly cast their net too broadly and miss out on the opportunities available in local search. One of the primary benefits of local SEO is that compared to the national stage, there are fewer local competitors that offer similar products and services. However, just because your store is in close proximity to your pro - spective customers, doesn't mean you auto- matically rank highly in local search queries. You need to localize your website content to inform the search engines of your location. Each page of your website should include your dealership's name, address and phone number. When writing your "About Us" page, describe in detail where you are located and what nearby communities you regularly serve. Over time, your local SEO reach will expand based on the neighboring cities if you include them within your site content. Remember, the goal of a search engine is to provide the most relevant information for the user. If your business is nearby and meets the search criteria, you will receive a high search engine ranking. GET LINK BUILDING Inbound links are third-party website links that direct visitors to your website. These links quickly and easily drive visitors to your site while establishing credibility and in - creasing SEO. Links from one website to another pro- duce strong referrals. Just as if you were to recommend a local diner to a friend, web- sites use inbound links to refer their visitors to other useful websites; trusting the recom- mendation will provide additional informa- tion their visitor may be seeking. However, not all inbound links are created equal. An inbound link from a highly trusted and often-visited website will produce more traffic than from a dated blog post. When your website receives inbound links from credible third-party websites, your search engine ranking improves. Why? Simple. The goal of a search engine is to rank the most relevant content at the top, so us - ers can find it. When your website receives inbound links from other credible sources, search engines gain trust that your website content is providing useful information — resulting in a higher ranking. Here are a few to-dos to help build in - bound links: Claim your local directory listings. More than 50 percent of online directory listings are incorrect. Start by claiming and updating your business listings on Google Places for Business, Bing Places for Business, Yahoo Local and any relevant local listings. (There are more than 60 in the U.S. alone!) Post on another website. Find another local business in your community that will allow you to post guest articles or blogs on their website. A great place to reach out to is a local newspaper or publication. These orga - nizations are credible and always looking for community-based businesses to feature. Sponsor local events and charities. Not only is this a great way for you to gain additional exposure within your communi- ty, but most often local charities will provide sponsor information on their website. Avoid link farming. While building up your inbound links, always stay away from link farms — websites that are cre - ated solely for stuffing inbound links and website's that charge you for posting links on their websites. Search engines know this game and will penalize your ranking if they find your website partakes in these practices. CALL YOUR GEEK SQUAD Is your website mobile optimized? Does your site incorporate many of the page optimiza - tion techniques that have been mentioned in this article, including the use of page titles, meta tags, header tags, keywords, alt tags and more. Have I lost you in the jargon? This is where things can get a bit com - plex. To ensure your site's technical SEO is optimized, I'd recommend turning to the experts at your website provider to gain a clear understanding of how to incorporate these elements into your site's pages. Most industry-specific website platforms come with built-in SEO optimization tools. Talk to your provider to ensure that you've got the tools you need to help you maximize your site's search engine ranking. While a little expert guidance is key to ensuring you get the most out of the techni - cal aspects of SEO, you can master the basic principles on your own by executing some of the strategies I've covered in this article. By implementing a content optimization strategy, you'll see a boost in your search en - gine ranking and in-bound links from search over time. FEATURE STORY www.outdoorpowerequipment.com OUTDOOR POWER EQUIPMENT NOVEMBER 2015 21 OPE Colleen Malloy is the director of marketing at ARI Network Services. Prior to joining ARI in November 2013, Malloy served as the editor of Motorcycle and Powersports News. She is dedicated to the mission of helping dealers improve their operations through the implementation of ever-evolving best practices paired with ARI's suite of an award-winning data- driven software tools and marketing services that help dealers "Sell More Stuff!" — online and in-store. ARI removes the complexity of selling and servicing new and used inventory, parts, garments and accessories for customers in the outdoor power equipment, powersports, marine, RV, automotive tire and wheel, and white goods industries. More than 22,000 equipment dealers, 195 distributors and 140 manufacturers worldwide leverage ARI's website (www.arinet.com) and eCatalog platforms to "Sell More Stuff!"