Is There a Perfect Online Formula For Window Covering Retailers? Yes!
The future of your window covering business is online.
Your customers are using Google, Bing, Social Media, and sites like Pinterest and Houzz to find new window coverings. If you’re not there, they won’t find you.
According to Google, 45% of businesses in the US are not online yet. Hard to imagine this, but it is true. So how do you get online and how should you position your business to be found? How can someone find your window covering retailer business using SEO and Google Ads? The answer is a Google Ads Expert.
It starts with a well-built website. The trick is knowing how to use your website as a lead generating system and not just an electronic brochure. It’s very helpful to understand how to use citations and directories to drive qualified traffic to your site. Your traffic can come from any number of sites or sources. It’s important to know which sites will be a waste of your time and which ones will produce quality leads. This is where a professional SEO guy (like me) comes in very handy.
How do you find “qualified” traffic? I use a standard sales funnel. At the top, we have someone searching for window covering ideas. And at the bottom, we have someone looking for Hunter Douglas Palm Beach Shutters. The difference is a person searching for a particular product is far more valuable than someone looking for ideas. I spend my marketing energy looking for people at the bottom of the sales funnel searching for specific products or solutions.
What Should I do?
I get asked weekly for my advice on how to best spend an advertising budget. Here’s my recommendation. Forget spending money on Facebook and Instagram. It’s nothing more than interruption marketing and has a very low degree of success of attracting qualified customers. That could change, but for now, that’s my recommendation. Do, however, spend the majority of your ad budget on Google Ads. I would budget $600-$1000 per month for this. This is where you find the best customers at the best price. These people actually typed into Google search terms like New Plantation Shutters or Exterior Roller Shades for a Restaurant. In the same Google Ads system, you can set up Re Marketing. This is where you are able to track your site visitors with display ads on other sites. Think Amazon, you’re looking at a new Scooby Doo Lunch Box and suddenly you see ads for that Scooby Doo Lunch Box on several news sites and blogs you frequent. This is very powerful and tractable.
Your ROI can be huge with Google Ads if done correctly by a professional……. like me. Hint, Hint. If done correctly, your ROI using Google Ads should be 6-10 times your investment.
Invest in high quality and continuous SEO (Search Engine Optimization) each and every month. The best companies will take the time to do both Onsite SEO and Offsite SEO. Plan on investing about $400-$1000 per month. It will pay off when new customers find you online.
What about using social media?
For your social media, I would recommend only posting photos on your blog with short descriptions. Do this weekly. Before and after photos work well as do staff and showroom photos. Then take that link and post it on your company Facebook page and Google Plus. Next set up free accounts on Pinterest, Houzz, and Yelp.
You must first get your address certified by Google. This is done by visiting the Google My Business site and filling out the required information. Google My Business is great for reviews and posting photos (trust me it’s important). Make sure your address qualifies to be listed. If you need help with this, MOZ has a great article on how to do this effectively.
I know I didn’t expand on Yelp. That’s because I don’t like them. I would rather listen to a 3-hour lecture on global warming by Al Gore than spend 15 seconds talking about Yelp. My advice is simple: Use the free version and ignore all the jibber jabber about their rankings and reviews.
Content Marketing Advice.
It works well if done correctly. However, it’s very time consuming, and to pay someone to do this for you would cost a $1000-$1500 a month. That seems like a lot for a possible chance of getting your customers’ attention. I would rather spend the $1000 on Google Ads. It has a much high degree of success. However, If you like to write articles or shoot videos, then this is your ticket to success. I have a website optimization client who is prolific at content creation because he loves it. It works for him.
OK, that’s it. Remember this advice is as of today. Not in 2 months or 2 years, today and today only. Google had over 400 updates last year. It changes quickly.
Shameless plug here: This is the Number One reason to use a professional Certified Google Partner like me. It’s my job to keep up with what works and what doesn’t work.
Why use my services? Who would you rather have working on your internet marketing? A guy from Bombay with little or no English skills who thinks Hunter Douglas is an actor from the 1950’s? Or me, a 30 year seasoned veteran of the window covering industry and perhaps the only professional window covering retailer who is also a Google Certified Partner?
Why am I a different kind of Marketing Expert?
- Because I am an online marketing expert.
- I’m an expert in window coverings. I own Shutter Nation of Orange County.
- I’m a Certified Google Partner.
I could go on and on but I have to get back to running over 100 window covering retailers online marketing and Google Ads.
Call me to see if I can help you with your online marketing.
Steve Dale
ExSeed Marketing