The Small Business Owner's Lament: 'Please Make My Website Show Up'

Eric Groves
Sun, 16 Aug 2015 00:00:00 +0000

What's the biggest complaint small business owners have about their websites? “Not being found on search engines.” According to Alignable's latest Small Business Insights Poll, nearly half of the over 250 small business owners owners surveyed picked that as their top pain point.

Having spent many years in the early days of local search at AltaVista, the results got me wondering if the 47 percent who picked “not showing up on search engines” meant they were not showing up at all, or if a lack of traffic to their websites was causing them to believe they were not being found.

Are you in the 47 percent bucket? If so, let's see if we can give you a little peace of mind:

Which of the following is the reason you feel you're “Not Showing Up?”

1. You searched for your business by name and city on Google or Bing, and your website did not show up at all;

2. You searched for your industry and your city, and your website was no where to be found; or

3. You looked at the amount of visitors you are getting to your website and think it’s just really low based on what others told you it should be.

#1: You're Invisible. You need to claim your business listing on both search engines and make sure your business information is accurate and up-to-date.

#2: Missing Out on Key Words. Complete #1 and do a little research on “title and meta tags” and make sure you add them to your website. Choose tags that reflect the searches you're hoping will find find you.

#3: If You Build It, They Will Come. My guess is #3 will be the most common answer to this complaint. If you're in this bucket, it might be your expectations, rather than your website, are letting you down. Unfortunately, there’s not a lot of good data out there about comparable website traffic for SMBs, but here are some things you might want to consider:

Alignable did research a couple months back and learned that over 40 percent of small businesses were getting less than 250 website visitors each month. So you’re not alone!

Every business website should be found when someone is searching for it by name, and it should show up when people are looking for what it has to offer in its industry area. This can be accomplished for typically less than $50 a month. Having a nice-looking website shouldn’t be costing you an arm and a leg!

According to Google, the majority of local searches via mobile phones and computers are to find three things: hours of operation, a business address, and products available at the business. So your website should include all of these and should also have your contact information (phone number in particular) listed on every page. Covering all this, along with ensuring your website is mobile friendly, and you’re pretty much good to go.

Now don’t you feel better about your website?

Want to help others feel better, too? Share in the comments below the industry you are in and the average monthly website visitors you typically get to your website.