Get found! Fixable website mistakes that many small-town businesses make
Is your business invisible online? Small town businesses run on relationships, but your digital presence needs to prove you are a real, rooted business.
Your website shouldn't just be a brochure. It should answer questions and help clients take the next step with you!
We are breaking down the biggest SEO, tech, and "manual mode" mistakes small businesses make... and how to fix them so you can actually step into your CEO energy.
Don't guess. Check the boxes! Grab the free Hometown Business Health Check to see if you rank as a "Local Hero" or if you're invisible online.
👉 Snag the Health Check here: https://www.calibratedconcepts.com/freebies
Transcript below!
-
0:00 When I moved back to my small hometown, um, we've got about 17,000 people here, and I quickly realized that one of the biggest problems for small businesses is feeling like people are finding them.
0:13 Um, a lot of small towns don't have the same resources, the same time, like, not that any business owners really have time, but I think that, um, in these communities, the digital skillset or, um, like, feeling like they know how, feeling like they're techie enough to do some of these things can feel
0:35 really overwhelming, even more so than in the online business world that I came from before. So, I have, in the last year and a half, helped a lot of small downtown businesses be more visible, and have more robust websites that function better for them.
0:52 So, we're going to talk about some of the mistakes I've seen and some of the ways that are, you can fix it so easily.
0:57 Like, even if you just check off a couple things on this list today, you're going to be winning. So, the first thing is you have a secret location.
1:07 So, obviously, people in town know where you're from, but does your website say best. Plumber around or does it say best Plumber in name my city?
1:17 Does it say what regions you serve? Make sure that your website explicitly says who you serve, where you serve them, and when you serve them.
1:29 Another thing is you are not utilizing your Google business profile. That is huge real estate. When people search for something or search through it through AI as they more and more are, you want to be one of those businesses that shows up at the top of the list that people know is good.
1:49 And so reviews, uhm, having set hours, being, having a really consistent Google business profile is key to that. Uhm, you want to make sure it's claimed, And you have fun.
2:00 Photos, good reviews, all those things going, your hours, all those. Speaking of which, then you want to make sure that your hours, phone number, uhm, email, everything matches exactly on your website, your Google business profile, your Facebook page, everything.
2:20 Make sure they all are identical. That's a huge thing that a lot of times you'll, you'll, grab it and update your hours in one and forget somewhere else.
2:28 And that causes that misinformation and that disconnect causes Google to not trust you as much and move you down the list.
2:36 The other thing I see quite a lot in this SEO area, which is kind of the last one specific around this is really thin website content.
2:45 So if you've only slapped a few words on the page and think that that's enough for Google to trust to read your website and know what you do, you're wrong.
2:53 You need to make sure you're putting as much keyword friendly content in there talking about, again, those things, who you are, what you do, who you serve, where you serve them and let it happen organically but thoughtfully.
3:07 Alright, so category number two is manual mode fails, things that are craning. Your CEO energy. One is hiding prices. You're going to get a lot of tire kickers if you aren't sharing your starting prices, what your packages are, etc.
3:24 So making sure that you're really transparent in that area is going to save you so much time and energy. Um, one we've talked about before is the blank box boring contact form on your website.
3:36 Giving people at a really realistic view of what they can expect when they contact you, a couple different options of ways to contact you, uh, so that you're not filtering people out who hate contact forms.
3:48 Um, and then just using a generic contact form that feels meh, that people just think, do they actually even read these things?
3:57 If it's really specific and really branded to your business, people know that you will respond. On the other side of that, missing calls to action.
4:06 This is when I see all the time, you've got to tell people what you want them to do. So, um, that might be book a call with me.
4:15 That's what the call to action is all over my website. Book a consultation, book a consultation. Um, I'm building a website right now for an embroidery and like apparel business.
4:25 It's a company and they do custom apparel and their call to action is get a quote, get a quote, get a quote all over their website.
4:32 And we phrase it different ways and we, you know, but it's the same idea and it takes them to the same page with the same contact options, the same quote form.
4:39 Um, make sure you're asking and you're asking a lot. You know, whatever it is, make sure it's everywhere because people won't check out every page of your website.
4:48 They probably might not even check one full page of your website and you want to make sure that that option is really clear for them.
4:56 Social proof is another missing piece for a lot of people. Um, that same website I'm doing right now, this is a 25 year old business.
5:03 This is an website overhaul on a new platform for them. And one of the things that they didn't have on their website before is reviews or logos from brands they work with.
5:14 They work with some of the coolest and biggest brands in our community and they're not telling anyone about it really.
5:20 Um, and so getting that social proof that they're good at what they do, that they're trusted by the people around them is key.
5:27 It's going to be so good. Um, for that, by the way, we're using a plugin that pulls in all their reviews from Facebook, from Google.
5:37 Yelp, all of them. So they're all in one place. So even if they only have a couple in one place, it looks really impactful on their website.
5:44 Another one I see a lot is inconsistent branding. It's really easy to not use the same fonts, colors, logos all across the board.
5:54 But if you're, when people Google you and if they go to your Instagram and your Facebook and your website and you're using different logos, different colors, they're not going to feel like your business is legit.
6:04 They're going to, without maybe even knowing why, feel like something is off and that you aren't, um, as professional as a business that is nailing that consistency.
6:14 All right. Almost there. Final stretch. The last few things in the next category, the final category, is tech and analytics fails.
6:25 Um, so one is, are your phone numbers, email addresses, address, physical location addresses across your website clickable? If somebody clicks them on their phone, will it open a phone call or text message to you?
6:40 Will it take them to Google maps? Will it open an email module, um, that you can, that they can like instantly I'll see you interact with your brand?
6:50 If those things aren't clickable, you're missing a key way for people to reach you. Um, another one is broken links.
6:58 If you've had your website for a while, it's pretty likely that either you have website pages that no longer exist that might be showing up in other places that you need to redirect or that you have links on your website to, say, a page from the Chamber of Commerce.
7:13 Commerce or another business in town that no longer work. And you're going to need to make sure that those links are updated, um, to checking your blogs, checking various pages on a regular basis for broken links is so important because if you have broken links, what it tells Google is this website's
7:31 out of date. They don't know what's up anymore. They don't, it's, it's the things on it aren't true anymore. Um, the other one, last couple are flying blind.
7:43 If you're not tracking your analytics, if you're not seeing who's visiting your website, what pages are coming from, how many people are coming to your website, how long they're staying, um, you are missing a key component of your strategy.
7:55 Uh, you can be using Google analytics, a lot of website platforms like Squarespace have built-in analytics and Microsoft. My favorite is Plausible Analytics, um, and they're just, it's, it's such a key piece of your strategy.
8:08 If you don't know how long people are hanging out on your website, if you don't know how long they're staying, sorry, why they're coming, how long they're staying, what pages they're dropping off, et cetera, it's time you know.
8:21 And, finally, along those lines is ignoring your Google Search Console. Has Google bothered to index all of your pages? Do you need to submit your sitemap?
8:32 Are there errors on pages that you can correct and make sure Google's seeing better? Can you ask it to index pages that it's forgotten about?
8:42 It's so important to spend some time on this on a regular basis. Um, even if you just schedule it quarterly, it will make a huge difference in the findability of your work.
8:52 All right, whew, that's a lot of little things. Again, you don't need to tackle all of these right now. I really hope you don't.
8:59 It would feel really overwhelming. Um, but even if you schedule one day a week or a couple days a month just to tackle these little things in your business, it's going to be huge for people finding you and feeling like you're legit, you know what you're talking about, and they should work with you.
9:13 Now, if you just watched this and realized that there are a lot of these things you're not kind of nailing, I have a checklist for you.
9:22 I've created a really good resource. It's called the Hometown Business Health Check, and I will drop a link in the description.
9:30 And it is a detailed checklist that you can take and say, oh, I've done that, I've done that, Oh, I need to do this and give yourself a score about how your business is performing.
9:39 If it's able, if it's visible online, um, stop guessing, get your digital house in order. All right. Check that out in the description, stay capable, stay calibrated.
9:50 I'll see you next time.
Is your business invisible online?
Most locals won't visit your shop until they find you online first. If your digital "Front Door" is broken, you lose the sale before they even leave the house.
Take 5 minutes to diagnose your digital presence with the Hometown Business Health Check 👇
