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Help for business listers...
POD
A Point of Difference, or USP (Unique Selling Proposition) is what makes YOU different from your competitors. Okay, if you're the ONLY ONE doing what it is that you do, then that's your POD - you have a monopoly.
But for most businesses there are competitiors, and what a prospective customer or client wants to know is;
'Why should I use you, and not your competitor?'
Are you the cheapest? The best quality? Or the tallest or greenest or last one before the desert? Whatever it is, there has to be something that differentiates you from the rest of the pack.
This is where you enter it on your page.
Obviously your Plugs will tell the customer a lot, but if you have a specialty or a recent success, put it here. The defence attorney who got OJ off would put that here. If you're the only photographer around with your own hot air balloon for aerial photography, you'd put it here. Are you the biggest in the district? Or a boutique operation with exceptional personal service?
If you've never thought of your POD before, now might be a good time to do it. You could expand the theme on your own website, and indeed build an entire campaign around it. But whatever you do with it, you have to have it first.
If you can't think of a POD, ask your customers. Why do they use you? (Why don't they use your opposition?)
Keywords
The search facility on iplug is not a sophisticated, tell-you-and-I-will-have-to-kill-you algorithm like Google’s 11 secret herbs and spices. Instead it just searches your keywords and business name.
What that means is that the chances of your business appearing in someone’s search partially relies on the thought that you put into your keywords. If your business is called XANADU STARCRAFT and you're an Electrician, then unless you add 'electrician' to your keywords, searchers of 'electrician' will not find you.
The 'key' to keywords is to THINK LIKE YOUR CUSTOMERS!
You may call yourself a 'Vehicle Skin Manipulator', but if they think you're a panelbeater, then put 'panelbeater' in your keywords or miss the boat.
Here are some suggestions for devising a successful keyword strategy;
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Keywords should always be separated by a comma.
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Include your business name. You can add the full legal name, the trading-as name and any derivatives that might be used by your customers. For example, Tom’s Towing Services (Eketahuna) 2006 Limited should also add the following; Tom’s Towing, Toms Towing, Tom Towing, Tom the Towey (if he’s known by this), Tom’s Towtruck etc.
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If there are common miss-spellings of the name, add them to the keywords; Rachael Hair Salon and Rachel Hair Salon, Night Club and Nite Club etc.
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Always list the type of business yours is – even if it’s self-evident in the business name. Tom’s Plumbing Services should also have Plumber, and with a miss-spelling or two;
Plumba, Plummer. -
Add your services to the list. Tom’s Plumbing may also do Drainlaying, Gasfitting, dead cat removal. And add the nouns of the services too; drainlayer, gasfitter etc.
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Add your key personnel if they are relevant to the business; the law firm of Smith, Smith and Jones might add Gavin Smith, Gemma Smith and Brian Jones.
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Add any major products or brands that might attract searchers. Brad’s Car Dealership may be a Toyota specialist, in which case Toyota should be a keyword, and perhaps also Corolla, Altezza and any other models that can be found at Brad’s. A chainsaw dealer would want to add the brands they specialize in.
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Any qualifications that affect customers can also be added. For example Master Builder or Certified Builder.
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Add additional location and address keywords too. More about this below, under Location.
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Finally, use jargon and common words. If you are a sanitation engineer, don’t just go with the title, add fix toilets, and toilet fixer to the mix.
The ‘key’ to getting your keywords right is to think like a searcher...
What would a likely customer or client of yours be searching for? In some cases this is easy. Someone with a water leak will likely search for ‘plumber’ but not ‘plumbing and drainlaying services’.
But in other cases this might require some thought. If you are a mortgage broker who specializes in farms and rural properties, and you call yourself a ‘rural lending broker’, is anyone seriously going to search for that term? More likely they’ll search for ‘farm finance’ or ‘dairy farm loan’.
There is no limit on the number of keywords you can put into your page. You might wish to write them out in a word processor, spell check them and then check them again, before copying and pasting them into your EDIT LISTING page.
Be aware, though, that people who search for a service, and who find your business from that search, will be annoyed if you don’t actually provide that service. Using the example above of the rural lending officer, don’t put ‘banking’ or ‘insurance’ if you don’t provide these services. It may result in a ‘Slap’.
(Read the Terms and Conditions for Listers for more.)
Location
In the same way that Keywords will shape the success of your search results, so too will the way in which you present your Location.
Just listing your address won’t always be enough. 16 Avian Way, Broadmeadows, Wellington (made up!) is one thing, but Broadmeadows is next to Johnsonville, and the chances are that you will do business in Johnsonville as well.
If someone searches for a 'Plumber' in 'Johnsonville', and all you have is the above address, you will miss out.
We suggest that you add your location keywords to the KEYWORDS list. These will be searched along with your services and other details. Using the above example, if you were happy to do business in any of Wellington’s western suburbs, from Tawa to Karori, then list them all. Take note of abbreviations (such as Jville or J’ville) and other definitions, like ‘Western Suburbs’ or Auckland South or Franklin County or Tararua District. Whatever the locals like to call their region or suburb, add it to the list.
If you ever travel from Napier to Palmerston North, you go through or near towns like Takapau, Ongaonga and Waipawa. But you will see signs mentioning Central Hawkes Bay, or CHB as the region. It’s possible that people outside this region will have never heard of ‘CHB’, but a local of Waipukurau might search for ‘chainsaw repairs’, ‘CHB’. Therefore, if you repair chainsaws in Waipawa and are prepared to travel to Waipukurau (6kms), you’d better have CHB in your keywords – alongside a list of the towns around you.
If you live in Waipawa and repair chainsaws from anywhere in the country, then add ‘New Zealand’ and ‘Nationwide’ to your keywords.
Remember… think like a searcher. We’ll do our best to help you by attempting to train searchers to use correct spelling and to search by district (Wellington, rather than Broadmeadows), but if you want the best results you will have to be prepared for anything.
Logo/Banner
Your logo or banner fills the top of your page and can make or break the first impression that new customers have when they visit you.
The space allocated is 520 pixels wide by 130 pixels high, which is quite a large area in website terms. Using nothing more than a logo is fine - so long as it's displayed correctly. But utilising all of the available space as a banner can assist your page immensely. See the examples below.
(Apologies to the Elegant Housing Corporation, Global Greenhouses and Ding Dong Plumbing - if they exist.)
If you have a tame designer, or access to the person who created your own website or logo, give them the dimensions of the banner and have them come up with something.
Or alternatively you can utilise our original design talents and have a custom banner made. Click here for more information (we have our own tame designers!).
For information on Finding businesses, Plugging businesses, the benefits of Listing Your Business, Getting Rewards or Fundraising with iplug, click on one of the following links...
