For the last year or so, I’ve been doing some straightforward optimization for a local electrician, aiming to get him a few more leads during these challenging economic times. This client never had a website and typically relied on “yellow page” advertising. One day, while discussing the economy and gas prices, we talked about SEO and the value that organic search can bring to small businesses.
This electrician was not new to the dubious promises of miracle techniques that claim to bring a thousand new clients for $19.99 a month. In fact, he gets several sleazy sales calls about such tactics every month. So how did I get him to listen to me? Easy, he’s my father-in-law! I did offer my services for free, but it was to prove that organic search traffic, when targeted properly, brings qualified leads. I was determined to change his opinion on a service that many have tarnished with false promises.
### What We Did First…
Since this client didn’t have a website, we registered a domain and set up a quick WordPress site. It’s basic but functional. From there, we created several service pages and added a service locations tab.
Each location page highlights the city he services, includes a brief paragraph explaining his credentials, his phone number, and an image displaying his A+ BBB rating. The title tags and meta descriptions were custom-written as well. Nothing fancy, but it served the needs of his site’s visitors and the search engines.
### Over Time, The Rankings Came
As mentioned earlier, I was doing this free of charge, so I couldn’t dedicate a lot of time to link building. However, the site did receive some natural links and it’s still a work in progress.
The goal of this site was to rank well for local cities + “electrician.” For example, “St. Paul Electrician” (sorry for the cheap plug, but small businesses deserve every link opportunity they can get!). After several months, the client started getting a few phone calls requesting his services. When asked where they found his business, several said “Google.” After receiving half a dozen of these calls in the next month or so, he became a firm believer in SEO.
### How is This Traffic Better?
How do I justify the title of this article? For this specific company, they are listed not only in the BBB but also on Angie’s List. Both have driven traffic and calls, but the client routinely boasts that the “Google Calls” bring better business. He mentions that he gets far fewer tire kickers and people just comparing quotes. This experiment has turned him into an SEO believer, and he sees the results firsthand from the extra business he otherwise wouldn’t receive.
