Advertising and Marketing

[MikeB]

One thing I have been hearing from my customers that find me online is that they are using smart phones and tablets a lot. The location GPS helps me come out on top as well as seo and my website is configured to display in "mobile" format automatically.
It's not a super professional looking site yet by any means but I actually think in my rural area that further sets me apart from the franchises, which are the majority of my competition.
http://www.all-drycarpetcleaning.com

[Hoss]

I use Wordpress because it has so many social media plug-ins that I don't have to worry too much about coding - only about content.

http://hosshomecare.com

I have worked in advertising / social media for quite a while developing websites that are meant to compete with Amazon in key-word rankings. SEO in the long run comes down to three things - web page freshness, relevant links going in, and relevant content. Facebook in combination with Google+ carries a huge amount of weight. Even though my site has only been up for a year, my associated Facebook page captures first place in Google for: carpet cleaning bristol Rhode Island and I have strong placement for hardwood floor cleaning too.

However, independent franchises really can't compete with the massive advertising expenditures by the big sucking company. That is, they can't compete independently. What really could help all of our encap independents is to share links to each other on our own websites. An example would be a the text Carpet Cleaning - Mendota - Ohio with a link to your page. This has strong relevancy because it would come from a site associated with carpet cleaning, has the key phrase carpet cleaning, and the location.

The more of our franchises that did this, the greater our relevance would be compared to the giant sucking company.

[MikeB]

Good thoughts Robert. I'd be glad to put links on my site for fellow cleaners out of my immediate area. I'm in the process of doing some changes on my site this week.