The percentage of Internet users who use a search engine varies by study, so it’s difficult to define the exact percentage. However, a 2008 report released by TNS Global Market Research titled “Digital World, Digital Life” stated 81 percent of Internet surfers used search engines to find a brand, product or service.
There were 1.73 billion Internet users worldwide as of September 2009, according to Internet World Stats. When doing the math, it equates to approximately 1.4 billion people using search engines to find what they're looking for. Compare this to the world population of around 6.7 billion, and that means nearly 21 percent of the Earth’s inhabitants use online search engines. Keep in mind this number reflects the entire population of the world, including impoverished and underprivileged nations with little or no Internet activity. North America, with approximately 252,908,000 Internet users, is near the top of the scale, coming in third after Asia (738,257,230) and Europe (418,029,796).
Considering these hefty numbers, maintaining an optimized online presence has never been more important for small to mid-size companies, allowing them to reach Internet users who are searching for a reputable parking company serving their airport.
SEO by Google Webmaster Central
Impressing Visitors
Consider your parking website a full-page color spread in a phone book. Your business has one shot to impress shoppers and convince them to choose your company over the competition before clicking elsewhere. This should be kept in mind when allocating your website development and search-engine optimization (SEO) budget. If shoppers do not like what they see or experience online, they likely won’t even bother checking your prices before moving on to the next search result.
It’s inevitable that you’re competing for search-engine ranking with many other parking websites. Aside from ranking well in the search engines, having a website that’s both visually appealing and user-friendly can often be the determining factor in whether shoppers will choose your business over the competition. Having a disorganized or difficult-to-navigate website will often drive users away, no matter where your business ranks in the search engines or how low your prices are.
Many, if not most, parking companies have websites that aren’t optimized or properly maintained. This is partially due to operators underestimating the importance of this component as part of a good overall marketing strategy.
A high-quality website should consist of a well-designed structure that is easy-to-navigate internal-link architecture, with easily accessible and quality original content. A basic rule of thumb is all content should be accessible within no more than four clicks. This makes website navigation easy for users, which mitigates the risk of them getting frustrated with your site and moving on to the next website.
Building On-Page Optimization
Once your business has a website that’s visually appealing with a user-friendly interface, on-page optimization is the next step to gaining visibility in search engines. Titles, descriptions, keyword targeting, internal anchor text and other on-page attributes must be optimized for search-engine crawlers, commonly called spiders. This requires keyword research and term/phrase selection that will help your business rank well for your targeted key terms.
An SEO consultant can help you’re company determine the best titles, keywords, descriptions and more for your website to get you the top search-engine result placement. Once you’re finished with the development and optimization of your website, link building, content creation, social media and viral marketing are the next actions to reach page-one ranking on the search engines.
Having followed the aforementioned suggestions, your final result should be an impressive-looking and fully functional website that satisfies visitors and search engines. When consumers use a search engine to find parking at your airport, your business must be among the top results with a simple, friendly and fast website. This will give consumers the good first impression that’s necessary to convert them from website visitors to paying customers.
Take The Shot
In the fast-paced, ever-changing world, business owners must observe and adapt to the way consumers behave to most effectively market their services. With more people using search engines than ever before, having an optimized website is more of a necessity than an extravagance.
Search engines currently are at the top of how people find what they need, and there’s never been a more opportune time for parking companies to use the Internet as a targeted and cost-effective marketing tool. Why wait for your competitors or third-party aggregator's to take advantage of SEO before you do? "Take the shot now and make it" (your online presence) known with a fully optimized website designed to showcase your parking operation and draw in the potential customers your business may be missing.
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