Over the years, even the best locksmiths would likely admit that they’ve made some website mistakes while touting their company and trade on the Internet. You can be the most honest, fairly priced locksmith in the business, but you’re bound to trip up every now and then, particularly if the Internet isn’t something you’re fluent in. Without even knowing it, you, as a locksmith business owner, may not even realize when mistakes occur. Your customers still find you and you still have business coming in, what could possibly be wrong?
Your locksmith website design could be hurting your business and you simply haven’t realized it yet. When you originally set up your locksmith website (or had someone more knowledgeable in how websites work set it up for you), it probably worked out perfectly. So what’s the problem? Well, that was likely a handful of years ago, at least. Since you first started your website, a lot has changed. Today, there is a much more mature Internet landscape. Many owners of locksmith websites have seen a steady decline in the receipt of manual actions and their search rankings. They may possibly even have gotten de-indexed.
Note: If you’re indexed, this means that, into Google Search, your webpages have been added. Google indexes and crawls your pages according to the meta-tag used in your posts. Pages will not be added to the web search’s index if there’s a no-index tag. There is no guarantee offered by Google that every one of your URLs will be indexed/crawled. Every word press page and post, however, is indexed by default. Data consistency is not necessarily harmed if you must reindex. On the other hand, if the DML is aborted and the table is locked, you may lose data. If you have time-critical writes, this could be a problem.
So Much to Do!
With the changes in today’s aggressive search engines, it can be difficult to figure out the best course of action for a locksmith. After all, there are things like the following to deal with:
- The effort to secure your face or site exclusion from search queries.
- Websites getting hacked.
- Daily updates.
From mistakes that you weren’t even aware existed, your website may have been negatively impacted by today’s SEO dominated Internet. Let’s take a look at some of the most common website mistakes made by locksmiths so you can avoid them.
Outdated And Non-Personalized Site Content
Various types of content go into an exceptional website. If your content is no longer relative today and/or does not answer the questions of searchers, it isn’t doing you much good. Customize and write for your specific company to personalize each piece. Make it apply to your area of service. As an example, consider saying something like “Can Mercedes keys be made by a West Allis, Wisconsin locksmith?” rather than “Can a locksmith make keys for a Mercedes?” Rather than asking a generic question, consider putting the name of your company in the question, as well.
To see to it that your locksmith website remains (or gets to be) high ranking, the following are huge factors: Personalized content pieces – not just monthly but biweekly or weekly – being uploaded on your site on a continuing basis. How do you go about this? Use white papers, case studies, blogs, and articles.
Too Much Stock Photography Being Used on Locksmith Websites
You may not realize this, unless you’ve put some serious thought into it, but your business has a brand, tone, and voice that perfectly represents your company. It can be seen in the signage for your store, your employee uniforms, and in your service vehicle custom imagery.
If you use nothing more than manufacturer, stagnant, and bland stock photography, your visual symbolism gets deleted. Day after day, your company’s personality should come to life – it doesn’t have to appear dull. Throughout the community, your vehicles should be recognized as soon as they hit the streets.
The imagery viewed on your website is the connection your company makes with customers. Do the pictures on your site accurately represent your service vehicles? When viewers turn to your “About” page and look at the “Meet Our Team” section, compared to the person who just showed up at their house, do the employee uniforms in the picture on your website match? You may take details like this for granted, but your customers will not!
Not Adequately Displaying Call to Action “Click-On” Buttons
On your website, viewers should see “Call to Learn More”, “View Our Products”, or “Subscribe Now”. For untold numbers of locksmith business owners, this simple click-on button can change the course of a company. We’ll refer to these call-to-action buttons as “CTAs”. You may not be aware of how quickly things will change by simply adding CTAs to your site (in prominent places), but numerous owners have experienced a rise in hardware sales, service calls, etc.
In the past, CTAs were considered unprofessional, salesy, and pushy. Somewhere on the page, they may have been located in a discrete position – basically hidden away. In fact, some locksmith websites still operate under that misconception. We say misconception because, today, for consumers to regularly purchase online, these buttons or action words have become not just standard, but necessary. The easier you make it for a potential client to get a hold of you and hire your services or buy your products, the more likely they are to do exactly that.
Above the Fold, the Main Page of the Website Was Never Optimized
Traditionally, those in need of immediate assistance make up approximately 80% of business calls coming into a locksmith service. These people need locks rekeyed, they are locked out or stranded (or some other agency service), and they need help right now!
Unfortunately, plainly at the top of their page, far too many locksmith websites don’t have their services offered or contact information posted. Instead, they have it in the footer, down in the bottom of the website, or in the middle. This is crucial information that needs to be displayed at the top of every page!
Time is of the essence, particularly in the case of emergency services, and a customer’s relief is delayed with every second that passes. The term “above the fold” is where your viewer’s eyes land when they see your front page – without scrolling down. This is where crucial information needs to be – it’s the “hot zone”. Critical pieces of info here can include your service areas, drop down services offered menu, phone number, etc.
The Website Displays Old Copyright Years, Misspelled Words, and Poor Grammar
Someone needs to be proofreading and editing your website on a continuous basis. The wording (grammar and punctuation) must be correct and designs and dates updated regularly. It’s shocking how many of today’s locksmith websites still have old copyright years, misspelled words, and poor grammar.
When someone clicks on a website in search of a locksmith, they aren’t expecting to see, front and center, old dates and bad grammar on the homepage. But it happens. Nothing sends up red flags like a poorly written sentence and misspelled words. This can take the reputation of your company and tarnish it irreparably. You will come across as careless and unprofessional to any number of viewers.
When customers see old copyright dates on your website, their first question, not surprisingly, will be, “Is this company still doing business?” Make sure that all the dates on your website are current.
Websites That Are Not Mobile-Friendly Or Are Nonresponsive
Not everyone is sitting at a desktop or even with a laptop when they click on your website. Tablets and smart phones are used on a regular basis today to access the Internet. Particularly if a potential customer finds himself stranded out on the road, they’re going to use their phone to look you up. If they can’t access your website with their phone or tablet, they’ll get a hold of someone whose site they can access. You just missed out on not only one customer, but anyone else they may have referred to you.
Versus desktop user traffic, an increase of 222% has been experienced in mobile usage over the past five years! Here are a couple more statistics regarding searchers:
- 2.7% are tablet searchers
- 45.29% are desktop searchers
- 52.02% are mobile searchers
You can imagine, looking at those numbers, what not being mobile-friendly will do to your locksmith business. You would be missing out on over half the potential customers you could be getting. Can you afford, or are you willing, to let that happen?
Some Website Owners Don’t Own Their Domain URL
This is a mistake that can hit pretty hard. Just so they have a presence online, locksmiths try to set their website up inexpensively and quickly. They have no amount of control over their DNS records because they don’t own their domain. This comes from not adequately researching what you purchase. To keep the domain active, the locksmith ends up paying an annual or monthly fee.
Locksmith franchise websites are a perfect example. A franchise owner may be prohibited from switching over the website location to a different hosting platform. They can’t make the transfer because they have no control over the DNS records because they do not own the domain. That lack of ownership and control can also come back to bite locksmith companies that are independent because, from domain resellers, they fall into the same trap.
You’ll see lots of marketing agencies, web hosting businesses, and phone companies that say they offer domain registration, but there’s a problem – they control the DNS records and retain full ownership rights to the URL. Why is that an issue? Well, if don’t make your scheduled payment (for your website and any URL associated mailboxes), without warning, they can shut you down and sell the name of your domain to someone else!
A Locksmith’s Top Services Not Being Highlighted on the Website
Somewhere on your website, you probably say that you offer “Commercial Locksmith/Residential/Automotive Services. But to talk further about other services you may provide, do you have additional pages? These could include pages that talk about how you can solve the many problems your customers may have, as well as where and how you and your staff excel.
This is important: On your website, highlight your top services. Put up a page that lets your customers know if you offer a certain type of repair. Upload onto your site some photos to give potential customers a visual connection.
If you’re not letting the public know all of the services you offer, this could equate to a significant financial setback. At your disposal, the Internet offers you a virtual platform. By educating the community, informing them, and sharing information about what you do, you could become a leader in your field. Bring your company more business by using your website as a tool. Let nothing hold you back!
An Award-Winning Digital Marketing Agency That Helps Locksmiths Build Effective Websites
Assisting locksmith owners to build and maintain effective websites is only the beginning of what we do at SmartSites. With services that revolve around topics like organic SEO, PPC marketing, e-commerce, development, and design, we help countless businesses be all they can be, and more. Increase page views, decrease bounce rates, and increase the total traffic site of your website with the assistance of our team.
Our company has appeared in places like “BusinessWeek”, “NPR”, “Inc.”, “Bloomberg”, “Forbes”, and more. We’ve worked with major players such as Rolls-Royce, Rakuten, Mickey Truck Bodies, A&A Coatings, Classic Audie, and others.
We even have an A+ rating with the Better Business Bureau (BBB)!
Don’t hesitate another moment. Your competition may already have realized the benefits of working with our talented staff members. Don’t get left behind. Find out today what so many others have already realized – working with SmartSites can be one of the “smartest” moves your company can make.
Give us a call at 201-870-6000, drop us an email at contact@smartsites.com, or click here for our contact page (where you’ll also find our physical Paramus, New Jersey address). We look forward to assisting you.
