4 Reasons why being at the top of the search engines does not mean new customers

We're all conditioned to being told that our company has to be on page one of the search engines or  we're wasting our money.  And don't get me wrong I totally believe you need to be there if you're going to take your business seriously; but what if you're there and you're not seeing new customers as a result of that.  What's going on?  I spent all that money and NOTHING!  Well let's examine a few key reasons why that could be happening.

1.  Your website is awful!

You have misspelled words, outdated content, broken links and just poorly done.  Folks, you may be the best at what you do and people may flock to check you out but if this is what they see how serious are they going to take you?  And if they're not taking you serious why should they?  If you're not going to put a little effort and money in the most powerful marketing piece you have don't expect results.  We're in a new age and people look at websites for information.

2.  Too much time goes by before you call them back!

Ok you've got them.  They're calling or emailing you wanting to know more about your product or service but you wait 3 or 4 days before you get back to them.  I know for many of you this sounds crazy but it happens.  And for those of you who use the excuse "Well we've just been so busy I haven't had a chance to return calls or emails" don't expect much growth for your business.  That is about as poor of an excuse as you can give a potential customer.  If you're that busy HIRE SOMEONE!  Come on people!  We're not going to wait that long just because you're at the top of the search engines, the BBB gives you an A plus rating and Uncle Fred says you're the best.  There are other options out there that will call me back that day and here's a little secret.  They're just as good as you are.

3.  Not using social media at all!

Well, Ron, I just don't have time for that and I'm doing fine without it.  Sound familiar?  Nowadays people will go a little further to check you out than just your website.  They'll look at your Facebook page to see what others are saying.  They'll look at your Link'd In profile to see how well your connected and how many recommendations are there.  And if you're not using these simple and free tools a few minutes a day your competitors will eventually crush you.  Even Walmart and McDonalds use these tools.  Is your business bigger and better than these giants?  5 to 10 minutes a day and watch what happens.

4.  Bad Reviews!

"Now wait a minute, Ron, there's nothing I can do about that!"  There's not?  This is where engaging your customers with social media or writing a blog can really be helpful.  Folks, we're all going to have upset customers that may write bad reviews; buy you know what.  We can respond to that nasty post on our Facebook page.  We can respond to that bad Tweet.  The internet has made it much easier to respond to negative criticism and you better use it.  Calling an upset customer is still a great idea but don't neglect the other part of that.  Just remember, if they wrote a negative post about your business but you called them and resolved it the hundreds of people that saw that post don't know that.

There you have it.  Sounds simple but you'd be surprised how many businesses don't follow these simple tips.  And if you don't it can and probably will come back and you bite you.  So embrace the new age and use these tools.  They'll help you far more than they'll hurt you if you use them right.