Question

Topic: SEO/SEM

Upscale Moving Service Not Converting Visitors

Posted by Anonymous on 2/6/2007 at 11:36 PM ET 250 Points
Smooth Moves (https://www.stress-free-moving.com) is an upscale moving service that caters to those that have more money than time, i.e., executives, people relocating due to work, business owners, etc. We handle every aspect of the move from securing the moving company to utility arrangements to interior design.

Unfortunately, we are not converting visitors to our site into clients. We've found that those that visit the site are not reading what we do and assume that we're the traditional moving service. So, we have to email the potential client and reiterate what we do. Once we do this, the client realizes that we provide more than they want or can afford (an average move can cost $10k+).

What SEO / SEM things can and should we be doing to help us effectively convert visitors with the CORRECT information? Second, what are your thoughts on the SEO that we're currently doing: manual submissions, reciprocal and one-way linking, blog submissions, keyword density, SEO content, etc.?

Thank you for your assistance.

Tracey
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  • Posted by excellira on 2/7/2007 at 12:34 AM Accepted
    My first thoughts are:

    1. You may be using the wrong keywords by attacting visitors who are not predisposed to your message.

    2. More importantly I feel that the site is lacking a clear, precise message about what you do. Moving Concierge is probably a better description of what you do. But I don't know that until I invest some time in reading quite a bit of text. Your post above is actually more clear than the site.

    Perhaps the "Moving Concierge" might be a good tagline that you can build your site on. Most visitors click away in less than 5 seconds. My suggestion is to view your site in 2 seconds. Do you know what you do? How are you differentiated from the 315 million web pages that contain the word moving?

    3. I feel that the site design does not reflect a high-end product.

    4. The site stresses moving too much. The visitor may be perceiving the "move" message as moving. You really don't move people. You really are relocation logisticians. The physical move is just a part of what you actually provide. You may be drilling too far into what you do. Take a higher view. Don't talk about moving as much. Talk about what you really do.

    5. The images and graphics on the site should create a visual representation of the many services you perform. Perhaps in a flowchart format. Don't go overboard - the search engines are text readers - they want text. So do your visitors.

    6. I don't feel that the copy is written for a high-end client.

    Could you please provide some information about who your typical client is? Demographics? Psychographics? If the average client income is $40,000 then my advice might be different. If it is six figures or more then it may be spot-on.

    7. The call to action is not prominent enough and is not strong enough. It also asks for too much info. Customers are apprehensive about providing a lot of information at the inquiry stage. Perhaps you may wish to shorten this. Each industry has several stages in their sales cycle.

    Get the customer info by giving them a PDF document about the moving process. Perhaps a planning guide. Or a guide on selecting the correct mover. Once you have the info you can follow up and provide more details. You can do this in multiple stages for those who are contemplating a move in the future. Provide a series of emails about the different services you offer. Stage them. You can also have a fastrack version for those who need your services now.

    This sale may actually be best closed on the phone or via email where you can expand upon what you do and ask questions to properly determine the customer's needs and to upsell them solutions to those needs (I realize you're doing that via email now).

    As far as SEO goes you are keyword stuffing the metatags. You should only have a few KW per page. The code could be cleaned up some though it isn't bad and I think you need more attention elsewhere.

    I did not bother doing any KW research because it is too time consuming.

    I hope this helps.

    Regards,

    Greg
  • Posted on 2/7/2007 at 8:33 AM Member
    Tracey,

    The first question is.... what are the keywords that these folks are coming to your site on?

    It may be that you've done a good job with SEO -- just the wrong keywords! For instance, if you were a running shoe company, a keyword like "shoes" is too broad and will bring you traffic for "dancing shoes", "horseshoes", etc., which are obviously not targeted to your business.

    Take a look at your analytics and see what are the most popular keywords driving traffic. Then if you don't mind, put up an amended post to let us know what they are -- we may be able to offer more insight from there.

    Sincerely,

    Janet Driscoll Miller
    Search Mojo
  • Posted by Shell Harris on 2/7/2007 at 9:32 AM Member
    We have written an article about conversion in our most recent newsletter. Rather than repost here, visit our site and read it. It will give you something new to think about in terms of who your buyers really are and who you think they are.

    https://www.bigoakinc.com/newsletter/200701/increase-conversions.php
  • Posted by prhyatt on 2/7/2007 at 12:15 PM Accepted
    Excellent suggestions from the other members. Greg- you have covered all of my ideas except one:
    As a potential mover, I would be immediately skeptical about letting you unpack and arrange my stuff. Can I trust you? How will I know that you'd put things away in the same places I would? So much of the settling in is personal, and I don't know you. I need a little reassurance.

    Greg is right-on about the copy. It needs to be scannable, and the major differentiators and benefits need to be up front in bullets or other easy-to-read text. Engage the upscale visitor with messages/phrases that say "you're too important/stressed/busy to have to go through this"; "Treat yourself"; "you deserve"; "Get the personal assistance you need"; "loving touch to your possessions"; etc. The kind of services you offer don't match well with the nuts and bolts of moving vans and boxes.

    I have a client here in Georgia whose business is in the personal service area and targets upscale clients. If you contact me separately, I'll give you her URL, along with a couple of others in her line of business for comparison so you can see the difference in the positioning.

    Good luck!
  • Posted by prhyatt on 2/7/2007 at 5:11 PM Member
    Tracey-

    You're on the right track with your responses to our comments. Think about your Web pages (and your home page in particular) like a newspaper article. You always have to assume that the reader won't go very far, so you need to put the most important information first ("inverted pyramid" technique). It's great to have the info in the FAQ, but you have to get your visitor interested enough that he/she will go there to learn more.
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