| How do your potential customers find you when | | | | restaurant city. For example I just searched |
| they don't know your name? They just know | | | | restaurant my suburb which has 100 000 listings |
| what they want. Surveys have shown that | | | | but on the front page only two of those listings |
| mostly they go online. In Australia surveys have | | | | are for sites belonging to actual restaurants and |
| shown about 86% of people go online to research | | | | only one of those is above the foldline (the area |
| before they buy. | | | | you can see without having to scroll down). |
| Many businesses fail to think through the way | | | | One was a good site - easy to use, had trading |
| their customers will find them online. Businesses | | | | hours visible, contact phone visible, and an easily |
| spend a lot of time and effort getting good listing | | | | accessible menu with prices - all the things I, as a |
| results for their business name. That is important | | | | customer, actually search for. The other is a |
| for existing customers but customers who don't | | | | beautiful looking site but because it is a flash site I |
| know you don't know your name. | | | | can't be bothered waiting for it to power up to |
| Your business needs to list high in the search | | | | start looking for what I want to know. Summing |
| results for the searches your customers are | | | | up it would be easy to get the top listing in my |
| doing. This involves a bit of a science and a bit of | | | | area for a restaurant. There is only one |
| an art! Online success depends on the research | | | | competitor online. This appears to be reflected in |
| you do. How well you know your market and | | | | how busy they are. |
| your customers is critical. Luckily this is something | | | | Your customers need to be able to find you. |
| you can learn. | | | | Online it is easy to reach many when you have a |
| Looking at a restaurant example. Here in Australia | | | | successful online business strategy. A formula for |
| I have searched many times for restaurants in | | | | success on the web. Australian business has been |
| suburb names. I rarely get a listing for a specific | | | | slow to go online, but it doesn't have to be. It is |
| restaurant. More commonly I get frustrating online | | | | possible to build a simple site in under an hour. If |
| guides with which I can rarely find what I want or | | | | you want to be in control of your online business |
| the information I am after. | | | | strategy you need to learn and understand the |
| Taking that it would be pretty easy to dominate | | | | process. You can be the leader in your |
| listings for your local area if you optimized your | | | | marketplace when you take advantage of proven |
| site for restaurant suburb, restaurant area, | | | | online marketing strategies. |