Check out this recent broadcast of In The Driver's Seat, a 6-minute webcast in which Stuart Crawford of Ulistic talks about one of his biggest pet peeves as an IT services marketing expert. Naturally, Stuart's peeves mostly involve issues that hold back IT services businesses from maximizing their potential for success. The aforementioned pet peeve is simply weak content with low-information-value on IT services companies' websites. In the 6-minute video, he provides three quick and simple tips for fixing this problem, to make your IT services website rank Number 1 on Google.
TIP 1: Content! Content! Content!
The biggest challenge with most IT managed service providers, in Stuart's experience, is that they lack content, and their content is stale and boring. Nobody wants to read it anyway, he explains, because it's just replicating what everybody else is doing. Everybody is saying the same thing.
Stuart's recommendation is to focus on your niche and dig deep into that area of content. For example, if you're a Microsoft partner, talk about everything to do with Microsoft. Talk about:
- Microsoft Azure
- Microsoft Office 365
- Go deep into the application found in Microsoft Office 365
- AWS to Azure migrations
- Google migrations to Microsoft Azure
- Google G Suite to Microsoft Office 365
- Dell
- SharePoint
- Go into One Drive
- Microsoft Bookings
His advice is to go deep into your content and focus on one single niche.
If you're providing IT support for lawyers, go deep into IT issues for the legal profession. Talk about the applications lawyers use, how lawyers struggle with technology today, how they can use technology from the courtroom to gain access to case files. Go deep into your content and, per Stuart: Expand! Expand! Expand!
That's the biggest issue Crawford says he sees with MSPs when it comes to content; their content is very thin, and it just doesn't go very deep. He recommends article lengths of 2,000, 3,000, 4,000, 5,000 words.
Look at Wikipedia, he suggests, and consider why Wikipedia ranks so high in Google. It's because there are lots and lots of content on the site, and they go deep into the topics.
TIP 2. Learn the Google Search Console.
That is a goldmine of information, and it's free, Stuart emphasizes. Most MSPs don't use the Google Search Console. It's full of information you can use, such as answers to questions like:
- What is your website ranking for?
- What keywords are being found?
- How many click-throughs?
- What does your website appear to be all about for users?
If you understand the Google search console, you can find out what search terms people are using to find your website. You can also look at what pages are being viewed, and what keywords are being seen for those pages.
You can then go back into those pages and improve them. Maybe some pages are a couple of years old. Perhaps some are from just last week. Either way, go into the pages and, per Stuart's recommendation: Optimize! Optimize! Optimize! Keep adding more content to the pages. Build the depth of the content in those existing pages.
Follow the Three Tips, And Be Patient.
Stuart emphasizes, it' not going to happen overnight, and it's not going to happen next week. It's going to take a lot longer than that to rise the ranks in Google. It may not even happen within a year. It takes at least 35 weeks (over 8 1/2 months) for the average MSP site to rank in Google. So, it's going to take longer for you to get into the Number 1 spot.
But, if you increase the depth of your content and understand what's being found in the Google console—so that you can recognize what you need to do to improve the apparent value of your content to Google users, regarding the search engine's algorithm—you're going to have faster and better results.
Again, Crawford reminds viewers—not overnight, not next week, maybe not even a month from now, but six months, a year, 18 months, 24 months, or five years down the road—those content pieces are going to rank. Of course, as he acknowledges, a lot of MSPs today don't have that longevity to wait it out.
But, he emphasizes that for those who can, and are willing to persist in working toward success in Google rankings, you should stick with it. He notes that Ulistic and its MSP clients have websites that are 7 and eight years old that are ranking Number 1, and they don't even have to touch those anymore.
TIP 3. Optimize Your Meta Titles and Your Meta Descriptions.
Go through those, and look at the titles, Crawford recommends. Make sure that they're addressing questions that your audience is putting into the search rankings.
When Google released its Hummingbird algorithm change, it focused on two priority content characteristics:
- Answering questions
- Deep content
So, optimizing these two simple elements can go a long way toward making your site more attractive regarding what the search engine is prioritizing on behalf of its users.
RECAP
Remember, put lots of content on your website, go deep into your content, understand the Google search console, and optimize your meta titles and meta descriptions. If you follow this simple, proven web content marketing materials improvement plan, you can be assured that, in a period, not overnight, but eventually, you will rank Number 1 on Google.
I Don't Have Time to Handle These Website Optimization Processes Myself.
If you execute on the above three easy tips, you will get your website to rank Number 1 on Google.
However, if you think that you don't have time or understanding to work on these processes, that's fine. There are plenty of people out there who can help you.
Just be careful who you select to work with. Some people will say they understand SEO, but they often don't understand the technical aspects of it very well. It's a technical understanding of such search elements as content criteria, meta titles and meta descriptions that will help you excel in Google search rankings.
Internet Marketing for Managed Service Providers
If you need help for your Managed IT Services business regarding MSP Marketing issues, call Ulistic at 855-964-2608, or visit online at Ulistic.com. And, be sure to check out current and upcoming Stuart Crawford's YouTube videos with more tips for the success of your MSP.
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