Having an effective online presence is imperative for businesses in today’s world, and the rental industry is no exception. Increasingly, businesses are looking for new ways to distinguish themselves and be found online ahead of their competitors. While Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is an ever-changing science, there are certain strategies you can implement today that will lead to improved rankings for your business online.
1) Meta Tags
The first step to help your rental business be found online is to ensure all of the page titles and descriptions are in place within the page code of your website. The purpose of page titles and descriptions are to describe the content of your website to search engines without relying solely on their computational guess.
For example, let’s say you own Events & Tents Unlimited, a rental company based out of Denver, Colorado. Your homepage title might be, “Events & Tents Unlimited | Denver Party & Events Rentals” while your description could be, “Events & Tents Unlimited serves the greater Denver area for all of your party, event & wedding needs. We provide tents, tables, chairs, linens, flatware & more.” This page title and description are more effective because it describes what your business is, where your business is located (for those searching in your area) and contains common keywords for which potential customers might be searching.
Rental stores that use www.RentalHosting.com to build and manage their integrated website will find that this step comes automatically included with their website. This is a great option for those looking to take some of the guesswork out of their website optimization for SEO. Find out more about integrated website design & hosting services at www.RentalHosting.com.
2) Online Business Listing & Reviews
Google’s and Bing’s free business listing are important for whenever someone searches for your business. If you search for your business, what comes up in those spots? Do you have photos, correct contact information, hours of operation or even business reviews from your loyal customers? If your listing is almost blank, take the time to update this information. Both Google and Bing offer great FAQ pages on how to claim and update your free business listings.
3) Blog, Blog, Blog!
Besides offering your online readers helpful information & tips, blogs are a beautiful thing for improving a business’s SEO rankings. Were you aware that the more often you update your website, the more your SEO improves? In the world of a search engine, any website that is updated regularly means the content is fresh and more relevant. No business wants to frequently change the content on their website when there aren’t changes to be made. Instead, start a blog as a sub-domain of your business website where you regularly add content related to your business. Own a party and event rental company? Start a business blog where you share event photos featuring your rental items in use or party planning ideas. Tool rental stores can leverage a blog platform to share tips for landscaping, DIY projects–The possibilities are endless! This type of content will be useful to your customers, promote your company and improve your overall SEO rankings.
4) Social Media
Any time you can encourage followers to visit your website from social media platforms, your website traffic increases and consequently, so do your SEO rankings. Additionally, your social pages can have their own top rankings with search engines according to their content and engagement with followers. Take advantage of social media to use incorporate keywords, alert followers of special offers, new inventory items and share photos of your items.
Have you considered a Pinterest account for your rental business? This platform is an especially great way to promote your party and DIY blog posts while also encouraging visits to your website. While Facebook is king for website referrals, Pinterest leads the remaining social media platforms by a long shot.
5) Back Link Building
Do you partner with any other professionals in the area to provide packages or services? Do you offer free or discounted rentals to churches or non-profit organizations? Ask to be listed on their website as a partner and then offer to do the same for their business. The same applies to any industry organizations you might belong to. Search engines take into account the number of high quality links pointing back to your website, including those listed on social media, and factors that into SEO rankings.
Being found online is essential for almost any business operating today. Hopefully this list has provided some valuable tips on how your business can improve its ranking with search engines. Keep in mind that there are many SEO professionals who can provide further direction tailored to your business. If you’re not already using Rental Hosting to manage your company site, visit their website to learn more about custom website creation and their SEO services at www.RentalHosting.com.
We’d love to hear how you’ve improved your company’s SEO and your suggestions for other rental businesses. Feel free to comment below.