BUSINESS
pany that keyword with a geographical area they service, narrowing the
number of sites they're competing
with and giving them a better chance
of being found.
Free Local Business Listings
Search engines, such as Google, offer
free local business listings. Swindale
encourages vending operators to list
with these sites as the search engine,
in this case Google, will fnd keywords within the information and
use them to suggest businesses for
consumers searching locally. To sign
up, create a Google account and visit
the Google Places website (places.
google.com).
a sign in front of it," Mandile said.
"A majority of people look online
for vending [companies], and if you
don't dedicate the money to making
the site the way it should be, it can
really hurt your business."
The digital marketing platform
is something vending operators
can't ignore. With search engines
BASICS
and social media playing such a
large role in how consumer's gather
information, being a part of the digital world is a must. An effective
Website is a way for vending operators to set themselves apart from
their competition all while sharing
their brand with a potentially new
client-base.
Pay-Per-Click Advertising
All search engines allow businesses
to pay for advertising on their sites.
This can also increase SEO, according to Swindale. Operators can budget how much money they want to
pay per click, and determine how
much money per month they are
willing to spend. The search engine
will then act as an auction, giving
precedence to the highest bidder of
payment per click. There is no limit
to how much a business can bid, and
the search engine will generally only
charge $.05 to $.10 more than the second lowest bid, explains Swindale.
Once the bidding is complete, when a
person searches the chosen keyword,
for example vending, the vending
operator whose bid was highest will
have his or her business advertisement displayed on the top of the page.
Success story
William Mandile, president of
Champion Vending in Astoria, N.Y.,
relaunched his Website three years
ago. Using Swindale as a consultant,
the new site focused on conversion
as well as SEO and its entirely taken
the place of his sales department.
"A vending company without
a Website is like a store without
April 2013
VendingMarketWatch.com
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