Client Spotlight: Austin Hardware

Profile

For over 55 years, Austin Hardware & Supply, Inc. has been providing innovative solutions to help their customers improve workflow, reduce costs, and stay competitive in their industries.

Objective: SEO Strategies

Strategy partnered with Austin Hardware to develop and execute a marketing plan with multiple components designed to support organizational growth and the launch of their Ecommerce website with over 15,000 parts. One aspect of the marketing plan included Search Engine Optimization (SEO) strategies to increase website traffic and online orders.

Process

Strategy identified 3 preliminary SEO areas to focus on:

1. Social media content
2. Website content and meta
3. Local directories and citations

Social Media Content

With the exception of LinkedIn, Austin had a limited social media following and was not posting to social outlets consistently. Strategy branded all of the social media properties and posted content on a daily basis to help create awareness, increase fans and engagement, and drive traffic to the Austin website.

In addition, paid campaigns on Facebook increased fans and engagement. Total fans increased significantly across the three primary social platforms. Facebook fans increased from 34 to over 500, Twitter followers grew from 0 to 83, and LinkedIn fans increased by 26%.

Website Content and Meta

Austin features a large inventory of hardware on their website so there were many opportunities to improve SEO. An SEO audit and keyword research informed the execution of all the tactics in the marketing plan. A few of the strategies used to improve website SEO and user experience included:

• Adding more images and copy to the website pages to help customers find the hardware they needed and help search engines index the content.
• Adding and optimizing title tags, meta descriptions, header tags and other features were critical to improving SEO performance.
• Setting up Austin’s multiple locations with a unique page on their website was a simple, but effective beginning to assist with the local SEO strategies.

Local Directories and Citations

With multiple locations, Austin Hardware needed help to ensure that business listings were correct, consistent, and visible across the web. Strategy encouraged Austin to create a page for each location on Facebook. Strategy assisted by reviewing existing directories and citations, adding new listings, updating existing listings with correct information, and eliminating duplicate listings.

Website Traffic and Orders

Website traffic increased steadily throughout the implementation of the marketing plan. Total traffic increased 132%, and organic traffic increased by 118%. In addition to gains in traffic, Strategy helped Austin improve tracking the source of traffic that ultimately purchased on their website, including determining the ROI of Google Adwords.

Continuous Improvement

Ongoing communication, evaluation, prioritization, and improvement are at the heart of an effective marketing plan. Strategy and Austin worked together throughout the plan to test offers, messaging, measurement, and approaches, and the stage is set for the next steps.