Senior living communities and operators who thrive in the modern day marketplace, must implement a digital-first strategy that drives qualified inquiries to their communities.
At the helm of qualified inquiries is the importance of a smart search strategy.
Your search strategy puts your community in front of families when they are actively searching for a solution. Go where your audience is…and we all know they are going online – specifically to the search engines!
According to WelcomeHome’s Winning Online Leads Case Study, “Volume of leads from organic lead sources like unpaid Google, Yahoo, and Bing have increased meaningfully in the last year. These leads have high tour rates, likely due to having forward momentum towards a specific community based on some prior knowledge or information.”
In Part Two of our Impact of Digital series, we are going to dive into your senior living search strategy. Your search strategy includes how high you rank organically (without paying), your paid ads (PPC or price-per-click), and your local search profiles (on Google Business and Bing).
Your search strategy impacts the quality of traffic (…which in turn impacts the quality of inquiries).
[ICYMI – Read Part One of this Impact of Digital series where we talked about the foundation elements of a smart digital strategy and how we achieved these results for one senior living operator.]
In this article, we are going to share specific takeaways we have seen that work based on our client work from a holistic digital strategy perspective.
For senior living operators looking to find the same level of success in their digital search strategy, let’s look at the following areas in how we achieved these results:
- Analyzing audience search trends for each stage of the funnel
- Refining your keyword strategy for a full funnel approach
- Optimizing your web experience for increased conversions
- Leveraging your learnings based on data from both organic and paid search
Audience Search Trends for Each Stage of the Funnel
For a full funnel approach to your digital marketing, it is imperative to look at where you are spending your time and budget. Start where your buyers start…Google (or at least for 91% of online searches).
How is your community showing up for the right keyword searches?
Most operators focus on bottom-of-the-funnel keywords and search terms. Those are the search terms families put into Google that have a higher likelihood that they are needing to make a quick decision to move.
Bottom-of-the-funnel search terms are absolutely necessary for driving immediate results and ROI for your ad spend. But families start their journey to senior living before the moment they search “senior living near me”.
Most families start this journey before they even know that senior living is an option.
Most families start by looking for more lifestyle and well-being types of content.
These types of searches are higher in the digital funnel…and earlier in the buyer’s journey…or ‘higher in the funnel’.
What would happen if your community showed up for searches earlier in the customer’s journey?
By understanding your audience search trends and the stage of the funnel they are in, senior living marketers can craft campaigns that attract prospects sooner, deliver value-add resources in a timely manner, and position your community as a go-to resource for content. As they move forward in their journey, when the time to make a decision comes, your community can be top of mind.
Mind Your Keyword Strategy
Smart senior living operators are working with an expansive keyword strategy for both paid and organic search rankings. Not only does this expansive keyword strategy consist of massive keyword lists, we’ve seen scenarios where having two different partners supporting search creates a disconnect between ranking the site for organic terms versus paid terms.
Smart senior living operators want organic, paid, and local keyword strategies to work together.
Sharing data and harmonizing website optimizations for the right keywords at the right funnel stage creates a stronger ecosystem for driving qualified search traffic to your website and landing pages.
Remember…search engines, like Google, consider the relevancy of your website and landing pages against the search term being typed in on the search bar.
Keyword —> web page experience —> local listings/ratings all work together to tell Google that your site, pages, and ads are the most relevant to the specific searches.
Plus…with Google constantly changing, incorporating AI, and removing cost-savings features, senior living operators without a knowledgeable partner can waste a LOT of money.
For one client, our ClickFraud tool saved over $76k+ in Google Ads ad spend in 9 months. That’s over $8k/month!
Tips for Delivering What Your Audience Needs from Your Website
Let’s move on to your community website experience. Once you’ve got your traffic strategy in place, you cannot forget your website.
Your community website is the digital front door. This is often the first experience a prospect or family has with your community. Are you delivering them what they need or helping them get the information they seek?
Does your website have the following:
- Clear call to action
- A visible phone number
- ADA compliance & text resizing tool
- High quality images of your community (indoor or outdoor)
- High quality images of your team
- High quality images of resident models
- Easy to find inquiry form
- Call to action buttons throughout your pages
- Blog or resources to help families with their decision-making process
When delivering what your audience needs, your website can be the 24-hour salesperson showcasing life at your community. Spend the time, energy, and money to make your site a well-oiled machine.
Your website is the digital curb appeal that families look at before calling or walking through your physical front doors.
Ensure that the technical infrastructure of your site can handle your traffic and future upgrades. Web technology is constantly evolving. If your website is more than 2 years old, consider a refresh.
Senior living operators should consider the technical structure of their site based on their growth and acquisition plans. Having a website that can easily scale with your organization will create savings and efficiencies down the road.
A Blog or Resource Suite
One of the more overlooked features for senior living community websites are blog and resource pages. By having value-add resources and content living on your website, users who are earlier in their journey can find helpful information to help them along their journey.
A thoughtful and well-crafted resource suite can be a great way to provide value and attract marketing qualified leads into your database to be nurtured until they are ready to speak to a sales person (see Part 3).
In short, the tips for delivering what your audience needs on your website includes:
- Easy to navigate menu + call to action buttons
- Realistic view of what life at your community looks like
- Resources and tools that help advance them in the journey
Don’t forget…site speed and mobile experience impact the customer’s experience as well as your SEO. Invest in a fast website that is optimized for the 40%+ of traffic that is looking at it from their mobile device.
Remember…you are the hub of your company’s marketing wheel. Bring your partners together with open communication to ensure your holistic approach to doing digital right involves everyone who is making an impact on your strategy.
We work with other agency teams on behalf of clients all the time. A rising tide lifts all ships. One part of your digital strategy can have an impact on another part. So we all must work together to help community teams reach their occupancy goals.
Final Takeaways
Your search strategy impacts your inquiry quality! Having a cohesive search strategy that incorporates organic, paid, and local search is going to help you get the most out of your budget.
Driving that search traffic to the right landing page on your website will increase your conversion rate while providing families with the right information they need at their stage of the journey.
Show up for the right searches with the right content to increase lead quality and drive more tours and move-ins. Remember…it all works together holistically!
Want More Out of Your Digital Marketing Strategy?
If you are considering a change in your Google Ads and SEO partner, talk to Smart Girl about the Google Jumpstart Program. Specifically scoped to wrap PPC, SEO, and Local Search into a single flat-rate per community fee to drive more qualified traffic and leads to your community.