Like a lot of small operations, Prescott Valley Movers ran under a couple of different names during its shaky development from a small collection of side jobs to a profitable, well-run business. It was challenging to forge a brand that worked well for both the crew and their customers, but the domain name changes were what really set everything in motion. Sometimes, a simple change makes a huge difference, which is what I learned while Prescott Valley Movers was one of my clients.
A Ghostly Domain Name
When I came into the picture, they were loosely branded as Moving and Transport Services or MATS. Since we’re in Prescott Valley, Arizona, the letters PVAZ were added to the end of their domain to make matspvaz.com (now offline). It was weird, and it didn’t rank at all. They had a website for the same reason a lot of other small businesses have websites; they think they have to. Unfortunately, MATS treated their website like a box to check off of a list, and it didn’t generate any results. In fact, their poorly updated social media pages showed up in results, but the website pretty much didn’t exist.
Sparks to Spur Domain Name Changes
The first thing we did was an SEO analysis of their services. We found a few keywords that worked well. Of course, these keywords performed much better when paired with our physical location. So, after a lot of negotiation, I convinced them to re-brand as Prescott Valley Movers, and we made their domain name prescottvalleymovinghelp.com (also now offline, but for a really cool reason!).
The Domain Came to Life
This change did two things. First, the location was fully spelled out, which is how most search users enter it. Second, the phrase moving help was what his potential customers actually needed. It ranked better for our purposes than a slew of other alternatives; movers, help with moving, hire movers… etc. Combining the two phrases into the domain name put his website in view of his target market, and he saw incredible results.
A Few Extras for Good Measure
To be fair, we did do a few additional things to boost its performance. We added a ton of high-quality content and replaced the phone number with a simple Google number we could track and transfer as their operation needed. The new number, among other tools, helped us measure and report his results, tweak the site, and get even better results!
In the first three months of having the site uploaded to the new domain, he went from zero to just over fifty leads on average per month. Just under half of those leads converted. Keep in mind, Northern Arizona is still a sparsely populated area, and landing over twenty jobs a month, up from one or two a week, was a lot for this small operation. In fact, they did so well that they don’t have to work another day in their lives!
Just kidding, but not really. The owner of Prescott Valley Movers ended up striking a deal with a much larger local moving company. The absorption sale, plus the sale of their house, was enough to get them enough money to set up closer to their brand new grandkids. If you ask me, that end goal should be the whole point of working so hard in the first place.
Ever had a domain name change work out like that for you, or was this just a lucky fluke? Let us know in the comments below!
