The Website for Philip Morris USA, the largest tobacco company in the United States surpasses 71% of all websites according to a ranking system developed by Hubspot. Their biggest competitor, RJ Reynolds’ website had the superior rating of 81. In order to improve their rating, I suggest that Philip Morris implement the following:
1. Add a Meta description to each webpage. A Meta description shows up under the page title in search results and encourages an interested consumer to click though to the webpage for additional information.
2. Simplify the current level of readability from “Advanced/Doctoral Degree” to a more a manageable level for the general population. To appeal to the target market, content should be written with them in mind. It should be concise and simple to understand without patronizing the interested consumer.
3. Reduce the number of images. Currently the Philip Morris webpage includes sixty images, each of which contributes to longer times necessary to load the page. With too many images the load time could dissuade an impatient consumer from visiting the site at all.
By applying these suggestions and those available from Hubspot (after subscribing to their paid services), Philip Morris may likely be able to improve their website’s score to surpass the rating of their arch nemesis, RY Reynolds!
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Maybe their webmaster should check out your blog!
ReplyDeleteHere is the deal: Big Brands can and do break the rules all the time. They may worry less about flash on the homepage or alt tags for images becasue they know that SERP is not the likely way you will get to their website. You will simply type "Target" or "Jeep" or "Justin Bieber." O.K., Justin Timberlake.
Big Brands have a lot more freedom, but still they need to know which search terms lead to website visits.
Considering that smokers tend to fall into a less-educated demo, I would second your thoughts that they bring their reading level down. But then again, Wal-Mart fell into that level, too!!
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