How Vanity URLs Help Small Businesses Stand Out From the Crowd

Let’s face it, sometimes it is very difficult for small businesses to stand out among competition when it comes to their offerings, services, or even prestigious staff members. Using a number of techniques to help introduce potential customers or clients to services, build trust, and also maintain relationships often includes building a presence on social media, sharing articles and tips, getting the word out by word of mouth, and also sending out promotional materials by mail or posting about services through flyers and other methods for advertisement.

But how can small businesses stand out even better with their services and excellent team? Through the use of vanity URLs. Wait, what are vanity URLs? Let us explain.

Vanity URLs are basically custom URLs created to help advertise services, classes, staff members, locations, or any other particular offering. These URLs are created to be more user-friendly, identifiable, sharable, and professional, and yes they work.

What Are Some Common Issues That Small Businesses Have Without Vanity URLs?

Non-Professionalism & Less Link Trust

Quick check - when you see a business advertising a service on social media, but you only see letters and numbers, are you more likely to click the link? We didn't think so, unless you really trust that brand. Vanity URLs provide small businesses with the ability to advertise their services with recognizable & more semantic links instead of "http://...a7x8byc", and this builds what is called "link trust."

Real-world example, if you a guy approaches you wearing jogging pants, a college sweatshirt, and sneakers, but offers you the opportunity to set up a relationship counseling session with you, are you likely to accept the offer? Probably not, and that same principle can be applied in a business sense when it comes to appointments.

Clients or Customers Cannot Find the Right Service

Simplicity is key when it comes to clients and customers - if the apple is too high to reach, then they may search for lower hanging fruit. Make finding and selecting the right service easier with vanity URLs, and a great case scenario might be for a business holding seminars yet in several locations. Guests could go to the business' website and select the vanity URL that contains the location that works best for the guest instead of the guest clicking on a generated link that then requires them to choose a location. Lower hanging fruit - keep this in mind.

Services Are Difficult to Spread By Word of Mouth

When customers or clients cannot share a link with a friend by word of mouth without the spelling being misconstrued, then this can be trouble. When that friend goes home at night and types in the URL, but doesn't get to the business' web scheduler, then they become frustrated because they had a need that the business could help with. Don't let this happen to you. With vanity URLs, if you keep them short and easy to spell without variations, then your clients or customers can share your services & you'll be more likely to see more business and grow your clientele.

Major Benefits of Vanity URLs

Now that we've looked at some common issues for small businesses who don't utilize vanity or custom URLs, let's look at the major benefits.

1. Better Marketing & Branding of Your Services

Let your vanity URLs do the talking before clients or customers reach your web scheduler. One tip is to create them with keywords that automatically let them know what your service is about. As an example, let's say that Brookdale Marriage & Counseling Center offers a marriage counseling service. When clients go to their home website and services page, they could book this service through a vanity URL that might say "BrookdaleMarriageCounseling.AdvisorAppt.Com". This allows clients to easily select the appropriate link for the service with the help of words that describe the service.

2. Encourages Link Trust & Therefore More Business

As we mentioned earlier, it's unlikely that potential clients or customers will click on links that are automatically generated and have no indication of where it will take them. When they can see a link that looks trustworthy with the appropriate keywords & this link actually leads them to where they're desiring to go, then that's a win for small businesses. Additionally, they be likely to share this link with family & friends.

3. Easier to Share Online, By Word of Mouth, or Through Physical Promotional Materials

Whether by word of mouth, online through social media, or by email, potential clients or customers will are likely to be more willing to share vanity URLs that are semantic because they can remember them. The key is to make sure they're not too long and don't contain odd spellings. And likewise, it will be more easier for the business to share their services links on promotional materials like flyers, coupons, in newspapers, on billboards, and through various means. And if you're looking for small business appointment scheduling software that makes this feature available, we've got you covered.

Ready to Get Started With the Best Online Booking Software for Small Businesses?

If you're ready to help your small business stand out amidst the crowd and start creating vanity URLs for your services today, feel free to try out our best scheduling software for small businesses with a free trial or get started with one of our paid plans. If you're still on the fence about how this feature works, check out our tutorial of this feature.

Get your business growing & establish better customer relationships with this feature through our appointment scheduling software for small businesses. We'd love to hear how it's working for you! Let us know in the comments box below & for now, happy linking!