In our last post, we talked about how people use assisted living and senior care websites, and the buying cycle. To capture family leads early, we need to engage families as they are first jumping on Google to start their research. This time of year, when adult children may have been in an aging parent’s home for the first time since last holiday season, there are a lot of them. The spike in Google search traffic for the phrase What is Assisted Living? begins immediately after Christmas day.
So how do you start developing compelling content?
It all begins with a good keyphrase strategy. 
Those of us who have been in the industry a while may make the mistake of assuming we know what those words are. We don’t need to do any stinking research… As Mark Twain would say, It ain’t what you know that gets you in trouble. It’s what you know for sure that just ain’t so.
Here are a few suggestions to get started:
• Brainstorm with your team what families ask you early on in their conversations. Include the staff who handles those early, confused phone calls for your community in your brainstorm session.
• Document those words and phrases in whatever format you like. (We use a spreadsheet for our clients.)
• Use Google Keywords or Wordtracker to learn more about those phrases. These will likely be the assisted living keyphrases that meet families in the Awareness stage of the Buying cycle.
• Remember, at this point they know their loved one needs some kind of help. They are trying to figure out what the heck the difference is between an assisted living and a nursing home and a CCRC and… you know what we mean here. Glossaries, FAQ and tools help.
• Once families are comfortable with knowing what kind of care they need, they shift to more Research level questions. Your key phrases should help families distinguish your community and your services from others.
• An additional tip is to make sure you are managing your online reputation and reviews about your community that are out there. Families love reviews! You can be sure that they will seek them out in their search.
With the big brands in our industry sharing in an ALFA Executive Focus Group that 36- 37% of their leads come through the internet, 2013 is the year to pump up the quality of your content. We’d like to help.