In today’s digital-focused world, people turn to the internet to find information quickly and effectively — particularly when it comes to finding local services. In fact, one-third of consumers in the U.S. say they use the internet to search for a local business on a daily basis.
And there’s little doubt that this trend will continue and grow. People have grown accustomed to turning to Google to quickly search for every service imaginable. And when customers type a search into Google, they rely heavily on the top results to make their decision.
For this reason, contractors need to focus on building an intelligent strategy for reaching potential customers through online search. Unfortunately, in many cases, contractors are missing out on vital leads due to a poor online presence.
If you run a contracting business and you’re concerned that your online presence isn’t up to par, there are some key indicators to look out for. Today, I’ll cover the top five signs that your contracting company needs help with its online presence, as well as some insights into what you can do to improve your digital reach.
1. You Don’t Have an Online Presence
Let’s start with the basics. The No. 1 sign that you need help with your online presence is that you lack one entirely.
- Does your contracting business have a website?
- Do you have a Google My Business listing?
- Are you listed in other relevant places?
If the answer is no to one or more of these, you are missing out on reaching a large portion of your customer base. And, meanwhile, the odds are good that your competition is present online, allowing them to gain an easy win over you.
The best place to begin is by prioritizing your online presence over the months to come. Allot a dedicated budget for building out a website and for creating a digital marketing strategy to start gaining traction online.
2. Your Website Doesn’t Generate Leads
Perhaps you realized the importance of an online presence long ago. You invested in a website, you set up your Google business listing, and then you waited for the leads to pour in.
But years later, you might find that, although you have a presence online, your website and digital listings are not generating you a single lead.
This should never be the case. A static website that doesn’t provide you with a steady influx of qualified leads is a waste of time and money.
If your website isn’t delivering leads, it’s time to take a dive into why this might be. It could be due to:
- Forms that aren’t working or are difficult to fill out. Test out all your website forms. Is information flowing to your team? Who is being alerted of new leads? Are the forms easy to fill out?
- A lack of calls to action on your website. Do your customers know what you are asking them to do? Your website should motivate people to contact you, request a quote, or take an action that your team has clearly defined.
- No qualified traffic landing on your website. Make sure you are measuring the traffic that your website sees in a given week. How many visitors are there to your site? And who are those visitors? Are they relevant leads? If no one visits your website, it will be hard to gain new customers.
3. Your Website Is Hard to Navigate
As people have become accustomed to finding everything they need at the tap of a screen, there is a level of quality they’ve grown to expect from websites.
If your website is hard to navigate, you might lose out on potential business. People have little to no patience when they encounter issues with a website. If your website isn’t intuitive, isn’t mobile-friendly, or isn’t designed to lead a customer directly into your sales funnel, you are in need of a revamp.
Website designs for contractors should be simple and focused. They should make it easy for potential clients to gather information. They should also make it easy for you to capture important data about those leads. And regardless of what device a customer is using, the website should remain simple to use.
4. You Are Hard to Find Online
One of the foundational pieces of digital marketing for contractors is making it easy to find your business online. No matter how beautiful your website is or how robust your lead funnel is, if people can’t find you, you won’t gain new business online.
Local search engine optimization for contractors is a must. When someone searches for your services nearby, they need to be able to quickly and easily locate your business.
There are countless components that go into local search optimization, but for starters, make sure you have the following bases covered:
- You have identified the right keywords for your business.
- You have a competitive strategy in place for ranking for those keywords. This includes everything from ensuring that your website is optimized for search, allowing Google to recognize your business, to ongoing work, such as blogging and building backlinks to your website.
- You have an optimized and active Google My Business listing. Google relies heavily on your business’s listing to determine whether or not to display your business in local search. It is critical to ensure that your information is accurate on your listing and that you are actively managing the listing.
5. You Simply Don’t Have the Time
At the end of the day, in many situations I’ve seen, it’s not due to a lack of knowledge about digital marketing that causes contractors to lose out on potential business, it’s simply a lack of time.
When you are busy running a contracting company, you probably don’t have many excess hours in your day to dedicate to online marketing strategies. This can make it extremely difficult to stay up to speed on the latest changes in search engine optimization. It can make it impossible to dedicate enough time to ensuring accuracy in directory listings online. And it can leave your business at risk of falling behind the competition.
Finding a trusted partner to help you tackle your online presence frees you up to do what you do best — run your business!
This is where it helps to be realistic with yourself. Do you have the time and energy necessary to properly manage your online presence? For most contracting businesses, the answer is no.
We Are Here to Help
Finding a trusted partner for your digital marketing strategy is not easy. There are countless agencies out there to choose from, and not all of them help you increase the number of qualified leads you receive each week.
That is why I’m passionate about partnering with local contracting companies in need of help with their online presence. My team and I specialize in digital marketing for contractors, ensuring that you are reaching your brand’s potential online.
From website design to building out your business listings across critical directories, our goal is to ensure that your online presence is winning you business. We will help you show up for targeted keywords that feed leads into a strategic funnel. After that, all that’s left is for you to deliver quality service. If you are interested in learning more about how we can help, reach out to the team. We look forward to assisting you.
(Also read this: How to Market Your Contracting Business Online – With Minimal Effort)
