You CAN Market Your Contracting Business Online With A Minimal Amount of Time and Effort
As a contractor, you probably spend most of your time serving the needs of your customers. This can make it difficult to find time to market your contracting business online and reach out to new and potential customers. It may seem that there are never enough hours in the day to manage core business activities and to market your business effectively.
What if I told you that there is a simpler way to manage all your marketing requirements? I am Phil Fisk, the founder of Coastline Marketing Group and a leader in the field of digital marketing. My years of experience in the contracting and service industry marketing field will help you to implement the four basic elements of a digital marketing strategy that will reach potential customers where they live.
A few tips…
Keep an eye out for my tips below. If done properly, these tips will help increase the effectiveness of your campaign and reduce the time for maintaining and optimizing your digital marketing efforts each month.
1) EFFECTIVE WEBSITE DESIGN
The first component of your comprehensive marketing strategy is your company website. Studies have shown that the appearance and appeal of your website can have a real impact on the credibility of your company in the consumer marketplace. Consumers can make a judgment in less than one second that could affect your company for many years into the future.
A study conducted by Pew Research in 2018 indicates that 81% of consumers in the United States perform their own research before deciding about large purchases or home services. Your company website will often be the very first point of contact with potential customers. Making the right first impression is critical to your current and ongoing success.
An array of web design options
When building your website, you can choose from pre-made website design platforms like WIX or Weebly, which can allow you to create your own basic website with little or no outside assistance. The downside is the cookie-cutter appearance of many of these website designs. Upgrading to a custom website is usually a better way to make a positive impression on your current and potential customers.
Tips for building an effective website:
Set it up right the first time. Because your company website is so important to your success, it is essential that you present your contracting services and your business in the best possible light. I recommend that you consider these points when preparing to market your contracting business online:
Define your target audience
One of the biggest mistakes I see with contractor websites is the failure to target your most likely customers. As a contractor, you should be focusing on homeowners, property managers, or even real estate agents. Create customized content for your services and keep these areas of your website separate from each other.
Customized web page content
While I do not advocate making a specific landing page for every single service you provide, it may be worthwhile to create landing pages for your most popular projects. Additionally, you should really have a separate service page for each type of contracting service and a call to action on each of these pages.
Don’t – Create a single page with all of your services listed.
Do – Create a single page for each primary service you offer.
Clear and readable structure and content:
Making it easy on your potential customers can pay off in a big way. You can accomplish this by making the navigation on your site clear and forthright and by providing helpful and informative content that explains your services effectively.
Show, don’t tell
Creating a portfolio of high-quality images of your previous projects is a great way to wow your customers while breaking up walls of text on your website. I recommend hiring a professional photographer to achieve the best possible results.
Don’t forget to generate leads
Including an easy-to-use and intuitive form for requesting more information will allow you to collect more leads, which can increase your workload and your profitability to a considerable degree.
Don’t – Place this form on your general contact page.
Do – Create a single page that provides a short form for consultation requests – Be sure to put a link to this page on ALL pages of your website.
2) LOCAL SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION
If you are like most contractors, your main source of business is your local community. Optimizing your website and advertising content can help search engines to find and rank your site more accurately. Search engine optimization, more commonly referred to as SEO, can target your local area to increase your chance of being discovered by potential customers in the market to purchase your services.
Local SEO services incorporate your location name into the keywords search engines use to determine the relevancy of various pages. By integrating these local SEO phrases into your websites and online content, you can boost your ability to reach customers within your community. This can help you to attract the right customers for your local business.
If you are determined to go it alone with your SEO efforts, Neil Patel has put together a useful guide on managing SEO requirements for most businesses. For most busy contractors, however, this investment in time could cut into more profitable activities. Coastline Marketing Group’s local SEO services are tailored specifically for contractors and service providers, which can make it much easier for you to target your local customers with the right message to win new business for your contracting company.
(Also read this: 5 Powerful Local SEO Hacks for Contractors)
Tips for an effective local SEO campaign:
Local SEO strategies are designed to boost online visibility among your most likely customers, especially compared to your closest competitors. Here are some of the most essential points to keep in mind when establishing local SEO as a marketing tool for your contracting firm:
Claim your business
Google My Business and other online directories offer a way to claim your company’s page and enhance and optimise these listings. You can write up to 750 words of descriptions for your contracting services and even include photos to build your company’s visibility through these platforms.
Don’t – Use a P.O. Box or UPS store address.
Do – Use your commercial or home office address; note that you can hide your home address by choosing the “I serve customers at their location” option.
Remember to link.
Once your directory entries are ready for public viewing, you should usually embed your Google My Business information as part of the contact information for your corporate website.
Consider the communities you serve
Creating customized local SEO content for each community within your service area can help you snag hyper-localized searches and reach customers in all the places where you do business.
For example;
Kitchen Remodeling Services, Phoenix, AZ
Kitchen Remodeling Services, Tempe, AZ
Kitchen Remodeling Services, Mesa, AZ
Each page should contain roughly 300-500 words of SEO-optimized content to increase your chances of ranking in local searches.
Create location-specific portfolio pages.
You can add location information to your project photos as part of your online portfolio. This can help potential customers pinpoint your areas and promote your services more effectively than photos alone.
Don’t – List all of your portfolio projects on a single page.
Do – Create a single page for each project with details and a general project location.
Upgrade your tech
Plugins like Yoast or RankMath (my favourite) can help you boost your overall rankings with major search engines and promote the highest number of leads for your contracting business.
Because the criteria used by Google and other search engines to rank pages continually evolve, what worked yesterday for your company may only work for a while.
I can help with the most up-to-date guidance for managing local SEO strategies to help you stay profitable and market your contracting business online.
3) ADVERTISING ON FACEBOOK
What is organic reach?
Organic reach is the number of people you can expect to see a post on your company’s Facebook page. This number has been steadily declining for several years. Facebook itself explains this phenomena as a result of two factors:
- More content is being created and shared through Facebook now than ever before in its history. This has expanded the available choices for organic post views exponentially. Additionally, the platform has made sharing all types of content much easier, increasing the amount of content with which your company’s posts must compete on this platform.
- The second factor in Facebook’s decline in organic reach is a change in the way the Facebook News Feed chooses the content viewers see. Specifically, high-quality content is prioritised over what Facebook perceives as spam or lower-quality content.
Because the criteria Facebook uses to judge content quality are closely guarded secrets, experience is usually the only way to create content that will remain evergreen and rank highly on this platform. Ad buys on Facebook are generally a better choice for contractors without the time to acquire this experience firsthand.
Marketing your services on Instagram and Facebook
Instagram was acquired by Facebook in 2012. Today, these two services work hand-in-hand. Purchasing ads on Instagram and Facebook can allow you to work around the current content glut and decline in organic reach for posts on your Facebook or Instagram page.
Facebook ads can create buzz about your contracting services. With the addition of tools like Facebook Pixel and the integration of lead magnets that draw in your potential customers, you can create a workable strategy for attracting new customers without constantly tweaking and reworking your content to optimise your results.
While organic posts on your Facebook and Instagram pages should still be a part of your overall online marketing strategy, investing a relatively small amount of money on Facebook and Instagram ad buys can pay off in much higher visibility. This could translate directly into more cash in your pocket every year.
Helpful hints for effective advertising on Facebook and Instagram
Finding the best way to attract the attention of your potential clients can be challenging. Here are some practical ways to supercharge your advertising on these popular venues.
Include video testimonials
Recording short smartphone videos with comments from satisfied customers can potentially build visibility for your company and your services. These bite-sized videos can outsize your ability to draw in new clients from your local area.
Provide do-it-yourself tips
Do-it-yourself demonstration videos and lists of helpful tips can create a positive impression on your potential clients. By presenting yourself as an authority in your field, you can boost your visibility and credibility among the clients you need to achieve higher success.
Create a compelling lead magnet
In the marketing industry, lead magnets are free items or services provided to potential customers in exchange for contact information. Creating a list of frequently asked questions, tips, or other useful information in return for contact data will typically allow you to earn more leads from your Facebook or Instagram advertising efforts.
Be persistent
It can take a fair amount of time before you begin to achieve significant results from your Facebook or Instagram advertising. Patience and consistent effort will typically be required to build your audience and reap the most critical rewards in these advertising venues.
If you could help manage your Facebook and Instagram advertising, I would be happy to discuss the best way to approach this powerful marketing tool for your contracting company.
I can simplify and reduce stress when it comes to achieving a good return on your investment in Facebook advertising by reaching your most likely customers when they need your services.
4) GOOGLE ADS
Google is often the first stop for those looking for a specific product or service. In fact, Oberlo reports that Google was visited more than 62 billion times in 2019 and holds more than 92 percent of the search engine market.
What does this mean for your contracting company?
Harnessing the power of Google
Achieving a high ranking on Google’s search engine is a proven way to attract more customers and to build your company’s visibility. Working your way up the ranks, however, can take time. The right Google ads can help you to speed the process by making sure that your company appears prominently when potential customers search for the services you offer.
How Google Ads work
Google Ads uses a pay-per-click model that works like this:
- You choose keywords directly related to your contracting activities and bid on each keyword in competition with other ad buyers.
- Google offers cost-per-click, cost-per-million and cost-per-engagement models for Google Ads buys.
- Google also assesses the overall quality and appeal of your ad and assigns it a Quality Score.
- Ads with higher Quality Scores typically are shown more often and in better ad positions. They may also cost less than ads that Google determines are of lesser quality.
- Google combines your Quality Score with your maximum bid to determine the Ad Rank of your ad, which determines where it will appear in the search engine results generated by Google for your chosen keywords.
- When users click on your ad, you will pay a small fee for the exposure given by Google for your contracting company.
- Google Ads can generate leads and profits for your company that far outweigh the small initial cost of your pay-per-click investment.
Google Ads offers a variety of options for configuring your ad campaign on this popular platform.
Tips for maximizing returns on your Google Ads campaign
A high ranking on Google Ads can have a big impact on your visibility as a local contractor. The effectiveness of this strategy, however, depends both on the quality of your ads and the destination of the links in those ads. Here are some of the most helpful tips I have found on getting the most from your investment in Google Ads.
Direct users to landing pages
Google Ads links should never simply send users to the home page of your website. Instead, they should direct them to landing pages that are specifically tailored to the services targeted in your ads. Neil Patel offers some practical guidance on landing pages that can help you make the most positive impact on your potential customers.
Separate residential and commercial content
I would recommend going even further and separating your ads and your services by the target audience. By creating separate Google Ads and landing pages for each service you offer and for each audience you serve, you can more effectively appeal to customers in search of your services.
Consider testimonials
Just as with Facebook advertising, your Google Ads buys should let your satisfied customers do most of the talking. This can reinforce your company’s reputation while ensuring that your ads are appealing and reflect the quality of your services.
Create high-quality ads
Because Google uses the quality of your ads to determine their ranking among similar ads, it is essential to create the most appealing and informative ads possible for your contracting firm.
Use long-tail keywords
According to Yoast, long-tail keywords are less common and are very specific to your geographical region, your business and the services you offer. Narrowing down your keywords to specific services you offer or communities within your service area can often allow you to rank more highly when Google users search for these terms.
By incorporating local SEO and other proven strategies into your overall marketing plan, you can see amazing results and increased business for your contracting business.
I can streamline this process to help you achieve the highest degree of visibility and to improve the profitability of your company in the most cost-effective way.
Putting It All Together
At Coastline Marketing Group, our team is committed to cost-effective marketing services for the contracting and service industry community. We work with you at every step of the way to help you achieve your goals. Contact us today to begin supercharging your online marketing strategy. We look forward to the opportunity to serve you.
Meet Phil Fisk, Founder
When I founded Coastline Marketing Group in 2007, I set out on a mission to help service industry professionals and contractors better connect with their customer base(s) through smarter, more effective, and more tailored marketing strategies. A passionate marketer and leader I’ve helped local businesses just like yours build stronger online brands and businesses all down the California Central Coast for nearly 15 years.
When you work with me and my team you’ll find that we can put you on a path to success by designing SEO services and brand-boosting strategies that fit your goals, your budget, and your long-term growth needs. More importantly, you’ll find a trusted partner that cares about your brand as much as you do, and who’ll work just as hard to make it a success.
Phil Fisk
President/Marketing Consultant
Core6 Marketing
