Contractor Marketing

At Silverback Web Design & Contractor Marketing we take a no monkey business approach to get gorilla results for contractors by using online marketing principles to get more leads for your home service business.

I want to share with you the basic 4 principles – the 4 foundational building blocks – to contractor marketing which will increase your online presence so that you can get more leads.

As a marketing company that focuses primarily on contractor marketing, we’ve learned a lot over the years and today I want to share with you the first four things that you need to improve your online presence so that you can get more leads.

If you have these basic things then you will get more leads and your contractor business will grow.

Here’s the deal: 97% of people (that’s almost all people) learn more about a local business online than anywhere else. (hubspot)

That means that when folks are looking for a plumber, or looking for a roofer, or looking for a contractor of any sort, 97% of them are going to go online to research and find these contractors!

If you do not have a good online presence then you’re simply leaving money on the table to ninety-seven percent of all people.

Today I’m going to give you the 4 foundational things you need to have an awesome online presence and the first one is:

#1- Contractor marketing starts with a great website

All roads lead to your website! That means, all marketing, all social media, all emails, everything is going to lead, eventually, to your website, and when folks land on your website that is how they learn about your business and what you offer. So, think about your website as your salesman – it’s the face of your business and it’s selling for you 24/7 even while you’re sleeping.

If that is true, then you need to have a great website, and let me define what a great website looks like. Here are five things that I think define a great website.

A) A contractor website needs to be fast.

Listen, folks have very little patience. If they pull up your website and it takes three seconds to load or even sometimes one second to load – they’re bouncing off. You need that thing to load super fast. It’s really important.

B) A contractor website needs to be clear.

By that I mean it needs to be clear and functional. Folks don’t want to get lost. Don’t give them too much information. They need to be able to clearly know where to go to get to the services that they’re looking for. Keep it simple and clear.

C) A contractor website needs to be mobile-friendly

Most people are using their phones to find contractors. The data that we’ve collected for all the contractor clients that we have – suggested that almost 80% of people are locating contractors on their phones. In fact, statistics reveal that:
61% of people are more likely to contact a local business if they have a mobile-friendly website.

…and, they want that website to be mobile-friendly.

D) A contractor website needs to be professional

If folks land on your website and see that it was made in 1991 – and it looks ugly – well… it’s not going to convert.

You need to have a professional website – again it is the face of your business – the 24/7 salesman of your company. Think about it, people are researching sometimes late at night, while you’re sleeping, while their kids are sleeping.

E) A contractor website needs to be secure

Google has stated specifically, even as far back as 2014, that your website has to have an SSL certificate (or security certificate). Without that certificate, Google is simply saying, “We will not rank your website and it will not show up on Google.”

Moving on… the first thing you need is a great website. The second thing you need is local SEO.

#2- Local SEO for Contractors

If you’re a local business… and as a contractor you are… then you need local search engine optimization so when people are searching for your business, locally, they will find you! By the way, no one’s looking for a plumber in a different state. People are looking for contractors near them. So it’s important that you show up for “near me” searches.

Social Media Today says,

“46 percent of all searches are seeking local information.”

Think about that. Almost half of all Google searches are for local businesses. In fact, the “near me” tag that people type whenever they’re looking for contractors grew more than nine hundred percent over two years… 900%!

Over the past two years, it has grown tremendously because people are constantly searching for plumbers “near me,” or electricians “near me.”

Now, they don’t have to put the “near me” tag because Google treats all of these searches as a “near me” search – but that stated, you need to have a solid local SEO plan. Here are your first 3 steps for a good contractor local SEO campaign.

a) Contractor Google My Business listing.

Gmb is a free tool that Google Offers. create your Google my business listing make sure it has your name, phone number, and address – as well as some photos – a ton of relevant descriptions about your services. Choose a service area in order to hide your address while at the same time specifying a clear service area or region.

b) Directory citations

Next, you need to create other directory citations at places like Yahoo, Yelp, yellow pages, Bing, and Apple Maps. Make sure they are all exactly consistent with the same info you put on your Google My Business listing.

c) Get a ton of reviews

Finally, you need to run a campaign to get tons of positive reviews, especially on Google My Business, so that your business will start showing up in those local near me searches.

#3- Contractor PPC or Pay-per-click Advertising

The third tip for a solid contractor marketing plan is pay-per-click advertising. At Silverback Web Design & Contractor Marketing we manage Google Ads for many contractors and we have found that it works tremendously.

Imagine this. If you have a local business, with a strong website, good local SEO – and then, you start running Google ads to that website – this will increase your traffic, put you on the 1st page of Google, and thus – will get you more leads. Google Ads, when done correctly, work.

I am sure you’ve seen Google pay-per-click ads before. they are the first things that show up on a Google search results page. When people are looking for services that you provide, if you have an ad, then you will show up on the top of page #1.

You may think that people don’t click on those ads but they do! According to HubSpot:

“65 percent of people click on Google ads when they’re looking to buy.”

The last part of that sentence, “looking to buy,” is important. 65% of people will click on the ads when they are looking to buy – now that’s an extremely important audience for a contractor who’s looking to get leads from people who are actually looking to buy something for their home.

If people are searching for a contractor “near me…” (we have already proven that they are), and they see your ad at the top of google page #1, I can tell you that 65% will be likely to click on that ad.

Here’s another statistic:

“For commercial searches, paid clicks outnumber organic clicks by nearly two to one.” (wordstream)

That’s huge! Double the people are clicking on those advertisements than on the organic results lower down on the page.

At Silverback Web Design & Contractor Marketing, we love Google Ads we have tons of reasons why contractors should be using Google Ads.

#4- Use Video for Contractor marketing

The last thing that you need, for a basic set up, is video. You want a totally awesome video that represents your business and here’s why:

People love video. They’re addicted.

When I go to a website the first thing I do is click on the video (if they have one). I don’t want to read. I just want to see what the video tells me. I look for a video that explains what the business is all about.

So… if you have an awesome video on your website people will watch it.

That’s really all I need to say about that. People will watch it.

Conclusion to how to build a basic contract marketing strategy

Those are the four building blocks to building a solid contractor marketing campaign for your business. At Silverback Web Design & Contractor Marketing, we offer all of those things in one complete package. We offer that package at a very competitive monthly fee. There are no setup costs, no upfront costs, just a simple, no monkey business, monthly subscription and you get an awesome website, local SEO, pay-per-click advertising management, and an awesome video for your business.