Home service businesses are a great way for people to go into business for themselves. What makes it even better is that the barrier to entry is so low. You don’t need an office, you can work from home, and all you really need is a truck or van (or both). However, this doesn’t mean that marketing your services will be easy – in fact; it’s probably going to be one of the most difficult things you’ll have to do as an entrepreneur. This blog post will talk about digital marketing strategies for your website and social media channels that are sure to help get your company seen by potential customers!
If You Build It, They Will Come.
Great movie! But this quote is often overused and without context. Also, the original quote is “If you build it, he will come.”
Field of Dreams is one of my all-time favorites, but the adaptation of that famous quote may not always be the case when it comes to building a business. You’ll need to put in a lot of hard work and time into marketing your home service business.
What You should do:
Research – You need to know what the competition is doing so that you can come up with better ways of digital marketing than they are. Find out what their social media strategy looks like, how they interact with their customers, and how they post their blog content.
What not to do: Don’t be stuck in analysis paralysis mode.
Even though research is key in running a business, do not spend all of your time learning the theoretical aspects. Get out there and run your business! You will make mistakes but you should be able to learn from them at some point down the road. Make that call, knock on those doors and send those emails – it’s what runs this town after all!
Your Business Name Will Set You Apart From The Competition.
Think about the other businesses that you frequent. What makes them memorable? For example, something short and to the point usually works- think “Bob’s Lawn Care,” for example! But what is going to catch people’s eyes even more than your name itself is a catchy slogan or clever saying like: We do it all!
Don’t forget, when looking for services; homeowners need something done sooner rather than later; they are doing quick searches and only picking results on page one.
Getting to Page One of Search Results
Of all the ways you can market your home service business. The coveted number one spot on the first page of Search Results is the holy grail.
To get there, however. You need to have a website.
If you are not a web developer and don’t have the time to create a website.
Hire one!
But just having a website doesn’t mean people will find it when searching for your services. Like you have to tell your friends and neighbors, you do an amazing job providing your service.
You have to convince Google, Bing, and Yahoo too!
To do that, you have to list your website with each platform, letting them know that if people are looking for roofers or landscapers, your website has the information they need.
For Google to find you, you have to go to register your address with Google Search Console. Once you create your account, Google will give you a tag that you will place on your website. This allows Google to read the information on your website and understand the content that it contains.
Bing has a platform as well called Bing Webmasters Tools. The good thing about Bing is that once you have your Google Search Console and Analytics set up, you can send all that information to Bing by logging into your Google account. It automatically sets everything up when you do that.
Yahoo Local is tied in with Bing Webmasters Tools. Once your site is set up with Bing, bing will transfer your information over to Yahoo. Allow 6 to 8 weeks for your information to begin to populate in Yahoo’s search results.
Create Engaging Content For Your Home Service Business – Or Hire It Out
Now that Google, Bing, and Yahoo know about your home service business. It’s time to start entertaining them by providing them content to share with their visitors. Creating high-quality blog posts on your website is a great way to attract visitors. People are always looking to solve a problem. As an expert in your field, you are in a position to help people solve their problems.
An example of how your home services business blog can attract new customers is by creating a blog post about the number one issue your client faces and how to solve it.
You don’t always have to post information on your blog, though. Guest blogging is a great way to get the word out to the masses. Make sure to include your website links so those readers can find your website and original content.
Paid Advertising For Your Home Service Business – It’s Like Throwing Gasoline On The Fire.
Paid advertising can be a great way to generate new leads for your home service business, but only if you know how to do it right. The most important thing is knowing which keywords and phrases are driving the most qualified traffic to your website so that you’re not wasting money on irrelevant visitors – or worse, simply running up your credit card bill with expensive clicks from bots! Ensure that every ad group has one key phrase in its name; this makes it easier for Google AdWords (or any other paid search service) to track their performance over time.
In addition, make sure all of the ads in an ad group are targeting just one keyword each. This will allow you to optimize everything about those specific ads, including where they show up.
There are several platforms where you can run paid advertisements, and in future posts, we will take a deeper dive into how each one works and optimize your ads to receive the best ROI.
The top three places to advertise your home service business online are as follows.
- Google Ads
- Facebook Ads
- Bing Ads
Each platform allows for direct targeting of your ideal client based on their previous web browsing history.
If you want to target homeowners aged 35-45 that live in a specific zip code, those platforms will only show your ad to those people who fit that demographic.
One thing I would like to note. Advertising platforms are constantly changing. Be sure to stay on top of the latest updates when they are released.
One of the biggest changes that recently happened came not from the ad platform but from the device itself. Apple has released an update that has restricted applications from recording your information. This makes it harder for Facebook, Google, and Bing to build your ideal customer profile to serve them ads.
Suppose you don’t know which would be the best way for you to market your services. Check out an earlier post where we break down SEO vs. PPC Advertising.
Manage Your Home Service Business’ Reputation
When you complete a job or service, ask your customer to leave you a review on a couple of review sites like Google and Facebook.
Be sure to thank them after the review is posted.
You will want to respond to every review that is posted. Answering reviews, either good or bad, shows the search engines that you are actively engaged with your customers and will drive your information to the top of the results.
Company Responses also lets future customers know that a real person behind the brand is there to take care of their needs.
If you think that keeping up with reviews would be a full-time job in itself, I would agree with you. This is why BKXX Enterprises has a reputation management program called Reputation Growth Accelerator that will cut down on the time that it takes to stay engaged with your customers.
You will receive a 360-degree view of your business’s online reputation with Reputation Management Pro. Reputation Management Pro gives you access to premium features including Competition monitoring and Mentions monitoring to help you gain a greater understanding of your business’s online presence.
Also included is Customer Voice Pro helps you get consistent and positive customer reviews from all angles so that customers are satisfied in every way! Send unlimited email review requests and up to 100 SMS review requests each month for the best results possible – it will change how people think about what they hear about your company.
Additionally, you’ll get the Rapid Reviews add-on, which ensures reviews from over 50 sites appear on your dashboard almost immediately. Review Display Widget Pro lets you show off all of your best reviews in front of potential customers. And our team will make sure every review gets a timely response and sends out requests for new feedback so that no customer goes without recognition! Don’t worry about being overwhelmed with online marketing – we’re here to help.
Reach out to us today for a free online review audit and to discuss how we can enhance your company’s online reputation.
Conclusion
To recap, there are a few different ways to market your home service business. You can use social media marketing, blogging for lead generation and search engine optimization (SEO), paid digital ads, and traditional word of mouth through online reviews. There is no one-size-fits-all approach that will work for everyone, so you need to decide what works best with the limited resources at hand.
Reach out to BKXX Enterprises today if you want help deciding which strategies would be most effective in building your customer base! We offer an array of services, including SEO consulting, digital strategy development, and more, from our office in Urbana, OH, so don’t hesitate to get started now by contacting us online or calling 740-359-7180.
