So much of what we’ve talked about on this blog is on how to increase your contracting website’s Search Engine Optimization by improving your website itself; we’ve talked about fine-tuning each page, getting a secure server, and changing your website title. We’ve also spent a little bit of time just talking about SEO as a whole and why it matters for contractors. Today we’re not going to be looking at improving your website; instead, we’re going to be exploring the benefits of buying online advertising. Whether it’s to jumpstart your website’s reach or to connect with a new target market, we’ll cover it today. Enjoy!

1. Target Your Ideal Client

Paid online advertising gives you the power to target your ideal prospect. Taking all available data from people who are online will show you that it’s possible to place your ad in front of the exact person who needs to see it. This is a game changer for contractors.

You can show your ad to people living in a specific zip code, making a certain income, married with a specific number of children, owning their own home and who are interested in golf. Go back to our little exercise where you created your ideal customer profile. With online advertising, you can show your ads to those specific people.

2. Use Native Advertising

Native advertising is the ability to create ads that look and feel like the platform. For instance, if you’re advertising on Facebook, you’ll create an ad fitting into Facebook’s native format. Then while people are scrolling down it doesn’t feel like you’re shouting an advertisement at them. It feels more like you are joining the conversation they’re already having.

Instagram advertising works the same way. Create a short ad to be played or viewed on Instagram that appeals to your target audience and is like the types of videos/posts they regularly view. This allows your message to influence them without appearing pushy. Instagram also offers ads within Instagram stories. A very effective and attractive way to get attention.

3. Pay Only for Those Interested

You can advertise online and only pay if people are clicking on or watching your ad. You don’t have to waste money paying for advertising if people aren’t interested in your ad, and because you are using a targeted marketing strategy, your ad is not being seen by people who are not interested.

4. Click-To-Call

Most people today do their research on their smartphones. If your ad shows up on their smartphone screen and they want to call you, they can tap your ad and immediately place a call—they don’t even have to type in your phone number or visit your website.

This system removes all of the unnecessary middle steps—clicking, redirecting to your website, reading your message, getting your phone number, entering your phone number, calling you—making it much, much easier for the potential client to reach you. Furthermore, you can even add a tracking number to that ad so you will know exactly how many people clicked on it and placed a call.

 5. Retarget Prospective Clients

Internet technology allows you to track the people clicking on your ads and follow them up with another ad. For instance, imagine you have a piece of content on your website that you want people to read, so you advertise that content. Someone clicks on your ad, and they are redirected to your website.

Now they are added to your retargeting list. These are the people who have heard about you and read your content—therefore you are going to show them a totally different ad which will take them a little bit deeper into your business.

It’s most effective to advertise to the people with whom you’ve previously engaged; in this case, you do not waste marketing cash on people who aren’t interested, but you’re showing your ad to people who’ve already encountered some of your expertise and inviting them to learn even more.

6. Analyze Metrics and Analytics

Digital advertising makes it easy to measure and track the performance of your ads. Tracking your ad-performance is powerful, because you can see what people are clicking on, what that click is leading them to, and the results of their searching. This will help you know which ads are effective in getting you the most new leads.

7. Improve Your Performance

After measuring your metrics, go in and tweak small portions of your ads to see if performance can improve. If your changes improve your ad’s reach, draw, or effectiveness—keep them. Continue to edit them over time and refine your advertising until it’s a powerful marketing machine.

SUMMARY

Paid online ads are an investment, there’s no doubt about it. They take time and money to set up and streamline, but they can be an invaluable addition to your marketing scheme.

*****

Thank you for joining me today. If you have any further questions or comments, please join the conversation in the comments below.

*****

Follow me on Instagram for behind-the-scenes stuff. And if you want to go deeper with marketing your business, you may get a free copy of my contractor marketing book, Contractor Marketing Simplified.

The post 7 Benefits of Paid Online Ads appeared first on Martin Holsinger.

Today I’ve compiled a list of the Top 4 things we’ve learned in 2018 about a contractor’s online presence.

Enjoy!

1. How to Get Found

We’ve talked a lot this year about Search Engine Optimization (SEO). SEO is the system search engines employ to rank websites in internet user’s search results. Search engines such as Google, Bing, and Explorer analyze each search result for many aspects. Is this website popular? Do people spend time on it? Do internet users respond well to it? Does it load quickly? Where is it located? Etc. These reviews happen within milliseconds of searching and determine where the website should be placed in the search results.

Obviously, the higher on the list of results a website gets placed, the easier it is to find and view, so it will receive more web circulation and traffic. There are so many ways (both big and small) to work on adjusting your website to sit as high as possible in the search results. Some take time, some take money, some are no-brainers, but for the sake of your business, it is critical to invest in your website’s SEO so that you can get found online.

Here’s what we learned this year about Getting Found Online

Change Your Website Title to Accurately Reflect Your Business.

Your website title should be able to tell Google and any potential client searching the internet exactly who you are and what you do. Generic doesn’t work. Google needs to know who you are, so they can recommend you to the perfect match.

Here’s the best formula for a website title:

Business Name + Best Key Phrase + Location

An example: Holsinger Construction – Custom Home Builder In Yakima, WA.

Find Your Ideal Customer

If you’re an experienced contractor, you know the beauty of owning your niche. Whether that’s kitchen remodels, patio pavers, custom home building, or bathroom plumbing—you know it’s what you’re best at, and you want other people to know it too. You also know that everyone is not your ideal client. Your ideal client is people in your location who need your services and want to pay for them.

Sit down. Make a list of the defining qualities your ideal client would possess. Age, location, family, income, etc.

There you have it. Now direct all your marketing to that person. When you’re putting your business in front of people that already want it, it’ll be much easier to get found.

Buy a Google Ad

If you’re anxious to get to the tippy-top of the Google search results, run a Google Ad.

Optimize Google Maps to Get Found in Your Own City

The Google Maps ranking engine is built with the purpose of providing local people with local search results. Go to Google My Business to start the process. You cannot put enough emphasis on advertising WHERE you’re located. Your clients will generally be coming from your own or neighboring cities.

The next tip is the most time-consuming, effort-based tip of them all, but ultimately pays off well for your business:

Create Valuable Content

We touched on this briefly here. Popularity, relevance, and authority are a few of the factors search engines analyze. To get found you will need to create popular (people like it), relevant (people can find it when they search for something specific) and authoritative (aka you’re the BEST tile-layer on this side of the Mississippi) content on your website. Blog posts, videos, FAQs—anything that will be helpful to people on the internet and get them to check out your site. This helps your website’s SEO by getting more traffic to your website and therefore more leads for your business.

2. How to Build Trust

Building trust is about cultivating your online reputation and presence to be one of helpfulness and value to your future customers over a period of time. Your online presence should be there to serve others not just bring in sales for you.

Here’s what we learned this year about Building Trust!

Provide Value to Online Users

 You’ve created content in order to boost your SEO—use that same content to foster a relationship of trust with your potential customers. Answer their questions, provide them with the occasional ‘freebie,’ show them that you’re there not just to garner their business but to help them out.

 Provide Reinforcement for Content Created

And how will your future clients be able to trust that what you’re telling them is true? That you are who you say you are? That’s where reviews, testimonials, credentials, and a high-quality portfolio comes in. The proof to back up your own statements. Satisfied customers and photographic evidence provide the reinforcement necessary to build the trust foundation.

Write a “Meet the Owner” Page for Your Website.

A little bit different than an About Page, a Meet the Owner page is the place where you get to introduce yourself as a person to your potential clients. Your interests, hobbies, family, values, etc.

When clients come to your ‘Meet the Owner” page, they are looking to see if you are the type of person who they would get along well with. Remember, they have to trust you tremendously to allow you to come onto their property and into their house to perform these services. Your “Meet the Owner” page is a place you can build trust by letting them get to know you better.

3. How to Stay Safe

The danger of getting your website hacked gets stronger year by year. Currently, if you have a website and any online presence, it’s not so much a matter of IF your website will come under attack, but WHEN. Do everything you can to secure your website’s vulnerabilities and protect your information and integrity.

Here’s some of what we learned this year about contractor website security.

Update Your Passwords

To make sure your password is strong, use a combination of uppercase/lowercase letters and numbers or symbols such as stars, dollar signs, hyphens, etc.

Lastly, I then recommend that you change your passwords regularly. Twice a year is sufficient, but if you want to be really proactive, change them once a month.

Install WordPress Security Plugins

If you have a WordPress based website, you should use the security plugins they offer for an extra layer of safety.

Click here for a list of plugins to install.

4. How to Use Instagram

Instagram is one of the most popular social media apps of its time. Created to share pictures and create community, it’s the perfect set up to build a contracting portfolio and interact with other contractors and future clients.

Get Started on Instagram

Once you’ve created a business profile and made sure your location is in the description and tied into the account, start posting high-quality photos of your work.

Optimize Hashtags

Instagram employs a built-in cataloging system using hashtags (#s). If you label your posts with relevant hashtags (#midwestcontractor #seattlehomerenovation #phoenixkitchenremodel) when people search Instagram you will be where they can find you. You can follow hashtags, use them to find other contractors to interact with, and using hashtags is proven to increase views on your posts.

Master Instagram Stories

While the bread-and-butter of Instagram is the classic Instagram post and caption, Instagram stories can hold their own in a different way. Once posted they disappear in 24 hours unless highlighted on your profile, and they’re the perfect place to share behind the scenes footage from your job sites, news and updates, and maybe just your own daily life. Instagram stories make it easier to show the person behind the business without dampening the aesthetic of your high-quality Instagram feed.

Expand Your Reach

Hashtags, linking your location, interacting with other people—these are important things to do on Instagram to expand your reach within the app. It’s also important to draw people from Instagram to your website. Link your IG posts to your website and book your clients from your website. This helps you have a well-rounded online presence instead of depending on only one app/platform.

Instagram TV (IGTV)

Instagram rolled out a new video platform in 2018 called IGTV. Instead of the minute-long video limitation on a normal Instagram post, you can now post up to 10 minutes of video. It’s a good opportunity for contractors to make DIY videos, vlog style videos or announcements available to potential clients all within the Instagram app.

SUMMARY

As a contractor with an internet-based marketing system, it’s vital that your future clients can find you easily when they search the internet. When attracting customers to your website, build trust in their minds toward you and your company by being a person of value to them. Don’t put off doing even the small things that could strengthen your website’s security; it’s so vital to the entirety of your online presence. Instagram is an ever-growing platform with lots of unique opportunities for contractors. Post high-quality photos and connect through hashtags and simple interaction with other users, but don’t forget to draw people back to your website.

*****

Thank you for joining me today. If you have any further questions or comments, please join the conversation in the comments below.

*****

Follow me on Instagram for behind-the-scenes stuff. And if you want to go deeper with marketing your business, you may get a free copy of my new book, Contractor Marketing Simplified.

The post Top 4 Things We Learned in 2018 appeared first on Martin Holsinger.

Often as contractors, we get caught up in the busyness of life on the job and push our website to the background of our mind. “SEO is too complicated,” or “I don’t have time to fix it” are some common excuses. I think we forget that while some changes to our websites are complicated, time-consuming and may involve a professional coding expert, others are simple and fast—something you can do yourself, maybe even from your smartphone—and will still help you improve the effectiveness of your contracting website.

One of the easiest and most effective changes you can make today to impact your SEO is to simply change your website title and subtitle.

Your website title and subtitle is one of the main factors that Google uses to determine who you are, what you do, and where you live. I know, there are hundreds of other factors Google uses to determine this stuff as well, site title and subtitle is at the top of the list. After all, it’s what people will see first upon visiting your website.

Suppose my website was titled as follows: “Martin Holsinger – A General Contractor.” The only information Google can draw from that title is my name and a vague description of my job. Google won’t know to recommend my site to homeowners in Yakima, Washington. Google won’t know not to recommend my site to a family searching for a plumber in Sacramento, CA. However, if I changed it to “Holsinger Construction – Custom Home Builder In Yakima, WA.” suddenly Google knows who I am, what I do, and where I serve.

See what I mean? It’s so important that you give your site an accurate title and subtitle.

Now, let’s explore how to do that.

How Do I Find My Website Title?

Hover over the tab of your website with your mouse cursor. What shows up? That is the title and subtitle of your website. Alternatively, do a search for your business in Google and see what Google says about you and your website in the search results. This also will reveal what your title and subtitle is.

How Do I Change My Title?

In WordPress, you simply go into settings and make the change from there. WordPress makes it very easy to change your title and subtitle. I don’t have a lot of first-hand experience with other platforms, but I know it is just a simple change there as well.

What Do I Rename My Website?

This question is obviously the crux of the whole article, and the answer is going to be completely different and customizable for each person reading this.

When you go to rename your website (if it’s necessary) It’s important to not fill your title and subtitle with spammy keywords. This may actually hinder your SEO because Google is very sensitive to spammers.

For the Title, I recommend that you use your business name. For the subtitle, I recommend that you use your best key phrase. If your best work is building custom homes, then use that plus your location.

Your Business Name
Best Key Phrase + Your Location

This will tell Google what your name is, what you do, and where you live. That’s all you need to do. Don’t try to trick Google, or they might put you under penalty.

There you have it. Now that your website title accurately reflects you and your business, internet searchers in your locality will have a much better chance of finding you online. Your journey to funneling your target clients through your website just got easier!

SUMMARY

Changing your website title and subtitle is quick and easy, and it could have a large impact in your SEO. Don’t put it off. Make these little changes now and reap the benefits tomorrow.

*****

Thank you for joining me today. If you have any further questions or comments, please join the conversation in the comments below.

*****

Follow me on Instagram for behind-the-scenes stuff. And if you want to go deeper with marketing your business, you may get a free copy of my new book, Contractor Marketing Simplified.

The post One Thing You Can Change Today to Improve Your SEO appeared first on Martin Holsinger.

Contractors are busy. Demolishing, building, remodeling, upgrading, crafting, and designing day in and day out. When you spend every day on the job site with dirt on your knees and blueprints in hand, you often aren’t thinking about one crucial part of your business platform—your website.

Your website’s job is to be forming good impressions of your contracting company while you’re out doing the dirty work. Your website works for you, and just like the rest of your employees should be giving its best.

I want to go over 5 simple checks you can run on your website today to make sure it is operating at peak performance.

1. Is Your Website Secure? (https://…)

Website security is of utmost importance. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again—you will be hacked. It’s not if, it’s when. I’ve discussed website security at length in this post. But for today, just know that at the very minimum you need to check to make sure your site url (webpage address) is protected by a secure socket layer (SSL).

Here’s the simplest way to check this for your website: go to Chrome, Safari, or any other internet browser and enter https://yourdomain. See if you are able to access your site securely or if you get an error message. Make sure you have the “s” after HTTP …. like this… https:// That is the secure protocol for web browsers.

This is important because not only is an unsecured website dangerous to your privacy, if your potential clients get an error message upon entering your website, they may turn away and never come back. It’s vital that your website is secured with an up-to-date SSL Certificate.

2. Is Your Website Mobile Responsive?

Mobile-responsive websites are designed to look good and run well on both a desktop computer and mobile phone. If you are a millennial this is a no-brainer. You’ve probably got this covered. However, if you are an older contractor and have owned your website for a long time, you should probably check into this. No one wants to pull up your website on their phone and need to zoom all the way in to see your phone number.

The easiest way to check your site’s mobile responsiveness is to run your site through a free online tool. Search “mobile responsive site check” in the search bar, and Google gives access to their site checker right there in the search engine. Super easy. Enter your web address. Then analyze the results. It should be very clear if your website responds to mobile devices or not.

Another easy way to check: pull up your website on a desktop computer. Drag the size of the browser window down so that it is very narrow like a phone. Your website should adjust automatically to a mobile layout if it is mobile responsive.

This is important because today nearly 60% of internet searches are made from phones. If your website is not mobile responsive you could be losing potential customers. If your website checks out to be not mobile responsive, do some research or hire a professional to fix it for you. You want to be able to meet the needs of the current audience.

3. Is Your Website Fast Enough?

People searching the internet, do not like to wait around for a website to load. Waiting is especially trying if it’s being held up by fancy moving graphics with cumbersome files. Most internet-searchers will leave the site if it takes more than a few seconds to load. Call it instant gratification, impatience, entitlement or whatever you want, but it is the state of the internet today. Get in front of it and make sure that your website responds quickly.

Again, there are free tools to check out your site speed. Here are two that I recommend.

Gtmetrix.com

This tool will give you a comprehensive report on the speed of your site. If it appears to be too slow, they will even give insight into how to fix it.

Google Dev Tools

Developers.google.com/speed/pagespeed/insights/

Google makes it easy and free for you to check your website speed. Visit that link above and enter your website address. This search will reveal lots of data for your website, but the main thing, for now, is to check how fast your site is.

If it’s slow, do what you can to speed it up. Clear the homepage of large, clunky files, etc. This is important because a quickly-responding website could be the ticket to getting your website visitors to stick around.

4. Does Your Site Have Broken Links?

When you first designed your website, you probably linked to other pages on the internet. Information pages, contact information, additional resources, etc. Over time, these links will change, but the website pages that contain the embedded link do not change. Clicking on the link will take your website visitors to either the wrong place or nowhere at all. The longer your site exists the more potential there is to have links that no longer work.

There are some cool tools that check for this and show you exactly where these broken links are on your site. Then, all you must do is fix them.

The simplest and easiest tool to use for this is probably brokenlinkcheck.com.

This is important because your website visitors need to be able to trust you and your information. If your links are broken, you cannot provide them with the information they need. A secure system of working links makes the experience of visiting your website much easier and enjoyable for them.

5. Is Your Site Being Indexed in The Google Search Engine?

Did you know it’s possible for you to have a website live on the internet without Google indexing it to include in the search results? It is possible! That is very alarming.

Make sure that you have Google Indexing “turned on,” and that there are no other indexing issues concerning your site.

Go to: https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/index-status. Add your site and click on “Index/Coverage.” Google will let you know if there are any issues concerning the indexing of your site in their database.

This is important because the main reason you have a website at all is so that you’re there when people search for you. You need to be the answer to their question. If you’re not even in the index, you can’t work on getting to the top of the search results!

How to Move Forward

Once you’ve run these 5 simple checks, take care of any issues you encounter. If you do not have an SSL (Secure Socket Layer) Certificate—install one. If your site is not mobile responsive—get a new one. Speed up your lagging website, and make sure you’re included in Google search index.

As a contractor, you are out on the job every day making a huge impact in your community. Don’t forget that the more “unseen” part of your brand is very important too. For many people, their first impression of you is what they see online. Make sure your first impression is a good one by ensuring your website is performing to the best of its ability.

*****

Thank you for joining me today. If you have any further questions or comments, please join the conversation in the comments below.

*****

Follow me on Instagram for behind-the-scenes stuff. And if you want to go deeper with marketing your business, you may get a free copy of my contractor marketing book, Contractor Marketing Simplified.

The post Five Simple Checks For Top Website Performance appeared first on Martin Holsinger.

How do you know when it’s time to launch your own contracting company?

While this is not my usual contractor marketing blog post, I thought it would be good to write a quick article and share how I answer the question when it’s asked of me.

Many people dream of starting their own contracting company and striking out on their own. They dream of having their own business, owning lots of nice tools, being their own boss, and having the freedom to do what they want when they want to.

Maybe that’s you today. So how do you know when the time is right to quit your current job and launch out on your own?

Here are five simple checks that have helped me as I’ve launched new ventures a few times throughout my life. Ask yourself these questions whenever you’re feeling restless and wanting to move out into the new, uncharted territory of owning your own business.

1. Do I Have the Skills?

This first question is a no-brainer. If you want to build a house for someone else, do you actually know how to build a house? If you want to remodel a bathroom, do you really know what do with everything you’re going to find behind those walls? If you want to add an addition to someone’s house, do you know how to lay a foundation securely for your specific climate? The questions are limitless.

At an even more basic level, do you know how to read a tape measure? Run a tablesaw without having a sheet of plywood kick back and knock you to the ground? Use a staple gun without shooting through the wood you are holding, sending staples out the other side of your finger? Take it from me—I’ve learned some hard lessons through experience.

The key here is to learn all you can before starting your own company. There is something to be said for “faking it ’til you make it”; every new business opportunity is risky in many ways. But you owe it to your clientele to be the best you can be at the service you offer—even when you’re just starting out. It’s important to your clients, and it’s important to your reputation. Work hard at anything you do. Discover your strengths, discover your weaknesses, and learn all you can so you can create an outstanding product for your client.

2. Do I Love This Type of Work?

Think again about the area of business you’re wanting to enter alone. Do you love it? Others might be making a lot of money doing it, but what if you don’t actually enjoy the work and end up regretting it?

Sure, Instagram photos of the finished products look awesome, and you’re pumped to be able to do that for your future clients—but what if everything behind the scenes is a total killjoy for you?

Here’s the key for this question: it’s worth it to take time to dabble in the kind of work you are looking to go into before you take the plunge.

Work for another contractor for a few years. This will do several things for you. You will see whether you enjoy the work or not. You will pick up the necessary skills. You will observe how this contractor runs the business, and you will learn invaluable lessons, both positive and negative.

3. Is There a Demand for My Service?

Everyone has a job they excel at, but that gifting isn’t in demand everywhere you go. When you’re thinking about going out on your own to start your own contracting company, examine the demand in your locality.

Maybe you have the skills and love the work, but are people in your area buying it? If not, then you will most likely have a very hard time growing a new business.

This is an additional good reason to work for another contractor for a while. You need to find out if there really is a need in your area for the service you will offer.

For example, maybe you want to build spec houses. The facts are there; spec houses are not a hot commodity in every market in the USA. Or perhaps you want to build boutique custom homes. Same thing. Not every market wants high-end boutique custom homes.

Research your city, your market, your target audience. If you find there is a need there for the job you will provide, move forward with confidence.

4. Do I Have a Five-Year-Plus Mindset?

Starting a business is hard. It takes work. It generally involves literal blood, literal sweat, and literal tears. I’m not saying you won’t make a good living the first year, but I want to remind you that it typically takes three to five years to establish a business in a new market.

It’s worth it to get out of debt and save up some cash before you launch your new venture. This will help in those first rough times. If you really want to see your contracting company through to establishment, develop a long-term vision. Know what you want your company to look like at the end of five business years. Know what baby steps to take along the way to get it there.

The going gets tough, and you will want to quit, but if you maintain a five-year mindset, then you will persevere and see it through. And even after five years, as your business grows and more headaches show up, just having a long-term vision will enable you to see this thing through.

5. What Does My Spouse or Mentor Have to Say About This?

Seek counsel from important figures in your life, both personal and business. I cannot think of a major decision in my life that went wrong by listening to the heart of my wife. Let me say it another way: every time I have a major decision to make, I ask my wife to think about it and let me know her thoughts. I have never regretted taking the time to do this.

There have also been times in my life that I had to wait to launch one of my ideas because my wife wasn’t ready. It was totally worth it to wait a little bit for her to get fully on board. Also, there have been times when my wife was urging me to step out in faith, and again I’ve never regretted listening to her heart. For some reason, God has blessed my wife with deeper intuition than what I have. If I charge ahead thinking that I know what’s best, putting my thumb on her feelings rarely turns out well.

My wife and I are in this marriage for life, so it just makes sense that we make these weighty decisions together. Then we have each other for support when the going gets tough.

Of course, this goes both ways. If you are a wife, then listen to the heart of your husband before launching out. If you are not married, then seek the advice of your mentors, especially the mentors who know you best. This could be your boss, coworker, dad, brothers, mother, or your high school woodworking teacher. Simply put, just ask lots of questions and seek advice from those who have been through more in life—in business and in personal life. It never hurts to take wisdom from people who have gone before us in a venture.

Summary

You should have skills and a love for the job. Seek wise counsel. Figure out the need in your community. Develop a strategic vision and a long-term mindset.

Throughout my life, these simple checks have helped me avoid making hasty decisions that will end up costing me more in the long run. If you are facing the question of whether or not now is the time to launch your own contracting company, hopefully, these five checks will be of assistance.

*****

Thank you for joining me today. If you have any further questions or comments, please join the conversation in the comments below.

*****

Follow me on Instagram for behind-the-scenes stuff. And if you want to go deeper with marketing your business, you may get a free copy of my contractor marketing book, Contractor Marketing Simplified.

The post Am I Ready to Launch My Own Contracting Company? appeared first on Martin Holsinger.

We’ve talked a lot about the importance of building up and streamlining your contracting website’s SEO. Search engine optimization helps you get found by your target clients and helps place you higher in the Google search results. Google also provides special local service ads. Is there any chance Google local service ads could replace SEO as we know it?

The short answer is “Nope.”

I don’t believe they will replace SEO, and the rest of this article will show you why.

What Are Google Local Service Ads?

Google local service ads allow you to advertise your local business on Google and receive communication directly from your potential client. Your potential client can simply click on the ad to place a call or send you a message. You’re able to send and reply to messages, track your connections, and manage your bookings within the app and online.

Google local service ads are a pay-per-lead deal, but you’re able to set a budget for your costs per week or month.

Here are four points about what Google’s local service ads are and how they work:

1. Limited Availability

Google local service ads are only used for a handful of local service-based businesses. They focus on five main services:

• HVAC contractors
• Electrical contractors
• Plumbers
• Locksmiths
• Garage-door service contractors

They’re testing out a few more categories in California—towing, painting, house cleaning, handyman, etc.

2. Seen Above the Normal Search Results

Google local service ads appear as banner-style ads ABOVE the top search results.

Here’s a pic I just took of a search for Seattle Plumbers:

3. Require a Screening Process

To apply for these ads, Google requires you to complete a screening process. Once you go through the process and are approved, you receive a little green “Google Guaranteed” badge beside your company’s ad. Google then covers claims on the job invoice amount with a lifetime cap of $2000.

How much is the “Google Guaranteed” badge really worth to a local contractor? That remains to be seen.

4. Google Selects the Keywords

Unfortunately, with a Google local service ad, you cannot set your own keywords. Google chooses which keywords are relevant for the job types your company has selected. In fact, Google does not provide you with any keyword data to further streamline your ads. You just trust them to do the right thing!

Why Google Local Service Ads Won’t Replace SEO

Contractors, I don’t think this service will replace SEO at all.

The Google search engine will stay the same, and the local and organic search results will still be there every day. So unless you are Roto-Rooter, or One Hour Heating and Air, then I do not think you should spend a lot of time and money on local service ads.

If you have a solid online presence, custom SEO working well for your website, and money left over—go ahead and test them out, but for most of my audience (typically custom home builders and remodelers), I do not recommend Google local service ads.

Summary

Google local service ads are a specialized ad service working with a limited amount of local businesses. These ads are viewed at the top of the search results and provide potential clients with the ability to contact contractors directly through the ad. Google controls the keywords.

While the specialized ads could be helpful for some business, I do not think they replace the need or effectiveness of regular SEO for your contracting website.

Hopefully, this has helped answer any questions you may have had concerning whether local service ads would replace SEO. If you want to look into Google local service ads a bit deeper, I recommend these articles.

https://support.google.com/google-ads/topic/6224863?hl=en&ref_topic=6224857

https://www.brightlocal.com/2018/05/21/google-local-service-ads/

*****

Thank you for joining me today. If you have any further questions or comments, please join the conversation in the comments below.

*****

Follow me on Instagram for behind-the-scenes stuff. And if you want to go deeper with marketing your business, you may get a free copy of my contractor marketing book, Contractor Marketing Simplified.

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By 2018, all contractors should have their own website. It’s your company’s home base. It’s the place to feature your best work and best reviews, and, most importantly, it’s a way to give potential customers the means to connect with you after getting to know you.

But what’s important for a website? Is it enough to simply own a domain in your company’s name and drop some text and a few photos onto a flat web page? That may be better than nothing, but to truly get the most out of your contracting website, I believe you should have the following pages:

• Home
• Meet the Owner
• Portfolio
• Contact
• Our Reputation
• FAQ
• Blog

In my last blog post, I talked about why I think the long, scrolling flat web page design is the current best design for a contracting website. It’s easy to use, the information potential customers need is easy to find, and this design works fast on mobile devices. Regardless of how you set up your website—whether you go with my recommended scrolling design or click through to each page from a central home page—your website should contain in some way these seven sections.

1. Home Page

The home page is incredibly important. It’s the central hub of your website, and it becomes the face of your business when people open your site.

It’s your place to make a good first impression.

Your home page should ultimately speak directly to your potential customers’ needs, briefly describe who you are, and provide a description of your services. It’s also good to talk about the locations you serve on your home page as well.

Do what you can with your first impression to build trust toward you in potential customers’ minds from the first moment.

2. Meet the Owner

I highly recommend a meet-the-owner page. This page gives you a way to add an even more personal and trust-building aspect to your website, in addition to the “About” section, which should be on your homepage.

I have one client who sent me a message and underscored the importance of this page on their own website. They won new clients simply because they had a meet-the-owner page on their site, which helped build trust and rapport with their website visitors.

3. Portfolio

Your website’s portfolio page should display high-definition images of some of your best work. Give as many pictures as possible. You want your portfolio to show off how good you are at what you do!

4. Contact

The contact page gives customers the basic information they need to contact you—phone numbers, mailing address, and your location. If this information is not already part of a longer, scrolling home page, it should be clearly seen from the home page so that potential clients can easily access it.

5. Our Reputation

The reputation page should display reviews, testimonials, and other qualifying information to build up your reputation in the eyes of potential clients. This is the place where it’s okay to share the good things others have said about you. You don’t need to be cocky; just let the opinions and words of satisfied customers speak for themselves.

People are more likely to be convinced of a company’s worth if they hear a positive review from a peer instead of just self-affirmation from a company, so don’t be afraid to showcase your best work and your happiest customers!

6. Blog

Your blog should feature articles answering questions from your ideal client, or creating dreams within their minds. Customers want to read quality content that helps them dream or solve a current problem.

Additionally, if you have a blog, your website will rank higher in authority for the Google search engine. When potential customers search for your related keywords, your website will come up first. Blogging is a great way to improve your SEO based on your website content.

7. FAQ

The frequently asked questions page answers the most common questions asked by your target audience. The more you can answer their questions online, the more they will trust you to do their job.

An effective website is a combination of many different methods and aspects of business and marketing. You can’t have just one. You need your home page to draw people in; you need your reputation page to add trust and value to an initial impression; you need your blog to establish you as an authority on your subject to potential customers and Google. You need your portfolio to put pictures to your impressive statements, and you need a contact page to establish that connection with your target customer. It all works together to build a solid online presence, the very thing that will help you the most in getting business and keeping it.

*****

Thank you for joining me today. If you have any further questions or comments, please join the conversation in the comments below.

*****

Follow me on Instagram for behind-the-scenes stuff. And if you want to go deeper with marketing your business, you may get a free copy of my contractor marketing book, Contractor Marketing Simplified.

The post Seven Important Pages for Your Contractor Website appeared first on Martin Holsinger.

At my company, we build our clients’ contractor websites with long, scrolling homepages. Someone recently wondered if that was a bit cumbersome.

In this article, I would like to address this issue and talk about why I believe that a scrolling homepage is the best way to build your website right now.

In the past, it was smart to design your websites with a slide-show on the home page. If people wanted to learn more, they could click deeper to follow their interest level on to different pages. With the evolution of the faster mobile internet, the new generation of internet users prefers simple, quick and easy websites.

Because of this shift in preference, there are two reasons I believe scrolling, flat-designed home pages are best for your contracting websites.

1. It’s Simple and Easy
2. It Increases SEO

Read on to learn how and why we make our contracting websites the way we do.

1. It’s Simple and Easy

As a time-sensitive generation, your potential clients want to find the exact information they need as soon as they click on your website. When you have your most important business information on your homepage it makes it easy.

We usually design contractor websites with a basic company description at the top of the web page, followed by the location—usually with a big, gorgeous picture behind it. Next, there are two clickable buttons; one is “Get Started,” and the other is “Explore Gallery.” Those buttons will take people deeper into the website if they’d like.

However, if they keep on scrolling the next section is “About Us;” this section tells the client about the company. Keep scrolling and they’ll find out what the company does and what services they provide as a contractor. Finally, we’ll re-emphasize the location and the service area it operates in.

Each of these sections has a ‘call to action,’ so at any point while someone is scrolling and learning more, they can click to act. Usually those calls to action are ‘Let’s Get Started!” or “Contact Us Today” which will lead them to the contact page where they can get started working with the company.

It’s so important to have a quick loading website so people can find the information they’re looking for as soon as possible. Google likes fast websites. As internet-users today, we like fast websites. We don’t like coming to a website and needing to dig around. I know that when I go to a website looking for something specific, and I must go poking around in the back recesses of the website find the basic info, I get frustrated.

When building a contractor website, we want to avoid frustration for the potential clients when they visit. We want to give them what they are looking for—information on who the company is, what they do, some of their best work, a few featured testimonials—all things designed to build trust in their minds, leading them to eventually make a business connection.

All of this is on one scrolling page. It’s simple, fast, and easy to use.

2. Increases SEO

The second reason I like a scrolling home page is because of the opportunity to create lots of content on the home page. Google search engines love content, so the more we can write about the company, including keywords for the services they provide, the more opportunity there will be for them to rank higher in the search engines.

Granted, if we had only one picture at the top and then a document of just text below, it would be really long and hard for people to read. When we break it up into sections with a picture followed by a section of text—picture, text, picture, text, etc—it’s a much more pleasant way to load a lot of content onto the homepage of the website. This homepage content will help you increase your website’s SEO and aid it in ranking better in the search engines.

Summary

A fast and easy-to-navigate website that lets Google access all the homepage content—that is why I recommend going with a flat design where most information is stored on the homepage in a scrolling fashion.

Now, of course, websites should go deeper. Each website needs to have a page with a gallery of featured photos. Each website should also have a page for reviews to help with your online reputation, a ‘Meet the Owner’ page, and, of course, a Contact page. There’s definitely the need for potential clients to be able to click on through for more information, but for the simple homepage, I truly recommend the scrolling, flat design.

*****

Thank you for joining me today. If you have any further questions or comments, please join the conversation in the comments below.

*****

Follow me on Instagram for behind-the-scenes stuff. And if you want to go deeper with marketing your business, you may get a free copy of my contractor marketing book, Contractor Marketing Simplified.

The post Why You Should Have a Scrolling Homepage appeared first on Martin Holsinger.

There’s nothing more unsettling than waking up in the morning to find your contracting website security has been hacked; It’s alarming to see your website directing readers to inappropriate material, clickbait, or any other link over which you have no control because your website has been hacked.

Recently I had a contractor come to me asking me about the security measures we perform for our website clients as his website had been hacked more than once. I’ve learned a thing or two in the years I’ve been helping contractors, and today I want to give you a few tips on how to keep your website as secure as possible.

Currently, if you have a website and any online presence, it’s not so much a matter of IF your website will come under attack, but WHEN—so here are five tips to ensure you have a rock solid, protected website!

1. Update Your Passwords

This is a very foundational tip, and one that’s important for you to practice across all your online activities—not just your website. Updating your passwords on a regular basis is vital and important for your online safety.

Also, it is highly, highly important that you create indecipherable and unique passwords for each of your accounts. Hackers are primarily able to access accounts through insecure passwords, and passwords created with your first name, last name, or date of birth are very insecure. To make sure your password is strong, use a combination of uppercase/lowercase letters and numbers or symbols such as stars, dollar signs, hyphens, etc.

Lastly, I then recommend that you change your passwords regularly. Twice a year is sufficient, but if you want to be really proactive, change them once a month.

Store your passwords in a secure space such as LastPass, where you can access them, but no one else can!

2. Use WordPress Security Plugins

The second security tip I have for you today (and this is assuming that your websites are built on WordPress) is to use the security plugins built for WordPress.

Here are a couple of WordPress security plugins I recommend:

SUCURi

SUCURi is a powerful WordPress security plugin. It does auditing, malware scanning, and hardening. The plugin developers are constantly updating SUCURi and building it up so that it works better and better every year. There’s a lot of things that I certainly don’t understand about hacking, but having a plugin like this installed in your website will definitely help with checking for malware, spam, blacklisting and other security issues.

Wordfence

The next plugin I want to recommend is called Wordfence security. Wordfence security is pretty simple to understand; it’s an antivirus firewall and malware scan and it constantly runs in the back of your website keeping track of what internet users are doing or trying to do with your site. If something goes wrong in your website, it will be recorded by the plugin.

The developers at Wordfence are continuously analyzing the current threats and developing new detection rules and protection to help stop hacks before they happen.

Brute Force Attempts

I want to encourage you to make sure your security plugins are set in such a way to limit brute force logins to your website. A brute force login is when a hacker will try to login to access your WordPress dashboard by using what are called ‘brute force robots.”

These robots go out to comb the internet, find a WordPress website, and start hitting the login with combinations of usernames and passwords. I mean, we’re talking thousands and thousands of attempts to log in within minutes—possible because it’s all done by robots and not by people. So you can imagine that by just sheer brute force they can eventually figure out what the combination is and get in to the website.

It’s very helpful to have a plugin that will limit brute force attempt. In other words, if you try to log in three times and all three times you fail, the plugin will stop the login option, making it impossible to login. Having that capability built into your website is very important to keeping your website secure from hackers.

3. Use a WordPress Framework With Child Theme

All right, we’re going to move on to our third point; use a child theme framework on WordPress. A WordPress child theme is a website theme that sits on top of a WordPress framework. The child theme takes care of the look and feel of the website, and all the customizations that may have been made. It makes updating your website easier, and there is no risk of losing your customized features.

We use and prefer the Genesis framework from Studio Press. We have used this framework for years, and it’s very, very good, rock solid, and secure. When they were developing Genesis, they brought in one of the core WordPress developers to make sure that the Genesis framework was as secure as possible. With his guidance, they were able to build their framework to follow all WordPress’s best security best practices, and they have continued to do so.

I highly recommend Genesis and a child theme for your WordPress website. Not only is it secure, but it also makes updating your site and your site customization easier.

4. Regularly Update Your Website and Plugins

It’s very important that you update not only your WordPress site, but also your plugins on a regular basis. Hackers often take advantage of vulnerable websites through outdated plugins. The plugin developers will continue to run updates to keep their plugins secure.

Whenever they issue a new update, you should immediately go into your dashboard and update those plugins. This is so important that we’ve included regular updates to all the core codes and plugins of the website as one of the main services we offer in our contractor website maintenance package. It helps keep your website very secure.

5. Secure Your Website Domain Name

Our final tip for this article is to make sure that your website domain name is secure. I’m talking about the SSL certificate at the front of your domain name.

If you go to a website on a desktop and you look at the domain name, it should say (https://). It will not be just “http” because the “http” is not secure and Google is now requiring that all websites have the “s” added. This creates a secure socket layer and makes it obviously harder to hack—better for Google and better for everyone.

This is also something we require of all our contractor website clients as well, and thankfully, secure socket layers are not expensive. They’re also easy to purchase and install. Of course, there are different levels that you can purchase. One level contains a green bar that shows very quickly if a site is secure. It costs a little bit more, but still it’s not too expensive. In my opinion, it’s totally worth it. Securing your domain name is a practical way to protect your website from hackers.

Summary

To keep your website as secure as possible, update your passwords regularly with unique and indecipherable passwords. Install WordPress security plugins to protect your website, and update them every time an update is released. Use the Genesis WordPress Child Theme for a secure, easily customizable website, and ensure that your contracting company’s domain name is secured and approved by Google.

These are just a few simple tips to help you zip up your website security in the present and as you move forward with building your online presence!

*****

Thank you for joining me today. If you have any further questions or comments, please join the conversation in the comments below.

*****

Follow me on Instagram for behind-the-scenes stuff. And if you want to go deeper with marketing your business, you may get a free copy of my contractor marketing book, Contractor Marketing Simplified.

The post Contractor Website Security – How to Avoid Getting Hacked appeared first on Martin Holsinger.

The three ways to rank in Google search results are Google Ads, Google Maps, and Google Organic—in that order!

The purpose of this blog post is to bring a little clarity to your mind about these three sections of the Google search results, and hopefully spark your interest to pursue at least a couple of them with your business.

1. Google Ads

If you’re anxious to get on the first page of Google right away, run some Google Ads. The first page of Google is pretty important for getting your website found—seventy five percent of internet users never scroll past it. (Junto, 2017). Google ads will put you there immediately.

The Google AdWords engine is getting smarter and smarter, and it’s not all that hard to get started today. The only downside to this, is that Google AdWords can be a bit pricey. If you don’t have a large budget to work with, then one or both of the following options would be best for you and your business.

(For a sweet infographic on how Google Adwords works, click here.)

2. Google Maps

The Google Maps ranking engine is built with the purpose of providing local people with local search results. When you search a business or service on Google, the search results will include the Google Maps results right below the Google Ads. So, if you have a local business, then you definitely need to be optimizing your business in Google maps. You should be trying to rank #1 for your service in your city!

When potential customers make a Google search for ‘Seattle home remodel’ or ‘Houston custom homes’ and the Google Maps top 3 businesses are laid out below the ads, your name should be first one they see! If you want to be found by people in your locality, be where they can find you!

To optimize your business on Google Maps, go to Google My Business to begin the process. Start by naming, claiming, and verifying your business. Then create a good quality description, include your location (vital for being found in your own city), and collect local, verified reviews. These steps will help you rise in the search results and be seen by people in your city!

3. Google Organic

Google Organic—here’s where all the rest of the search results hang out. Organic search results are the natural results for every Google search. The results that rank below the Google Ads. Every directory and their mother and brothers are here, but if you know what you are doing you can still outrank them over time. Over time, following SEO best practices, you can pull ahead and eventually start leading the pack in the organic search results.

An interesting side note is this—the time and effort you put into SEO for Google will also pay off on the other search engines as well. For instance, as you see your rankings increasing on Google, you’ll see your page rank increasing on Yahoo and Bing too. It’s like running an ad on CNN, FOX, and NBC all at the same time.

Summary

Google Ads, Google Maps, and Google organic are the three ways to rank on Google. I highly recommend that every contractor work on at least the last two sections. You can hold off on Google AdWords for now, but don’t hold off on Google Maps and Google Organic. Investing time and effort into these platforms will help your business get found online and in your local region. The more available your business is to the online traffic, the more value it has, and the more leads you will receive!

*****

Thank you for joining me today. If you have any further questions or comments, please join the conversation in the comments below.

*****

Follow me on Instagram for behind-the-scenes stuff. And if you want to go deeper with marketing your business, you may get a free copy of my contractor marketing book, Contractor Marketing Simplified.

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