This contractor marketing quick start guide will show you how to build your online presence in less than 21 hours even if you have no experience or web design skills.
I’ve created this free guide to give you the answers to the following important questions and challenges most contractors are facing these days:
- How do I get started with building my online presence?
- What is the best way to make a contractor marketing website?
- What are the best WordPress plugins to use for contractors?
- How do I optimize Google and Facebook for my contracting business?
- What steps should I take after my website is setup to get found by my ideal customers?
- And much more…
The foundation for building trust online is having an online presence. Therefore, whether you take this further and get involved with paid advertising, marketing funnels, and other lead generation strategies or not… I want to make sure that you build your online presence today.
So here is the solution. If you follow these steps exactly as I have them laid out, you should be able to have a high quality online presence in one weekend.
So, let’s get started.
Here are 10 simple steps to build your online presence fast:
#1. Get Your Own Domain Name
If you already have a domain name, then you can go ahead and use it. If you don’t have one, then search for one that is available.
We have tried many different name registrars such as Godaddy, 1and1, Hostgator, and many more. We have not found any as good as Namecheap when it comes to quality and awesome customer service.
We are now affiliated with NameCheap and you can use their name search tool, and purchase a domain name by visiting www.namecheap.com
When you find a domain name you like, purchase it. After you purchase it stay logged in. You will make some changes to your domain shortly. But now it’s time for step 2.
#2. Get Hosting
Make sure that wherever you purchase hosting, that they offer you cPanel as part of their package. For most contractors, you will simply need a shared hosting package. Again, we have used many different hosting companies. We haven’t found any as good and fair priced as NameCheap. So, to get high quality hosting, at a very affordable rate, go to… www.namecheap.com
After you have your access to your hosting account. Then login to your cPanel. This is where you will control your hosting service. You can setup your email accounts here, and install WordPress. Which leads us to step 3.
#3. Install WordPress
The cPanel makes it very easy to install WordPress. Near the bottom is a section titled: Softaculous Apps Installer. Find the WordPress Icon, and click on it. Then click “Install Now.” Then follow the steps from there on, to install and activate WordPress on your site.
Once you have the login details to your WordPress dashboard, then you can login and start setting up your site.
#4. Contractor Theme and Plugins
There are lots and lots of WordPress themes out there already built for contractor marketing. The best advice I can give you is to just perform a Google search for “WordPress Theme for Contractors.” You will find some free themes, and some paid. After you settle on your theme go ahead and install it.
After you have your theme installed, start installing Plugins.
Here are the top 7 plugins we use for all of our contractor marketing websites:
- Akismet
Used by millions, Akismet is the best way I know of to protect your blog from spam. It keeps your site protected even while you sleep. - GravityForms
With Gravity Forms you can easily create web forms and put them on your website. You can then manage form entries within the WordPress admin. It is a very good plugin, and one that we use on all our sites. - Yoast SEO
The first true all-in-one SEO solution for WordPress. It includes on-page content analysis. Which means you can see what needs to be tweaked on your piece of content for SEO right there while you are writing it. It includes XML sitemaps and much more. - Sucuri Security – Auditing, Malware Scanner and Hardening
The Sucuri plugin provides you the best Activity Auditing, Malware Scanning, Security Hardening and Post-Hack features. SiteCheck will check for malware, spam, blacklisting and other security issues like .htaccess redirects, hidden eval code, etc. For all that this plugin can do, the most amazing thing is that it’s completely free. - BackupBuddy
The most complete WordPress solution for Backup, Restoration, Migration, and Deployment. BackupBuddy backs up a customizable selection of files, settings, and content for a complete snapshot of your site. You can restore, migrate, or deploy your site to a new host or new domain with complete ease-of-mind. (Do not ask how many times we’ve had to do this. More times than we can count. We couldn’t have done it without these backups.) - Google Analytics Dashboard for WordPress
This is a Google Analytics for WordPress plugin, which enables you to track your site using the latest Google Analytics tracking code. It also allows you to view key Google Analytics reports within your WordPress dashboard. - W3 Total Cache
Is the highest rated and most complete WordPress performance plugin. It dramatically improves the speed and user experience of your site. It will add browser, page, object, and database caching – as well as minify content delivery network (CDN) to WordPress.
#5. Customize Theme
After your plugins are all installed go ahead and start customizing the look and feel of your website. Use your own images and content to make it feel like your own brand. Use the built-in tool that WordPress provides called: “Customize Your Site.” It is very easy to use, and saves you hours and hours of time.
#6. Setup Facebook Page
Now go to Facebook and create a business page. Make sure you select local business. Enter your address, and phone number…etc. Facebook will want to verify that you are the owner. Then, add a couple of posts to your page, so that your first visitors know that you really are there. Here’s the link to Facebook’s Page Creator. https://www.facebook.com/pages/create/
#7. Optimize Google Local
Go to Google Business. http://www.google.com/business
Find your business and claim it. Google will send you a postcard in the mail.
After it comes, and you’ve verified yourself, then go to your Google page and totally optimize it for your business.
Add at least 10 photos. Add 2-3 videos if you can. Add a good description, and as much info about your business as you can.
#8. Ask Customers To Leave Reviews
Send an email to your top 10 customers and ask them to leave you a review. I would highly recommend that you start with Google reviews.
Then, after you get about 5 reviews on Google, you can start asking them to leave you a review on other sites as well.
#9. Write Your First Blog Post
Come up with a list of 10 titles that you want to write about on your blog. Choose the most exciting and easiest one, and write it up.
Publish this first post on your blog. Be sure to include compelling images.
#10. Spread The Word!
Share your first blog post on your social media accounts. Share the reviews on social media as they come in as well. Let the world know that you are now online. Don’t be bashful. You can even ask your friends and family to share your website on their feeds if they want to.
Congratulations!
You are now online with a powerful, up-to-date, 21st Century web presence. Just by taking those 10 baby steps, you are well ahead of most of your competition.
Next Steps…
Where do you go from here? How do you get more people to find out about you and your website? How do you stay top-of-mind to people in your community?
If you want to increase your reach and get a return on your contractor marketing investment, then this is where I recommend that you start…
#1. Regular Blog Posts. I recommend that you publish a new blog post on a regular schedule. A new blog post once per week is best. But once per month is fine too. Just make sure you do it on a regular schedule.
#2. Email Newsletters. Set up an email auto responder and send a regular email newsletter. This will help you stay in touch with people and keep you top-of-mind.
#3. Online Ads. Run Facebook and Google ads. This is one of the best ways to reach people in your local community. Your ideal clients are on Facebook, but have never heard about you. Use Facebook ads to reach them.
The secret to building trust online is to continue to update your online presence with ongoing, fresh, high quality content. Many contractors struggle with keeping their content fresh and engaging.
Just the tip of the Iceberg…
So there you have it…This little contractor marketing quick start guide boils it down and shows you exactly how to get your online presence up and running fast. But, as you can also see, this is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to building a powerful online presence which builds trust and brings in more customers. There is the possibility that you may get stuck implementing the steps I’ve shown you throughout this guide.
If that happens let me know. We have services and programs that will take you deeper and help you get where you want to go with your online marketing. Please send me an email if you have any questions from here on out. I’d love to help you where I can.
Have a great day!
Martin Holsinger