Get More Leads with Your Website – Page 7

Reputation Marketing for House Painting Companies PART 1

What is your reputation online?

If it’s

bad
you don’t have one or
don’t know what it is

Then, this article is for you!

Painting a house, kitchen or even a room is costly and time-consuming, which is why most people will go online to find a reliable painter.

To seem credible, a home service business must have a Google rating of at least 4 stars and a steady stream of fresh reviews. Reputation marketing may be the answer you’re searching for if you want to cut down on callbacks while still offering high-quality service.

Let's get the basics out of the way first: what is reputation marketing?

Promotion, monitoring, and acquisition of positive third-party brand content, like reviews and social media posts, is called “reputation marketing.” This is done to improve your online reputation.

Your painting company’s online reputation will benefit from this tactic. It’s also a tool you can use to find more positive opportunities and make it into a line of defense for your brand.

When it comes to accumulating favorable information about your company, there are two options: organic and paid

Organic Reviews

Organic evaluations are always more dependable and trustworthy in the eyes of the public than paid advertisements. The majority of consumers are able to discern whether reviews are authentic and posted by other customers who have used the product.

Paid Reviews

Because they are not “earned,” which implies that anybody may obtain them, paid-for evaluations are not the ideal choice, and they often have a bad image as a result. This covers the payment for reviews, press releases, and interviews, among other things.

The use of exclusively paid-for information, according to seasoned marketers, is a lousy business strategy. In a well-thought-out reputation marketing plan, both kinds would be utilized, with a higher emphasis placed on the organic method.

While purchasing phony reviews, bribing consumers to submit reviews, or attempting to have your company listed on particular websites may sound appealing, these strategies are likely to provide little to no return on your investment in the long run.

The Many Benefits of Reputation Marketing

The unfortunate reality is that smaller painting companies tend to overlook or entirely disregard reputation marketing and management as helpful tools until they are confronted with an inflow of negative reviews.

In truth, reputation marketing serves as a safety net for your business. As long as it is implemented in a timely and appropriate manner, it will assist you in establishing strong brand authority and reputation before a crisis scenario spirals out of hand…like receiving multiple bad reviews in a row.

So, if you are still unsure about how reputation marketing might assist your painting business, here are a few ideas to consider:

IMPROVED PERFORMANCE RATINGS

Make sure to pay close attention to the comments and reviews people post about your service and that their comments and reviews portray your home service business in the best possible light. You won’t be able to avoid bad feedback, but you can at least curate third-party reviews over time to mitigate the effects. The fact of the issue is that public opinion counts, and the difference between a 4-star and a 5-star rating may translate into hundreds of thousands of dollars in additional income.

GOOGLE KNOWLEDGE PANEL

It is the short description with info (and pictures) about your business that Google pulls and appears on the right side of your screen in desktop search results. This Knowledge Panel can be an important business asset and a game changer when it comes to getting more people to visit your home service website. That said, getting it to be shown frequently depends on how well your brand is known and how much structured data you have on your site/Google Business Profile.

GOOGLE PROFILE OPTIMIZATION

If you really want to get serious, you should set up a Google Business Profile (formerly called a Google My Business account). A well-optimized business profile can help your house painting business show up in search results above the rest. Plus, it’s free to set up and allows you to connect with potential and current customers and build your brand’s trust.

WEBSITE SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION (SEO)

SEO is all about getting your site to show up high in search engine results. If Google and other search engines think your page is an authority for certain target keywords, like “house painter near me”, then you will get more traffic that all of the painters in your area are fighting for.

GET YOUR BRAND INTO THE SEARCH RESULTS

As time goes on, the hard work that you do pays off in a big way. By building your brand online in multiple directories, you should see more branded results. Your website will show up at the top of the search results if someone searches for your painting company’s name.

LOCAL SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION (SEO)

Local SEO is one of the most important tools for home service companies because it allows you to target the specific community that you serve directly. Implementing an effective local SEO strategy can boost the search exposure of your business.

Stay tuned for Part 2 of this topic, where we will discuss the impact of online reviews and how to create a successful reputation marketing campaign.

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SEO for House Painting Businesses: Let’s Talk About Good Search Engine Optimization Strategies for Your Painting Company

Your painting company provides a wide range of valuable services to local homeowners and businesses as a painter. The problem is that you’re simply one of many comparable businesses. So, what distinguishes you from the rest of the pack?

Customer service and high-quality products are equally as important as flawless execution. However, implementing SEO solutions to develop your organization is an equally crucial, if sometimes forgotten, component.

What is Search Engine Optimization for House Painters?

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the practice of improving your website’s visibility in search engines like Google, Yahoo, Bing, and so on, in order to attract more traffic to your site. Increased visibility in search engine results pages (SERPs) means that you’re more likely to attract new and existing consumers.

Unlike PPC advertising, which suck up a significant portion of any marketing budget, SEO may be done for a fraction of the cost. PPC results can be seen instantly, while true SEO advantages may take some time to show up. For most painting contractors, a combination of PPC and SEO is suggested.

Types of Search Engine Optimization Your Business Can Use

Although SEO appears to be a straightforward procedure at first glance, digging deeper reveals a considerably more nuanced process. The “mechanism” of SEO has several moving parts, including, but not limited to, keywords and content.

There are two basic types of SEO elements – Onsite SEO and Offsite SEO.

On-site SEO is when you make changes to individual parts of your website to make it more likely to show up in search engine results. This includes things like keywords, formatting, navigation, URLs, load speed, on-site blogging, and responsive design, among other things.

Off-Site SEO is the work you do to improve your SEO by doing things that aren’t on your website. A lot of people think that link building is the most important part of off-page SEO, but it also includes things like business profiles on social media, articles, link building and more.

How Can You Get Started In SEO With Your Painting Company?

SEO is a lot more complicated than just researching keywords and putting them on your site. This is a good reason to pay more attention to it and not just ignore it. There are many parts of SEO that don’t cost anything but your time and effort, and they can be more effective than other marketing methods.

Search Engine Journal says that inbound leads (like from SEO) cost 61% less than leads that have to be bought (like cold calling). It is also very easy to use tactics once you know how to do them.

So, let’s get started!

Social Media – It’s a good idea to post material from your website or blog on social media networks like Facebook, LinkedIn and so on to increase traffic to your site. Post often and engage with users in a professional manner to build a following.

Link Building – We’ve previously established that link development is a critical component of any successful SEO campaign. Google doesn’t care about the size of your painting company. By guest blogging, submitting your pages to relevant directories, and providing valuable material that other people want to share, you may utilize link building to establish your authority.

On the other hand, anyone who uses black hat techniques, such as low-quality methods and spam, will be punished, no matter how big their business is.

Local SEO – Local SEO is the same as SEO but tailored to local search engine results. This implies that the material you generate and distribute should include information about your business’s location, city, or town.

Consumers and home service providers both benefit from Google’s preference for local content. When you have the right tools to target people in your location, your adverts and content will be more successful.

Understanding Local SEO

Here’s how MailChimp explains local organic search results:

After analyzing the behavior of users during trillions of searches, Google figured out that people seeking certain types of businesses need results from their immediate area. That’s why Google’s local search algorithm includes a proximity factor, which is a fancy way of saying that Google takes your location into account when you search for a local keyword (a query with local intent). This happens even when the searcher doesn’t include a city name or “near me” in their search.

Long-tail keywords have a large role in local SEO. To locate words that describe your painting company’s services and mention the location, you may use tools like Google Keyword Planner. Using these keywords in your article can help you rise in the ranks of search engine results.

How To Know If Your SEO Is Working

Measurability is one of SEO’s finest advantages. In order to learn more about your website’s visitors, including their origins, paths to your site, and activities while they’re there, you may use Google Analytics. Using this data, you can take advantage of the fact that a certain search phrase is directing users to your site and incorporate this keyword in your content.

How Can Local SEO Help Grow Your House Painting Business?

Let’s go a little further and see exactly what these services can achieve for your business.

Improve Your Online Visibility

Painting companies that get their name out there are more likely to expand and grow. You have the opportunity to appear at the top of search engine results by executing an effective local SEO plan.

Even if customers don’t click on your links on your website, they will still notice your brand. As a result, your company’s name and products become more recognizable to them. This is a great approach to increase your brand’s visibility over time!

Boost Your Local Sales

The ultimate purpose of an SEO strategy should be to assist you in increasing revenue. In fact, this is exactly what local SEO can achieve for your painting business. Having a Google My Business account is one way to get your business in front of more local clients.

Outrank All Of Your Competitors

As a result of employing local SEO techniques, you’ll be able to outrank your rivals in the Google search results and attract clients who otherwise would have opted for your rivals. If people see your website first, they’re more likely to click through.

Generating Organic Traffic For Your Site

Search Engine Watch conducted a study that arrived at some incredible findings: 63 % of people use multiple devices to find a local business.

Four out of five searches via mobile devices lead to a purchase, often within a few hours, the survey said. Compared with other devices, the mobile phone showed the highest conversion rate, with nearly 80 percent of mobile phone searches ending in a purchase.

When consumers in your area search for the services you provide, it’s critical that you show up in local search results. And the best way to achieve it is through a local search engine optimization approach.

You Need SEO For Business Success

In order to be successful and relevant in today’s business environment, Search Engine Optimization is a must-have. SEO is essential for painters. Even if you have a great service, you won’t be found online if you don’t have SEO. To put it another way, customers can’t discover you when they search for what you do online.

If you’re in the painting business, knowing your local customers better than anyone else might provide you an edge over your rivals in the home service industry. It’s an excellent chance for you if they’re depending only on outbound marketing or are simply hoping for the best with their websites. This happens more often than you think.

There’s no need to start off with a huge budget – start small and build up as your business grows. Keep in mind that SEO is a long-term process, not a sprint!

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Grow Your Painting Business By A Factor of 10 With These 5 Steps – Part 2 of 5

Are you looking to grow your painting company but aren’t sure where to start?

It’s difficult to know what steps to take or where to invest your time and money. However, we have created a proven roadmap for you to follow that will help you 10X your painting business.

In part 1 of this series, we discussed how to set up a follow-up system on multiple platforms. If you haven’t already read it, you’ll want to start here.

After the follow up systems are in place, your next step is to increase your number of leads.

Step 2 – 2X (At Least) Your Number of Leads

In order to grow your painting business, you will need to commit yourself to taking the steps to get bigger. By doubling your leads (at least), you will have more work coming in than ever before.

This is where it gets tricky. People will ask us, “How exactly do I double the leads for my painting business?”

The truthful answer is this – you need to test multiple avenues and see what works best for you. In order to know what is working and what’s not, lead tracking tactics will need to be in place.

Let’s talk about a few ways (or combinations of ways) to double your leads.

Marketing Tactics To Try To 2X Your House Painting Leads

Tactic 1 – Facebook Ads

As mentioned in Part 1 of this series, Facebook Ads can be an effective way of attracting new clients. Video tends to perform better than images, so make sure you take a bunch of little videos at your next work site.

You’ll want to make two sets of videos. Set 1 should have videos that do the following:

Answer a common house painting question
Talk about prepping a house for painting
Discuss when to paint certain areas and why
Discuss how weather affects painting

Video set 1 should be videos that people would watch if and only if they were thinking about painting their interior, exterior, cabinets etc.

Video Set 2 should showcase your company and why they should hire you. These videos should consist of:

Showing the quality of your work
Cool before and afters
How clean you leave the house
Anything else that makes you stand out

Set 2 videos should also close with a call to action of contacting you or scheduling an appointment.

Schedule Video Set 1 to show to people in your area. To get your targeting a little more specific, we generally recommend the following settings:

Age – 40+

Gender – Female (Women tend to make the decisions)

Radius – Within 20 miles of your business

Then, after Video Set 1 has been running for a few days, you’ll want to schedule Video Set 2. These videos should only be shown to people that have watched at least 25% of one of the videos from Set 1. This way, you know that you are targeting people that are at least thinking about painting their house.

You can also show Video Set 2 to people that have been on your website if you have the Facebook Pixel setup correctly.

Tactic 2 – Google Ads

Google Ads can be a highly effective way of getting leads online. In fact, we have seen leads come in for companies that we’ve worked with for under $50/lead. However, Google Ads can be a bit tricky when it comes to the settings.

Let’s discuss a few of the common Google Ad “gotchas”.

First, you need to decide what type of ad you want to run:

Search Ads are the text ads that you see at the top of the results page, before the map and the organic results
Display Ads are the image ads that you see across the web when browsing

Both types of ads have their merits, but you should never create a Search Ad that also targets the Display Network and vice versa.

Secondly, you need to make sure that you are using keywords in the manner that you intended.

Google has multiple types of keywords:

Broad match
Phrase match
Exact match

According to Google, a broad match keyword is one that “may show on searches that are related to your keyword, which can include searches that don’t contain the keyword terms”

For example, you may enter House Painters In My Area as one of your keywords. However, your ad may show for people looking for famous painters or automobile painters.

Rule #1 of not overpaying for Google Ads – DO NOT USE BROAD MATCH KEYWORDS.

Google defines a phrase match keyword as one where “ads may show on searches that include the meaning of your keyword”. To denote a phrase match keyword, you’ll need to put it in quotes.

To use the example above, you would define one of your keywords as “House Painters In My Area”. Now, your ad would show for someone that typed in that phrase. It also might show for someone that type in “Painters Near Me” or “House Painting In My Area”.

These are okay keywords to use (as long as you have a good negative keyword list, which we will discuss in a few moments).

The last type of keywords are exact match keywords. To denote these, you enter the phrase in square brackets. Google defines these as “Ads will show on searches that have the same meaning or same intent as the keyword.”

This type of keyword gives you the most control of when your ad is shown, but it also limits the audience. Using the previous example, you would enter one of your keywords as [House Painters In My Area]. Then, your ad would show to people who type in this phrase or something very similar, like with the same words in a different order.

After you enter your keywords, you will also want to create your list of negative keywords as well. This is a list of words and phrases that you give to Google that tells them – if this word is in a search phrase, do NOT show my ad. It allows you to weed out unqualified buyers.

Good negative keywords to use for your painting company:

Any painting or store brand, like “Home Depot” or “Behr”
“How To” or “How Much” (People searching these phrases are typically in the education phase of their searching and aren’t looking to purchase
Automobile, car, auto etc.
Boat
Paint and Sip
Etc.

If you think of words or phrases that are associated with painting, but not house painting, put them on the list.

Finally, you want to make sure that your keywords match what you say in your ads AND that your landing pages that you send people to match your ads. This is called “Ad Congruity”. If you call yourself a “house painter” in your keywords and your ads, make sure that the page that you send them to highlights the fact that you are a “house painter”.

NEVER SEND YOUR ADS TO YOUR HOME PAGE! This is a huge, costly mistake that we see painting businesses make all of the time.

Some Other Marketing Tactics

We wanted to review a few tactics in depth. However, there are tons of other tactics to try, like:

Door hangers
YouTube ads
Radio ads
Appear on Podcasts
Networking
Find non-competing partners
SEO
TV
Get featured on the local news
And more!

Important to Remember – Measure Your Results

In order to know what tactic or tactics worked the best, you have to measure your results. One way you can do this is through call tracking. Use a different phone number for each tactic type and see what number brings in the most leads. CallRail is one vendor that offers this service and makes it simple to set up.

You could try one tactic per month, although seasonality may affect these results a bit.

You could send each ad to a separate landing page. Then, your site analytics would allow you to know which ad had been the most successful.

However you choose to do this, you just want to be sure that everything is measured.

Let’s Return To Our Example Company With Double The Leads For Our Painting Business

Again, let’s see how powerful doubling the number of leads that we bring in actually is.

Remember, ABC Painting started with $40,000 monthly gross revenue. Then, we implemented a follow-up system, which will increase the leads by about 60%. This took the gross monthly revenue to $64,000.

How to double the leads for your painting business

Now, through the tactics discussed in this article, we have doubled our leads from 80 to 160 per month.

If that 20% close rate remains, this will result in 32 new clients and a monthly gross income of $128,000! We have already more than tripled the revenue using just 2 steps of the system!

Next week? Step 3: Work On Increasing The Closing Rate For Your Painting Business!