WHAT IS SEO? AND WHY DOES MY CONTRACTING BUSINESS NEED IT?

You have a service contractor's license. You do a great job pleasing your homeowner and commercial customers. You've spent years in the business becoming an expert at your trade and understand both the ups and downs of owning and managing your own small business. Customer's feedback is almost always good, great even, and you're getting jobs regularly. You may also have hired more guys and gals than you expected in the last year because business is better than you planned. Yet, there's that one topic that keeps coming up and still seems to be the answer to everyone's problems, but you haven't had the time to master it: Search Engine Optimization, or SEO.

It makes sense, but more computer work after a long day of managing a full crew and customer expectations is never ideal. SEO isn't lost on you, so it seems like if SEO is going away, it doesn't matter much anyway. That's the key, though--SEO isn't going away --and the sooner your business has a grasp on it, the better you will naturally thrive. 

What is SEO?

SEO is the activity of maximizing the number of visitors to your website by using specific measures, content, and strategies to show up or be optimized in search results.

There are a lot of common misconceptions about SEO, and it has changed a lot over the years. Two things are for sure, SEO is crucial to small business website success, and getting a basic grasp on SEO while making consistent (weekly/monthly) improvements can go a long way.

SEO is happening all the time

If you're tired of sales calls saying, "We'll get you to number one on Google and handle all of your SEO." We are too. Anyone claiming that they can get you even on the first page of Google is either a fraud or they aren't telling you the whole story. That being said, having regular content and an expert in the field that you trust handling your website and Search Engine Optimization will help the phone continue to ring. Most importantly, it will be customers with the types of jobs you want to be getting. 

Whether you take the time to optimize your website or not, Google and its counterparts use crawlers to decide what to be shown and what not to be shown every day. Having repetitive and keyword-y content and an unsecured website could be causing you to lose traffic when people would otherwise be finding your business for your services.  Meaning that if you spend the time to create blog content, ensure your online business listings are consistent, and understand successful backlinking, then you are already doing great. If not, that's okay. 

Most service contractors, like yourself, have a lot going on 

From managing crews, ensuring customers are happy, and doing the job day in and day out, lots of business to-dos can get lost in the shuffle. SEO can also get lost in the shuffle, along with backlinks, website maintenance, blog content, and more. Yet, all of these items organically help you improve the quality and quantity of website traffic. 

Why is SEO important? Because it's something that needs to be done for people to find your website, your brand, YOU, and to find your business trustworthy enough to solve their problems. If it sounds a bit overwhelming, it's because it is. Though, it doesn't always have to be. The right marketing company or consultant will walk you through it. They'll help you to determine what you're getting, what you're getting from SEO, and even teach you a few tricks of the trade if you feel like you can't read another blog or listen to another podcast about how to increase your search rankings. 

Headings and regular, relevant content are crucial to good SEO. 

If you want to make sure you're showing up to the critical audience for the right search, chat with your team, and conduct an audit of your website. Does the content on each page provide clearly what your services are? Are you too keyword-y? Because the whole keywording thing got flipped on its head a long time ago, you can no longer fill every page with keywords of your services. That can hurt your SEO and not to mention your relationship with a potential customer. Yikes.

Showcasing expertise

Not to worry, we like to think of good SEO as positioning your business as an expert in the field or for your specific services and showcasing how exactly you accomplish that. For example, you know just how to help someone with their leaky pipes or install the most beautiful windows or keep people cool in the summer, what content are you providing to help them understand that process?

Start there and if ever in need of help or consulting, find a marketing company you can trust, with no contracts or gimmicks and regular reporting, because the proof will genuinely be in the SEO pudding. 

Green Thumb Local is powerful online advertising and brand management for your local business. If you want a fully-customized web-presence without the hassle, call 480-360-0101 today! We offer a no-contract free trial.

TAGGED: SEO MARKETING, SERVICE BUSINESS MARKETING