So, how do contractors and home service professionals find jobs? Well, the same way they always did - with referrals!

Whether you are using Angi’s List, Yelp or HomeAdvisor to get referrals, it’s still the same way your father did it back in the day. It’s all referral business. But now, these “middlemen” charge you for leads while selling them to hundreds, if not thousands, of other contractors. This isn’t the only way! You can generate your own leads organically by ranking high in Google Search.

Unfortunately, it isn’t just a switch you can flip. It takes time and consistency, so most contractors fail!

The Lack of SEO Optimisation

Yes, this sounds cliche, but the only reason why you aren’t ranking in Google is the lack of SEO (Search engine Optimisation). But we can break this one reason down further into several other reasons.

• Limited Online Presence

• Inconsistent NAP (Name, Address, Phone number) Information

• Low-quality or Irrelevant Content

• Lack of Positive Reviews and Citations

Luckily, there is a time-and-tested method for anyone to overcome this problem. All you need is to be consistent.

Here's how to go about it in 4 steps:

Step 1: Improve Your Online Presence

Google bots crawl the internet on a regular basis and rank pages according to their accuracy and perceived value.

Common examples of a poor online presence can include the following. An outdated website, websites that aren’t optimized for mobile or lack of social media presence. These challenges can be overcome by simply updating your website and becoming active on social media. Generally, it’s better to stick to one social media channel and to master that one before moving on to more. Find out where your target audience is most active and post on that channel.

Step 2: Ensure Your NAP Information Is Consistent

Again, search engine bots crawl the internet trying to rank sites/online businesses. If your physical address differs across 3 different channels, it will be harder for you to rank.

Ensure all your NAP information is accurate and consistent across all channels. Check all social media channels as well as all online directories that you might have subscribed to. Keeping a record (spreadsheet) of all the directories and platforms that you or your business pages have subscribed to might not be a bad idea. Establish trust and credibility online by being honest and consistent!

Step 3: Produce Consistent, High-Value Content

Content is King! Be consistent when posting social content (again, choosing one or two platforms is more efficient). Keep posting, and you’ll start seeing results.

A valuable piece of the puzzle is to actually post longer-form content, such as blog posts on your website. This is crucial for gaining authority in your niche or industry. As well as ensuring your main online asset (your website) is continually updated.

Ensure your content is valuable to your target audience or potential customer base. Sure, people want to see the jobs/projects you have done - but they also want to know how the process works, what your prices are and what to expect on their renovation, construction or remodelling journey.

Step 4: Encourage Positive Reviews And Citations

Keep requesting reviews! No matter what you do, ensure always to be consistent.

Google considers reviews and citations from reputable sources as signals of trust and authority.

This drives home the point that having positive reviews on your Google Business Profile can be invaluable with regard to your rankings. Doing all this manually is possible, but ultimately you would want to automate this.

→ Today’s Action Step: Take a look at your business and ask yourself the following questions.

• What is the status of my general online presence?

• Am I posting valuable content consistently?

• Am I requesting reviews consistently?

These 3 questions and consistency (in case you haven’t noticed) are the key to you being able to organically generate enough online leads and referrals to sustain your business.

That’s it for this week, folks.

Happy beer o’clock 🍻

Whenever you’re ready, there are 2 ways I can help you.

1. If you own a service business and are looking to streamline your sales and marketing, I'd recommend starting with an affordable all-in-one DIY platform:

→ LeadPhoenix.io: Scale your Service Business with LeadPhoenix. Acquire customers on auto-pilot. Grow your audience & know where new leads are coming from with LeadPhoenix's easy-to-use CRM.

2. Have a Home Service Business and thinking of hiring someone to juice up your marketing stack? Hire me as your Funnel Builder:

→ DFY Service: Want to hire the best of the best and happy to pay a premium? Contact me personally, and I'll let you know if I am available. Budget around $2K, depending on what you need.