If you are in the home services industry, your website is one of the most important aspects of your business. Why? Because in today’s online age, people associate the quality of your website directly with the quality of your services. In fact, a survey analyzed by HubSpot claims that 74% of prospects let a company’s website influence their decision to utilize (or not) that company’s services.
What we’re saying is: Your website is pretty important.
Whether you’re a plumber, roofer, contractor, or something else within the home services industry, there are several strategic moves you can make when planning for your website.
For starters, here are 9 things that should definitely be part of your website:
Emphasize Conversion Opportunities
First thing’s first. When a newcomer finds their way to your website, you want it to be obvious what steps they should take next, and it should be simple and easy to take those steps. The easiest way to go is strategically placed Call to Action buttons.
For your home page, we would suggest “Schedule Your Free Estimate,” “Request a Free Inspection,” or something similar. It’s low pressure and low commitment, it puts you in contact with them, and people love free things.
A great option to draw in top-of-the-funnel prospects is to display special content offers such as short ebooks, guides, or checklists that they can download after giving their email address. These are even more low commitment but serve to initiate contact. This is an excellent lead generation tactic.
Make Contact Effortless
This goes hand-in-hand with the last point. Contacting you from somewhere on your website should be the easiest thing your prospect does all day. It’s great to have a big contact form or “contact us” button at the top of your home page. Another good practice is to include your phone number in your header or a place where it’s just as easy to find.
The contact form and your contact page should be straightforward and easy to use, whether they are trying to call you or send you a message.
Display Reviews
Because many home services companies are locally owned and operated, the industry itself has always been very word-of-mouth reliant when it comes to leads and new projects.
Consider this: displaying reviews on your website is the online equivalent of word-of-mouth marketing. That is why it is so important that you display reviews well and in places that are likely to get the most traffic on your website. In fact, don’t hesitate to display great reviews on multiple pages! That is what people want to see.
Good reviews help establish your trustworthiness and quality in the eyes of prospects. Use them wisely and often!
Anticipate Prospects’ Questions
If people are visiting your website, they are looking for information. The best question you can ask yourself when working on your site is, “What kind of information will they be looking for?” If you can answer this, you’ll be well on your way to a lead generating boss of a website.
One example, for many home service industries, is how they work with insurance. If someone is looking to replace a roof or a floor due to storm damage and they plan to file an insurance claim, when they find your company they will need to know how well you collaborate with insurance companies. A small section about insurance on your “About” page could be the selling point for them. You anticipated their question and you provided an answer.
Highlighting your USP (Unique Selling Proposition) is another way to answer the questions before they are asked. A newcomer to your site who is in need of the services you offer is going to be asking, “What does this company offer that makes them better than the others I’ve looked into?” You should have the answer to that question, and you should spread it all over your website!
Link to Your Social Media Pages
You should have links to your social media pages readily available at both the top and bottom of your pages (and other places too!). Your website is great, but your social media, when it is well-maintained, can offer a more personal connection, which is what people are really looking for.
Make Your Services Clear
This should be obvious, but it needs to be crystal clear what services you offer. Aside from the individual pages (for each of your broad services), they should be highlighted somewhere on your home page where they can’t be missed and be linked back to their individual pages. Remind people that you have what they need!
On those individual service pages, be detailed. Explain what each service entails, brag a little bit about how well you do it, and share enough information about your process to show that you are, in fact, the expert.
Display Certifications
Dedicate a section of your website to showing off your certifications and any associations you are apart of. This is best done using the logos of each and perhaps a small section of explanatory text (if needed).
Trust us, this will go far in proving your validity and trustworthiness to potential customers.
Emphasize the Locations You Service
This is a given, but make sure you are emphasizing the areas you service on your site. This is especially important if you have multiple locations or service many different cities. Don’t make your site visitors hunt for it. They need to know if you can come to where they are!
Maintain a Blog
We won’t spend too much time on this one, but take our word for it: maintaining a blog will increase your search engine ranking while also establishing credibility with your prospects. Producing high quality blog content shows your expertise in your field and offers useful, educational information to the readers that they appreciate.
It takes effort, yes, but it is worth it, and it is essential to your digital marketing strategy.
For more on creating quality content, check out these resources:
That was a lot of information to digest. Don’t despair. If you need help in re-strategizing, designing, or redesigning your home services website, contact us at Brown Creative Group to schedule a free consultation. We would be happy to help.
