Posts By: Julie Hays

Why Paid Advertising is Essential for the Trades Industry

Posted January 12, 2023 by Julie Hays & filed under Paid Ads.

Ahhh Google ads. You’ve seen them. You know they’re important; however, knowing when to start paid advertising and (what keywords to target can make them an even more powerful tool for locally based businesses) might not be so clear.

After working with hundreds of home services businesses, we’ve seen the results of trial and error. So, whether you’re just starting out or have been experimenting with ads for years, here’s a breakdown of what they are and the perfect time to start pushing traffic to your website.

What Are Paid Ads?

Paid ads (like Google ads) are a type of online advertising that allows you to display keyword-based ads at the top of a potential customer’s search engine results page. The interesting thing about paid ads is that you only pay for a lead when a customer clicks your ad. Using targeted keywords helps you narrow down your target audience to reach the customers already searching for your service.

How Google Ads Benefits Home Service Businesses

As you can imagine, advertising on sites like Google or Bing can be incredibly powerful. After all, where does your potential customer go when they have a desire for a service? The search engines.

Intelligently placed ads allow you to get in front of your exact right customers based on the keywords they’re searching for in the location you serve. In many cases, when customers are searching for service-type businesses, they’re ready to convert.

So, when do you start them?

When To Start Google Ads

Our theory is that it’s never too early to start paid ads after you have a working website. Once your website is up and running, you can start driving traffic directly to your site and set up a Google My Business so that you can be found when potential clients are searching for you.

On a deeper level, the timing of your paid ads campaign can also help improve your results. Luckily, Google has a lot of built-in tools that can help you analyze your current traffic and any opportunities that you’re currently missing. The Google time of day report provides you with customized website traffic reports, including when people most frequently visit.

So if you have your website up and running, now is the perfect time to begin experimenting with Google ads to get in front of your ideal audience.

How To Get Started With Google Ads

The best way to get started with paid ads is to do your research. Learning about your target audience (including when they’re searching for businesses like yours and what keywords they’re using) can help you create an effective Google ads campaign.

Learning everything you can about your competition can also be valuable. Competitive research includes learning when they’re running ads, the type of ads they’re running, and what keywords they’re targeting. You can also look at your competitors’ reviews to figure out how you can go above and beyond in your customer service.

Tips for Maximizing Your Ideal Audience

Here are some tips to help maximize your paid ad campaign results:

Track your ad spend: Google allows you to review the times of day where you spend the most money and when your budget runs out. Keeping track of when your daily spend wears out can help you identify if you need to increase your budget or divide it more evenly throughout the day to reach nighttime traffic.
Create a keyword strategy: A keyword strategy helps you identify which keywords are likely to return the best results. Researching relevant keywords can also help you improve your organic SEO results.
Set a budget: Identifying a budget that includes the maximum cost per click (CPC) you’re willing to spend can help you control costs. Compare how much each lead is worth to you with how much you’re willing to spend to get that lead.
Refine your unique selling proposition: Before running ads, narrow down and refine your unique selling proposition. Consider adding a deal or discount to your ads to generate interest.

The Botton Line

In-depth research can provide you with the information you need to create effective paid advertising campaigns. Google Ads are just one important part of creating an effective marketing strategy for local businesses. Looking for support on your paid ad strategy? Our team at LMH Agency is experienced in local SEO and paid ad strategies that put you at the top of the rank. Get in touch today!

Digital Marketing Basics for Plumbers

Posted January 9, 2023 by Julie Hays & filed under Tips & Tricks.

Digital marketing has proven to be an effective technique for increasing brand awareness, converting leads, and scaling businesses in the plumbing industry. The community needs your services so most importantly…they need to be able to find you! Digital marketing simply helps make it easier for the people who need you to find you, hire you, and pay you. Today we’re sharing everything you need to know about digital marketing for plumbers and get those leads rolling in.

First…What Exactly is Digital Marketing?

If you’re brand new to the game, digital marketing is an umbrella term used to describe all marketing strategies online. This may include search engine optimization (SEO), paid advertising, social media marketing, and content marketing. Each digital marketing platform offers value to a plumbing business, helping them increase brand awareness and convert leads. It can be super complex or you can keep it simple. We prefer the latter.

How Can Digital Marketing Help You as a Plumber?

When homeowners have a problem, they no longer grab the yellow pages and look for a plumber nearby. They don’t go rummaging through their mail to find the latest flier or discount. Instead, they go straight to Google, Alexa, Siri, or other means of finding exactly what they need in the shortest amount of time possible. If you haven’t set up your business so it’s findable by search engines, you’re missing out on tons of opportunities for lead generation and growth. You don’t have to have a super comprehensive blog or social presence, but you do need to get some foundations in place so you can expand into more digital marketing once you get your momentum going. And ohhh the momentum it can generate!

Reaching More and More Customers

In addition to reaching new customers, digital marketing can also help target those who have previously shown interest in your business. Essentially, this just means if someone visited your website but never called you, you can make sure your articles and advertisements show up while they’re browsing to remind them about you.

Retargeting campaigns can follow potential customers throughout their buying research and conversion stages. Digital marketing platforms can also connect you to your customers, helping you understand their pain points and providing them with offers they’re most likely to use. It’s a win-win!

Tips for Growing Your Presence

Our team specializes in digital marketing for plumbers, so here are a few more tips for growing your digital presence quickly and easily:

Follow the customer’s cycle: Create your marketing strategy based on buyer intent and where they’re at in the buying process. For example, social media does a great job at promoting brand awareness, which is ideal for top-of-the-funnel customers. Paid and web design are ideal for the consideration and intent phases in the middle of the buying cycle.
Optimize your website for SEO. With a few intentional keywords tucked into helpful blogs, the search engines will prioritize your brand to make sure you come up first. Cool, right?
Take advantage of local service ads: Local service ads (LSAs) are similar to Google Ads, except that you only pay for qualified leads. Use LSAs to target plumbing-specific keywords so your ads are shown when customers are searching for related services.
Increase customer reviews: Increasing the number of customer reviews helps you create a digital presence while also earning trust. You can use social media or Google My Business (GMB) profiles to build reviews.
Jump on social media: While it may seem like something that’s simply nice to have, your social media presence says a lot about who you are. It’s the perfect opportunity to take your customers more deeply into your story, your work, and why you’re passionate about what you do.

We Get You.

A digital presence is a must in today’s world. Luckily for you, all we do is help trades professionals (and plumbers like you) get on the fast track to growth with digital marketing that truly represents your business so your ideal prospects can become your most loyal customers. Get in touch with us today, we’d love to help you.

Home Services: Our Top SEO Tips for 2023

Posted January 5, 2023 by Julie Hays & filed under SEO, Tips & Tricks.

If last year taught us anything, it’s that digital marketing is a MUST for home services businesses. Why? Because people need your help, and they need to be able to find you.

Full stop.

Why the time is now for SEO

Search engine optimization (SEO) is by far the most effective tool for making sure you come up first on Google and other search engines. And honestly, it’s the best-kept secret for all of the home service companies we see killing it out there while others struggle to keep up with the work they already have. If you’re ready to break into the next level of your business, we’re sharing our top SEO tips to help you get on track this year (and blow your competition out of the water). Let’s dive in!

#1 Be Specific

As soon as customers visit your website, the purpose of your website should be clear to them. Don’t confuse visitors with content about anything else if you offer home services. Specificity in your content will also help you choose the right keywords.

#2 Write Content for Humans

Your content should deliver valuable information to your site’s visitors. You can employ SEO tactics and use relevant keywords, but the old tactic of stuffing keywords to engage search engines doesn’t work anymore. Your first goal is to capture a customer’s attention and offer something relevant.

#3 Use Keywords Where They Matter

Start by identifying the keywords that will drive customers to your site. An easy way to do this is to think about what you personally would type into the search bar if you need help. There are a ton of tools that can help you find the right keywords you can add to your website, blog content, and even your social media. With video taking the lead this year, it’s important to think about using your keywords across channels to capture the most engagement and views.

#4 Remove Anything that Slows You Down

Your site has about three seconds to load before people click away and don’t return. If your website loads realllllyyy slowly, Google will notice and won’t send customers to your site as readily. Streamline your web pages to eliminate large graphics, extra plug-ins, and formatting that doesn’t do well on multiple devices. This is good advice for pretty much everything, in our opinion, and especially important for your SEO.

#5 Make Your Meta Descriptions Unique

Okay, if you’re already earning your degree in SEO basics, this one is important. Your meta description is the copy that appears after the title of your page or blog on Google, and it helps give a little more insight to entice that desired “click.” Each meta description should be a unique snapshot of what customers will find on that page. A well-crafted meta description helps your website rank in search engines and will incentivize people to explore your site.

#6 Create Keywords for Your Images

Imagery and video will be more important than ever this year, so an uncommon tip is to create image keywords for any imagery that lives on your website. It helps because many people find your website via image search, so being more intentional about the image title, description, attributes, and file name in the back end of your site can make a world of difference. We can show you how!

#7 Make Sure Your URLs are Easy to Read

This one can really help you. Keeping your URLs under 60 characters is an insider trick to making sure the search engines know exactly what your page is about so you’re more likely to show up first in a search. Plus, it’s just easier for everyone to understand where they’re going.

For example, which would you click on first? https://innovativeplumber/pages/listing/123/contactus.htm or https://innovativeplumber/contact?

Our bet is that you’d be more likely to click on the second one (and the latest marketing research is showing that most other people would too). So keep it simple!

#8 Link to High-Quality External Websites

If you’re writing a blog, it’s important to include a few links to high-quality content for your readers. Not only are they typically the most helpful resources that add a ton of value to your content, but external links also help give you credibility and incentivize high-quality sites to link back to you in return. Try only sharing links to relevant, trustworthy sites. For example, linking to a respected leader in your community is more effective than linking to a Facebook group. You get the idea.

#9 Add Helpful Internal Links

If you’ve captured the attention of a prospect through a page or a piece of content on your site, you’re already winning. To keep them engaged even longer, include some internal links that give them more helpful information to read or take action in some way on another page. For example, you might always include a link to your Contact page or point back to your services so you can earn their trust (and more points with search engines).

#10 Keep Your Content Updated

With the rise of AI and more and more businesses optimizing their content for SEO, it’s more important than ever to create unique, creative, and original content that stands out from the millions of words published online each day. A great way to do this is to include content that tells a story, and your blog/social media is the perfect place for this. Share stories from your customers, write about your own entrepreneurship journey, or include content that feels grounded in the present and truly helps the customers you want to serve

Why Is My Air Conditioner Dripping Water?

Talk about how when you see water dripping from your AC unit on the inside of your house that it’s probably a clogged condensate drain line. List ways to clear the line and when to call a professional.

Should I Replace or Repair My Home’s Heating System?

Your home furnace has a life expectancy of about 15-20 years. Is it worth spending money on repairs or is it better to invest in a new furnace?

The Top Benefits of an HVAC Zoning System for Your Home

Discuss what home zoning is and the top benefits of having an HVAC zoning system. Save money, increased efficiency, and customize the temperature of each room for individualized comfort.

Tips for Preparing Your HVAC System During Bad Weather

When winter storms roll in, you’ll want to protect the outside portion of your HVAC system. List the necessary steps needed to weatherize the unit.

How Your Air Conditioning Unit Can Help Alleviate Allergies

If someone in your household has allergies, your AC unit can help relieve symptoms. The system acts as a dehumidifier, the filters trap dirt, dust, pollen, and impurities.

Should I Consider Having a Backup Generator?

You don’t want the food in your refrigerator to go bad, lose the internet, or be deprived of hot or cool air during a power outage. Discuss stand-alone or whole-home backup generators.

Why Is My Furnace Blowing Cold Air?

There are several reasons why your furnace is blowing cold air when you’re trying to heat your home. List several reasons — dirty filter, pilot light issues, etc.

Can I Use a Ductless Air Conditioner for My Sunroom?

Sunrooms can get too hot or too cool as the seasons change. Discuss how a ductless air conditioner can help keep the sunroom comfortable and usable year-round.

What Are the Different Types of Filters for My Air Conditioner?

You can put several styles of air filters inside your air conditioner. Discuss the various types and the benefits of each style. Fiberglass, pleated paper, spun glass, electrostatic filters, etc.

How Often Should I Have My Ductwork Inspected and Cleaned?

Talk about what your HVAC system’s ductwork is and how important it is for the efficient heating and cooling of your home. Ideally, you should have a professional inspect, clean, and repair your ductwork every three to five years.

Get Help with Your Content Marketing

Coming up with content marketing ideas may seem daunting for your HVAC business. However, with these 10 blog ideas, you’re on your way to helpful content marketing.

You’ll gain valuable trust from your existing customers, be an authoritative voice for those seeking information about HVAC issues, and increase SEO visibility for your business.

Get in touch with our team for more details on how to make content marketing work for you.

Why You Still Need SEO (Even If You Don’t Sell Anything Online)

Posted November 4, 2022 by Julie Hays & filed under SEO.

A major misconception is that you don’t necessarily need local SEO if you don’t sell products online. Nothing could be further from the truth!

A foundational component of a healthy digital marketing strategy is Search Engine Optimization or SEO. It is essential for service-based businesses because it helps make sure that people who are looking for your services can actually find you.

If your business has a website, which it most definitely should, understanding how to build it out so that you show up first when someone searches for you is key to your success.

With that said, here’s a deeper look into SEO benefits, why they matter, and how you can embrace them to get better leads in your local area.

Prioritize Local Rankings and SEO

Simply put, your search engine ranking is how close you are to the top of the Google search results (or other platforms) when people search for your services.

For example, if someone searches “Plumber near me”, you want to make sure you’re positioned to show up right away so you’re the first one they call. Even better if you have a steady stream of positive customer reviews on your Google My Business page.

You do this by creating content with well-researched and cleverly placed keywords that put you ahead of your local competition in your local area. Being at the top of the list leads to more clicks and, ultimately, more customers.

If you have a home services company, you might consider creating content that relates to the region you serve and provides valuable information to your potential clients. When they find you to be a local, trusted advisor and helpful in answering their question, they naturally feel comfortable working with you.

This sequence of events happens because you used SEO and improved your search engine ranking.

Boost Your Professionalism and Credibility

A solid SEO keyword strategy can help make sure you’re using the verbiage and tone your visitors will immediately resonate with, boosting your professionalism and credibility right off the bat.

To go a step further, it helps tremendously to have a modern, intentional website with clear calls to action and simple, effective language so qualified prospects know exactly how they can work with you. And none of this matters if they can’t find you when they’re searching for you!

Ensuring your SEO helps you rank highly on search engines means more business for you.

Improve Customer Experience

A proper SEO schema can help ensure that your customers and clients can easily find your services, helpful articles, and contact information so they can get in touch with you.

We’re in an increasingly digital world, and an optimized website helps your company provide the best experience throughout your customer’s journey.

What’s more, you can improve your brand reputation and search engine ranking with the help of an automated review tool that immediately follows up with your customers to ask for (and publish) 4-5 star reviews. Google crawls your reviews to make sure you’re a credible source, so having as much great feedback as you can on your listings can both improve your current customer experience and get you more leads.

Are you a home service professional needing help creating a website or a local SEO strategy so you can get more leads and reach?

Everyone on our team at LMH Agency is passionate about supporting the trades and making sure you’re able to gain the traction and predictable income you deserve for everything you do for the community. Give us a call today or get in touch with us, we’d love to help you!