Your Online Foundation: Websites for Builders & Contractors

You Only Get One Chance to Make a Good First Impression

We’ve all heard the old expression and recognize the truth in it, and just because business has moved so much into the online world, it’s no less true today than it’s ever been.  The difference is that now it’s your website where most customers will form their first impression of your business.  Before a customer ever calls you, schedules a meeting, or hires you, they check you out online.

What do they see?

Your website is your home base, your digital signage and your opportunity to connect all the pieces: search engine optimization, social media, review sites, video, and more. The goal is to create an asset that helps converts new visitors and gives existing customers a reason to come back via new content, social media updates or email.

Build Your Business on a Firm Foundation

An unattractive, difficult-to-navigate website is like building on sand.  There’s no point in attracting visitors to your website if it has nothing to offer them or worse, turns them off because it’s nonfunctional, ugly, or poorly written.  Spending time or money trying to direct online traffic to a bad site is the same as building on sand – you’re throwing good money after bad.  Most of the customer’s decision-making has occurred before they ever contact you.  If they are turned off by your website, they’ll never contact you and you’ll never have a chance to change their negative first impression.

You don’t have a retail storefront; your work is your “store.”  The web is your shelf space:  this is where you can show off your work and reach hundreds – if not thousands – of people at a time instead of just one-on-one.  It can also be a great lead generator and lead qualification tool where you can begin initial engagements with customers and get to know them quickly before diving in on a full-on house build.

This is your space to show off, and built correctly it can both show off your great work, outrank your competitors and be simple to manage – all without breaking the bank.  It does require some time and a commitment to work with a professional marketer who knows how to build and deliver a professional online presence.  There is no “quick fix” for a broken online presence or website.

The Bare Minimum for a Strong Web Foundation

To be even barely relevant your website MUST be:

• Mobile responsive (built in a mobile-device friendly way)
• Be easy to interact with – name, address, and phone number should be easy to see; also include a contact form
• Visually appealing (this should be easy because you’ve got pictures of all your work, right?)
• Google-friendly – locally optimized
• Trackable (for you) with Google analytics
• Easy to update with WordPress or other easy-to-use content management system

If you really want to stand out:

• Publish good educational content consistently.
• Get your portfolio out there; keep it updated.
• Ask your customers for testimonials / referrals.
• Stay active with your content and linking through social media.
• USE VIDEO!
• Develop and use a search engine marketing plan – what keywords do you want to rank for?  What is your plan for getting there?
• Develop a plan for generating web traffic – social media, content, search, email, links / posting, etc…
• Have a plan for lead generation – offer a checklist (10 tips for Kitchen Remodeling or similar) in return for an email address.  Use your email list to stay in touch with potential future customers regularly.

Your Digital Home Shouldn’t Break the Bank

A website that accomplishes everything that I stated above can be built and launched for less than $5,000. But that’s really only half the battle – maintenance, updates, and a proactive plan to drive traffic to the site matter as much, if not more, than the site build. That can be very reasonable too and the math is pretty easy: what is a new lead or a new closed deal worth to you? How many of those does it take to pay back this type of proactive marketing at least 5-10 times over?

Keep the Lights On

There also is an inexpensive but vitally important aspect to managing a website behind the scenes – this includes backups, security provisions, secure hosting and backend software updates, to prevent the unwanted but possible “hack” of your website.  An effective website management partner will have a system for hosting, backups and overall maintenance to give you peace of mind that they have you covered in case something happens.  Very effective website backend maintenance and management for a site as described here can cost as little as $50 per month.

Get Started Today

Take a look at your main competitors’ websites.  You’re going to see one of two things:

• An opportunity to build a site that will out-pace them and generate more leads quickly, because they’re not doing the things you’re already doing or could be doing with the information you now have.
• A good looking website with photos, videos, and updated content that will make you wonder about how your site stacks up.

Does this sound like a lot of work?  It is!  But it’s worth it, because you aren’t going to accomplish anything with your web presence without a good, solid foundation.  If you want a small business marketing expert to help you out, let’s talk – contact me at mark@fortunemarketinginc.com or (501) 485-3048.