Proven Ways to Obtain More Plumbing Clients from the Internet
As a plumber, you are an expert at repairs, maintenance, and installations. The work you perform is a perfect illustration of why the saying “leave it to the experts” exists! Perhaps the greatest challenge for you is to keep consistent jobs or leads coming to your business regularly.
Don’t you want to concentrate on serving your clients while a professional plumber marketing agency generates new appointments and leads for your business? Once the right plumbing internet marketing strategy is in place, it’s constantly working seamlessly in the background to drive more clients to your business, but it has to be implemented properly.
Marketing a plumbing business on the internet has its share of bad and sunshine days. And your plumbing company is not an exception to these challenges. Scanning through the voluminous yellow pages is a forgotten trend nowadays, and people have transitioned to a better, more convenient way of getting help with plumbing fixtures.
Career opportunities for pipefitters, steamfitters, and plumbers are expected to skyrocket by 16% in the years to come, far beyond the national average, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The demand for plumbing contractors has increased because of new property construction. In addition, as building codes change, plumbers are required to install and evaluate new systems to make sure that such structures meet safety standards. Plus, all households will eventually need plumber services.
As a plumbing company owner, you should develop an effective digital marketing technique to outrank the competition—all the more reason for you to create and plan internet marketing for plumbers.
Before we dive in, we should let you know that there is no one-size-fits-all approach to digital marketing for plumbers. This post will break down how you can use modern internet marketing to get more leads and book more jobs.
Without further ado, let’s dive in!
What is Internet Marketing Strategy for Plumbers?
Internet marketing refers to the tactics used to advertise your plumbing services or products online and through other digital platforms. Plumbing website design and content are examples of digital platforms, content delivery systems, and tools crucial for plumbing contractors. SEO, video marketing, market research, and social media are just a few of the online marketing services available to plumbers.
It involves using the internet to promote your plumbing services or products online. You use a combination of internet marketing methods to develop strong relationships with your target audience and attract more qualified leads.
A few decades ago, marketing your plumbing business was best achieved through word-of-mouth referrals. If you got a call to fix a clogged drain and performed a great job, the chances are that clients would call you next time their drain has a problem and recommend you to their family or friends when they experience a similar drain problem.
But the internet has changed the way people do things. While word-of-mouth is still an effective way to generate new leads or business, nowadays, people are skeptical and want to do comprehensive research online before hiring you for a plumbing job. Because of this, modern plumbing services advertising requires a robust online presence.
Websites like Angie’s List and Yelp are trendy for prospects researching which plumber to work with, but they are expensive to advertise on. Fortunately, when you apply modern internet marketing best practices, you can avoid having a digital marketing strategy held hostage by reviewing websites such as these.
With the technological advancements in plumbing marketing and advertising, it is important to understand which approach is suited to your business. For instance, you need to generate customers in your location if you manage a plumbing business.
While you can still utilize conventional marketing strategies like television commercials and print ads, knowing how to use effective plumbing marketing tricks with your plumbing business is the best way to outrank the competition and keep up with emerging trends.
What Are the Benefits of Internet Marketing for Plumbers?
Internet marketing is extremely crucial for all plumbing businesses, regardless of their size. Over the last few decades, there has been a dramatic shift in how prospects search for services and products with most of them researching online than ever. This incorporates services offered by plumbers like drain cleaning and toilet or sink repair. If your business offers such services, it is vital to know how internet marketing can generate consistent leads for your plumbing business.
Plumbers have typically stuck to conventional means of advertising to obtain jobs, including word of mouth and direct mailers. However, as more prospects search for plumbers online, it is incredibly crucial for plumbers to focus more on internet marketing to complement other marketing tactics. When implemented effectively, plumbing internet marketing can bring in low-cost leads from clients within their service areas. If your plumbing business doesn’t have a vibrant online presence, you can easily lose leads for service appointments to your competitors.
Some of the benefits that plumbers can enjoy from internet marketing include:
- To identify new clients
- Increase word-of-mouth referrals
- To increase service appointments
- To emphasize client testimonials
- Spread your message about special offerings including discounts.
Plumbers must understand the importance of internet marketing when connecting new clients and generating leads. Effective internet marketing will help generate a consistent flow of new leads or jobs to grow your plumbing business online.
This post will offer helpful tips to assist you to start and maintain an effective internet marketing strategy for your plumbing company. Working with a plumbing marketing agency like Blackstorm Design + Marketing can help skyrocket your online presence and generate qualified leads for your plumbing business.
Internet Marketing for Plumbers: Basics
Marketing is important for any home service business, especially plumbing and HVAC contractors. Plumbers need clients, and for you to attract clients, they need to market their brand and services. Decades ago, plumbers could just put an ad in the local newspaper or phone book to attract clients.
Nowadays, the most effective place to begin marketing your plumbing business is on the internet. It is easy to expand as your plumbing company grows, and you can reach a broader audience with less effort and cost than conventional marketing (print advertisements, billboards, door to door)
Internet Marketing for Plumbers: Best Practices and Tips
No homeowner has time these days to visit a neighbor to ask for a recommendation for an experienced local plumbing contractor they have worked with before. Modern customers prefer to search for a local business like yours online first, which has offered internet marketing channels for plumbers a lot of weight recently.
Internet marketing for plumbers can help your business reach a broader client base at lesser effort and cost than conventional methods such as door-to-door campaigns and billboards. However, there are multiple online marketing options for plumbing contractors than ever. And choosing a few of them that you think can help your plumbing company grow can be tricky.
This post will give you actionable tips to help improve your online presence and generate more qualified leads for your plumbing business without wasting your advertising dollars. Without further ado, let us dive in.
1. Build a Plumbing Website Optimized for Conversions
Getting a conversion-focused plumbing website is an initial step toward an online plumber. A plumbing website can help you get online visibility and trust in the minds of potential clients. However, you must ensure that your site contains crucial information, such as your business name, email address, and phone number.
As a client of Blackstorm Design + Marketing, you will obtain each aspect of your plumbing website custom-built specifically for your company. Your plumbing website will have the following features:
- Responsive and mobile-friendly design that offers a pleasant experience on any device.
- Dozens of web pages contain quality content to help your plumbing website rank high on Google instantly upon launch.
- High converting forms that push prospects to request more details.
- High-quality videos and images
- SEO-optimized plumbing content
- An updated blog with constant SEO-friendly content
2. Boost Traffic on Your Plumbing Website with Search Engine Optimization
In the modern digital era, people depend on search engines like Google to find the details they require, whether it is how to fix leaky toilets or find the local plumber near them. If you want to rank for geo-targeted search terms on Google, the plumbing website should be optimized for “near me” searches along with competitive keywords.
Internet marketing aims to generate qualified leads online in your service area. If you provide plumbing services in Murfreesboro, TN, in that case, your plumbing website must be optimized for geo-targeted keywords like:
- “Plumber near me”
- “Plumber Murfreesboro, TN”
- “Emergency plumber”
- “Drain Cleaning in Murfreesboro”
Search Engine Optimization is one of the most famous ways to drive relevant traffic to your plumbing website. Plumbing SEO is the process of optimizing your website to boost its ranking in the search engine results.
Homeowners conduct searches online daily, and SEO helps your business rank at the top of Google search results, so more prospects find your plumbing company. Because 75% of prospects don’t go beyond the first page of organic results, it’s important that you get your website to rank on the first page of Google.
The number one position on Google receives about 25% of the total clicks, and that figure reduces significantly for every position thereafter. If you want homeowners to select your plumbing business over the competition, your website should rank higher in the Google search results than other plumbers in the area.
So, how can you optimize your plumbing website with SEO? Here are some strategies to get you started!
- Search Keywords Pertinent to Your Plumbing Business
Keyword research is one of the initial steps in the plumbing SEO process. When homeowners conduct searches, they enter specific keywords to produce a list of relevant search results. It assists you in finding those search terms so that you can connect qualified leads to your plumbing company.
When you perform keyword research, concentrate on long-tail keywords, and these are terms that contain three or more words. An example of a long-tail keyword is “plumbing companies in Murfreesboro, TN.”
- Get Backlinks from industry Authorities
Backlinks are important for your plumbing company’s organic rankings, and these are links from authority websites to your plumbing pages.
Backlinks are crucial since they enhance your plumbing company’s authority and trust. When authority websites link to your site, Google will perceive your site as valuable and rank it higher in organic search results.
The most effective way to get backlinks is through creating quality content. You can share your plumbing content with other plumber sites and allow them to utilize it as a resource in their content. This will help your company get valuable backlinks for your plumbing website, skyrocketing your organic rankings.
- Optimize Your Google My Business Profile
Yellow pages are quickly becoming obsolete as more and more people embrace searching for things online. But there is a similarity between local online searches and paper directories: potential clients cannot see you if your plumbing company isn’t listed. And Google constantly changes its algorithms to give room for new search trends and progressively offer the best user experience.
The top three plumbing businesses listed on Google Maps constitute the coveted local pack. Ranking your plumbing company on the coveted local 3-pack listing doesn’t have to be a problem if you do everything right. First, make sure your web content is relevant to operation areas, even if you serve multiple places. Secondly, keep your NAP citations (Name, Address, and Phone Number) details consistent across all your online properties. We would highly recommend that you optimize your Google My Business listing with local keywords. Above all, optimize your plumbing website for mobile devices to avoid losing clients to other plumbers who have fast-loading websites.
3. Target Your Clients with Pay-Per-Click Advertising
If you are searching for paid plumber marketing solutions, pay-per-click advertising may be a good option. Google Ads are paid ads that show up in the search engine results above organic listings.
Plumbing PPC is one of the most inexpensive ways to get qualified leads for your company, and you only pay when prospects click on your ad. Because PPC targets property owners who are already looking for plumbing businesses like yours, it will assist you in obtaining more qualified leads.
Your quality score and the maximum bid will determine where your ad is placed. Once you have your placement, you will launch your Google Ad campaign.
This technique helps you allocate a budget that works for your plumbing business. Whether you want to invest $1500 or $3000, the decision is yours. It is crucial to note; that the amount you invest will affect the success of your marketing campaign.
PPC also offers total control over your campaign. Not only do you decide how much you want to spend, but you also determine the time you want the ads to run and how long. This will help you create a Google Ad campaign that works for your audience and plumbing company.
Paid search campaigns can complement your plumbing SEO efforts by targeting prospects looking for your plumbing services online and generating leads and traffic faster. Leverage the following hacks to crack PPC campaigns for your plumber services.
- Concentrate on Emergency Plumbing Keywords
Mostly, plumbing problems occur unexpectedly or even during the late hours of the night. A property owner facing such a challenge doesn’t have time to wait to book plumber services and wait for days before an expert comes their way. They require urgent assistance.
Tap into this urgency and watch your revenue grow significantly by incorporating plumbing keywords to your PPC ad campaign like:
- 24/7 plumbing services near me
- Plumbing after wee hours
- Emergency plumbing + your service area
Your ad copies should focus on the fact that you are a reliable emergency plumber in the service area, so clients know your services are precisely what they are searching for. Make sure that these potential clients so your emergency phone number on your plumbing website for an instant connection to your plumbing services.
- Run a Call-Only Ads
Another trick to help you deal with emergency plumbing scenarios and enhance lead generation is removing the obstacles hindering prospects to convert. Call-only ads can help you out. Here, your phone number shows up in the ad’s headline, so prospects call you directly from the ad instead of such prospects or clients having to visit your plumbing website.
Call-only ads are great tools to target clients who don’t have to compare various options and require an urgent solution for their plumbing problem. And remember to optimize such ads with emergency plumbing keywords, as discussed above.
- Relevancy with Keyword & Ad Group
Your paid ads must be relevant to instill trust in prospective leads and improve your lead generation. Show that you know your target market-specific problem, and you provide them with a unique solution.
Build an ad group for every plumbing service you provide, including keywords relevant to the particular service. If you offer residential plumbing, create a residential plumbing ad group focusing on “residential plumbing” keywords. Then create a specific ad for residential plumbing.
4. Use Email Marketing to Nurture Plumbing Leads Online
Email marketing is an important method for nurturing qualified leads and encouraging them to become paying clients. It’s one of the few tricks that help you interact directly with your plumbing leads and send content that resonates with them.
To get started with email marketing, you need to increase your email subscribers. Your plumbing website is the most effective way to garner new email subscribers.
Incorporating email sign-up bars in your plumbing website is one of the best ways to get valuable leads for your company. These bars can be placed in the footer or header of your plumbing website to make sure your target audience understands where to find them.
You can also utilize email pop-ups to attract your target audience’s attention and encourage them to subscribe to your future emails. Email marketing helps you to send the content directly to your target audience. If you need help implementing your email marketing campaign, schedule a free discovery call with Blackstorm Design + Marketing for assistance today.
5. Manage Your Online Reputation
There is no doubt that most homeowners rely on online reviews to make a decision on the plumber they can trust with their property, plumbing needs, and family. A great online reputation is a good marketing tool as it instills trust and hope in your prospects.
Even if you are just starting out, managing your reviews should not be costly and daunting. It starts with a simple request for a review from a client whose project has just been completed, and the best thing is to write a personalized email requesting feedback.
For positive reviews, send the client an email with a link to your Google My Business profile, where they can review your plumbing business. Encourage your clients to write what they loved about your plumbing services and why they should recommend relatives and friends to your business.
It is crucial to address negative reviews diplomatically. Seek to understand why a specific customer was not happy with your plumbing services.
6. Use Content Marketing to Distinguish Your Business from the Competition
An important part of setting your company as an industry leader and getting client trust is publishing informative, relevant, and helpful content on your plumbing website. Offer your prospects or clients practical tips related to plumbing. For instance, you can teach them tips to prevent drain blockage.
Blog regularly to build your authority in the plumbing industry, complement your SEO campaigns and rank high on search engines. Leverage long-form content to offer as many details as possible and generate quality links from plumbing-related websites. Helpful content can also assist in increasing the dwell time prospects spend on your plumbing website (reduced bounce rate), signaling to Google that your plumbing website is helpful to your readers.
7. Invest in Social Media Advertising
Social media can benefit home service companies in various industries, including local service businesses like plumbers. But how can you use social media to grow your plumbing company?
Leverage social media marketing to improve your online presence and interact with your target market on a personalized level. Posting high-quality, engaging, and relevant posts, including images and videos, on your social media accounts to build a loyal community on social networks and increase awareness. And respond to responses on your timeline and in private messages to enhance authority and trust.
Target specific customers with social ads to engage high-intent social users and drive relevant leads to your plumbing website. Post regularly to keep your plumbing business on your customer’s radar.
Frequently Asked Questions About Internet Marketing for Plumbers
What are some of the best options when it comes to advertising your plumbing company online?
There is no one-size-fits-all strategy when it comes to digital plumbing marketing. Homeowners are waiting for someone to step up and provide plumbing services when they require them most. If you want your plumbing business to be found online, the only way is to get found where prospects or clients are searching online. One of the most potent internet marketing campaigns is improving your search rankings on either Google or Bing.
How do you promote your plumbing services online?
Internet marketing is a long-term investment, apart from plumbing pay-per-click services. Some of the best ways to advertise your business on the web include creating a conversion-focused website, SEO, online reputation management, retargeting, etc.
Start Getting More Leads with Internet Marketing for Plumbers
If you are ready to get more qualified leads and sales for your company with digital plumber marketing, schedule a free strategy session with Blackstorm Design + Marketing to learn more about our internet marketing services.
