Categories
Plumbing SEO

Why SEO Is Better than PPC for Plumbers

The debate continues: Which is better, SEO or PPC?

More users trust SEO search listings over PPC listings.

PPC vs SEO gif

Studies have shown that more users trust organic search listings over paid advertisements. Research has shown that around 70% of internet users click on organic search results (SEO) as opposed to only 30% clicking on paid search results (PPC). Most internet users distrust paid advertisements, and most of these consumers are well aware that PPC is an advertising tool. This results in a lot of users bypassing paid advertisements and clicking organic, natural results instead. And to make matters worse, some users that have clicked paid ads don’t end up finding the product or service they are looking for. Thus, businesses that use SEO are better able to provide consumers with more interesting and valuable content. 

SEO is very cost-effective and gives greater value for money.

SEO gif

Both SEO and PPC naturally have costs for initial set-up and hiring PPC specialists or an SEO company to come up with a digital campaign exclusively for your business. But if you use an SEO campaign, there is no need to pay for every individual click or visitor, but you will only pay for the services that your SEO team or vendor renders. With PPC, constant investment is required. If you stop paying, your ads will stop, and your lead generation will be discontinued.

SEO can build and keep an advantage over your competitors.

A woman client calling a plumber to fix her kitchen sink.

It isn’t easy to build an advantage and keep it with PPC. If you are already making profits based on clicks you pay a certain amount for, then it will not last if a competitor bids a higher price for the same product. If your competitor has some venture funding and decides to use it on PPC, it can drive the average cost of a click higher, and your profits will be driven downward. An investment in SEO is much more challenging. You strive to make your search engine results higher for relevant keywords. You come up with great content that is of great value to consumers. You generate inbound links. And your links show up on high-quality websites in your industry. Soon, your rankings will start rising, and with this, traffic and leads generated through search will increase. It takes time to accomplish this. You may have a higher initial cost, but the clicks are free. This investment, however, gives you a more sustainable advantage over PPC. Your competitor will find it more difficult to take this advantage away.

SEO gives better ROI than PPC advertising.

Plumber standing near kitchen sink

Based on a four-year study of profit generation for both SEO and PPC, it has been shown that SEO that creates organic traffic generates $2.74 in profit for every dollar spent in that year. In 3 years, SEO’s average profit is $4.58 for every dollar spent in one year. Comparing this with the profits garnered from PPC advertising, it was shown that for every dollar spent on that year, the average profit is -$0.95. While over three years from the dollar spent in one year, the average profit is -$0.85. This means that for every dollar spent on both SEO and PPC, SEO will yield an additional profit of $2.75 but PPC losses -$0.95. Thus, SEO gives better ROI than PPC advertising. 

SEO has more effective promotion results.

SEO gif

Applying SEO to your website may take around three to six months before your website will appear on search engine results. This is because indexing and ranking a website takes time for Google to do. But over a long time, SEO leads to consistent traffic, whereas PPC only gives an initial boost to traffic. PPC can be beneficial if you have a brand new site that has not yet appeared in organic results. However, with a PPC campaign, traffic immediately stops when the budget is withdrawn. Thus SEO continues to shine. It is a more effective way of promoting your website in the long run.

Ranking #1 in search results will not happen overnight with SEO. But SEO has proven long-term benefits. The reasons given above why SEO is better than PPC should prod you to invest more of your time and resources focusing on SEO rather than on PPC.

Categories
Plumbing SEO

The Ultimate Plumbing SEO Guide: Best Practices and Tips to Get Clients Online

Improve Organic Rankings, Increase Leads and Profitability with SEO for Plumbers.

As a plumbing business owner, it’s not sufficient to only have a company website. Head over to Google and type “plumbing contractor near me” or “plumbers in [your city]. If your plumbing website is not ranking on the first page of Google, then you are losing new business to your competition, guaranteed.

There is no secret that ranking higher than other plumbers on search engines like Bing or Google is crucial. But what if you don’t know the plumbing SEO tips and tricks that will help your website rank higher on Google or Bing? If you are not getting more clicks on your website, you are losing sales/leads to other plumbing contractors online.

SEO is a short form for Search Engine Optimization.

Blackstorm Design + Marketing has come to be known as the best SEO for plumber’s destinations. Search engine optimization provides a unique advantage for local plumbing contractors. This post will provide an introduction and overview to search engine optimization and how you can leverage it to get a consistent stream of clients online.

In this ultimate SEO for plumbing guide, you will learn:

  • What is plumbing SEO, and why is it important
  • How does SEO for plumbers work?
  • What is included in plumbing SEO services?
  • Keyword research and targeting best practices
  • On-Page Plumbing SEO best practices
  • Information architecture best practices
  • Technical Plumbing SEO Best Practices
  • Implementation stage
  • How long plumbing SEO takes
  • How to track and monitor SEO results for plumbers

Without further ado, let us dive in!

What is Plumbing SEO and why is it important?

If you have ever discussed about internet marketing strategies, you might have heard the synonym SEO tossed around. You may have heard that plumber SEO is crucial and has something to do with Google or Bing. But what exactly is plumbing SEO? Read on to get an in-depth overview of SEO and why your plumbing business needs it.

SEO is a short form for Search Engine Optimization. At its core, plumbing SEO focuses on improving the visibility of your plumbing website in the search engine results pages online. This implies that more prospects visit your plumbing website, thus increasing your online traffic and giving you a higher chance of selling your plumbing services to many people on the internet. Simply put, SEO for plumbers aims to improve two things; rankings and online visibility.

"Plumbing Near You" keyword

A homeowner notices that they have a broken pipe or a leaky faucet. Understanding very well that they can’t fix the problem on their own, they turn to search engines like Bing or Google to look for nearby plumbers.

If you are not investing your time and effort to optimize your plumbing website for Google, then prospects or clients will not be able to find your business in the local search engine results. Worst of all, you are likely to lose new business to your competitors if you continue with an approach to plumbing marketing.

If a prospect or client types in a keyword relevant to what your plumbing business can offer, don’t you want to be on that first page of search results alongside your competition? Of course, every plumber wants to be seen at the coveted top position on Google.

There are several reasons why Local SEO is crucial for plumbing contractors. Plumbing SEO can be one of the most cost-effective internet marketing strategies when correctly done.

Here is why;

Plumbing SEO is Affordable

plumbing marketing

Do you know that SEO for plumbers can minimize other advertising markets? Figure out what you may spend on local magazine ads, direct mailers, and other forms of conventional marketing.

Plumbing SEO minimizes advertising costs when you start ranking on top of the search engine results page. When you rank high on Google, you don’t require to pay for clicks or advertise your page. Your ranking will show up above the rest as long as you continue to work on your SEO strategy.

Overall, this will bring more money into your wallet and less than you require to spend on conventional advertising and other forms of plumbing marketing.

Sure, time is money (and plumbing SEO takes time to master), but all factors are kept constant. Still, the process is less expensive compared to the revenue it generates for your plumbing business.

Local SEO Attracts Qualified Plumbing Leads

Local SEO

The promise of high organic traffic won’t be of great help if the traffic is irrelevant or of low quality. It’s crucial to attract clients who intend to hire your company for plumbing services, and those clients must be within your service area.

How do you attract leads who are interested in your plumbing services online? It starts with your plumbing SEO strategy. Incorporating a wide range of keywords on your plumbing website will generate the right kind of traffic for your business.

Based on your keyword choice and targeting options, plumbing SEO can generate qualified leads that are essentially more than 90% near closing when you talk to them over the phone.

Let’s say you are a plumbing contractor in Murfreesboro, TN.

Figure out the difference between cold calling a nearby homeowner versus a potential client looking for a “plumber in Murfreesboro, TN” and coming across your plumbing website.

They are looking for something specific-one that your business can offer them instantly, and it’s clear from the keywords they are typing in on Google search.

  • Consideration: Low-ranking plumbers will not even obtain consideration when prospects want to book plumbing jobs.
  • Discovery: Getting a higher placement on search engines like Google or Bing affects the ability of local homeowners to find your plumbing business.
  • Growth: Organic search impacts each aspect of your plumbing marketing, making it easier to spur growth.
  • Reputation: Ranking on top of organic search results affects the way potential clients see your plumbing brand.

SEO for plumbers Improves Your Visibility on Search Engines

Organic search

If you have not optimized your plumbing website for local search, now it’s time to begin. Plumbers who invest in SEO experience first page rankings on Google and the advantages that come with it.

There are multiple ways to optimize your plumbing website for local search. You can achieve that by including keywords on your website that contain geographical terms, and including these keywords with your plumbing services will assist enhance your visibility on Google.

Other optimization techniques include off-page plumbing SEO. You can improve search engine rankings by claiming and optimizing your Google Business Profile and backlink strategies like guest blogging.

Other reasons why local SEO is crucial for plumbers include:

  • SEO improves user experience on your plumbing website
  • Builds local authority
  • It creates connection and trust with clients
  • Helps you remain on top of client’s minds
  • SEO helps you reach your target audience
  • It is trackable unlike other conventional marketing strategies
  • SEO benefits other plumbing marketing strategies like online reputation management or PPC.
  • Brings more clients through organic search.
  • Plumbing SEO helps you to stay ahead of the competition.

How Does Plumbing SEO Work?

Steps on how search engines work

What drives organic traffic from search engines? How do search engines like Google or Bing work? Search engines are utilized when they have a query and are turning on the internet such as Google or Bing for the answer. Google algorithms are computer programs that search for clues to offer prospects the exact results they are searching for.

Search engines depend on algorithms to find pages and determine which ones to rank for a specific keyword. There are three steps to how search engines work: crawling (otherwise known as the discovery phase), indexing (filling stage), and ranking which is the last retrieval stage.

Step 1: Crawling

The initial step is crawling.

The initial step is crawling. Search engines send out crawlers to identify new webpages and record details about them. These crawlers are also known as ‘robots’ or ‘spiders.’

The primary function of these crawlers is to help discover new web pages that exist and also to regularly check the content on pages that they have visited previously to check whether they have been updated or changed.

Google crawls web pages by following links that they have previously discovered. Therefore, if you have a blog post and it’s linked from the homepage when Google crawls your homepage, it will afterward search for another link and might follow the link to your new blog.

Step 2: Indexing

Indexing occurs after crawling.

This is the second step that search engines use when ranking plumbing websites. Google or Bing use indexing to store content from the Internet and showcase it via search results. Indexing occurs after crawling. Most pages will enter a Google index, but blocked, duplicate or spam pages cannot get indexed.

Once indexing and crawling happen, Google will analyze pages against its numerous factors such as:

  • Backlink profile
  • Speed
  • Mobile-friendliness
  • Usage of keywords
  • And more.

Step 3: Ranking

Ranking only occurs after the indexing, and crawling phases are complete.

Ranking only occurs after the indexing, and crawling phases are complete. So once Google has indexed and crawled your plumbing website, your website can be ranked.

There are hundreds of ranking signals that Google uses to rank and sort content, and they are all classified under three main pillars: on-page optimization, off-page optimization, and technical optimization. Some of the factors that search engines use to rank plumbing websites are:

  • Presence of the keyword in the title tag – Whether the keyword was used on the page and within the title tag.
  • Page loading speed – Whether the web pages load faster and are optimized for mobile devices.
  • Website reputation – Whether the web page and site are regarded as credible or reputable for the topic being looked for.
  • High-value content on your plumbing website
  • Relevant links – from high-quality websites.

The good news is that you don’t have to look for a search engine expert to rank for crucial plumbing keywords in the organic search results. This post will take you through proven SEO best practices for optimizing your plumbing website that can assist drive targeted traffic through search without compromising the integrity of your website. If you want to learn how Google work, there are tons of valuable resources, including:

Now, back to the fundamentals of plumbing SEO. Without further ado, let’s dive into  Plumbing SEO tactics and strategies that will help your plumbing company obtain more clients and traffic from organic searches.

Best Plumbing SEO Keyword Research Practices

Keywords

Without the right plumbing keywords, your plumbing SEO campaign cannot succeed. You can think of keywords as the vehicle of your marketing campaign, and internal links are synonymous with your fuel. Much of your results and success will be driven by every keyword targeted.

Simply put, keywords are the phrases and terms your prospects use when searching for plumbing services you offer online. They reveal crucial information, including the mindset of prospects when they attempt to locate what you provide, and can affect the success of your plumbing business.

Successful plumbing keyword research achieves two things, and it assists the right prospects to find your plumbing business and boosts the ranking of your pages and posts on search engines.

Poorly selected keywords, on the flip side, leave your plumbing website in obscurity. Worse still, they lower your rank if they don’t match the client’s intent.

Using the right plumbing keywords in blog posts, articles, or service descriptions can help you rank higher in search engine result pages and can generate new leads and traffic for months or years after you have published those pages.

The first step in plumbing SEO is knowing what you are optimizing your plumbing website for. This involves identifying keywords that people are searching for that you wish your plumbing website to rank for in search engines such as Google or Bing.

There are various elements that you need to consider when determining the keywords that you want to target in your plumbing website including;

Keyword Search Volume

search volume

Obviously, if no prospect is looking for a phrase or keyword related to your plumbing business, optimizing for it would not help. It is crucial that you research search volume and ensure your choice of keywords will generate the much-needed traffic.

You might end up ranking on the first page of Google for a particular keyword, but if no prospect search for it, it will not generate relevant traffic to your plumbing website. This is synonymous with opening a shop in a ghost town. Keyword search volume is measured using MSV (monthly search volume), which implies the number of times the term is searched per month across all the target audiences.

Relevance

Your content must be the best guide or resource out there for the search query

Search engines like Google or Bing rank content based on its relevance to search queries. This is where the idea of search intent comes into play. Your plumbing content will only rank for a search term if it meets the needs of searchers.

Furthermore, your content must be the best guide or resource out there for the search query. After all, why would search engines rank your content in the top spots if it offers less or no value than other posts that exist on the web?

Keyword Competition

You need to understand who your ideal clients are and what they will look for.

This is one of the crucial factors in keyword research for plumbers but is normally overlooked. You don’t want to target a plumbing keyword if you can’t handle the competition. There are two factors that you need to consider when you want to know how competitive a keyword is for a specific keyword:

  • How many plumbing websites are you competing against?
  • How strong are these competing web pages?

Just like with any other business opportunity, you need to assess the chances of ranking for particular plumbing keywords.

First, you need to understand who your ideal clients are and what they will look for. If you don’t understand who your potential customers are, think of this as a great place to start marketing your plumbing company in general and plumbing SEO.

Next, you want to know:

  • What kind of plumbing services are they interested in?
  • What are their pain points?
  • What type of language do they use when describing the services they need?

Authority

Google will offer more weight to content sources it classifies as authoritative.

Google will offer more weight to content sources it classifies as authoritative. That implies you must do all that you can to become an authoritative source by improving your site with informational, helpful content and promoting that content on social media platforms and backlinks.

If Google doesn’t deem your plumbing website as authoritative, then you can’t compete with authoritative sites unless you have exceptional content.

On-Page Plumbing SEO Best Practices: Tips to Improve Your Rankings On Search Engines

Tips to Improve Your Rankings On Search Engines

On-page plumbing SEO has the ability to bring countless wallet-out prospects and clients right to your plumbing website. Best practices for plumbing on-page SEO refers to tasks designed to assist improve your website’s ranking on Google or Bing.

We originally wrote this as a guide just for Blackstorm Design + Marketing customers, but later we figured out “Hey, who doesn’t love a great checklist for plumbing SEO? That’s why we decide to share it with the world. So here we come.

Here are our ten tricks on SEO best practices for plumbers that you need to know. Without further ado, let’s get started.

Title tags

You should have unique title tags for every page.

Assuming that you have successfully done your keyword research, this is one of the most crucial on-page SEO elements. Title tags tell search engines like Google or Bing what your page is all about and that the page on your plumbing website is relevant for the search phrase or keyword. You should have unique title tags for every page. In organic search results, Google will highlight the keyword if a prospect or client looks for those terms. This boosts click-through rate and visibility.

Let’s say you are trying to rank for “Murfreesboro local plumbers” your title tag might look like this:

Murfreesboro plumbers

Best Practices:

  • You should write your title tag like this: Primary keyword-secondary keyword|Brand name
  • Utilize a dash in between your keyword and a pipe at the end of the name of your brand
  • Avoid duplicating your title tags.
  • Make sure your title tags have 55 characters or less, including the spaces. If you want to know more about title tag best practices, read this post done by Dr. Pete.

Meta Descriptions

Include your keyword in the description.

Meta descriptions are typically the short page descriptions that show up under your title in organic search results. Although they are not classified as a ranking factor by Google, it can impact whether or not prospects click on your page-so-it is just as vital when doing on-page plumbing SEO.

Here is our list of best practices for meta descriptions:

  • Make sure that your meta description is under 160 characters
  • Include your keyword in the description.
  • Use a compelling, full sentence (or two)
  • Avoid alphanumeric elements like -, & or +

Image Alt tags

Image alt-tag is synonymous with SEO of your plumbing website’s images.

An alt tag is typically the name of an image, and your site images should utilize the correct alt tags. Image alt-tag is synonymous with SEO of your plumbing website’s images. It tells search engines what your image is about, which is crucial because search engines nowadays deliver image-based organic results just like they do with text-based organic results.

That implies consumers may discover your plumbing website via images. For them to do this, you need to add an alt tag to your images.

Here are some image alt tag best practices you need to follow:

  • Make it as specific and descriptive as possible.
  • Keep it short than 125 characters.
  • Use keywords in a sparing manner and avoid overstuffing them.
  • Make it relevant to your page content.

High-quality content with targeted plumbing keywords

The page content is typically the heart of your on-page plumber SEO.

The page content is typically the heart of your on-page plumber SEO, and it tells Google and readers what your plumbing business and website are all about. With all the recent Google Panda updates, it is extremely crucial that your page content is relevant and unique. If you have several pages that have the same content, then you are likely to be penalized by Google for duplicate content, and your Google rankings will suffer.

The initial step to crafting unique and relevant content is to select the right plumbing keywords and topics. Perform comprehensive keyword research by looking at Google phrases and seeing what works for your competitor’s websites. You can also use tools such as AnswerthePublic, UberSuggest, and Ahrefs.

Here are our surefire tricks for writing high-quality page content:

  • Include short and long-tail keywords organically
  • Add relevant and engaging visual content
  • Write content that resonates with your specific buyer persona(s)
  • Optimize for conversions with a call to actions (CTAs) to service pages and offers
  • Create content that people will love to share and link to.

Structured Markup

Structured markup is crucial if you want those knowledge panels.

Structured data or structured markup is simply the process of marking your plumbing site source code to help search engines like Google or Bing understand and find various elements of your content.

Structured markup is crucial if you want those knowledge panels, featured snippets, and other content elements you see when looking for something on Google. It’s also how your particular page information appears so neatly when a visitor shares your content on the social media platform.

Note: Structured markup is classified under technical plumbing SEO, but we included it here since optimizing it creates a good on-page SEO experience for users.

Keep your Page URLs descriptive but short

Page URLs

Your website URL is another prime place to insert plumbing keywords. According to studies, incorporating keywords in your site URL appears like a ranking factor.

But that doesn’t imply you should be crazy to add tons of search terms to your URL. Use the same restraint and discretion you applied with your meta descriptions and title tags.

In fact, it is common for a URL to appear shorter than that of those title tags.

Here are our best practices for your page URL:

  • Include your primary keyword in the URL
  • Keep your URL descriptive and short
  • Use hyphens to separate words
  • Use lowercase letters.
  • Remove the unnecessary, extra words
  • Use HTTPS if possible, as Google has already added security as a ranking factor

Internal Linking

It is the process of hyperlinking to other valuable pages on your plumbing website.

Internal linking describes any link on your plumbing website that links to another page on your site. It is essentially the process of hyperlinking to other valuable pages on your plumbing website.

Internal linking is crucial for on-page plumber SEO since internal links send visitors to other pages on your plumbing website, keeping them around longer and thus showing Google your plumbing website is helpful and valuable.

Besides, the longer prospects are on your plumbing website, the more time Google has to index and crawl your website pages. This consequently helps search engines get more information about your website and rank higher on the Google search results pages.

Make your plumbing website mobile responsive

Making your website mobile responsive is extremely crucial.

Google began favoring websites that are optimized for mobile devices even for those searching on desktops. So, making your website mobile responsive is extremely crucial.

It’s important to select a web hosting service, site theme, and design and layout of content that’s navigable and readable on mobile devices. If you are not sure about your plumbing website’s mobile readiness, utilize Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test tool.

Optimize your website speed

your website should load quickly

Whether accessed on a desktop or mobile device, your website should load quickly, possibly in less than three seconds. When it comes to on-page plumbing SEO, page speed comes in big time.

Google loves sites that have a good user experience. If your website loads slowly, it’s likely your visitors will not stick around for long, and Google notices that.

Information Architecture Best Practices

Information architecture is typically an overlooked area of plumbing website design.

Information architecture focuses on how you organize or plan the pages of your plumbing website. The way you plan your plumbing website and interlink your pages can impact how different content types on your site ranks based on user searches or queries.

Information architecture is typically an overlooked area of plumbing website design. Without having a good understanding of how information architecture work, you can end up building a plumbing website that is more confusing than they require it to be or worse still, make your plumbing content inaccessible.

Quality content is the reason why prospects visit plumbing websites. We all know how crucial it is to create quality content, but what is more crucial is to ensure that your content is easy to find.

Search engines like Google or Bing perceive links as “votes of trust” and a great way of understanding what your page is all about and how vital it is (whether credible or not).

Google also pays attention to the text you use to link to web pages, commonly referred to as the anchor text which helps Google to know what your plumbing website is all about.

Likewise, a link from CNN shows that your plumbing website could be important if you link specific pages for numerous areas on your site that portray to search engines that a particular page is crucial to your website.

Besides, the pages on your plumber site have more external votes (from credible sources) and have the ability to help other pages on your site rank higher in search engine result pages.

This idea is called “PageRank.” However, PageRank doesn’t operate the same way it used to when it was first introduced, if you want to understand more about it, read the following good resources below:

Information architecture can be a daunting topic, especially for large plumbing websites, and there are numerous resources that have particular answers outlined at the end of each chapter.

Some of the best practices for information architecture include:

Keep your most important plumbing search pages. This means linking to them occasionally in navigation elements and where possible linking them from a page that has the highest number of links.

You need to understand your most linked-to-pages (use tools like Ahrefs, Moz, and Majestic SEO).

Generally, you need to adopt a flat information architecture for your plumbing website, implying that you keep any plumbing page and most linked-to plumbing web pages. If you want to understand how you can flatten your plumbing website information architecture, click on this video to read more.

Header Response

Header response tags are important technical plumbing SEO issues

Header response tags are important technical plumbing SEO issues, and this can be a daunting topic if you don’t have the skills and expertise. Still, you want to make sure that your plumbing website pages are returning the right code to search engines (200) such as Google, and pages that cannot be found are returning code (400), indicating that they no longer exist. If you get those codes wrong, you could be indicating a “page not found” as a functioning page, which may make it look like a thin or duplicated page. You can use a server header checker to know the status code that your plumbing website pages are returning when search engines like Google or Bing crawl them.

Link Building and Content Marketing

Link building is another important plumbing SEO strategy.

Link building is another important plumbing SEO strategy. Since Google’s algorithm mostly depends on links, having many valuable links is essential in generating organic search traffic. Links are generally like “votes of confidence”- the more quality links you have pointing to your plumbing website, the higher you will rank in search engine results pages (SERPs).

There are a few methods you can use to build links to your plumber’s website. One practical and sustainable approach to building links is focusing more on content marketing efforts like creating and promoting quality content that includes specific keywords you want to rank for and engage in conventional PR for your plumbing business.

As you write your content for your plumber marketing strategy, it is also essential to link to other credible websites to offer additional information on topics that you did not exhaustively cover.

The process of creating and promoting content that will offer you social links and shares is a challenging assignment. But, you will obtain a step-by-step guide to various aspects of plumbing content marketing below, and there are numerous ways to develop content, help it get discovered and rank higher in the organic search results.

Another way to get links to your plumbing website is through guest blogging. This process involves creating blogs in exchange for a link back to your plumber’s website. A third way is to develop plumbing resources (like eBooks and guides) and then contact plumbing blogs and request them to promote them.

Link building can be a time-consuming plumbing SEO strategy, but it’s helpful if you want to see results.

Identify and Understand Your Linking and Sharing Audience

Understand who is likely to link to and share your content.

The first important thing you need to do to obtain traction for your plumbing web content is to understand who is likely to link to and share your content. Several tools can help you know influencers with the plumbing niche, but the most powerful one is Buzzsumo.

Similar tools include follower wonk, little bird, and Ahrefs. The concept of leveraging such tools is to identify potential thought leaders and linkers in your plumbing space and understand what they link to and share. Identify what issues they are experiencing and the kinds of content they generally share, and start to figure out how you can develop something valuable to share with their potential clients (Who would regard it as vital too).

As you go through this process, start to think of how you can help out these influencers. What you can do to assist them to attain their objectives or what could you provide that can be valuable to their target audience? If you can consistently outsource smart content creators within the plumbing niche, you will no doubt start to establish a powerful relationship as you begin creating valuable content.

Choose the Plumbing Content You Can Develop and How You Can Promote it

Focus on creating various kinds of content that will have great value

The next step is to know the kind of plumbing content you can create that can be promoted and shared by others. Here are some tips to help you create plumbing content that will generate a high number of shares:

Develop plumbing content that identifies and resolves your client’s pain points or problems.

According to Mathew Woodward, you can identify great plumbing blog content by listening in on social media forums and media.

  • Check on what works by examining what already works and creating content that is of a similar level, you can minimize the risk and make your content as fail-proof as possible.
  • Make others appear great: state the type of tools you use daily.

Focus on creating various kinds of content that will have great value, promote such types of content, and don’t be afraid about informing people whose target audience would take advantage of such content if they knew it existed.

Map Your Content to specific Plumbing SEO keywords

Last but not least, don’t forget to plug in your keywords! That doesn’t mean that you need to stuff a keyword that is irrelevant any time you create great content. It implies that you can use keyword research as a way of developing the pain points (if prospects are turning to Google to search for services or products, they want plumbing content that responds to their queries).

Schema and Markup

After sorting all the fundamental plumbing website design elements, you will be able to go further and make it easier to obtain more traffic to your website using schema.

Schema is a code that helps search engines understand the meaning behind your plumbing company’s website. It offers them additional information about what your plumbing company does, where you are situated, and how people can reach out to you.

To add schema to your plumbing website, simply insert the code in the back end of your website. If you are not experienced to do this on your own, you can always hire a plumbing SEO agency or developer to do it on your behalf.

Technical Plumbing SEO Checklist

Technical plumbing SEO is an important part of your plumbing SEO strategy

Technical or off-page refers to the process of optimizing the indexing, crawling, and rendering phase of your plumbing website to attain higher search rankings on Google. Technical plumbing SEO is an important part of your plumbing SEO strategy, which is why the website needs to meet all the recommendations of search engines. It refers to search engine techniques that are not related to the content on your website.

Now that you know the fundamentals of plumbing SEO, here are some tricks you can utilize to improve your off-page plumbing  SEO and boost your organic search rankings:

Mobile Friendliness

Having a mobile-friendly plumbing website is more crucial than ever.

Let’s begin with this most basic off-page plumbing SEO tip.

One of the major Google algorithms in 2015 was to offer more preference to responsive, mobile-friendly websites. Back then, Google penalized websites that were not mobile-friendly. Fast forward to today, having a mobile-friendly plumbing website is more crucial than ever.

If your plumbing website is driving relevant traffic from mobile searches, this will impact your rankings on mobile devices, a fast-growing segment.

With the skyrocketing usage of mobile devices, a responsive website has become valuable. Your plumbing website must adapt to different mobile devices and operate optimally on each one of them. Many prospects looking for plumbing services conduct a search on Google using their smartphone.

Today, Google shows results based on the proximity of the user to your plumbing business location. Plumbers can enhance mobile SEO via the following tactics:

  • Seamless navigation: URL hierarchies and internal links are more important on mobile.
  • Responsive design:  A design tactic that helps plumber websites adjust to the accessed device.
  • Test your mobile plumbing website: You can use any of the following tools Google’s Mobile-Friendly test to make sure that your website is responsive.

Speed your plumbing website

Website speed is more crucial than ever.

When it comes to plumbing SEO, website speed is more crucial than ever. Make no mistake. If your plumbing website is slow and takes more than three seconds to respond, Google will put a penalty on your site.

That means even if your plumbing content is pure gold for that specific topic, your plumbing website will rank lower on Google than it would if your site had fast loading times.

This is an off-page plumber SEO aspect that you cannot afford to overlook. You can use any of the tools listed below to test your plumbing website speed:

If your plumbing website is taking more than three seconds to load, it can seriously affect your user experience. Fortunately, you can use the following tips to speed up your plumbing website:

  • Optimize your site’s images: Utilize a compressed image format such as JPG in most of your posts. Use tools like TinyPNG to compress your image files.
  • Enable browser caching: This will help you store visitors’ data temporarily on a computer so that they don’t have to wait for your site to load every time they visit.
  • Utilize a content delivery network: Utilize a content delivery network to boost your website’s speed.

Redirects

Plumbing contractors should regularly explore ways to improve your off-page SEO. If you don’t implement redirects correctly, this can have great effects on your organic search results. Here are some reasons why your plumbing website may want to redirect to another page as discussed below:

  • Duplicate content: Say, for example, your plumbing website has a page about “drain cleaning,” but you want to upgrade to residential drain cleaning. You want to redirect the low-value page to the high-quality one.
  • Search Optimization: If one of your plumbing URLs is optimized for search engines, a 301 redirect will help you to achieve that.
  • Rebranding your website: If your plumbing business rebrands or obtains a new website, you need to redirect the top pages to their counterparts.

XML Sitemaps

XML sitemaps help search engines to locate and index your plumbing webpages.

XML sitemaps help search engines to locate and index your plumbing webpages. Ensuring that you don’t add irrelevant pages and submitting your page for sitemaps does not warrant that your website will rank high for a specific keyword. There are cons to having an XML sitemap, and implementing one can have a positive benefit to your plumbing SEO.

Sitemaps are particularly crucial if:

  • Your plumbing website is not well structured or linked
  • Your site has no external links
  • Your plumbing website contains a lot of archived posts

Migrate your plumbing website from HTTP to HTTPS

Google included HTTPS protocol as one of the ranking factors.

Back in 2014, Google included HTTPS protocol as one of the ranking factors. So, if your plumbing website is still HTTP, it’s time to make that switch. HTTPS will safeguard your visitor’s information to make sure that the data offered is encrypted for data leaks or hacking.

Avoid Duplicate Content

Duplicate content dilutes the value that your content offers to users.

Thin and duplicated content is another area that was solved by the recent Google Panda updates. Google aims to offer high-quality plumbing content. Duplicate content dilutes the value that your content offers to users, thus minimizing the chances of ranking for competitive keywords. Having large quantities of duplicate content makes your site show up like it is cluttered with low-value content in the eyes of search engines.

Meta No Follow, Robot.txt file, and MetaNoindex

You can instruct search engines on how to crawl and index your plumbing content.

Lastly, you can instruct search engines on how to crawl and index your plumbing content. For instance, you can tell Google not to crawl a specific section of your plumbing website in a robot.txt file. The file may exist at your plumbing website at yourwebsite.com/robot.txt file. You need to make sure this file doesn’t block any content that you want to be indexed on your website. You can utilize the meta unfollow or meta no index tags for similar purposes, although each operates independently.

Off-page SEO can be challenging on your own; you should seek assistance from a reputable plumbing SEO agency.

How Long Does Plumbing SEO Take?

Plumbing SEO campaigns can take several months before you begin seeing significant results.

It is normally said plumbing SEO is a marathon, not a sprint, which implies that you should not expect to see desired results in short term. Plumbing SEO campaigns can take several months before you begin seeing significant results.

This is because Google needs time to crawl your website and monitor users’ interaction and behavior with your plumbing website. A good plumbing SEO campaign leads to a high ranking in the SERP but more essentially an influx and steady increase of new clients. It can take a while before you begin to see the results of a plumber SEO strategy, but the average is normally between three to six months.

Frequently Asked Questions

FAQs

What is SEO for plumbers?

SEO for plumbers is a systematic process of editing and creating the website content and code of your plumbing company to help it rank on search engines like Google or Bing. To help your plumbing website rank higher on Google, it needs to be secure, mobile-friendly, fast, and full of valuable content.

Do I require a plumbing SEO audit?

A typical plumbing SEO audit includes software and analytics implementation, which is designed for the plumbing industry, competitor analysis, keyword research, and evaluation of your site structure, code, and content. A plumber SEO audit review assists you to understand your campaign results.

What is included in plumbing SEO services?

In your plumbing SEO package, you will obtain an online competitive analysis, code optimization, local SEO, new website or blog content, tracking and measurement reporting, and continuous tweaking to refine your campaign results.

Should I work with a plumbing SEO campaign?

An SEO agency deals with the day-to-day tasks of boosting your plumbing company’s online presence. If your company doesn’t have the time or resources to go through stacks of rankings, analytic data, and traffic patterns, you need to partner with a plumbing SEO agency.

Is Blackstorm Design + Marketing a certified Google partner?

Blackstorm Design + Marketing is a Google premier partner. When you hire us, you work with a team of professional web design experts, SEO experts, and more.

Do your plumbing SEO packages include social media?

Yes, our experts will manage your social media accounts. We will make your brand get in front of your ideal clients and manage your social media presence on LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and other social media platforms. Our team can assist you to capture the attention of your target audience with social proof, measurable goals, and social proof.

Grow Your  Business by Getting Your Plumbing SEO Strategy Right from Blackstorm Design + Marketing

We make your plumbing website visible on search engines by using our business expertise.

Search engine optimization is a sure way of getting consistent new clients, and if you want to compete in the local plumbing industry, you need to ensure that your plumbing business appears when potential clients look for a plumbing contractor in your location. Local SEO for plumbers can help you achieve that, which is why it is the most important investment that you can make in your plumbing business nowadays.

However, there are two ways to do SEO for your plumbing business including white-hat and black-hat SEO strategies. Black-hat Plumbing SEO is where you use illegal ways to trick Google or Bing to rank your website higher in search results without following the laid down best practices. While Black hat SEO strategies can seem effective in the short term, it doesn’t abide by the rules and can make your plumbing website to be penalized.

On the other hand, white hat plumbing SEO, which we practice here at Blackstorm Design + Marketing, plays by the rules and can last for many years, making sure that you obtain value for your money and time. By developing links from relevant and legit sites and improving your presence on social media, we can generate more leads and traffic to your plumbing business.

If you want to leverage all the benefits of plumbing SEO, we can help!

We make your plumbing website visible on search engines by using our business expertise.

At Blackstorm Design + Marketing, we bring years to search engine optimization for plumbers. With our personalized digital marketing strategies, combined with our passion for generating real results, we will offer your plumbing business more phone calls, quote requests, and revenue.

We hope this definitive guide has offered important information to rank your plumbing website higher on the search engine result pages. As always, if you have any questions or concerns, feel free to book a free strategy session to learn more about our award-winning plumbing SEO strategies today.

Categories
Plumbing SEO

How To Make Plumbing SEO and PPC Work Together?

In today’s world, the internet is the biggest marketplace under the sky. Literally, everything can be found and purchased online. Some companies do their business strictly on the internet, but no company in the world doesn’t present their business on the internet. Both sellers and users of products and services search for what they need online – users to find what they need and sellers to find buyers for what they offer. Websites are created as the best marketing tool there is. But advertising products on your website is not enough. Some tools can help both groups find what they are looking for much faster and more efficiently. The most successful tools are SEO and PPC.

How do search engines work?

search engines

Search engines are the most helpful tools for internet users. If you are looking for something on the internet, you will use search engines to find that. You will type words that explain the product or service or information you are looking for the best. A search engine will use your words to find content on the web related to your search. Words you use are called keywords, and search engines use those to detect all sites that have content relevant to your search. Since there are many websites to browse, search engines look for those sites that match the best keywords. The sites that have such content are shown on top of search results, and they attract most customers.

What is SEO, and how does it work?

SEO optimization

SEO is a tool that helps a website gain better rankings on major search engines. A website can be looked upon as commercial. A good commercial does not just say: this is the product, it is used for that, buy it. Good commercial tries to attract potential buyers by using the best tools to explain how the product is different from similar products, why you need that particular product, what you will gain by getting it, and how it works. At the end of the commercial, the buyer has a feeling that he or she knows everything relevant to the product and is aware of why it is worth spending money on. SEO acts as a director of a great commercial. Search engine optimization helps the website become interesting for a group of customers it appeals to. This means that the site can be optimized to be shown in top search results for that product or service. This is done by changing content to look more reliable, more available, and more trustworthy. 

There must be a good strategy of how the content of a site will look – with plenty of information, relevant links, good web design, frequent adding of new content, making the search of the site easy and clear, making traffic and loading of content faster, and so much more. A good SEO will help a site become more visible and top-ranked on free or organic search results.

What is PPC, and how does it work?

Pay-per-click

PPC means Pay Per Click. Pay-per-click has the same role as SEO: to attract customers to your site, except PPC is not free. PPC means that there are paid advertisements on search engines that will lead customers to sites advertised by them. They are displayed on a search engine and also use keywords as guidance for search engines. But the advertiser only pays for these advertisements when a customer clicks on them (and is directed to a site in question). Pay-per-click ads usually cost very little and have an enormous impact on website traffic. They are displayed when keywords are entered. PPC can provide good attendance to the website and help a product or a service be more visible. Still, the price you pay for PPC can vary from very cheap to more expensive, depending on which keywords you use. Competition on the internet is enormous, and some keywords are more frequently used. Those keywords cost more if you want your website to appear in the top search results. 

How do SEO and PPC work together?

SEO + PPC

Even though it sounds that SEO and PPC do the same work but in different ways, and one is free while the other is paid for, they don’t cancel each other. They can do wonders when paired with a job to boost website visits. You may be asking yourself, “why pay for something you can get for free?” the answer is – you don’t. Even if SEO and PPC do the same thing, they are separate marketing tools, and each has a unique purpose. But when put together, they can help each other do the best job for your needs. Both SEO and PPC use keywords. If you use different SEO and PPC keywords, people who are seeing your SEO search results don’t see your PPC, as keywords do not point in the same direction. SEO is free, but SEO does need time to start doing its magic. You must earn your spot in the top search results. If you use PPC as well, it will begin to attract visitors to your site right away. PPC can help you work out SEO strategy the best way. PPC can show which keywords are most searched for, so you can optimize the content of your website to match that. Using SEO and PPC simultaneously helps better visibility of the search engine’s results. The top three spots on search engine results are usually PPC. If SEO brings your site to top visibility for organic searches, that means the site dominates both free and paid search results. Remember, organic search results and paid ads are not the same. Most search engines display paid ads in different fields than organic ones, which is why search engine optimization and pay-per-click work so well together.

Today’s business is not the same as it was only ten years ago. New technologies and shifting the focus of marketing to the internet demand new ways of attracting customers. 

SEO and PPC are modern business tools; using them together can give the best possible results.

Categories
Plumbing SEO

Why SEO Is Better Than PPC For Plumbers

The debate continues: Which is better, SEO or PPC?

SEO vs PPC

More users trust SEO search listings over PPC listings.

Studies have shown that more users trust organic search listings over paid advertisements. Research has shown that around 70% of internet users click on organic search results (SEO) as opposed to only 30% clicking on paid search results (PPC). Most internet users distrust paid advertisements. Most of these consumers are well aware that PPC is an advertising tool. This results in a lot of users bypassing paid advertisements and clicking organic, natural results instead. And to make matters worse, some users that have clicked paid ads don’t end up finding the product or service they are looking for. Thus, businesses that use SEO are better able to provide consumers with more interesting and valuable content. 

SEO is very cost-effective and gives greater value for money.

Businessman working in finance

Both SEO and PPC naturally have costs for initial set-up and hiring PPC specialists or an SEO company to come up with a digital campaign exclusively for your business. But if you use an SEO campaign, there is no need to pay for every individual click or visitor, but you will only pay for the services that your SEO team or vendor renders. With PPC, constant investment is required. If you stop paying, your ads will stop, and your lead generation will be discontinued.

SEO can build and keep an advantage over your competitors.

traffic and leads generated through search will increase

It isn’t easy to build an advantage and keep it with PPC. If you are already making profits based on clicks you pay a certain amount for, then it will not last if a competitor bids a higher price for the same product. If your competitor has some venture funding and decides to use it on PPC, it can drive the average cost of a click higher, and your profits will be driven downward. An investment in SEO is much more challenging. You strive to make your search engine results higher for relevant keywords. You come up with great content that is of great value to consumers. You generate inbound links. And your links show up on high-quality websites in your industry. Soon, your rankings will start rising, and with this, traffic and leads generated through search will increase. It takes time to accomplish this. You may have a higher initial cost, but the clicks are free. This investment, however, gives you a more sustainable advantage over PPC. Your competitor will find it more difficult to take this advantage away.

SEO gives better ROI than PPC advertising.

Return on investment

Based on a four-year study of profit generation for both SEO and PPC, it has been shown that SEO that creates organic traffic generates $2.74 in profit for every dollar spent in that year. In 3 years, SEO’s average profit is $4.58 for every dollar spent in one year. Comparing this with the profits garnered from PPC advertising, it was shown that for every dollar spent on that year, the average profit is -$0.95. While over three years from the dollar spent in one year, the average profit is -$0.85. This means that for every dollar spent on both SEO and PPC, SEO will yield an additional profit of $2.75 but PPC losses -$0.95. Thus, SEO gives better ROI than PPC advertising. 

SEO has more effective promotion results.

Rank higher in search results

Applying SEO to your website may take around three to six months before your website will appear on search engine results. This is because indexing and ranking a website takes time for Google to do. But over a long time, SEO leads to consistent traffic, whereas PPC only gives an initial boost to traffic. PPC can be beneficial if you have a brand new site that has not yet appeared in organic results. However, with a PPC campaign, traffic immediately stops when the budget is withdrawn. Thus SEO continues to shine. It is a more effective way of promoting your website in the long run.

Ranking #1 in search results will not happen overnight with SEO. But SEO has proven long-term benefits. The reasons given above why SEO is better than PPC should prod you to invest more of your time and resources focusing on SEO rather than on PPC. 

Categories
Plumbing Public Relations

Tips That Can Make or Break Your Plumbing Business’ Online Reputation

Do you know what prospects or clients say or think about your plumbing business?

Whether you have been in the plumbing industry for a while or a new brand just launching your services, it is important to listen to what people say about your business (either offline or online). Every plumbing company should have an online reputation management strategy to carefully monitor how other people perceive your brand. However, you cannot develop a strong plumbing brand overnight.

Creating a good plumbing reputation requires time and effort, sometimes taking several months or even years to build. On the flip side, even if you offer the best plumbing service in town, one negative review can demolish your good reputation instantly. Negative reviews or comments can spread fast like wildfire, and it is crucial to create a plan to react quickly to solve your client’s problem.

This post will help you know how to manage your plumbing brand’s reputation so you understand what people are saying about your business, including the bad, ugly and good. We will also discuss how to set your brand management crisis strategy for your company so you can react quickly to address any problem.

A good online reputation means clients trust you and the services you provide. Thus, they feel more comfortable booking jobs with your plumbing company, even though they have other plumbers around. Without further ado, let us dive into our post.

What is  Online Reputation Management for plumbers?

Reputation Management

Simply put, plumbing reputation management is the process of improving and controlling how your business is perceived by the public online or offline. It is increasingly becoming hard for plumbers to safeguard their own image online. Social media allows every Tom, Dick, and Harry to say anything about your brand, and it feels like there is nothing you can do about it.

But there is!

There are even experienced plumbing reputation management agencies, like Blackstorm Design +Marketing, whom you can pay to handle this for you.

In broader terms, online reputation management for plumbers comprises three core principles:

  • Maintaining and creating a consistent, public personal of your business or brand.
  • Analyzing and responding to client’s feedback
  • Subduing negative plumbing brand crises.

How does Online Reputation Management for Plumbers Work?

Plumbing company reputation management

Two keys to any online reputation management strategy for plumbers. Plumbing company reputation management typically consists of the following tactics including the two main ones:

  • Monitor: Know what influencers, customers, and competitors say about your plumbing brand.
  • Respond: Take proactive measures to build a positive brand identity, and improve what prospects or clients say about your plumbing business.

Are you already doing this in your plumbing company? There is a likelihood you are not. We are going to discuss every aspect of managing the online reputation management of your plumbing company.

Here we go!

Tip #1: Monitor Your Online Reputation

managing your online reputation

The first step toward managing your online reputation is the most important. Without this, you cannot attain the rest. The idea here is based on the premise that you first hear what people say about you and then respond.

So, you first need to listen carefully.

What you monitor depends on where your plumbing business is present online. Do people talk about your plumbing brand on social media, on forums, or on review websites like Yelp or HomeAdvisor?

By researching the perception of your plumbing business on social media platforms, you will be able to identify the problematic aspects of your brand and improve them accordingly.

Tip #2: Develop a Response Plan

Reputation Management for Plumbers

It is all good to understand what is being said about your plumbing brand online. In fact, it’s important. But how you are going to enhance your online reputation will be courtesy of the action you are going to take and the steps you take.

Nowadays, prospects or clients look at your online presence before they decide if they want to book a job with you. And among the most important parts of your online presence are user-generated reviews and your responses to those reviews.

Follow these crucial tips for creating a response plan:

  1. Engage: Deciding to focus on your online presence is the initial step in making your online presence work for your plumbing company. Claim all of your plumbing company pages and turn notifications on so you are aware when clients are talking about your brand or sharing their experiences.
  2. Be Prepared to Respond: Regardless of whether you agree with an online review or not, having a response plan implies you will respond to every review no matter what. Responding to a review doesn’t have to be a back and forth conversation between your plumbing business and the reviewer, but rather show off your best customer service practices to all future clients. Keep your response short, thank them for their feedback, and then take your conversation offline.
  3. Be open to feedback: Having a strategy in place for responding to online reviews implies that you need to be open to gleaning learnings or insights from your clients who share their experiences online, negative or positive.
  4. Usually, Take the High Road: Your response is a reflection of your plumbing company. The only worse problem than getting a bad review is pairing it with a heated or aggressive response. Use your feedback as a plumbing business owner to remain professional and respectful.

Tip #3: Handle Negative Reviews Delicately

Negative Reviews

What do you normally do when you get that one-star review rating? You can be tempted to brush it off or assume that it never happened and wish that it gets buried in the sea of happy clients.

But you can’t just ignore negative reviews. They are public and remain online probably forever.

Responding to online reviews allows you to clear the air. A recent study found out that over 80% of unhappy clients were worn out with the right response.

So what is the right strategy?

Respond in a friendly, polite, and professional manner.

Tip#4: Build on the Positives

Positive reviews

Just as you should not ignore negative reviews, it pays to respond to positive reviews or comments. These are the reviews that actually improve your online reputation. Not only will you reward clients for saying nice things, but you will also motivate others to do the same.

So that’s simple. You appreciate clients for their kind reviews and hope they share your feedback with their network. But how can your plumbing business even generate more positive reviews?

  • Manage your online profiles actively: By managing your online review platforms like Yelp, Thumbtack, and HomeAdvisor you send signals to prospects or clients that you are responsible and trustworthy.
  • Simply ask for reviews: More than 70% of clients will leave a review if requested. Besides, most people will have a positive impression of a business that cares about the quality of the plumbing services they offer. So simply requesting reviews can enhance the customer’s sentiment toward a plumbing contractor.

Tip# 5: Monitor Your Results

Monitoring online reputation management

The last step is actually to implement changes you have committed yourself to. Did you provide a client with a discount as an apology for poor service? You are investing in online reputation management because you want to safeguard it. More likely, you want to enhance it. So you need to monitor whether it’s working. If it’s not generating desired results, then you need to partner with an experienced reputation management agency like Blackstorm Design + Marketing.

Get Started with Plumbing Reputation Management Services from Blackstorm Design + Marketing Today

Online Reputation Management Services

When it comes to finding innovative and new ways to install plumbing systems, prospects or clients only go to reliable plumbers they can trust. At Blackstorm Design + Marketing, we amplify the success stories of your former customers by sharing that with the internet, thus improving your credibility and trust to the top of the search engine results pages.

Leverage Blackstorm Design + Marketing plumbing marketing strategies to expand your client base. Regarding online reputation, we work to:

Get Your plumbing company noticed

Secure Online Reputation

With all the cutthroat competition out there, it is crucial to stand out from other plumbers online. Blackstorm Design + Marketing reputation management professionals dig in and identify what makes your plumbing company superior to others by displaying board certifications, success stories, and credentials-then doing what it takes to obtain those 5-star reviews to the top of the search engine results.

Emphasize Testimonials

Testimonials

Homeowners want to find a plumber that is going to fix their pipes efficiently and quickly, so they regularly refer to friends, family, and online reviews for recommendations to identify which plumber is appropriate for them. So, we ensure that the highest number of positive reviews are boosted to the top of the search engine results so that your prospects can make an informed choice about who they will probably connect with and trust.

Showcase Your Attributes

keep your brand message consistent across all platforms

Through content generation, PPC, social media, and web design, we promote what makes your plumbing company stand out and keep your brand message consistent across all platforms so that your customers can be assured that they might have an educated decision in getting the assistance they require.

Establish Trust

Businessmen shaking hands

Along with finding the right online review websites to promote your plumbing brand and creating regular messaging for your website and search engines, Blackstorm Design + Marketing reputation management professionals look at your social media platforms to see where we can prove to your followers that you an authority in your industry.

Put Trustworthy Sources at the top

After finding your glowing reviews, success stories, and reputable colleagues, our reputation management experts work tirelessly to get that information to the first page of the search engine results page by utilizing it in advertising, SEO content, and website creation efforts.

SEO services

Schedule a free discovery call with Blackstorm Design + Marketing to learn how our experts can help your plumbing company improve its reputation online today.

Categories
Plumbing SEO

14 Effective Ways to Grow Your Plumbing Business Fast with Little Investment

Learn How to Grow Plumbing Company with Tricks and Tips from Experts

With every statistic published about plumbers by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, it is safe to conclude that the plumbing industry is hitting an all-time high and booming.

In the modern competitive business world, the plumbing landscape isn’t restricted only to people with many years of experience as more entrepreneurs are venturing into this trade.

how to scale a business

Furthermore, most plumbers don’t want to operate under someone else their whole life. With some years of experience under your belt, you can progress to becoming a new plumbing business owner in town! But once you’ve set up, how do you grow a plumbing company from scratch?

Running your plumbing company affords you the freedom to enjoy all your business’s profits. But such benefits come with a lot of responsibilities, and if you are not self-driven, you risk your plumbing company becoming obsolete or stagnant. Plumbing business growth doesn’t occur by accident, and you have to take deliberate steps to make your company’s growth objectives a reality.

So, if you are thinking about scaling or growing your plumbing business, then you have come to the right place. This post will discuss some of the most effective plumbing marketing strategies that we have used to increase revenue, leads and differentiate our plumbing customers from their competition online.

Without further ado, let’s get started.

Conventional Strategies for Growing Your Plumbing Business Without Wasting Your Marketing Dollars

Strategies

Growing a plumbing company amongst a huge sea of other plumbers can be an uphill assignment. For small players in the plumbing industry, it is important to utilize the right advertising channels to market your plumbing services online.

However, there are other crucial factors to consider if you want to skyrocket the growth of your small plumbing company. This includes but is not limited to identifying your niche, drafting a business plan, and using internet marketing to spread awareness about your plumbing business.

Do you want to know how to grow a plumbing company and stay ahead of the curve? Here are our 4 tips your plumbing business can use to help achieve desired business growth this year and beyond:

1. Carve Out Your Target Market

Target Market

While there are various services that plumbers provide, including drain cleaning and pipe repairs, there is stiff competition. This is why you need to carve out a niche for yourself. Identify the plumbing services that are rarely offered by other plumbers in your service area and then specialize in them as a way of helping you stand out in the market.

For example, you could specialize in installing sanitary equipment or water tanks. Or your plumbing company only serves residential buildings or hospitals. No matter what it is, ensure that you select a service and market that you specialize in.

Digital marketing for plumbing contractors concentrates on two main markets. As a plumber, you target two different markets throughout the year, namely:

  • First target market: A homeowner who has a plumbing emergency like a burst pipe and who needs immediate help from a plumber.
  • Second target clients:  The customer who requires a new installation or regular maintenance.

2. Invest in Technology

In the modern digital world, the only way to keep up with your competitors is to invest in technology that will revolutionize your entire plumbing business. Remaining competitive while still depending on Excel spreadsheets and paper files is becoming almost impossible.

Some technological innovations are changing how plumbing businesses operate, consolidating processes, boosting efficiency, and reducing workers to run a plumbing business. Here are the two software you can use to scale your plumbing business operations.

CRM

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) gives plumbers the ability to monitor information and communication regarding clients anytime, anywhere, helping you focus on customer communication, prospecting, and lead generation.

ERP system

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERPs) allows plumbers to automate the business side of a plumbing company, which can incorporate orders, finances, and accounting amongst others.

3. Market Your Plumbing Brand

Marketing your brand

Establishing your business reputation as a trustworthy resource is key to dominating your local market. You can begin by allocating money (other resources) to ensure your online presence and brand are consistently up to date, offering prospective leads with information and positive reinforcement they require to make informed purchasing decisions.

Your plumbing business is one of the integral parts of creating recognition and associating that recognition with great actions. An easy way to begin is your website and logo- ensuring these important business collaterals are consistent across your brand, as well as accurate to help potential clients find your business and contact you instead of your competitors.

You can also take this brand awareness into the field- make sure that your documents, trucks, and even staff uniforms reflect your plumbing brand.

4. Enhance Your Communication Approach with Clients

Communication Approach with Clients

When a potential client requests to see some of your past projects, don’t feel offended. They aren’t trying to doubt your legitimacy, instead, they want to do due diligence before they can invest in your plumbing services. Offering samples of previous work via after and before photos and client testimonials can help to improve trust and brand recognition.

10 Hacks Proven to Grow Your Plumbing Business Online

Grow your business online

Plumbing professionals often spend most of their time scheduling appointments, supervising their crew, and running their business leaving them with less time and resources to market their services. The most effective place to start marketing and growing your plumbing company is online. Here are our best strategies you can use to grow your plumbing company today:

1. Start with a Mobile-Responsive Plumbing Website

Mobile-Responsive Website

First things first! If you aren’t utilizing internet marketing and a website to advertise your plumbing services, you are losing a huge chunk of new business opportunities to the competition. Like a beautiful storefront or a friendly customer attendant, a great plumbing website attracts clients and keeps them. A good plumbing website can be the difference between a poor experience or an exceptional initial impression from the start.

Your plumbing website helps you attract more clients and assist grow your business by:

  • Raising awareness of your plumbing services online
  • Helping prospects understand why they should schedule service appointments with your company.
  • And ultimately to generate sales or inquiries.

If you want to compete favorably with the well-established plumbing contractors in your service area, then you must have a robust online presence. Modern consumers use smartphones to surf various things on the web including looking for reliable plumbers to repair or install plumbing systems.

So, in that scenario, if you don’t have a website for plumbing services, then you will lose out on potential customers. You don’t have to be a tech guru if gas or water pipes are all you know, Blackstorm Design + Marketing is here to help.  

Regardless of how great your plumbing business is- a poorly-designed website will hold you back. Considering that 38% of prospects leave a site if the content isn’t aesthetically pleasing. You don’t have to break your bank account, just ensure that your plumbing website follows these best practices of modern website design:

  • Clear and compelling calls to action that help prospects to take desired actions
  • Keep it simple, don’t clutter it with lots of information
  • Prominent online positive reviews to build trust among prospects
  • Spotlights for unique plumbing services
  • Improve your visibility on search engines.
  • Ensure that your site loads fast and is mobile friendly

If you don’t have a website for your plumbing business, schedule a no-obligation session with Blackstorm Design + Marketing for assistance today.

2. Invest in Local Search Engine Optimization Services to Grow Your Plumbing Company Online

Local Search Engine Optimization

Did you know that 9 out 10 clients conduct local searches before making a final purchasing decision? That implies if you aren’t optimizing your plumbing website for local SEO, then you are missing huge business opportunities every month.

If you aren’t putting effort to optimize your site for search engines, you will likely be forgotten in the local search engine results. Worst of all, you can lose a huge chunk of qualified leads to the competition with this kind of plumber marketing.

There are various reasons why local SEO is crucial to the growth of your plumbing business. Here are some reasons why you should include SEO in your plumber marketing strategy:

  • Local SEO helps your business to attract qualified leads: SEO helps you attract homeowners who intend to hire your business for plumbing services and are within your service area
  • Create connection and trust with clients: The more friendly your website is with search engines, the more trust that customers and Google will have in.
  • Local SEO helps your business to stay on top of the client’s mind: Even if a homeowner doesn’t schedule a plumbing service appointment right away, you can remain on top of their mind as well as Google with SEO.
  • SEO helps your plumbing business build local authority: For example, a customer may search on Google “how to unclog a bathroom sink” if you create a post based on such a topic, that client will come across your site and read your tips. Best of all, they may decide to schedule service appointments with your plumbing business.
  • Local SEO improves your plumbing business visibility online: Plumbers who have invested in SEO can get first page rankings on search engines like Google and the advantages that come included.

If you want to hook new plumbing clients and grow your plumbing business with local SEO services, our team can help. We offer SEO for plumber services that can help you engagingly reach more customers and empower you to grow your plumbing company with confidence.  

Schedule a free strategy session with Blackstorm Design + Marketing to learn how our professional plumbing SEO services can help grow your business today.

3. Grow Your Plumbing Business Through Pay-Per-Click Ads

PPC

Instead of staying for months waiting for your SEO strategy to eventually pay off, Pay-per-click advertising is a great way to obtain new leads in the short term. As a plumber, if you aren’t using PPC ads, then you are losing opportunities to grow your business to the competition. 

Savvy plumbing companies and plumbers understand that the best way to get on top of Google search results and book more jobs is through paid advertising campaigns.

If you type a keyword related to your business on Google and you come across plumbing ads for other plumbers than yours, then it means you are choosing to send potential customers to competing plumbers online.

Whether you want to revamp your existing plumbing PPC campaign or you want to begin from scratch, our professionals are ready to help. At Blackstorm Design + Marketing,  we create a comprehensive and data-driven PPC ad plan that will assist you to generate more qualified leads from homeowners who are seriously interested in your plumbing services. We will ensure that you obtain an advertising campaign that you require to help your plumbing company grow.

With Blackstorm Design + Marketing, your plumber’s PPC strategy will be researched thoroughly, consistently monitored, and quickly executed to generate leads for your plumbing company. Our PPC experts will help you each step of the way to make sure that your PPC advertising campaign brings in hot, quality new leads, and we understand what exactly you need to do to get high-quality new clients.

4. Grow Your Plumbing Company by Establishing a Sound Online Reputation

Reputation Management

In our modern digital world, your plumber services are only as great as their reputation online. Many plumbers say that personal recommendations and word-of-mouth referrals are at the center of their marketing strategy. But a lot of such referrals come in the form of online reviews nowadays. In fact, more than 80% trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations from friends or family.

So, what is online reputation management for plumbers and why is it crucial? Online Reputation management is the process of monitoring how people perceive your plumbing company and taking the necessary steps to revamp it. This plan typically involves a procedure for responding and checking to plumber reviews online.

Here are some of the ways managing your online reputation can help to grow your plumbing business:

  • Managing your online reputation establishes your trustworthiness even before your initial contact with potential customers. 90% of clients will first visit your plumbing website and check online reviews before contacting you, first impressions last.
  • Having more positive reviews on your plumbing website increases your conversion rates.
  • More positive reviews boost your brand mentions and enhance your local search engine optimization (SEO) in the process.
  • A positive online reputation improves your chances of hiring the best talents in the plumbing industry.

Blackstorm Design + Marketing offers online reputation management services for plumbers. We have many years of experience helping home service contractors including roofers or plumbers enhance their online reputation and become the go-to plumber in their specific locations. Our focus is to see local plumbers as you grow.

Ready to get started? Schedule a free strategy session with Blackstorm Design + Marketing can help grow your plumbing business through their Online Reputation Management services today.

5. Harness the Power of social media to Grow Your Plumbing Business

social media

Over 90% of service businesses utilize social media. If your plumbing company isn’t one of them, then you need to get started.

Social media is an important part of any plumber’s marketing strategy. Posting the right social media content can help to draw in new clients, boost your reputation and improve brand awareness. Here are some of the reasons why you should consider investing in a social media marketing strategy for your plumbing business:

  • Communication. For clients on the verge of a plumbing emergency, social media makes it simple to connect with prospects putting out emergency service requests for plumbing services.
  • SEO. The right social media posts can enhance your search engine optimization efforts, implying that your plumbing website will appear higher on the Google search results so that new clients find your plumbing services before your competitors.
  • Recommendations. As plumber marketing moves towards the digital realm, so do word-of-mouth recommendations. Social media offers your clients a platform to recommend and refer to your plumbing services.
  • Advertising. From blog posts, videos to photos, social media provides an accessible and inexpensive way to market your services in front of thousands of wallet customers every month.

With numerous social media platforms available to help you to use and grow your plumbing company’s online presence, you have the chance to increase your opportunity to reach new clients and maintain existing ones like never before. There is no limit to clients searching for a go-to plumber or quick pipe fix they can depend on all you need to do is to help them find your plumbing business.

With the right plumbing social media advertising strategy, you can master your business’s presence in the social space and take your company to new heights for increased referrals, positive reviews, and new customers. Looking for assistance using social media for growing your plumbing company in your service area? At Blackstorm Design + Marketing, our experts can help build a plan that meets your unique objectives and offer you desired results. 

Schedule a free strategy session with Blackstorm Design + Marketing to learn more about how you can use social media advertising to skyrocket the growth of your plumbing business.  

6. Get More Qualified Plumbing Leads with Google Local Service Ads

Google Local service ads are an effective tool for plumbing company owners to use to generate more leads, and they work better when they are targeted and refined to your exact audience. With Google Local Services ads, you connect with prospects who search on Google for plumbing services you provide. Best of all, the ads only appear locally, and you only pay when a potential customer contacts you directly via the advertisement.

The vast majority of home service contractors we work with devote part of their advertising dollars to Google Local Service Ads. The reason is straightforward: Google Ads is a great tool for acquiring new clients. Do you want to grow your commercial or residential plumbing business using local service ads? 

Schedule a no-obligation discovery call to see how Blackstorm Design + Marketing can help you generate more plumbing leads while increasing efficiency across your business today.

7. Grow Your Plumbing Company with Email Marketing

Email Marketing

As a plumbing business owner, you know that idle trucks and silent phones imply high overhead costs and upset crews. If you want to get more customers for your plumbing company while retaining existing clients (keep your calendar full of service appointments), consider including email marketing as part of your new plumbing marketing plan.

There are several factors to consider when setting up an email marketing strategy for your plumbing company, such as making sure that your emails are responsive so that they look awesome both on mobile phones and desktop computers and have clear compelling calls to action to generate leads.

Email marketing provides an effective way to promote your plumbing services online. Your target audience has already subscribed to your mailing newsletter, and they have expressed interest in your plumbing business, so give them what they need! Sending a consistent email newsletter is an effective way to make sure that your plumbing company is in the minds of your clients- which is where your company wants to be.

At the end of the day, the most crucial thing for any plumbing company owner is making money. But to grow your plumbing company, you must increase the number of qualified leads your business is getting.

The more leads you obtain, the more money you will make. And this is where an email marketing strategy can have an impact.

Adding email marketing to your online marketing strategy will help your plumbing company grow in various ways:

  • Maintain constant contact with your customers.
  • Increase your plumbing company awareness
  • Offer coupons, rebates, and promotions to increase sales

Your focus should be to understand what your clients’ wants and needs are and use the email newsletter to fill the gap. Our plumbing lead generation experts will show you how.

8. Use Video Marketing to Grow Your Plumbing Company

Video Marketing

Video is the new buzzword in plumbing marketing right now and for good reasons. Statistics show that videos provide a great way to communicate with your target audience, produce a high click-through rate, and incite engagement.

Quality videos instantly set your plumbing company apart from the competition who don’t utilize it.

For example, if a homeowner is having a flooding basement at night, he/she is likely to surf YouTube for answers. While there are blog posts, in a scenario of limited time/panic, videos become the go-to pals.

So, run a YouTube business channel to share DIY tips as well as your plumbing online quote to have a hold in the local market.

9. Submit Your Plumbing Website to Local Online Directories

Local Online Directories

After having your plumbing website up and running, the next step is to submit it to local online directories.

Ideally, you should partner with a reliable plumbing marketing agency like Blackstorm Design + Marketing to list your plumbing services on multiple local online business listings.

Some of the most common listing online directories that you can use for your plumbing business include:

  • Yelp
  • LinkedIn
  • Google
  • Angie’s List

Listing your plumbing business on these business listings online will help you find relevant customers for your business, saving you time in the process.

10. Understand and Analyze Your Client’s Buying Journey

Client’s Buying Journey

The client journey isn’t linear nowadays anymore (a homeowner experiences a problem; the technician fixes it, and the client is happy) but a complex journey. We are not talking about commercial clients who look for high-end proposals, even your average homeowner has particular expectations nowadays.

By putting yourself in your clients’ shoes and analyzing every step, you will be able to identify where there is friction in the whole process and make plans to ensure an exceptional experience for both existing and new clients.

For instance, you can check if:

  • Homeowners can book their service appointments directly from your plumbing website.
  • Clients always receive reminders and confirmations concerning their booking.
  • Your plumbing crews are ready to upsell instantly with a mobile quoting platform.
  • You send your invoices automatically at the end of the project immediately, without delay.
  • Feedback requests go out instantly.

And these are a few things that can truly make for a remarkable client experience. To get repeat business and generate leads, you must engage with your potential clients at every stage of their buying journey. You need a comprehensive digital marketing strategy from a reputable plumber advertising agency to achieve that.

Frequently Asked Questions on How to Grow a Plumbing Business

Question marks

How can you grow a plumbing business?

Some of the best strategies you can use to scale and grow your plumbing business online include creating a conversion-focused plumbing website, implementing the best SEO practices, investing in online reputation management services, and using social media marketing to attract new clients as well as keeping existing ones and more. Best of all, you need to partner with a plumber marketing agency like Blackstorm Design + Marketing to achieve desired ROI results.

Do plumbers make good money?

If you are wondering how much profit a plumbing business can make, here are our statistics. According to the latest US Bureau of Labor Statistics, a master plumber running a plumbing company alone can make an average of $45 per hour, if they work for at least eight hours daily they can make more than $100k in a year.

How can you start a plumbing business online?

Here are some steps you can take to ensure that your plumbing business has a vibrant online presence including but not restricted to creating a responsive plumbing website, listing it in multiple online directories, optimizing it for search engines, and using paid ads to generate leads online.

Execute these Strategies to Grow Your Plumbing Company Today

If implementing all of the above-discussed tips seems like a lot of work on your part, don’t fret. The good news is that you don’t have to work all by yourself.

Focus on what matters most to you- managing your plumbing company and let Blackstorm Design + Marketing deal with each aspect of your plumber marketing strategy on your behalf.

Contact Us

Schedule a free discovery call with Blackstorm Design + Marketing to learn more about how our experts can help increase leads and skyrocket the growth of your plumbing business today.

Categories
Plumbing SEO

Plumbing PPC Tips to Get More Qualified Leads & Booked Jobs

Outsource Your Plumbing PPC Marketing to Google Ads PPC Expert and Generate Qualified Lead for Your Plumbing Company.

If you want to be successful in a highly competitive field, like plumbing, ranking high on SERPs and attracting local customers is crucial. However, if other plumbing companies are currently ahead of your business in those rankings, it might lose out on opportunities to get leads and book more jobs.

AdWords PPC

That’s why top plumbers invest in pay-per-click advertising or PPC. Plumbing PPC ads can help you boost the visibility of your plumbing services on the internet. With PPC, when a prospect searches on Google and looks for plumbing contractors near them, your ad can be the initial thing they come across. While excellent web design and SEO are a strong foundation for internet marketing, PPC ads for plumbers can help you achieve fast results.

How does plumbing PPC work? And how can you get started? Find out why top plumbing websites invest in PPC ads and the know-how to create the best advertising strategy for your plumbing company. It is important to utilize the best practices to make the most out of PPC campaigns to attract more customers without breaking your bank account. Keep reading to understand more about PPC ads for plumbers.

What is Plumbing PPC?

PPC is a short form for pay-per-click

PPC is a short form for pay-per-click, a digital advertising model where plumbers pay every time a user clicks on your online ads. Google hosts your ad, and you only get to pay when it obtains a click. These ads targets prospects/leads who are likely to become paying clients, and their click leads them to a customized landing page on your plumber website. Essentially, it is a method of buying traffic to your plumbing website rather than trying to “earn” those visits organically.

There are multiple places on the internet where plumbing companies strategically put their Pay-Per-Click ads. These are the most famous forms of PPC campaigns that boost the visibility of your plumbing services online:

  1. Search ads are the most popular form of plumbing PPC ads strategy. Here plumbers bid on particular keywords to boost their ranking on the Search Engine Ranking Page for those searches.
  2.  Display ads can show up on multiple sites as banners that appear as a banner over the content. Plumbers can strategically host display ads on websites whose users are likely to be interested in your plumbing services.
  3. Social media ads incorporate feeds just like organic posts. Many social media platforms gather data to personalize the user experience and will assist you target plumbing PPC based on online activity and demographics.

How Do the PPC Ads for Plumbers Work?

Improve your PPC ads

A lot goes into building a winning plumbing PPC campaign: selecting and researching the correct keywords, organizing such keywords into well-organized ad groups and campaigns, and creating PPC landing pages crafted for conversions. Google rewards plumbing companies that can develop properly targeted, relevant pay-per-click campaigns by charging them less for ad clicks. If your landing pages and ads satisfy the visitor’s search intent, Google will charge you less when a prospect clicks your ad, leading to more revenue for your plumbing company. Therefore if you want to start using PPC ads, it is crucial to understand how to do it properly.

For your plumbing PPC ads to show up against organic results on search engine result pages (also known as SERP), plumbers cannot simply pay more for their ads to appear higher than other plumbing companies’ ads. Besides, your ads are subjected to what is referred to as Ad auction, an automated process that search engines like Google or Bing use to determine the validity and relevance of ads that show up on the search engine results page.

Do you need help with your plumbing PPC ad campaigns? Schedule a free strategy session with Blackstorm Design + Marketing to learn more about how PPC ads can help your plumbing business grow.

As its name suggests, the PPC ad auction involves bidding for specific keywords, which implies that plumbers must bid on the keywords they wish to “display” or “trigger” their ads.

Say, for instance, that your plumbing business offers toilet repair services. A homeowner wanting their toilet repaired might enter the search term “toilet repair services” into Google to find plumbers near them who provide such services.

At the time the homeowner submits their query, Google performs complex algorithmic calculations based on the ad auction. This assists it in determining which ads are shown up, in which order, and by which plumber.

Because you have to pay for every click on your plumbing ads, it’s crucial to bid only on keywords relevant to the plumbing services you offer, so you can rest assured that you will obtain a great ROI from your advertising dollars. Keyword research tools like Ahrefs, SEMrush, and Google Keyword Planner can assist you in identifying the right keywords that you can use to bid and drive conversions or sales without breaking your bank.

Google Ads provides an inexpensive way to drive lots of relevant traffic to your plumbing website and scale your business. But it takes a lot of time and effort to create a successful plumbing PPC campaign. Some of the factors that affect the costs of your PPC campaign include:

  • The relevance of search terms(keywords) you want to bid on:  Are they the keywords that prospects or clients use to find their plumbing services online?
  • Quality of your landing pages and plumbing ads: Search engines like Google reward the best plumbing ads and reduces the cost to plumbers who offer superior customer experience.
  • A great account structure:  Your plumbing PPC account is likened to a house. Thus, you need to create everything from a strong foundation.

What Are the Benefits of Plumbing PPC Ads?

PPC ad campaigns attract qualified leads

PPC’s marketing strategy resonates with plumbing contractors because prospects who click on such ads end up booking jobs with them. Besides generating new qualified leads, such ads target hot leads who are already interested in your plumbing services. PPC ad campaigns attract qualified leads since they are optimized to find prospects and display an ad that will probably engage them.

PPC ads for plumbers have impressive conversion rates and return on investment (ROI). They can help you save money while making the most out of your internet marketing investment.

Some of the advantages of using PPC ads in your plumbing company include;

1. Plumbing PPC Ads Get Fast Results

Running PPC obtain instant results.

Plumbing contractors require results, and they need them fast. Running PPC ads is no doubt the fastest way to carry out an advertising campaign strategy and obtain instant results.

Simply put, if you have an operational plumbing website, you can instantly create a Google Ads account, run your ads and pass them through the Google network and begin obtaining instant traffic.

This is a simplified version of how PPC works, but we just wanted you to know that Google Ads for plumbers are very efficient for reaching your target market in the fastest way possible.

2. PPC ads for Plumbers Are More Cost-Effective

Pay-Per-Click advertising campaigns operate by bidding on particular plumbing keywords. Plumbers with cutthroat PPC marketing strategies set a maximum bid on each keyword, thus preventing them from overspending on what they intended to invest.

Plumbing PPC ads help you have overall control of your placements, targeting, and your budget. With an ongoing optimization of Google Ads in your plumbing company, you will instantly identify the sweet spot between results and budget. With our PPC ads for plumber services, you will never be concerned about ad reach or impressions, and you will only pay for clicks, implying that you are in full control of your ad spend.

3. Plumbing PPC ads Helps You Target the Right Audience

Target the Right Audience

When running a PPC ad campaign for your plumbing company, you select where and when your ads will show up based on various factors, including device, keywords, website, date, time, and more.  

Such flexibility helps you segment your target market and bring your plumbing services in front of the right audience. Your plumbing ads can be displayed to users depending on gender, location, age, and details of where you frequent most on the internet. Targeting such points can be particularly helpful for your plumbing business to find local clients.

4. Results Tracking

Web Analytics

Plumbers who invest in PPC ads can view analytics on how their ads perform on several audiences. The beauty of these ads is that all you do has a clear target that can be measured. You can measure everything related to your plumbing advertising campaign from views, traffic, clicks, profits, and costs. From the moment you launch your PPC ad campaign, you understand how much you have spent and if you are generating a loss or profits.

5. PPC ads Help to Drive Warm Leads to Your Plumbing Business

PPC ads for plumbers are one of the effective ways of driving warm leads that are likely to schedule some service appointments. In fact, PPC prospects are 50% more likely to book a plumbing job than organic leads.

These prospects click on ads since they want to find plumbers that suit their requirements. They are ready to book a job but required to identify the right plumbing business that fits their search query. Therefore, keyword research is crucial, and it assists in drawing in warm leads that are more interested in your plumbing services or products.

6. PPC ads for Plumbers Lead to a Great ROI

ROI word wooden blocks with coins

Another benefit of plumbing PPC ads is that everything can be measured, improved, and optimized.

Unlike many other internet marketing options, Google Ad campaigns are simple to measure, which implies you can enhance your ads until they give a positive ROI.

On average, our PPC ads campaigns produce $2 for every $1 spent, implying that it is a low-risk advertising strategy for reaching new customers.

7. No Need to Worry About Constant Google Algorithms

Unlike plumbing SEO and content marketing which depends on algorithmic updates, PPC ads provide stability. But one of the benefits of PPC ads is that once you develop profitable campaigns, you don’t need to care about Google algorithmic updates.

Actionable Tips to Create a Successful PPC Ad Campaign for Your Plumbing Business

PPC Advertising tips

A plumbing PPC ad campaign, when done properly, can be a profitable and valuable tool for your company. It can be an effective way to attract new clients online that are likely to be interested in your plumbing services.

However, your Google Ad campaign must be implemented properly as possible to achieve desired results. Here are some steps that you can take to make the most out of your plumbing PPC campaign:

Begin by Optimizing Your Plumbing Website

Before you launch any PPC campaign, you must take a step back and solve the landing pages that will work together with your ads. Here’s why it’s so crucial: when a potential client clicks on a PPC ad, it is because your ad text intrigued them, and they are hungry to know more. But if the link directs them to a generic or unrelated page to your plumbing website, like your homepage, then that potential client will likely click off to the competition.

A click on your plumbing ad is a desire to discover what the ad was about, which is why it’s super important to develop customized landing pages that compliment your ad’s content. For example, if you are running a PPC ad offering clogged drain repair services in your plumbing services, then the landing page of the ad should be about more details about the clogged drain, something that resonates specifically with the ad text.

Another thing that you need to do with your landing pages is to ensure that they are optimized for performance because if potential clients click on your ad and end up on a page that loads at a crocodile pace, is hard to navigate, or has other technical issues, then they will also bounce. So take time to maximize your plumbing website conversions so that potential customers who come later will be more likely to follow through. Here are some of the tips that you can use to optimize your plumbing website for conversions:

  • Use compelling and clear calls to action (CTA).
  • Write attention-grabbing and compelling headlines.
  • Use a simple plumbing website design with a lot of white space.
  • Write a straightforward and clear copy.
  • Use images and videos strategically to retain attention.
  • Make your information easy to digest by utilizing stand-out quotations, visuals, and bullets.
  •  Choose a Bidding Strategy

    Google Ads Target CPA Bidding

    There are multiple strategies to select from, and choosing the right one will depend on various factors, including your expertise with PPC, budget, and objectives. One of the first decisions you will have to make is whether to use automated or manual bidding. If you are new to plumbing PPC, you may opt to begin with manual bidding, especially if you are working with a minimal budget since manual bidding allows you to set a cap on the cost per click. The main disadvantage of manual bidding is that it doesn’t give you a chance to optimize your bids.

    On the flip side, automated bidding will minimize the time you will require to manage your plumbing ad campaign, but you may end up paying more. Essentially, you can select several bidding strategies depending on whether your objective is to increase traffic, visibility, and conversions.

    Set a Budget

    Estimating a Budget

    Budget is an essential component of your plumbing PPC campaign, but the major benefit of this kind of advertising strategy is that you can operate it on a limited budget, and you can have control over your ad spend. In fact, if you are just starting out in PPC ads but don’t have a lot of money to spend, you can still get started with a small investment of $25.

    Choose The Right Keywords

    Business team search keyword

    Keyword research is one of the most crucial aspects of your plumbing PPC ad campaign because it is the backbone of the whole process. When selecting your keywords, think about your customers and the search terms they are likely to use when looking for your plumbing services online.

    Create several ad groups that contain several keywords that are specific ad groups. This will help to keep your ads relevant to prospects or clients.

    Last but not least, don’t forget to utilize negative keywords to increase your conversion rates by filtering out those leads that aren’t specifically searching for your plumbing services online.

    Create a Killer Plumbing Ad

    Once you have designed your landing page, selected a budget and bidding structure, and done proper keyword research, now it’s time to develop that compelling and killer ad that will attract wallet-out prospects.

    Another crucial thing is to have an end goal when writing your ad copy. To grab the attention of your prospects or clients is to think of developing a unique value proposition that makes you different from other plumbing contractors in the area.

    Use Geo-Targeting

    Geotargeting word concept

    Geo-targeting, also known as local PPC, is a plumbing marketing strategy crafted to target an audience within a specific geographical location. Utilize the best geo-targeting practices in Google Ads to create customized campaigns that will deliver your message to potential clients based on their geographic location.

    Geo-targeting can be beneficial in helping to optimize your performance. For instance, it helps you create an ad copy that determines the location-specific aspects like specific terms or keywords that only the local target market understands.

    As a result, your ads resonate more with users, and the higher your chances of increasing your click-through rate (CTR) and getting more qualified leads.

    Utilize Retargeting Ads

    How retargeting works

    A successful plumbing remarketing campaign strategy puts ads in front of users who are familiar with your website and convinces them to return and give your business a second chance.

    Retargeting ads can nurture your customer journey by engaging potential clients with content that assists them in re-consider your offer and seeing if it is suitable for them.

    Combine with Plumbing SEO

    PPC ads for plumbers should be used together with SEO.

    SEO data or information can inform your Google Ads data, as well as the other way round. For instance, PPC ads will help you know which keywords are generating or converting more leads. Such information can assist your plumbing website rank higher when utilizing SEO. Thus, running both a PPC and plumbing SEO campaign simultaneously can help your business achieve optimal results!

    Reasons Why You Need to Hire a Plumbing PPC Ad Agency to Grow Your Business

    Digital Marketing Agency

    Managing your PPC ads involves a lot of things, including setting up, optimizing, and monitoring paid search campaigns. The process can be time-consuming and complex, especially for your in-house marketing teams that handle other sensibilities.

    To maximize the returns you get from your plumbing PPC campaigns and offer the most optimal results, and plumbers should consider hiring a plumbing marketing agency like Blackstorm Design + Marketing to manage their Google Ad campaigns.

    Here are some reasons why you need to trust us to manage PPC ads for your plumbing business:

    Save Time

    Businessman checking the time.

    As a plumber, you will save a lot of time needed for developing ads, creative assets and campaign setup, and managing your plumbing PPC campaign. This is particularly beneficial if you are new to plumbing ads.

    Get Instant Results

    Professional plumbing Google Ad agencies like Blactstorm Design + Marketing are experienced at generating desired results.

    Detailed, Transparent Reporting

    Digital Marketing Agency

    At Blackstorm Design + Marketing, we have all the technologies and tools to monitor your campaign accurately and offer progress reports.

    Frequently Asked Questions About Plumbing PPC

    Frequently Asked Questions

    What is plumbing PPC?

    If you want to increase the visibility of your plumbing company services online, then you need to invest in pay-per-click advertising campaigns. Every time a prospect searches on Google for local plumbers, your PPC ad will show up on top of the results listed.

    Is PPC for Plumbers Worth it?

    As the stiff competition for new clients continues, PPC ads for plumbers form one of the effective ways of getting in front of prospects looking for your plumbing services on the internet.

    Don’t Trust Your Plumbing Google Ads Campaign to any Marketing Agency

    Pay Per Click Advertising

    Schedule a free discovery call with Blackstorm Design+ Marketing to learn how PPC ads can help grow your plumbing business today.

Categories
Plumbing SEO

How to Create a Plumbing Landing Pages That Converts Leads Into Paying Clients

Promote your Plumbing Services with the Best Landing Page That Generates Qualified leads

Best Plumbing Landing Page

When looking for plumbing contractors, most homeowners have one objective: finding a reasonably-priced and trustworthy plumber-someone they can rely on.

Naturally, this implies plumbing landing pages should have a straightforward objective: to convince prospects they are reliable, a plumber they can trust, and one that charges an affordable price.

You can easily attain all this with a landing page designed to scream that you are 100% reliable.

This post will help you build a trust-earning, high converting plumbing landing page for your business.

Without further ado, let’s dive into our post.

What is a plumbing landing page?

A static webpage that works like a catalyst

A plumber landing page is a static webpage that works like a catalyst to help prospects or leads through the buying journey and closer to becoming paying clients. It is a single-page destination URL after clicking your plumbing PPC ads or any other online promotion. Unlike other pages on your plumbing website, a plumbing landing page has only one goal; to convince website visitors to take a specific desired action.

Why Does Your Plumbing Business Need an Effective Landing Page for PPC Campaigns?

Business Need an Effective Landing Page for PPC Campaigns

Some plumbers opt to send potential clients who click their paid ads to their site’s homepage. While this will direct them to a page with crucial information about your business, it is not the most effective option when conducting search marketing.

Instead of sending prospects to a generic homepage, it’s more advisable to develop a custom plumbing landing page with an offer and information tailored to the verbiage in the paid search ad. While landing pages can serve multiple purposes, one of our techniques is to create one for plumbing PPC ads.

Here, we will look at the many advantages of building an effective landing page for plumber PPC and what features go into developing a winning page.

  • Increase Conversion Rate

Increase Conversion Rate

Creating a custom plumbing landing page is one of the keys to skyrocketing the conversion rates on your paid search ads. Your ad copy should be for specific plumbing service or offer. When a prospect clicks on the ad’s link, they want to understand more about a particular plumbing service, not to be directed to a page that’s generally about your plumbing business.

When visitors are directed to your website’s homepage, it is now up to them to search for relevant details to what they came across on your paid search ad. Even if you have a professionally designed plumbing website, it’s easy for prospects to become impatient and frustrated, searching for the information they wish they got right in front of them instantly. That makes them more likely to give up their search and look to the SERPs.

However, a custom landing page that addresses the message from your ad directly presents the prospects with all the details they want to know. This is a lot more to generate immediate positive feedback from viewers.

  • Reduce the Cost per Click

Cost per Click

A highly converting plumbing landing page also helps to keep the cost per click at low levels. When more prospects convert, you are generating more income from your PPC ad campaign, which implies that you are getting more bang for your advertising dollars along the way.

  • Get a Good Ads Quality Score

Get a Good Ads Quality Score

There is yet another benefit to designing an effective landing page for your PPC ads. When you obtain higher conversion rates and keep prospects on your plumbing website for long, Google takes notice. They consider that your site’s content must be relevant to searches and so in turn, increase your standing on the website. They reward quality ads with higher placement and display them more frequently.

Tips for Building a Great Plumbing Landing Page

Tips for Building a Great Plumbing Landing Page

Since you understand all the benefits that a solid plumber landing page can offer, let’s talk about how to build one.

1. Focus on a Single Call to Action

Prospects or visitors are coming to your landing page because of your offer or the plumbing service you cited in your PPC ad. Your plumbing landing page should have one call to action, and it should be directly related to the service or offer from your ad.

Let’s say, for instance, that you own a plumbing business. Your plumbing PPC ad touts your business as offering same-day service. Prospects clicking on your ad may not be interested in the projects you do install eco-friendly plumbing systems as part of home remodeling. They probably have an emergency and are in dire need of emergency help. Your landing page should have one call to action that directs them to your online booking platform so that they can obtain on your calendar ASAP.

2. Keep the Page Simple and Clean

Simple and Clean Landing Page

Since visitors are landing there with one express goal in mind, they don’t require many details to convert. Instead, use one relevant, bold image, a simple image, and a clear description of the service you are expecting you will do.

Let’s revisit our previous plumbing example. Begin with a headline that says something like “same-day plumbing services, 365 days a year”. The picture should be a hero image-one of a plumbing technician in front of his truck and a pose that says explicitly, “Am ready to solve all your plumbing issues or problems!”

3. Make Your Offer Valuable

Generally, landing pages incorporate a lead form to get contact details. Lead exchange their details for your plumbing offer, providing you a new name to market to or additional data on an existing lead so you can customize or personalize your plumber marketing to them.

No homeowner will offer their contact details in exchange for something that doesn’t have a tangible value. Ensure your plumbing offer gives real value or helps to resolve a common problem.

4. Include a Compelling Header

Include a Compelling Header

Your page header is often the initial thing that prospects or clients see, and this offers you a great opportunity to hook them right when they land. Make sure your header is clear so that your target audience isn’t confused by it. Don’t attempt to be overly clever, or you will lose prospects.

5. Make Your Contact Information Prominently Visible

Contact Page

NAP is a short form for Name, Address, and Phone number. The first reason for making your contact details prominently visible is that they can help with your plumbing SEO. They signal to Google or other search engines that your plumbing company is legitimate since your listings are consistent. Secondly, NAP citations are crucial since not all prospects who make it to your landing page will be at a stage in your sales funnel where they are ready to convert.

They might be interested in your plumbing services but may have some concerns about them before buying decisions.

NAP citations, preferably in form of a contact link, will make it simple to reach out to you.

6. Use Bullets to Convey Key Points

Bullet points

Utilizing bullets is an effective way to convey the key points of your plumbing offer in a short-form web copy. Consider the most crucial points you wish to convey and develop punchy bullets that communicate your major points in as few phrases as possible.

7. Promote it on social media

Use social media to increase the reach of your plumbing landing page offer.

You should use social media to increase the reach of your plumbing landing page offer. You can create regular posts for your brand followers. You can boost your social media posts to increase your reach. Or utilize social media advertising, like Facebook ads, to place your offer in front of wallet-out prospects.

8. Leverage PPC ads to Generate Traffic

PPC ads

Pay-Per-Click advertising for plumbers pushes your ad on top of search engine results for a plumbing-related keyword. Utilize this tactic to place your offer in front of new customers looking for that term. Plumbing landing pages produce more conversions than those that are not advertised or promoted, so utilize PPC ads to generate more traffic.

Plumbing Landing Page Optimization Services from Blackstorm Design + Marketing

Blackstorm Design + Marketing offers high-quality plumbing landing pages

The tips offered above revolve around one main thing: persuading a prospect to take your desired action once they come to your plumbing landing page.

Think like your prospects or clients. Put yourself in their shoes. Ask yourself what would engage you more if you visited a landing page.

A well-designed plumbing landing page can be the difference between a mediocre advertising campaign and a gold mine. The good news is that by using the tips in this post for your landing pages, you can design landing pages that can develop incredibly compelling pages for your plumbing company.

Incidentally, if you would like some assistance creating some high-quality plumbing landing pages or would like to revise your existing landing pages, schedule a free discovery call with Blackstorm Design + Marketing to get a conversion-focused landing page for your plumbing business today.

Categories
SEO

Here’s Why Paying For Your Traffic Is A Smart Move

There are so many success stories you will hear about businesses making it good in the Internet. The troubling thing is, there are maybe a tenfold or even a hundredfold of stories contradictory to theirs. Many have unsuccessfully launched a business enterprise that is Internet based but only a handful shall succeed.
Is this through luck? That is even more remote. It takes good business sense and a lot of help and team effort. Most importantly, it is the eagerness to succeed and the determination to learn and the willingness to invest in a lot of hard work and some money.

The Very Basic

bigstock-Increase-Web-Traffic-Concept-32354933Like Neo, traffic is ‘The One’. Without traffic, all your effort would just go to waste. Every business needs customers, without them you wouldn’t have anyone to sell your products to. In the Internet world traffic is the walk in customer. The more traffic you have the more people would be able to sell your products to.
But like any business that’s in every corner building or in the mall, not everyone that goes in will buy, but the greater of number that do come in to browse your merchandise, the greater number of people that will buy your products. It is a simple and known fact.
But, how do you get traffic, traffic large enough that could make a small percentage of eventual buyers enough to make a good profit. Many big companies generate traffic of tens of thousands a day and a measly ten to fifteen percent actually buys, but that small percentage is enough to provide them with good business.
Many of these success stories get their traffic from paying others. Yes that’s right; you have to spend money to make money. Advertising is the key. The more people that knows that your site exists; the more people would of course go to your site, that’s common sense.
While there are many ways that can get you advertising for free, this do not generate the same high volume as those methods that are getting paid. These paid advertisements include advertising schemes by Google and Bing/Yahoo.

The Value of Searches

The search and will be the easiest and fastest medium in finding what a person needs in the Internet. Search engines have been very popular because they provide a vital service to many people. They are free and easy to use. With this popularity, they get many visitors and clicks that they are the most common sites that people go to. It is easy to understand why so many companies would pay to advertise with these search engines.
Search engines provide information to the millions of users that they have each day. They provide links to many sites that a user may be looking for. If your sites link pops up in the high ranks of the search results page, you get a great chance that they will go to your site. While search engine optimization is a cheaper and low cost way to get your site a high rank, paying for advertisements will ensure that you will be on the top ranks.
paying-trafficWhen you pay for your advertisements, it is like paying for your traffic. This may sound like not such a good idea, but the payoffs would tell a different story. When you pay for your traffic, you are guaranteed of a consistent traffic flow to your site. You will never go with an empty sales day.

Paying for your Traffic

Usually, you will be charged with the number of hits a link gets when your ads is clicked, this is called pay per click. For some search engines, you will be charged with the number of times your ad shows up when a certain keyword or keyword phrase is searched. It is imperative that you have good keyword content in your ad. There are many tools that aid you in using the right keyword for the right moment.
All the money you spend in paying for your traffic will not be for naught. You will get an impressive boost in traffic, which will also result, to a great boost in your sales figures. Paying for your traffic would be a really good idea and you will get all the benefits it has to offer.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

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