5 Digital Marketing Lessons I Learned Growing Real Local Service Businesses

I never believed that digital marketing was a thing of the past and that it was about some cool campaigns and viral content. Then I began to work with plumbers, electricians and HVAC technicians that simply wanted to have phones that rang. So they weren’t worried about impressions or clicks. They had the interests of the paying public at heart! A different way of thinking brought about a complete change in everything.

I found out that it’s a very different way to market a local service business as opposed to marketing online products. No one would go out and start reading reviews about someone they are looking to hire in case of an emergency. They need help now. This article will outline 5 lessons I’ve learned the hard way over the years that I’ve helped contractors grow their business with local SEO for home services to become the top results on the search results page. Whether you’re an HVAC contractor looking to be found online or a digital marketing agency, you can use these insights to help improve your chances.

Lesson one: The map pack reigns supreme

I started out early in my career, and was really more concerned about getting traffic to my site. I created and optimized blogs, after back links. Then a client said to me, in what seemed a very simple question, “Why is my customer always always first to Google Map my competitor?” When I got my answer on that I went down another new road. I understood that in most cases the map pack is the ultimate finish line in which people search for home services. Individuals type in the query “plumber near me” and dial the initial three companies they come across.

They do not often click on to a web page. So I changed my plans for the better. I began to optimize the Google Business Profiles just like I used to optimize websites with. I completed services and added photos, before and after, and answered all of the reviews. It wasn’t long before the outcomes became apparent. It’s at that point that local SEO becomes all about home services visibility—when and where users are looking for it. This lesson is a must for digital marketers. Don’t forget to use local listings. They can send more leads as compared to your entire SEO campaign.

Lesson Two: One-Size-Fits-All Pages do not Convert

I made a classic error from the get-go. For an HVAC client I created one of the most beautiful service pages and named it “Heating and Cooling Services. The page was quite good, and received very few calls. I then had a look at real search data. These were the queries that people were looking for: “furnace repair,” “AC installation,” “heat pump maintenance,” and “thermostat replacement. The meanings of each of the terms were different. At midnight when a homeowner’s furnace has broken down, they don’t need information about AC installation.

They’re all requesting a phone number and help now. I’ve decided to have individual pages for each particular service. One page for each problem/solution. Within a couple weeks, calls began to be more numerous. This seems particularly effective for HVAC SEO, since customers require very specific solutions for their HVAC requirements. But from a digital marketing point of view it teaches one big lesson – content to match with Micro Intent. Be sure not to lead visitors by the nose to look for what they are interested in.

Lesson 3: Reviews Are Word of Mouth, but Digital.

It doesn’t matter how much technical SEO work you’re doing if nobody trusts you. This lesson was cemented when I analyzed two nearly identical roofing companies. One of them had 250 five-star reviews on Google. The other had 12. Guess which one was ranked higher, was getting more clicks, and was able to charge a significantly higher price? It was the one with 250 reviews. People simply trusted it more.

With that, I built a simple review generating system for my clients. After each job was finished, we simply sent a text with a direct link to leave a Google review. We politely asked, and we made it incredibly simple for them to do. The review number grew, and so did my clients’ lead numbers. This is a critical part of local SEO for home services businesses, but really a core element of digital marketing in general. Social proof trumps nearly all other ranking factors. If you’re marketing any local business, prioritize your reputation.

Fourth Lesson: Educational content brings customers who want to buy

A client from HVAC wanted to rank for “best hvac company near me.” It was extremely competitive and full of advertising. Instead of fighting for ads, I advised him to answer questions that people ask before calling an hvac company. We wrote short articles that people would be interested in like: Why is my AC blowing warm air? Or how often should I change my air filter? These articles brought in people who already had an issue with their hvac system- not someone just browsing on the web. Visitors calling at a higher rate than other traffic types. This is brilliant in seo for hvac companies because a homeowner looks for a problem, not for a service they want performed. For us marketers, this is a fantastic lesson: Solve problems, don’t look for keywords. Educational content brings highly qualified leads that know who to call before they even dial.

Lesson Five: Local Service Digital Marketing Takes Time

The biggest challenge was to impart patience. Business owners are desperate to see results within the first week. However, effective long-term digital marketing requires commitment to process, time, and strategic development. I’ve had contractors call up and cancel within 3 weeks of starting with us, due to not showing up on page one of the search engines yet. Six months later, their competitor, who decided to stick with the process, dominated local search results while the contractor that jumped ship had to start the process all over again.

It was tough to set expectations appropriately from day one, and that’s why my agency now always emphasizes steady improvements: better citations, increased reviews, faster page speeds, informative content, etc. The local SEO and digital marketing efforts that I see have long-term success are those that commit to at least six months of strategic promotion. Quick wins simply don’t exist in an ever-evolving digital landscape, especially in the realm oflocal search for home services, orany other field of digital marketing.

Common Questions Asked

1.How soon can I expect to see results from local SEO?

You will begin to notice some results between 60 to 90 days. But significant lead growth can typically be expected within four to six months, so persistence is crucial.

2. Can I do local SEO myself or do I need to use an agency?

You will be able to cover the fundamental practices, such as claiming your Google Business Profile and getting customer reviews. Nevertheless, building citations, technical SEO and content strategy are typically reserved for agencies such as California Infotech because of their specialist nature, to ensure maximum potential and time is being optimized.

3. Do I treat local SEO for HVAC companies differently than I would for home service businesses?

The basic principles are the same, but in heating &  seo for hvac companies cooling there are both seasonal and urgent search behaviors to consider. It will be vital to manage ‘repair near me’ queries as well as planned installations. Therefore it is essential for a business’s strategy to include the appropriate content and timing for the seasons to meet the search behaviors.

Conclusion

At the end of the day, digital marketing for the local service industry isn’t about magic or secret tricks. It’s about the correct person finding your business at the right time. Everything I learned working with the plumber and HVAC companies can apply to practically every local business in any service industry. The most important things to focus on are visibility in Google Maps, developing service-specific landing pages, soliciting reviews regularly, answering customer’s questions with content and understanding that this requires patience.California Infotech helps local service businesses by creating digital marketing strategies that generate phone calls, not just website traffic and with anything from local SEO for home service companies to complete online presence redevelopment. Contact us to start getting more customers walking through your door or picking up their phone to dial you today.