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It's no secret that the Internet is quickly becoming the leading research tool used by consumers. But did you know that it's also becoming a primary way consumers search for flooring service professionals?
Your customers are relying less on the traditional methods such as the Yellow Pages and newspapers to find you. Instead they are "Googling" their searches. Online marketing will become increasingly important for small businesses like yours as more consumers turn to the Internet to find local information and product and service providers.
Online marketing is new to many wood flooring contractors and retailers, and it can seem overwhelming. What generates the most leads? What provides the best return on investment? Should you do it yourself or hire someone? Like any good marketing initiative, you must find a solution that is cost-effective, targeted in reach and easy to manage.
While it is not difficult to build a Web site, it can be challenging to get visitors to it and even harder to turn them into actual leads. To get potential customers to your site and convert them into real sales leads, your Web site must be built so it effectively weeds out nonprospects and captures enough leads to make it worthwhile and cost-effective. This usually requires hiring a professional Web development firm. Once you have a site that generates leads, you then need to drive traffic to it. Here are some strategies to help customers find your Web site.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Search engines can be a good source of Web site traffic. You can submit your Web site for inclusion in the major search engines. With the right approach (and a lot of patience), your site can be listed within the search engine databases and tagged for keywords that are included in the Web site's copy. Search engines study your Web site to determine which keywords are applicable and use those to order search results. For example, if a consumer searches on Google for "install hardwood floors in Denver," they will likely be shown Web sites containing this keyword phrase. Commonly used keyword combinations regularly change, impacting the placement of your Web site in the search results. As a result, managing keyword combinations can be time-intensive and requires extensive search engine expertise. Also, the more competition you have for those keyword combinations, the harder it will be to achieve high search engine placement. Without professional SEO help, it is unlikely that you will receive significant Web site traffic from search engines.
Pay-Per-Click Advertising (PPC)
As mentioned above, keyword combinations are essential to a Web site's placement within the search results. Studies show that people typically do not go beyond the first page in search results. If your Web site is not listed on the first page, chances are most consumers are not going to find you. To make sure a Web site is found, many businesses have begun creating online advertisements and purchasing first-page placement to ensure their Web sites rank highly.
PPC advertising involves bidding on keywords and keyword phrases. For example, a search on Yahoo for "hardwood floor installers in Denver," brings up advertisements related to this topic. The ads appear on the right-hand side of the page or in the "Sponsored Listings" section above the search results. The order of ads is driven by bid prices. To effectively reach your target audience, you need to research, create and monitor potentially thousands of keywords on multiple search engines. The price you pay per keyword depends on the amount of competition, but typically ranges from as little as $0.10 to as much as several dollars per click. Price-per-click can change at any time as other advertisers increase or decrease their bids. An effective PPC campaign must include close monitoring and frequent adjustments.
To maximize your Web site traffic, you have to think broadly when bidding on keywords. For example, if you own a flooring business in Denver but also take jobs in the surrounding areas such as Aurora, Littleton, Highlands Ranch and Lakewood, you would need to purchase several word variations that contain each city name. A few examples include: "find a hardwood flooring installer in (city);" "flooring services in (city);" "install hardwood floors (city);" "hardwood flooring companies (city);" "hire a company to install hardwood floors (city)." However, be careful not to bid on nontargeted keywords. While it may initially seem like a good idea to simply bid on "find a hardwood floor company" to capture all traffic, you will end up paying for clicks from consumers who do not live in your service area.
Remember you are paying for clicks to your Web site, not leads. These clicks must then be converted to leads, which requires a great Web site that is built for lead generation. Most Web sites convert clicks to leads at a rate of less than 1 percent, so consider that when assessing the true cost of PPC advertising.
Internet Yellow Pages (IYP)
Due to the growth of consumer usage of the Internet, the Yellow Pages have attempted to transfer the traditional print version to the online medium.
Like other online search mechanisms, consumers typically review the results listed on the first page (usually between 10 to 20 listings). To have your business listed in the top results you will likely need to purchase a sponsored listing. The higher number of categories and coverage areas in which you choose to be included determines your cost.
Like traditional Yellow Page advertisements, seniority and financial investment determine placement of your sponsored listing; the more you pay, the higher you are listed on the results page. Payment methods for IYP ads vary by directory, with some requiring an upfront payment and others offering the PPC method discussed earlier. The PPC method allows you to measure how many customers are clicking on your listing, but again, it is only meaningful if the clicks can be converted to leads on your Web site.
SEO, PPC and IYP advertising can be done internally if you have the time and expertise in Internet and search engine marketing. A more common choice is to outsource these activities to search engine marketing professionals. Be careful about the costs, and make sure to measure the actual leads resulting from your efforts, not simply the number of visitors to your site. While it is great to have a Web site and even better to get a lot of visitors, it is only meaningful if you are able to convert a high percentage of visitors into warm sales leads. Otherwise, the advertising dollars you have spent are wasted.
Online Lead-Generation Services
Online lead-generation services bring targeted leads to residential contractors in their geographic area and specific to their type of work. Because of their size, lead-generation Web sites can manage keyword searches on a variety of popular terms, such as "hardwood flooring," for which individual businesses have difficulty making cost-effective bids. The consumer enters the lead-generation site and is asked a series of questions to narrow the field of professionals who do the specified work. The service then sends the consumer the contact information for the contractor who performs the selected work. By doing so, online lead-generation services match businesses with the interested consumers they may not reach with other marketing initiatives. As a result, contractors are able to tap a new client base and have access to a steady flow of their most preferred jobs, enabling them to spend less time and effort prospecting. Instead, they have potential jobs come to them. And they only pay when they get a lead.
These services create a way for residential contractors to get broad Inter net exposure without having to pay large fees up front, build and maintain a complex Web site, or become Internet marketing experts or search engine gurus. The service does it for them, and they benefit from an increase in targeted consumer demand.
Consumers like to use these online services to find contractors because they reduce the time spent finding service professionals. Many online lead-generation services pre-screen member businesses for state and business/trade licensing and insurance. Some services even help facilitate a warm introduction between the consumer and contractor through company profiles and reviews.
As the number of consumers turning to the Web for local business information increases, online marketing has become an important tool for wood flooring professionals. Select an online marketing method that fits your budget and your business.