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Measure Twice, Cut Once Works on Websites Too!

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I want to cover some things you and your staff (if you have any) should do before launching an advertising campaign online. The biggest thing you need to consider right now, today, before you spend one dime promoting your contracting business online is – your existing website.

If your current website is merely a place holder or “online brochure”, then it’s time to get real. If you’re lucky, people are coming to your site everyday and leaving without contacting you. Yeah, you read that right, I said lucky. You are lucky because prospects are finding you in spite of the fact that you have a shitty website. Trust me when I tell you, not having traffic and still having a shitty site is much, much worse!

Why is a terrible site with traffic a good thing?

Because fixing the site means people will stay around longer and God forbid, maybe join your mailing list or even become a client or customer! Now, I am a marketing guy from way back, so I never really adopted the “sticky” philosophy many web types talk about. You should want prospects to stop by your site to educate themselves on your business, become clients or customers, and continue to buy your products or services while referring you to friends and family. If your goal is anything other than what I just laid out for you, then you are reading the wrong blog!

So, let’s talk about fixing your site

Now, I am a firm believer in the old saying “You don’t know where you are going if you don’t know where you’ve been”, so let’s get an idea of where your site is. First, let’s find what Google knows about your site:

Step 1: Go to the Google search page at www.google.com and type the following without quotes “site:YourDomainName.com” in the search bar. It should go without saying, but in case you haven’t had enough coffee yet, replace YourDomainName.com with your actual website address. Google will list all of your pages they have in their index. The higher the number of pages listed the better. You can also try this tactic for your competition. That way, you can get a nice list of sites and review their material all at once.  Then test some of your links by clicking on them to make sure they go to the pages they are supposed to. If they don’t, get them fixed ASAP.

Step 2: Now, go back to the Google search bar and type “links:YourDomain.com”. This is the total number of sites that link TO YOUR SITE. Again, the higher the number the better. To Google, more links means you are an authority on your topic. You always want to be increasing your links and you should have a solid linking strategy and stick to it.

Step 3: If you haven’t already, go to Google Webmaster Tools and sign up for an account. Once you sign up, you will be given a piece of code to insert on your site. This code is what Google uses to give you vital information about the status of your site. You can read more about Google Webmaster Tools here.

Step 4: Again, if you haven’t already, go and sign up for a Google Analytics account. It’s a free service from Google and it tells you everything you need to know about the visitors to your site. Once you install the analytics code, you will know how many visitors come to your site, how they got there, how long they stay, how many pages they view and much more. You can find out more about Google Analytics here.

Once you have this information, you can then begin to track your progress. If up until now you have just relied on the reports you get from your webmaster then you are doing yourself a huge disservice. You need to be involved in every aspect of your website just as you are in your business.

Design Consideration for Contractor Websites

Color: Just like your home or office, a fresh coat of paint does wonders to freshen up a stale looking website.  How long has it been since you changed the look and feel of your site? Does your color scheme scream 1990’s web 1.0?

Spelling & Punctuation Errors: Do you know if your site has any spelling or grammatical errors? I bet your customers do! You need to check your site and make sure everything passes your 3rd grade English teacher’s smell test. If your site is too big to check, offer a small reward to your visitors by pointing out any errors they find.

Layout & Usability: This is the ultimate website functionality killer! More people leave a site because of navigation issues than any other reason. To combat this, follow some simple yet effective tips to make sure your visitors are getting the experience on your site they deserve. Things like broken links, pages that end without giving any direction on what to do next, PDF files that take forever to load. These are just some of the layout issues that send people screaming into the night and off of your pages. Now, I understand you have a business to run, and maybe all this website stuff is beyond your ability. Then you need to read just one book; “Don’t Make Me Think ” to realize how site design and layout determines the way your visitors interact with your site and by extension, your company.

Selling Factor: This isn’t a typical metric or deliverable you are going to find from most site designers, but it needs to be a key factor to you. You basically need to know how well your site does at converting a prospect into a lead, and then into a client or customer. If you haven’t gotten much business from your website, then there is plenty of work to do. The good part is, just fixing the selling factor alone could be enough to start the sales engine your website needs. You can determine the “Selling Factor” using Google Analytics or with the help of your webmaster.

Scalability: How open is your current website to scale? What that means is any online advertising is going to put extra strain on your site and system resources. Ever hear of the Digg effect? It’s when a site or blog gets on the front page of Digg and all of a sudden thousands of visitors show up on your virtual doorstep. If your site isn’t hosted on a robust enough server it is going to crash at absolutely the worst possible time. In other words, now is a good time to evaluate your current hosting company BEFORE the heavy traffic comes. And to make it easy on you, if you are paying $4.95 for a basic shared plan, then I have two words for you…your screwed. So, if you are in the market for a new hosting company, check out BlogOnCloud9, they can handle all the traffic you can throw at them.

So, that’s a pretty good start to getting your website ready for what hopefully will be a flood of new clients and customers. If you want to get a copy of my “website preparedness” worksheet, drop me an email or let me know in the comments below and I will get one out to you.

Classified Ads Aren’t Just For Strippers

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There are contractors out there that still find value advertising locally in their classified ads, and classified advertising has transitioned well online on sites like Craigslist.org. In fact, some of the most successful contractors I know make it a point to steadily advertise their businesses on Craigslist as part of their overall marketing strategy.

But who reads the classifieds? Buyers do!

Classified advertising isn’t about flash or pizzazz; it’s about answering the reader’s question. And let’s face it, people reading the classifieds are buyers. Think about it, have you ever looked on Craigslist or in the classified section because you had some time to kill?More

Marketing is Like Meatballs

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Having a Birthday during the winter means there will be times when your party gets rearranged, which is exactly what happen to my daughter last weekend. So, last night my wife was whipping up meatballs for sandwiches and asked me how many I thought she should make. I said you have to make sure you have enough to cover everyone and then some.

But she cooked up a bunch of trays without figuring out the meatball to people ratio and therefore didn’t know. So, we had to count the meatballs, then consider how many each guest would eat, and then decide if we had enough to cover it.More

Podcast: What Mistakes Contractors Make With Marketing

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What mistakes do most contractors make? That was the question posed by Chris at Magic Pools when I opened up the phone lines here at Darren’s and turned the podcast over to you guys with your questions on marketing and advertising. So, to answer Chris’ question, not having a plan in the first place is probably the number one problem, Don’t ya think?

Now Isn’t the Time to Be an Ostrich

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Winter is here. In fact, many places in the upper Midwest and the Northeast are already covered in snow. And many contractors have settled down for a long winter’s nap.

But I say now is the time to experiment!

Stop relaxing, I know it’s the holidays, but you should be just as busy now as you where 6 months ago! If your contracting business slows down as the days get shorter then now is when you should be planning, testing and improving your business, not when you don’t have a friggin’ second to think for yourself.

So here are 5 things you can do while hiding in the house in sweats this winter:

1. A new year means taking a look at what worked and what didn’t over in the marketing department. Slice and dice all of your advertising and figure out what’s worth renewing and what needs cutting. This means all of your print material, website, logo and maybe getting involved more in social media.

2. Get vital feedback you need to make educated changes, not just guesses. Pick up the phone and call your clients or customers from this year and ask them what their level of satisfaction is. If you have happy clients or customers, now might be a great time to ask for referrals and testimonials.

3. Get ready for next year with pre-season promotions or offers to get out as soon as the holidays are over.

4. Get together. There are plenty of guys sitting around playing Madden 2011 on their PS3’s, maybe you could all get together informally once a week for coffee and develop a few co-marketing programs or cross-promotion options for next year? Maybe you can make these get-togethers a bit more formal by starting a local Meetup.

5. Take some time to think. Nothing else, just ponder the Universe and figure out where you are going, where have you been, and what changes you need to make for yourself, your company, your relationship and your family.

While I am not a big fan of 5 Year Plans, I do perform the following exercise about one every 3 months or so. I will take a snapshot of where I want to be in 5 years, then work my way backward to that particular moment in time.

What that does is give me a semi-developed game plan to put into action. If you do this exercise at least once a month for the next 6 months you will start to see a pattern develop. Sure, some things will come and go because your needs and wants change, but the big things that are important will always be there!

So let me ask you, what do you do with your downtime? Are you lucky enough to not have a slow season? Let me know in the comments below.

Photo Credit: wwarby

The Sky Didn’t Fall Yesterday Chicken Little

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Being a business owner myself, I understand the need to focus on what’s happening today, right now, right this very second. Which is why we all sometimes need to be shaken, not stirred, out of our complacency and for you, to start thinking about your construction marketing plan for 2011 and beyond.

Which is what I want to do for you today

The title of this post is meant to get you to think about the last couple of years and how you got to where you (and your company) are today. The decisions you made a few years ago are the determining factors to your business TODAY. If you take a good hard look, the work you are doing, the clients you are doing it for and the shape of your business are the result of your decisions from last year or the year before. Sure the economy sucks, but people still need their toilets plunged or their walls painted, the question is, are you getting your fair share?

Which is why I want you to start thinking about the future

No matter what they tell you on the evening news, the economy is NOT going to always be in the shitter. We are going to recover, and you need to be making plans for that recovery right now. Understand, I am not telling you to go out and put that full-page ad back in the YP. I am simply saying you need to take some time to think about how you are going to market your contracting services next spring, next summer, or two summers from now, and start planning backwards until you get to this very moment in time. Why?

Because just like a car, your business will go where your eyes are looking

So if you are just staring at what is happening today like a deer trapped in the headlights, then you are far from prepared for what happens when this market turns around. Get your shit together and understand that the sky, for the most part, is done falling. Snap out of it and remember you have a business to run, not just for today or tomorrow, but next for year and five years from now!

The point is it’s time to be optimistic again! Tell me what you’re doing to prepare your construction company for the next upturn. And I don’t care if that upturn is 5 months or 5 years from now, you didn’t go into business to be a short-term player did you?

Make Your Social Media Personal, Not Business!

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social media for contractorsPeople have distrusted companies long before the banking scandal of the last few years, but that didn’t help either. This means companies have to work harder than ever to win the confidence of the general public. But I am going to show you how to make that easier for your contracting company and it doesn’t matter if it’s just you or a team of 200.

Here’s how…

When deciding on your company’s online presence, make it personal. The person responsible for the company’s online presence should use their real name, not the company name, but their real, God-given name.

You see, people want to interact with other people, not faceless organizations. Think about it, who would you rather interact with, Bob Jacomoni, the 20 year masonry vet who gives advice and DIY tips to consumers on Twitter and other forums, or Jaco Masonry Company, LLC., who you know nothing about?

Think of social media as a barbecue

When you introduce yourself to new people, you don’t give your company name; you say my name is Bob Jacomoni. You may mention you have a masonry company, but that’s not your leadoff hitter and the same holds true with social media and brand management online. Make it personal first, and then let the business relationship develop. It’s more natural and stands a better chance of succeeding in the long run.

What to do next

If you are just getting started, this should be easy. Make sure all of your online profiles are built around you the person, not the company. If you have a name like Bob Jones you are kind of screwed, but don’t give up. Check out Namechk to see what sites your name is still available and reserve them right away.

If you have been online a while and have adopted a corporate personality, then your job is a bit harder. You should still check out the site mentioned above and reserve both your personal and corporate identities, but think about converting some of your online profiles into personal identities.

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