Since the sour economy has taken its toll on most advertising budgets, many looking for leads for contractors have become reliant on Google Maps and Google Places marketing platforms to promote their businesses for free. According to many of the contractors I talk to these two methods of free advertising has been a huge hit.
But all that came under fire last week when Google launched their “Instant” search results. If you are not familiar with the new way Google displays results as you type, check out my short video here and Google’s video here.
Is there a savior for local search? Introducing Thumbtack!
What is Thumbtack?
From the site:
Why can you go online right now and buy any product you want but you can’t do the same for tutors, handymen, dog walkers, or other local services? Thumbtack is changing that.
Thumbtack isn’t like typical local search directories that simply return business listings with ratings and reviews, leaving you no better off than the paper Yellow Pages.
Instead, Thumbtack gives you the ability to vet, contact and book service professionals the moment you find them.
Safety First
At Thumbtack, we understand that hiring service professionals requires a high degree of trust. This is why we go out of our way to make sure that our community is held to the highest standards and that you have all the tools you need to feel comfortable hiring someone online.
Thumbtack helps you get the job done at the time and place you want, with someone you know you can trust.
What I like about Thumbtack
Between the background checks and user reviews, this site should become (if they market it correctly) the go to site for both consumers and tradesmen to come together. I am however a bit cautious because Thumbtack is a free service for both contractors and home owners, which can lead to user manipulation, so I hope they have some type of mechanism in place to prevent fraud from both sides of the fence.
Where I see other problems
Site usage and integration – Thumbtack is coming late to an already crowded party. With services springing up all over the place, I hope these guys have the marketing chops to get the word out, and once they do, to have the tight controls in place to maintain user integrity. In the end, I don’t think contractors trying to market their businesses have anything to lose. With Google screwing around with your search results almost daily, you might as well give another resource a try if for no other reason than its free!
What to do next?
Well, you could always add your site to Thumbtack, but before you do, you should ask yourself, is your site ready to convert the traffic it gets? Or do you think you need to take a good hard look at what you currently have? If you aren’t sure where to start, maybe a website review is a good idea. This will help you start with a baseline and improve your site’s ability to move people through the sales funnel. In fact, if you need a website review, we can get one done for you in less than a day or two. That way, you can start making the changes needed to help move the needle on your sales. So if you are interested in a website review, click here for more details.
Tired of depending on services like Thumbtack or Manta for traffic?
How about generating your own leads with a new website or a website redesign? Hit me up in the contact form below and let’s talk about how to generate new business for you!
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