Search Engine optimization, or SEO for electrical contractors can be somewhat of a mystery. And some people might think that SEO has no relevance for electrical contractors. Some say that an electrical contractor’s reputation for designing, installing, and maintaining electrical systems provides enough business without having to write web content for SEO.Just like having tools like electrician estimating software is important to getting your work done, it’s just as important to use the right marketing tools and strategies. Like most any other business, though, you have competitors that are using SEO. Because of this, it’s important to consider how SEO can impact your business. Start by looking at what SEO can do for your electrical contracting business, and start with the basics. This article will show you why and how to get going.
From the Marketing Experts
“Marketing is a war and your competitors are your enemies, and the customers are the grounds to be won,” according to two well-known marketing strategists, Jack Trout and Al Ries. Succinctly, these two experts are right. If you’re a new electrical contractor, you need to feverishly market your service; otherwise, your competitors could outflank you in the marketing realm. Word-of-mouth might spread the merits of your business within your local community, but if you want greater business exposure and an expansive customer base, you’ll probably need something more than your reputation. You’ll need a highly optimized website to serve as the far-reaching online marketing arm of your business.
Take Note of the Changing Behavior of Consumers
Gone are the days when Yellow Pages and billboards were advertising kings. Consumers’ behaviors have drastically changed with the use of the internet. Consumers nowadays first search online for needed services before zeroing in on a service provider. In fact, statistics shows that around 89% of consumers start with online searches, and a larger chunk of these online searchers use their smartphones when searching online. These stats should serve as a heads-up for you on how you should market your service.
The Value of a High-Ranking Website
Considering the statistics – your greatest marketing efforts should probably be online. Greater online visibility with a website will help you gain more clients. But having a business website isn’t enough; you also need to make sure it ranks highly on the search engine results page (SERP). Without ranking high, your business website won’t be as effective as you might want it to be for attracting new clients.
Why Should Your Website Rank High?
You need more customers, right? Potential customers, based on the statistics mentioned above, are overwhelmingly online. They usually type in the words “electrical contractors” or “electrician” when searching for electrical contractors. Results come back according to rankings for each site. Being human, they only click on the top-ranking websites. The problem for your website is that if it’s not ranking high in the SERP, potential customers doing a blind search will never click on it.You might give someone a business card or send out a flyer with your website on it for targeted customers to visit, but people you’ve never contacted won’t know about your site unless they find it on a search page. That’s why you should aim to make your site rank as high as possible, and at least in the top 10 results. The closer to number one you get, the better your results for the most popular keywords.
SEO — The Best Way to Reach the Top
The best way to reach the top ranks of Google is through search engine optimization (SEO). Maybe you’re scratching your head now and questioning what SEO is. SEO is the process of making your website rank highly in the SERP. In other words, it’s your way of pleasing the search engine to make it rank your website higher for a given search phrase.But how do you do this? Well, you can hire an SEO expert for a fee if you don’t have the SEO knowhow; money you spend for website optimization is surely well-spent. It’s cost-effective advertising and if done properly by a professional SEO contractor, will surely lead to a high ROI.
The Two-fold Effect of SEO
Ranking high in the SERP has a two-fold effect on your electrical contractor business. First, if your business website reaches the top three rankings, you’ll get a ton of visitors that you could easily turn into actual clients. In turn, if your website has more visitors, your website ranking will get a further boost, netting your business even more potential clients.
Building an Electrical Contractor Business Website
Building a high-ranking website requires enough patience, consistency, and sound marketing strategies and tactics. Although you can create your own website via the help of solutions like Squarespace, you can also hire a professional SEO contractor. The latter option offers great advantages, such as letting you focus on your business and making the building of your business site very purposeful and deliberate.Your website should characterize your business, epitomizing it, and allowing people to feel and understand your business and the services you offer. If you achieve this, you can create a brand that clients can readily distinguish.
The Goal of SEO for an Electrical Contractor Business
The goal of SEO is maximum online visibility for your business. It’s much more than just getting a high ranking. It’s about bringing more clients to your business, building brand awareness, and gaining greater conversion rates. It’s also about generating demand for your service. Google, for example, indexes and ranks websites. So, your first SEO goal should be to get your website indexed by Google. Once indexed, you can then apply other SEO strategies and tactics to increase the ranking of your site.
Addressing the Needs of Your Target Audience
When potential clients search for an electrical contractor online, they have several questions in mind that need answers. To appear credible to these potential clients, your website should offer succinct answers to these questions. This is to show potential clients that you know your service and are an expert in whatever issues they’re having. If you can provide solid answers to their questions, you’ll gain their trust. This expertise will help search engines want to send more traffic to your site.
Optimize Your Content with Keyword Phrases
There are a number of ways you can answer searchers’ questions. You could provide tutorials or give ideas for how to maximize a home electrical system during a remodeling project. You could review tools that you recommend for a DIY project or give sample budgets for projects.Whatever content you publish, focus on including the most searched keywords. You can see what customers are searching for in your area with the help of Google AdWords. You can also see how many sites are competing for those keywords. The good thing is that when people perform a search, they are automatically directed to local results.Once you get a list of which keywords you’d like to rank for, you’ll want to include one keyword phrase on each page of your website. For the best results, don’t use the keyword phrase too much, but include it in the following elements of your page:
- The Page Title
- The URL
- The first paragraph of the page content
- 1 Subheading (preferably an H1 or H2 tag)
- Meta description
- Image alt tags
- 2-3 times in the body of your page
Make a Great First Impression with Your Website
Because you have so many competitors, you need to make your business stand out. You can start making a big difference by appearing as an innovator in your field. On your website, you should clearly indicate how your business is distinct and more qualified than your competitors to serve your customers. Website visitors need to know what makes you stand out, and giving them this answer quickly and clearly will help you win more business.
Provide a Useful Online Catalog of Your Services
Never be satisfied with only telling your prospective customers that you are a licensed electrical contractor. Instead, provide them with a complete picture of your services. And if you have something extra to offer, such as a home automation solutions together with electrical design, for example, then make sure you indicate it on your website. This will add value to your website and business.
Win Your Online Visitors at All Cost
When someone clicks on your business website, it’s not accidental. It happens because that person is looking for a service that you offer. The “WOW” factor comes in if your website is highly optimized both on-page and off-page. If your website impresses your visitors, you can win them over as actual clients. Of course, every SEO tactic and strategy will play into wowing your prospective clients. And if you achieve that wow factor, your SEO effort has paid off.
Getting Started with SEO for Electrical Contractors
If you’re looking to get started, follow some of the tips above. Find the terms your customers are searching for, make sure your website includes them consistently, and work on making your site the best place to answer your customers’ questions. Also, check out some of our “how to” content, including the FieldPulse contractor’s guide to digital marketing (a detailed, how-to PDF guide available for download) and our thorough guide to SEO for contractors. With all of the customer purchases that start on search engines, generating traffic to your website with SEO should be one of your top marketing strategies.
