Whether or not you have a full-time marketing director or if you handle all your own promotions there is one sales option you’ve surely considered at one time and maybe even tried, door-to-door canvassing.
When deciding which direction to take your building industry marketingplans the idea of canvassing might seem like the easiest solution. Unfortunately, a contractor marketing their services might find themselves with counterproductive costs and complications if they go this outdated route.
The initial concerns with choosing the canvassing technique as a primary way to market your contractor business is that door-to-door sales have a serious image problem that, by now, has been burned into the public mind.
The sheer number of dishonest scams that have taken place using the door-to-door method is not only upsetting to honest salespeople but to an increasing number of clients as well. Think about the millions of customers, their family’s, and even their friends who have been burned or know somebody who has been burned by some sort of canvassing scam.
These are potential customers that might legitimately need your construction services but because of their negative experiences will never consider hiring anyone this way. Even worse, in spite of your efforts, they might instantly get the wrong impression about you and your company.
Is that where you want your business lumped in? Of course not.
Intrusive Sales Technique
In addition to the cesspool-like image canvassing relays to potential clients it also trends towards being thought of as an intrusive process that can even border on an offensive way of selling your contracting services.
Things that need to be taken into consideration are homes that have “No Trespassing” or “No Soliciting” signs who don’t want you there. Not to mention the fact that a lot of the better communities are gated and forbid handbills being handed out all together.
After all this is their private homes and you are trespassing with unsolicited junk mail.
Right?
The Hiring Nightmare
Unless you are physically supervising the daily activities, you have no idea how much effort your canvassers are really putting forth. Also, you’re not seeing how they conduct themselves in the neighborhoods. Do they cut through yards disrespecting the properties? Do they carry themselves professionally? Are they talking on their phones, and cussing to their friends so that anyone with an open garage gets an earful right before being handed your marketing materials?
Hiring both a qualified and ethical individual who will keep themselves motivated despite the massive rejection rate is no small task. Actually the kind of people this type of job attracts aren’t considered the most reliable. They tend to be less experienced workers who might not care as much about the owners’ privacy or property as they do slapping a flyer on the door to ensure they make their hourly wage. (That’s assuming they really hit every house.)
When we figure the advertising and hiring costs coupled with the time it takes to train and tryout a new worker who may or may not prove productive,it’s easy to see how it all can quickly add up to what statistically can be seen as a real money pit.
Guaranteed High Investment, Likely Low Return
The biggest reason most business owners attempt to market their construction services using canvassing is that they perceived it to be cost effective. While it might be less costly than an ongoing full-page ad in the New York Times, the real question is what’s the potential ROI?
We’re talking about money and if you are still insistent on venturing forward with this type marketing campaign you need to be ready to absorb high initial and ongoing costs that may or may not translate into actual sales.
It’s a numbers game.
Even if you only wanted one new client a day for your small construction firm, how many people would you have to target to be successful? Nobody knows. (1,000, 2,000, 10,000?)
We do know that you will have to pay hundreds if not thousands in advance for all the flyers, magnets, business cards, and door hangers you want delivered. Not to mention payout the hourly wages to the canvassers regardless of the return. (And depending on how fast they work, each delivery can surpass the price and simplicity of the average envelope and a stamp combined!)
All this and you still haven’t overcoming the market’s perception that you’re running some sort of scam. Why bother? There are more productive ways to spend your marketing dollars.
For more on Construction Marketing including videos on some other innovative ways to market your contractors business click here!
In this blog we have talked a lot about marketing, video production and social media. But one thing that really drives a lot of marketing efforts is photography. I am often asked, “What is the one thing I can do to immediately enhance my marketing materials?” Often my answer is to simply take better photographs.
Your construction project or products are unique and best when visible. Think about how you have to explain your product or service to a potential client. Use that thinking when taking your photos. Your product or service should be showcased in the best possible way so that your target client knows you are the right choice. Look around in your favorite trade magazine or at the leaders of your industry. You will see that many of the best websites, mailers and advertisements are cutting back on the graphical treatments in support of a more minimalistic approach with an emphasis on photography.
If you are thinking of hiring a professional photographer, do so. The right photographer can tell much more than a thousand words with one picture. If you are a smaller operation, always keep a high end camera in the truck or at the office. Make it part of your checklist when on a project to get before and after shots and shots of your crew or products at work. When taking photos make sure you have as much light as possible. Use a flash when indoors, and pick bright sunny days when shooting outside.
Do not just think of documenting the project, but think about when and where this photo might be used. You might need a long horizontal image for your website, or you may be in need of a tall vertical image for that brochure you are working on. If you’re unsure what the photos might be used for, take a lot, and take them at multiple angles.
Take a photography class. I know, it sounds silly and time consuming, but most classes are only a few days, inexpensive and extremely helpful. It is a small investment of time and money that can have big returns. You will be amazed at how your marketing materials improve along with the quality of the photographs you take.
The construction industry has a large quantity of owner operators. In the real world, it is easy to get caught up in the daily activity of “taking care of business” and neglect the larger scale thinking that is needed to grow a business. It is normal in the construction industry for most individuals to be Renaissance men and women, or more bluntly, a jack of all trades and master of none. Creating and implementing marketing and business strategies can often take a back seat while other items from your contracting, designing or building materials business need attention.
Being jack of all trades is not always a problem, as long as you are still a master of some. Hiring an outside firm can help to provide a road map and the external accountability that helps one master their business strategy. When you task a company to come up with a marketing strategy, you know they need to produce. This can help you delegate some necessary planning, so you can get back to what it is you do best. Having an outside perspective with marketing expertise can also add more value to your plan and its deliverables.
Pricing for marketing strategy consulting and implementation is more reasonable than you might think. As you might expect, pricing varies depending on the goals of the project. Development of a large scale marketing strategy and the implementation of that strategy for a multinational building products distributor can be more costly than a simple strategy development for a local contractor. If you are unwilling to delegate this work, I urge you to still get a plan in place. Below is a 9-topic strategy to help.
1. Marketing Research
Any research that has been done in preparation of this plan as well as any planned research that might be in the future. It is your plan so be honest here. If your research is based solely off experience and past history, note that.
2. Target market(s)
Create a few sentences describing your primary and secondary target markets and prospects. It is helpful to picture actual people or businesses that are “dream clients”.
3. Product
List the goods and services that you want to market. Be specific here and unbiased. Resist “best roofing services in the world” and opt for “residential and commercial roofing services”. Then try to break down the specific services or products within the general topics.
4. Price
Provide some insight for your current and future pricing strategy for the above products and services. Include discounts, warranties, coupons etc.
5. Promotion
Detail out how you are currently promoting or marketing your products and services and what your plans are to promote and market them in the future. This should include production and placement. Production being the creation of creative and compelling marketing materials and the placement would be the platform for those productions. Example: Trade Show Booth is a production and National Home Builders Show is the placement.
6. Place
Provide an honest assessment of how you expose your products to prospects and get the products into their hands. You might be a residential contractor who shows up at the prospects home in a specific geography, or you might be a building materials manufacturer who sells through a distribution network, or a designer who is primarily online.
7. Position
This section should be a place to elaborate on your company and your unique selling position (USP). To help, first try doing a Strengths Weaknesses Opportunities and Threats (SWOT) Analysis on your company and some competition. A variety of tools are available to help with these types of analysis. Then formulate your USP. The USP will be an integral part of your marketing strategy. Define the benefits of doing business with your company.
8. Schedules
Create an action schedule or calendar to organize the activities above. Also include a schedule to analyze the return on investment of these activities. Define some key performance indicators that you will use consistently to analyze your ROI. Keep track of the data so you know what is working, and what is not.
9. Budgets
This does not have to be a full financial analysis of your company. It does need to be an honest evaluation of your projected sales and operating expenses along with a realistic budget for the strategy above. Consider again, the cost of production and the cost of placement. Agressive marketing budgets can be near 25% of revenue, while more conservative efforts fall in the 3-10% range.
This is a basic plan that you should be able to fill out and analyze throughout the year to help keep you on track. Be consistent about implementing and analyzing the strategy and let the strategy be an evolving thing. If changes need to be made throughout the year, it is your document, change it. That being said, the point of this exercise is to create a strategic plan so you can focus on the production of your products and services while also keeping track of your overall business strategy. The more thought that goes into the plan initially the less it will be a distraction in the future.
Marketing Strategy and Planning Services are offered by Construction Marketing Team. Construction Marketing Team can step in and energize your company by bringing your marketing strategy to life with exciting and effective advertising and promotional activities that will activate your target customers. Don’t hope for good things to happen, make things happen and call Construction Marketing Team. For more information click here!
Many construction industry businesses have been receptive to YouTube and its capabilities as an inexpensive (free) video hosting platform as well as a social media tool. There are many YouTube videos and channels that are well done and actively used. There are others who are just getting started. This posting is for both ends of the spectrum.
For new users, by new I’ll assume that you already have an account and uploaded a few basic videos, there are some additional benefits you might not be aware of. The first is the YouTube Channel. The YouTube Channel is the url, usually youtube/yourchannelname, where all of your information can be found. The great part about the channel is that the url stays the same regardless of the videos you upload. Ever forget the url of a video you would like to show someone? The YouTube Channel is much easier to remember than the generic video urls that YouTube provides. Also, users can subscribe to your channel and get automatic updates about your channel’s activity. When you upload a new video, they will get an email notifying them of the new content.
For more advanced users who are already taking advantage of the YouTube Channel interface, if you haven’t heard, YouTube recently launched YouTube channel 3.0. The changes may affect your customized channel background and layout. If you prefer to stick with YouTube 2.0 you can log in and request that your channel reverts back to the older version. The YouTube 3.0 channel has some background limitations, but overall the interface is very user friendly and still customizable. Just take some time to get familiar with the new layout and check that your channel still represents your brand and identity accurately.
Let’s switch gears to embedding. This information is good for both new and experienced users. Most of us have used the “embed” function of YouTube, or have at least heard of it. There are some downsides to embedding YouTube videos but overall, they do a pretty good job for embedding a video on your website or blog. If you do choose to go this route for your website or blog, the main benefit is that embedded YouTube videos will run on a variety of platforms like your PC, Mac, iPad, iPhone etc. A little HTML knowledge us helpful, but the process is simplistic compared to higher end video players. If you choose this method, be sure to turn off “Suggestions” in embedded players. This disables suggested related videos from appearing after your content is finished playing. It would be a shame to direct someone to your competition’s video! For more information, visit http://support.google.com/youtube/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=171780. There are other tutorials online for disabling the YouTube logo and branding elements from your video, but I think having the logo adds some appeal, and shows that your company is down with social media.
YouTube reached the #2 search engine spot, back in 2008 and now there are more than six videos uploaded to YouTube every second. To find out more about video production, how to optimize your YouTube videos, and ideas on types of videos, visit our previous post; “Video Production for the Construction Industry“. The same videos can be used on a variety of platforms making it a great return on investment. Videos are a fantastic way to relate to potential clients and associates who you are, what you do, and why it matters.
Video Production and YouTube Customization services are offered by Construction Marketing Team. Put our combined knowledge of the construction industry, social media and video production to work for you. For more information click here!
There are many contractors out there trying to figure out the best things to put on their website. They know they want to tell their clients about their company but they’re not sure what to say. At a recent construction roundtable event several key owners listed two of the most important things they like to see regarding the contractors they choose to work on their projects. They are shockingly simple. The first is experience. Owners and architects want to know that you have experience constructing buildings similar to what they aim to construct. Your goal should be to show these prospective clients that you have experience building the type of projects that they are designing. The portfolio is the easiest way to do this, but your portfolio should not just be a list of past projects. Take the time to give these prospects intimate details of the projects you have been a part of and the specific scope that you worked on. You want to prove to them that you have experience being on a team and understanding design and constructability. Experienced owners and architects realize that a construction contract is really a marriage between you and them that can go on for several years depending on the project. Prove to them that you are the right fit. It is important to be able to stand out from the other bids and not just rely on price.
The second most important thing that these key owners and architects look for in a contractor are references. When push comes to shove they want to be able to research your background and hear from real people that you have worked with. You want to be able to provide them with references that cast you in the best possible light. We hear all the time that a website cannot replace word-of-mouth marketing. This is a point we always beg to differ on. Listing key references and testimonials about your organization on your website is the next best thing to word-of-mouth you can possibly get. You can’t always expect owners and architects that are not familiar with you to pick up the phone and call around to find out more information about you. Don’t be scared to spoon feed them the best news about you and your organization.
Now that we know what is important to some of your key prospects. Let’s use that information and look at what’s most important on your website. I usually call this the six-page test. Your website needs at least these six pages: home page, about us, services, testimonials, portfolio, and contact us. Your clients are searching for you. Your homepage is the front doormat that welcomes them in. Your “about us” page gives them the opportunity to get to know you, your coworkers and your organization. The “services” page should be the page where you talk about the type of work you do and emphasizes work you want to be a part of. The “testimonials” page is a chance for you to showcase the references that separate you from the competition. The “portfolio” page gives you the opportunity to prove that you have the experience to work on the type of projects that they are looking for. Finally the “contact us” page is the most important page. After they have had the opportunity to learn more about your company your services and your experience tell them how to get a hold of you. Be sure when they do make that phone call that a pleasant voice is there to greet them and answer their questions. After all, you worked so hard to get them interested don’t scare them away now.
Chances are, if you are asking this question, then the answer is that your website is not currently being optimized. As we discussed in a previous post, Search Engine Optimization in the Construction Industry, search engine optimization or SEO includes two main factors to gain positive organic results: on-page optimization and off-page optimization. Off-page optimization can be found relatively easily. Let’s discuss some ways an average person can analyze the optimization of their current website. There are many resources available that can give you an idea of how many hyperlinks on other sites that point back to your website. The key to off-page optimization is to have as many high traffic websites as possible link back to your site. If no one in your organization is active on the company’s behalf, on any social media sites, blogs, online press releases, or trade specific websites then you are not taking full advantage of off-page optimization opportunities.
Checking your on-page optimization gets a little more complicated, but is still doable for the average business owner. There are three key things to take a look at for on-page optimization. The first thing you can check is your url names. The url is the string of letters and words at the top of the address bar that represent your website. Go to your website and check out some of you internal content pages. If the urls listed are not specific to the page itself, your industry, location or keywords, then you are not properly optimized. Second, the same rule is true for images on your website. The files themselves should have equally optimized names and you can check this by right-clicking on an image and note what the filename is. There are also “alt-tags”–alternative descriptions for the images–that help search engines understand them, but that involves some knowledge of Hyper Text Markup Language (HTML) coding too complex for this discussion.
Finally check the content-to-code ratio. This refers to the amount of actual text in relation to background coding (HTML, PHP, Java Script, etc.) on your website. There are a number of websites out there that explain this better and help you analyze your ratio like http://www.seochat.com/seo-tools/code-to-text-ratio/. The goal is to get your content-to-code ratio as high as possible. Many websites look decent, but the HTML code used is not optimal. Poor website development often leaves java script, tables and CSS code that could easily be transferred to another file in your website to cut down on the amount of code a search engine needs to read and find your key content. This can be taken a step further and use software to also run content-to-keyword analysis. It is worth mentioning that many of the paid software options can be more accurate that some free web tools. However, these free tools can give you a reference to help make the decision to obtain search engine optimization services.
This is, of course, a massive overgeneralization in an attempt to be easily understood by the average business owner and website novice. On-page code is much more in a site than just HTML structure. There are file names, sitemaps, meta tags (title and description most important), robots txt, external CSS, alt tags, anchor text and much more. Perhaps you are past the novice level, and if so there are many resources to ensure that your site is designed with current web standards by strictly adhering to site structure and usability guidelines. Google has a very useful guide (available here) that spells out exactly what you need to do to ensure that your site structure is search engine friendly, offers interesting and original content while being easy to navigate and visually appealing.
The visibility of your website can dramatically increase your leads, and inevitable your revenue. The percentage of internet users that utilize search engines on a daily basis is nearing and will soon pass the percentage of internet users that check email on a daily basis. Google provides an excellent keyword research tool located at https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal. You can customize this tool to tell you how many searches have been performed in a given amount of time, in a given area. Take a moment to think of a search term you would like to be found for, then add your competitive geographic area, and you will see exactly how many times that particular search is performed. It can give you a good idea about how many people are truly looking for you!
Search Engine Optimization services are offered by Construction Marketing Team. We can improve your website’s ranking and get your phone ringing. For more information click here!
Larger companies in commercial and residential construction understand the need for video production as part of their marketing strategy and use it for commercials, product demonstrations and trade shows. However, video production is not just for industry giants. Technology today allows for you to create production quality videos quickly and inexpensively. A frequently cited study from ComScore Video Metrix showed that 170 million US internet users watched online video during November 2009, and a record high of nearly 31 billion videos were viewed during the month. And the duration of the average online video was 4.0 minutes. Other studies show that websites with video generated an over 40% response rate versus sites without video.
What should my video be about? What you have is a dynamic and compelling platform to speak directly to your customers. It does not have to be fancy; you can show your work and talk about things that demonstrate your expertise. This is exactly the kind of thing that would be interesting for your potential customers to see and hear. Use your expertise and creativity to create a video for your website: About Us, How-to, Testimonials, Branding, Promotional, New Product Launches, Project Showcase, etc. The potential topics of interesting videos are endless.
Construction Industry Video Production
What are the costs? I often get asked how much a video costs. Pricing video production is a lot like pricing for most construction projects… how large is it, what type of materials, specifications, timeline? For construction its blueprints and plans; for a video production, it’s a shotlist and script. Sometimes it is appropriate to just have one speaker, a camera and a microphone. Other times it might be more appropriate to include props, on location make-up, talent (Actors, musicians, artists), specialized camera, lighting, water or smoke/fog equipment and even 3D animation and other computer generated imagery or special effects. Video production can be as simplistic or extravagant as you want it to be
Now what? Once you have your video completed it should be posted on your website’s homepage or easily to see and get to from the home page. This will assist with search engine optimization because Google tracks how long your visitors are staying on your site. Google knows that the time spent on a website is indicative of its relevance and usefulness to its visitors. Studies show that videos increase the time your visitors spend on your website by three times. For that reason alone it is also important to be sure your video plays well on your site. It needs to look good even on slower internet connections and bad servers. Constant pausing to buffer will send your viewers away quickly.
Another place to post your video is on YouTube. YouTube is a very powerful search engine itself and provides a platform to help your “blended search results”. Blended search results are those results other than your home website that appear for search terms that your customers might be interested in. A YouTube video may actually compete better for a search term than your overall website, especially if well optimized. Yes, you can also search engine optimize your YouTube videos and I recommend it! Google allows you to enter a title, description, tags and category. Include targeted keywords in both your title and description. Include a url back to your website, a specific page or blog in the description. Choose tags and a category that start general and funnel down to more specifics. Use caution if embedding the YouTube video on your site as YouTube will show “recommended” video clips after your video plays. You could have someone watching a competitor’s video, right there on your website.
I often say that those in the construction industry are already kings and queens of content. You know more about your company and industry than most. A video that will show your visitors more about your company, products and services will increase your website ‘s ranking, visitors and the time those visitors spend learning about you.
Search Engine Optimization and Video Production services are offered by Construction Marketing Team. We can get your company noticed and your phone ringing. For more information click here!
The American Institute of Architects reported a drop for the fifth straight month in the architecture billings index. They go on to note that this is steepest decline in billings since February 2010. This drop in the architecture billings index reflects a continued decrease in demand for design services. Private sector construction usually follows this by five to nine months. So gloom, doom, and so-on, and so-forth, we know the drill. Why use a time like this to beef up your marketing? It is really simple. If you are asking yourself this question, then you are probably one of the stronger companies in your area of construction. Don’t keep that a secret. Now is the time to do three simple things: tell people who you are, show them who you are, and stand out. Doing this will get you found by prospective clients and make you more profitable.
Tell your prospective customers who you are. You need to make sure that your web based marketing materials are optimized and tracked. Your website should be a place for your customers to find out about your company and your services. A properly optimized website gives you high search engine rankings and ensures your materials are noticed by potential customers when they are searching for your services. Utilize social media services to connect with your markets and to get your company name and services in front of even more prospects. We are not talking about a huge investment in time and money here. Simply use the available avenues that your customers use, and they will find you. Most social medial have tracking metrics built in. Your website should be tracked using Google Analytics or some other software. Listen to what the data is telling you, and adapt if necessary.
Show your customers who you are. After you spend the time corralling potential clients to your website or social media page and tell them who you are, it is now time to show them. At this point pictures and video taken on your smart phone just won’t do. You have invested time and money to get them to look at you and you only have a few seconds to make an impression before they surf somewhere else. Pictures truly are worth a thousand words, what are your pictures saying? Use professional photography to add emotion to your project and to be sure they are “saying” what you want them to. Use a video production crew to capture video of your company on site and in the office. Video production crews use specialized high definition equipment, lighting, and audio to make sure your people and projects look as best they can and portray the message you want portrayed. Demonstrating attention to detail in your online presence by having materials that are professional, focused and effective will demonstrate that your construction company is a professional operation that will be a good addition to their projects.
Now it is time to stand out, which believe it or not, is how you get more profitable. You have spent a lot of time telling and showing your prospective clients who you are, now you have to break away from the pack. Your branding and marketing should be consistent and evocative. Think of your competition right now. Are their products or services that different from yours? In most cases your competition is very similar. You have to break away from traditional “line card type” marketing. You have got your prospective clients eyes on you, don’t bore them by showing them just your products and services (exactly what they saw at your competitor’s website). Show them and tell them what sets you apart and why they need you for their upcoming project. When they see the value in your participation is when you will see the phone start to ring. Avoid competing on a “low bid” basis and change the game by using market-based pricing. This is where you want to be. Pricing projects based on the value of the product as perceived by the customer. No more bidding and trying to compete with low ball numbers. If they perceive your product or service as worth more, you can charge more. You are better off having a few highly profitable projects than doing a bunch of work with little or no profit.
Many of the services above are offered by Construction Marketing Team. A qualified marketing firm like CMT can help both large and small contractors set themselves apart in this tight market. The cost are low and the impact is huge. For more information click here!
As promised, this month’s posting will be focused on search engine marketing. Search engine marketing (SEM) is the process of promoting and marketing a website through paid listings (advertisements) on search engines. Search engine marketing can be an important addition to your marketing strategy. As we discussed last month there are many things you can do, or have done, to improve the organic rankings of your website when someone is using a search engine. However, usually above and to the right of the results are paid advertisements. Ads on most search engines work on a pay-per-click (PPC) model, where you pay only when a user clicks your ad, and not for the ad impression (the instance in which the ad appears on the page). The other frequently available pricing model in online advertising is cost-per-thousand impressions (CPM), in which you pay depending on the amount of impressions and not for any clicks on your ad.
One of the reasons that SEM is so popular is that, similar to organic results, the goal is to reward the ad that is the most relevant. Your construction related company can compete with the bigger national companies that are throwing tons of money at advertising. If someone is searching for someone searching to pick-up drywall and is located in Atlanta, an ad for a local distributor in Atlanta might appear, rather than an ad for a national drywall manufacturer, because it is more relevant. Another reason for SEM popularity is the ability to budget your spending. You can throttle your spending up or down, and turn ads on and off as you please. There is no contract, and no hidden costs. So if you are local subcontractor and your ad gets clicked on by an out of town general contractor looking for “your type of service”. Then say that lead converts into a large project for you, so large that you want to pause your advertising until closer to the end of the project. No problem!
As with everything there is a learning curve to whatever SEM provider you sign up with. However there are also ample resources out to help bring you up to speed. Remember, the search engines want you to advertise, so they put a lot of resources out there to help you do it. There will no doubt be those who do not wish to learn it. In that case there are many qualified individuals that can manage your campaigns for you. Google has Certified Partners and Certified Individuals, and Yahoo has Certified – Yahoo! Search Marketing Ambassadors. You can search for these people or marketing companies to manage these campaigns for you. You will pay them extra for it, but one of the benefits of working with a professional is that they find ways to drive down the cost of your ads and optimize them so they produce the most bang for the buck. This will help with the cost of hiring a professional and help your ad to get seen by real perspective customers, promote brand awareness, and increase traffic to your website.
There is a need to discuss Search Engine Optimization (SEO) for the construction industry. Many companies in the construction industry struggle with the term, its use, and effectiveness. Search Engine Optimization is the process of taking a website or page and making it easily understandable for both target audience and search engines. This is not to be confused with Search Engine Marketing (SEM) which is the process of promoting and marketing a website through paid listings (advertisements) on search engines. We will discuss SEM in our next posting.
I often hear that “We have a website already”, but when I ask if their page is “optimized” I usually get the deer in headlights look. An August 2008 PEW Internet Study showed that 49% of internet users utilize search engines, up from 33% in 2002. That was back in 2008, I would argue that this number is significantly higher today. Out of the search engines used, Google is head and shoulders above the rest, sending almost 80% of click through traffic to webpages. Studies also show that over 3 out of four regular people will use search engines over yellow pages or other print media. What does this mean to a contractor or materials supplier? It means that if you are not optimized, you may be missing a significant amount of exposure by potential clients searching for your type of business. Owners searching for architects, architects searching for BIM qualified GCs, GCs searching for qualified subcontractor bids, and all of them looking for distributor and manufacturer information use search engines to conduct their research. I understand that relationships are what drive our business, but what about those potential clients that have not had the opportunity to work with you. The fact is that the construction industry does travel, new businesses open, other businesses close, and thus it is very difficult to make sure you have a personal relationship with all of the players. Some searches are made from out of state, some new GCs are looking for a sub to team up with, or maybe an architect is looking for some budget numbers. Optimize your website to get in front of these potential clients.
Some tips: Google recommends that websites are made primarily for users, not for search engines. Your website should have a clear hierarchy and text links with every page reachable from at least one static text link. Also try to limit the links on a given page to a reasonable number (less than 100). Your website should be information-rich, useful, and pages should clearly and accurately describe your content. Your website should be primarily constructed in HTML and have limited flash. Less is more. Include geographic coverage whenever possible. If you business in only one state, your content should reflect this. Carefully choose your page title names and bold important topics. If it important enough to be a page title, or to be in bold, it is important to search engines.
Now that your site is optimized be sure to track it. Google Analytics is a powerful free tool that allows you to see if your customers are finding you, how they are finding you, and where they are finding you from. You can use these metrics to further optimize page that may not be performing well, or to focus on a geographic area that may not be performing well. Just remember, search engine optimization takes time. So be patient and realize that SEO is a marathon not a sprint. Good results will come if you are diligent.
