Tag Archives: Digital Marketing

Skin in the Game With Plumber’s Marketing Money | The Plumbing SEO Podcast

Does your marketing company have a vested interest in seeing you succeed? Are they working hard to produce outstanding growth for your business, or just hard enough to earn another 12 month contract? Having a marketing company with skin in the game can make all the difference for plumbing contractors, as Jason and Nolen discuss in our latest podcast.

Helpful Tips on SEO for Plumbers

It’s getting harder and harder to compete without an established presence in local SEO.
Make sure your digital marketing company provides direct Google Ads reporting for PPC.
PPC budget and reporting should be kept separate from organic SEO.
Results for plumbing SEO usually take 2 to 3 months after launching a new website.
Research your top competitors’ websites.
See how well your marketing company ranks in organic search!

Overcoming the Past

You’ve been hurt before. Based on the number of angry, confused plumbers we’ve talked to over the years, odds are you’ve been taken advantage of by an untrustworthy digital marketing agency. In fact, you may have gone through the same situation multiple times now. Naturally, this leaves you hesitant to trust again. We understand!

However, you’ve also know by now just how essential local search is to finding clients.

There’s no getting around it. If you don’t have the talent inside your team already, you are going to have to find a company who understands SEO for plumbers. That’s where the Plumbing Webmasters come into play.

Learning to Trust Again

Instead of immediately jumping back into the online fray, why not take a day to reexamine what it means to succeed in Google Search? Take a day to research the different ways to rank #1. Better yet, take a look at your most productive online competitors to see what they’re doing different! You’ll probably find them at the top of search results in a Local Pack (see the picture below).

Examining Top Performers in a Local Pack

See What Businesses in the Local Pack and Top Regular Listings are Doing for Plumbing SEO!

Since organic search champions earn the lion’s share of website traffic, it pays to understand what they’re doing to be successful. Do some research! Spend a little time digging through their websites and exploring their service pages.

Critical Research Questions on Competitors

How good is the content on their service pages and homepage?
What sort of service page structure do they have?
Which keywords are they using to get noticed by Google?
Do they write blogs? How often are they posting?
Are they using stock photos?
What sort of calls to action (CTAs) are they using?
How many reviews do they have on their Google Search listing?
How good is the overall design of the website?

Just remember: to outrank these professionals, your website and related internet marketing must be better than the current champions. If you only match their website quality, you’re unlikely to outrank them (especially if they’re older companies).

Find a Winning Team

Emphasis on “Winning”. For all the technical expertise and fancy service packages a marketing company may provide, do they produce successful clients? If you Google Search “plumbing contractors in (insert city, state)”, you should be able to find their customers listed there!

Here’s another important question: How many keywords do their clients rank for? Big name companies like to advertise front page rankings for five, ten, or thirty keywords. An experienced marketing company can get your plumbing business ranked for hundreds of keywords (with dozens of front page listings)!

On a side note, make sure to steer clear of companies that offer a PPC/SEO bundle deal, especially if their campaign spending isn’t provided directly through Google Ads!

A Website Produced by a Plumbing Marketing Company

How Well Does Your Plumbing Marketing Company Rank in Organic Search?

Team Up With Plumbing Webmasters

We won’t sugarcoat it. Our team at Plumbing Webmasters wants to earn your business! We know you’ve been hurt before, which is why our SEO professionals work so hard to make it easy and (practically) risk free to test our services. While it costs us thousands of dollars to produce a professional website that ranks for hundreds of keywords, we only charge you $99 for the first month. Our clients pay on a monthly basis, because we crave accountability for our results. That means you can quit anytime if our work doesn’t live up to your standards!

We think you’ll stay though, because our clients regularly dominate their local search results with better placement, more consumer traffic, and higher-quality leads.

If you’re tired of getting the runaround from your current marketing company, Plumbing Webmasters is always here to help. Consult with one of our seasoned plumber SEO professionals for free by calling us at (877) 388-9884. It’s tough to trust again, but we’re worth it!

Resources from Plumbing Webmasters

Blogs and Podcasts
– What is a Plumber SEO WordPress Theme? (Article)
– Plumber Online Marketing Confusion (Podcast)

Plumber SEO Services
– Website Design Services for Plumbing Companies
– Organic SEO for Plumbing Contractors
– Plumber Reputation Management

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Forced to Brand | The Plumbing SEO Podcast

The way online marketing is progressing, plumbers will likely be forced into one of two paths: start developing your own company branding strategy, or pay another brand to feed your business with leads. It’s a tough situation to be in, but there’s still plenty of opportunity to grow your company online. In our latest podcast, Nolen and Jason discuss what company branding means today, and how to make the most of local search.

If your plumbing business has struggled with slow growth online, be sure to listen in!

Important Lessons for Plumbing Professionals

Online company branding requires dedicated SEO.
It takes more than a website to show up in local search.
You can start earning leads, or pay someone else for them.

Modern Company Branding

As a whole, marketing in the United States has shifted dramatically from its roots. While it changed only gradually over hundreds of years, the modernized internet causes tumultuous industry changes even in just a five year period. 5 years ago, any company with a decently written website could expect a favorable ranking on Google Search. Today, “decent” just doesn’t cut it. Google expects exceptional branding towards its search engine and towards potential customers.

What is branding when it comes to marketing your business online?

As a plumbing contractor works to establish their company identify with Google, they must add several more branding elements into the mix. These include: customer reviews, NAP listings, and content (just to name a few). Such elements create a general profile that helps the search engine understand who you are, where your business operates, and what sort of services you provide.

Crafting an online image might seem like a mundane task, but everything makes a difference in a world where the vast majority of consumers search for essential services online. To be successful, we ultimately must distinguish the things that shape consumer perception from those that shape Google Search’s perception. That’s where the “E-A-T factors” come into play.

Results of Heavy Company Branding in Local Search

The Best Listings Go to Experienced, Trusted Plumbers.

The E-A-T Factors

E-A-T: expertise, authority, and trustworthiness. The world’s number 1 search engine works hard to create dependable results for its user base. That’s why it only lists contractor websites it believes conveys these three attributes. What sort of activities and materials does Google use to gauge these qualities?

Measuring Expertise in Branding

Think of the expertise factor as an industry qualification process for your company branding. To convey expertise, you need to provide insightful content specifically tailored to address popular consumer problems and questions. Flaunting your plumbing certifications also helps establish your expert status.

Below are some company branding tasks that help build your online industry expertise.

Writing well-structured (and organized) service pages
Consistently releasing insightful blog posts on popular questions
Earning featured listings for frequently searched plumbing topics
Producing social media posts with homeowner or business tips
Displaying your credentials on your website’s front page
Crafting FAQs and answering questions in your GMB account

Gauging a Brand’s Authority

While expertise is proof of your right to join the plumbing conversation, authority determines your place in the pecking order. Do other plumbing companies reference you content in their websites? Do consumer websites link back to your blog posts when diving into the hottest homeowner topics? If so, you likely have a fantastic authority rating.

New businesses may start out with a very low authority website score, but they don’t have to stay that way. Below are some popular ways to enhance your company branding for better perceived authority.

Find prestigious industry organizations, and see if you can provide a quote.
Build relationships with other local businesses, then see if they will provide links.
Ask for recommendations from your best clients!
Add social sharing buttons in your blog.
Create exceptionally shareable material in your content marketing (ex: videos, infographics)

Calculating Trustworthiness

It’s theoretically possible to get by without great expertise. It’s very possible to still achieve moderate results with low authority. But no business is going to survive long with a poor trustworthiness rating! Without trust, Google has no incentive to show your business, and consumers have no reason to take a chance on you (especially for expensive projects).

So what company branding activities can you perform to prove you’re business is worth the risk?

Ask for reviews! Consistently ask for reviews from every happy client (across multiple platforms).
Answer consumer questions on your website and social media profiles.
Turn angry customers into content ones with conflict resolution.
Keep your company office addresses exactly matched for every listing.
Finish your company Google My Business listing.

The Near Future of Company Branding

People simply don’t read Yellow Page-type listings anymore. More and more consumers look to local search for their essential services. Thankfully, it’s easier than ever to start branding your company online and establish a steady influx of organic leads. Branding online takes time, money, and effort on your team’s behalf, but it’s so much more cost-effective than the alternative.

Company Branding Takes Off With Customer Reviews

Client Reviews Do Wonders for Your Local Search Results! Source: Dr. Drain

Alternatively, plumbers can sit back and pay other brands to supply leads for them. It’s sad to see businesses get locked into the cycle of buying leads, for multiple reasons:

The lead-selling service gets the brand recognition and website traffic.
Lead quality fluctuates wildly. You never know if you’re getting a buyer or a shopper.
PPC campaigns provide leads at a much higher cost than organic means.
Paid leads have a smaller chance of becoming repeat customers.

When it comes to organic company branding, a little help can go a long way. Our team at Plumbing Webmasters supports businesses all over the country with custom website development, content writing, PPC advertising, reputation management, and so much more. Clients earn exceptional traffic, better rankings, and wonderful lead quality. We’d love to partner with you too!

Contact us today at (877) 388-9884 to learn more about our plumbing SEO services!

Helpful Resources from Plumbing Webmasters

Articles and Podcasts on Company Branding
– Plumber Online Marketing Confusion (Podcast)
– PPC vs Organic SEO 2020 (Podcast)
– The Coolest Review Software Ever (Podcast)

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Web Geek Cocky | The Plumbing SEO Podcast

As a plumbing contractor, you like to keep your business fairly simple. When a homeowner has a problem with their plumbing system, you explain to them what their options are and how much it will cost them. Web marketing agencies are not as humble.

The vast majority of them behave as if they are on a superior intellectual level to their client base. Just because they know more about search engine optimization does not make them a rocket scientist. Common logic still applies to SEO, just like it does with plumbing and any other kind of service industry. The arrogance of marketing companies in 2019 can be known as web geek cocky.

Marketing Companies vs. The Common Man

It’s part of their schtick to be arrogant. It’s almost like a defensive mechanism. They understand that the work they are doing is nothing special, and so they have to oversell it to make it seem more valuable. You might think that using big words that don’t really mean anything will not impress a plumber or any business owner, for that matter. But people can be swayed by the illusion of expertise.

When marketers appear as if they possess rare knowledge, they are sometimes able to convince a client to buy in. It’s not the fault of the client if they fall for the trick, but it is something that plumbers should be aware of when they are looking for help with website design or SEO.

Marketing is Not Rocket Science

Just like plumbers won’t act as if they are the only person on earth who can perform the service, SEO experts should follow suit. There’s a culture of talking down to clients, especially those who work in the home service industries.

These marketers try to pretend their work is unattainable by the common man. While web design and SEO do take specific skill sets at the end of the day, it is merely a service that a bunch of different companies can offer around the country.

Plumbers Need a Straight Shooter

In an age where plumbers are looked down upon by arrogant fools in the marketing industry, a straight shooter becomes a breath of fresh air. What if someone who could relate to your business challenges was also the person creating and implementing your marketing campaign?

That is the case with Plumbing Webmasters. Owners Nolen & John come from humble beginnings and were once home service providers themselves. They started their own web company after being talked down to with web geek cocky nonsense.

Identifying Web Geek Nonsense

If you are a plumber currently looking for SEO services, there are some red flags you should consider during your research. If a company starts speaking in an empty language (using words that don’t mean anything), you know you’re in trouble. This web geek is probably cocky.

They think they can trick the common man into overspending on services they don’t need. Many such marketers will get you involved in the shell trick scheme, where they take SEO money and use it on PPC. Steer clear of these egomaniacs.

They have done enough damage to the country already. Especially the common hard-working American who is the foundation of our economy.

Plumbing Webmasters: The Exception

Plumbers can relate to the owners here at Plumbing Webmasters because they lived the same experience. Having once been a home service provider company themselves, they transitioned to SEO work because they couldn’t find another company that wasn’t unpretentious.

It’s almost like shopping for a doctor. They are mostly arrogant people who think because they went to medical school that, they are God-like figures. The problem is even more absurd with web geeks, though, because the work is not dependent on a decade of high-level schooling.

At the end of the day, Plumbing Webmasters is a web marketing company run by relatable people. You can trust that our hundreds of clients are enjoying our professional-level design and SEO services without the web geek cocky.

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