Tag Archives: local seo

Naming Your Business for the Best SEO (Podcast)

What’s more powerful than a name? Your plumbing company name not only establishes your identify to potential clients, it communicates who you are to search engines as well. That’s why originality, clarity, and conciseness are so crucial when it comes to choosing your brand name!

In our latest discussion with Jason and Nolen, they’ll explore some simple guidelines on choosing a brand identify that’s optimized for search. Following these guidelines could be the difference between steady traffic and none at all! Be sure to listen in if you’re rebranding or kicking off a new plumbing business!

Helpful Tips on Naming Your Business

  • Pick a name that’s very memorable!
  • Generic names do not rank well in local search.
  • Avoid using your city in the name.
  • If you have an interesting personal name, consider using it for your company.

Purple Monkey Plumbing

What do you say: is “Purple Monkey Plumbing” an effective company name? Believe it or not, your answer says a lot about how much you understand local search marketing! We’ll reveal this name’s effectiveness at the end of this short blog. Before we get there, let’s run over a few facts about your company name.

The Purpose of Your Company Name

No, it’s not just to sound cool! Your company name helps people identify your services and stand out from other businesses. Think of the dozens of contractors that operate in your city alone. In broader metropolitan areas, your business could be competing against hundreds of other trained professionals.

When a local homeowner’s water heater breaks down and needs repairs, will they remember your brand name?

Despite the size and prevalence of the search engine, even Google can have a challenging time telling businesses apart! Your company name allows the hardworking Google Search algorithm to separate your brand from other nearby players. Choose wrong however, and your website may never receive the traffic you need to earn leads.

A Search for a Plumbing Company Name

Watch Out! Some Brand Generators Can Produce Extra Generic or Misleading Names.

How to Pick a Company Name

There are two key qualities your brand name needs to succeed in local search: distinctiveness and memorability. While there are a host of other traits that could aid your other marketing activities, these two qualities are non-negotiable. What do these two terms mean?

First, a company name should stand out from the crowd. We hate to say it, but “5 Star Plumbing” isn’t going to be easy to remember (for consumers or Google). Steer clear of generic terminology that could get your brand confused with another professional’s! A memorable company name also increases the likelihood of past clients searching for your brand directly in search. Direct searches enjoy a higher chance of converting into actual sales.

The Classic Naming Mistake

Ten years ago, it was common practice to take a common search term, such as “Plumbing Company in Dallas, TX” and adopt it for your business name. This practice was enormously successful, so everyone and their grandmother started choosing generic names for their plumbing companies. Then Google stepped in with an algorithm update. Countless professionals started dropping off the map.

A Hypothetical City-Based Company Name

City Based Names Will Likely Pit You Against Citation Companies and More Popular List Articles.

Today, choosing an (Insert City) Plumber company name makes it almost impossible for people to find your business. Even if someone searched your name directly, Google would think the consumer was looking for a list of plumbers in your service area. Your business profile won’t even show up!

Bottom line: stay away from generic brand names, even if they are optimized for your city.

Other Important Steps for Your Business

Once you’ve decided on a quality company name, there are still a few steps to take to start ranking in local search. First, you’ll need to register a domain that closely matches your new name. If you plan on expanding your business into other cities / states, make sure you don’t pick a domain with a location prefix.

A Hosting Company Website

Make Sure Your Hosting Company Registers Your Company as the Domain Owner. Image From Bluehost

Make sure that you own the domain, not the registrar. Too many plumbing companies have gotten screwed over by their host when their registration expired. Just play it safe and make sure you buy the name!

Next, you’ll need to register the company name and domain with Google My Business (GMB). Google will provide a verification method for you to complete, then your plumbing company will be eligible to start ranking in local search. Fill out as much of the information as possible. The physical address for your company should be exactly the same as the one you registered with Yelp, the BBB, etc. 

Need Help With Your Branding?

By the way, yes! Purple Monkey Plumbing could be a very successful company name.

At Plumbing Webmasters, we support hundreds of professionals from around the country with professional web design, brand development, and organic SEO solutions. If you’ve been looking for a seasoned digital marketing team to partner with, we’d be thrilled to talk with you! Call us anytime at (877) 388-9884 for a free consultation.

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Posted: | Updated: Jul 10, 2023 | Categories: Podcast

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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Posted: | Updated: Dec 12, 2022 | Categories: Podcast

The $3200 Plumbing SEO Screw Job | The Plumbing SEO Podcast

Does it ever feel like your plumbing SEO company is trying to hide something? Unfortunately, too many plumbing businesses get cheated by their digital marketing agency. That doesn’t have to be you! Thankfully, there are many red flags that can help you steer clear of shady marketing practices. Be sure to listen closely as Jason and Nolen discuss real industry stories that should serve as a word of warning.

Helpful Tips on SEO Services for Plumbers

  • Watch out for bundled deals! These tend to cover up shady reporting practices.
  • Many digital marketing rely heavily on PPC to markup their services.
  • Month to month SEO services often work the hardest to produce results.
  • SEO for plumbers should only require a couple months to start producing results.

Discovering the Tough Truth

“Bob” is a local contractor who relied on the same marketing service for two years. Despite his significant investment into online marketing, Bob noticed a suspicious lack of phone calls coming into his office. With growing concerns, he reached out to the agency that handled his PPC and SEO service bundle. As always, he heard the same old sales runaround that had grown less and less reassuring. So Bob decided it was time to consult with another marketing team.

After running a brief search of some of the top ranked SEO companies in his area, he arranged a one-on-one consultation with our team at the Webmasters. Pretty soon, Bob realized his nagging concerns were justified. Not only was his current provider using confusing reporting practices to hide their lack of organic SEO activity, but it was clear they were spending very little of the money they had allotted for PPC campaigns (and pocketing the rest).

In other words, Bob had been royally screwed for almost two years.

Reporting on SEO Services for Plumbers

Does Your Reporting Come From Google, or a Less Trustworthy Source?

A Common Trend in Digital Marketing

Bob’s story is one we hear all to often. As an experienced contractor in a modestly-sized, non-competitive market, he should have been a rockstar in local search. But his digital marketing company had done literally nothing to optimize his website or his company Google My Business listing.

This trend fits many SEO services for plumbers: using flat fee bundles to hide inactivity and mark up prices.

Bundling paid search and organic SEO services together is almost always a bad idea, especially if the bundle is tied together with a long-term contract. Since contracting professionals see this sort of pricing all the time however, they think nothing of it. Frankly, digital marketing companies do a fantastic job of selling these services. Here’s what happens when a plumbing contractor steps into a long-term PPC/SEO bundle deal.

Part #1: They See Results (for a Time)

Most plumbers start seeing results, but not quite the quantity they expected. That’s because paid search campaigns start producing leads almost immediately. The initial influx of business is usually enough for most plumbers to grudgingly continue without contacting their marketing agency. Those that do speak out end up hearing the same familiar line:

“We’re working hard on your organic SEO, but it always takes 6 months to a year to start seeing results.”

Part #2: They Experience the Runaround

When leads begin to slow down, most plumbing contractors naturally start to wonder what’s going on. That’s when the confusing reporting comes out. Some marketing agencies appear more trustworthy by pushing their numbers through a third party reporting company.

On a side note: this is why you should always have your PPC campaign spending issued directly from Google. This prevents your digital marketing company from hiding the actual costs per click.

The reporting also enables SEO services for plumbers to cover their lack of progress on website optimization. Remember, successful SEO practices actually produce cheaper, higher quality leads for your business. Companies that make the most of their money with inexpensive PPC campaigns don’t want a productive organic presence taking money away from their primary source of income.

Part #3: They Get Addicted to PPC

What happens next? The same thing that plumbers experience when they purchase leads from a vendor: addiction. PPC’s slower, but dependable source of leads makes it difficult for most plumbing companies to part with their marketing agency. After all, who wants to leave a steady stream of business, even it if is smaller than they’d like?

Thus begins the cycle of PPC addiction, which takes many plumbers years to overcome. Those that do escape inevitably feel jaded against other marketing professionals that could actually provide real, lasting, and remarkable results. That’s why productive SEO services for plumbers have to work so hard to prove themselves!