You don’t want to just start a business; you want to kill it. You crave lasting, deep success for your plumbing business. The world has enough mediocre performers out there. Why not create something fantastic?

Here at the Plumbing Webmasters, we’ve crafted a handy guide to launch your plumbing startup into the online marketplace with faster, more sustainable, and overall better results. It all revolves around one singular strategy: specialization.

Listen closely as Nolen and Madison reveal how focusing your marketing efforts on one plumbing category can produce incredible revenue opportunities. Be sure to take notes and read the supporting guide below!

Takeaways for Plumbing Professionals

Specialization produces operational and marketing efficiencies.
It’s faster and easier to rank up in a plumbing specialty.
Specializing doesn’t mean you can’t offer other services later on.

Specializing for Success

“How can I be successful in plumbing?” That’s a question that Small Business Trends tried to tackle. In their guide How to Start a Plumbing Business, Small Biz offers a few tidbits on building a long-term plan for triumph in the industry. Step number 3 (after getting certified and apprenticed) involves discovering your personal specialty.

Perhaps, you’ve discovered that the inner workings of residential water heaters naturally bend to your every whim. Maybe you’ve got a knack for repairing underground sewer lines without digging up the whole yard. Possibly, you’re the fastest pipe clog relief around.

Some plumbers might see specialization as a limiter on their ability to make money, but the opposite is often true. You can take a focused skill and use it as a launchpad for your startup. Now let’s zoom in on the benefits of specialization, then show you how to get started online (which was Small Biz’ step number 8, by the way).

Why Specialize as a Plumber?

Why do we recommend anything in these sort of guides? To make your life easier and/or more profitable. Multiple areas of your business can benefit from a specialized structure, so let’s break a few of them down here.

Operational Perks

The first benefits you’ll realize when it comes to specialization are operational. If you confine your portfolio of services to a particular subcategory of plumbing, that means fewer tools to purchase and fewer individuals to hire. That, in turn, leads to fewer service vehicles and fewer driving demands.

You could potentially earn as much or more revenue with three water heater specialists than you would with a generalized staff of five. Prospective customers will also view your brand and crew differently as a specialized group.

Reputational Perks

Any plumber can fix a leaky sink. Very few have what it takes to manage a slab leak repair project. Ask any homeowner if they would rather have a generalist or a specialist fixing the multi-thousand dollar ruptured pipe beneath their foundation. Ask them the same question for a busted water heater or a fractured sewer line.

When you become the specialist for a given plumbing sub-category, the choice suddenly becomes clear for homeowners. Plus, experts generally enjoy higher pricing ranges for the same projects!

Marketing Perks

Let’s face it, plumbing is a very competitive industry. If your prices, ratings, or uniform don’t meet a prospective customer’s demands, they have a dozen other alternatives available at the push of a button. Unless you operate in a smaller service area, breaking into the market is tough!

While generalist plumbers may be a dime a dozen, local specialists in your field are probably in the single digits. Medium to small sized towns may not even have a specialist in your particular focus. It’s much easier to stand out in the online marketing world when only a couple others are standing next to you.

The How of Plumbing Specialization

Now, we are specifically looking at how to market your specialized plumbing services in your service area. Once you’ve picked a field, it’s time to start laying the foundation for your company to build off of.

First, you’ll claim and/or purchase the digital assets you’ll need to mold your brand.
Next, you’ll start developing the content on your website to communicate who you are and what you do to prospective clients.
Finally. you’ll complete support activities as you go along to grow your reputation even more.

Phase 1: Lining Your Digital Ducks in a Row

Everything starts with your website, at least when it comes to earning plumbing leads online. You’ll need a domain name (web address) that sums up your specialty with your unique brand. Speaking of brands, make sure that your plumbing company’s legal name is easily distinguishable from typical industry terms. That will make it much easier to show up in local search results in the future.

While the visual and graphic elements of your brand (such as your logo) contribute to the identity of your company, your website’s content is just as important.

Phase 2: Building Relevance and Authority

You’ve spent years earning your certifications and learning the trade. Now it’s time to share that knowledge with the world. We’re not just talking about consulting with customers in the field. You’ve got to share it with prospects visiting your website too.

Build a healthy collection of pages dedicated to explaining (in layman’s terms) each of the critical services you provide. Explain how your team’s experience makes all the difference during an installation or repair project. Pepper in those specialized plumbing keywords into your paragraphs, headers, and picture captions. A lot of hard work and research flows into writing a website, but doing it right is worth the results!

Finally, spend a little time each month adding to the old company blog. Believe it or not, these blogs still provides some valuable juice for your local SEO. Of course, if you don’t have time for any of these activities, you can always hire a team to do it for you.

Phase 3: Supporting Your Continued Growth

Even your website needs a little help in kicking off your online marketing. If you really want to build a healthy brand, you’ll need three things:

Citations (local listings),
Reviews, and
Check-ins

Hundreds of businesses offer cheap listings for your company, but your specialized plumbing company should only require a handful. Yelp, the BBB, and Facebook are all great places to start. Listings add credibility to your website, and they provide more paths back towards your services. You may even receive the odd call here and there for immediate plumbing help!

Most plumbers comprehend the value behind reviews, but they don’t know how to harness them effectively. We’ve found that a smattering of reviews across different sources tends to earn more recognition from Google, rather than keeping all your eggs in one basket.

Last and least known among plumbers is the check-in. Utilizing a tool like DataPins, check-ins provide coordinates, tags, and pictures to showcase the fantastic work you perform throughout the community. This offers exceptionally high-quality evidence that your company is active and trusted. Use this tool consistently, and you’ll notice powerful ranking improvements in a matter of months.

In Conclusion

Specialization offers speed, focus, and simplicity to plumbing professionals looking to break into the industry. Not only can you cut down on the number of tools and personnel required for day to day work, you can potentially command a higher price average on each of your services.

On the marketing side, specializing also helps by limiting the number of competitors you face in local search results. Water heater experts, slab leak gurus, and hydrojetting aces tend to stand out against the herd, in the eyes of Google and consumers alike. With a proper website foundation and continued support, you can produce some astounding results in a relatively short period of time.

Need help getting the ball rolling on your digital marketing? A seasoned (one might even say specialized) plumbing SEO company can make all the difference! Give the Plumbing Webmasters a call anytime at (877) 388-9884 to learn more about your options.

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Congratulations! You’ve just started your professional plumbing company. You’re also dirt poor and have no marketing budget to speak of. We’ve all been there.

Thankfully, there are plenty of ways to start earning brand recognition online, without breaking the bank. Today, we’ll discuss a number of free to cheap activities that anyone can handle. If you’ve been worried about getting noticed in local search, be sure to listen in!

Key Insights on Plumbing Marketing (on a Tight Budget)

Register a domain under your name! Make sure it’s distinct from common industry terms.
Set up your Google My Business listing and submit your address. Complete the free forms.
If you don’t have money, try a cheap service like WIX and GoDaddy.
Stay away from digital marketing services in the mid-hundreds. You’re better off going DIY!

Starting Fresh in Local Search

Normally, our team at Plumbing Webmasters likes to steer the conversation away from other web design companies. We may also go the opposite direction and show just how many people get royally screwed by other SEO companies. But we’re going to do something different today, because sometimes you just need a place to kick off your marketing plan.

If you have no marketing budget to speak of, starting up your out-of-home plumbing company can be a real challenge! With so many established businesses in the community, how can you start making a name for yourself? It all begins with a domain name and a company website.

Without an established budget, there’s only one solution left: go DIY (do it yourself)!

A 3-Step Starter’s Guide

While many marketing activities can help you cultivate clients, three are absolutely mandatory. Without these three steps, your plumbing SEO has almost zero chance of taking off and earning clients for your business.

Your Three Essential Steps

Step #1: Claim Your GMB (Google My Business) Listing.
Step #2: Register a Unique Domain Name.
Step #3: Create and Launch a Starter Website.

This Free Tool Makes it Easier to Earn Site Visitors. Image Source: Google My Business

Google My Business Account

Among the numerous qualities it has and the benefits it provides, your Google My Business listing is absolutely free. It’s Google’s way of getting to know your business location, basic service category, and operating hours. Fill it out as much as possible, and regularly come back to it as you gain more information. Your GMB listing helps you start showing up in local search queries. Then there’s the crucial ability to gather Google Reviews!

Be sure to use the same physical address for all your citations as your business grows. This makes the Google Search algorithm more confident in your operating area, increasing your chances of showing up for localized searches. When business booms, your marketing budget expands, and your company grows into an office, you’ll need to change the name for all of your citation listings (BBB, Angie’s List, Yelp, etc.).

Choosing a Domain Name

Your domain name isn’t just a web address. It’s also part of your brand identify, and it heavily impacts people’s ability to find your company online. Choosing a smart domain and guarding it carefully will help your business grow consistently over time.

Domain Name Examples

Great: purplemonkeyplumber.com
Poor: americafirstplumber.com
Great: pipefighter.co
Poor: seattleplumbingcompany.com
Great: rooterrex.com
Poor: bustedpipestx.co

What makes an ideal domain name? Memorability and uniqueness. Thousands of businesses shoot themselves in the foot by picking what they think will rank well in search. They use part of their small marketing budget to purchase a combination of their local city and a popular plumbing term. That’s a huge mistake! Many established companies already rank for similar names, and Google almost never ranks a new business over a seasoned competitor with a close name.

Craft Your Company Website

The most involved portion of your online marketing, website design requires careful planning, research, and patience. With that being said, it is possible to craft a beautiful website on a tight budget. With plenty of design sites and templates to choose from, anyone can build a basic but functional site for under $100. Your website may not be fully optimized for local SEO, but that’s okay for now.

Key Highlights on Website Design

Make sure your navigational menu is compact and fully functional.
Have your site inspected by several people for spelling and grammar errors.
Create a service page for every major category (at least). Do child pages if possible.
Test your site for usability and ease of navigation.

Need Help Getting Started?

One last note: Be sure to create listings in each of the major citation companies: Yelp, BBB, etc. Facebook Business profiles can also help you earn a handful of leads as you get the ball rolling. Starting a plumbing business is tough work (especially without a marketing budget), but success can be yours with diligence and careful planning!

Want some professional insight as you begin your business? Call the Plumbing Webmasters for a free consultation! We support hundreds of plumbers around the country, and we’d be happy to support you however we can, even if you don’t have a big marketing budget.

Simply call us at (877) 388-9884 to learn more.

Other Resources from Plumbing Webmasters

Related Articles and Podcasts
– Skin in the Game With Plumber’s Marketing Money (Podcast)

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– Google My Business for Plumbers
– Website Design Services for the Plumbing Webmasters