Is it even worth it to focus on internet marketing for plumbers? If you own a plumbing business, you might be too busy to even think about this stuff.
The phone is ringing, and your customers are satisfied.
However, what happens when that phone starts ringing for a day or even a week?
Before you start handing out flyers or going door to door (who knows if this could work), look at the numbers below.
There are close to 400 000 searches on google MONTHLY for the phrase ‘plumber near me’.
When you count all the other possible phrases like ‘plumber emergency’, ‘plumber in {CITY}, ’24/7 plumber’, that number is even higher.
You can reach a good number of these people by following our guide to digital marketing for plumbers.
Why Use Internet Marketing For Plumbing Business?
You might be happy with how your business is doing right now, but what will happen in a few years?
As a business owner, you must be prepared for the worst.
What happens if you can’t keep operating based on the referrals alone?
The customers are there, as we can see by the numbers mentioned before. However, they have to be able to find your plumbing business. Depending on where you live, there is more competition every day.
70% of the leads go to the first three search results.
Where To Start With Digital Marketing For Plumbers?
Before you can utilize online marketing as a way to generate new leads, you should be familiar with a lot of terms and techniques.
To be honest, you will probably be overwhelmed with the amount of information you will have to take in.
Trust me; it will all be worth it when the leads start coming in.
Nobody expects you to spend weeks, months, or years becoming an expert in all of the aspects of internet marketing for plumbers.
Some of them might not even work for you.
Still, if you ever consider hiring a, let’s say SEO agency, you will know what questions to ask and what to expect for a price.
Some of The Most Popular Digital Marketing Services For Small Business Include:
- Branding Services
- Website Design and Development
- SEO (Search Engine Optimization)
- PPC (Pay Per Click)
- Social Media Marketing
- Email Marketing
Branding for Plumbing Business
The word ‘branding’ may sound fancy and strange if you don’t use it in everyday life. And you most likely don’t, if it’s not closely related to your work.
Most people think branding is reserved for huge corporations, with millions in the monthly marketing budget.
The reality is very different.
Branding is simply creating an image and controlling the way you present yourself and your company.
The first step is LOGO DESIGN.
Your logo is often the first thing your potential customer sees and how they interact with your business.
A logo represents your business. As such, it represents who you are and how you work.
Some of the symbols usually found on plumbing company logos include:
- water drops,
- a dripping tap,
- hand holding a wrench up, etc.
No matter what you decide to include in your logo, make sure it looks professional and unique.
I would advise you against using clipart, ‘free’ logo makers, or unexperienced designers.
Website Design & Development
The next step is to design your website. Your website should be a focal point of your online presence.
In general, you want all of your leads to end up on your website eventually.
A professional website for plumbers serves as your representative that is always available and is a direct continuation of your brand.
There Are a Couple of Things That You Need to Pay Extra Attention:
- Content of the website:
Make sure you optimize the copy of the website for users and Search engines both - Websites speed:
There is nothing more frustrating than a slow website. If your website loads slower than 3 seconds, you are guaranteed to lose a lot of potential leads. Besides that, it can negatively impact your rankings. - User Experience
Everything on your website for your plumber service business should be easy to understand, easy to use, and navigate. Most importantly, each button, scroll, or contact form needs to work perfectly. - Website NEEDS to be mobile-first
With exponentially more searches coming from mobile devices, your website needs to be mobile-friendly. You may also come across terms like mobile-first and responsive website. What that means is your website needs to look great on screens of every size and in every resolution.
You have a couple of options when it comes to the actual design and development of a website for your plumber business.
To name a few, you could try to do it all by yourself, hire a freelancer, or hire an agency.
Each option is viable, and selecting one depends on your technical skill, the time you are ready to invest, and your budget.
We strongly recommend hiring an agency like Inkyy Web Design & Branding.
Our team will help you with finding the right strategy for your website.
We will help you with the project management, design of the website, and development. This is the most cost-effective, time-effective, and overall the easiest option for your business.
You can check out some of our previous work here.
SEO For Plumbers
Having a high position in the search results can have a potentially tremendous impact on your business.
A huge number of search traffic (over 80%) goes to the first 3 results.
The rest of the results on the first page (usually the first 10) get much fewer clicks.
What determines the position is a complex algorithm that is constantly evolving. There is no way to influence your ranking directly. However, you can still optimize your website based on some known factors.
Five of the most important ranking factors are:
- Content
How relevant, unique, and well-written your content is. Make sure to structure all the information so it is easy to find and browse. Generally, pages with objectively better content are awarded higher rankings.
- Technology
Your website should be easily accessible, with a clear and simple architecture. Make sure it is usable, no matter which device the user has.
- Backlinks
Backlinks are also known as inbound links and incoming links. To put it simply, backlinks act like votes of popularity and authority to the search engines. Aside from referring visitors to your website, they can greatly influence your rankings on search engines.
- Social Signals
Every like, share, or retweet play a part in digital marketing for your plumbing company. More specifically, it can influence your SEO as well. These links from social media, called social signals give validation and endorsements to your business.
- User Signals
User Signals include click-through rate, the average time a user spends on the website, and bounce rate. They serve as one of the indicators of relevance and if website content matches user intent.
SEO is a long-term investment and you generally wouldn’t be able to see the results right away. Most of the changes you are implementing today will have an impact a few months down the line. Still, the potential is tremendous and SEO can prove to provide a great ROI (Return of Investment).
PPC For Plumbers
PPC or Pay per Click is the best option if you need results right NOW. Just like the name suggests, you will be paying every time someone clicks on your ad.
Whether you are advertising on Google or Facebook, you will be able to put your ad in front of the people that are actively searching for your services.
There are a few downsides to the PPC method of internet marketing for plumbers.
You will have to have to set your PPC budget before you start.
Depending on your area, the competition can be fierce to the point of the cost per click being barely manageable.
As soon as you stop advertising, the potential leads will dry up and your visibility will drop significantly.
Social Media Marketing
We mentioned social media as a part of other internet marketing strategies like SEO and PPC.
It is an extremely powerful tool, that you shouldn’t ignore in this time and age.
You might not like it, or completely understand it but it’s the easiest way to reach out to your customers.
Make sure it is as easy for your customers to reach you.
Set up an account on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn at the very least.
Also, include your social media in the footer of your website, business cards, brochures, and email signatures.
Email Marketing
Internet marketing for plumbers is not all about finding new customers.
It is important to expand and reach more people. However, you can easily find more work by contacting your existing client base.
Email marketing is one of the best ways to stay in front of your customers. Make sure your number is the first number they call.
Incorporating email marketing for your plumbing business can:
- drive more sales by offering discounts, coupons and limited-time offers
- increase your brand awareness
- keep you in touch with your existing customer base
Summary
Internet marketing for plumbers can appear too complicated at first.
It’s hard to keep track of all the slang and terms you hear. And, it’s much harder to properly understand and apply all of them.
Our guide was meant to break down some of the methods that are guaranteed to work.
With that said, you should consider outsourcing, or hiring someone to help you out This way, you will avoid spending too much time on research and implementation of the different strategies.
