Although you website is important and over 80% of buyers report checking a business’s website before making a buying decision, it isn’t the only tool people use when evaluating a purchase. In fact, according to Google, it takes generally about 12 impressions before someone makes a buying decision for a major purchase, especially in the home improvement industry. Those 12 impressions don’t necessarily mean seeing your name or logo.

Let’s use the example of buying a new roof:

1. Neighbor gets a new roof, I see sign in yard or truck, makes me think I might need one.
2. I look into roofing in general online, maybe I look into how long my roof should last.
3. I get a flyer in my mailbox advertising a roofing sale.
4. I ask neighbor about their roof replacement & I look at the company they used online.
5. I do a general search of roofing companies near me and scroll through options, perhaps click on the map that comes up or a site like YP.com where many sites are listed.
6. I speak to my husband about it.
7. I read some information about roofing on Houzz or another site that isn’t a roofing company.
8. I read some more information because I’m considering architectural because I now have 3 tab.
9. I so a focused search like roofers in my city, I check out a few companies.
10. I share with husband the couple I like best.
11. Interview/get quotes
12. Check references/licensing/BBB/reviews etc

Decision!

Of course this is quite hypothetical and there might be only 8 or 10 or there might be 15 different impressions. The point is having a great website doesn’t cut it. You need to be found in more than one place. Make sure you have social media accounts for all outlets that make sense for your business. Make sure you are properly listed in every possible directory. Find local, low cost advertising opportunities – some of my favorite are those that support the community like the high school football program or the the local little league. Find something that you connect to and that means something to you.

If you are looking for someone to help you make the best use of your marketing dollars, speak with your local online marketing professional. If you don’t have one, give us a call and we’ll talk to you about our services and how we can help. 629-777-6410

I don’t own an iPhone or iPad but a lot of the population does. Did you know about 1 in 3 searches is done on an apple device? With that in mind, you want to log in to your iTunes account and create your Apple Maps listing.

Here’s how to add your company to Apple Maps in eight quick step

   Go to https://mapsconnect.apple.com/

Log in with your Apple ID and password. If you don’t have an Apple ID, you’ll have to get one. There’s no way around it.

   Select your relationship to your business.

You’ll be prompted to do this on the Add a New Business Page, which you’ll be automatically directed to after you log in. You can either select “I’m the business owner or “I’m authorized by the business owner.”

   Enter your basic business details.

This is where you key in your business name, primary business phone number and business address.

   Verify your business phone number.

You will be prompted to allow Apple to call the number you supply. The call will provide you with a PIN code from Apple. If needed, you can opt to “Verify Later.”

   Confirm your business location.

There are three categories to choose from, each with several business types within, from “Accountants” to “Video/Film Production” and just about every imaginable company type in between. If you don’t see a category that fits, you can suggest one.

   Confirm your hours of business.

Demarcate the hours you’re open from Apple’s list of seven days and you’re set. If you’re open 24 hours, there are checkboxes for that, too.

   Add your company website and social media accounts.

Simply type or cut, copy and paste the URLs for them into the fields in the Add More Details section.

   Review your business information.

To confirm that everything is kosher, click “OK” and you’re done. New listings should appear within Apple’s Maps app within a week at most. If additional verification is required, expect to hear from Apple soon.

Remember it’s important to be found so make sure all your business listings are consistent and accurate. Consistent means 100 Main St. #102 is not the same to Google as 100 Main Street Suite 102. My recommendation is to go to www.usps.gov and see how they list your address and use that always. Good luck.

Each month I spend many hours learning about changes in the way things work online and reading blogs about best practices. I also collaborate with a team of people who do the same thing I do for other small businesses across the country. One of the ongoing topics is how can we help our clients create website traffic that converts to customers. This past week one of my fellow small business marketers talked about success that a client had with Groupon and I thought I’d pass their idea along to you. This particular client was a home improvement contractor, mostly focusing on roofing. He set up a Groupon for $150 that had a $300 value, so a 50% savings (please remember every business is different and every one of you has a different services and pricing model so just take this as an example). This deal included a compete roof inspection and formal write up of the roof’s condition that could be used in the future if there was storm damage to prove that at the time of inspection the roof was in good condition. It also included cleaning of gutters, a job no one wants to do. He also said that the $150 would be applied as a credit against any roof replacement or repair totaling over $1500. This may sound like it’s going to cost you a lot of money but the client stated that the number of roofs inspected that had actual damage that needed repairs ended up netting him many leads at a low cost.

Think about your business and what services you offer. Can you set up a service oriented Groupon or Living Social deal that will appeal to many people and also provide you with either immediate additional work, leads for the future or just a good contact that now has a trusted friend in whatever your industry may be? You might be surprised and what you can offer that may initially be a loss leader but in the long run benefit your business.

Other than leads, how can this benefit you? Remember one of the things that influences your Google ranking is back linking. Groupon puts your website on their site so you get a very high quality back link. Secondly, many people will click on your site even if they don’t buy the Groupon. This helps because now you have your name in front of someone new and secondly it sends traffic to your site. More traffic from your local area is a good thing to Google which can, in turn, help your rankings as well.

Perhaps Groupon and Living Social aren’t the right way to send traffic to your site but if you want to talk about something that will work for you, we’re happy to help. Just give us a call and we can discuss a marketing plan for your business. We can be reached at 703-334-6521 or 727-967-2025.