As you know, being a tradesperson requires you to be out and about meeting and working with people every day. After all of that, where’s the time to think about digital marketing? It can be tricky to prioritise but a performing website can really help you to boost the amount of business you bring in.
As pointed out by Ignite SEO Marketing, creating a website is only worthwhile if potential consumers can discover it. This is where search engine optimisation (SEO) comes in. There are more SEO strategies than we can count, but this article helps explain them.
Choose and use relevant keywords
If you use relevant keywords and terms on your trades website, it will rank well on Google search result pages and on other search engines. The relevant keywords must be those that customers type into the search engines a lot. People will not be able to find you or know what you are offering if your site does not include these terms.
Begin by making a list of phrases related to your sector, such as “builders in London” from our previous example. It’s a good idea to indicate your company’s location, as most customers will be looking for local tradespeople.
Keywords for particular services you offer, such as “air conditioning installation” or “conservatory roof repair,” should also be included. If you’re stuck for ideas, check your rivals’ sites that are doing well and see if they may give you some ideas. Google Ads Keyword Planner and other keyword research tools are also useful.
After you’ve picked your keywords, make sure they’re visible on each of your web pages. This, however, must not be overdone. This is known as keyword stuffing, and it can lead to your website being penalised by search engines and could also drive your customers away.
Make your metadata appealing
The information that shows beneath a website listings in search engine results is referred to as metadata. There is a title that summarises the contents of the page, as well as a brief description that provides further information. Because titles have a direct influence on your results, make sure they always incorporate the most relevant keyword for that page. The description doesn’t influence your rankings on its own, but it does encourage people to click on your website. This is crucial for SEO since the more people that visit your site, the more chance you have of ranking high, so make your descriptions as appealing as possible.
Maintain a simple website structure
Customers want to be able to swiftly and easily locate all of the information they need on your website. You’re likely to lose their business if they can’t. This is why you must pay close attention to your navigation menu and ensure that all of your website’s information is well-organised. Ideally, a user should be able to access each page of your website with as few clicks as possible. This also aids Google in finding and scanning all of your pages, since your website’s structure is basically a map for its algorithm, and websites that cannot be found will not rank well. Sites with a lot of content might be tough to organise with a basic layout, therefore you’ll almost certainly require the help of a web developer.
Google My Business
Google My Business is critical in making sure that your website is accessible to potential consumers in your immediate area – a process known as local SEO. Keeping your Google My Business page up to date makes sure that your address is verified and that you show on Google Maps. If somebody searches for “contractors near me” and your firm meets the description, you may be placed at the top of search results under a map of the local region. As a result, when clients in the region look for a company, yours will be one of the first they notice.
Guest posting
This is an excellent technique to increase the number of backlinks to your website. You create a blog post for an industry journal or website, and inside that blog, you link to a related page on your site.
This indicates to Google that you are engaged in your field and have a solid reputation. All of this contributes to the creation of signals that aid in the ranking of your sites.
How do tradespeople benefit from SEO?
Perhaps you feel like SEO is only for online stores and services, but this is far from the case. In an extremely competitive industry, SEO may be a strong and effective tool for tradespeople to attract new consumers. But how can you get an advantage? Here are a few examples:
Rank higher than your competition: Chances are, if you’re considering advertising your business online, so are your rivals. By positioning your firm at the top of the results, SEO allows you to gain an edge over the main competitors in your sector. You’re significantly more likely to get clicked if you’re in the top 5 than your rivals halfway down the page.
Increasing your consumer base increases your revenue: SEO is a tool that generates revenue for your company. The core of the optimisation process is raising your revenue, but it accomplishes a lot of other excellent things along the way. SEO does this by making your business visible, attracting new consumers, and making your brand more desirable to people who may require your services.
More leads equals more customers: SEO aids in the generation of digital leads, most of which will convert into actual customers. Increased leads equal greater customers, and SEO helps to generate that continuous stream of potential consumers who would have never discovered your company otherwise.
Build trust with potential consumers: Trust is important for any business, but it’s more important for a tradesman to be as trustworthy as possible for their prospective clients. A high SEO position makes your company appear more ‘genuine’ in the eyes of individuals looking for your services, and it may be the deciding factor that leads a potential consumer to contact you rather than your competitors.
