Top Plumber SEO Services Experts Ararat

Like many, Christmas Day was all about family. We stayed up until 5 am Christmas Eve wrapping gifts and promptly at 8 am our kids were awake wanting to start the holiday festivities.

We have a great Christmas, we have teenagers and they got gifts like DF Hero and watches and clothing, we ate breakfast and the kids played DJ Hero all day while we prepared dinner.

We had a great dinner, watched movies and eventually I did the dishes, dumping the garbage in the garbage disposal, ran the disposal and washed the dishes. Everything was done when I discovered that we had a clogged sink and despite my working hard to unclog, the sink was full of water, clogged, a disaster.

I'm no handyman but I did try the plunger to no avail, the sink was clogged with standing water and garbage and nothing was working. So, like any good geek, I went to Google and entered "how to unclog a sink", here was what Google returned.

The results where somewhat helpful but what strikes we is the following;

• Not one local plumber ranks in the search results
• Not one local plumber is running PPC ads on this phrase.

What I was looking for where some really simple tips from a local plumber. My plan was to try the tips and if they didn't work call the plumber that provided me help. If I had found one local plumber with just that, either a site I could read with pictures or ideally a video, that guy would have gotten my business.

Instead I used Craigslist.com, guessed at a plumber, called him only to be told he could come out for 5 days. I called another plumber who didn't answer and finally called back a few days later. Bottom line, my kitchen sink was clogged for three days with water and smelly food. I eventually go the problem fixed, I did it myself.

Moral of the story, a little inbound marketing guide from a local plumber would have gotten a new loyal customer, instead a half competent do it yourself jobs

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Here are some of the steps I go through to improve my customer's online presence

When I'm meeting a prospective customer, I like to find out what advertising mechanisms they are currently using. Its fairly common that they are using newspaper advertising, yellow pages and other traditional print media. I always ask what kind of tracking mechanism they have in place to measure the effectiveness of their advertising. Unfortunately, there is usually very little tracking done unless they included a coupon or incentive of some kind in their advertising.

I then continue our discussion by asking the business owner how he or she goes about finding a business when they have a need. The answer is pretty universal. Almost all of the business owners I have spoken with search for businesses on the internet. The obvious question is, "If this is where you look for businesses you intend to purchase from, can your potential customers find your business on the internet?" I can't describe to you the downfallen looks I have gotten from business owners when they hear this question. I always ask their permission to see how they can be found. I start by bringing up Google and asking them what a potential customer might enter into a search engine if they were looking for the business. We decide on a keyword and look at the search results. I have yet to sit down with a business owner who was pleased about where there business showed up, if they showed up at all.

While we are examining the search results, I let my prospect know that the website ranked #1 will get around 40% of the click volume, #2 will get around 20% and #3 will get around 10%. The other websites receive a very low percentage of the available traffic.

I know this might seem cruel, but it is an important educational point for the business owner. Potential customers do not look for the business name when they search online, they express their need, i.e. "I need a plumber". This requires us to change how we approach everything in establishing our marketing presence, even the selection of our domain name. If we include a good search phrase such as "I need a plumber" in the domain name we will get noticed more quickly and will draw more traffic. This exercise introduces the business owner to the concept of keywords. When it comes to the internet, keywords are what we live by.

What is a keyword?

A keyword is just the term used for a search phrase. It may be all or part of the the search phrase entered in by a search engine user. The search phrase "I need a plumber in Chicago" contains several possible keywords: plumber; I need a plumber; plumber in Chicago; I need a plumber in Chicago. When examined, each of these keywords will receive some amount of monthly search volumes.

What keywords should I focus on?

When we looked at the keyword suggested by the business owner, we saw a list of websites who have obviously done something right. That's how they got ranked so highly. The logical step is to take a look at the keywords used by those websites. With the right tools, one can enter in the URL and get a complete list of the keywords that a website is focusing on. However, we may not be able to compete initially with an existing website on all of the keywords. It will take time to build up enough content and reviews to become competitive. What I do for my customers is to use internet marketing tools to find the keywords which do not have a ton of competition but still have a decent search volume. We start with those and get ranked on the easy keywords while we are working to get noticed on the more competitive keywords. This does two things. It helps generate traffic for the business owner's website and gives them some confidence that they can use the internet to bring new customers into their business.

Ok, I have my keywords, now what?

The internet thrives on content, so the next step we need to take is to create some content. We need to create content which I call "personal branding" content, and content which will draw the interest of visitors to the business' website. We need personal branding content to help our visitors know who we are. Customers purchase from people they feel comfortable with and from those they view as authorities. The rest of our content should be seeded with keywords to help the search engines rate us and to provide valuable information to the websites visitors.

However, just putting content on a website won't do enough to draw visitors. We also need to get the content out and visible to the rest of the world. In order to do that, we create accounts on numerous article directories, video directories and business directories. Every piece of content published on a website should also be distributed as many places as possible with links back to the main website. These links are called "back-links" and are one of the primary criteria used by search engines to establish website rankings. Even getting articles published isn't enough. We must also arrange for "reviews" of these articles to be written so that the search engines know that the content being published is valuable and in demand.

Some of the best types of content we can produce are "how to" lists or "top 10" lists. These draw attention more than most types of content. Videos have become incredibly important in getting ranked and are now easy to produce as well.

We must also create listings for the business in business directories. These tools are repositories of businesses and invariably have high rankings on the internet. We must take the testimonials that the business has received and publish these on the business' website and all of the business directories.

Each search engine also maintains a directory of businesses in specific niches. These are frequently the easiest places to get noticed. In combination with the listings and testimonials, this may be the first place where a business can get ranked well in a search engine.

Summary

The basic steps we have discussed in this article are:
1) Find out what customers are searching for (keyword research)
2) Create content (branding and general keyword rich content in the form of articles and videos)
3) Publish content on the website and across the internet in various directories
4) Generate reviews of the published content
5) Create listings for the business in the noted business directories
6) Create "local" listings for the business
7) Publish testimonials for business on website and business directories

Repeat process for more keywords

None of these steps are especially difficult, they just require time, knowledge and the correct tools.

Most of us would be more inclined to call a plumber about a backed-up drain than we would for marketing advice, but maybe that shouldn't necessarily be the case. When we recently got a chance to do some business web design work for a local plumbing company, we saw firsthand that they know a thing or two about finding and attracting new customers - online or off.

Granted, they might not think of themselves as marketing masters, but we noticed that they have a toolbox full of ideas and tactics that could work well for almost any business. And when was the last time you heard of a great plumbing company going out of business?

To see what we mean, here are five great lessons you can learn about marketing from a good plumber:

1. Names and reputations matter. On the one hand, our plumbing client used a distinctive business name the people tend to remember. On the other, they've developed a reputation for being trustworthy and affordable. If you can combine something memorable with a strong sense of value in a customer's mind, it's going to do good things for your marketing results.

2. You have to clean out a lot of "gunk" before you can get to the "good." Bad websites and marketing materials are like clogged garbage disposals - you have to clear out the crud before you can fix a problem. If you have too many long, pointless pages, ancient logos, or bad stock photos on a website or brochure, they'll have to go before in order to get your marketing efforts flowing smoothly.

3. If you help someone in crisis, you've earned a loyal customer. Every single day this particular plumbing company talks to a new customer who's facing a crisis (toilets that won't flush, sinks that won't stop running, etc.) sometimes in the middle of the night. If they show up quickly, act like professionals, and solve the problem, they've earned a loyal customer who will remember them forever. Everyone should follow their example.

4. It's okay to branch out, if you know what you're doing. Along with plumbing, this company added air conditioning repair and installation to their mix of services. Isn't this supposed to be the age of specialization? It is, but you can branch out over time - and be profitable doing it - if customers know you are competent and your prices are fair. Learn to spot natural opportunities for your business to expand and don't be afraid to explore them.

5. When you're marketing, it isn't just to new customers. Our plumber didn't just want a website that was all about sales - there are areas for potential employees, vendors, and even property maintenance supervisors. Obviously, most marketing efforts are focused on attracting new buyers, but keep in mind that your messages are also going out to existing customers, potential employees, and even your competitors. Remember this, and tailor your messages appropriately.

Your plumber might not brag about his marketing knowledge, but that doesn't mean it isn't there. Follow these tips and make the best of what they know start working for you.