Roofing SEO Podcast

As we are in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, our thoughts tend to be scattered, and we are having to re-evaluate our priorities. As a roofing contractor, you have probably experienced this. While your business is important to you, it can be hard to devote mental energy to ways to sustain it; much less improve it. But don’t fool yourself – even in this time of crisis your business can grow and thrive. It may not seem like it, but the pandemic is affording business owners the opportunity to showcase outstanding customer service.

We work with roofing contractors every day. We have seen the value of great customer service during these times and what it can do for a business now and in the future. As we are taking precautions to safeguard ourselves, our families, and our businesses, take some time to consider customer service in the here and now. Doing so will help your business not only survive during these times but thrive.

Here at Roofing Webmasters, we are here for you every step of the way. If you are ready and willing to utilize this crisis as an opportunity to demonstrate value to your customers, then read our customer service tips.

If you are running your business during these times, it would be extremely helpful for existing and potential clients alike if they knew that you intend to take the necessary precautions to keep them safe. In this time, the last thing anyone wants is to have a bunch of roofers on their property who are coughing and possibly spreading the novel Coronavirus. So the first step you should take towards maintaining a high level of customer service during this pandemic is letting your customers know that you will take the necessary steps to keep them safe. Update your website to reflect the safety practices you and your crews will be implementing, let people know when they call, and ask about your services and you can even send emails to your current customers updating them on your safety policy.

It’s one thing to say that you will keep your customers and team safe, it’s quite another to actually follow through. The first concern on everyone’s mind as they venture into the public or have people come to their homes or businesses is face masks. Make sure you and your team have plenty of face masks when they are on the job. You can also let your customers know that you will be mainly outside and that if you need anything, you will simply knock on the door. Physical distance is important so try not to be too “in your face” when you are speaking to a customer in person. While that may be your normal style, it will make your customers wary and unlikely to use your services again in the future.

Your customers will appreciate your efforts to limit physical contact. If you don’t have to physically be on the job site, try not to be. Instead, try to communicate with your customers over the phone or, if the situation calls for visual aids, reach out to them over Zoom, FaceTime, or other video chat apps. As a roofer, it may be hard to let your customers know what needs to be done over the phone so these video chat apps can be beneficial to get on the same page as your customers.

This one may be hard since almost everyone is feeling the effects of the economic crunch. But if all possible, try to limit the number of workers you have on a job site to those that the job actually needs. People may get uneasy if they see a big crew on their property unless the job really necessitates such a workforce. By keeping your team scant, you are showing the customer that you care about their safety and health.

Just because we are social distancing during this time doesn’t mean that we can’t interact with our customer base. Now is a great time to respond to all those comments left by customers on your social media page and reply to some of your reviews. Replying to reviews is a great way to show your customers that you care about their interaction with your company and you don’t need to put theirs or your health at risk to do so. Responding to social media posts is also a great way to engage customers and develop a rapport with them.

And as it is eloquently explained in this Forbes article, people are frustrated these days. Not only is the looming virus stressful but services are down or really slow all over the place. Show your customers that you understand their frustration and that you are doing everything in your power to help them. Reach out to them in an email, call them on the phone or simply post a message on your website and social media page acknowledging the frustration that many customers may be feeling and assuring them that you are working to fill their roofing needs.

All the customer service tips we have laid out here sound like they are for the here and now – and they are. But all of these tactics revolve around considering the thoughts, concerns, and feelings of your customers – an approach that any successful roofing contractor must adopt. 

The above customer service tips will surely help your customers trust you during the pandemic, but they will remember the thoughtful service you provided at this time. And they will be that much more likely to continue with your roofing services when things get back to normal. 

For more help with your roofing contractor business, please feel free to reach out to us here at Roofing Webmasters. 

The post Showcasing Great Customer Service During Coronavirus appeared first on Roofing Webmasters.

When Google hunts for the best contractors to list for local consumers, the search engine collects all the evidence it finds. Sure, website service pages can claim a business provides impact resistant shingle installation, but how often is the company really performing that service? The best types of evidence are customer reviews and check-ins. The latter is what we’ll be talking about today.

Jobsite check-ins are woefully under-utilized in the contracting industries. Of course, there’s another way of looking at it. Any roofing contractors who consistently utilize the right check-in tools can earn serious lead generation improvements through local SEO! Find out more about check-ins in our latest podcast with Amberlynn and Madison from Roofing Webmasters.

Key Lessons for Roofing Contractors

• Building up a collection of check-ins each month drives higher local SEO ranks.

Have you ever seen a Google Map of your city? Hundreds of businesses line the streets, and all corners swell with thriving residential communities. What you do not see is all the places your roofing company has provided service throughout the city. Google doesn’t see it either, no matter how many times you’ve written about it in your website.

Check-ins change that. When you whip out your phone and perform one, you provide Google with some invaluable data:

• Your location,

While other companies are busy claiming to provide (for example) metal roofing installation in Atlanta, you’ve just shown Google very real evidence of your activity. That’s one small pin on the Google Map, at first. Scale this up to hundreds of pins over the course of a year, and you’ve given Google a very real reason to rank your business first in local search results.

All your competitors have roofing websites. Most of your competitors know to collect reviews. Very few roofing companies in your area are performing check-ins. That means there’s a clear opportunity to get ahead of other brands and generate some exclusive roofing leads.

Thanks to the Local Search Update of last year, it’s now possible for young (or even brand new) businesses to win placements in local map packs if they optimize well. We’ve seen previously unknown brands earn top spots within a matter of months after starting up a regular check-in program. The results are real!

Employees of any business can use check-ins once they have been granted a user login. At the end of each job, they take a picture of your installation (roof replacement, roof coating, etc.) and fill out the project information. Finally, you select “check-in” and your job is done for that particular location.

The check-in is populated to your company website in the necessary context, creating an SEO advantage and also validating your business as credible. This kind of content is premium in Google’s eyes and is not something that can be copied or duplicated by a competitor website because of its uniqueness.

The two things that make or break check-ins are frequency and accuracy. Accurate check-ins establish credibility with your business and serve as premium SEO content. Frequent check-ins prove your business is doing regular jobs and provides an indication that you are a popular service. Furthermore, you are likely to earn more reviews, the more check-ins you publish on your website.

Since many of your competitors lack check-in functionality, accumulating as many as possible in the near-term should give you a major head start several years down the road. Once other roofers start to catch-on, they will be significantly behind the curve that you created.

Another aspect of check-ins that should be maximized is image optimization. If you snap an original photo on the job-site it is going to be worth far more from an SEO standpoint, than a non-visual check-in, or worse: a stock photo check-in. The whole idea is to verify your legitimacy as a roofer, and nothing confirms that more than a picture of the actual job.

SEO can seem like a rat race in many industries. But roofers must ask themselves about the most efficient way to grow their brand online. By performing check-ins at job sites, you are differentiation yourself from other roofing websites. Not only can you improve local SEO on GMB and the Local 3 Pack but you can also increase conversion-rates and validate your presence in service areas that are outside your office or home zip code.

Nobody knows for sure where SEO will be in 5 years, but the best estimate projects that local businesses will be judged by social proof and confirmed job site check-ins. Imagine being #1 on GMB rankings and being able to serve customers throughout all nearby service areas. This is what online roofing marketing may look like in the coming years.

The post How Check-ins Radically Boost Local SEO appeared first on Roofing Webmasters.

Does SEO really mean what you think it does? Jason and Nolen explain how ignorance and misinformation lead many roofing companies astray during online marketing. If any of these real-world stories sound familiar, it might be time to reconsider how you search for marketing services!

Key Takeaways For Roofing Professionals

• Inaccurate preconceptions prevent businesses from finding SEO services they really need.

Marketing is an ever-shifting, bustling industry. As much of the consumer world transitions into online search for their day-to-day needs, roofing companies look to Google to find their customers. Most savvy business owners understand a few basic facts:

• They need a website, 

If you’ve already grasped these marketing truths, your business is already doing better than many roofing companies out there. Unless you have years of search marketing research under that tool belt however, there’s still a long road between your company and a successful online marketing strategy. That’s why the vast majority of roofing firms turn to agencies to guide their progress. The only problem is:

How do you find a real SEO company that actually knows their stuff?

Real SEO (search engine optimization) focuses on crafting a website that blends superior keyword rankings with a smooth visitor experience. Numerous elements go into this process, including web design, keyword research, schema coding, and citation management. Even a quick Google search of “roofing SEO” however, reveals that dozens of businesses offer SEO services for the industry.

Unfortunately, most roofing SEO companies have no idea what they’re doing. Still more claim to provide search engine optimization but provide little in the way of actual SEO. What you’ll find instead are…

• PPC Campaign Management Firms

Some of these agencies truly offer valuable solutions for earning roofing sales. Others have no clue what they’re doing, but can easily talk their way through sales calls. Again, very few provide real solutions in the way of SEO. From an outside perspective, that might not seem like a big deal. However, the difference could end up costing your business years of setbacks and thousands of wasted marketing dollars.

Quality SEO solutions tend to take time (usually a few months) to produce results, but the results last. These solutions generate a steady stream of local consumers coming into your website and contacting your business. Consumers also tend to return with greater frequency, at a significantly lower cost than if you tried to buy them through a lead seller. Revenue opportunities only grow over time as both Google and consumers learn to recognize your company brand.

In short: SEO offers cheaper leads, more sales, and more sustained revenue over time. 

Roofing contractors with a real SEO company will happily share their success stories (unless you’re a local competitor, of course). In fact, it’s a wise practice to look up high-ranking roofing companies outside of your service area and see who their marketing company is. You’ll find their brands listed in the top of local map packs and organic search results!

Once you find a capable SEO service provider, don’t let go. We’ve witnessed too many businesses jump into marketing with great enthusiasm, only to bail out a month or two later. They usually fall into one of two tragic stories:

• The roofers attributed their success to their own abilities.

If your company enjoys sweet success from a certain SEO marketing company, why leave? Thankfully, there are ways to confirm whether or not your company is providing worthwhile results. Chart the number of leads you earn each month. Compare your numbers with those from last year and the year before. Examine your Google Analytics dashboard and see how many site visitors originate from Google Search!

At Roofing Webmasters, we’re always happy to walk through your Analytics and chart your progress. Is your company willing to prove their worth? If not, we’d love to talk with you about your company SEO needs! Give our team a call at (800) 353-5758 for a free consultation.

The post We’re Bringing SEO Back | Roofing SEO Podcast appeared first on Roofing Webmasters.

When no one offers a solution to your problem, sometimes you have to become the answer! Through a strange adventure filled with twists and turns, a long-time professional in the home security industry became the founder of an SEO and web design company. Nolen and Jason talk about the history of Roofing Webmasters!

Key Lessons for Roofing Professionals

• Marketing is one of the most powerful factors contributing towards roofing company success.

Roofing Webmasters actually grew out of a completely different industry! Years ago, our founder Nolen Walker ran a home security business out of the Dallas / Fort Worth area. When telemarketing began to face strong federal backlash, he saw that online advertising and website optimization was the best way to further his business.

Unfortunately, few local marketing companies had any experience with SEO. Those that did charged a fortune for the most basic services. Their cockiness and patronizing drove Nolen away from their services very quickly!

Nolen decided to take matters into his own hands by hiring an in-house team of marketers to promote the business. It was a very expensive proposition at the time, but it laid the groundwork of what would ultimately become Roofing Webmasters! Today, our team consists of over twenty content writers, web designers, programmers, video specialists, and SEO analysts.

We take on the online marketing challenges that are too time-consuming or costly for many roofing professionals to handle themselves.

It took years of trial and error to find the well-balanced team of professionals we have today. We learned some crucial marketing lessons during that time.

• The most successful businesses typically invest heavily in marketing.

These are lessons that we continually honor and share as we serve businesses across the country. They are why we strive so hard to provide timely, customized service for our clients. But enough about our business! Why does online marketing matter for your roofing company?

The concept behind marketing is a simple one to grasp: if you want people to know about your services, they have to be told. If you need prospects to choose your team over a competitor, you have to persuade them. Marketing accomplishes both of these goals, providing the necessary information and persuasion to draw clients into your revenue stream.

Marketing is simply part of doing business.

That truth extends into the realm of search marketing, which connects your company brand / website with local consumers on Google Search. With so many people relying on Google to find their essential services, it’s amazing how many professionals in the roofing industry still don’t quite grasp the significance of this type of marketing. Yet there are so many benefits to reap from it!

Think of all the consumers looking for roofing service online! Search marketing provides roofers with the essential visibility and authority needed to earn premium rankings. Scoring page one rankings could land you thousands of dollars in new revenues each year. The best part? Organic search results are so much cheaper than buying leads from a seller!

How people perceive your business is just as important as what you have to say about it, if not more. With a high ranking website on Google Search, people automatically perceive your business as more authoritative and trustworthy. Enhance that site with professional web design, plentiful client reviews, and verified local citations (from Yelp, BBB, etc) for an even stronger online performance!

These are all activities your search marketing strategy should include.

Be where the customers are. That’s a crucial pillar of business and an even more essential facet of customer service. If your potential clients can’t even find your business online, then how can they find the relief they need? Search marketing enables your company to better communicate with the thousands of homeowners, through your website and other online assets.

Thousands of contractors claim superior skill and expertise, but few take the time to answer the key questions that consumers ask every day.

The post How I Got Started in SEO | Roofing SEO Podcast appeared first on Roofing Webmasters.

This is the tale of how a fresh-faced contractor with a brand new website managed to dethrone an industry champion…in two months. Learn how changes in local SEO (and some fancy software) made it all possible. If you’ve struggled to get ahead in search this year, be sure to listen in!

Local SEO Tips for Roofers

• Local SEO for roofers begins with claiming and verifying your Google My Business listing.

“Bob” recently broke into the plumbing industry for a town of over a quarter million people. As you may know, our team at the Webmasters supports businesses from all kinds of industries (though we specialize in roofing, plumbing, and HVAC). Here was Bob with a brand new business, a freshly minted website, and what seemed like a long road towards success ahead of him.

In just two months, Bob earned the top spot in a local map pack for one of the most competitive keywords in the industry! 

As a matter of fact, Bob secured top listings for several critical phrases in his local search area. You can bet he’s enjoying an outpouring of business in both his hometown and nearby cities. Wondering how Bob pulled off such an amazing transformation as a brand new business?

Two factors made Bob’s outrageous success possible: the recent Local Search Update from Google, and geotagging. We have great news for you! Your roofing company can take advantage of these opportunities too.

Here’s how…

While organic rankings depend predominantly on your company website, local SEO focuses on your Google My Business (GMB) account. The search engine analyzes your listing to determine your industry, related services, contact information, and operational details (such as business hours). Afterward, it examines your company website to find supporting evidence.

In other words, you need both an optimized GMB and an optimized website to win in local SEO.

With the latest major update to Google’s search algorithm – release was surprisingly quiet, by the way – local mapping results have shifted yet again. We’ve seen local contracting champions with hundreds of reviews dethroned by underdogs with less than ten! Bob, our new plumbing contractor, dethroned an established business that had likely held that spot for years. Your roofing company can do the same!

Once again, well-written and schema-coded content seems to be coming out on top with this Local Search Update. The map pack champions falling out of top local placements typically share one trait in common: they haven’t taken the time to optimize their websites. On the other hand, the businesses skyrocketing up in local search have carefully made keyword-rich service pages. All their pages are further enhanced with schema code.

If you’re a long-time brand in the roofing industry, this should scare you.

No more resting on being the oldest roofing company in town! Google continues to seek out the best user experience for consumers, and so should you. If your ranks are falling fast in local search, it’s time to reassess your website content and design.

As we mentioned before, Bob’s success rested on two factors. We’ve covered how the Local Search Update paved the way for him to overthrow long-running industry champs in his community. Bob relied on another key tool for his wild success. His secret weapon: geotagging.

Geotagging is the process of adding GPS (or location) data to your digital assets. In Bob’s case, he used our Righteous Reviews software to geotag both his on-site check-ins and his client reviews. Most businesses can only claim they provide services in a particular area. In Bob’s case, Google started seeing little pins all across the community map in places Bob completed projects and homeowners had left glowing reviews. The search engine absolutely craves this data, because it provides concrete proof of a business’ service area!

All of Bob’s check-ins and geotagged reviews sync with the related service and city pages. This means the latest tag gets automatically uploaded to his pages, where Google notes the new activity and rewards the business with higher rankings. This is how a brand new business (with a two-month-old website) managed to take the top spot in local search for one of the most competitive keywords in his industry!

The post Local SEO Updates For Roofers | Roofing SEO Podcast appeared first on Roofing Webmasters.