Lately, we’ve talked with a lot of plumbing companies about highly technical services that marketing agencies try to sell them. In today’s podcast, Nolen and Jason talk about the dangers of single-service “cure all” solutions. To help you understand some of these crucial terms, we’ve also provided a short terminology guide at the bottom. If you’ve struggled to determine what your plumbing company needs to succeed online, be sure to listen in!

Look Out for These Key Points

* Can a singular service improve my rankings online?

* Is a low-dollar service package a good deal?

* What do these online marketing terms mean?

Confusion Regarding Online Marketing

For roofing contractors, explaining concepts and processes to homeowners is a crucial portion of the job. Not only do you manage expectations better this way, you also enable your customers to make informed decisions based on their needs. Now imagine a homeowner that claims they need a particular service (which you know to be unnecessary) because a shady roofer said so. Naturally, you’d want to guide your client towards the best solution, and steer them away from potentially wasteful suggestions.

When it comes to online marketing, plumbing contractors often rest at a significant disadvantage to the professionals within the marketing industry. That’s because marketing experts spend countless hours researching the latest trends in online search. Most businesses use this information to better serve their current and future clients. Unfortunately, some marketing companies try to exploit this knowledge gap for the own ends.

That’s where we see the rise in buzzword marketing, promoting a technical service in a way that sensationalizes both the function and the results of the solution. In buzzword marketing, an agency salesman often takes a service out of context with the rest of search engine optimization (SEO), making it difficult to understand its purpose. Of course, the sales pitch usually comes with dramatic claims of soaring site traffic and customer leads.

Be Careful of Cure-All Solutions

Plumber SEO is influenced by hundreds of different factors. Many rest within the confines of your commercial website and how well it’s optimized for search. Other external factors include your business’ reviews, the completion of your Google My Business listing, and your social media marketing activities. All of these points contribute towards your overall online marketing success.

If a business struggles with low rankings, slow traffic, and poor lead generation, it’s almost never because of one factor. So when a marketing firm comes along and promotes a singular service to turn everything around, plumbing contractors should automatically be suspicious. If a company approaches you with a brand new, highly complex solution, take it with a pound of salt!

Taking a Full Health Approach

The most successful (results-producing) marketing companies always examine their clients from a broad point of view first. Our team at the Plumbing Webmasters examines hundreds of data points whenever we take on a new client. That’s because your search engine marketing (SEM) success depends on your success in several key areas.

Crucial Factors for Success

* Factor #1: Your Company Website – Coding, Keywords, Content, and Management

Lately, we’ve talked with a lot of plumbing companies about highly technical services that marketing agencies try to sell them. In today’s podcast, Nolen and Jason talk about the dangers of single-service “cure all” solutions. To help you understand some of these crucial terms, we’ve also provided a short terminology guide at the bottom. If you’ve struggled to determine what your plumbing company needs to succeed online, be sure to listen in!

Look Out for These Key Points

* Can a singular service improve my rankings online?

* Is a low-dollar service package a good deal?

* What do these online marketing terms mean?

Confusion Regarding Online Marketing

For roofing contractors, explaining concepts and processes to homeowners is a crucial portion of the job. Not only do you manage expectations better this way, you also enable your customers to make informed decisions based on their needs. Now imagine a homeowner that claims they need a particular service (which you know to be unnecessary) because a shady roofer said so. Naturally, you’d want to guide your client towards the best solution, and steer them away from potentially wasteful suggestions.

When it comes to online marketing, plumbing contractors often rest at a significant disadvantage to the professionals within the marketing industry. That’s because marketing experts spend countless hours researching the latest trends in online search. Most businesses use this information to better serve their current and future clients. Unfortunately, some marketing companies try to exploit this knowledge gap for the own ends.

That’s where we see the rise in buzzword marketing, promoting a technical service in a way that sensationalizes both the function and the results of the solution. In buzzword marketing, an agency salesman often takes a service out of context with the rest of search engine optimization (SEO), making it difficult to understand its purpose. Of course, the sales pitch usually comes with dramatic claims of soaring site traffic and customer leads.

Be Careful of Cure-All Solutions

Plumber SEO is influenced by hundreds of different factors. Many rest within the confines of your commercial website and how well it’s optimized for search. Other external factors include your business’ reviews, the completion of your Google My Business listing, and your social media marketing activities. All of these points contribute towards your overall online marketing success.

If a business struggles with low rankings, slow traffic, and poor lead generation, it’s almost never because of one factor. So when a marketing firm comes along and promotes a singular service to turn everything around, plumbing contractors should automatically be suspicious. If a company approaches you with a brand new, highly complex solution, take it with a pound of salt!

Taking a Full Health Approach

The most successful (results-producing) marketing companies always examine their clients from a broad point of view first. Our team at the Plumbing Webmasters examines hundreds of data points whenever we take on a new client. That’s because your search engine marketing (SEM) success depends on your success in several key areas.

Crucial Factors for Success

* Factor #1: Your Company Website – Coding, Keywords, Content, and Management

The Google Sandbox is an old school SEO term that refers to either an algorithmic penalty or the confinement and suppression of a search result for violation of Google’s guidelines. Despite some disagreement over whether a sandbox ever existed many believe their websites continue to fall victim to Google’s constraints. As a digital marketing agency that helps Plumbers succeed online some of them ask us about being sandboxed prior to investing in our service. Our response if the same to everyone. SEO is not the same as it used to be. Prior the the Penguin algorithm update in 2012, lots of black hat tactics were engaged in regularly by SEO agencies. When Google started to drop the hammer on websites that benefited from them, terms like sandbox were thrown around quite often. Things like hidden text and 500 word title tags were examples of tactics that became subject to the wrath of Google’s newfound idealism.

 

In 2019 penalties are more rare. First, most websites that engage in old school black hat tactics no longer see benefits. Second, the website’s that are “supposed” to be in the top 10 are now usually placed there. So there’s no reason to knock a website down 20 or 30 spots because it was never high enough to warrant consideration in the first place. Second, Google now has a better grasp on how to rank websites for their positive qualities. Things like clean code, schema markup, and quality content can now be interpreted by Google and used as a ranking consideration. Despite this advancements in the search engine algorithm many plumbers remain frustrated with their rankings of lack thereof. Plumbing Webmasters can help you determine what factors are limiting your existing website and what can be done to reverse course going forward. Here are 3 reasons why your plumbing website could be sandboxed:

Hacked Website

If your website has been hacked a giant red notice will appear to all visitors. Needless to say this is bad for SEO purposes and it can be a reason why Google would dismiss you from search results. One of Google’s duties is to protect its users from viruses or unsafe web interactions like phishing. A website that has been flagged for being hacked will never perform well online. Even if some users do reach your website they won’t stick around. While hacks are not assuredly a “sandbox” penalty, they are unequivocally detrimental to your plumbing company’s web efforts.

Lack of Reviews

Being sandboxed on Google Maps can be a result of reviews or lack thereof. While you might have hundreds of reviews on Angie’s List and HomeAdvisor having zero on Google is a bad look. That’s not to say you get no credit for other reviews but having at least some on Google gives you far more credibility, particularly when it comes to Google Maps rankings. Competitors with more reviews than you may rank higher on Maps even if you feel their plumbing services are inferior. They may be horrible at plumbing but if they have a good reputation, it’s irrelevant.

Poor Site Quality

Most ranking problems can be traced back to poor website quality. This can be from the perspective of content, design, and most commonly; a combination of both. Most plumbers who call us for help have a template website that they mistakenly believe is custom. These sites are not custom folks. They are templates that have been duplicated repeatedly with slight tweaks to put your logo and contact information up. Google prefers custom codebase with schema markup so it better understands what a website offers. Plumbers should invest in custom.

Is The Google Sandbox a Myth?

The possible “sandbox” penalties we’ve listed can be attribute...

The Google Sandbox is an old school SEO term that refers to either an algorithmic penalty or the confinement and suppression of a search result for violation of Google’s guidelines. Despite some disagreement over whether a sandbox ever existed many believe their websites continue to fall victim to Google’s constraints. As a digital marketing agency that helps Plumbers succeed online some of them ask us about being sandboxed prior to investing in our service. Our response if the same to everyone. SEO is not the same as it used to be. Prior the the Penguin algorithm update in 2012, lots of black hat tactics were engaged in regularly by SEO agencies. When Google started to drop the hammer on websites that benefited from them, terms like sandbox were thrown around quite often. Things like hidden text and 500 word title tags were examples of tactics that became subject to the wrath of Google’s newfound idealism.

 

In 2019 penalties are more rare. First, most websites that engage in old school black hat tactics no longer see benefits. Second, the website’s that are “supposed” to be in the top 10 are now usually placed there. So there’s no reason to knock a website down 20 or 30 spots because it was never high enough to warrant consideration in the first place. Second, Google now has a better grasp on how to rank websites for their positive qualities. Things like clean code, schema markup, and quality content can now be interpreted by Google and used as a ranking consideration. Despite this advancements in the search engine algorithm many plumbers remain frustrated with their rankings of lack thereof. Plumbing Webmasters can help you determine what factors are limiting your existing website and what can be done to reverse course going forward. Here are 3 reasons why your plumbing website could be sandboxed:

Hacked Website

If your website has been hacked a giant red notice will appear to all visitors. Needless to say this is bad for SEO purposes and it can be a reason why Google would dismiss you from search results. One of Google’s duties is to protect its users from viruses or unsafe web interactions like phishing. A website that has been flagged for being hacked will never perform well online. Even if some users do reach your website they won’t stick around. While hacks are not assuredly a “sandbox” penalty, they are unequivocally detrimental to your plumbing company’s web efforts.

Lack of Reviews

Being sandboxed on Google Maps can be a result of reviews or lack thereof. While you might have hundreds of reviews on Angie’s List and HomeAdvisor having zero on Google is a bad look. That’s not to say you get no credit for other reviews but having at least some on Google gives you far more credibility, particularly when it comes to Google Maps rankings. Competitors with more reviews than you may rank higher on Maps even if you feel their plumbing services are inferior. They may be horrible at plumbing but if they have a good reputation, it’s irrelevant.

Poor Site Quality

Most ranking problems can be traced back to poor website quality. This can be from the perspective of content, design, and most commonly; a combination of both. Most plumbers who call us for help have a template website that they mistakenly believe is custom. These sites are not custom folks. They are templates that have been duplicated repeatedly with slight tweaks to put your logo and contact information up. Google prefers custom codebase with schema markup so it better understands what a website offers. Plumbers should invest in custom.

Is The Google Sandbox a Myth?

The possible “sandbox” penalties we’ve listed can be attribute...

Google AdWords (now Google Ads) can be highly effective for plumbers. Creating a successful ad starts with following Google’s criteria for advertisements as well as targeting the correct keywords and demographics. Not all ads are the same on Google. Some have sitelink extensions and calls to action while others are simple lines of text without much depth. The highest bidding advertiser is not always the one whose ad will show up first. Google takes several things into account including the quality of the ad which is something they measure through their own metric called Quality Score. Here are some of the things that influence ads:

Consumer Targeting

Plumbers who profit the most target the right consumer base. As you know, some plumbing jobs pay way more than others. Going for specific terms like slab leak, water heaters, etc. can help maximize your ROI on advertising. General terms like plumbing, plumber, etc. will lure in all types of jobs many of which don’t pay big coin. Targeting also involves geographic locations making it important for every plumbing company to define which zip codes they can service.

Negative Keywords

Not every keyword is worth pursuing as a plumbing company. For example, lots of searchers are looking for resources on how to fix plumbing issues on their own (DIY style). You wouldn’t want your ad for your plumbing services to show up on these kinds of keywords because the clicks would be worthless as the user is not looking to spend money. Negative keywords make sure these kinds of queries are eliminated for your ad so it maximizes its clicks with relevance.

Sitelink Extensions

The more information the user has the more likely they are to click on the ad. When an advertisement has sitelink extensions it has expanded lines of text that include links to individual pages on your landing page (your website). These specific pages are often the ones that peak the interest of the searcher and have a greater tendency to receive clicks than more basic ads. Google recommends using sitelink extensions especially for ads that target a certain consumer.

Connecting Google Ads to Google My Business

As you likely know from your own experience on Google, the Local 3 Pack is one of the most important spots for a plumber to show up. This Map Pack pulls the top Google My Business profiles in the area and showcases them to nearby searchers. While this is primarily earned through organic optimization, there is now an advertisement spot within the Local 3 Pack. Obviously this changes the definition of the 3 Pack since it can now be 4 but it is another opportunity for your plumbing company to generate clicks for its business. Connecting your GMB and Ads accounts won’t guarantee you spot on the Map Pack but it will certainly increase your chances.

Out of all the ad spend forked over by companies throughout the year, 80% of it goes to Google and Facebook. Google recognizes their dominance over the advertising industry and has began to create new spots on which ads can show up. The Map Pack is an example of this. Remember, AdWords was originally meant to emulate an organic search result. As users have become more aware of the difference between ads and organic results, the percentage of ad clicks has gone down. The emergence of Map Pack ads helps combat this phenomenon at least partially since its freshness has shielded it from some of the pitfalls of traditional Google search ads.

PPC’ing Your Plumbing Company Name

PPC management services are infamous for their trickery. Many of them lure clients in by promising them lots of clicks.

As a plumbing contractor you like to keep your business fairly simple. When a homeowner has a problem with their plumbing system you explain to them what their options are and how much it will cost them. Web marketing agencies are not as humble. The vast majority of them behave as if they are on a superior intellectual level to their clientbase. Just because they know more about search engine optimization does not make them a rocket scientist. Common logic still applies to SEO just like it does with plumbing and any other kind of service industry. The arrogance of marketing companies in 2019 can be known as web geek cocky.

Marketing Companies vs The Common Man

It’s part of their schtick to be arrogant. It’s almost like a defensive mechanism. They understand that the work they are doing is nothing special and so they have to oversell it to make it seem more valuable. You might think that using big words that don’t really meant anything will not impress a plumber or any business owner for that matter. But people can be swayed by the illusion of expertise. When marketers appear as if they possess rare knowledge they are sometimes able to convince a client to buy in. It’s not the fault of the client if they fall for the trick but it something that plumbers should be aware of when they are looking for help with website design or SEO.

Marketing is Not Rocket Science

Just like plumbers won’t act as if they are the only person on earth who can perform the service, SEO experts should follow suit. There’s a culture of talking down to clients especially those who work in the home service industries. These marketers try to pretend their work is unattainable by the common man. While web design and SEO do take specific skill sets at the end of the day it is merely a service that a bunch of different companies can offer around the country.

Plumbers Need a Straight Shooter

In an age where plumbers are looked down upon by arrogant fools in the marketing industry, a straight shooter becomes a breath of fresh air. What if someone who could relate to your business challenges was also the person creating and implementing your marketing campaign? That is the case with Plumbing Webmasters. Owners Nolen & John come from humble beginnings and were once home service providers themselves. They started their own web company after being talked down to with web geek cocky nonsense.

Identifying Web Geek Nonsense

If you are a plumber currently looking for SEO services there are some red flags you should consider during your research. If a company starts speaking in empty language (using words that don’t mean anything) you know you’re in trouble. This web geek is probably cocky. They think they can trick the common man into overspending on services they don’t need. Many such marketers will get you involved in the shell trick scheme where they take SEO money and use it on PPC. Steer clear of these egomaniacs. They have done enough damage to the country already. Especially the common hard working American who is the foundation of our economy.

Plumbing Webmasters: The Exception

Plumbers can relate to the owners here at Plumbing Webmasters because they lived the same experience. Having once been a home service provider company themselves they transitioned to SEO work because they couldn’t find another company that wasn’t unpretentious. It’s almost like shopping for a doctor. They are mostly arrogant people who think because they went to medical school that they are a God like figure. The problem is even more absurd with web geeks though because the work is not dependent on a decade of high-level schooling. At the end of the day, Plumbing Webmasters is a web marketing company run by relatable people.

As a plumbing contractor you like to keep your business fairly simple. When a homeowner has a problem with their plumbing system you explain to them what their options are and how much it will cost them. Web marketing agencies are not as humble. The vast majority of them behave as if they are on a superior intellectual level to their clientbase. Just because they know more about search engine optimization does not make them a rocket scientist. Common logic still applies to SEO just like it does with plumbing and any other kind of service industry. The arrogance of marketing companies in 2019 can be known as web geek cocky.

Marketing Companies vs The Common Man

It’s part of their schtick to be arrogant. It’s almost like a defensive mechanism. They understand that the work they are doing is nothing special and so they have to oversell it to make it seem more valuable. You might think that using big words that don’t really meant anything will not impress a plumber or any business owner for that matter. But people can be swayed by the illusion of expertise. When marketers appear as if they possess rare knowledge they are sometimes able to convince a client to buy in. It’s not the fault of the client if they fall for the trick but it something that plumbers should be aware of when they are looking for help with website design or SEO.

Marketing is Not Rocket Science

Just like plumbers won’t act as if they are the only person on earth who can perform the service, SEO experts should follow suit. There’s a culture of talking down to clients especially those who work in the home service industries. These marketers try to pretend their work is unattainable by the common man. While web design and SEO do take specific skill sets at the end of the day it is merely a service that a bunch of different companies can offer around the country.

Plumbers Need a Straight Shooter

In an age where plumbers are looked down upon by arrogant fools in the marketing industry, a straight shooter becomes a breath of fresh air. What if someone who could relate to your business challenges was also the person creating and implementing your marketing campaign? That is the case with Plumbing Webmasters. Owners Nolen & John come from humble beginnings and were once home service providers themselves. They started their own web company after being talked down to with web geek cocky nonsense.

Identifying Web Geek Nonsense

If you are a plumber currently looking for SEO services there are some red flags you should consider during your research. If a company starts speaking in empty language (using words that don’t mean anything) you know you’re in trouble. This web geek is probably cocky. They think they can trick the common man into overspending on services they don’t need. Many such marketers will get you involved in the shell trick scheme where they take SEO money and use it on PPC. Steer clear of these egomaniacs. They have done enough damage to the country already. Especially the common hard working American who is the foundation of our economy.

Plumbing Webmasters: The Exception

Plumbers can relate to the owners here at Plumbing Webmasters because they lived the same experience. Having once been a home service provider company themselves they transitioned to SEO work because they couldn’t find another company that wasn’t unpretentious. It’s almost like shopping for a doctor. They are mostly arrogant people who think because they went to medical school that they are a God like figure. The problem is even more absurd with web geeks though because the work is not dependent on a decade of high-level schooling. At the end of the day, Plumbing Webmasters is a web marketing company run by relatable people.

Today’s podcast episode discusses how to start a successful plumbing company. Plumbing Webmasters is a digital marketing agency so our advice will heavily favor marketing strategies. We will not delve into the specifics of legally starting a business including the necessary tax considerations. Depending on your location, your tax considerations will vary. To learn more about starting a business from a legal perspective, check out the Small Business Administration. Our expertise, which is marketing for plumbers remains the most important element of starting a successful business in 2019.

Content Rich Website

A website with deep dive content and service pages has a great chance to optimize online both on organic results and Google Maps. Furthermore, visitors who reach it have a great chance of converting into a paying customer. A website serves as the digital representation of your plumbing company and can help it maximize your potential. Deep dive content that goes for specific services like hose bib repair can have you ranking quickly. Every business needs leads to grow and plumbers can get them through long tail keyword searches on Google. Volume may be lower at first, but as your site ages, you will begin to rank for the more competitive keywords.

Google My Business Optimization

Get yourself listed on every business directory of note. None is more important than Google My Business which serves as the central hub of your local SEO efforts. Through connection with your Google Maps listing, you will begin to show up on the Local 3 Pack for relevant keyword terms and earn trust from consumers with your aggregate star rating. Few if any local customers will do business with a plumber who does not have an established reputation. Generating more reviews is a process in itself, so you should plan to market your business in that way as well. Google My Business is imperative to SEO success for plumbers.

Market All Day, Every Day

The best thing a brand new plumbing company can do to get started is market all day, every day. Even if that means doing door knocking for several hours per day or leaving business cards in mailboxes. There’s only one way to grow a plumbing business and that’s with leads. By attracting new clients you will start to build a customer base at your foundation. From there you can invest more into marketing and focus on higher end promotion that will take you to the next tier of plumbers in your area. Tenure is important online and in the real world so the process of establishing trust and authority should be progressive.

Check out our top 50 plumbing keywords for primary targets. Today’s episode will discuss how lower volume keywords can still yield significant ROI while straightening the overall health of your website and supplementing your top keywords. Many plumbers question whether pages for services like hose bib replacement are worth their while. Even more common services like toilet repair seem to be met with skepticism by plumbers as it pertains to publishing a webpage exclusively about that service. The truth is that these pages can convert well and yield a great return on investment. They are particularity valuable for websites that are recently launched, as ranking for main terms will take longer than most are willing to wait. Lesser known keywords will rank quickly and can get you plumbing jobs while you wait for SEO to take its full effect.

1) Facebook Pixel Tracking

Americans spend more time on Facebook than they do eating. It is estimated that most U.S. residents check Facebook 15 times per day on average. Facebook pixel tracking allows your website to advertise to users who’ve already visited your site as they browse Facebook. Cookies are stored in their browser (Chrome, Firefox, Safari, etc.) when they visit, and then are pulled when they log onto Facebook. Pixel tracking typically improves conversion rates from around 3% to around 15%. Best of all, pixel tracking is relatively inexpensive but highly effective.

2) Google Remarketing Ads

Like Facebook, Google allows for advertisers to track and then follow visitors of their website. Remarketing ads from Google are the same fundamental concept as Facebook pixel tracking and are even less expensive. Why? Because Google doesn’t actually charge a fee until the remarketed ad gets clicked on. Remarketed ads appear on all kinds of platforms in Google’s display network. It could be anything from Accuweather to a tutorial blog post. Let’s say that a potential customer thinks they can fix the plumbing job themself, but then finds your ad on the how-to manual. They might reconsider.

3) Google Ads

Once known as Google AdWords, the now named Google Ads is still one of the most effective ways to advertise your plumbing business online. Because it can be expensive and requires a level of expertise to properly maximize, there are some who have grown frustrated with it as a platform. Still, if ads are properly targeted and campaigns are managed by experts who have an understanding of demographics, targeting, and ROI, plumbers can really clean up with Google Ads. Depending on what city you are looking to target for plumbing jobs, Google Ads may be less expensive than you think. In any case, make sure you hire an AdWords certified manager.

4) YouTube Ads

Like Google Ads, YouTube ads can target specific demographics. As the number one platform in the world for streaming video, YouTube is unsurprisingly a highly frequented domain. Investing in plumbing ads on YouTube can ensure that video watchers in your target area see your company promotions on relevant videos. While the ROI is typically less significant than that gained through Facebook and Google, it is still enough to pursue the venture with open eyes. What can enhance your ability to advertise on YouTube is by creating a video channel for your brand and even posting video content.

5) Search Engine Optimization

SEO remains the most efficient way to advertise a plumbing business online. Some would disagree with this sentiment and for good reason. These plumbers have been screwed over by shady SEO firms who overpromise and underdeliver. This unfortunate combination has given the SEO industry a negative connotation amongst many in the service industries. The facts are unbothered however. SEO is affordable and sustainable which are the two most important components of any advertising campaign in 2019. Make sure you invest in a trustworthy SEO company and one that specializes in your niche, which for you is plumbing.

6) Website Design

Design is important for conversion and personalization. Plumbers advertising campaigns don’t end until a visitor is actually converted. Design goes a long way towards making that happen. From clean codebase and pertinent calls to action, design elements can close the deal on behalf of plumbing companies. Web design also ties in with SEO so it can actually help generate more leads which makes it even more potent from an advertising standpoint. Aesthetics are a big part of trust building, so make sure you website is visually appealing.

7) Codebase

Part of strong design is clean codebase. Template websites use obtrusive elements that bog down site speed and hinder SEO potential.