Overview
Home owners do desire to make constant improvement on their homes. They do this in preparation to sell a home. In addition to that, home owners could be seeking their own comfort, aesthetics, and satisfaction. Some home owners try to do home improvement on their own. This is cheap, but the end product is not professional.
Home owners are seeking professional services in home improvement. This is a niche that you can exploit, and you are not going to be disappointed. This article will guide you on the position of a home contractor, and how it can increase business with ecommerce.
Getting Clients
A lot of homeowner’s improvement contractors get their clients from the word of mouth, and through the referrals. Therefore, having a professional website is going to help you in retaining such clients. Such clients have already heard about your good work, and they are going to contact you.
However, the ability to attract new clients is a totally different thing altogether. You can no longer rely on outdated methods such as billboards and TV ads. You need to increase your visibility, and this is going to be done through ecommerce.
Again, when you are seeking new clients, you need to ensure that you have a viable and sustainable methodology of doing the same. You need to make sure that you do not spend too much. At the same time, you need to ensure that your marketing does not distract you
from the job itself.
Your Website
A website can play a critical role in presenting your portfolio. A lot of business owners think that a website is a platform of listing the products and the services that are offered. A professional website cannot serve such a narrow and restricted mandate. It is supposed to have a wide coverage of the targets in order to make a strong impact.
A website should provide a space of interaction between the home improvement contractor and the clients. For example, instead of giving the impression that you want to make a sale (hard-selling), think about the best ways of helping your clients make an informed decision. When you present yourself as an authority, and as a professional in your area who wants to help your clients, the online visitors are going to trust you. For example, if you’re a Sacramento General Contractor you will want customers in Sacramento to be able to find you as well as trust you. The first step in this relationship is with a website.
Having stated that, one should think about a number of critical things that every website should have. At the minimum, the following are the most important essentials of a website:
–The bio (the history of the company, area of jurisdiction, services offered, and any critical achievements)
–Contact information (this is more important because of the bidding process as well as the estimate process)
–Your core values
–Any job opportunities you might be having
The mechanics of the website matter a lot in attracting clients. For example, if the website takes too long to load, then the online visitors are going to have a difficult time assessing your products and services. At the same time, your website should not be too crowded. For example, the paragraphs should be clear in order to allow the reader to digest the information.
Call to Action
Closely connected to the issue of the website is a call-to-action. As a matter of fact, some professionals argue that the call to action is the most important part of a campaign, and should be handled with care. If you skip the call to action, you could as well be carrying out a campaign in futility.
The call to action and the sales funnel go hand in hand. The client is instructed on what he is supposed to do next. Call to actions is not just needed by the home improvement contractor, but the readers too. They depend on them in order to make decisions in various issues such as seeking a quote in comparing prices.
You should direct the online visitors to do any of the following:
-Calling your office
-Scheduling an appointment
-Purchasing your product
-Seeking your services
You should place your call to action in a place that the online visitors can see; otherwise, they are going to by-pass it if the web pages are crowded.
Search Engine Optimization
It is one thing to have a website, and it is another thing to ensure that it is optimized. When clients are looking for information, vendors, and contractors on home improvement, they are going to use specific keywords in order to make a search. You have to understand these keywords, and tailor your marketing campaign to the stated keywords.
You need to mind about the ranking of your website in the search engines. Online visitors, generally, visit the first page of the search engines. Therefore, the higher you rank in the search engine, the better it is in terms of the likelihood of conversion.
As you work on your SEO strategy, do not forget about off-site SEO. Backlinks play a critical role in improving your marketing opportunities. In addition to that, you can consider writing for guest blog posts. Such strategies, when done over time, play an important role in improving the visibility of the website.
When you carry out SEO, think about if you want a full time SEO manager or you want to out-source your work. Having a full time manager is expensive but worth it. If you cannot afford a full time manager, then you need to out-source your work as you need it. Through this, you are going to save some money which is going to come in handy in other business projects.
Content Marketing
The best ways of driving content marketing is thinking about the most common questions that clients are going to ask as far as home improvement is concerned. For example, one could be looking out for information on the remodelling of the kitchen. One may also be looking for information on energy efficient home products. You are going to answer such questions and guide your readers on the same.
Content is not all about prose. Rather, it can include other forms of content including videos and graphics. This is an evolving area, and you should learn about the latest trends in the market. If you prepare good content, clients are going to have their questions answered, and at the same time, learn and appreciate what you do.
When preparing content, ensure that there are no grammatical mistakes which might alienate your reader. Clients have a habit of looking at the status of your website, and making a judgment on what you are doing. Do not be surprised to find that your clients do not find you unprofessional due to the type of content that you are delivering.
Understand Your Audience
You cannot have a good SEO strategy without understanding the type of audience that you are targeting. If there is something you should never do in business, then that is the effort to target everyone. One should find ways of understanding the target audience. In connection to this, persona creation and brainstorming play a critical role in understanding your audience. The following variables and parameters can be used to understand your target audience:
-The geographical location
-The age of your possible clients
-The platforms that the possible clients use
Understanding your target audience could be a matter of observation. For example, on one hand, people with very big houses are not likely to be young. Even in states with a high economic and purchasing power, not many young people are going to have big and luxurious houses. On the other hand, some older people may have big and luxurious houses, but they are not going to use Facebook in making business interaction.
Once you understand your target audience, you are going to understand the best ways of reaching out to your potential clients. Like a hunter going out in the wilderness to hunt, you have to move out of your comfort zone, and go on the lookout for customers.
Understand the Time and the Season
In most states, home improvement is going to be dictated by the season. Most of the home owners have minimal activity during winter, and they take it as a harsh time to do everything. However, the time of winter could also be a time where some owners would need certain product and services in order to survive the cold. The summer time is best placed in carrying out a big improvement project. Then, it is easier to gather labor, and have work done in a smooth and efficient way.
An essential home product could break down in the middle of the night. In such a case, a home owner will look for the product or service right in the middle of the night. As an apt business owner, have a habit of being available any time. You could have someone on standby when you are out of reach.
Watch Out for Your Competitors
There is stiff competition in the market, and your competitors are going to step ahead of you. Therefore, watch out what your competitors are doing, and be creative on your methods of operation. You do not have to embark on illegal tactics in order to go ahead of your competitors. You just need to be innovative and do operate within the law.
Potential Challenges
It is a good thing that you have decided to roll out a digital strategy to your home improvement work; you need to understand that you are going to face a few challenges. To start with, a significant number of clients prefer local business owners as opposed to people they are not familiar with. This is more so in the case where the project is small in nature, with little option of expansion.
Another challenge is the mechanics of your website. The website could be experiencing extended times of a downturn. In such a case, then, your flow of business is going to be interrupted.
The time of natural disasters can be a very challenging time for home owners. As a home improvement contractor, you should be careful not to look like a business owner who is profiting from the tragedy that others have faced. Therefore, if you decide to do business in an area which is affected by natural disasters, be very careful with the language you use. Remember, some of the affected people are recovering from heavy loss.
Unfortunately, having a lot of traffic does not necessarily mean that you are going to report a high rate of conversion. There are websites which record a high rate of traffic, but nothing much comes out of it, much to the dismay of the business owner. This can pose a big challenge more so if it happens year after year.
However, such challenges should not turn you away. There are concrete solutions that can help you compete. Concerning the website, the best thing is to choose the right web agency. This will help you to cushion yourself from possible operational problems.
It is important that you collaborate with some of your peers in the market. Such team of professionals does understand the challenges facing the industry. As a matter of fact, you could form a partnership that is going to be of mutual benefit. However, if you decide to partner with others, and you have original ideas, make sure that you seek a patent.
Conclusion
In the business landscape, it is not easy to know which direction a certain niche will take. However, experts use informed research methodology in order to make an informed prediction. Professionals are in consensus that the future of ecommerce is going to be bright.
Therefore, as a home improvement contractor, think about how you can prepare yourself to benefit from the immense opportunities that come with eCommerce. Investing in eCommerce carries a high return on investment and will help you position yourself as a professional in the home improvement industry.