Why You May Want to Update Your Website
Not sure if you should update your website? Consider this, if you visit a lot of different remodeling contractors’ websites these days, you are likely to see much of the same thing. Some appear to be using the same website templates, and many are using precious space on their landing pages to make claims about their experience and commitment to quality and customer service.
It’s hardly the kind of inspirational content homeowners are looking for as they plan their next projects. Nor is it the kind of content that will distinguish brands online.
If you are getting all your leads today from word of mouth, you may be tempted to ask, “So what?” But consider the following data points from Farnsworth Group.
The market research firm reports that while 76 percent of homeowners say they get their word-of-mouth information from verbal conversations, 43 percent also get it from Facebook, and 29 percent say they also get it from home service sites/apps like Houzz, HomeAdvisor and Porch. (The percentages exceed 100 percent because consumers were allowed multiple responses.)
In other words, in a world where consumers are spending as much as 72 percent of their shopping journeys online and word of mouth ain’t what it used to be, maybe it’s time to update your website.
This makes the oft-neglected company website the most significant branding tool available to most home remodeling, maintenance and repair Pros. After all, it’s the one place online where you, as a small business, can present a complete picture of your company, including your professional background, your company values, ties to the local community, customer testimonials and lots and lots of photos of your work to inspire potential customers.
This is good news because the web provides much more precise — ergo cost-effective — targeting than traditional advertising. It’s also entirely possible to best a larger competitor online.
Top of the sales funnel
Your website can help you get on your prospective customers’ radar screens, regardless of where they are in their journeys — or as marketing geeks would say, where they are on the “path to purchase” or the “marketing funnel.”
One of the best ways to do that is to engage them with inspiring content, according to Farnsworth Group Partner Grant Farnsworth.
“Sites like Houzz, Pinterest, etc. grasp and understand how to get in on that entry level for inspiration,” Farnsworth told Hardware Building Supply Dealer in an article published Jan. 3, 2017. “At some time point, there is going to be some purchase made by that initial capture of inspiration.”
How to update your website without missing the mark
“Inspiring” is hardly the word that comes to mind when website builder and marketer Carl Sorensen visits many remodelers’ websites. Many use precious space on their landing pages to talk about their “decades of experience,” “excellent customer service” and “strong work ethic” — even the fact that they are “fully licensed and bonded,” as if that’s an option.
These are all worth mentioning, but they will hardly distinguish your brand because all your competitors are making the same claims, notes Sorensen, who owns Sites4Contractors.
“Your website needs to paint a vivid picture of the end result your potential clients will experience when they choose you for their projects,” says Sorensen.
For instance, if you want to generate more kitchen remodeling work, update your website and devote space to explaining the benefits, such as more space for entertaining, better lighting, more storage space and the elegant look of your new granite countertops.
“This stuff is sales 101 that 99 percent of business owners “get” it in the real world of doing business belly to belly. But when it comes to their websites, they almost always fall short on serving up what their customers want and then wonder who to blame for the lack of results their websites or other marketing efforts aren’t delivering.”
Creating inspiring content is not the be all and end all of web marketing and is also not the only reason why you should update your website, but it is foundational to building your brand online, where your customers are doing most of their research. Do it well enough for long enough and you can transform a me-too website into a powerful marketing hub that will feed your social media sites, build your email list and generate leads.
