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What Is SEO - Search Engine Optimization

SEO = Better Rankings

Within the world of marketing, you may have heard the term SEO (Search Engine Optimization). But what exactly does that mean? Simply put, SEO is the process of making your website easier to find on search engines. Good SEO helps improve your website's "ranking" on Google, Yahoo, Bing, and other search engines. When your website is easier to find on a search engine, more people will go to your website. Not sure how much that's worth?

Well, according to a Backlinko study that analyzed 5 million search results, Google rankings makes a big difference. Did you know that the #1 listed organic (non-paid) search result on Google is 10x more likely to get a click than the result listed in the #10 position? As well, the #1 ranked result on Google has an average click through rate (CTR) of 31.7%!  

If your website ranks on the first page of Google, that's great. And the higher up on the page - well, that's even better. Good SEO helps you get better rankings.

What Is SEO - An Infographic

SEO Activities To Help Your Website Rankings 

Improving your website's SEO is often the main goal for marketers. However, it's also important to remember that SEO is not just one thing. It's actually a variety of activities that all work together to help your website rank well on search engines. 

Search engines like Google care about giving their users the best experience. They want to ensure that the top results for each search provide the user with the best websites. So, if for example, you search for "used cars in Kitchener," Google wants to make sure that the very first result you get is a reliable company that offers used cars in Kitchener! 

Here are some SEO strategies that help websites rank better on search engines.

Content Creation 

Creating new, consistent, high-quality content for your website is an important part of SEO. For example, if you own a bakery, you may want to post once or twice a week on your website about certain types of pastries, unique recipes, or information for customers who are looking for a bakery within your service area. 

Keyword Research 

What are people typing into Google or other search engines to find products or services similar to yours? Keyword research will help you find relevant search topics that potential customers in your area are likely to type in. 

After you complete keyword research, you can create content on your website that includes those keywords. For example, if you found that "birthday cakes in Kitchener" was a popular keyword, you might create a page on your bakery's website that was called "Birthday Cakes in Kitchener."

Linking

To see how relevant your website is, search engines such as Google also take a look at internal and external linking. Linking is pretty much what it sounds like! It simply means online links that exist to your website. For example, if an online newspaper wrote about the bakery and included a link to the bakery's website home page, that is a link! Quality links let search engines know that your website is relevant, since other people seem to think so!

Better Website Load Times

Website load times are probably more important than you think! Did you know that an on annual basis, a single 1-second load time delay can lead to $2.5 million missed revenue if your company averages $100,000 a day? If your load time takes up to 6 seconds, it can increase the bounce rate (the chance that someone will click 'back' out of your website) by 106 percent! Good SEO will do things like optimize images and perform site load tests to make sure your website is not affected by poor load times!  

Ensures Website is Mobile-Friendly

In 2019, more and more people are using their smartphones to access websites. Since 2017, around 50% of all online traffic comes from mobile devices! Good SEO techniques include ensuring your website is mobile-friendly. This can include testing how your website performs on mobile devices, and even creating alternative webpage versions that are specifically designed for mobile visitors. 

Want To Learn More About SEO? 

Did you know that 70-80% of people ignore paid search results, choosing to click on organic results instead? That's just one of the reasons why great SEO is so important for your website. Whether you are a small business just starting out, or a larger business that has a few years under your belt, improving your website's SEO can make a huge difference. 

At Profitworks, we have over 15 years of marketing experience, serving small businesses across the Kitchener-Waterloo area, Southern Ontario, and North America. We can help you improve your website's SEO and so much more. Interested in becoming the leader in your market? 

Let's talk.

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Industries We Serve

  SEO For Plumbers           SEO For General Contracting                SEO For HVAC Services           SEO For Home Renovation  

SEO For Cabinetry           SEO For Cleaning Services                 SEO For Automative Repair              SEO For IT Services 

SEO For Physiotherapy              SEO For Landscaping                  SEO For Dentists                       SEO For Daycares                              

SEO For Masonry                SEO For Vacation Rentals           SEO For Business Signage      SEO For Fencing and Decking     

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For any business, having a solid marketing strategy is incredibly important, especially when it comes to growing a list of leads. If you're new to the world of digital marketing, though, marketing your custom home building business may feel intimidating. As a custom home builder, you're offering a niche, high-cost service that your audience may never know about if you lack an online presence, which is why it's so important to create a digital marketing plan that builds awareness and trust. 

In this post, we're going to walk you through some of the key aspects of digital marketing by sharing some of the most important steps you can take to promote your business online. By the end of this post, we hope that you feel inspired to start designing and building a digital marketing plan that will rival your latest custom home!

Looking for more support in marketing your custom home building business? We know that managing a marketing strategy while also managing operations for a business can be challenging. Our team can help. Contact us today to find out how we can build your digital brand while you focus on building your business!

Digital Marketing for Custom Home Building Businesses

Claim Your Google My Business Listing. 

Claiming your business' listing on Google is one of the first things you should do when looking to promote your business online. Not only will this increase the likelihood of your business appearing in potential customers' search results, but it will also improve your credibility in the eyes of customers who find your listing. Having the ability to showcase your business name, website, phone number, address, hours, and customer reviews will improve the customers' perception of your business as legitimate.

In addition to legitimacy, having a Google My Business listing is also one of the fastest ways provide the most information possible to customers who are searching for your brand, product, or service without having to get them to your website. Claiming your listing means that potential leads within range of your location conducting searches for your service will find your business quickly and straight-forwardly. One of the best parts of Google My Business? It's free to claim your business and can result in thousands of impressions of your business online!

Invest in Search Engine Optimization.

One of the most valuable things that your custom home building business can invest in is search engine optimization. Search engine optimization (also known as SEO), is the process of improving your website's unpaid visibility in search engines like Google through a number of technical and creative techniques. The goal of SEO is to make your website more visible online, thereby increasing your traffic and ultimately sales results. 

When your target audience is searching for a custom home builder in the area you service, one of the first things that customer will do is conduct a Google search to find some of the brands they could work with. When they enter keywords related to your business, such as "custom home builder [insert your city here]", having your website appear on the first page can make or break your ability to make the sale. If your competitors have invested in SEO and you have not, it's likely that you'll lose the customer to the one who has taken the time to ensure that their website is optimized for Google.

SEO is all about building your brand's topic authority for the product or service you offer. Some of the ways you can do this are through on-page SEO; including meta tag optimization, using the right heading tags, releasing relevant content such as blog posts, including relevant keywords throughout all of your pages, and much more. The truth is, website optimization is an ongoing, ever-changing art that typically requires a team of marketing specialists who can keep your website relevant as SEO changes over time. If you're new to the world of SEO and are wondering how to start optimizing your website, download our free SEO Checklist to get started today! 

Create a Social Media Community. 

If we know anything about social media, it's that it's not going away any time soon — in fact, there are 3.397 billion active users on social media today. Creating social media profiles for your custom home building business is an excellent way to start gaining followers online, share content such as promotions and behind the scenes photos of your work, as well as develop relationships with past and future customers. 

Before creating your profile(s), the first thing to consider is which social media platform your target audience is spending the majority of their time on. If you create profiles on pages like Twitter and Google+ but your audience is spending their time browsing through Instagram and Facebook, you'll miss the opportunity to connect with them where they are. As a custom home builder, it's likely that you'll want to choose platforms that allow you to showcase your work visually, such as Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest. These are common platforms for businesses who are looking to share photos of their products while also simultaneously building relationships with their current and future client base.

Once you've created your profile(s), it's time to determine what types of content you are going to share. When it comes to content, the sky is really the limit! Your followers may respond well to before and after images of your work, progress updates on projects, customer testimonials, or inspirational images. An easy tool to create customer testimonials is Clipchamp. Over time, you will notice trends in which posts perform the best and will gain a deeper understanding of what it is your followers really appreciate about your business page. 

Use Paid Ads

So you have a brand website, you've claimed your Google My Business listing, invested in SEO, created social media profiles, and you're still not noticing any positive results. Now what?

Often, the investments that you make in digital marketing can take time to be realized by search engines. Google still needs to recognize your SEO efforts, and building a large following on social media doesn't happen overnight. Don't lose hope, though—one of the ways to accelerate getting noticed online is to invest in Paid Ads. Paid Ads come in many forms, including popular tools like Google Ads, Facebook Ads, YouTube Ads and even LinkedIn ads. For a small investment, these platforms allow you to pay for the traffic, impressions, and hopefully conversions that you are looking for. 

Facebook Advertising is an incredible tool that allows you to target your audience intentionally, down to their interests, hobbies, or stage of life. You can create and send ads to the people you want to notice your custom home building business online, directing more traffic to your website or social media pages. Companies like Relevantly help businesses like yours in running Facebook Advertising campaigns by researching your audience and creating ads that are proven to convert! Keep in mind, though, that paid ads are not and shouldn't be used as a substitute for search engine optimization. While paid ads are a great short term solution for traffic, they won't generate the results you are looking for over time. Finding the right balance between SEO and paid ads for your business i the best approach to take.

Start Building

As a home builder, you've worked too hard on your custom homes to let them go unnoticed. By investing in a digital marketing strategy, including website SEO, social media, and paid ads, we really believe that your business will gain the online traction it needs to thrive. 

Wondering how to get started or how to balance marketing your business while running it? We understand that business owners have a lot on their plate, which is why our team at Profitworks has helped countless home builders like you create and run an effective marketing strategy. Contact us today to find out how we can help!

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Creating an online presence for your business is an incredible way to generate loyal customers while also marketing your services towards new ones. Social media for home renovation businesses can seem complicated, but we've created this how-to guide to help you demystify the world of social media and develop a community around your brand. 

The reality is, you're busy building both your business and homes as a home renovation business owner. If you're looking for support in growing your brand online, Profitworks can help. At Profitworks, we are a team of marketing experts with experience helping home renovation businesses like yours rise to the top of search engines and build brand awareness online. Contact our team today to find out how we can help!

Social Media for Home Renovation Business: Your How-To-Guide

1. Create Social Profile(s).

The first step in launching your social media strategy for your home renovation business is to select and create your social profile(s). When deciding where to invest your time, it's important to consider where the majority of your target audience or current customers are spending their time online. For example, Pinterest and Instagram are two fantastic places to provide visual inspiration to followers, showcasing your work in the renovation business. On the other hand, Twitter is a very text-heavy platform that may not be the best fit for storing images and connecting with customers on a personal level. 

Almonte uses their Facebook Page to showcase their work to current and future customers as well as giving them a behind-the-scenes look at their projects.

Almonte, a Canadian Home Renovation company, has chosen Facebook as one of their social platforms to engage with customers. Facebook is a fantastic tool for all businesses, offering specialized business pages that allow customers to submit reviews, learn more about your business, and even reach out to you directly. What's more, Facebook pages are also a great place to share all types of content that's relevant to your business, whether you choose to share images of your projects, blog articles of interest to followers, or simply say "Merry Christmas" to your customers during the holidays.

In addition to Facebook's versatility for businesses, it also comes with access to Facebook Advertising, a powerful way to intentionally target an audience with relevant content. Facebook Advertising is an extremely effective way to meet your business' objectives online, whether gaining more likes on your Facebook page, driving traffic to your website, or increasing conversions. Companies like Relevantly specialize in helping small businesses make the most of Facebook advertising dollars with expert targeting and ad generation. 

2. Use Content to Create a Community.

The next step in creating an online community is to share content that will engage, inspire, and educate your customers about your business! When it comes to creating unique content, the options for your business are truly endless. From before and after images of major projects, to updates on your latest demolition, to a generous giveaway, there are a number of posts you can share that offer value to your followers while also developing ties to your brand.

The Restoring House showcases personal work on their Instagram page to bring followers along on their journey.

The Restoring House page on Instagram follows the journey of a family with a home renovation business as they purchase and flip houses. By sharing inspiring before and after images, the page has grown to more than 4,000 followers who frequently comment and like each image posted. Choosing to take a simple before and after picture of your project can lead to an endless stream of content and an online community that relies on your posts for their daily inspiration!

3. Offer Customer Service.

One of the best uses of social media for your business is to provide better customer service to your followers. Pre-social media and e-commerce, many consumers would spend time researching products or services on the internet and many of their questions would go un-answered until engaging with the business in person. Today, this is no longer the case—consumers don't just want to find the information they're looking for on the web, they also expect immediate customer service to be available to them through social media or website chatbots.

Facebook Messenger is an incredible way to engage with customer questions and concerns quickly.

Facebook Messenger and Instagram Direct Messages are fantastic tools to provide the level of instant customer service that your business is looking for. Questions come through in real time and notifications are sent directly to your account, letting you know that a customer is interested in chatting with you. By taking advantage of this feature and responding in a timely manner, you are much more likely to turn the prospect into a sale. Not only will they recognize the quality of your customer service, but you will also provide the information they need to reach the end of their decision-making process.

4. Encourage Customer Reviews.

Similarly to customer service, social media is also a great way to generate customer loyalty by having the opportunity to encourage customer reviews. Customer reviews are a great way to strengthen ties between your brand and happy customers while also showing future customers that you offer reliable, quality services. 

Encourage and respond to customer reviews on social media. This shows prospective customers that you offer great services, but also that you care about what customers have to say.

Whitecrest Custom Home Renovations uses a business Facebook page to showcase their 5-star rating for home renovation services. For customers looking for similar services in their area, finding a brand with a 5-star rating and glowing reviews helps narrow down the options in the decision-making process. After completing a project for a client, make an effort to send a nice note requesting their review. Not only will this benefit your brand, but giving the client a chance to reflect on their positive experience will strengthen their ties to you, too!

Building a Better Brand 

Now that you have some of the tips and tricks required to build a loyal social media following, we hope you feel ready to start building a memorable brand online! Are you looking for more support in getting your social media strategy off the ground? Our team of marketing experts can help. Contact us to find out how we can support you in growing awareness of your brand online today.