Plumbing contractors often underestimate the value of personalized design. With all the trucks, fancy equipment, slogans, advertisements, and websites out there, it’s easy to forget that the most important brand asset for your company…is you. Your face (and your employees’ faces) play a huge role in website performance and local SEO!
In this interconnected age, now’s not the time to be shy. Now’s the time for high quality photography with big smiling faces. You’ll be amazed just how big an impact the human touch will make for your business! In today’s podcast, Jason and Nolen share why personalization creates stronger connection with both your customers and Google!
Key Lessons for Plumbing Professionals
Content goes beyond text. Even your page photos are considered content.
Personalized photos create a deeper reserve of trust in your brand.
Both Google and people can spot stock photos, and they don’t perform as well as custom.
Original Website Images Matter!
We all know how a well-timed shot can make us feel so strongly, but photography also serves as a more social medium. It brings us together and allows us to empathize. In business, the right image can make or break a sale, especially in a home-centered industry like plumbing. SEO for plumbers relies heavily on image optimization. This isn’t rocket science or even highly technical SEO.
Frankly, it’s easy to stand out from the crowd when so few companies take the time to produce original photos!
Building Stronger Connections and Listings
“But why bother?” you might ask. What does original imagery have to do with search engine optimization? After all, digital marketers aren’t in the business of enhancing your website simply so it looks really fresh (that’s a bonus). We have to drive measurable key performance indicators like page views and conversions. The answer is simple: high quality, optimized imagery can greatly increase your volume of search traffic and average time on page. They also increase the likelihood of someone calling your business. Does more business revenue sound worth it to you?
Expect these sort of benefits when you add personalized photos to your plumbing website.
Immediately stronger connections with visitors
Longer time on pages (deeper engagement)
More page views per visit
Stronger plumbing keyword performance (more on this later)
Better conversion rates, meaning more calls
Crafting the Perfect Images
Obviously, performance-driving photography doesn’t just appear by itself! You can simply drop them into your pages, either. There are two key parts to getting the most out of your website imagery.
Tip #1: Take More Photos (With Employees in Them)
Don’t get us wrong: we’re all about photos of pipes and busted sewer lines. However, we (and your clients) would rather see the smiling faces of your friendly employees. So the next time you stop to take a photo of a newly installed sink, get yourself in the photo and take a selfie! It’s worth it.
So many businesses spend dozens of hours uploading their latest team photos to Instagram and Facebook and never put them on their website. Gather all your team together and empower them to take selfies after a job well done. Better yet, hire a professional photographer to get pictures of your plumbers, office staff, your family, and even your trucks!
Tip #2: Optimize Your Image Attributes
Did you know that your images can be optimized for stronger keyword performance? At Plumbing Webmasters, we’ve found that three key elements provide great SEO power for your page. Obviously, captions work very well for communicating quick facts. Since personal images create very focused attention, captions are often the best places to restate key points.
Alt image captions also contribute to your keyword strategy. Finally, be sure to input an Image Title Attribute. This causes the little box of text to appear whenever the mouse hovers over an image. If you like, you can even embed a link into your image that directs your visitors to another service page.
Personal is Powerful
We can’t overstate just how powerful personalized images can be in both regular listings and local search results! Not only do they offer amazing results for your website KPIs, they also create deeper trust with your target audience. Remember, personal is powerful!
If your plumbing company has struggled to make headway in online search marketing, our team at Plumbing Webmasters would love to help. Not only do our design experts know how to create high-performance websites for growing businesses, they understand the value of imagery in SEO for plumbers. For a free consultation, call our team today at (877) 388-9884.
Plumbing SEO changes year after year. In fact, the industry shifts so much, we go to conferences to stay on top of all the latest news and practices! In this latest podcast, Jason and Nolen share some of the juicy tidbits they picked up from their latest SEO conference.
Look for key changes GMB management, online brand development, on-page optimization, and more! If your website has struggled to break into premium rankings, be sure to listen in.
Helpful Lessons for Plumbing Professionals
Keyword strategies must incorporate synonyme usage. Variety creates healthier optimization.
Remember the big four: Google, BBB, Facebook, & Yelp. You need reviews from all of them.
Continue to monitor your GMB account, including your Q&A section in the Knowledge Graph.
Keyword optimization and mobile friendly optimization are basic essentials.
What’s Changing in Search Marketing?
Let’s start by analyzing some of the key industry updates that your business will need to keep on top of. In 2020, your Google My Business account will become even more important to your success in local search. The search engine continues to add new functionalities to the listing service, including new ways for potential customers to interact with your company.
Thanks to the Knowledge Graph, people can check reviews, operating hours, location, and contact information without ever interacting with your website.
While that might seem like an intimidating prospect for some plumbing SEO professionals, these changes could mean great things for your business in 2020. For one, clients who direct search your name won’t need to dig through your site to find a phone number or determine if you provide emergency services. This increases the chance of people calling your business.
Showing Up in Google Maps Listings
In search marketing, visibility equals success. That’s especially true in the case of Google Maps listings, whose top ranks generate some of the most impressive traffic. Apart from the usually website optimization (more on that later), we’ve seen GMB play a larger role in these search listings. Since Google only awards this premium search real estate to dependable businesses (as best they can), it’s essential that your GMB data is continually checked and re-checked for accuracy.
Reviews also serve as a make or break criterium for Google Maps listings. Lately, Google has emphasized diversity in review sources as a healthy indication of trustworthiness. In other words, don’t put all your rating eggs in one basket! While there are hundreds of rating websites to choose from, start with these four:
Google Reviews
Facebook
Better Business Bureau
and Yelp
These four feedback sources are considered by many to be the most essential citations for plumbers. If you want even more plumbing SEO power from your client reviews, we’ve seen a rising trend in geotagging. That’s the tagging of reviews with GPS location data. It provides stronger evidence to Google’s search engine that you provide services in tagged locations, giving them more reason to rank your site over competitors.
Breaking Digital Language Barriers
With the release of Google’s BERT update still fresh in our minds, the search giant continues to advance towards a deeper algorithm understanding of human speech. With latent semantic indexing (LSI), keyword optimization has gone beyond the simple “3% focus keyword formula” – no more flooding pages with unnatural keyword volumes – to create a more human reading experience. Keywords still play a foundational role in SEO for plumbing. They determine how Google understands and ranks, but now professionals must take a different approach to writing content.
It’s more essential than ever before that your content provides unique insights for would-be clients. Businesses can finally stop the ridiculous barrage of “plumbers near me”s and start presenting information in ways that people can easily digest. The most insightful content (usually) gets rewarded these days, not the most keyword redundant. Keyword spamming is a remnant of past plumbing SEO strategy, but it will hurt your results today.
What elements can you use to create more helpful resources for your customers?
Bullet points,
Keyword synonyms,
Infographics,
Related (original) images,
and Numbered lists.
Continue to produce keyword (and synonym) optimized content, but infuse all your expertise and problem solving skills into the mix! If consumers truly find your content valuable, your rankings will naturally rise and your broad excel.
Final Words of Advice
Because Google My Business and the Knowledge Graph continue to draw in more eyeballs from the community, it’s important that you monitor these tools for information accuracy. If your company makes significant organizational changes, or if you start offering new services, make sure your GMB reflects the updates. Also, be on the lookout for consumers in your Questions & Answers section (halfway down the Knowledge Graph). This Q&A section is open to the community, meaning anyone can contribute questions and answers.
You don’t want a random stranger (or worse, a competitor) answering questions on your behalf.
If you carefully manage these assets, your business can expect continued growth for your company brand. In the meantime, keep creating fresh content for your website filled with hot topics and questions from your target market. Even if you can only blog once a month, it’s worth the effort!
If your team doesn’t have the time, knowledge, or capacity to manage these online marketing activities, our team at Plumbing Webmasters can help. We provide custom website design, keyword-rich content, citation assistance, GMB support, and reputation management. Our clients continually earn premium rankings in local search, creating more traffic and better leads!
To learn more about our SEO for plumbers, contact us today at (877) 388-9884.
Everyone likes funny plumbing slogans, which means choosing a hilarious catchphrase for your plumbing company can increase conversion rates and expand brand awareness.
It helps in any industry to have a bit of a sense of humor. After all, when you have a sense of humor, it makes those more challenging times a little less brutal to handle. If you take things far too seriously and never laugh about the rough stuff, you will find yourself feeling a bit overwhelmed.
When you don’t take the time to laugh a little, you might find yourself ready to burst like a backed-up toilet. Taking preventative maintenance for yourself is just as crucial as protecting your plumbing, which helps keep everything flowing the way that it should.
With that said, here are some of the funniest sayings and slogans in the plumbing world that make just about anyone chuckle and feel a little more light-hearted about the grimy world that is plumbing repair and maintenance.
Best Plumbing Slogans
We repair what your husband fixed
A good flush beats a full house
Don’t sleep with a drip, call your plumber
We’re #1 in the #2 business
Professional, affordable and we always leave the seat down
Call us when you’re backed up
Got a leak, we’ll take a peek
Plumbers do it at the crack of dawn
We’re plumb crazy
24/7 plumbing, we show up
All cisterns go
The best place to take your leaks
iPlumb
Plumbers have pipe dreams
We won’t drain your checkbook
Our reputation has leaked out
If it weren’t for us, you’d have no place to go
If water runs through it, we do it
Call the best, flush the rest
Sh*t goes downhill and payday is Friday
Flush your worries, and your waste
We repair what your husband fixed
One of the cliché go-to anecdotes is that husbands are a bit hard-headed and will try to fix things that are well beyond their scope. And when that happens, you need professionals in your corner to ensure that the job gets done correctly.
Though we all mean well with our do-it-yourself repairs, sometimes things will go awry. It happens to the best of us and creates a good laugh that we can all share.
A good flush beats a full house
This is the puniest pun that ever punned. The flush plays on the flushing of a toilet and a flush in poker, where the player gets five cards of the same suit. The full house plays on your home being flooded by a clogged toilet and a full house in poker which is three of one card with two of another.
Puns are always hilarious, and this one delivers with the puns to maximum effect.
Don’t sleep with a drip, call your plumber
Poor husbands out there take a lot of flack, it seems. This one is yet another play on words: husbands who aren’t the best can be called a drip, and the drip also refers to potential leaks that can occur with your plumbing.
The message is right on, though: whenever you have a leak or drip, make sure that you call in your favorite plumber. They should get the job done pretty quickly and make sure you can go back to having normal plumbing.
We’re #1 in the #2 business
Oh boy, this one seems pretty self-explanatory. When referencing the #2, that refers to…well, you know.
It isn’t the prettiest thing to be the best at, but it is something of a necessity. Don’t deal with any #2 if you don’t have to; let the best plumbers in your area make sure that these pesky problems are dealt with in short order.
Leave the #1’s and #2’s to those professionals instead of dealing with those nasty messes yourself.
Professional, affordable and we always leave the seat down
There has been a battle raging between men and women for a lifetime and that is whether or not the seat should be left down.
Women everywhere will profess that it should be left down so that they can sit down safely in the middle of the night. Men will argue that women shouldn’t just go around blindly when it comes to toilet activity.
This discussion will rage on forever, likely, but you can have a laugh when your favorite plumber makes light of it. But maybe leave the seat down, so your wife doesn’t get mad.
Call us when you’re backed up
Man, the puns just reign supreme, don’t they? One of the biggest plumbing issues is that they are clogged or “backed up.” In this instance, you likely need a plumber to come in and clear out that clog for you. It’s a nasty mess, but it is something that a qualified plumber can definitely handle.
Being backed up also means that you are having some gastro difficulty. You might have some stomach aches and cramps and can have difficulty “going”; hence being “backed up”. Like I said, puns are a big thing in this world.
Got a leak, we’ll take a peek
If it isn’t a pun it’s a rhyme. Rhymes can be something that sticks in your head quite easily, hence the reason that there are some slogans that rhyme.
This is one of those cases that refers to common household plumbing leaks. It is important not to let them go unattended because they can have serious repercussions.
Call in your favorite plumber the minute you notice a leak to prevent bigger issues from arising, and you will be glad that you took the preventative measures to keep your house protected.
Plumbers do it at the crack of dawn
Another one of those weird sayings that just kind of became associated with plumbers. This also plays on the old “plumber’s crack,” which has been associated with plumbers who probably need a belt or to at least pull their pants up.
“Plumber’s crack” has been the name associated with any time when someone’s pants are too low, and you can see far too much of their rear end.
Still, it’s a funny pun that will give you a chuckle and harkens to plumbers everywhere. Making potential customers laugh is a good start when they have a plumbing difficulty.
We’re plumb crazy
Let’s put it this way: you’d be hard-pressed to find a plumbing company that doesn’t make some plumbing pun. It is just the nature of the business, and this one is no different. It takes the word plumbing and ties it into a funny saying.
And the thing is, it’s probably not wrong. You have to be a little crazy to want to deal with some of the nasty grossness that comes with plumbing. Getting your hands dirty and disgusting is a way of life that you have to come to accept.
24/7 plumbing, we show up
This is one of those sayings that seems to get a better reception in the plumbing world itself as it is not one of your traditional puns, and it doesn’t quite make everyone laugh. Still, it is one of those sayings that definitely makes you think and draws the audience’s attention to that company.
Not all plumbing slogans or sayings have to be funny; the goal is to illustrate how dependable and reliable that company is, and this one does that in spades.
All cisterns go
What do you know? It’s another pun! Cisterns are tied into the plumbing world, and it is a play on the old phrase “all systems go,” which means that everything is set to go. Man, the plumbing world loves itself some puns, doesn’t it?
Still, it’s another funny pun that should at least grab the audience’s attention for long enough to get a bit of a laugh and leave the audience wondering a little bit more about the company in question.
For that reason, it does the job it is meant to do and keeps the attention on that company for at least a few moments.
The best place to take your leaks
You can bet on at least 15 of these sayings being puns because, as stated, the plumbing world absolutely loves its puns. This one is pretty self-explanatory: “taking a leak” means relieving yourself. Boom, that’s the joke. Not exactly the most complicated thing in the world.
This is one of those ones that will make you chuckle a bit and appreciate that at least these companies are trying to make what is a not-so-fun thing a little bit more fun.
iPlumb
Apple is one of the most popular and recognizable companies on the planet, thanks to its iPhone, iPad, and iTunes products and programs. For this reason, that makes them ripe for parody, and this one does just that by tying plumbing in with the popular company.
It isn’t the most creative or original idea in the world, but it is certainly something that will make your audience stop, think, and at least laugh a little bit. That’s all you can really ask for out of your slogan, isn’t it?
Plumbers have pipe dreams
Oh boy, another pun! Pipe dreams are the kind of dreams that one would have that are way off in the future and only vaguely possible. They are huge dreams that likely won’t happen but still exist in one way or another. Everyone has pipe dreams of their own.
On the same side of that coin, plumbers deal with pipes on a daily basis, hence “pipe dreams.” Another play on words for another plumbing slogan. It’s almost like all these companies get together and decide that puns are the only way to go for marketing purposes. There are a lot worse ones out there, I suppose.
We won’t drain your checkbook
Did I say that 15 of them would be puns? I meant like 18 or 19 of them. Puns are the lifeblood of the plumbing marketing game. Puns make you laugh and make you think of various things that are both related and unrelated to the plumbing industry.
This one, though, actually appeals to customers because it makes you realize that you don’t have to go broke to get your plumbing taken care of. Cost is a massive worry for customers, and knowing that you won’t have to break the bank is a pretty big thing.
Our reputation has leaked out
What else is there to say at this point? Puns, puns everywhere! They are popular for a reason, but they all kind of hit the same notes. Still, they are disarming and make for a fun time, so they are what they are.
If it weren’t for us, you’d have no place to go
Funny as this one is, it’s the truth. Without proper plumbing, you really would have no place to go, and that could turn into an ugly mess in a hurry.
With the right plumbers, you can make sure that your plumbing is all working correctly so that you don’t have to worry about where to go or any unsightly messes that could cause some havoc in your life. This is one of the better sayings that there are, though it is a part of the flurry of puns that we have seen.
If water runs through it, we do it
This is pretty similar to the previous one in that it plays on words (like just about any other saying on this list, actually). And water runs through all of your plumbing fixtures, meaning that the company that made up the slogan can handle all of your plumbing needs.
That’s a somewhat subtle yet funny way to get across to your customers that you can do anything that they need and keep a light heart about it.
Call the best, flush the rest
Another pun, anyone? This is a great way to say that you are the best and to forget everyone else. That’s the idea, too: you want to present that you are the best in the business and that no one else can match up to what you can offer.
While it isn’t the best idea to insult the competition, standing out is difficult, and you should try to do so in any way that you can.
Sh*t goes downhill and payday is Friday
This is more of an insider joke and less of a marketing term for plumbing. It basically means that things will be rough and all flow downhill, but that payday comes at the same time every week.
It is more for plumbers and their apprentices to help get through a particularly rough week than anything else, but it is still one of those funny sayings worth noting and is still highly relevant in the industry.
Flush your worries… and your waste
Some companies may want to present a more family-friendly theme with their catchphrase. While it’s hard to avoid being dirty in any plumbing-related activity, this slogan mentioned above may be the perfect blend of accurate and playful.
Best of all, this saying projects a sense of ease and calm to your consumer, which is their ultimate best-case scenario when hiring a plumbing contractor.
Conclusion
And that’s our list! Need help creating a stronger online brand for your business? The Plumbing Webmasters can help generate incredible leads for your team, as we’ve helped hundreds of companies across the United States.
What’s the mark of a successful plumbing company? Determination, adaptability, and earnestness. All these qualities make for a fantastic business, no matter what industry you operate in. When it comes to spreading your brand in search engine marketing, these characteristics will help you keep at it while those sweet, sweet leads start to trickle in.
Today, Nolen and Jason talk about what separates the top ranking plumbing companies apart from the rest. If your company doesn’t quite earn the rankings you’d like, be sure to listen in.
Key Lessons for Plumbing Professionals
Your top competitors work hard to earn their rankings in search engine marketing (SEM)!
Online success takes time and money, but anyone can win.
There’s no secret weapon to succeeding on Google Search.
Plumbing Search Winners
You know them well by this point: the top performers in your local market. Every time you run a Google search to see where your brand lands, these plumbing companies sit comfortably in the top positions on the front page. What do they do different? How did they get so lucky?
Search engine marketing champs don’t win by luck! They win because of determination.
So many plumbers break into the industry just to give up early in their online marketing efforts. Those top companies in your market however, kept at it and are reaping the rewards as a result. So what sort of qualities can they inspire to help you rank up?
Determination
Quick Tip #1: Keep at It!
Trial and error courses through every discipline of marketing, and business management in general. For plumbing professionals just getting into local search, earning high quality rank positions may feel like a daunting task. Keep at it!
Practical Applications
While your brand needs some time to start ranking for those primary keywords and phrases, you can use secondary keywords to supplement your leads. Keep producing that content that’s enriched with multiple keyword combinations. Some of our clients at Plumbing Webmasters are listed for over a thousand different words and phrases. If you stay determined and continue to release quality material, your overall brand ranking is sure to rise.
Adaptability
Quick Tip #2: Adapt as Needed
Finding success in online search engine marketing is something almost anyone can accomplish, with the right strategy. Staying at the top however, requires a continued commitment to studying and adapting that strategy. As Google releases, new algorithmic changes and/or new search-related products, learn to experiment with the changes.
Practical Applications
Moz, Search Engine Land, and Search Engine Journal are three great sources for hot industry news and strategies. Try taking a few hours each month to see what’s new in search engine marketing. You may find fresh opportunities to improve your rankings in local search, such as the rise of featured listings in SERPs (see our guide on Ranking #1 in Google).
Investment
Quick Tip #3: Get Invested
Marketing is simply a part of doing business these days. Traditional methods of spreading brand awareness – we’re looking at you, door knocking – simply don’t provide the same results they did a decade ago. That’s why search engine marketing is more essential than ever before for driving people towards your business and creating leads. Successful marketing requires investment: time, effort, and money.
Practical Applications
Learn where to invest your resources for maximum impact. While lead gen companies and PPC campaigns provide a more immediate return, dedicating resources to quality website design and plumbing SEO can generate a long-term supply of cheap, but high-quality leads. Figure out what works best for your business!
Finding a Quality SEO Partner
Most top ranking businesses don’t even try to handle their own online marketing, unless they’ve already grown into a huge enterprise. Small businesses have fewer options in the way of SEO management. Even a permanent employee can have a hard time keeping up with the demands of design updates, content production, advertising management, etc. That’s why most plumbing professionals eventually team up with a search engine marketing company to handle the load for them. Before we finish our discussion for the day, here’s a few tips on discovering a quality SEO team.
Where Does Your Search Engine Marketing Team Draw Traffic From?
Picking Your SEO Marketing Team
Look closely at their billing procedures. Try to avoid companies that only offer annual contracts or even longer-term agreements.
Ask what their clients have to say about their results.
Check their organic rankings in Google search. Then check their clients’ rankings.
See how well they communicate. Can they clearly explain their services, or do they talk incomprehensible jargon?
Determine how easy it is for them to make changes to their websites, ad campaigns, etc.
Follow these tips, and you’ll weed out the vast majority of the underperforming SEO companies out there. As always, our team at Plumbing Webmasters is happy to partner with you for your search engine marketing needs. Consult with a professional anytime at (877) 388-9884!
Congratulations! You’ve just started your professional plumbing company. You’re also dirt poor and have no marketing budget to speak of. We’ve all been there.
Thankfully, there are plenty of ways to start earning brand recognition online, without breaking the bank. Today, we’ll discuss a number of free to cheap activities that anyone can handle. If you’ve been worried about getting noticed in local search, be sure to listen in!
Key Insights on Plumbing Marketing (on a Tight Budget)
Register a domain under your name! Make sure it’s distinct from common industry terms.
Set up your Google My Business listing and submit your address. Complete the free forms.
If you don’t have money, try a cheap service like WIX and GoDaddy.
Stay away from digital marketing services in the mid-hundreds. You’re better off going DIY!
Starting Fresh in Local Search
Normally, our team at Plumbing Webmasters likes to steer the conversation away from other web design companies. We may also go the opposite direction and show just how many people get royally screwed by other SEO companies. But we’re going to do something different today, because sometimes you just need a place to kick off your marketing plan.
If you have no marketing budget to speak of, starting up your out-of-home plumbing company can be a real challenge! With so many established businesses in the community, how can you start making a name for yourself? It all begins with a domain name and a company website.
Without an established budget, there’s only one solution left: go DIY (do it yourself)!
A 3-Step Starter’s Guide
While many marketing activities can help you cultivate clients, three are absolutely mandatory. Without these three steps, your plumbing SEO has almost zero chance of taking off and earning clients for your business.
Your Three Essential Steps
Step #1: Claim Your GMB (Google My Business) Listing.
Step #2: Register a Unique Domain Name.
Step #3: Create and Launch a Starter Website.
This Free Tool Makes it Easier to Earn Site Visitors. Image Source: Google My Business
Google My Business Account
Among the numerous qualities it has and the benefits it provides, your Google My Business listing is absolutely free. It’s Google’s way of getting to know your business location, basic service category, and operating hours. Fill it out as much as possible, and regularly come back to it as you gain more information. Your GMB listing helps you start showing up in local search queries. Then there’s the crucial ability to gather Google Reviews!
Be sure to use the same physical address for all your citations as your business grows. This makes the Google Search algorithm more confident in your operating area, increasing your chances of showing up for localized searches. When business booms, your marketing budget expands, and your company grows into an office, you’ll need to change the name for all of your citation listings (BBB, Angie’s List, Yelp, etc.).
Choosing a Domain Name
Your domain name isn’t just a web address. It’s also part of your brand identify, and it heavily impacts people’s ability to find your company online. Choosing a smart domain and guarding it carefully will help your business grow consistently over time.
Domain Name Examples
Great:purplemonkeyplumber.com
Poor:americafirstplumber.com
Great:pipefighter.co
Poor:seattleplumbingcompany.com
Great:rooterrex.com
Poor:bustedpipestx.co
What makes an ideal domain name? Memorability and uniqueness. Thousands of businesses shoot themselves in the foot by picking what they think will rank well in search. They use part of their small marketing budget to purchase a combination of their local city and a popular plumbing term. That’s a huge mistake! Many established companies already rank for similar names, and Google almost never ranks a new business over a seasoned competitor with a close name.
Craft Your Company Website
The most involved portion of your online marketing, website design requires careful planning, research, and patience. With that being said, it is possible to craft a beautiful website on a tight budget. With plenty of design sites and templates to choose from, anyone can build a basic but functional site for under $100. Your website may not be fully optimized for local SEO, but that’s okay for now.
Key Highlights on Website Design
Make sure your navigational menu is compact and fully functional.
Have your site inspected by several people for spelling and grammar errors.
Create a service page for every major category (at least). Do child pages if possible.
Test your site for usability and ease of navigation.
Need Help Getting Started?
One last note: Be sure to create listings in each of the major citation companies: Yelp, BBB, etc. Facebook Business profiles can also help you earn a handful of leads as you get the ball rolling. Starting a plumbing business is tough work (especially without a marketing budget), but success can be yours with diligence and careful planning!
Want some professional insight as you begin your business? Call the Plumbing Webmasters for a free consultation! We support hundreds of plumbers around the country, and we’d be happy to support you however we can, even if you don’t have a big marketing budget.
Does your marketing company have a vested interest in seeing you succeed? Are they working hard to produce outstanding growth for your business, or just hard enough to earn another 12 month contract? Having a marketing company with skin in the game can make all the difference for plumbing contractors, as Jason and Nolen discuss in our latest podcast.
Helpful Tips on SEO for Plumbers
It’s getting harder and harder to compete without an established presence in local SEO.
Make sure your digital marketing company provides direct Google Ads reporting for PPC.
PPC budget and reporting should be kept separate from organic SEO.
Results for plumbing SEO usually take 2 to 3 months after launching a new website.
Research your top competitors’ websites.
See how well your marketing company ranks in organic search!
Overcoming the Past
You’ve been hurt before. Based on the number of angry, confused plumbers we’ve talked to over the years, odds are you’ve been taken advantage of by an untrustworthy digital marketing agency. In fact, you may have gone through the same situation multiple times now. Naturally, this leaves you hesitant to trust again. We understand!
However, you’ve also know by now just how essential local search is to finding clients.
There’s no getting around it. If you don’t have the talent inside your team already, you are going to have to find a company who understands SEO for plumbers. That’s where the Plumbing Webmasters come into play.
Learning to Trust Again
Instead of immediately jumping back into the online fray, why not take a day to reexamine what it means to succeed in Google Search? Take a day to researchthe different ways to rank #1. Better yet, take a look at your most productive online competitors to see what they’re doing different! You’ll probably find them at the top of search results in a Local Pack (see the picture below).
See What Businesses in the Local Pack and Top Regular Listings are Doing for Plumbing SEO!
Since organic search champions earn the lion’s share of website traffic, it pays to understand what they’re doing to be successful. Do some research! Spend a little time digging through their websites and exploring their service pages.
Critical Research Questions on Competitors
How good is the content on their service pages and homepage?
What sort of service page structure do they have?
Which keywords are they using to get noticed by Google?
Do they write blogs? How often are they posting?
Are they using stock photos?
What sort of calls to action (CTAs) are they using?
How many reviews do they have on their Google Search listing?
How good is the overall design of the website?
Just remember: to outrank these professionals, your website and related internet marketing must be better than the current champions. If you only match their website quality, you’re unlikely to outrank them (especially if they’re older companies).
Find a Winning Team
Emphasis on “Winning”. For all the technical expertise and fancy service packages a marketing company may provide, do they produce successful clients? If you Google Search “plumbing contractors in (insert city, state)”, you should be able to find their customers listed there!
Here’s another important question: How many keywords do their clients rank for? Big name companies like to advertise front page rankings for five, ten, or thirty keywords. An experienced marketing company can get your plumbing business ranked for hundreds of keywords (with dozens of front page listings)!
On a side note, make sure to steer clear of companies that offer a PPC/SEO bundle deal, especially if their campaign spending isn’t provided directly through Google Ads!
How Well Does Your Plumbing Marketing Company Rank in Organic Search?
Team Up With Plumbing Webmasters
We won’t sugarcoat it. Our team at Plumbing Webmasters wants to earn your business! We know you’ve been hurt before, which is why our SEO professionals work so hard to make it easy and (practically) risk free to test our services. While it costs us thousands of dollars to produce a professional website that ranks for hundreds of keywords, we only charge you $99 for the first month. Our clients pay on a monthly basis, because we crave accountability for our results. That means you can quit anytime if our work doesn’t live up to your standards!
We think you’ll stay though, because our clients regularly dominate their local search results with better placement, more consumer traffic, and higher-quality leads.
If you’re tired of getting the runaround from your current marketing company, Plumbing Webmasters is always here to help. Consult with one of our seasoned plumber SEO professionals for free by calling us at (877) 388-9884. It’s tough to trust again, but we’re worth it!
Does it ever feel like your plumbing SEO company is trying to hide something? Unfortunately, too many plumbing businesses get cheated by their digital marketing agency. That doesn’t have to be you! Thankfully, there are many red flags that can help you steer clear of shady marketing practices. Be sure to listen closely as Jason and Nolen discuss real industry stories that should serve as a word of warning.
Helpful Tips on SEO Services for Plumbers
Watch out for bundled deals! These tend to cover up shady reporting practices.
Many digital marketing rely heavily on PPC to markup their services.
Month to month SEO services often work the hardest to produce results.
SEO for plumbers should only require a couple months to start producing results.
Discovering the Tough Truth
“Bob” is a local contractor who relied on the same marketing service for two years. Despite his significant investment into online marketing, Bob noticed a suspicious lack of phone calls coming into his office. With growing concerns, he reached out to the agency that handled his PPC and SEO service bundle. As always, he heard the same old sales runaround that had grown less and less reassuring. So Bob decided it was time to consult with another marketing team.
After running a brief search of some of the top ranked SEO companies in his area, he arranged a one-on-one consultation with our team at the Webmasters. Pretty soon, Bob realized his nagging concerns were justified. Not only was his current provider using confusing reporting practices to hide their lack of organic SEO activity, but it was clear they were spending very little of the money they had allotted for PPC campaigns (and pocketing the rest).
In other words, Bob had been royally screwed for almost two years.
Does Your Reporting Come From Google, or a Less Trustworthy Source?
A Common Trend in Digital Marketing
Bob’s story is one we hear all to often. As an experienced contractor in a modestly-sized, non-competitive market, he should have been a rockstar in local search. But his digital marketing company had done literally nothing to optimize his website or his company Google My Business listing.
This trend fits many SEO services for plumbers: using flat fee bundles to hide inactivity and mark up prices.
Bundling paid search and organic SEO services together is almost always a bad idea, especially if the bundle is tied together with a long-term contract. Since contracting professionals see this sort of pricing all the time however, they think nothing of it. Frankly, digital marketing companies do a fantastic job of selling these services. Here’s what happens when a plumbing contractor steps into a long-term PPC/SEO bundle deal.
Part #1: They See Results (for a Time)
Most plumbers start seeing results, but not quite the quantity they expected. That’s because paid search campaigns start producing leads almost immediately. The initial influx of business is usually enough for most plumbers to grudgingly continue without contacting their marketing agency. Those that do speak out end up hearing the same familiar line:
“We’re working hard on your organic SEO, but it always takes 6 months to a year to start seeing results.”
Part #2: They Experience the Runaround
When leads begin to slow down, most plumbing contractors naturally start to wonder what’s going on. That’s when the confusing reporting comes out. Some marketing agencies appear more trustworthy by pushing their numbers through a third party reporting company.
On a side note: this is why you should always have your PPC campaign spending issued directly from Google. This prevents your digital marketing company from hiding the actual costs per click.
The reporting also enables SEO services for plumbers to cover their lack of progress on website optimization. Remember, successful SEO practices actually produce cheaper, higher quality leads for your business. Companies that make the most of their money with inexpensive PPC campaigns don’t want a productive organic presence taking money away from their primary source of income.
Part #3: They Get Addicted to PPC
What happens next? The same thing that plumbers experience when they purchase leads from a vendor: addiction. PPC’s slower, but dependable source of leads makes it difficult for most plumbing companies to part with their marketing agency. After all, who wants to leave a steady stream of business, even it if is smaller than they’d like?
Thus begins the cycle of PPC addiction, which takes many plumbers years to overcome. Those that do escape inevitably feel jaded against other marketing professionals that could actually provide real, lasting, and remarkable results. That’s why productive SEO services for plumbers have to work so hard to prove themselves!
Real Results – Plumbing Webmasters
So what’s the solution to break this cycle of deception and loss? Accountability. At Plumbing Webmasters, we’ve talked with hundreds of plumbing professionals who feel jaded because of their past experiences with dishonest marketing. That’s why we work so hard to prove ourselves with detailed expense reporting. Our SEO services for plumbers are always priced and reported separately from our PPC services, because you shouldn’t have to wonder where your money is going. You’ll see every one of our services fees in your billing, which we charge month to month.
Do you feel unhappy with your current marketing company? Contact our highly-rated, trusted team at Plumbing Webmasters and consult with a professional for free. Call (877) 388-9884 and see the difference for yourself!
Apart from employees and equipment, your brand is the most important company asset. Effective branding separates fledgling companies from industry champions. Despite this, thousands of plumbing contractors continue to neglect branded SEO online. Below, Jason and Nolen discuss how to unlock your brand’s potential in organic search. They’ll also point out some disastrous mistakes that hurt local businesses.
If you desire stronger online lead generation, be sure to listen closely!
Pro Tips for Plumbing Contractors
Never abandon an established brand name or URL, unless you absolutely have to.
Treat your digital brand with the same respect as you would your physical brand.
Don’t try to “game the system” using your GMB account. It could cost you!
Negative reviews lose their impact when surrounded by a host of positive feedback.
Make sure your website is optimized for local search.
What is Branded SEO?
Branded SEO refers to optimizing your online assets in a way that makes your brand more recognizable and trusted by Google. Just like developing trust with someone takes time and effort, so does establishing your trustworthiness with the world’s most popular search engine. As you prove your company’s reliability, local search rankings almost always rise as a result.
Why Trust Matters
Google Search strives to provide finely tuned results for all of its user base. If you want to buy tickets to a football game or purchase a gift for a family member, the search engine wants to make sure the results you see not only match the keywords you typed but that they bring you much closer to your desired service/product. If they believe a website won’t provide dependable results, that site will never see page one rankings!
In other words, Google needs to know that you’ll provide the quality services you claim to. Any plumbing company can say they provide “professional water heater repair in San Antonio, TX”, but only a handful get listed. How do these businesses achieve such fantastic success? Let’s break down that process.
Premium Listings Like These Only Happen When Google Highly Trusts a Business.
Strategy for Successful Branded SEO
Complete Your GMB Listing
Everything starts with your online company listing! Google My Business (GMB) provides a free, convenient way to get your plumbing business listed. Without claiming and completely filling out this profile, it’s almost impossible to achieve top rankings in local search. Then again, businesses that take full advantage of GMB tend to enjoy higher rank and website traffic! If you haven’t already, make sure your business listing has been claimed and finished.
Again, it’s free and from Google. That alone makes GMB worth the minimal time investment! Just make sure that the address you register with Google is the same one you use for all your other citation sources (such as Yelp and BBB), and vice versa. Even differences in abbreviation can make Google suspicious.
Optimize Your Website
We could spend hours talking about what makes a website appear more trustworthy to Google. The company website is an integral part of branded SEO. Google Search regularly combs through your site, searching for new pages and content. If its crawlers (bots used to examine a site) discover these elements, it’s much more likely to judge your company favorably.
Reviews, reviews, reviews! Nothing breaks down walls faster than a glowing recommendation from a customer. If you don’t already, make sure you’re asking all your clients (especially the happy ones) to complete a reviews. Sooner is better; people tend to forget their enthusiasm months after service.
For plumbing contractors that really want to supercharge their branded SEO, be sure to integrate reviews into your website. There are a handful of capable tools, but we recommend Righteous Reviews. It compiles reviews from your favorite sources into your website, and even produces geotagged data – Google highly values this data – through check-ins and automated feedback requests.
Branding Tactics to Stay Away From
While successful branded SEO takes time to cultivate, it only takes one wrong step to doom your brand online. While Google is willing to forgive many mistakes, there are some foolish tactics that will inevitably lead to a permanent de-listing on the search engine! What sort of strategies should you stay away from?
Attempting to sabotage other company listings.
Creating fake reviews.
Paying for reviews.
Making false claims about your services or industry.
Using racist or overly-disparaging language when speaking with customers online.
Creating fake locations to appear larger.
Using tactics explicitly banned by Google.
Of course, not every poor strategy is banned. For instance, anyone can change their brand name, even though it will almost certainly set back their branded SEO for years! Unless legal action compels you to, never change your brand name.
Want to Learn More?
Our team at Plumbing Webmasters would love to talk with you and answer all your questions about branded SEO! We support hundreds of businesses around the country, producing stronger rankings, site traffic, and leads. To learn more about our services, check out the links below or call us at (877) 388-9884.
The way online marketing is progressing, plumbers will likely be forced into one of two paths: start developing your own company branding strategy, or pay another brand to feed your business with leads. It’s a tough situation to be in, but there’s still plenty of opportunity to grow your company online. In our latest podcast, Nolen and Jason discuss what company branding means today, and how to make the most of local search.
If your plumbing business has struggled with slow growth online, be sure to listen in!
Important Lessons for Plumbing Professionals
Online company branding requires dedicated SEO.
It takes more than a website to show up in local search.
You can start earning leads, or pay someone else for them.
Modern Company Branding
As a whole, marketing in the United States has shifted dramatically from its roots. While it changed only gradually over hundreds of years, the modernized internet causes tumultuous industry changes even in just a five year period. 5 years ago, any company with a decently written website could expect a favorable ranking on Google Search. Today, “decent” just doesn’t cut it. Google expects exceptional branding towards its search engine and towards potential customers.
What is branding when it comes to marketing your business online?
As a plumbing contractor works to establish their company identify with Google, they must add several more branding elements into the mix. These include: customer reviews, NAP listings, and content (just to name a few). Such elements create a general profile that helps the search engine understand who you are, where your business operates, and what sort of services you provide.
Crafting an online image might seem like a mundane task, but everything makes a difference in a world where the vast majority of consumers search for essential services online. To be successful, we ultimately must distinguish the things that shape consumer perception from those that shape Google Search’s perception. That’s where the “E-A-T factors” come into play.
The Best Listings Go to Experienced, Trusted Plumbers.
The E-A-T Factors
E-A-T: expertise, authority, and trustworthiness. The world’s number 1 search engine works hard to create dependable results for its user base. That’s why it only lists contractor websites it believes conveys these three attributes. What sort of activities and materials does Google use to gauge these qualities?
Measuring Expertise in Branding
Think of the expertise factor as an industry qualification process for your company branding. To convey expertise, you need to provide insightful content specifically tailored to address popular consumer problems and questions. Flaunting your plumbing certifications also helps establish your expert status.
Below are some company branding tasks that help build your online industry expertise.
Writing well-structured (and organized) service pages
Consistently releasing insightful blog posts on popular questions
Earning featured listings for frequently searched plumbing topics
Producing social media posts with homeowner or business tips
Displaying your credentials on your website’s front page
Crafting FAQs and answering questions in your GMB account
Gauging a Brand’s Authority
While expertise is proof of your right to join the plumbing conversation, authority determines your place in the pecking order. Do other plumbing companies reference you content in their websites? Do consumer websites link back to your blog posts when diving into the hottest homeowner topics? If so, you likely have a fantastic authority rating.
New businesses may start out with a very low authority website score, but they don’t have to stay that way. Below are some popular ways to enhance your company branding for better perceived authority.
Find prestigious industry organizations, and see if you can provide a quote.
Build relationships with other local businesses, then see if they will provide links.
Ask for recommendations from your best clients!
Add social sharing buttons in your blog.
Create exceptionally shareable material in your content marketing (ex: videos, infographics)
Calculating Trustworthiness
It’s theoretically possible to get by without great expertise. It’s very possible to still achieve moderate results with low authority. But no business is going to survive long with a poor trustworthiness rating! Without trust, Google has no incentive to show your business, and consumers have no reason to take a chance on you (especially for expensive projects).
So what company branding activities can you perform to prove you’re business is worth the risk?
Ask for reviews! Consistentlyask for reviews from every happy client (across multiple platforms).
Answer consumer questions on your website and social media profiles.
Turn angry customers into content ones with conflict resolution.
Keep your company office addresses exactly matched for every listing.
Finish your company Google My Business listing.
The Near Future of Company Branding
People simply don’t read Yellow Page-type listings anymore. More and more consumers look to local search for their essential services. Thankfully, it’s easier than ever to start branding your company online and establish a steady influx of organic leads. Branding online takes time, money, and effort on your team’s behalf, but it’s so much more cost-effective than the alternative.
Client Reviews Do Wonders for Your Local Search Results! Source: Dr. Drain
Alternatively, plumbers can sit back and pay other brands to supply leads for them. It’s sad to see businesses get locked into the cycle of buying leads, for multiple reasons:
The lead-selling service gets the brand recognition and website traffic.
Lead quality fluctuates wildly. You never know if you’re getting a buyer or a shopper.
PPC campaigns provide leads at a much higher cost than organic means.
Paid leads have a smaller chance of becoming repeat customers.
When it comes to organic company branding, a little help can go a long way. Our team at Plumbing Webmasters supports businesses all over the country with custom website development, content writing, PPC advertising, reputation management, and so much more. Clients earn exceptional traffic, better rankings, and wonderful lead quality. We’d love to partner with you too!
Contact us today at (877) 388-9884 to learn more about our plumbing SEO services!
A Plumber SEO WordPress Theme is a pre-made folder containing graphics, style sheets, and codebase allowing plumbing companies without design expertise to publish an appealing website quickly.
Few elements impact your online marketing as much as your website’s appearance and functionality. All other facets of your online presence weave in and out of the site, carefully directing potential clients to their needed plumbing services.
WordPress offers a vast array of gorgeous, customizable themes to choose from when it comes to designing and managing company websites. No other content management system (CMS) is quite so popular, and for good reason.
They call it a plumber SEO WordPress Theme because it directly influences your plumbing SEOperformance. If your business has put off making a website, or if your current design continues to produce disappointing results, be sure to listen in! You may just find the perfect solution for your problem.
WordPress is an open-source CMS, so designers from across the globe can create pre-made themes that users can download and install onto their WordPress dashboard.
What is a WordPress Theme?
You’ve likely noticed by now that many plumbing company websites tend to look very similar in format. That’s because they utilize WordPress themes for their website design. Instead of the more flamboyant and artsy styles (which aren’t really appropriate for most contractors), plumbers opt for simplistic and balanced themes. After all, flashy visuals rarely equate with capable SEO for plumbers.
When you first purchase your initial design, the theme only comes with its basic cookie-cutter boxes and areas to fill with text. Naturally, contractors must customize their chosen WordPress theme with their company logo, contact information, original content, and chosen services. The process can be as simple or as complicated as you desire. Just don’t expect too much from a site finished overnight!
How Much Do WordPress Themes Cost?
Sometimes WordPress themes cost nothing; sometimes, they cost thousands of dollars!
Contractors can easily find free themes available directly on the WordPress company website. You can also purchase premade themes from marketing vendors that will sell advanced WordPress themes, which include more sophisticated features, such as form creation (for creating appointments) or direct messaging.
Our own team at Plumbing Webmasters creates special themes heavily customized for SEO and local mapping. Many businesses take the DIY approach and perform the tailoring themselves, while others opt for professional production by a digital marketing company.
As a rule of thumb, you get out of your website what you invest into it. Themes in the hundred to thousand dollar range rarely contain the type of coding that helps Google recognize your services. Free themes certainly won’t offer that either!
Unless you have significant experience tailoring WordPress themes, it’s usually best to leave it to the professionals.
What Makes WordPress so Great for SEO?
SEO (search engine optimization) hinges on a variety of factors both in and out of your website. Plumbing companies with the highest ranks work hard to optimize their sites for local search. Ranking well is never accidental!
With that being said, there are plenty of ways that WordPress helps businesses optimize for search! For one, the content management system offers numerous tools that analyze your pages for keyword usage, writing quality, and other essential factors for success.
The process of creating and arranging your pages is refreshingly easy, which is why so many website developers love working with the platform.
If you ever feel under-equipped to handle site updates, there’s always a downloadable widget available to help!
Want to link your blogs to your social media accounts? There’s a widget for that.
Need plumber SEO metrics to grade your content before you post? Taken care of.
Crave better categorization for your pages and blog content? Got it!
There are so many tools at your disposal. Even if your plumbing contractors don’t have the necessary skills to custom-build your website, you can at least find a capable team to do it for you. Just be careful to pick a well-rated team!
Plumbing Webmasters and Custom WordPress Designs
At Plumbing Webmasters, WordPress is our daily playground! We custom-make themes that perform incredibly well in local search and Google Maps. Our plumbing clients enjoy front-page rankings for dozens (if not hundreds) of essential keywords, which is why they earn better traffic and lead generation!
Call us if you’d like to learn more about creating a custom WordPress theme and website for your plumbing company.
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