L.O.R.E. Formula
4 Simple Elements To Becoming A Local Legend
Local online marketing is about speaking to and engaging with your customers. Figuring out their needs and explaining how you can help them. Getting your website sales copy just right so you can confidently land leads without sounding like a pushy salesman. Most tradesman have their sales pitch down, but there’s one customer they completely miss the mark on.
The Internet
Yup the search engines, algorithms, AIs and bots of the internet. They’re getting smarter, but still don’t understand one bit of your sales pitch. On top of that Google is constantly updating to make sure no one figures out their secret sauce. I’ve created the L.O.R.E. Formula guide to help you keep on top of SEO for both of these customers. By focusing on the core factors that drive SEO. You’ll increase your ranks without wasting time on fluffy hacks. There’s hundreds of ways to get these things done, but you don’t have to do all of them. As long as you consistently do something for each element, you business will grow.
LINKS: How to steadily build quality backlinks
Quality links are SEO’s version of word of mouth referrals. When another website links back to your site. Google uses that to determine if they should recommend you to customers. The contractor with the most quality backlinks will show up higher in searches.
Quality is much more important then quantity. In fact, low quality and irrelevant backlinks will drop your rank. Resist the spammy offers of 1000s of backlinks for $15. Those will do more harm then good. What you want are local or industry links, here are some ways to steadily earn them.
• Mentions are almost as good as a link. If a news paper writes an article about your business and doesn’t give you a link, no worries. Google still picks that Mention up.
ON-PAGE SEO: Balancing the fundamentals of on-site SEO
On-site SEO is where art meets science. On one hand you want content that keeps your customers informed in an entertaining way. On the other you want to have all your technical ducks in a row so that Google understands your website and boosts its rank.
If on-site SEO is out of balance. You’ll have an entertaining lead gen machine that nobody sees or a high-ranking site that reads like an owner’s manual. Here are the fundamentals you’ll need to land leads and feed into your Google my business rank.
• Mobile Responsive: Both Google and customers have switched to mobile first. If your site doesn’t work on phones. You won’t show up in searches or get calls.
• HTTPS: Build trust and rank with a secure site. Having a SSL Certificate is an easy, cheap and responsible way to get a huge SEO boost. Your host provider can secure your site in minutes.
• Sitemaps: HTML and XML sitemaps take the guesswork away for search engines and help your site rank faster.
• Page Speed: If your page doesn’t load quickly. A customer will hit Back and go to the next contractor. The usual solutions are to cut out unneeded fancy plugins and optimize pictures.
• Schema: I only recommend handling your own custom schema if you have a programming background. The RankMath WordPress plugin can cover all the SEO and schema basics needed for success.
• Keyword Research: Plumber + location are not the only profitable keywords. The specific names of jobs you do and How To searches are less competitive, but bring in more traffic/leads.
• Layout Structure: Proper use of your H1’s, H2’s and jumplinks will help customers and google understand your page quickly.
• Internal Linking: Relevance is a top ranking factor and internal linking between your different pages is the best way to show it.
• Domain Age: It takes time for Google to discover and trust new websites. That’s why we’ll also leverage Google My Business to makes sure customer can always find you.
REVIEWS: Reviews beat being #1 on Google
If you take only one thing away from this article. I hope it’s the importance of reviews. You can mess up every other online factor and still survive off of reviews alone.
“But their reviews are better”
Has been the final thought before millions of dollars worth of purchases. GMB engineers understand that and have confirmed that reviews are a major SEO factor. The amount of reviews and keywords customers use in them directly increase rank. Let’s go through my favorite review strategy, that also builds customer trust.
This review strategy is all about preparation and follow up. It can work with any review site, except for yelp. It’s against Yelp policy to ask for reviews. The most important sites to build reviews on are Google My Business, Apple Maps, Facebook and Nextdoor.
PREPARATION
Save a review link for the website you want to build on
During or after the job is done. Tell the customer you’re going to check in on them and the work.
FOLLOW UP
2 days after the work is completed check in with the customer through text
If they have an issue, fix it. If not or after you fix the issue, ask for a review.
ENGAGEMENT: Engaging social media for Tradesman
Online Engagement used to purely be a customer service play. Showing people that others trust you and like your work. Search engines have caught on and now use those social signals to verify that you’re not a spammer.
People are passively scrolling through social media. Just posting a pic is going to get their attention for 3 seconds tops. Lead them with engaging content and bring the SOCIAL back into social media. Adding Google My Business on top of that will get you to local legend status in no time and increase your service area.
• You don’t have to be active on every social network, but C.Y.A. and claim your accounts everywhere. Be sure to mention where you’re most active.
• “Like, comment and subscribe.” Is called out in every YouTube video, because people need that reminder. Every social network makes sure people see your posts if they interact with them.
• Sharing other home improvement posts that are useful will make your page feel less salesy.
• Asking questions with Polls are huge conversation starters.
• @ing people is like a shout out and everybody loves a shout out. @ your biggest fans to let them know you see them. @Bard_byTrade
• Ask for the referral. Asking people to leave a review, @ or DMing someone who needs your help is the new word of mouth referral.
• DM (direct messages) are huge! Those are sales calls. Make sure to bring your A game.
• The most underrated action on social media is the save button. If someone saves, pins or adds to watch later. They’re going to see a lot more of you. Encourage people to save your posts, because one day they’ll need it. ????
• Take them offline. Holding a small free event at your shop can increase your service area on Google. Let people know they can support your business by searching for your service (plumber, lawn care) on Google then clicking your business for driving directions. You can take is a step further and offer donuts or raffle ticket to see them hit done on the gps. The further away they start their drive, the bigger your service area will get!