It is the end of the year. Companies are spending a lot of time evaluating their employees, processes, budgets, failures and successes. One common thought shared among them all during this time is, "How can we do it better next year?" It is a question with an infinite amount of answers, but for contractors in the HVAC, plumbing and electrical industries, the answer always involves lead generation.

One of the ways we help our clients’ improve their online visibility and earn leads is by answering yet another question: “How are they different from their competition?” In this post, I am going to discuss how thinking outside of the box, and focusing on what makes you, your employees and your company unique, can benefit your small business.

How Are You Different from Your Competition?

The internet is a crowded place. In any given city, there could be hundreds of contractors competing for service leads. As an internet marketing company that specializes in search engine optimization for contractors, we know all too well the challenges involved in helping our clients capture a part of that market share. In order to get your piece of the pie, you have to be clever. Below are some of the things that make our clients unique, and how we make that information work in their favor.

Are You or Any of Your Employees Veterans?

Many of our clients have veterans working for them, or are veterans themselves. Three of the ways you can make this work in your favor:

1. Post job ads at veteran employment websites, such as Explorethetrades.org. Not only is this a good way to support those who have given so much to protect our country, but it’s also a great way to get backlinks to your website (backlinks are one of the best ways to improve your websites visibility in Google.com).
2. Many people love to support the troops, and one of the ways they choose to do this is by supporting veteran owned businesses. Submit your site to places like Veteranownedbusiness.com, to improve your chances of earning these leads. At the very least, you will reap the benefits from the backlinks you will acquire.
3. Offering military discounts is yet another way to incentivize people to want to do business with your company, and yet again, is another source of quality referral traffic and leads. Just by creating a page on your website that references you offer active duty military or veteran discount, you open up the possibility of someone typing in a related query in Google and finding your company. You could also submit yourself to sites like Vetfriends.com.

Do You Offer Green Products or Services?

Being green is not a standard shared by many contractors. But with so much discussion revolving around climate change, consumers are awakening and starting to make smarter decisions regarding their energy and water usage. Capitalize on this surge by making sure your company stands out as a green advocate. Make sure your website states it, and make sure you are listed on websites that advocate green contractors (GreenHomeGuide.com is one such company). (P.S. If your company does not offer any green products or green service, you are missing out on potential revenue.)

[caption id="attachment_2452" align="aligncenter" width="800"] Climate change statistics from http://climate.nasa.gov[/caption]

Are You A Specialty Contractor?

Unique problems require unique problem solvers. If your circuit breaker turns off and you cannot get it to turn back on, you call an electrician. But if you are disabled and need your property to be retrofitted with a ramp or chairlift, then you will need to get in touch with a contractor that is prepared to address your specific needs. HomeBlue and HomeAdvisor are two contractor directories that do their best to help disabled people find the contractors that can best assist them – make sure you are listed on sites like these!

Keep in mind that this advice extends to any products or services that you provide. If you offer solar services, you would want to be listed at places like the SEIA directory or the Find Solar directory. A great way to find where you would want to be listed is to put yourself in your ideal client’s shoes – simply type a combination of the "service you offer + contractor directory" into Google.com, and you will likely find quite a few sites you can list your website on (i.e. solar contractor directory, bathroom remodeling contractor directory & refrigeration contractor directory).

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Stop Wasting Time and Start Making Money

They may not be the end all solution, but hopefully the above tips will help guide you in making your small business even better next year. And if you are a contractor that is interested in expanding your inbound leads from online marketing endeavors, we would love to work with you. Our creativity and years of experience in website design and SEO services could make us a valuable asset in your arsenal.

Give us a call at (800) 727-3920 to learn more about how we can help you earn more leads.