As an essential requirement for humans, home improvement and maintenance have always been in-demand. Homeowners and residential property renters need various services for their places including plumbing, landscaping, and general repair and upkeep. One of the most important aspects of these services is roofing. After all, your roof shelters you from the elements, from the heat of the sun to the extreme gushing of the wind and rainfall.
Roofers are in-demand for installing, replacing, repairing, and maintaining everything that has to do with your roof. Because roofs are exposed to the elements, you can bet that they require regular upkeep. This is where the roofing industry gets its success. In fact, it has a market size of $45 billion.
However, one thing any roofer should understand is that the competition is stiff. The United States has around 103,755 roofing businesses with 249,671 employees. This means that you have to step up your marketing game in order to boost your sales and revenues and get your share of the pie.
You might think this is difficult because of the pandemic, and without the right tools, it really would be. Luckily, you can take advantage of digital marketing and one of its most vouched for solutions, SEO. Here’s what you need to know.
The Current Roofing Industry Landscape
The pandemic has caused the country’s economy to slow down, which affected a whole lot of industries. For the roofing sector, the effect is more apparent, especially as many people are wary of letting contractors into their homes to minimize risks of exposure. This leads to a decrease in the number of clients who avail of their services.
Many homeowners also felt the economic impact of the pandemic. These customers, who used to use their disposable incomes to pay for roofing services, now have little to no disposable incomes, which resulted in a decrease in sales. Plus, the roofing industry is deemed non-essential during the pandemic.
If you are roofing business owner, you know that a roofer’s clientele is not only composed of homeowners, but also commercial clients. These bigger customers are a huge source of income. However, as many corporations have gone downhill, they also minimized their spending on services such as roofing.
Nevertheless, a rebound in construction activity will rejuvenate the roofing sector as it drives demand for new roofing work and existing ones. In order to get in on this impending renewal of the sector’s activity, you need to employ an effective digital marketing strategy.
Potentials of SEO in Boosting the Roofing Industry
The first thing you need to know is that a company’s digital marketing campaign is composed of more than one techniques. One of the most important methods in marketing a business’ offerings through digital meals is with the help of SEO or search engine optimization. SEO is the process of modifying your website and its contents with the goal of ranking high in search engine results. Read on to know more about how this digital marketing strategy can help you.
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Brings Visitors to You
As mentioned, the goal of SEO is to have your website and pages rank in search engine results, which will bring potential clients directly to your site. In the physical world, this is the equivalent of your outdoors ads or marketers bringing your prospective customers right at your doorstep.
This has something to do with how search engines like Google work. To understand, think of how you search for things you need online. Say you are looking for a roofer in DC. You type in “roofers near me” or “roofing services in DC” to get results that are aligned to your needs.
When you hit enter, Google’s algorithm looks for relevant content using the keyword you used for the query. So, crawlers will look for pages that have that keyword and other related words to index it. Then, the most relevant, trusted, and authoritative ones are listed on the search engine page results (SERPs).
This is how SEO leads customers to your site and pages. However, keep in mind that rankings are based on the popularity of the page or site, authority of the domain on its subject matter, and inbound links.
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Improves Your Content
Before we get to the more complex parts, you should know that starting an SEO campaign will help improve your content. If before you publish whichever content you can think of, now, you will need to plan ahead. You want to make sure that you post your written, visual, and audio-visual content in a timely manner.
When we say ‘timely,’ we mean in that your posts should be relevant. This is where keyword research enters the picture. There is various keyword research tool out there, some paid, some not. You can utilize these services to see which keywords have high search volumes and which are related to your original keyword. Publishing content bearing these keywords complete with relevant and relatable subject matters will definitely boost your exposure with the help of SEO.
Aside from helping you conceptualize and schedule your content, SEO can also help you elevate the level of your content. You will be motivated to produce more high-quality content, especially as Google’s algorithm considers this an important aspect of all search engine optimized content.
When talking about quality, you should focus on the relatability of the topic, relevance to your audience and the current time, as well as the quality of the information provided in the post. You should also concentrate on providing high-quality posts in terms of grammar without any spam.
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Also Improves Your Website
If you think that SEO is only concerned with your content, you will be surprised how your website’s design can influence your success. One thing you should remember is that online consumers tend to have a short attention span. Say you successfully land the first page of search results and a potential customer clicks on your link. You only have a few seconds to reel them in. You would not want to waste this chance by directing them to a page that is hard to read and navigate.
What you need to do is to make sure that every page in your site is easily accessible, readable, and navigable from your home page to your contact us page. Pick a color scheme with the perfect contrast so that every letter on the screen is visible. Moreover, make sure that the screen will be rid of clutter, distractions, and unnecessary images. In short, make it as organized as possible.
While the layout can influence how your visitors receive your content, and in turn, your conversion rates, keep in mind that your website is the virtual equivalent of your physical business. So, you want to consider your branding when optimizing your website for SEO. For example, you should not just pick any color scheme, but pick one that suits your brand, preferably your existing branding, unless you think your branding is due for an overhaul.
Another way SEO can help improve your website is through incorporating keywords in your site and page. Your URLs should contain keywords, so does your page names. Every element of your page should have those, as well, including file names of images, URLs of linked or embedded videos, meta descriptions and the like.
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Creates a Wealth of Knowledge about Roofing
When you post informative and valuable content on your website, you are helping create a wealth of knowledge about your industry. As a contractor, you want your customer base to be aware of what your company and industry has to offer. Blogs, infographics, and educational videos can help you do this.
Think of it this way: some clients ask for a particular service but they do not know what it is called. They can better search for the service if they know more about it. Your post can help educate them, which means that they have found your website. This opens up an opportunity for lead conversion, especially if they decide to get in touch with you to know more.
Aside from helping boost your business, it also helps the industry as it lets people know about services roofers can offer.
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Helps You Branch Out
Branching out is one of the most important aspects of SEO. In this context, branching out means reaching other websites and partnering up with them through link building. Link building is the practice of reaching out to high-authority websites and even average ones to have your content posted on their page. This content contains a link back to your own website, which can then boost your authority, traffic, and conversion rates.
This practice lets you tap into the other site’s audience. However, you can only do this with their permission. Usually, sites that allow guest posts have requirements that you have to fulfill.
The Bottom Line
Roofer SEO can definitely benefit your business, but only if you do it correctly. To gain more success for your roofing business, look into the implementation of digital marketing strategies on your site.