What is the number one way for you to generate leads and sales online? While there are many ways to increase leads and sales, such as your unique offer, your social media presence, your online ads, online directory listings, website conversions, etc., there’s one that particularly prevails.
And if you don’t get this one thing right, you are making it nearly impossible for prospects to find you, yet expecting your phone to ring off the hook. Which is unrealistic.
And in today’s world, we are reckoning with a reputation-obsessed consumer, whose attention is nearly impossible to earn given the level of noise online.
So how do you, as the owner or representative of a landscaping company, immediately grab your prospect’s eyeballs and present yourself to them in a way that’s likely to convert them into a hot lead or customer? Here it is:
Your Google My Business (GMB) Profile
Studies done by search engine optimization (SEO) experts reveal that your Google My Business account is astronomically important to boosting your online traffic, more than any other individual solution.
Mike Blumenthal of Search Engine Land said, “Google is your new homepage”. While your website is a critical digital asset of your business, it’s not typically the prospect’s first impression when they find you. Unless you’re running paid ads leading them to your site.
Chances are, they’ll do a quick Google search to find landscaping companies within their proximity, they’ll glance at your Google ratings, written reviews and then photos of your past projects.
They could be window shopping or ready to immediately call to hire a professional. Either way, they’re looking for what you have to offer. But because they know there are several options to choose from, they’re doing preliminary research.
Here are some alarming new statistics:
91% of consumers 18-34 years-old trust businesses with positive reviews
97% of search engine users search online to find a local business
97% of consumers check a company’s online presence before deciding to visit them
97% of people learn more about a local company online than anywhere else
75% of people age 35-54, read reviews on mobile browsers
And because your Google My Business listing is largely responsible for how your business ranks in the search results, I thought I’d include these two final statistics.
SEO drives 1000%+ more traffic than organic social media
80% of local searches convert
Wow! If that doesn’t convince you that you need a strategy around search engine optimization, I don’t know what will. Statistics like these have only been increasing every single year, which is why doing nothing is simply not a viable option.
Your main weapon here is generating high quality reviews to enhance your social proof. Sending past customers here to leave reviews will be a game changer in light of all the recent changes Google has made to its algorithm, and how consumer behavior has changed.
More and more businesses are acting fast to boost their Google rankings and take advantage of this massive floodgate of free traffic. If your business is suffering from inconsistent lead flow and stagnation, I am begging you to take this stuff seriously.
It’s not that business is just tough right now. I know that if I showed you a total number of Google searches from people looking to hire a business like yours in your market, you’d be shocked!
So, digital marketing for landscapers is a must. Is it just important for contractors like yourself? Absolutely not. However, your business relies on local searches from everyday people who ‘just need to get the job done.’
Yes, word-of-mouth is important, but not something to hang your hat on and expect your business to outmarket, outperform and eventually overshadow your competition. You need to pull out the big guns.
Google’s platform will weed out the businesses that don’t spend time marketing themselves, don’t ask for reviews from their clients, and don’t take pride in their recent jobs by posting content showing them off. When a service company is perceived to be inactive or non-existent online, there’s only one way the story ends.
The online platform displaying your business will show it to less people. And the people who do see it, will say no. Remember that statistic from above?
97% of consumers check a company’s online presence before deciding to visit them
So aggressively pursuing your Google My Business profile will change that. So, where do you start? Asking for reviews from your past customers, posting high-quality images of your completed projects, posting valuable offers and status updates and more on a regular basis is time consuming.
And it is possible that focusing on your Google My Business may not be the number one thing for you right now. We have actually developed a list of 20+ other ways to grow your business online. If you found this article helpful and would like to explore all the options with us, we’d love for you to book a discovery call.
