For contractors, home builders, and other service professionals, the name of the game is leads, leads, leads. In order for your website to be a success, it has to have a measurable impact on your business.
Often, that impact comes in the form of phone calls and free quote requests.
Most contractors work in a particular service area, often driving a dozen miles or more to job sites.
They may take jobs and bids in towns or neighborhoods different from the city in which their business is actually located.
The Problem?
Very few contractors target those locations on their websites.
That’s often a big missed opportunity for more targeted traffic.
With a little insight into how the web works, you can have new leads knocking on your door from all the surrounding areas in your service area.
With this knowledge, you can target specific towns or neighborhoods where you want more work.
Here’s how to do it.
Geo-Targeted Content for Search Engine Traffic
Google doesn’t know what you don’t tell it. By simply featuring geo-specific content on your website, you’re much more likely to get visitors from that location.
Here are some ways to show Google that those locations matter to you:
Add City-Specific Content to Your Website
Your site should have pages for each city you offer your services in.
Create “Service in City” Content
Detail your services and how they work for each unique city in your area.
Include keywords that clearly express your main project skills, in combination with local region, county, city, town and neighborhood names.
Your territory can be as large as you want it to be. Expand as needed, and remove locations where you either can’t or don’t want to service customers.
Embed a Google Map of the Area
Google Maps on your location pages can really add some pop to the user experience. This also provides customer convenience, which is what “online shopping” (even for building services) is all about.
This way, you’ll also make a clear search engine connection between your company and the areas where you want to build, remodel, or renovate.
Use and Label Location-Specific Images
Photos attract attention and leap off the page for your website visitors. Vivid images make your website more exciting. Good imagery will also motivate visitors to become customers.
Properly labeled images, with the type of service performed and location name, get Google’s attention too, along with other top search engines.
Include Search Engine Optimization for Each Targeted City
Your title tags, meta descriptions, image attributes, headers, and URL should be optimized for the city you’re targeting.
Include your primary target keywords with location modifiers for the best results.
Name Your Projects Clearly
Title the page and/or website section using your main service area and the location (e.g. “Home Remodeling in [city]”) and explain the work you did there. Describe the work with popular keywords that emphasize your specialties.
Remember, you’re aiming to make a crystal clear connection between your skills and the locations you work in (and want new leads from).
This Strategy is Simple… But Powerful
With these powerful strategies for online geographic targeting, your business will attract new leads from all the surrounding communities where you’d like more work.
Sure, building out dozens of unique pages on your website is rather time-consuming, but it’s one of the only reliable ways to get more visitors from locations within your service area.
Build these pages, and reap the rewards.
Disclaimer: The views and opinions stated in this post are that of the author, and Return On Now may or may not agree with any or all of the commentary.
This guest post brought to you courtesy of Return On Now, Professional Austin SEO and PPC Services Company.
Jesse Kemmerer
