Author Archives: Contractor Webmasters

Do Contractor’s Get a Discount at Menards?

Contractors no longer officially get a discount at Menards, although the “contractor card” achieves the same result. Menards offers a contractor card that includes exclusive rebates, each of which helps contractors save money on products.

Why Menard’s No Longer Has an Offical Contractor Discount

According to a former employee, Menards cut their contractor discount to bump their gross profits. They allegedly calculated that cutting the contractor discount would result in about an 88 million dollar annual profit.

Of course, there’s no way to verify that this person is a former employee, so take their account with a grain of salt. Since Menard’s offers several other options for contractor discounts, it’s hard to believe that they’ve taken those measures.

Why Menard’s Discounts Matter for Contractors

Contractors do a lot of hard work throughout the week, and it makes sense to look for discounts on supplies and equipment. Mega-chains like Home Depot and Lowe’s offer forms of volume discount pricing, but what about Menards?

At Contractor Webmasters, we like providing our clients with the top resources that empower effective services. So let’s review Menard’s contractor discounts:

Menards Contractor Card

According to Menards, their contractor card provides a 2% rebate on all purchases and a chance to earn additional savings. Extra discounts may include exclusive manufacturer rebates between 1 and 10%. Cardholders can also claim as much as $300 for a round-trip airline ticket.

If that weren’t enough, Menards also provides employee cards, online account management, job ID (for billing purposes), and zero annual fees.

Menards Rebates

Menard’s offers contractor rebates with the use of the card mentioned above. You can get 2% rebates on every purchase if you have a contractor card. You can also earn 1-10% rebates on additional products from exclusive manufacturers. You can even download the Mendard’s app for online account management.

The Bottom Line for Contractors

Contractors should take advantage of cost-saving programs from chain stores. When working on larger projects, saving money on bulk orders is a significant plus for your business. These savings add up over time, and Menards may even contribute to additional savings or bonuses in the future.

While supply savings are significant, it’s also great to save money on marketing with SEO for contractors. Give us a ring to enhance your online presence.

6 Surefire Methods to Generate Limousine Leads in 2024

Limo service leads are vital to any type of limousine business. Leads help you generate organic revenue and are much less expensive than purchasing traditional advertising space.

For those unfamiliar with the terminology, lead generation is a form of customer acquisition that attracts prospective clients.

What are Limo Leads?

Limo leads are prospective customers who demonstrate an initial interest in your services.

The individual can show their interest by calling your business number, submitting a contact form on your website, or reaching out via Google Business Profile.

Lead Generation Methods for Limousine Services

In the following post, Contractor Webmasters shares six effective tactics that we have personally seen work for limousine company lead generation.

Here are Contractor Webmasters; we work in various industries, and we know which strategies work and which don’t.

1) Organic SEO

By far, the most effective method for generating limousine leads is investing in organic SEO for limo drivers.

Your best friend when it comes to finding customers is Google.

46% of all Google searches are for local businesses. That’s almost half of the average 5.6 billion Google searches conducted daily!

Ok, we did the math for you. That comes out to 2,576,000,000 searches for local businesses every day.

SEO will get you noticed by more of those local business searches.

And someone who is conducting a local search for limousine service definitely qualifies as a lead.

2) Pay Per Click

Pay-per-click marketing is a form of paid advertising.

This method will cost a small fee every time your ad is clicked on.

The main advantage of pay-per-click marketing is that search engines will place your link at the top of relevant searches no matter how optimized your website may be.

In that sense, it is a form of inorganic lead generation.

But why is it important just to have your link placed at the top of search engine results pages? Because the top 3 results hog 75% of all clicks on search engine results pages.

That means more eyes on your website, more leads, and more chances for sales conversion.

3) Social Media

In the digital age, you can’t afford not to have your business on Facebook and Instagram.

Aside from sharing pictures of cats, social media platforms present a valuable limousine leads generation opportunity.

Think of social media as a means to connect with existing leads and to get non-leads interested in renting a limo.

Pictures of smiling teens at prom in front of one of your limos are a great way to say to non-leads, “a limo is a great way to make memories.”

Post videos of events that you have provided limo transport for on Instagram. Engage people on Facebook with questions like “What would your ideal wedding be?”

While not everyone will be in the market for a limo transport service at all times, having a strong presence on social media will remind people that you can provide that service when the time comes.

4) Yelp

Yelp and other review sites are crucial for limousine transport company lead generation. Limousine service is a customer service-oriented business.

People look to reviews now more than ever to inform them which businesses are worth the trouble.

Make sure you claim your business on Yelp, Google Business Profile, Bing for Business, and other review websites so that people can see what kind of service they can expect from you.

5) Trade Shows

Yes, trade shows are still a great way to generate leads, even in the digital age.

Trade shows are especially lucrative for B2B (business-to-business) lead generation.

In fact, trade shows are the second largest source of B2B revenue generation.

A transportation or hospitality industry trade show is a great opportunity for potential leads to putting a face to your business and for you to get lucrative contracts from other businesses.

Trade shows are also helpful because, as far as the transportation industry goes, no one attends one who isn’t in the market in some form or another.

6 ) Local Networking

If you are new in town, make sure you look up every local high school, wedding planning company, and winery in the area.

Make some time to meet face-to-face with your potential customers and let them know that your services are available to their students, clients, and patrons.

Ask if you could leave business cards at their front desks and be sure to hand out as much literature as possible.

Get Airport Limo Leads from Contractor Webmasters

With digital marketing services from Contractor Webmasters, you can make the most of your marketing dollars and generate your own airport limo leads.

These leads are exclusive to your business and create a sustainable streamline of customers.

Invest in your limo company’s long-term future with a full-service marketing agency that caters to your specific needs.

Let’s say, for example, you have just started your limousine transport business.

You want to tell as many people in your city that you are available for fabulous rides.

You spend $500 distributing leaflets and direct mailers to everyone in the city. But only half of those people would ever be interested in limousine service in the first place.

That means that $250 of the money you spent went to waste.

Final Thoughts

Hiring professional limousine marketers is a wise decision.

We can streamline all your digital marketing efforts to generate the most limousine leads.

Our services include local SEO, web content, and a tool called DataPins, which helps you showcase proof of experience and expertise.

All plans are month-to-month, so you are never tied into a long-term contract.

Demolition SEO: The Premier Optimization Guide for 2024

As the founder and owner of Contractor Webmasters, my first-hand experience with SEO campaigns informs my perspective on how to apply SEO for demolition companies.

While various agencies and YouTube gurus pitch rank-high-quick schemes, my decade-plus working with real small businesses reveals a more sustainable and profitable approach.

As we’ve witnessed with Google’s March Core Update, black hat SEO strategies don’t last and often cause websites to be entirely de-indexed from Google Search.

As a demolition business owner, you can ill afford to lose 100% of your search traffic overnight.

I’ll do my best to outline my proven SEO principles for demolition companies in the guide below:

Why SEO is Useful for Demolition Companies

SEO is a profitable channel for generating leads for your demolition business. In contrast to paid advertising, organic SEO produces consistent leads at a low cost per acquisition.

With PPC, businesses must pay each time a potential lead clicks on one of their ads. With SEO, each click is completely free.

There are other advantages to SEO as well. Studies show that users who find a business through organic results are 10x more likely to become repeat customers than those who find a business through PPC ads.

Criticisms of SEO from Small Business Owners

If SEO works so well, why does everyone hate it? The truth is that SEO doesn’t work all of the time. Also, it can take up to six months to yield satisfactory returns when it does work.

This presents two primary problems for demolition companies looking to generate leads and grow their businesses in 2024.

First, they can’t afford SEO not to work. A low or negative return could prove disastrous for the business model when investing a sizable upfront cost in SEO services.

Secondly, most businesses cannot afford to wait six months to see results.

Below, I will outline how to avoid these fates by investing in the appropriate SEO strategies.

Investing in the Right SEO Strategies for Demolition Companies

The key to avoiding both of the aforementioned fates is to better understand the components of SEO campaigns that actually work.

Below, I’ll outline the two most beneficial SEO strategies for 2024:

Google Business Profile

Most failed SEO campaigns result from not getting enough traffic from businesses’ Google Business Profile, formerly known as Google My Business listing.

A Google Business Profile is a free listing for businesses who verify their address through Google.

By claiming a Google Business Profile, you become eligible to rank on Google Maps and Google’s Local Map 3-Pack.

The following ranking factors directly influence where your Google Business Profile ranks for search queries:

Distance

The distance or proximity of the searcher’s location to your verified address is the most significant ranking factor for Google Business Profiles. You cannot influence Google to rank your listing in other cities. As a result, businesses near the center of their main city typically generate the most clicks.

Relevance

The relevance of your listing to the searcher’s query is another primary ranking factor for Google Business Profiles.

You can influence this factor more by selecting the appropriate service type (i.e., Demolition contractor). The presence of “demolition” within your registered business name may also play a role.

Prominence

Your Google Business Profile’s prominence is based on factors such as reviews, brand notoriety, on-page SEO, and content from your attached website URL. Like the relevance factor, prominence can also be influenced by requesting more reviews and investing in the best SEO practices for your website.

Company Website

The second big investment for successful SEO campaigns is a company website. However, this stage is also where businesses tend to make most of their mistakes, resulting in low returns on investment.

Below, I’ll break down SEO’s influence on your company website:

On-Page SEO

On-page SEO is the most basic website optimization for demolition companies. It involves editing your site’s title tags and meta descriptions to target the appropriate keywords on Google search.

Ensuring that your page or pages target the appropriate local consumers is a key to SEO success.

E-E-A-T

The most significant change in SEO practices over the last few years is the emergence of E-E-A-T. The acronym stands for experience, expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness. While E-E-A-T is not the precise name of Google’s internal ranking factor, it clearly outlines what Google seeks from websites.

Demonstrating E-E-A-T on your demolition company website involves showcasing recent jobs, reviews, testimonials, and other branded signaling to establish your business as credible and noteworthy.

Content

Content is the most misunderstood SEO component for small businesses and the primary culprit for low website rankings in 2024.

Most companies have heard the phrase “content is king,” which is both obsolete and inaccurate from an SEO perspective. In 2022, Google released the Helpful Content Update, which aims to devalue content produced by search engines and not humans.

Unfortunately, most content produced by demolition businesses and the SEO agencies that service them fit the criteria of unhelpful content. These are things like blog posts titled “7 reasons you need a demolition company in Boulder, CO”

This type of content flags your website as unhelpful restricts your ranking potential, and undermines your entire SEO campaign.

My Recommended SEO Approach for Demolition Businesses

This guide was designed to inform you about SEO and help you take action to achieve your digital marketing goals.

Below, I’ll outline my recommended SEO approach for demolition companies in 2024:

Claim Your Google Business Profile

The first thing I recommend is to claim your Google Business Profile. This is a completely free SEO step you can take without the help of an agency or consultant.

Simply visit https://www.google.com/business/ to get started.

Build Business Citations

The next thing I recommend is building business citations. This includes creating social media profiles for your company on Facebook, Instagram, and other platforms and submitting NAP information to directories like Yelp, Angi’, and HomeAdvisor.

While various services exist to perform these tasks on your behalf, you can also perform them yourself, free of charge.

Perhaps you have an assistant or intern who can handle these tasks before you earn enough revenue to pay for an SEO agency.

Claiming citations helps build foundational links to your website and started to establish your brand name on Google search.

Research Credible SEO Agencies

Once your business becomes established enough to increase your marketing budget, I recommend investing in a reputable SEO agency.

This step is important because getting it wrong can set back your business progress.

I own an SEO agency called Contractor Webmasters, and we are happy to partner with businesses like yours.

I also encourage you to research other SEO agencies, including their pricing models and term agreements, before making a final decision.

Utilize DataPins

After spending more than a decade in the SEO industry, I realized that contractors needed more tools to boost their online visibility in Google search results.

I spent my money to build a software tool called DataPins, which was designed to address my and future clients’ biggest challenges.

DataPins allows contractors to showcase E-E-A-T signals based on real jobs on their website.

Tehnicanicans use the DataPins app to snap a photo of the job, write a short caption, and then tag it to the appropriate service category.

DataPins does the rest by consolidating each job (called a pin) into E-E-A-T signals, including geo-coordinates from the approximate job location, mini-maps, unique photos, and schema markup.

My clients have seen up to 200% increases in search traffic from utilizing the DataPins software.

Next SEO Steps for Demolition Companies

The SEO world can seem intimidating when you lack the information and resources to understand its value. I hope my guide on SEO for demotion companies gives you more confidence in tackling your digital marketing challenges in 2024.

Several steps throughout the guide are tasks that you can complete for free without an agency. Others will require you to invest.

When you are ready to take that next step, feel free to reach out to me personally to discuss how my agency, Contractor Webmasters, can craft a custom SEO campaign for online success.

Drywall SEO Guide: How to Rank Your Company in 2024

What is Drywall SEO?

Drywall SEO is the optimization of your web presence in order to rank on Google search results for relevant keyword terms.

As a local business, you want to rank on Google Local 3 Pack and regular organic results.

You will need to optimize your main website and your Google Business Profile for a fully optimized web presence.

Drywall SEO Keywords

Keyword	Search Volume
drywall company	371
drywall companies	2,200
multi drywall	62
drywall business	39
commercial drywall	301
drywall repair company near me	111
drywall repair	20,526
sheetrock repair	3,300
drywall repair company	130
how to repair drywall stress cracks	97
drywall repair cost	966
drywall putty	1,200
local drywall repair	207
sanding drywall patch	322
home drywall repair	111
emergency drywall repair	17
minor drywall repair	24
drywall tape repair	440
repair holes in drywall	457
drywall repair clips	894
professional drywall services	39
drywall mesh	240
interior drywall repair	11
drywall installation	5,394

SEO Basics for Drywall / Gypsum

Google Ads are largely ineffective as a long-term marketing strategy. The real ROI comes from SEO.

Organic search engine optimization is one of the most effective ways to generate cheap drywall leads. Exceptional SEO can improve sales, expedite sales, and introduce your services to a broader audience.

In the modern era, SEO is an indispensable aspect of doing business. Even for good old-fashioned trades like drywall.

The following guide on drywall SEO helps you understand the essential components to optimize your online presence in 2024.

On-Page SEO

Start crafting website pages targeting each service type using the keywords listed above. You then add the keywords in your title tag and H1.

From there, create high-quality content explaining the service, including your unique insights based on first-hand experience. Aim for about 550 words on each page.

On-page SEO is the fastest way to help Google understand the topic of your website and its pages. By using the title tags, meta descriptions, and H1s, you give Google something to pull from.

Of course, you still need other aspects of SEO to rank on the first page of Google SERPs.

Technical SEO

The most fundamental SEO component is technical SEO. Google must be able to crawl and index your website; otherwise, none of your efforts mean anything.

Creating an XML sitemap on your website and submitting your site on Google Search Console is important. Also, make sure each page has a canonical tag.

Other components of technical SEO include site speed, which you can optimize with a CDN and image optimization tools.

Try to keep your website lean with pages, URLs, and media so that users can consume the content quickly.

Off-Page SEO

SEO has been proven to be one of the most effective ways to improve your company’s ranking.

BrightEdge research metrics show that SEO is 1,000 times more effective at driving traffic through ranking than other methods, such as organic social media.

So let’s say, for example, that a customer types “the best drywall contractor near me” into Google. What determines which of the millions of drywall contractor company websites appear first?

The websites with the highest SEO compliance will rank the highest.

Still, you need off-page references and links to your website. For example, your Facebook business page should link to your main website.

Creating a consistent brand throughout the web helps drive credibility to your drywall company.

Local SEO

The fastest way to rank with SEO is through Google Business Profile. The local algorithm considers proximity relevance and prominence based on your business listing.

As a result, your listing can rank faster than your website because you’ve verified the address via postcard.

The closer your business address is to the middle of the city’s zip code, the more likely you are to appear with Google’s Local Map 3-Pack.

It also helps to add unique photos to your GBP and garner as many positive reviews as possible.

Website Design

There are certain aspects that Google looks for in SEO compliance, such as certain keywords, coding, design, and content.

Google’s design preferences adapt to evolving standards, which is why SEO is an ongoing job. Your website design should follow best SEO practices.

This is where the simple concept of showing up first on a list of search results gets complicated.

The goal of SEO for contractors is to stay on top of these changes, find out which keywords are ranking the highest, and use advanced analytics to comply with Google searches.

Drywall SEO Content

As a drywall contractor, you provide a visual service. That’s why it is so important for drywall SEO that you have visual content on your site that is relevant to your service.

Post pictures on your site and on social media of your past work.

Google loves visual content with descriptive text or captions that help its users see what you do and what you offer.

Remember, Google wants to provide relevant content to their users, so keep all of your content and media industry-specific.

How Drywall SEO Drives Sales

Drywall SEO can drive sales by giving you an advantage over competitors.

When your company is among the first to appear in a Google search, people are more inclined to believe that your service is the best. This helps convert prospects into clients and drives sales.

One of the most effective SEO components is keywords. Again, it is a basic concept: you want to include certain words and phrases on your website that people will actually type into Google during a search.

If a potential client requires drywall repair, for example, they may type something like “good drywall repair in my area” in a Google search.

You need to have this phrase and others like it somewhere on your website even to have a chance of showing up on the search list.

Long-Tail Drywall Keywords

Long-tail keywords are another way to elevate your ranking. Consider the area you are operating in.

If you run a drywall contracting business in Portland, Oregon, make sure you have a long-tail keyword like “drywall contractor in Portland, Oregon” in your site’s content.

Long-tail keywords have less competition on Google since

A) they are longer and, therefore, more specific.
B) they can include specific regions or cities to narrow down the results of people looking for your services in your area.

It is best to keep in mind your customers’ needs, though. Consider what the average layman would need when they have a hole in their drywall, want to finish their garage, or need to install drywall for their entire house.

Someone might search “drywall installation service,” “affordable drywall patching,” or “garage drywall installation service,” or similar variations depending on their specific needs.

Incorporate the phrases that will be on the minds of your customers as much as possible.

If you need help coming up with keywords and want to see how certain keywords are ranking in the drywall industry, Ubersuggest is a great resource and a free one.

Thinking locally is another great way to narrow the SEO field and drive sales in your area. As a drywall contractor, you more than likely work locally. Keep this in mind as you are developing content for your website.

Keep keywords region-specific, create relevant and appealing content for people in your community, and let people who visit your site know that you work in their area (implementing an “Areas Served” page is one of the easiest and most effective ways to do this).

Generating Drywall Leads Through SEO

SEO is a great asset for generating drywall leads. It involves researching keywords and the search habits of people needing drywall services.

Once you have done the research (keywords, popular services, etc.), you can compose relevant content for people who need your services.

Once your website ranks organically and people who need your services are connected to you via Google searches, you have warm leads dialing your number or getting in touch with you online.

Then there are customer reviews. Ask some of your satisfied customers to leave a review on your website. You may entice them with discounts, future discounts, or other special promotions.

Having these positive reviews and ranking high on Google searches essentially takes the place of word-of-mouth referrals that your drywall business probably thrives on.

They let warm leads know that your company is trustworthy and that others like them have been satisfied with your work.

Final Thoughts

Drywall SEO is a great way to drive sales for your business in 2024. Contractor Webmasters offers drywall SEO services to contractors throughout the United States.

Our services combine on-page SEO, technical SEO, Local SEO, off-page SEO, and website design to enhance your online presence.

Each client also receives DataPins, a Local SEO tool to boost SEO for drywall companies in 2024 and beyond.

Do Contractors Get a Discount at Lowe’s? (2024 Update)

Contractors don’t receive a discount for their job title, but Lowe’s offers an MVPs Pro Rewards Program that allows businesses to earn gift cards after spending $2,500 annually.

We know that contractors spend significant time and money at mega-chain stores like Home Depot, Lowe’s, and Menards, and this rewards program can help contractors save money annually.

Lowe’s MVPs Pro Rewards Program

The MVPs Pro Rewards Program helps contractors and other individuals earn gift cards when spending $2,500 annually.

It works simply: Once eligible businesses reach the $2,500 annual threshold, they become eligible for E-Gift Cards.

In addition to gift cards, eligible businesses also gain access to exclusive offers, prize contests, paint rewards, purchase tracking, and drink and snack coupons.

MVPs Program Tiers

The savings are substantial when you calculate how much contractors spend on supplies each year.

As companies save money on supplies, they can re-invest in other areas, including the pursuit of generating contractor leads through online channels.

Check out the MVPs Pro Rewards Program Tiers for 2023.

MVPs: $0-$2,499 Annually
Silver MVPs: $2,500-$9,999 Annually
Gold MVPs: $10,000-$24,999 Annually
Platinum MVPs: $25,000+ Annually

Bulk orders are beneficial to contractors for multiple reasons. Silver MVPs earn 1% on E-Gift Cards, while Gold MVPs and Platinum MVPs earn 1.25% and 1.5%, respectively.

As a contractor, you’ve almost certainly been in a trying situation. It can reach a boiling point when you find yourself scrambling to get supplies and begin your job on schedule.

The stress induced by such circumstances wears us down. Having simple access to collections can alleviate much of the anxiety.

Planning has never been easier than with Lowe’s MVP program. You save money for your business and gain instant access to much-needed supplies for your next bring project.

In addition, you keep clients happy and your business afloat.

Additional Ways to Save Money

As a small business owner, savings can make or break your company. It allows you to re-invest in more critical areas and encourages you to maximize earnings over time.

A healthy business makes intelligent purchases and thrives in performance.

Everything adds up in your financial books and will be noticeable within months. For larger companies, the inclusion of E-Gift Cards will add up over the long haul.

Because high-spending contractors make frequent bulk purchases, the aggregate percentage of savings becomes readily apparent over the years and decades.

Signing up for the MVPs Pro Rewards Program is a game-changer for contractors. With a relatively short turnaround, the potential for severe savings is substantial.

Make the best use of your financial resources by saving on bulk orders and preparing for big-time jobs across your service area.

Taking advantage of bulk savings means new contractors can take on more projects without incurring above-market costs.

Lowe’s Contractor Discount Card

Lowe’s no longer promotes a contractor discount card. Instead, they focus on the MVPs Pro Rewards Program. If you want to save money at Lowe’s in 2024, you must sign up for this program ASAP.

Applying for a Lowe’s program is one creative way to maximize material expenses and continue maximizing your business profits.

We can agree that premium materials in bulk make projects more efficient and clients happier. The investment must make sense for the contractor company, and bulk savings ensure it does.

6 Tantalizing (Strategies + Tips) To Generate Towing Leads

Hey, I’m Nolen Walker, founder and CEO of Contractor Webmasters.

I know you’ve probably read some advice about towing leads online.

Unfortunately, most of it is BS.

My advice is simple: generate your own leads – don’t buy them from 3rd parties.

You can do that in 6 steps, which I outline below.

6 Steps to Get Towing Leads

Create a Website
Invest in SEO
Optimize Google Business Profile
Define Target Audience
Email Marketing Campaigns
DataPins

Towing leads are potential customers who dhow interest in your tow truck services.

Their interest can be made though phone calls, text messages, email inquiries, and website form fill-outs.

That’s why you need a website and Google Business Profile so that they can contact you.

But how do they find your website and listing? That’s what I’ll outline in this post.

1) Create a Lead Generation Website

Your website is arguably the most important asset that you have because it is a direct representation of your business to uncertain customers.

Now more than ever, customers are taking the extra steps to look into a business before actually using them.

That’s why a lead generation website must showcase E-E-A-T: experience, expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness.

Your website will set the tone for your audience, telling them everything they need to know about your business.

User experience is an important factor for website design. Place contact info in the headers and footers, and include clickable calls-to-action like phone numbers and submission forms.

A great website will, at the very least, make it difficult for leads to ignore your business. At the very best, it will result in more conversions for your business, which will translate into dollars towards your bottom line.

2) Invest in SEO

Funneling potential customers with your website starts with SEO, which stands for search engine optimization.

With SEO techniques, tow truck websites can rank for terms like “towing services” and “roadside assistance” on local Google searches.

When your website appears for these terms, users naturally click on the result and navigate to your website.

Now, with the design principles of step 1, they can be converted into new customers.

SEO involves some complex processes, but it remains fundamentally simple.

When you really think about it, optimization is about creating great content and branded signals.

3) Optimize Your Google Business Profile

When someone needs immediate roadside assistance, they will perform a search on their mobile device.

The results that come up are known as the Local 3 Pack and are based on the proximity of your business to the searcher, along with the relevance and prominence of your listing.

Establishing proximity, relevance, and prominence on your listing is known as GBP optimization, and it is something you should spend your time focusing on.

With so many clicks going directly to a Map Pack result, it could be one of your most potent ways of generating exclusive towing leads.

The first step is making sure your business listing is claimed on Google My Business so that you can ensure NAP accuracy and link it to your lead generation website.

You should also add photos, Google posts, and Q&As to engage with your future customers.

You can create “Book Now” buttons and get direct leads through your GBP listing.

With so much emphasis on local SEO in 2024, you must take your GBP listing seriously, especially if you want to dominate the lead generation process within your primary service area.

4) Understand Your Target Audience

No matter how great your promotional tactics are, they won’t be nearly as effective if you don’t know who it is you are trying to appeal to.

This is what is known as your target audience. Generating leads is very difficult if you don’t know your target audience.

It is incredibly difficult to reach an audience with no interest in your products or services, but if you have a target audience in mind, they are much more likely to be interested in what you offer.

If at all possible, you should research your audience before launching your business.

Regardless of whether you’re doing SEO, email marketing, or exploring some paid advertising techniques, your target audience is paramount.

5) Run Email Marketing Campaigns

Email marketing is a great way to follow up and connect with those prospects who might still be on the fence about using your company.

You can use an email tool like Aweber to keep track of your contacts, their interests, and their stages within your customer cycle.

Emails are also a great way to foster repeat sales and brand loyalty.

Best of all, most email marketing campaigns can be done relatively cheaply, making them one of the most effective methods for generating leads for your towing service.

Including digital coupons within your emails is a great way to convert someone who may have only heard of your service but has not yet taken the leap into actually using it.

6) Use DataPins

Generating roadside assistance leads in multiple cities can be a challenge for towing companies.

Your office address may be listed in one city, but you often travel within a 25-50 mile radius for your jobs.

A new software tool called DataPins solves this problem for tow trucks by allowing them to showcase proof of jobs in specific areas.

Each time you perform roadside assistance, simply snap a photo of the job, and DataPins does the rest.

Now you earn credit (through mini-maps and geo-coordinates) for your jobs in various service areas as these “pins” are published directly on your website

Next Steps for Roadside Assistance Leads

As a towing company, lead generation is an important component of your business model.

Unfortunately, far too many business owners fall into the trap of “buying leads.”

This mentality keeps you stuck in the gig economy, preventing long-term growth.

The next step toward a sustainable towing lead generation system is to contact Contractor Webmasters.

Our team is on-call, ready to walk you through your customized process for lead generation in 2024.

Masonry SEO Guide 2024: Your Ticket to Online Success

What is Masonry SEO?

Masonry SEO is a series of digital marketing efforts aimed at increasing visibility and ranking position on Google search engine results for concrete and masonry businesses.

SEO tasks include technical optimization, on-page SEO, content editing, keyword placement, and Google Business Profile optimization.

The Importance of SEO in The Masonry Industry

With 214,313 Americans employed in the Masonry industry, standing out amongst competitors requires effort and consistency.

One strategy masonry companies can deploy is Local SEO, which allows businesses to target specific keywords with what is known as “local intent” – that is, users within a specific geographic location search for those keywords.

Masons can target keywords within that geographic range to strengthen their foothold thanks to keywords in that location.

This guide will overview what you can do to strengthen your masonry business’s reach in the local SEO game.

Improve UX (User Experience)

Like any other search engine, Google’s primary goal is to show the best results for any user’s query.

Think about it: if Google produces irrelevant or low-quality results, those users are unlikely to return to that search engine.

Various factors go into having a website of the highest quality; consider all of those factors while trying to rank for your target keywords.

Increase Site Speed

One of the things that can really hamper a website is having less than optimal loading speeds.

And guess what? That doesn’t even mean that your website is necessarily slow; it just is slower than customers want.

Most users will move on to another website if your website speed is over a few seconds. Also, site speed is one of the ranking factors in Google’s search engine algorithm.

An emphasis has been put on site speed that reaches all platforms, including mobile.

Best of all, Google offers several different tools to help you improve the overall speed of your website.

This includes PageSpeed Insights to help developers improve their overall site performance, Think with Google to help gauge the responsiveness of your website, and several different things.

Showcase Real Jobs

Google’s algorithm has become increasingly adept in identifying companies that demonstrate credibility and social proof.

The search engine’s development of E-E-A-T calls for masons to show examples of recent jobs to build authority and trust with visitors.

When users search for masonry services on Google, it’s nice to see examples of previous jobs in nearby locations.

Masons can use software tools like DataPins to showcase these kinds of jobs directly on their website.

Publish Great Content

It cannot be emphasized enough just how important quality content is to masonry SEO rankings.

For good reason: content is one of the most important aspects of Google’s search engine rankings algorithm.

You can create informative content that answers commonly asked questions from your target audience.

Pro Tip: Focus on creating unique and original content that includes insights only you and your staff would know.

This gives your audience a definitive place to find answers to their questions. Most importantly, it builds trust in your brand.

Trust is one of the most important aspects of marketing and one of the biggest challenges brands face in appealing to their audience.

Google recognizes quality content above nearly all other search ranking factors.

If your website consistently delivers quality, relatable, and informative content, it will greatly improve your website’s ranking.

Produce Self-Made Videos

One of the fastest-rising trends in SEO is video content. This is because it is optimized not only for search engines but for YouTube as well.

And YouTube generates 3 billion searches per month, which surpasses Yahoo, AOL, and Bing combined.

Best of all, creating engaging videos is easier and more cost-effective than ever.

Smartphones are equipped with high-quality cameras that allow you to regularly shoot informative and interesting videos for your website.

Implementing videos into your marketing strategy means that you can significantly impact the amount of traffic that your website sees each month.

This can be done by tagging the proper keywords, adding meta descriptions, and crafting a compelling video title.

All of these processes can help you properly optimize your website so that your local masonry business can compete in the digital marketing platform.

A strong SEO game will keep your business relevant for a long time to come.

Contractor Webmasters Solutions

If you require assistance with your digital marketing campaign, consider investing in contractor SEO from Contractor Webmasters.

As a leading SEO firm for contractors, we’ve developed and optimized countless websites and business listings for premium search engine results.

Our process is all-encompassing: we develop your website from scratch with custom code, create original high-quality content, and manage local business listings, including GMB.

You can check out an example of our Masonry SEO case study to get a feel for what our services can do for your business.

7 Window Treatment Marketing Tips to Generate Leads

Window Treatment Marketing Tips (Blog Cover)

Window treatment marketing is the process of promoting window treatment services and styles, including window blinds and window coverings.

Marketing efforts can be exercised through digital outlets using search engine optimization and paid advertising on Google, Facebook, and other popular media channels.

Screenshot of Navigation Menu from Window and Door Website

Why Window Companies Need Marketing

When thinking about how to start a window treatment business, it is essential to have a proper marketing campaign.

After all, you could offer the most outstanding service or product in the world, but if people don’t know about it, it won’t sell.

Competition for window treatment customers can be fierce, and marketing is the most effective way to differentiate your business from competitors.

While word of mouth is still an essential aspect of any business, it is no longer the only method of promoting your business.

An effective marketing campaign can mean the difference between steady growth and going under.

Digital Marketing Tips for Window and Blinds Companies

Window treatment businesses often overlap with blinds companies and offer similar services.

If you are looking for digital marketing tips for your blind company, this guide will suit you well and provide insights into improving your online visibility, increasing conversion rates, and acquiring new customers.

Here are seven things your window treatment business should implement into its marketing strategy:

1) Publish a Strong Website

A staggering 45% of small businesses still don’t have a website. Common reasons for not having a website include a lack of familiarity with current technology, lack of time, and concerns about the cost.

However, any effective modern business has a website. In 2024, your website is often the first customer introduction to your business.

Your website doesn’t have to be state-of-the-art, but it does need to be clean and informative.

Customers use your website as a source of information; providing that information easily and conveniently only increases the odds of that user becoming a client.

It’s not impossible to succeed without a website, but it makes the job of window covering marketing substantially more difficult than it has to be.

2) Create Valuable Web Content

Google emphasizes helpful, unique content because they want to provide the most informative and authoritative websites in their results.

A blog is generally full of low-quality “filler” content aimed to trick search engines into ranking a website. That’s why window covering companies should avoid publishing blog posts.

A superior alternative to blogging is creating signals called E-E-A-T (experience, expertise, authority, trust), which you can achieve with a software tool like DataPins.

DataPins allows blinds companies to showcase recent jobs along with schema markup that serves as a “check-in” of the job’s location.

Showcasing authentic evidence of real jobs will outperform blog posts written by non-experts or AI tools.

3) Ask for Reviews and Testimonials

Reviews and testimonials impact SEO and conversion rates. Increasing Google Reviews helps your business rank higher in Google’s Map 3-Pack and increases the chances that customers make contact.

Generating reviews is a numbers game, which is why you should use a tool to automate review requests through text and email AND ask your customers in person.

The combination of efforts can work wonders for your online reputation.

As you consistently get more reviews, you’ll also get some bad ones.

Your job is to respond to negative reviews professionally. This will show potential customers you are willing to go above and beyond to resolve subpar experiences.

4) Implement White-Hat SEO

SEO is a great equalizer in marketing because it allows smaller companies to compete with massive entities.

However, some companies want to take a shortcut to success by using SEO tactics that violate Google’s Guidelines.

These types of tactics are known as black-hat SEO. Conversely, legitimate and safe SEO methods are called “white-hat SEO”

White hat SEO is the best long-term strategy because its ROI increases over time. Tactics that fall under the label of “white hat” include creating unique content, building a brand, and inserting relevant internal links across your pages.

It takes a bit of refinement and work to find the sweet spot, but when you do, your business should experience a noticeable impact, thanks to improved search rankings.

Thankfully, there are a variety of SEO tools out there to help make sure that your website is optimized and in the best position that it possibly can be.

You can check out our article on window treatment SEO to learn more specific strategies in 2024.

5) Invest in Social Media Marketing

While SEO is the foundation of an effective marketing campaign, social media can enhance and expedite the process.

Creating and sharing content on social media platforms like YouTube, Facebook, TikTok, and Instagram can increase brand awareness and boost conversions.

The best social media content in 2024 is video-based, which is why YouTube Shorts, Instagram Reels, and TikTok all generate massive daily consumption.

You might think you require expensive video equipment to compete on these platforms, but all you really need is an iPhone or other modern smartphone.

While your small business is unlikely to go viral for highlighting window covering projects, you can attract the right pairs of eyes to grow your brand.

6) Launch an Email Marketing Campaign

Your customers and prospects check their email daily, which makes email marketing one of the most effective ways to reach them.

Personalized email marketing makes customers feel connected to your business and establishes goodwill.

Obtaining customer emails can be achieved in the onboarding or payment process with their consent.

You can expand your email subscriber list to prospective customers by publishing lead magnets on your website.

For example, offer a 15% discount code on the first service in exchange for the visitor joining your email newsletter.

It’s important to segment your campaigns between customers and prospects and drill down as much as possible for enhanced personalization.

7) Establish a Local Presence

For a small business, marketing on the local level is much easier than on the national or global level. With this in mind, it’s important to incorporate your target service area into your marketing campaign.

Learn about the specific needs of your local customers as they pertain to windows and blinds.

Armed with this knowledge, you can create content that speaks directly to your local prospect.

For example, you can publish a study that includes data in your precise service area or record a YouTube video that references concepts known only by locals.

Creating local content helps attract links from other local businesses, which will boost your SEO rankings and increase conversion rates.

And remember, your business address is used to determine where you rank on Google Maps results.

Next Steps With Window Treatment Marketing

Taking the next steps with marketing for your window treatment company starts with the basics. You can create a Google Business Profile for free and purchase a domain name for $9.99.

Those two digital entities can help you launch the foundation of a digital marketing campaign.

If you want to take your window treatment marketing campaign to the next level, consider investing in professional marketing services.

Contractor Webmasters offers digital marketing services focused on local SEO, website design, and software-driven E-E-A-T signals to help you generate window treatment leads.

Do Contractors Get a Discount at Home Depot?

Key Takeaway

There is no official contractor discount at Home Depot, but contractors can save money using the Volume Pricing Program.

Explaining The Contractor Discount at Home Depot

It’s a common question: do contractors get a discount when they shop at Home Depot? After all, it seems reasonable to believe that contractors likely spend a lot of cash at stores such as the mega-chain, so they certainly get a discount, right?

Well, yes and no. Technically speaking, they don’t get a discount just for being contractors. Remember that this might sound unfortunate or unfair, but Home Depot is a business. Their sole purpose is to make money and as much of it as possible to ensure that their bottom line is as healthy as possible.

That being said, contractors aren’t exactly lumped in with the rest of the customer base when using Home Depot. So, how do contractors save money using the giant chain? Here’s how: the Volume Pricing Program.

Home Depot’s Volume Pricing Program

The Volume Pricing Program (VPP) is a way for contractors or individuals to save money when making large volume orders. The way it works is actually pretty simple, too. Make up your shopping list and present it at the Pro Desk at the nearest Home Depot. The Pro associates will then get you the lowest possible price on orders of at least $1,500.

Considering just how much money a contractor spends on supplies in a given year, a lot of savings can add up over time. When your contractor business saves money on supplies, that means there is that much more money available to win more contractor leads.

Perhaps the best thing about this for contractors is that, in addition to these savings, they have access to the massive amount of supplies that are available through Home Depot. This can be essential when trying to fill a big order or working on a bigger job.

Contractors have likely all been there before a huge job comes in, and you find yourself scrambling to not only assemble the team but to get all the necessary supplies in hand so that you can begin the job in a timely manner. This can be stressful for any contractor, especially when you have difficulty gathering those supplies.

Thanks to the Home Depot VPP, the entire process is easy, and you can even assemble your shopping list online to save additional time. Planning ahead has never been easier than it is when using the VPP because it means savings for your business and instant availability of the supplies that are essential to getting the job done quickly and quickly.

Other Savings Opportunities at Home Depot

Another great thing about the Volume Pricing Program is that there are bulk pricing-eligible products where you can save even more money when getting the essential supplies that your business needs. There are few feelings quite as good as saving a substantial amount of money when purchasing the materials you needed for the job anyway. It quite literally is a “two birds with one stone” scenario.

Of course, contractors can only see these savings when they consistently use the VPP. Using it once or twice might save a little money on projects your company undertakes, but the savings can add up with extended use.

And as is the case with any small business, there is never enough money, and being able to reallocate funds to job bids or other essentials can go a long way toward the overall health of your business.

There are also a few things to know. When you speak to the contractor’s desk, you submit your order to them. From there, the Pro will submit the order to the corporate office to get a price quote, and within a few hours, you will be offered a price that is somewhere in the neighborhood of 8-12% below the retail cost of that order would normally be.

Getting The Best Discount

What they don’t tell you is that there is room for negotiation. You can always negotiate for a steeper discount, and the general rule of thumb is never to take less than the 12% mentioned previously. Depending on your order, you can get it down a little further – in the 17-20% neighborhood if you are lucky.

Remember that the higher-margin items you order will generally get a better overall discount than lower-margin items. If you buy something that retails at $100 but earns the company very high margins, you might get a larger discount on the order.

On the whole, the Volume Purchase Program is a potentially beneficial one for contractor businesses of all sizes. If you are a smaller contractor, consistently having access to essential supplies and getting them at a discount price can mean the difference between an additional bid or two. Those can add up before you know it, making a significant difference in your bottom line.

For those contractors that run with a bit larger budget, those savings can also make a substantial impact if you are purchasing materials on a regular basis. For a business of any size, savings on materials needed are massive. Just as big as being able to reallocate funds into other areas of the business. This gives your business greater versatility and the ability to strengthen areas that may have been weaker.

Signing Up

Signing up for the Volume Pricing Program can be a game-changer for contractors everywhere. With a relatively short turnaround time and the potential for serious savings, it makes for a very smart idea for any contractor out there. Make the best use of every dollar by saving on bulk orders and being as prepared as you possibly can be when lining up a new or big job.

The Volume Pricing Program has changed the way that smaller contractors do business and made the entire process far easier and more cost-effective.

7 Qualities of The Best Painting Company Websites (2024)

Competing in a saturated painting industry market is challenging in 2024. However, a strong website can help you earn more customers in your service areas.

Furthermore, a strategically designed and optimized website is the most effective way to generate exclusive painting leads for your business.

While many factors influence website success for painting companies, basically, there are seven qualities of the best painting contractor websites.

1) Professional Design

More often than not, your website is the first impression your business leaves on a potential customer.

Hiring a professional web designer ensures that your company presents an appealing presentation to new prospects. A good web design company knows how to tailor your website content to the industry and your target audience.

It might cost you a few more dollars to employ a professional web designer than to build the website yourself, but it will be more than worth it when your site is full of engaging content and looks professional from the initial click.

A robust website helps you acquire more of those essential leads that become conversions that fuel a business.

Focus heavily on the design and implementation of your website, and you will have established the foundation of your business and your online presence.

2) Search Engine Optimization

SEO for painters has become popular in recent years, and though its importance has remained as high as ever, what it means to optimize your website correctly has changed substantially.

Google has changed how it deploys its search algorithm to find the most relevant websites based on location and keyword.

A professional website design without traffic amounts to wasted dollars and dwindling returns.

To maximize your website’s marketing value, you must generate traffic to the site. SEO is the best way to get new visitors to your website without paying for advertising.

Your SEO refers to how well your website ranks on Google and other search engines. To rank highly, you must use keywords that best pertain to your target audience.

Speaking with an internet marketing expert would do wonders for optimizing your website to reach your target audience properly. You grow your reach and expand your leads when you do this effectively.

3) Image Optimization

Image files impact websites in various ways. First and foremost is the visual appeal of high-quality photos, which constantly contribute to the site’s aesthetic appeal. Secondly, as Google continues to develop its algorithm, images are becoming more critical than ever to optimize websites worldwide.

In the home improvement industry, photos can be a massive part of the success or failure of your marketing strategy. Potential clients want to know about your company’s kind of work, and there is no better way to do that than to provide visuals.

Investing in high-quality photographs should be something that your painting company takes seriously. Using a professional photographer can emphasize the quality of your work and illustrate to prospective clients just what you can offer.

When you share stock pictures or low-quality, pixilated, or blurry images, you are not only doing a poor job of illustrating your value to prospective clients but also giving your website a less-than-professional aesthetic.

Pictures can say a thousand words, and your website photographs can honestly speak loudly to prospective clients.

4) Service Pages

Most painting websites list services on their homepage but fail to highlight them with individual sub-pages. The most successful and highest-ranking painting websites have created individual pages for each specific service they offer.

Why do this? It produces relevant and specific content for search engines and clients alike. They supply links to more detailed service pages, which helps demonstrate expertise and gives visitors a better feel for what a quality service entails.

In addition to delivering unique content that will benefit your website in the search rankings, service pages can make your company and website an authority on the business and industry.

Your website becomes a must-visit for information about painting and will help drive traffic to your pages.

That is your website’s goal because it helps sell services and products, which ultimately impacts the bottom line of any business. Individual service pages are an absolute must for your business.

5) Calls to Action

One of the essentials to any website, not just a painting company website, is establishing clear calls to action. A call to action (CTA) is what implores your customers to take up your service or products.

If a customer is interested in your business, a call-to-action button can finally push them to use your business.

CTAs appear in the form of banners or buttons that urge visitors to take the next step. Websites should feature CTAs like ‘contact us, ‘find out more, or ‘get an estimate’ – something that guides the person toward developing into a lead.

Visitors are generally uncertain of what they are looking for unless pressed to do so, and a compelling call to action can give them the push they need to make a decision. Hopefully, that decision will lead them to use your business for all their painting needs.

The key is to ensure that your call to action isn’t too pushy or sales-y, lest potential customers turn off. Walk this line correctly, and you will develop many leads.

6) Lead Magnets / Forms

A critical component of lead generation is gathering information about prospects. Generally, appropriate information includes email addresses, phone numbers, and other contact information.

Why is this important? Well, when you have this information, you can reach out to potentially interested customers who might have forgotten about your company.

Follow-ups are far more likely to lead to a conversion than an initial contact because customers need the time to research each of the businesses they consider.

When you have a form that asks for customer information, preferably right on the homepage, you can gather that essential information and conduct follow-ups. In these follow-ups, usually emails, you can offer coupons or discounts on services to entice prospective customers into using your business.

Again, these follow-ups are essential to converting leads into sales. Leads are great, but they take extra effort to convert them into those crucial sales. Do your follow-up work with the information you gather from the forms, and you will see the difference.

7) Video Content

Video is becoming more critical to make a company website stand apart from competitors. Attention spans are growing shorter, and videos can encompass several pages of information into a short video.

Additionally, adding high-quality videos to your website can aid the optimization of your website. Investing in informative videos of high quality can provide the same kind of authority that typed-out content can have.

Best of all, you can implement unique video strategies to make your website memorable. Things like Q&A or DIY instructions can make your website a destination for those interested in the industry.

When you provide unique and informative content to your website, either in type or through videos, your website becomes an authority in the industry and a destination for prospective customers.

Videos can be a cost-effective means to do this as well. Most modern smartphones come with good cameras that record video. They even include apps for editing and transferring your videos to a PC. You can upload videos to YouTube and then embed those YouTube videos directly on your business website.

Painting Company Website Examples

It’s one thing to understand the qualities that make up a great painting contractor website. However, seeing a real-life website example puts things into perspective.

Below, Contractor Webmasters will showcase a painting company website example that demonstrates the qualities we’ve reviewed.

Final Thoughts on Painting Company Websites

Painting company websites are a great way to drive leads to your business in 2024. It’s important to invest resources in publishing an SEO-optimized website with high conversion rates.

As business owners, we might overcomplicate the website design process or ignore it entirely. Finding that sweet spot can pay major dividends for your company and help attract long-term customers.