In 2019, 16% of remodelers, builders, and general contractors reported a challenge of increased business competition, and 14% reported difficulty finding prospective customers (Statista, 2019).
With 93% of online experiences starting with a search engine (Search Engine Journal, 2021), your home-building business cannot afford not to have an online presence.
Search engine optimization is not just a smart marketing necessary strategy; it’s a necessary one.Â
Here are five critical SEO steps you must take to win new business in the home building industry:
1. Focus on Keywords
The SEO strategy you create should have a clear focus based on your service offerings. Consider these questions:
- What do you have that people would be seeking online?
- What do your customers ask you for most? What do you sell most?
- Why are people searching for a particular term online? The intent of a keyword or phrase is the difference between someone wanting what you have and just browsing.
2. Do the Research
Have a professional do keyword research and mapping to find out what people are actually searching for online. If you rank number one for a keyword that no one searches for online, you’re wasting your time (and money). The keywords you target in your SEO strategy should be regularly searched.Â
3. Create a Roadmap
Picture a Venn diagram. In one circle are the keywords that best describe your service offerings. In the other circle are keywords that are regularly searched in your industry. In the middle section of that Venn diagram are the keywords that are the best opportunities for your SEO efforts. Creating a roadmap that identifies the high opportunity keywords will help you identify your best options to grow your business through SEO.
4. Execute the Plan
Now that you have created a roadmap for your SEO implementation, you have a clear picture of your best opportunities to rank for the terms that matter. Execute by priority for your business. You should start with either the low-hanging fruit and the terms that have the most significant impact based on the level of competition in those areas.
5. Track Results QuarterlyÂ
Having access to reporting tools that track rankings over time will help you better understand what tweaks to make to your SEO campaign. Don’t get caught up in the numbers over the short term. SEO takes time to build authority for your pages, and measuring at intervals that are too close together will just stress you out. If you are following legitimate SEO best practices for Google, you will see results.
Summary
SEO takes time and effort. There is no magic bullet, and if anyone promises that they will get you to the number one ranking overnight for a certain sum of money, find someone else. You will see increases over the first 3 to 6 months, but nothing too magical. However, you can expect that your progress will be exponential if you stick with the campaigns.
Most of our campaigns at Lasso Up take around 9 to 15 months to get to rankings that a client finds satisfying across the board. Some industries and locations are more competitive than others, requiring an extension of the campaigns to get to the number one ranking or sticking with the campaigns indefinitely.Â
Need help with your SEO strategy? Contact us for assistance.
