Tips for Attracting and Converting Emergency Home Service Customers

If you’re running a Home Services company, you’ll often find that potential new customers are contacting you because of an emergency. Whether it’s a burst pipe or a broken-down HVAC unit in the middle of summer, they want your services, and they want them immediately.

So how can you capitalize on this for your home services company?

Be clear that you provide emergency home services

Don’t expect your potential customers to know that you provide emergency home services if you don’t make it crystal clear. When someone clicks through to your website, they should immediately be able to see if that’s a service you provide.

When someone is trying to handle an emergency, they won’t spend a lot of time checking your website to find out the answer. If they don’t see it immediately, they will most likely move on to the next provider - your competition. Having prominent call-to-action (CTA) buttons on your website can help stop visitors looking for emergency home services bouncing from your website.  

You can take this a step further by running PPC ads that spell out your emergency services in the headline.

Aim for the local pack

If you haven’t already claimed your Google My Business listing, then you need to do so asap. Local searches are a big focus for Google, and the number of customers using mobiles to search ‘near me’ has been steadily growing.

Getting into the local pack (the local map that comes up top of the search results with businesses listed underneath) is crucial. The local pack lists the ‘top’ three businesses that are local to the searcher, their contact details, and review rankings.  

Getting into the local pack drastically improves your chances of leads from customers considering your services. However, without a Google My Business account, you won’t show up in the local pack at all, meaning that you could be losing customers to your competition. 

Have a mobile-friendly website 

Most people have their phones to hand in a way that can’t be achieved with a desktop device. Chances are if a customer is searching for emergency home services, they are using their mobile phone. If your website isn’t easy to navigate or read or a mobile, those customers won’t stick around.

Gather customer reviews

One of the things that determine which businesses get into the local pack is reviews – specifically Google reviews. And when you consider that excellent reviews build trust with the customer before they have even contacted you, having the best review scores can mean that you’ll be the one the customer contacts first.

It’s not a quick fix, but encouraging your existing customers to leave you a Google review can help you build up a solid ranking. This not only helps you get customers looking for emergency home services, but will put you ahead of the competition for non-emergency customers too.

For Philadelphia Home Services businesses, Leadspruce’s specialized Local SEO service boosts your business’ online visibility, including Google’s Local Pack as well as other important business listing sites.

Mobile Optimization 101

Since the dawn of smartphones, people have slowly been changing how they consume content, browse the internet, and shop online. People use mobile devices more than ever, so a mobile-friendly site is essential for small-business owners.

If you don’t already have a mobile-optimized site, now is the time to rectify that.

Why is mobile optimization important?

Since 2016, Google has had its eye on implementing mobile-first indexing, and most good SEO agencies have been advising clients that not optimizing for mobile is an SEO mistake. More people now use their smartphones for searching than use a traditional desktop. Google wants to provide the best experience for users – and considering that a high percentage of them are smartphone users, it makes sense for them – and you – to ensure that when a user clicks a search result from their mobile, the page is optimized for use on their device.

Google had said that in September 2020, it would switch to mobile-first indexing, but given the global pandemic, they have since moved that date to March 2021. Once mobile-first indexing is fully implemented, it will prevent you from ranking on the first page of Google if your site is not mobile-friendly.

Besides the SEO implications, there’s also the fact that a mobile-optimized site will most likely bring you more conversions. A lot of people use their smartphones for almost everything these days. If they land on your website and find that the experience is frustrating, they won’t go on to buy, book a free estimate, or contact you – they’ll just move on to the next website.

According to Google, 94% of customers who own smartphones in the USA search for local information on their phones. So for local businesses, it makes sense to ensure that our website is fully optimized for mobile.

How do I optimize for mobile?

One key point is that your website needs to have a responsive design. This means that the website will automatically adjust to the device and present your website in an easy to read and navigate format for that screen size.

If visitors to your site need to pinch or zoom to read your content, it’s not mobile-friendly.  You’ll also need to check that animations, popups, videos and navigation menus work well on mobile and remove any that you don’t need or that don’t work on mobile.

Too many popups or plugins on your site, or bloated file sizes on videos can make the experience frustrating for visitors. Plus, they often make loading speeds on a mobile device too slow. If you’re not sure how mobile-friendly your site is, you can use Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test tool for free to check. If your website isn’t mobile-friendly, Google also offers some resources for developing mobile-friendly pages.

Mobile optimization may sound complicated, but it doesn’t need to be. Leadspruce offers businesses in Philadelphia and the surrounding areas a free 15-30 minute consultation where we can review your current digital marketing and SEO strategy, including mobile optimization. Why not contact us today to arrange yours?

Google My Business New Features for 2020

In the wake of the Coronavirus pandemic, businesses have been shifting towards an online model wherever possible. With customers nervous about visiting business premises or having contractors come into their homes more often than necessary, businesses have had to find new ways to deliver their services.  

Google My Business has always been a great tool for local SEO, and in the wake of the COVID-19 crisis, it's become even more essential. A Google My Business listing allows local businesses to advertise what services they are currently able to offer to their communities and connects customers with the companies providing the services they need.

Recent changes to Google My Business

Google has been quick to try and support businesses in the wake of the pandemic. From their Coronavirus ad credits to new Google my Business features, these measures are helping companies promote their services to consumers who need them.

So, in light of our 'new normal' Google My Business has added new attributes that relevant businesses can use to help them stand out in local search results. Google My Business has always been an excellent tool for local businesses to connect with their customer base, and that's undoubtedly still the case for most businesses, even during the pandemic.

Earlier this year, Google added attributes for hospitality and retail businesses. These included:

• Takeout

• Delivery

• Dine In

• No Contact Delivery

• Curbside Pickup

They also made it free for online and brick-and-mortar retailers to list their product inventory in Google Shopping. This is an incredible tool for connecting lesser-known retailers with customers looking for their products.  

In June, Google added some additional new attributes for businesses to add to their Google My Business listing that can help customers see what online services that business is offering.  

These are:

• Online Care

• Online Estimates

• Online Appointment

• Online Classes

These won't be suitable for every business, but they do give a wide variety of businesses a real boost. For example, the online classes attribute is great for gyms and fitness instructors that can offer remote fitness classes. The online estimates attribute is excellent for local contractors who can provide quotes for work online instead of requiring a visit to the premises.

What about businesses that can't operate at the moment?

Google has been able to help a lot of businesses, but if your business is currently unable to offer any services to customers, there's only so much they can do. However, they have considered how to help all struggling businesses at the moment. They recently launched support links, allowing people to donate to your business via a supported supplier, or buy gift cards to use at a future date. This is an incredible lifeline for struggling businesses, giving them a way to keep some cash flowing and encouraging customer loyalty.

To use these support links, you must have been verified on Google My Business by 1st March 2020, have a physical store presence, and be located within a qualifying country – including the USA.

Google My Business is essential for your local business SEO strategy

Even before the pandemic, Google was putting a lot of focus on Google My Business. It's always been a brilliant tool for promoting your business and boosting your local SEO.

Have you claimed your listing yet?

Google Ad Credit Program For SMBs

Google recently announced its plan to provide $340 million of free Google Ad credits to small and medium-sized businesses. The ad credit scheme is Google’s way of supporting these businesses in light of the current COVID-19 crisis.

But what does it involve, which businesses are eligible, and how can you claim your free ad credit? Read on to find out the details of how this scheme could benefit you and your local business.

Which businesses are eligible?

The scheme is open to small and medium-sized across the globe, but there are some restrictions and requirements. To be eligible, you must meet ALL of the criteria below:

• Have had active Google Ads campaigns that you spent money on in 10 out of the 12 months in 2019.

• Have spent some money on Google Ads in January or February 2020.

• Have advertised directly with Google Ads or through a partner.

• Have adhered to Google’s advertising policies.

If your Google Ads account is too new to meet the spending criteria, unfortunately, you will not qualify for the scheme.

How do I apply?

Google is applying the ad credits to all accounts that meet the criteria. This means there’s no need to apply. If your business is eligible, your Google Ads account will be automatically credited, and you will be notified when this has happened.

How much will I get?

The amount will vary. Every eligible business will get one credit applied to their account, but the value of that credit will vary based on your country, currency, and your historic ad spend.  In theory, the more you usually spend with Google Ads, the higher the value of your credit will be.

If you work with a Google Partner agency with a manager-level account, any credit you are eligible for will still go to your account, and not the manager-level agency account.

How can I use my Google Ads credit?

The credit can be used across multiple campaigns and includes all campaign types, including Search, Display, and YouTube ads.

If you need some ideas for making the most of your free ad credit, see our previous post on how to get the most out of pay-per-click ads for your local business.

If you are a LeadSpruce client, we will use these credits as part of our account management and campaign optimization.

When will I receive my credit?

Some businesses will see the ad credits in their account in late May, with other businesses being credited over the following months. So far, there is no information from Google on what order they will begin rolling out the credits, so it’s difficult to pinpoint exactly when each eligible business will receive them.

You can only use your credit for future spend, so you can’t use it to pay any of the balances for ads that ran before you received the credit.

When does my Google Ads credit expire?

The credits will expire on 31st December 2020, regardless of when they were received. So if you have not used your credit, or have only used part of it by the end of 2020, it will expire. Any unused amount of credit will be removed from your ad account after this date.

At a time when many businesses are struggling, and more ad more people are staying home and using the internet in larger numbers than ever before, this could be just the lifeline some businesses need.