Simple Ways for Roofing Contractors to Build a Digital Brand - The Rooftop Reader

Spring is here, and the peak roofing season is approaching rapidly. Homeowners are getting ready for renovations, and the construction and remodeling industries are booming. Research shows that 85 percent of homeowners are looking for their roofing contractor online. Digital marketing is a prime opportunity for your roofing contracting business to gain visibility and win additional business.

Contractors can use many paid digital marketing methods to get in front of consumers looking for roofing contractor services. From lead services like Home Advisor or Angie’s list to niche social media sites like Houzz or Google paid ads, the paid opportunities seem endless. However, having a solid digital presence for your business doesn’t have to be a significant capital investment. You can start by creating a reliable digital brand that will attract roofing customers with three basic yet effective strategies.

Here are three of the best, and inexpensive, ideas to build your digital brand.  

The Foundation: Build a Webpage

It’s not necessary to spend much money on a website. If you’re a small contractor and don’t have time to manage a site or maybe someone who’s just getting started, here are a few great options.

• Go Daddy. An accessible web page builder with a simple site is available for free. To check out the base level program, go to https://www.godaddy.com/hosting/web-hosting (no credit card is required).
• Google Sites. A free Google product and a straightforward way to get started. A site built with Google sites goes nicely with the rest of the Google cloud applications like Gmail, Google sheets, and Google Hangouts. For more on how to set up Google Sites, you can visit Google Learning Center.
• WordPress. WordPress is a free platform for creating a quick online presence. It can require some research upfront, but the good news is that there are many existing users. Valuable tips and tutorials on how to manage WordPress sites are easy to find.

Claim Your Company: Google My Business
Google’s business listings, better known as “Google My Business“, or “GMB” for short, are essential to your online marketing campaign. These Google listings are a place where customers will leave reviews of your business. Understanding how to monitor them is a crucial part of managing the reputation of your business while increasing your visibility on the internet.

Verifying that your Google My Business listing is correct, and optimized, is necessary to validate your business for prospective customers. Optimizing your listing will also open up other opportunities, such as gaining a better ranking in Google maps for search queries like “roofing company + your city”.

Your roofing business can be in the top of the Google search results for customers looking for contractors. To get started go to Google My Business and claim your business. After you finish a roofing job, request a review to establish and maintain a better rating. Try adding “Please review me on Google” to your website invoices and business cards to help drive customers to your GMB.

Simple Social Media
Managing your Social Media can be a full-time job, but your business may not afford you that luxury. To keep it simple, consider using only two Social Media channels.

• Open a Facebook account. Why Facebook? Facebook account owners identify themselves as homeowners. Homeowners who have Facebook accounts often share pictures of homes and home projects. Ask homeowners who have already posted images of your completed jobs on their Facebook page if you can share them on your company’s Facebook page. Facebook ranks very high on the search engines and will help your business name dominate when someone searches for you on Google. How does that work? Suppose you have a webpage, a Google My Business property, and a Facebook page. You may be able to dominate the top spots on Google’s first page (known as the search engine ranking page) with your company brand. Adding a social media channel like Facebook to your company’s digital presence balances your digital portfolio. Think about it like this:
  
  • A website is comparable to having an online brochure.
  • A social media channel is like having a storefront. Make your Facebook page a social place where people gather, meet, and visit with you.
    
• Open a Yelp account. Yelp is a crowd-sourced social media site where people share their reviews for a service or business. In today’s world, many consumers rely on Yelp ratings to help select a contractor. How do you get started? Begin by creating your business profile. Add a few project photos and your contact information, including your email address. Setting up your profile ensures you are alerted every time someone writes a review or gives your company a ranking. You need to set up your profile before Yelp can notify you. At the very minimum, a free account will let you monitor reviews. Yelp will inform you if an unfavorable review reaches the front page of the Google Search pages. Being pro-active on Yelp by creating a profile for your business allows you to respond quickly and accurately to any review and help build trust with other potential customers.

Is that all there is to it?  
There are many options for creating a digital brand. With a bit of time and effort, you can create an organic digital presence that helps tell your story. Allow your customers to locate your business quickly, build trust and confidence for your soon-to-be satisfied customers. Digital sites that will enable you to showcase your project photos that invite customer reviews are free, valuable tools for building your business. Incorporate these three strategies, and you’ll have a digital brand within a few hours. Get started today!

PABCO Roofing Products offers suggestions only to inspire. We encourage roofing contractors to explore all possible options. If you have ideas or thoughts on what has worked for your roofing contractor business, please feel free to comment below; comments are moderated by PABCO Roofing Products, Marketing Staff Members.