Want to know how to get consistent leads as a general contractor?
It’s not rocket-science.
And sadly, there’s no magic pill…
But there’s good news. The basics work. And they work really, really well.
How to Get Consistent Contractor Leads
Today, I’m going to share how you can get consistent, fresh, qualified general contractors leads coming into your business every single day.
We’ve used these exact strategies to nearly double a custom home builder’s phone calls in less than a year, and take a paving company from 0 to 44 free quote requests per month.
Simply put, these lead-generation tactics work.
With a little work, you can do all of this yourself – or, book a strategy session with us to see how we can start getting you leads in as little as 30 days.
1. Have a damn-good website.
No, I’m not talking about the 5-page “online business card” you currently have. I’m also not talking about investing $15,000 in graphic designers, spending months reviewing color schemes and font choices.
Neither of those will drive consistent leads.
In order to get consistent leads for your contracting business, you need a general contractor website that’s actually worth a damn. And no, I’m not talking about how it looks, either.
How do you know the difference between a good website and a bad one?
If you’re working with a competent contractor marketing agency, they’d tell you to focus on the metrics that actually matter. These make the difference between “lead-generating website” and “dead-weight.”
- Content. You need more than you think. You should have pages for each service you perform and each location you want business out of; you should have beautifully descriptive project portfolios; you should have helpful and informative blog posts; you should have pages introducing your team. More content = more website traffic = more leads.
- A large digital footprint. Your digital footprint encompasses all the directories sites, social media profiles, review listings, and more where your business can be found. Lucky for you, we’ve gathered a list of 267 places you can use to build your digital footprint for free.
- Quick load times. Your website is likely too slow. Why does that matter? 53% of mobile visitors will leave a website if it takes longer than 3 seconds to load. That’s a lot.
- True SEO. Optimizing your website happens at the domain and page level. You’d be amazed what your website can achieve with simple optimization – and lots of content. If you don’t know anything about SEO, don’t worry – we’re going to tackle some simple keyword research a little later on.
- Lead tracking. What’s the conversion rate of your website? Do you know? For every 100 visitors that land on your home page, how many of them request a free quote from you? If you don’t know this information, how would you even know if your website was successful? Luckily, there’s Google Analytics. If your current website designer isn’t giving you these reports every month, well…
Stop thinking about all the other stuff. These are the things that matter.
Remember Craigslist?
It might have been the ugliest website, even for its time. But millions and millions of people used it every single day. Why? Because it served a function. It provided value. It had all the things above, and more.
The websites we build do, too. But if you’re looking to bootstrap this yourself, start thinking about the above metrics more than color schemes and logo designs.
2. Have an SEO strategy.
I can hear your collective groan, but hear me out.
Google is the #1 way to get consistent leads every single month.
No matter what anyone tells you, the concept of SEO isn’t difficult to grasp.
In fact, I can boil it down into three simple steps:
- Step one: find keywords.
- Step two: optimize a page on your website for those keywords.
- Step three: build links to that page until you’re #1.
That’s really about it. If you want to know more, I detailed an example contractor SEO plan over here.
Today, I’m mostly going to be talking about the first step: finding keywords.
Why? Because they dictate your entire SEO strategy.
Without keywords, you don’t have an SEO strategy.
Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to conduct effective keyword research:
1. Start simple
Begin by researching general keywords related to your business, such as “general contractor in [city name]” or “Contractor in [city name].” Use tools such as Google’s Keyword Planner or SEMRush to gather data on keyword volume and competition. Start compiling your list.
2. Broaden your search
Expand your search to broader keywords, such as “Contractor [city name]” to see if there is a larger volume of search results. Usually, the broader the keyword, the more competitive it is. That’s okay, we’re not worried about competition at this point – just data. Include these keywords in your list, too.
3. Get specific.
Sure, you might be a kitchen remodeler. But people search for more than that. In this instance, they’d search for cabinets, countertops, kitchen design, and more. Think about specific things you offer, then research those keywords to see if they have any volume.
4. Look for related keywords
By searching for related keywords, you can add more options to your keyword list. For example, if you find that “Kitchen remodel Richmond VA” has a high volume of search results, you could also include keywords such as “Kitchen remodel contractors in Richmond VA” or “Kitchen renovation Richmond VA.” All of these keywords are highly related, so you could likely target them all with one page.
5. Analyze your competitors
You can use tools such as SEMRush to find out what keywords your competitors are ranking for and how much traffic they’re receiving.
All of these keywords are your entire SEO strategy.
You can learn more about using these keywords within your website here.
3. Have helpful content (ie. blog).
Hold it right there. Stop the eye-roll. Suck in that groan.
There’s a reason you’re reading this, after all.
Blogging works. It’s an effective digital marketing strategy.
When done correctly, it will drive more traffic to your website.
And more traffic = more leads.
Most blogs – especially those from local contractors – suck because they’re doing it completely wrong.
Seriously, how many times do I have to read the same:
“5 wAys TO cHoOSe tHe bEst cOnTracTor in bAltimORe” article?
Stop it. There’s a better way. Let me show you how.
How to build a blog people care about (and that drive leads).
What’s the purpose of blogging ie. writing consistent content on your website?
To get leads, duh.
Sure, but that’s a positive consequence of providing value first.
If you’re in roof repair, the positive consequence of repairing someone’s roof is that you get money for your service. But if the repair didn’t work… and the roof continued to leak… and the customer was unhappy… You get the picture. It’s not going to end well.
Yes, you will get leads from blogging. But you have to actually give something in return.
You also have to do it consistently. As in, twice a week or more.
I’m going to show you how to quickly and easily source material for your blog in a minute.
But first… what the heck are you supposed to write about?
Here’s a simple syntax to never run out of ideas.
It starts with: how to.
From there, lets add the words: fix/prevent/know.
For a practical example, lets take a plumber.
- How to fix a broken pipe.
- How to prevent a pipe from freezing.
- How to know if a plumber is ripping you off.
For a roofer:
- How to fix a roof leak from the inside.
- How to prevent hail damage to your roof.
- How to know when a roof needs replaced.
Don’t worry about word length, SEO benefits, styling, or anything else.
Just give your target audience information that’s actually useful.
Post it to your website, Facebook, Instagram… and maybe do some email marketing.
How to (ethically) source material for your blog.
As Ray LaMontagne said: “You beg, you steal, you borrow.”
- Beg yourself (or your employees) to spend a half hour each day writing something a) about your company and why it’s awesome, b) about how your customers can solve tiny problems on their own (or prevent them from happening), c) why you use product A over product B for your customers, etc… Don’t spend too much time – you have a business to run. But be consistent.
- Ethically steal from reputable sources. YouTube is a goldmine. Find a video on any of the above topics and embed it into your website/post it to Facebook with a 50-word blurb about why it’s helpful, why it’s right or wrong, what tools you need, etc…
- Borrow from sources already doing it better than you. Think of the biggest name in your industry and go to their website. Create a list of blogs they’ve already written, and rewrite them in your own words. Don’t copy/paste – rewrite them completely. Or, pay your kids to do it.
I guess there’s another option, too. You could hire us to do it all for you :)
Post something – anything – twice a week at least.
Here’s what’s going to happen after about a month:
- You’re going to get more engagement on Facebook, Instagram, wherever you’re posting.
- You’re going to get better search engine rankings without trying.
- You’re going to get more website traffic.
- You’re going to get more leads than you had before you started.
If You Have These 3 Things, You’ll Generate Consistent Contractor Leads
Sorry… I know they’re not flashy.
If you were looking for the “magic bullet” that gets people knocking down your door, begging for you to take their money… I hate to disappoint you.
But it doesn’t exist.
Now, this is obviously not an all-inclusive guide to getting general contractor leads.
I’d need about another 4,000 words for that.
But these 3 strategies are completely do-able, even for someone with zero technical knowledge.
And here’s something else – they all compliment each other.
Better – they stack.
The better your blog, the better your website.
The better your SEO strategy, the better your blog.
The better your website… well, you get the picture.
You can do this all yourself, or you could hop on a quick call with us to see how we can do it for you.
Either way, just make sure it gets done.
You want consistent contractor leads, right?
Well… now you know how to get them.
