Watch this online workshop to learn how you can use your website to more effectively engage online visitors and convert the right leads. Your website and it's search-ability can either make or break a sale. Today, homeowners are most often searching for a nearby home contracting business on their mobile phone or asking their smart speaker device. To help ensure your website appears in these searches across all devices, your website needs to have the correct "signals" built in that Google and other search engines can detect. Some of the things covered in this workshop are: - Best practices for building a website that ranks high in local online search - Mobile vs Desktop and how to optimize for each - Why WordPress is one of the best platforms for your website - Why it's absolutely necessary to OWN your website, not rent it - And much more!

1. The Future of Home
Contractor Websites
How to Convert More Local Homeowners
in 2019
HOME CONTRACTOR DIGITAL MARKETING WEBINAR

2. 2
We are
● Making customers successful in
digital marketing for over 9 years
● Tysons, VA is our home
● Specialize in Local Marketing
● 1,260+ customers
● Only Cloud Powered Digital
Marketing
5-time
honoree

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Our Mission
Create the best local marketing
technology software and services
that our customers LOVE and rely
on every day because it makes
their lives easier to manage their
digital marketing

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A Few Quick Reminders
You’ll receive a recording of this webinar
on Thursday! Please check your spam
folder for emails from Surefirelocal.com
You can reach our team at any point by
emailing marketing@surefirelocal.com or
using the questions box
1
2

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Feeling Lucky?
We are giving away a Google Home Hub to one lucky
attendee at the end of this webinar!

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Today’s Speaker
Jeff White
Director of Customer Success
@ Surefire Local

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Buckle Up!
● Understand how technology has changed the way
homeowners search for and contact home contractors
● The role your website plays in your overall online
presence (“digital footprint”)
● Why WordPress is one of the best platforms to use
● A few tips to optimize your website for mobile, local,
and voice search

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How has technology changed
the homeowner journey?

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The Way Homeowners Find Local Contractors Has Changed
2000’s: Websites
The Internet was
“new”

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The Way Homeowners Find Local Contractors Has Changed
2007: Smartphones & Mobile Apps
First iPhone
Blackberrys were the popular choice
BUT this created problems:
● Mobile-first, responsive design
● Website speed issues

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The Way Homeowners Find Local Contractors Has Changed
2018 & 2019: A.I. & Digital Assistants
“Hey Siri, who’s the top rated roofing
business near me?”
“Hey Google, who’s the best window
replacement company”
“Hey Alexa, what should I do if my roof
is leaking?”

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#1 #2 #3 #4 #5
Google Ad
Website Page
Online Review
Facebook Page
Call / Form Fill
Technology Has Changed the Homeowner Journey to Find a
Home Contractor

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The Homeowner Journey is...
Complex Fragmented Multi-Channel Multi-Device
No Perspective
on ROI

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The Homeowner Journey is...
Complex Fragmented Multi-Channel Multi-Device
No Perspective
on ROI
Homeowners rely more and more on the
Internet and new technologies to find and
contact a home contractor near them

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The Homeowner Journey is...
Complex Fragmented Multi-Channel Multi-Device
No Perspective
on ROI
The channels homeowners use are not connected
and it’s hard to know how one influences another

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The Homeowner Journey is...
Complex Fragmented Multi-Channel Multi-Device
No Perspective
on ROI

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The Homeowner Journey is...
Complex Fragmented Multi-Channel Multi-Device
No Perspective
on ROI

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The Homeowner Journey is...
Complex Fragmented Multi-Channel Multi-Device
No Perspective
on ROI
How do you truly know which specific activity
led to that homeowner converting to a lead?

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81%
think less of a business
if its website is not
updated
39%
would think twice
about using a product
or service if the
website isn’t fresh and
current
Source: https://www.searchenginejournal.com/81-of-people-think-less-of-a-business-if-its-website-is-outdated/290283/

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What role does your website play
in your overall online presence?

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To Win Today’s Homeowner, You Need to Take Care of Your
Online Presence
● Own your business’s online identity
● Understand what your online presence is
● Build it to reach homeowners
Think of your website as your “online home”

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Your Website is Only One Piece of Your Online Presence
● Business name
● Phone Numbers
● Address / Location
● Ratings & Reviews
● Content
(Blog / Photos / Videos)
● Online Profiles
(Directory Listings / Social Media)
● Advertising
● Website

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Why WordPress?

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Where Should Your Website Live?

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What to Look for
● Do you own your domain name (URL)?
● Can you quickly make changes?
● Does it meet Google’s best practices?

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Why WordPress?
● Most popular and widely-used
● Allows for ownership and customization
● Easily edit and update
● Build in local signals for Google’s search ranking algorithm

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Google is constantly changing
How is Google search changing?

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The Future of Search is Mobile

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Site Speed Matters A lot
Encountering unplayable videos
Getting redirected to the homepage
Waiting for slow pages to load
Being shown interstitials
Other
14%
13%
46%
16%
11%
“What do you dislike the most when browsing the web on your mobile device?”
Source: Google Webmaster Central Blog: “#MobileMadness: a campaign to help you go mobile-friendly” (posted: Monday, April 27, 2015)

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53%
of visits are abandoned
if a mobile site takes
longer than 3 secs to load
Source: Google Data, Global, March 2016.

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The average time
it takes to fully load
a mobile page
:24seconds
Source: Google Research, Webpagetest.org, U.S., Sep. 2017.

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Local Search
Ranking Factors

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What Purpose Does Your Website Serve?
● Brand Awareness?
● Lead Generation?
● Educational resource to answer customer questions?
● Provide customer service?
● All of the above?

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Schedule a call for a free consultation on your online presence and
an analysis of your website.
Want to learn more?
Give us a call at (571) 327-3391
or email marketing@surefirelocal.com
WEDNESDAY
THURSDAY
PLEASE EMAIL ME TO
SCHEDULE A CALL

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How can you optimize for mobile,
local, and voice?

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A Simple Checklist
● NAP: Name, Address and Phone Number
● Call-to-Action form at the top of your home page
● Mobile-optimized and loads quickly
● Updated consistently with new content
● Customer service should be top-of-mind
● Incorporates local structured data

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NAP: Name, Address, and Phone Number
Your business name, address, and phone number MUST be on your
website & the right online directories
● Each occurrence of your NAP must be correct and the same
● Major Google ranking factor
● Incorrect & inaccurate NAP confuses Google, lowers your rank

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Call-to-Action

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What Makes an Effective Call-to-Action?
● Make sure your calls to action are uniquely tracked
● Make sure you have a contact form near the top of the webpage and
be sure it stands out with high contrast and colors that help it pop.
● If you’re looking for a third call to action, contemplate having an
educational download EBook, sound bites, video tutorials, etc.),
which will allow for “softer” conversions.
● One CTA must be your PHONE NUMBER!

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Location

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Schema Tells Google What’s Important

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Structured Data

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Find Out if Your Website is Mobile-Friendly
Google’s PageSpeed Insights tool

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Google Analytics

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Google Search Console

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Google Search Console - Find Keywords for Content

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Optimizing for Voice and Digital Assistants
● By 2020, over 50% of all search will be voice
● Google has 5,443,200,000 searches every day
● 15% of searches are totally new!

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Optimize for How Homeowners Search
● +50% of search phrases have 4 or more words
● “Near me” searches
● Questions
● Visual

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Consider Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP)
Regular AMP

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Security & Privacy
If you have a form on your website,
it needs to be secure

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Make Sure You’re Always Updating Your Website

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OWN Your Domain Name and Website
You want to…
● Own your domain name
● Own your website
● Have the freedom to move it whenever
you want
You can’t
BUY it
You must
BUILD it

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To Win Online, You Need to...
● Understand basic principles of digital marketing
● Team up with the right marketing partner
● Focus your team on the most effective online channels for lead
generation

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Schedule a call for a free consultation on your online presence and
an analysis of your website.
Want to learn more?
Give us a call at (571) 327-3391
or email marketing@surefirelocal.com
WEDNESDAY
THURSDAY
PLEASE EMAIL ME TO
SCHEDULE A CALL

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Okay Google..
Who is today’s Google Home Hub winner?

56. Thank
you!
SurefireLocal.com
marketing@surefirelocal.com
(571) 327-3391